Our New Place

We are finally settled in to our new place - only a few small things left to do and then the baby's room. Here are some pictures of our new space!

The Kitchen

 

The Dining Room

The Living Room

 

Top of stairs, Brian's desk

 

Bathroom

The office/nursery/guest bedroom for now

Our bedroom

The Bump

 The baby bump at 23 weeks - just a couple days before the movers arrived.

The bump at 25 weeks - settling in to our new place!

Moving

We've moved, but this move wasn't quite like the last (CA--> MA). We only moved about 10 minutes away, a little outside the city. It's a nice area with some hiking trails, tennis courts, and a small shopping center all within walking distance. There are lots of trees and shade, providing us with a nice summer breeze. Our little townhouse apartment is much more spacious than the last and we are enjoying it very much here.

These are a couple pictures we took the day we got our keys, which ended up not working in the door! It was a Saturday afternoon, so there wasn't much anyone was going to do - it was a good thing we didn't have a moving truck there ready to bring things in! (Because we wouldn't have been able to lock the door when we left). We did a walk-through of the place and were a little disappointed - the previous family had marked their childrens' heights with marker in the bedroom, in a spot where no furniture would go and there were markings in other places throughout the apartment. So, it was clear they didn't paint. There were a few other little things that we weren't happy with, so we wrote it all down for maintenance and then brought our complaints to the office (which was closing in just a few minutes). Since we weren't able to leave stuff in our unlocked apartment and because they were hopefully going to be painting soon, we decided to head down to Ikea and get some furniture. By Sunday, we had new keys and by Tuesday, the place was painted and all our complaints were repaired. We were completely 100% satisfied and happy with the results and promptness they delivered in getting it all done.

Then on Thursday, we had movers come and move all the big stuff. The whole process took much longer than we anticipated, but they did a great job - I don't think they made one mark on the wall... and we have some pretty tricky stairs!

We are officially out of our old apartment and just about settled into the new one. One of my favorite things with our new place is having the washer and dryer two steps from the bedroom! It has just been so wonderful to be able to do laundry without having to walk outside! And no more quarters!! One of my least favorite things about the new place is the child next door who screams constantly (I especially don't like it when the screaming takes place outside at 9am on a Saturday! It doesn't matter if the windows are open or closed, you can still hear him!). Anyway, we love our new space and will post pictures soon!!

Settled In

Well, it took our belongings about 2.5 weeks to get here!!! Insane! It felt like Christmas morning when the truck arrived! After about 5 days of unpacking, we are pretty much settled in now.

Moving Day

Today is the day we left California and headed to our new location...in Massachusetts! We are both excited and nervous. We were unable to find a air mattress, so our first night was spent sleeping on the hard wood floor.
It will be fun to look back on. haha

1 month left!

Wow - I can hardly believe that one month from today I will be getting married! Brian and I couldn't even be more excited, although I am feeling the stress now. I haven't had much time to breathe since school has been out. I have been working my 2 part time jobs a lot while working on wedding stuff, writing thank you cards, and starting to pack. Busy busy as usual!!

Official MA Nurse

I received confirmation today that my Massachusetts RN license has been issued. Too bad I didn't have this information 2 days ago when I submitted my first job application (to Massachusetts General). We will see what happens!

Visiting Boston - Day 4

We woke up and packed our bags. Then we walked to the "B line" and headed over to Ady's office. We met with him at 11 and signed all the paperwork for our apartment. Immediately after, we got on the train and headed to St. Ignatius Church at Boston College for Palm Sunday Mass. We went to the bilingual service at noon.This is from the website - I didn't take any pictures because there were so many people around. Some day I will though...since I am sure this will be our parish soon. The church was packed!! Tons of people of all ages, but a lot of younger people. At the beginning of mass, the priest and deacon, as well as others, walked down the aisle waving their palms and trying to get everyone excited. It was cool. Then there was a little dancing and since today is the longest reading of the year, they did a little skit to go along with it. All this was definitely different for us, but I really liked it! It kept my attention for sure!

We then went and had lunch at Pino's Pizza - we got a pizza of course. It was delicious. :) Then we went back to our hotel and grabbed our bags and hopped on the "C line" to go to the airport. In the terminal Brian ran into one of his students from last year, so they sat and talked a while. That was pretty neat for him to see someone he knew. :) The flight home was long...but I was able to finally watch "The Blind Side", so that helped make the time go a little faster.

Sorry I didn't take any pictures today either, but we had a wonderful trip to Boston and can hardly believe that we have a place there and are moving in less than 4 months!

Visiting Boston - Day 3

Today we met with a realtor at noon - we walked 1 mile to meet him. Ady, our Romanian realtor, picked us up and took us apartment hunting. The first couple he showed us seemed like a not-so-nice area, but apparently he is not allowed to tell us how "safe" the area is otherwise he will lose his license. So, we looked anyway and they didn't seem so bad inside, but they were small. Then we went to another area that was nicer and we liked the first one we saw in the building, didn't care too much for the 2nd one, and fell in love with the 3rd one. The 3rd one was in the basement, but was pretty much brand new - only 2 years old, so new paint, huge kitchen (which is unheard of around here) and nice bathroom with granite countertops. One thing though was the lighting wasn't the best since half the windows were covered because we were below the ground. We really like natural light. Anyway, from there we went to quite a few others, some great and some okay.

Around 2:30 we were pretty set on the basement one and went back to see it one more time and the resident was there. We talked to her for a while about the place. She has lived there since August and is also from the West Coast. Safety is a huge deal to her and she said the bums rummage through the dumpster which is right outside her bedroom window and they stand outside and can look inside at her. We never thought about these things! She lived alone, so she felt really uncomfortable because they pretty much could tell when she was and was not home. She also said that in the summer it gets really hot and humid in the basement and because of the bums, she never opened the windows and then mold developed - she had to buy a new mattress because of this! She did have some great things to say about the place too, but we wanted to take into consideration what she said. So, we went and had lunch across the street and talked it over.

Tough and important decisions! We went back to Ady around 4 and asked him about another one we liked. He showed us again where it was located and we decided to go with it. The only thing about this one is that the move in date is June 1 and we wanted August 1, so we were going to have to pay for those 2 months - Ady was working on it for us though. In the meantime he remembered one other place we might like so he took us over to see that one. It was a lot like the apartments back home - big building, super nice entry way with concierge, pool on roof, fitness and business centers, etc. A lot newer, but it wasn't near the subway - we would have to take a bus to get there. Oh, and it was a little more than we wanted to spend. So, we are sticking with the other one we liked. We fill out our applications, but are going back tomorrow at 11 to meet with Ady and finalize everything. It looks like he could postpone the move in a little, but only till July 15 (but we will still be in Europe, so really it will be right when we get back!). Anyway, we are excited. This apartment is walking distance to a few hospitals so we are going to pray (hard!) that I can get a job there!! That would be AMAZING!

From there, we hopped on the subway and headed into downtown Boston!!! First we went towards the mall, but one girl on the subway told us to go to Newbury street, so we made our way over there...

A walk through the park


Downtown buildings

The Public Garden


Us freezing in the Garden


Me in front of a statue of Washington

We just walked down Newbury street and then ate at Tapes restaurant (we had to wait like an hour - we tried walking around, but we decided it was nicer to just stand in the small entry way and stay warm). :P After dinner, we headed back to the hotel, riding on the very crowded "C line". It was fun.

Visiting Boston - Day 2

Today was pretty uneventful for me. Brian left around 7:30 am to head to Boston College. He said he was frozen by the time he got there. It was raining and began snowing and he was walking about 2 miles to get there (we are still trying to figure the transportation system out...but he did take the shuttle back). I stayed in the hotel room ALL day working on a paper and watching TV. It was very lonely! Then, Brian got back around 5:30 and we chatted for a bit and then went out to get dinner. We ate at Dragon Star restaurant - it was Chinese food and had good reviews, but Brian and I weren't that impressed. Tonight we walked the opposite direction on Beacon street than yesterday thinking there would be more to eat than the other way...but I guess there just really aren't too many places to eat - or places to shop. We were having a hard time finding something - we wanted Italian. Oh, and it's freezing outside! I think I would actually be at a bearable temperature if I wore ALL the clothes that I brought, because 2 sweaters and a jacket is just not enough! So, we pretty much just went out to get dinner and then headed back to the hotel. So, no pics today! Sorry!! Stay tuned though...I know we will take some tomorrow! Night!

Visiting Boston - Day 1

We have arrived in Boston!! You should have seen our faces when the pilot announced that the weather in Boston was windy with a temp of 18 degrees! OMG - we were in complete shock. Once we actually walked outside, we realized that we must have heard it wrong or he said it wrong because it was pretty nice outside. The picture above is us on our first subway ride!! :D Here are some pics of us waiting to get on the Green Line train:

Once we exited our stop, we were walking to our hotel and I had my first dog encounter and it was to a GREYHOUND! I was SO happy! His name was Irish and he was a blind rescue greyhound. Here's me with Irish! :D
It was pretty much dinner time when we got here, but we hadn't even had lunch yet! So, once we made it to our hotel and got settled in, we went out to find food. We ate at Boloco's - which was like a healthy Chipotle (sorry for all of you who think Chipotle is healthy :P j/k). Then we walked over to Boston College and checked out where Brian needs to be tomorrow morning for his "Accepted Students Day".
Then we walked back to our hotel and took this lovely picture of the reservoir right here - it has to be like 3-4 miles around! It's gorgeous, especially at night. :)
That's all for tonight! I am sure I will have more pics for you tomorrow evening.

Boston it is!

I just wanted to give you all the update that we are officially moving to Boston! Right now I am working on getting my RN license in Massachusetts so that I can start applying for jobs. I have heard new grads are not having the easiest time out there either, but I know things will work out. We hope you can come visit us sometime! :)

Visit to Boston

Well, on Saturday Brian was 90% sure we were going to end up in Boston, but then last night we heard that Fordham has a nicer offer than Boston College. And we are also still waiting to hear from other schools (mainly University of Chicago), so for now everything is still up in the air.

However, we did book our flight and hotel for our first visit to Boston!! We are SO excited!! We are going to be there from March 25-28 because Boston College is having their accepted students day and we want to explore a little and perhaps look at housing. I can't wait to post pictures from our trip!

We're moving!

For those of you who haven't heard the news, Brian has been accepted to Fordham University (in the Bronx -eek!) and to Boston College!!! We are thrilled, but still waiting to hear from the other 5 schools he applied to. Although we can pretty much say at this point that we are for sure moving this August - wow! I will keep you posted, but we should probably know by March where exactly we will be going. I know we will end up where we are supposed to be, where God wants us to be, but this is a big decision for us and we of course are both excited and nervous. Please keep us in your prayers - thanks!