Rosslyn Oakwood

When Kevin learned when he'd be starting training for the Foreign Service, we were faced with the decision of where to live. The Foreign Service provides temporary housing for its employees, who are constantly moving in and out of the DC area. They have contracts with some apartments in Virginia, and if you're staying for less than a year, they let you stay here for the duration of your stay-- especially if it's your first tour.

We decided to stay at the Oakwood in Rosslyn for several reasons, all of which can be boiled down into one word: location. We've done a long commute before and hated it, and this location is perfect for Kevin getting to work, whether it's at the Foreign Service Institute or occasionally in DC itself. We're a short walk (5 minutes) from the metro, and the FSI shuttle stops there about 18 times an hour or something. Anyway, it's often.

The building is really nice-- probably the nicest place we've ever lived as just our little family. True, we're just coming out of college and fairly dinky apartments, but the apartment here suits our needs just perfectly. Talking to friends who just had a 3-story house at their last post, it is a step down from that. :) But the 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, and large living room are everything we could ask for. (Note: the 1-bedroom apartments are significantly smaller.)

I think if we had more kids, we'd stay in the Oakwood in Falls Church. In our building, there are about 3 or 4 families home during the day who have kids. We sometimes get together, but our weekly Kiddie Corner usually flops. Whenever I've gone, I've been the only one there, and that's true of most of our experiences. Now, if we could ever coordinate and all show up.... I continue to try.

And here is a house tour. I may continue this on another post, since I haven't taken all the pictures I'd like, and I haven't liked all the pictures I've taken. I want you to notice how neat my house is and how nicely I've made the beds. This may have something to do with our housekeeper just finishing her weekly visit, but you'll just have to guess.

Here is our living room. We bought the additional lamp for more light, and the bookshelf is our addition as well. Otherwise the furniture is what comes with the place.Eventually, we asked for another desk so I could have one, and they promptly obliged. A friend told me she asked for another set of drawers for her kids' room, and they told her no. So it seems like the furniture is subject to availability (if you want something beyond what's already provided).

Here is our eating area. Exciting.

And our lovely kitchen. It comes with basic kitchen supplies, which are very basic. I wish I'd packed more of my own cooking equipment, but I've made do without buying much additional stuff. For anyone who's interested, it comes with a set of 6 dinner plates, salad plates, bowls, medium tumblers, large tumblers, coffee mugs, wine glasses, and silverware. There is a knife block with several knives in varying states of whet. Microwave, toaster, coffee maker, dishwasher, disposal, all provided. We have stainless steel pots and pans: 1 small saucepan, one medium, and one large, one stainless steel frying pan, and I was lucky enough to get a non-stick frying pan. Apparently that is unusual. There is a set of 3 tupperware bowls, 3 pyrex mixing bowls, a 8x11 pyrex pan, a pyrex casserole dish (maybe 2 quarts) and a colander. Slotted spoons (2), spatula, kitchen tongs, rubber scraper, pasta server, measuring spoons, corkscrew, pizza cutter, can opener, cheese grater, whisk, vegetable peeler, and-- my personal favorite-- a pastry brush. Now, most of these things are really basic, but if I were outfitting a basic kitchen, I'd put a blender in waaayyy before I'd put in a pastry brush (I mean, I make milkshakes much more often than I make baklava... but to each his own.

And Penny's room. It's hard to view all of it, but on the very far left, you can see glow from the window, and on the far right, you can see her chest of drawers (6 large drawers).

Originally, there was a TV on the dresser in here and in our room, but we asked the management to just take them, which they did a few days later. Now we have that much more room!

Penny's closet is a weird, triangular shape, but it's very spacious.I may never make it as a professional organizer, but this is how I stash stuff in my kids' closet. And I'm happy with it.
This is our laundry room. In our floorplan, there is some storage space in the laundry room, which we have been happy to use. The washer and dryer are half-sized, which means half as much laundry per load. But we're just really happy to have them in our own apartment, so we'll take it!

And I park the stroller in here, right beside Penny's doll stroller.
This is our large, walk-through closet. It connects our bedroom to the bathroom. It comes with an iron and ironing board, and yes, Kevin has more clothes than I do. ;) I his defense, I'm wearing my maternity clothes, which are minimal.

All I've really left out are pictures of our master bedroom, and our awesome view from the balcony. I might post pictures of that in the future, but don't hold your breath.

And that, whether you like it or not, was the grand tour of my casita.