500 sq.ft. of Awesome

I think, for my first entry, some introductions are in order.

I'll start with Woodstock (a.k.a. Wood, Woody, Dog, etc.):

In all his splendor.

Wood and I have been friends a long time. He was given to me by my mom for my fifteenth birthday. Being the fattest of his litter, he was the clear choice for me, and as soon as he was old enough, mom brought him home with her one evening after work. We've shared many a misadventure since then, and after bouncing around the continental U.S. for the last five years, we've finally settled down in Chicago, Illinois.

The photo above is one of my favorites of him, and even though it's only a few months old, it's a tad misleading. Shortly after moving to Chicago, Wood developed a limp which we later discovered was caused by a malignant bone tumor. To prevent the cancer from spreading, we decided to go ahead and get his right foreleg amputated. He's in the recovery process now, and I'll be sure to follow-up on his progress in subsequent entries. 

Home from the hospital on October 6. Happy birthday to me. :)

But enough about Woodstock. It's time to introduce Phillip (a.k.a. Pil-lip, Pip, Pipop, etc.):

Phil and Phil's hair.

Phil's my sweetheart, my boyfriend, my best guy, and a number of other things (most of them flattering). Originally from South Korea, he and his family immigrated to the United States when he was nine or ten years old. By the time Woody and I stumbled upon him, he'd been living in Charleston, South Carolina for a number of years, and the rest, as they say, is history...almost three years of history to be semi-accurate...

Maybe Phil's intro is a little underwhelming after Wood's, but my fingers are getting tired and I still have one person left to introduce, so forgive the brevity. These people (yes, Dog's a person) are the cohabitants of my 500 sq.ft. slice of Heaven (pictured below), and my purpose in sharing them with you is to provide some faces to go with the names that will likely resurface again and again and again.

The living room/bedroom (a.k.a the only room).

And that leaves only one: yours truly. If you don't know already, my name is Kirste, but I'll talk about myself plenty in entries to come. Suffice it to say that, since moving to Chicago, I've become a student (sometimes), a painter (other times), and a live-in girlfriend/chef/maid (at all times). 

I think that about sums it up. More later...