I recently moved into my first one-bedroom apartment. A little apartment with a beautiful balcony all to myself (and my dog, Max). I’ve been looking forward to this day for a while now. Don’t get me wrong, I had fantastic roommates during my college career…10 awesome roommates to be exact (seven of those were from a sorority house). But after moving back from New York I knew it was time to get a place of my own. Something that I could call mine and something I could be responsible for day in and day out.

Now that I am all moved in and have stayed a few nights in my own place, I have started to notice all the unfamiliar apartment noises. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a little baby when it comes to noises and such I’m not familiar with. I automatically go from zero to worse-case scenario and I think someone is trying to break into my apartment. Let’s not forget that I live in a gated apartment community in a really safe area of town. I’m ridiculous, I know.

For example, two nights ago I woke up at 5 a.m. because I swear someone came and turned on my water in the kitchen (when all reality it was probably the ice maker). But after that noise woke me up I laid in bed wide awake until my alarm went off at 7:15. When I lived with roommates I always assumed every noise was one of my roommates sneaking in at an odd hour of the night or my roommate’s dog deciding to go downstairs to play.

I am so excited that I finally took the step to get my own apartment, but there are definitely some adjustments to be made that I did not consider. I need to remember that yes, I locked the door, turned off the straightener and turned off the oven. No, that noise was not a stranger danger, just simply my neighbor arriving home from work. And that when it comes time to clean…Jayme won’t be around to do it for me. It’s just me…all day, every day (until I invite guests over of course). Needless to say, it’s scary sometimes, but I love it!