I really wasn't expecting Cassia's apartment to be as nice in person as it looked her pictures -- I thought maybe it was some sort of art department magic / professional photographer friend who waits for perfect lighting trickery. But as it turns out, she really DOES live in a magazine spread! If anything, those pictures undersell the experience.
Cassia greeted me at her iron-gated front entrance (charming!) and gave me a quick tour of her home before heading out the door and leaving me to explore on my own. She was really friendly, quick to laugh, and made sure to point out such important things as coffee (THREE different ways to brew it), internet passwords, and how the keys work (there are three of them - maybe a drawback for some, but they are easy to use due to Cassia's color-coding and how they are arranged in the order you use them).
Although the apartment itself is whimsical and beautiful (I have SO MANY new ideas for my own house), I have to admit that I was the most impressed with Cassia. When I got back to her apartment after a long day of exploring, she was in the kitchen with a friend of hers and they immediately invited me to join them for some wine and snacks. It was really fun and totally unexpected. I must have mentioned my long journey home at some point, because the next morning I found a handwritten note from Cassia, along with a small container of grapes "for the train." WOW.