Ladies and Gentlemen, it's official: Steve and I have a house! It's in Cleveland Heights, walking distance to a bakery we've heard great things about, and a very short drive to Little Italy and about three other areas with restaurants, bars, and shops. It'll be a 10-minute drive to campus, and about a 20-minute drive to downtown (read: Progressive Field, where the Indians play). I don't have a picture of the backyard, but it's so big we might lose Frankie in it. We can't wait to show it to him. The move-in date is August 1st, so once we've unpacked and it's decorated there will be tons of pics of all of that, the backyard, and the neighborhood. 

Front

Living/Dining ("Great") Room

Living/Dining ("Great") Room & Front Door; Stairs to Second Floor Master

Kitchen

Downstairs Bedroom 1

Downstairs Bedroom 2

Upstairs Master

Ensuite Master Bath

More great Cleveland pics for your viewing pleasure: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ggggenji/15-beatiful-buildings-in-cleveland-oh-9mo9

(Link courtesy of the lovely Galina Olmsted)

As promised, a post of pics so you can all start getting really excited about coming to visit.

(I did not take any of these pictures. They were all stolen from the interwebs. One day I'll work on my own Cleveland photo journal and you'll know I took them by the much lesser quality than these.)

The Jake (Progressive Field; where the Indians play...Go Tribe!)

Hope Memorial Bridge

Hope Memorial Bridge

Cleveland Browns Stadium on Lake Erie (or FirstEngergy Stadium if you want to be politically correct)

Atrium of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland Museum of Art across Wade Pond

Westside Market

Downtown Cleveland from Lake Erie

Little Italy

Ohio City (sorry about the cones; it was still the best pic I could find)

Cleveland has a Gehry building! Peter B. Lewis Building at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western 

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Shaker Lakes Nature Center

Shaker Lakes Nature Center

Severance Hall, home of the Cleveland Orchestra

St. Theodosius in Tremont

In about four weeks, Steve and I will be heading out to Cleveland in search of a rental house. First and foremost, we need to decide on east vs. west. You'll notice on the map below that Cleveland proper is yellow. The immediate areas to the east (Cleveland Heights, etc.) and the west (Lakewood, etc.) are the neighborhoods we are contemplating. For reference, downtown is about where 'Cleveland' is written on the map.

The university is on the east side of Cleveland, within city limits. Just next to it are Cleveland Heights and University Heights. These are the neighborhoods filled with graduate students and medical residents, where the rentals are often posted months before the move-in dates. In this area my "commute" (and I use the term loosely) would be less than 15 minutes to school. Lakewood, on the west side, and the areas within Cleveland's city limits between downtown and Lakewood (Ohio City, Tremont) are the hip neighborhoods. (Not hipster, just hip.) Most of our friends through my current job live on the west side, and of course all vote for us to move there. So we have to decide which side feels more "us" and if we're willing to "commute" (again, this is a joke for anyone reading this from California) across town for school/work. 

In case any of you are thinking "well obviously you want to live close to Melt" there is one in
Cleveland Heights and one in Lakewood, which makes it easier but doesn't factor as pro or con in the debate.

We will of course post pics from our trip and keep you updated on what we decide. In the meantime, I'm working on a post of pics of Cleveland, because I realize it's unfounded bad rap leads to most people imagining it to be very Detroit-esque. Au contraire mon frère!


xo, e

I created this blog in order to keep our friends and family in the loop as Steve and I plan and execute our move from Orange County to Cleveland. I will be attending Case Western Reserve University in the fall (and by "fall" I mean academically-speaking, so August), working toward my Ph.D. in art history in the joint program between CWRU and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

When I started the Ph.D. application process last year, the program at Case was one of my top choices because of its affiliation with the CMA, which has a wonderful armor collection (see photo). I have been very fortunate to receive a generous fellowship for the (first) five years of my Ph.D. studies, and I'm super excited to start this new chapter of my academic career. 

Steve and I will be traveling to Cleveland next month to look at houses and hopefully sign a lease. Because the neighborhood we're looking at (Cleveland Heights) is located near the university and several large hospitals, rentals with August move-in dates are posted pretty early, as grad students and medical residents and interns often know when they will be leaving even before they move in. We'll post pics from our house-hunting adventure, and of course from our cross-country drive (two cars, two humans, two parrots, one car-sick dog, and one hairless cat) before we get there and continue to keep you updated on our new lives in Cleveland. In the meantime, I'm reading several books about Cleveland and Ohio (obviously) so I'll post fun facts and pics and fill everyone in on why we think Cleveland really does rock. 

xo, e