NEW CHURCH

Some of you know that we are part of a very small church plant happening in Wakefield, MA. If you are interested in seeing their website, here is the link! You can get a glimpse of our old stomping grounds, Pastor Joie and what our church is about in the short video on the main page...

http://restorationroadchurch.org/

Only four months away from our first service. Pretty cool.

Restoration Road.

Have a happy weekend!
Amber

BE AT PEACE

Just wanted to share some words of peace. No matter where you are in life, this may give you comfort...

Blessings,
Amber

FRAMING

Just another weekend project, or two...
While Paul was out fishing this weekend I spent my Saturday picking up after dang-old Cedarpants, dusting, and doing some fun projects too!

#1: The Oatmeal Rag Holder. 
Miss Cedar is still having some "accidents" in the house. Yes, this is getting very old and I swear that Oslo had this down in just a couple weeks. I think that she is beginning to make hints at "I NEED TO GO OUT PEOPLE!" just we don't understand them. Dog/people communication can be hard, you know.

Well, enough of the rambling. We need to store many rags for potty clean up, staining, dusting, etc. so cue the Oatmeal container...

Plus a little homemade Modge Podge (glue and water mixture works JUST the same) and Scrapbook Paper, and you have yourself a very nice rag holder. And I think it looks swell.

#2: The Picture Frame.
I don't know if you saw my floor to ceiling, black frame gallery wall? I have two galleries going on in my house right now and that is one. The other one is the fish wall which I'll post on some other time (it is WAY cool!).

For my floor to ceiling wall, I still haven't made it to the top. Just so happens I have an old frame I've been dying to paint so why not go black and add to the wall... Plus it's an 8x10 and I have a few wedding pics in that size needing a holder. Here's the original followed by the finished project. In my opinion everyone should have black paint on hand. Or black spray paint.

And here is where the wall is at so far. Might add little quotes and letters to fill in the odd side gaps.

NEWS: I'll share some tomorrow or sometime soon.

I'VE BEEN ANNA-INSPIRED

My cousin - Miss Anna Cole - writes a lovely little blog and she's been doing very well at keeping it going, unlike me. So I've been inspired to write. That, and I've been getting comments from people to write again. I go through spurts, you know?

•••

So this weekend I've been inspired! I'm always inspired to do things... :)

When we moved into our new apartment we got right down to making a home. The second day we moved in I had the bathroom completely painted. Done well? Good enough! Paul helped me finish off the bathroom by taking down old towel racks which we replaced with shelves. Nice little toilet room we have now!

Landon came the first week of our new place and I had him help me paint the kitchen wall. It turned out excellent! The darkest gray I could find. Beautiful. This is our completed wall below - my picture wall needs some more frames to reach the ceiling yet.

So every weekend, and sometimes on weekdays, projects get done. And with Paul's new Christmas gifts from The Home Depot, I have a willing handyman. Yay!

Saturday was dedicated to building my desk. We built the desk originally at Barb and Fred's house for our first apartment. I had Paul take the thing apart when we decided to move to Melrose because of a couple reasons. One: too big. Two: felt we needed a change.

So change is here! I asked for a floating desk, and a floating desk I got. Inspiration:

pushpalate / apartment therapy

My Lovely Desk:

The desk was super easy to make. Since we had the boards, stain and tools, the only things we had to get were a couple different sizes of screws and an L bracket. The L bracket holds 200 lbs and cost under two bucks! Couldn't believe it. Total = $6.50.

The large trunk and dark wooden box are both garage sale finds. The little one has original shipping labels from 1860! The striped wooden box is from my Grandma that she gave me with filled with miscellaneous sewing goods a few years ago. They look good together.

I'll be slowly adding things to my backdrop desk wall. I'm sure it will be a constant up-and-down wall.

Also, I think I'll find a way to keep cords off the ground. Maybe hooks under the table?


It's been fun!
Amber

NEWS: We got a puppy. Her name is Cedar. She is a mix pup between a Corgi, Basset and Aussie Shepherd. I'll do a post on her sometime. Paul is making his own fishing lures these days which has been fun for him. Now we are both crafty! We are planning a trip back to MN. We'll be driving home so Cedar can come. It will be the end of July. Did you know it costs $400 to take a dog on a plane round trip? That's more than human tickets!

IT'S MOVING DAY

Oh, hi there! I couldn't let my blog go a full month without a post so let me quickly update you in 5 minutes...

• Jesse came for a visit the beginning of the month which happened to be one of the best things of my Massachusetts Adventures. Why? It was so nice to have family (and a great friend) with us after feeling very isolated for so long! It was the perfect pick-me-up after the boring and lonely winter. We did so many fun things. The best was just sitting back playing Mexican Train and learning Jesse has a soft spot for 90's music - Meredith Brooks and Alannis Morissette...his true self comes out! :)
• We are getting out of the crazy house! We found a place in Melrose, which is only a skip away from Wakefield. A chunk of this month has been dedicated to packing, changing addresses, and all that moving crap that just sucks! Starting in just a few hours we'll be trucking it out of here. We should be settled in by tomorrow. Our good friend Andy has been so dear to us - he is dedicated to helping us move out of here, helping us today and tomorrow!! [picture of our current place below]
• Speaking of Andy, he just got engaged a week ago to my friend out here, Amanda. I'm very excited because out of all the people we know in Mass we know them best. Also, we were there when they were engaged!! So happy for them!
• On Wednesday Landon is coming to visit for a week! Yes, very exciting. I'm planning on getting completely moved in by the time he comes. Hold me to it. If I get so adventurous, I'm also hoping to paint something. We'll see.
• Paul and I have been puppy searching. We've made a number of trips to the Salem shelter and even fell in love with a puppy - too bad we fell in love with different dogs. :) Our rule: we aren't playing with the dogs until we decide we really are ready and want that one! I think we'll find a puppers very soon.

That's all my life in bullets. I hope you all are doing well. I miss everyone! PS we are coming home this summer so maybe we can get together because I miss you!

Cheers!

Amber

TWO BIG THINGS!

Today's events:

This morning I got a text from cousin Jesse:
"So, if I were to theoretically show up in Boston on say Wednesday, would you be able to pick me up at the train station?"

WHAT?

While trying to think of how to say "YES" best, I got a phone call from a realtor saying we got the apartment we applied to this weekend!

WHAT?

This all happened in literally the same minute.

So Wednesday Jesse will be coming to Massachusetts, and in the middle or end of March we are moving out of the dump into our new apartment. Two Big Things!

Here is one pic of our new place. I don't want to post a lot of images of the tenant's home!!

Likes: allows pets at no additional fee, 10 ft ceilings, big apartment, many windows, walk in closet, three closets, upgrade on kitchen from current, bathtub, and safe/nose-in-the-air Melrose. Not my dream loft, but this place is right.

BOWLADROME

Paul and I have this thing... We don't eat out much or go on many dates, but then we'll make up dates for random events. Saturday we did a make-up-for-Valentine's Day Date at the Bowladrome for instance. [We stayed in on V-day for a movie in on our pull-out couch.]

We've driven past the Bowladrome so many times, and every time say we should go. Every time, though, the parking lot is packed––even to the streets! When we drove by on Saturday to see the lot was nearly empty, it was a definite must.

I did a little research on the place ahead of time to get the gist on prices. $16.00 for an hour up to four people, including shoes. That's a decent price. Reviews said the place was retro, and hadn't been touched since it was built––in a cool, clean way! Some people come from Boston to bowl here for the candlestick bowling and retro feel.

Now, I never heard about candlestick (or candlepin) bowling and just assumed the reviews were commenting on some cool atmosphere term I was unfamiliar with. I didn't know it was an actual type of bowling. We were surprised to see the place: little bowling balls and skinny pins.

WIKIPEDIA SAYS:
Candlepin bowling is a variation of Bowling that is played primarily in the Canadian Maritime provinces, Ontario, Quebec, and the New England states of Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, where it is more common than ten-pin bowling....


Candlepin bowling was developed in 1880 in Worcester, Massachusetts by Justin White, a local bowling center owner, some years before both the standardization of the ten-pin sport in 1895... MORE

The main difference is that you throw three times in a turn, the balls are only one size without finger holes (a little bigger than a bocce ball), and the pins look like sticks. The lanes are shorter I guess, and there are some other differences I don't care to share because quite honestly they're boring. When we played we didn't know any of the rules, so we just bowled like normal. I think my high score was 59. Paul's was in the 60s/70s. If we would've played right we obviously would've done better!! Three turns would've at least bumped my score to 75!

Bowladrome Pics:

Landon, look forward to the Bowladrome when you come out here!!

NEWS: Another random date we celebrated last week was "not signing a lease date." / We have two showings booked for those apartments I mentioned on Saturday. / I'm starting to look at dogs again :) We are expanding our dog search now (before we were only looking at Tcup dogs to keep a secret from our landlord). I still like Tcups and mini dogs, but I added a puggle to my want list. / I called the police on my neighbor the other night. I wouldn't say that turned out to be helpful. She hasn't changed. That was a huge act of courage because I have never called the police before!

THE UGLY CITIES

I fell in love!! This weekend Paul and I were booked with apartment searches. Frustrated with the Crazies (which has multiplied over the last week for some reason), we were desperate! Desperate times call for desperate measures, yes? So I considered some pretty ugly cities for an escape out of the nuthouse.


And, I fell in love! If you know me at all, I love all things "home." Luxury Lofts? Sign me up!! Here are the places we went to.


Monarch Lofts (obviously my favorite):

This would be our apartment too!! Paul said we should hang a hammock between the beams. Deal. Love the exposed brick, 16 ft ceilings, 12 ft windows, granite countertops, open layout, wood floors, dog running path, yoga room, rooftop patio, across the street from the T, etc., etc. Check out the website: http://www.monarchlofts.com/


The other places (took pics but don't want to post all them) are below:
Washington Mills: http://wmlofts.com/

Hamel Lofts (Haverhill): http://hamelmilllofts.com/

After careful consideration of the lofts in Lawrence (shriek from the locals) we decided to do some further research into the city to see what all the fuss it about. 

Things that should make you scared about ghetto Lawrence:

"The last time I went there, I went to fillup my car, and noticed the gas station was different than most - you couldn't walk inside, and gave your money to the attendant protected behind thick bulletproof glass through a steel drawer." -MassYankee

"If someone wanted to live in a former mill city, maybe in a converted-to-lofts building, certainly Lowel is a much better choice. Or even Nashua. I can't see any reason to move to Lawrence on purpose." -brightdoglover

"The police chief of Lawrence gets more airtime on Boston television than any other Massachusetts official - including the governor." -beachcomber4

"Good luck whichever you choose, but please make an informed descision for the sake of your family! There are reasons why it it so cheap to live there." -LMMEGNA

And some good signs (these are from 2008/09):

"South Lawrence (on the Andover side) never took the tumble much of the rest of the city did. And now, at least along the river in the downtown area, there are indeed signs of real and lasting revival." -goyguy

"Many of the former mill buildings are in the midst of a transformation to hopefully breath some new life into the city. Home to Malden Mills (producers of Polartec--google Aaron Feuerstein for an amazing but true story), a New Balance factory outlet, Monarch on the Merrimack (luxury geothermally heated condos, Salvatore's Restaurant, All Things Sicilian (cooking classes!)... 

Lawrence is a gritty, blue-collar (no collar?) city. It's not for everybody, but I've worked with people who love it for what it is... If you're anywhere near the area, take a driving tour to judge for yourself." -Valerie C

More here

After a day and a half of discussion and prayer we had decided on Monarch, but still had a few uncertainties. On Sunday, we still had some questions about our decision. We decided to take a walk around Wakefield's lake, and came to the realization that we were crazy to think about moving from our beautiful, safe little town. It was just what we needed––to see just what we love about what we DO have here. Yes, there are some downs, but we can go outside, play tennis, run around the lake, take walks together, and even go to the shops and restaurants. We would never be able to do that in Lawrence. In Lawrence, we would be too scared to go walking on the streets.


So we have decided to stay put until we find a place that is a little closer to home (Wakefield Home). We are going to be patient and not rush into things. I would LOVE to find a loft, but we will probably have to compromise. We will get less of a house for a good town. 


Good evening,
Amber


NEWS: Two leads on apartments in the next couple weeks. One in Stoneham. One in Melrose. Both neighboring towns that are very nice.

WAKEFIELD FUNDED FOR MENTAL HEALTH COMMUNITY

I came across this article just now and had to share! Please read about my nuthouse apartment and my crazy town:
"The Wakefield Police Department is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a $40,000 Jail Diversion Grant through the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health and Human Services... will be used to further our partnership with Elliot Community Human Services and Riverside Community Care to better serve our mental health community." More Here.

I am about half-way through the article (honestly) and all of a sudden hear my neighbor coming up the street. "Blankity-blank-blank-blank... You need to get a job!     Get A JOB.....  Jes.. C.. Ohhhhh, that person behind the dooooor... she's hard at worrrrk. She's gunna go to graduate school...." SLAMS THE DOOR!!!!!!!! "EEHHH!" (Now she's mumbling to herself.)

I'm pretty sure she's referring to me in her yelling just now. She knows I went to college. Now you know why I don't leave my apartment––fear of running into her! I encourage you to read that article. I once was told that a few streets in Wakefield were government funded to hold the mentally ill. My street one of them. I haven't been able to dig up anything, but with 50% of my apartment neighbors the way they are and the interesting people I frequently see on the streets, I strongly believe that our town is nutty.

SLAM!!!! (Crazy just slammed the door) And, just opened it again. She's pacing the halls right now. You can hear her footsteps. Up and down the hallway. She's also mumbling to herself...

Well. Back to work!

Cheers to happy neighbors!
Amber

NEWS: We are looking at apartments Saturday. Unsafe neighborhood but very nice loft apartments. They are the top of our budget, but doable. All three places allow pets (with a fee). We'll see about how we feel about the location, hidden expenses, etc. Say a prayer that our income isn't an issue (Paul's in a contract position and I'm self employed so it can look risky to leasing agents) and that we find something available. I would love to get away from here!! I am not going to show you the places until afterwards because I don't want to jinx it.

TO MY VALENTINES

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYBODY! LOVE ALL OF YOU IN MINNESOTA, CALIFORNIA AND TEXAS... AND ANY OTHER STATES I'M MISSING.

Love,
Amber