Home Sweet Home

The last two weeks have been a dizzying cavalcade of travel, family crises, work stress, puppy woes and moving into our new condo.

The move was predictably stressful, but without major disasters. Every night last week we came home from work to pack all night long, while Flutie ran rampant amidst the packing peanuts and boxes. Peeing merrily as he went, naturally. We took many loads of stuff over ourselves on Saturday, and had a much needed meal of tapas and sangria with our friends Rob and Lisa on a gorgeous spring night in the city. Sunday morning we took Flutie to spend the day at Dan’s parents house in the suburbs and dealt with the final move of all our stuff. The several hundred dollars for professional movers was the best money we ever spent – seriously. Even the enormous, hulking mover-men were moaning loudly about what a pain it was to move stuff down from the narrow stairway up to our third floor apartment. I was all “Uh, yeah, you should have seen me wobbling pathetically when we moved in, it was an ugly sight”.

But now we’re all moved in (but not fully unpacked) and our new place is glorious! Dan and I have been looking around, then looking at each other to remark “Can you believe we live here?”. It’s almost too nice and its as if we’re not sure its really ours. What a huge blessing. My favorite part (other than the spectacular kitchen) is that our place is just three blocks from the beach. Southern California its not, but the Atlantic Ocean and coast of New England has its own beauty and charms. With the weather just beginning to be tolerable, I look forward to a long spring and summer of walks by the sea-side.

Flutie is enjoying all his new room to roam, and was so smitten with our new couch that he wasted no time in peeing all over it. He’s taken to the back-yard with glee. Although the loud, cranky Boston terriers next door have scared the bejesus out of him several times already. Couch-peeing aside, I think being in a first floor unit with quick access to a fenced-in yard will do wonders for his housebreaking. We’ve also broken down and started leashing him most of the time he’s in the house with us – its just too big to keep tabs on him and we have to have one eye on him at all times right now. Our new dog-walker started yesterday and, so far, seems to be much more reliable and personable than our previous experience.

I'm eager to finish unpacking, to put everything in just the right place, and, most of all, to have people over. Hosting family and friends in my home is one of my favorite things to do in life. A few years ago I threw a dinner party for twelve friends in my 400 square foot studio, that is how much I love to entertain. I would like to extend a totally sincere open invitation to everyone I know out there (even if I don’t know you that well, or its been awhile) to please come out to Boston some time and feel free to stay with us. We bought a place with two extra bedrooms and bathrooms for a reason. New England is absolutely gorgeous and full of history - one of my other very favorite things is to squire people all around the city and surrounding areas. I will always remain a Redlands girl at heart, but there’s nowhere I’d rather be right now than in my new home, in Massachusetts.

Now that the big move is over, I will be relieved to settle into a cozy, new routine. In the last 10 years, I have had 12 different addresses. Before I was 18 years old my family lived in eight different houses across five states. Crazy, huh? The joy that this house brings to me is a sense of permanency, of belonging, of finally being home. We may not live in this place forever, but, Lord willing, we will for a good long time.

PS: I will post some photos of our home once I get things a little more picture ready.