Journey to the Dog Park and walks along the river

We have almost gotten all of the things out of boxes and all the boxes out of the apartment!! I feel like this is a small victory since "out of the apartment" means down four flights of stairs X about 50 trips. My thighs and behind are going to be very defined after this stay in Boston.

Yesterday, we took Ramen to the dog park. She was so happy!! It is amazing that a 30 minute walk to the South End can change the scenery and the vibe so much. The feeling in this neighborhood is much more like a community and less like a tourist attraction. We had looked at a studio apartment here when we came in April but decided the commute would be a little long especially in the winter. We both agree we made the right choice but wish we had the luxury of this dog park closer to where we live. There is a dog bakery and supply store around the corner called Polka Dot Dog Bakery. We stopped in to pick up some treats with the Noodle and she went nuts!! She was smelling and trying to eat everything off the display. They had this nifty water bottle that you can squeeze and it runs into a little dish that the dog can drink out of so that you do not have to carry a bowl. I could not resist the absolute genius of this thing!! Next to PDDB there is a cheese store that Maria (Matt's sister) sent me cheese from for Christmas this past year. This is what I imagine heaven's kitchen to look like! I picked up some Coppa (cured meat), Twig Farm Square goat cheese from Vermont, and these jerky like sticks called Landjager. It was like a party in my mouth!! We have managed to save half of the meat and cheese as a snack for later but if Matt doesn't hurry back from the hospital they might just disappear. We went to dinner at a small Italian place last night a couple of streets over called Bin 26 Enoteca. This place was no Bettola (Birmingham) but it was "slightly above average" as Matt put it. I have never seen gnocchi the size of golf balls until now! We did realize that one good thing about not having a car is that you can drink as much wine as you want and not worry about how you are getting home! It was a much needed dinner date that did not revolve around moving, jobs, or stress.

Ramen Noodle enjoying herself at Peter's Park

Today has been get the house completely in order day. Which meant I had to finally come to terms with the clothes and closet situation. Fun, fun. We have three closets that are about the size of a coffin turned up on its end. I, alone, have enough clothes to fill up all three of these closets! Somehow, I have managed to fit my stuff in 1.75 closets and 4 under the bed boxes. Victory 2 for me!! We needed some groceries and Matt was busy unpacking so I decided to try it alone. The only large grocery store near us is a Whole Foods and before moving here I was so excited to have a reason to shop at this store all the time. They always have great produce, meat, and cheese but the best selection they have is wine and beer. This store is next to the hospital so it always stays very busy. Today was no different! I could barely walk around much less think about what it was that I came to buy. I quickly got into the flow and made it around to the dairy section. Matt and I like Coffeemate Sweet Italian Cream creamer. I knew they would probably not have this but thought there would be something comparable. I ended up with a 1/2 pint of hazelnut Coconut Milk creamer. It tastes like mix of wood and coconut and I think there may be 1/4 of a cup in my coffee right now!! Next item on the list was a rotisserie  chicken. In Birmingham, you can find this at any grocery store for around 5.99 at Whole Foods in Boston 10.00. This is a great example of the increased cost of living. I was being stubborn, as usual, so I bought it anyway. Next, I wanted to buy some good beer. We had purchased some microbrewed beer made in Nantucket and I swear it was either SouthPaw or KeyStone Light in the can! I walked around and around and could not find the wine/beer section so I stop an employee. She says "We do not carry alcohol in this store." I say "Well why not??" She states "Its Boston and you know we are all Puritan. They just won't let us sell it. But there is a liquor store down the street". I am thinking WTF. Even in Alabama, most of the conservative places sell beer now. I stuff all my purchases in my big bag and take off back for the house. Once I got home and unload all of it into the kitchen I realized I spent 65.00 and there really was nothing to eat!! We have discussed it and I think we are going to try grocery delivery service which makes me happy. There are quite a few companies but one called Pea Pod seems to be pretty popular. You order online and they go get the items and bring them to your door. Best part is that the grocery items are much less expensive than Whole Foods!

We capped off our night with a jog along the Charles River and watching an episode of Mad Men on the computer. We still do not have our Comcast setup but will hopefully be rejoining the television world tomorrow!!

Boston wins first round in game with the Fusco's

As you can tell from the title of this post, moving day did not go quite as planned. We had 3 furniture casualties, the couch, the box springs and a dresser. When you live up 4 flights of stairs that make 90 degree angles, the only type of furniture that is going to fit is the kind Hobbits use in Lord of the Rings. I, however, have nothing but wonderful things to say about the movers and driver that delivered our things. They were with Scott's moving company (a subset of United Van Lines). These were the hardest working men I have ever met and did it all with humor!! We decided to order pizza for everyone and I went to a little pizza shop down the street called Felcaro. It was delicious!! It is just how my mom likes it, thin as paper. During the madness, I received a call about a prospective job. I am a nurse and have always assumed that getting a job would be relatively easy in a different city. I was WRONG. I have never felt more rejected than I have in the past 3 months. This call was no different. People constantly tell me that you can do anything for two years, it can only get better, and something will come along. I believe all this is true but it is a little hard to buy into those thoughts right now. So we rounded out moving day beat up and beat down.  

Next day we decided to sleep in on our own mattress. Even without the box springs it was heavenly!! We quickly got to unpacking and as of now, we have a fully unpacked kitchen ,office desk and bathroom. I feel that isn't bad for just two days!!

 Last night, we wanted to get out of the house and went to the Little Lamb around the corner. It was a Mongolian Hot Pot BBQ restaurant. Matt and I both love any kind of Asian food and thought we would give it a whirl. We sit down and a check list menu gets put in front of us. I ask our waitress exactly how this worked since I thought we would just be ordering off of a menu. She tried as best she could to explain that you pick your broth, meat, veggie, and starch. (sideline--I have a hard time telling people I don't understand them and this has resulted in many strange situations for me in the past such as blinged out fingernails and a bad wax job) So naturally, after the second time of her explaining it I act like I know what she has said. We pick out two broths, a couple of meats, bok choy, vermicelli and mushrooms. When she returns from the kitchen she has a very large yin yang sign looking bowl with the two broths in it. She sets it down on the table and turns a switch and the middle of the table starts boiling our broth. Next, she bring out each individual item that I listed out before. All the meat is frozen and raw, the bok choy raw in a bowl and some vermicelli noodles that are not cooked. We are looking at each other like "what the hell is this". So still not wanting to look culturally dumb I start dropping the meat in the broth. Out of the corner of my eye, I see our waitress fling herself into the bowl with MY chopsticks and start fishing out the meat. She is saying that they are only suppose to be in there for a minute. At this point, all hope of not looking silly is out the window! She was so kind to basically walk us thru this meal step by step. I managed to drop some sausage from my chopsticks into the broth which sent it flying all over my shirt. Matt had noodles hanging from all sides of his bowl and the waitress finally asked me if I needed a fork. It was not a cheap or easy meal but it definitely was worth every cent for the comedic quality. They also serve my favorite bubble tea which means I will be visiting again but maybe not for the strange build-a-meal.

I am off now to walk the noodle. She has been acting a little depressed today. I am not sure if it is all the boxes towering over her or if she is just now starting to miss her backyard? We have been trying to take her out many times a day and for long walks but nothing seems to be making her smile her usual smile. We hope that the rain holds out tomorrow so that we can take her to the South End to a leash free dog park and treat store!!! Crossing our fingers.

 Bottom picture is of our movers trying so hard to make our couch work!

1176 Miles Behind Us

Last week we were in Birmingham living in our house, with the convenient dog door, tucked away litter box, happily sitting on our couch watching tv. My how those simple conveniences seem like the were so long ago. Our moving adventure started last Monday when Mom and Dad came to the house to help box up and remove all of the things that would not fit in our Boston apartment. It is amazing that in two years of marriage you can collect so much stuff! The moving company came in on Tuesday and Wednesday to pack and then move all of our things that made the "cut" and they are probably somewhere around Pennsylvania right now.

We rented a car to make our journey, since we will be car less for our time in Boston, and started to cram all of our necessities and pets into the back. Moving Revelation #1 :  Unless you would use it camping it is NOT a necessity. Since we would be dropping off Matt's car in Virginia, where his brother and sister in law so graciously let us crash with our pets, we would have to drive the 9 hours separately. I took the rental car and the Fat Man (cat) and Matt took Ramen Noodle (dog) and his car. Moving Revelation #2: Tranquilizing the cat will only make the situation worse! It was like transporting a pissed off, obnoxious, and half comatose adolescent that was just small and furry. I have very little patience for drunks but since I induced it (per veterinary advice) I couldn't complain too much.

Next leg of our trip was from Virginia to Boston. Matt drove the entire way...I think he thought he was making up for the cat madness from the day before. Fat Man was chilling in the back the whole time and barely made a peep until we had to put him in his carrier. Ramen Noodle rode in my lap the whole way with her nose shoved into the a/c vent, which is her favorite part of a rode trip. Moving Revelation #3: Turnpikes are not like regular interstates and if you get off it is a pain in the ass to get back on. Not your zip on and off I65 in Alabama. We get to our street and have our game plan for quickly putting the Fat Man and the Noodle in the apartment bathroom until we get the rest of the car unloaded. We get to the door and turn the key and the lock won't budge. I am thinking this place is old and maybe it is just hard to open. Nope. Key doesn't work to the outside door!! I call our property manager's phone number and get an answering service that is used to page them during non-office hours. I page, I page, I page again 20 minutes later still outside and no response. I had called our rental broker, Sarah Glovsky, and she called me back immediately. She is probably the only rental agent that would call someone back at 10:30 on a Sunday night!!! She is awesome! However, we still couldn't manage to get in the door. A couple walks up and looks at Matt like he is a crazy homeless man with a cat in a carrier. He tells them the story and pleads with them to let us in to door. They say "if we are burglars, we sure are sophisticated". We get up to the apartment door and hold our breath to see if this key works. It does!! We open the door and BAM--110 degrees of stale heat smack us in the face. Our apartment does not have central air and there is a bit of a heat wave in Boston. After opening all the windows we get it down to a cool 90 degrees and start to blow up the air mattress. Since we cant risk getting locked out of the building we unload the car one at the time and take turns holding the door open. We finally get everything inside take an ice cold shower, water down the pets, and go to sleep.

Tomorrow we will wake up and start to explore our new big city......

Matt's reaction to the Fat Man's restroom break