Bawston Homesickness

Yes, I am homesick. Mostly I am lonely, so I really need a job and/or friends. I also need my mom to move here, but I guess the job and friends are more realistic...

I haven't gotten to explore Boston too much yet, but I did find a nice running spot in the Public Gardens (I have to double-check "public" every time I type it because I am afraid I will leave out the "L") and on Commonwealth Avenue. It's a street with a walking/running path in the middle, and it is shady with trees for the entire .83 mile. My goal is to run up and back Comm Ave without having to stop.

Yes, you can be skinny and still be THAT out of shape.

Sad. I will change that, but not today - not on Comm Ave, anyway. It's supposed to hit 90 degrees today with like, 60% humidity or something disgusting like that. When I woke up at 9am it was already 80 degrees. Groooooosssss!!!!

The dogs are having fun but they are definitely getting cabin fever.

This is what cabin fever in dogs looks like.

I can't walk them when it is so hot out! I do think I need a lawn chair though, just to sit in our small yard and let them occupy themselves with sniffing, and rolling in dead bugs. I wonder if Off! makes lawn chairs with centipede repellent...

And I'm back.

Wow. I have had a few people ask me if I have posted on this blog lately. Clearly, I have not posted since I went back to work in April. Not because of my work, but because of everything outside of work.

As you may or may not know, Rick and I are moving to Boston. Well, he is actually there already. I'm waiting it out (or is it working it out?) at Boeing to receive a sweet little bundle of vested stocks on July 1st.

Anyway, it's been a whirlwind of more-than-usual craziness in my life. I spent 3 weeks packing up our house, preparing our dishes and kitchen appliances for the ride across the country in a ramshackle flatbed trailer. Packing and cleaning was my sole purpose outside of work. That got old...pretty quickly. It makes me want to just get rid of everything. Alas, I love my stuff too much. I mean, I get a rush off of stocking up on dog-toothbrushes!

Knowing that about me, you can probably guess that my hubs and I have way more stuff than will fit in a small trailer. That is why Rick and I sold almost all of our furniture and stored the rest at our friend's house (THANK YOU Tom and Lindsay!).

I was really sad to see our bed go - I'll see you in a few years, pillowtop king size Sealy mattress! You were good to me. I'll think of you every time I wake up with a sore hip from my too-firm mattress that I am bound to get in Boston.

With the exception of the bed, it was actually really refreshing to get rid of a lot of clutter. I didn't realize how many things I had kept around that I didn't really love or use! I was actually happy to see a lot of our things go (for profit, no less). I guess I didn't really need to take 3 dog kennels across the country....*I am not a dog-kennel hoarder - I had one for my house, one for Rick's house, and one for foster dogs.

After those three weeks of packing and selling, Rick and my dad loaded up the truck and trailer. These are a few packing pictures:

This is how they stacked stuff in the trailer so high - Saran-Wrap for Moving.

The magical roll. I think it was my dad who noted that this color is reminiscent of a 737 before it is painted.

As you can see from this picture, I was (not) a huge help.

But I like to think that I brought up morale a bit.

Oh, and that positioning of the saran wrap stick was accidental.

And then....this was the end product. Just before the guys climbed into the truck and drove across the country.

I was a little worried for their safety, but they made it to Boston and so did all of our stuff. Hooray!

That is just one of the activities that has kept me so busy lately. There are more stories that involve five dogs in one house, and Vegas, and a small secondary move, but I'll tell them later.

I guess it's good that I have been busy - Rick is busy with his school program and having stuff to do distract me from counting down the days until I get to see him again! In the meantime I am wallowing here in yucky Seattle, getting rained on and trying not to drink too much wine.

Clearly, this is a tough "season" of life for me, with the stress of big changes, job changes, and not having my best friend next to me to give me a hug.

I guess there are a lot of different seasons in life. Seattle should get a clue and have more seasons than "cloudy" and "rainy."

I'm just saying.

Boston Countdown

Since I have such a smarty-pants husband, we are moving to Boston this year so that he can get 2 (more) masters degrees at MIT. I am excited to move somewhere else - I have never lived further than 20 miles from where I was born and raised! Crazy, right?

Anyway, I am looking forward to a new town, and am having dreams of living in a nice apartment. Or a decent one. My current and last homes are/were tear-downs that don't get upgraded at all. As long as they are in working condition, the landlord won't put any money into them.

I became a painting fiend in both my old and current places. I repainted ALL 430 square feet of my last apartment, including the closets, shelves, rails, and the ceilings. Then we painted almost all of our current place. I only stopped at the bathroom because our lease is only 10 months total, so it wasn't worth the work (in my opinion).

I love our place that we have now. I have always dreamed of living in this neighborhood, and I thoroughly enjoy not having neighbors filling my apartment with their second-hand smoke. We have a great yard, only one wall with neighbors, and that is only a smattering of the positives.

But my landlord won't upkeep this property, or let me improve it while he pays for updates. It's a shame.

So now I daydream about places that have wood trim that doesn't dandruff paint chips, don't have possible asbestos in the attic/ceiling, have heating systems that don't drown out the television, and have light flowing through most of the unit.

And the ultimate daydream - having a place that looks like this:

(all images from one of my favorite blogs of all time, Young House Love)

You can find the whole post from John and Sherry at YHL here. They go into detail about what they love in this place, including the gorgeous floor stencils. Floor stencils!!! I could SO do floor stencils in my current place - the wood has absolutely no sealant on it and the floors are just a lost cause. I die.

I am excited because we are planning on getting rid of a lot of our furniture for the move and starting fresh in Boston. I hope we have an outdoor space or a garage so that I can grab shabby stuff off of Craigslist and make them pretty with paint and such. My goal is to try and get somewhere close to this look.

I showed the YHL post to Rick, expecting him to say that the place was too girly, but he seemed to not mind it, not even the pink dining room! Of course, he was watching the Olympics, so I might have been kind of cheating on that one! ;-) I think it's one of those things where I'll just do what I want. As long as it is comfortable and I do it all on the cheap, I don't think Rick will care.

Even if this isn't your Dream Place, if you are nesting and/or love interior design and DIY projects, GO to John and Sherry's blog. It is what my little starter blog aspires to be someday.

They are a cute couple, great writers, and have awesome posts every day. They are currently putting together their nursery for their first baby. Even if you are not expecting, it's a great blog because it's not all-baby.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on my Dream Place? **Please don't shatter my dreams by telling me I'll never find that in Boston - I know this is very likely a lofty, unattainable dream for now.**Have you lived in or been to Boston? What do you like to do there, and what stores/bars/parks/neighborhoods do you love?