boston food challenge? lets do it.

I have been embracing Boston more in the past few months, and Jessica's Chicago food challenge has inspired me to do one of my own. The map above shows the 21 official neighborhoods in Boston. Perhaps by documenting eats in each of these neighborhoods, Aaron and I will see a bit more of our new-ish home. It's difficult though, because I want to also explore the neighborhoods and food of Cambridge, Brookline, and the 30 or so sub-neighborhoods of my very own Dorchester. However, I'm going to assume it's unlikely that I'll complete the task of 21 neighborhoods in the next 12 months, so it's pointless to take on more.

By the way, I'm just loving Dorchester and am still baffled by the fear of Boston toward this area. I was informed by a friend recently of the negative health impact of living in bad neighborhoods. Wha? It's like the suburbs out where with mixed races and sometimes vandalism. Let's suck it up people.

winning friends

The weekend before last Aaron and I hosted our first party. Originally it was intended to simply return the favor to a co-worker who hosted us young people at my job for dinner at his place. So Aaron and I decided we would tempt them down to Dorchester with wine and cheese. We thought a dinner party would be too expensive and complicated for a larger group, and a nibbling party would be a bit more social.

Well a trip to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods later, we learned that wine and cheese is in fact very expensive indeed. But the party was definitely coming together. I invited all my co-workers and Aaron invited a few of his. We had about 10 guests and I think they had a great time. I forgot to take pictures (eek) but we had quite the spread of nuts, meats, 5 cheeses (so good!) fruit and four wines. We had way too much and are still eating cheese over a week later.

We realized that just about everyone we know in Boston, save two, were in our apartment. Kinda sad. I was happy that we were being social, and could have a party two and a half months after relocating. But our circle is still pretty small. I have been making friends at work, but I miss real friends who you can actually relax with. 

I went to Chicago over the weekend to attend Caitlin's bridal shower. It was so great to see her and it reminded be how much I'm missing. Most of my friends have left Chicago and the few who remain have plans to leave. I suppose nothing can prevent this post-college shift away from that network. I just feel like I need a friend action plan. How does one meet people and make friends? I usually don't warm up quickly with people anyways, so starting from scratch is a challenge. Any helpful hints?

maybe more parties...

what a spectacle

I have admittedly been absent from this blog -- and for good reason! Matt and Jessica have come to visit and we've been seeing all that Boston has to offer. This includes great restaurants and bakeries, historic sites, and candlepin bowing (more on that some other time). It also means taking a trip to Spectacle Island. This island in Boston Harbor was once shaped like a pair of eye glasses, but after a long history as Boston's trash dump, glue maker, and dirt repository, it has since retained a round shape, no longer resembling spectacles. It has also since been turned into a natural environment with paths and picnic tables. Also, as you can see, there is a great deal of black berries for the picking- or so we presumed. Only a short, cheap, ferry ride away, and we were smelling the sea air and taking in a view of the city from across the bay. I'm excited to explore more islands, and possibly even camp on one. We only have two nights left with our friends, and we are back to being alone and boring, but also rested. 

back in business!

Well here I am. Back. After landing in Chicago Aaron and boarded a plane to Boston, and the past week I've been occupied with moving in and looking for work. But I feel like we're finally settling in. I had originally planned on blogging through the whole trip, but since I didn't it seems so hard to go back through and update on what we did. All I can say is that I'm so glad I went. A few favorite destinations included Cinque Terre, Chamonix, the Loire Valley and Paris. I didn't expect to love France as much as I did. Currently I can share a Paris picture, but I'm having a hard time accessing the pictures we loaded to an external hard drive, so I'll try and post more later. 

Our apartment is so big and nice that its been really fun thinking about what to do with it. The first major project was stripping a mid-century danish dining table we got from craigslist. I was so happy to have learned thins new skill! Here it is with some Ikea chairs we bought.

I'll post more about the apartment as we finish each room.

Boston has been really great. Dorchester is a really diverse and pleasant neighborhood (at least our area). Last might we met a neighbor from across the street who moved to her house "as a bride" and has been there 62 years! Amazing. True to form Aaron has started his baking, already making english muffins and a peach tart.

Also, to be real Bostonians, we had a shrimp boil last weekend. So good. I'm excited to start blogging again, what with a new apartment to put together, a nice kitchen to cook in and a new life to start. 

I'm back!

Wow! We had to take our computer in the the Apple and they had to replace our hard drive. We lost almost all our music, but I'm glad they saved most everything else. It's disconcerting considering we purchased our computer less than a year ago, but oh well. It was under warranty. 

Anyways, its spring, and there is much to be happy about. Graduation is coming up, Europe is just around the corner, and Boston plans are set. I will really miss Chicago and our friends here though. 

Planning for the apartment has been really fun. I've been loving mid-century design lately, and now that I have a palate to place these ideas, things are coming together in my mind. We even already bought a Danish mid-century dining table from craigslist. Yes, we have a dining room! We love to cook and host, so we were hoping for a dining room. 

Well this is sort of rambling. Here are a few images that have been providing recent home inspiration. 

I love the layering here. We have so many books I'm thinking of getting another of the same large ikea bookcase that we have and replicating this in the living room. 

I love this room too.

We don't have dining chairs. Maybe paint random ones? 

update

So I've been a little absent from my blog recently! This week our computer has acting a little funky, and last week I was so focused on my thesis. Two quick updates: we found an excellent apartment in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. I can't wait to share more with pictures once we move. Also, my thesis is practically done! It will be turned in on Friday!!! So excited!

Sorry for the short post. Stay tuned for more activity as the computer is fixed and school slows. 

what a weekend

My trip to boston was filled with highs and lows, and now that I'm back I'm having a hard time summing up the trip. Perhaps a list of these highs and lows will help. 

1) I got in late Thursday night and went straight to the adorable inn Aaron was staying in. What a great place. The Mary Prentiss Inn served free made to order breakfast, was really convenient, and offered a really cozy and historic atmosphere. We got to meet quite a few nice people there too. The Mary Prentiss Inn give this trip a plus (+).

2) The next day I met a very nice agent who picked me up at my hotel showed me around Cambridge and Somerville. Nice agents who give rides: a definite (+).

3) The last apartment I saw on Friday I fell completely in love with, and after seeing more apartment with Aaron on Friday he agreed this was the best place too. What a great high that was to find an awesome apartment. (+). 

4) Friday night pizza and beer in amazing Davis square surrounded by baseball fans watching the Red Sox face the Yankees. (+).

5) 80 degree weather eve though I flew North. (+).

6) The amazing Italian district of North Boston with its windy streets, great bakeries and delis open late, and hopping night life (and sardinian cheese!). This was a completely great atmosphere. (+)

7) The incredibly horrible food and service at a recommended Italian restaurant in the district. (-).

8) Waking at 6 to catch a flight to leave Aaron for awhile week (-).

9) Sitting for an hour in a  hot plane not being able to move on a Philadelphia run way do to a few small storms in Chicago. (-).

10) Finally getting in Chicago and the blue line running on a single track delaying my return home even more. (-).

11) Finally reaching home and getting a call from aaron that the apartment we loved had in fact already been rented. it had listed through two brokers and ours didn't know it was be rented. After that day of travel finding out that I didn't even accomplish what I had set out to do was such a low (-).

Taking a look at the plusses and minuses, I see that the lows were situational and that many of the highs had to do with loving the city. But now I'm back to square one. Aaron works with nice people though and I think he'll like his job. So that is a really important plus.  Over all it was a great weekend, with  a rough ending. 

oh cambridge.

Aaron just left for Cambridge to begin training at his new job. He won't be back until next Friday! But, luckily for me, I decided to join him this weekend to look for apartments. I leave tomorrow night. I really hope we are able to find a great place, so we have something to come home to after our trip. 

We've made things really hard on ourselves as usual and decided to leave for Sardinia the day after graduation and return three days before Aaron starts work. In this three days we have to unload our things from storage, drive them to Boston and move in. We have a habit of doing things like this (hello- camping in DC... with no car... and no home!).

So getting acquainted with the Boston area now and attempting to secure an apartment before we leave seems like one thing that will make this summer a little easier. Now I just need a job....

Can't wait to post about my first experience with Cambridge and Boston!

Spring!

Today is such a spring day it makes me so excited for a number of things. 

1) Graduating soon. Ah to have a break.

2) Trip to Europe. I've started thinking about what to pack, and fantasizing about the delicious food and warm air. 

3) Boston! I've been reading some history this week and I can;t wait to be there. The warmth of spring is a reminder It won't be long before I'm there!

4) Cooking! I love to cook when the seasons change.

5) Spring clothing. I'm so tired of my sweaters. 

Hope you all enjoy the day as much as I do. 

new home... here we come

Big news! In our hunt for jobs Aaron was offered an excellent position in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We are both so excited for the move, but are sad to have only two more months in Chicago for a very long time. After Europe we will be heading almost directly to Boston. Though I've never been, I've heard such wonderful things about Boston. I'm really looking forward to starting a new life there. Life for the first time as a non-student! I've been combing through Craigslist looking for apartments, and may even go in April with Aaron to look at a few. I don't want to get my hopes up - its hard to move (as I learned this summer in DC) - but I think Boston will be a great new place to get to know! Yay!