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

A NICE APARTMENT IN A BAD LOCATION?

What is better? A nice apartment in a bad location, or a bad apartment in a nice location?

The apartment search is taking over my life, and what I'm finding out is you can't always get what you want! Last night we had dinner with Barb and Fred and discussed apartment living and how they started out their search. They made compromises by location. I think we are going to have to compromise in some part of our search, because anything that looks too good to be true actually is too good to be true.

We discussed purchasing over renting. Obviously a better solution if financially ready! I wish we could go right to purchasing. Maybe after a year or two of saving, plus secure jobs––remember Paul is in a contract position and my income is dependent on my company's business... Potentially we could go the same route Barb and Fred did, purchase a townhouse/condo and probably pay close to the same we do in rent from what I've researched, slowly pay off our mortgage and get a nice investment. To only dream. We would never get a house out in Mass by the way. Too expensive!

For now, we drag on our apartment search. To stay in our nice town and live in a dingy attic apartment... To live in our nice town and live in a 255 sq ft apartment... Or to move to the ghetto, away from the ocean and live in a nice duplex loft with granite countertops that allows pets... We upped our budget on website searches and still haven't found a thing.

Amber

NEWS: Met with the realtor yesterday and she had nothing new to show us with her mulit-listing website. I wasn't impressed. Plus if she finds us a place that we can find ourselves, she would ask for at least $200-500 out of the deal. How does that make sense? The only perk is she may negotiate with landlords on the pet situation, which we can't do. My thoughts: take the money we would give her and put that towards rent to up our budget $25 a month. Today is our 6 month wedding anniversary––not that big of a deal, but kind of. Better than Vday. We're staying in and watching a movie.

DO YOU EVER FEEL STUCK?

Do you ever feel stuck? I mean, stuck in your life, in your work, in your home. I sure you do! That's how I've been feeling recently. Stuck in a rut. And it's been with all categories of my life and at the same time which doesn't make getting out easy. Let me explain.

HOME
Not only do we live with a crazy neighbor, one who paces the hall and yells at all hours of the day, we are also in a contract to stay in our apartment for a whole year. Yes, a lease. Luckily with recent events our landlady has let us opt out of our lease with 30 days notice, due to our crazy neighbor and desire to be pet owners. So that's a little less stuck.

But my day revolves around the Phsyco living across the hall. My work desk is by our window and I have a view of all who enter and exit our building. No exaggeration, I don't leave our place alone unless I know for sure Crazy is out of the building. When I do, I carry I knife with me. Picture me going to the front entrance in my slippers scrambling to open our mailbox and holding a knife. I'm sure people think I'm crazy. I kind of think I might be too after living with all the people in our building. From what I can tell there is only a small handful of us that actually work. The rest must be government funded to live in this nut house.

WORK
I work from home. While I love my job I do feel stuck in it, or don't know what or when my next endeavor is at least. My work stuck problems overlap my home stuck problems as I feel trapped and unable to leave my apartment. Sometimes I work for a while at the library. One time Crazy caught up with us on the street. Our friend said hi to her and she said a whole lot of screaming profanities right back at us. So it's not even fun to try to escape to the library. She goes there too.

I have a budget I can't cross with my position at work (I actually have crossed over the last three months). I'm working part time. I've looked at positions in Wakefield. You know, part time desk jobs that will hopefully bring a total of full time hours all together. Not finding much. Plus, I don't really want to push my PR position second to a probably lower dollar/hr. position. Will I have to work nights and weekends just so I can get good hours with my PR job?

I've looked for other jobs in Boston/Cambridge area along with PR/Marketing positions in the North Shore cities. How will I commute? We only have one car and Paul has that for work. Yes, we could get another car when I get hired. But how do I get to the interview? We are also looking to move, so that complicates all working situations. I will need a lot of time off as Landon is coming this spring for a week and I'm going home this summer to help Paige with wedding things. How do you tell a future employer that you'll need two weeks off within your first four months?

LIFE
Work and Home take up a lot of life. Actually, just about all my life as I work from home and the rest I spend at home. I am still meeting new people out here and hopefully will find a close group of friends. I don't have a car that often, so really can't escape much. Overall, just feeling really stuck.

Looking forward to a meetup group I found online. It's like online dating, but for people who socialize with others. I'm now a member of a 20 somethings women group in Melrose (town next to Wakefield). Next week I'm attending a get together for Happy Hour/Dessert. Looking forward to some girl time and meeting new people!

Best,
Amber

NEWS: The apartment search has not gone well so far. Called/emailed on a dozen that are already rented or will only take singles (must be a housing code). Not finding anything in our price range that allows pups, except for that one scam!! Today we meet with a realtor so wish us luck! Tonight we are having stew and playing cards with Barb and Fred.


Super random pic I'm including. This graveyard is in Wakefield right on Lake Q. I think the old stones are neat.

SUPER BOWL

Yes we watched the Super Bowl. No we didn't want the Patriots to win. In fact we didn't want the Pats or the Giants going to the Super Bowl!

Paul made this shirt to sport our true feelings about game day. Good thing most our friends are actually out-of-staters like ourselves.

[BOO BOTH TEAMS!]  [ONLY HERE 4 COMMERCIALS!]


Let me rant just a little bit... Almost every Sunday service that I can think of during football season the Patriots are mentioned in the sermon. That's not just one crazy New Englad football pastor, it's a handful! I'm not even joking you! One pastor went so far to parallel Jesus and Tom Brady. WHAT? "We worship Jesus like we do Tom Brady".... I think you got it the other way around there buddy.

New England has a sick problem for the Pats and I loved seeing them lose in the Super Bowl. Even if it was to another east coast team I don't like. They lost, ha! Yes, that's to the little family I saw at the grocery store wearing matching Brady jerseys–like three little red, white and blue ducks following their football-crazed, Pat-loving Pappy.

NEWS: We are looking for new apartments. Yes already! We cannot take out neighbor any longer plus we would like to get a puppy at some point and our lease doesn't allow dogs–no matter how much I begged to our landlady. Finding apartments for under $1000 that allow small animals, and not a crapper is near impossible. We finally made it to the RMV and our new licenses should be here soon.

GIRLS' NIGHT IN!

Just to let you know last night Paul and I started watching The Devil Wears Prada and he braided my hair!

GIRLS' NIGHT IN!!

Yes, I said started so this is to be continued... tonight. I miss all my roommies and friends back home, but at least I have a husband who will occasionally braid my hair and watch chick flicks. So even though it wasn't a REAL Girls' Night In it's probably the closest thing I'll get...

Happy Birthday Dad/Grandma!!

Love,
Amber

BOSTON WEEKEND WITH NEW FRIENDS

Saturday Paul and I made our first trip together into BOSTON! Forecast: very snowy. But we had made long term plans with Gordon and Thea (friends of Anna and Jeremy- cousin/husband) to meet up for the Boston Wine Expo and lunch. We weren't going to call it off due to a little snow. After all, we are from MN.

We mapped out our day the night before, and headed out the door at 9:45. By 10:25 we made it to Malden, where we were parking our car and hopping on the train (subway - called T). Our goal was to make the 10:25 T into Boston. Oops. The snow slowed us down, and the fact we messed up our directions on the way there...

When we got inside, we had no idea how to purchase tickets! There are ticket machines, so that was the obvious choice, but what options?! Subway/Bus, Commuter Rail, Charlie Card (or something) and some other selections. We initially chose Commuter Rail, and then were asked which route: 1A, 2A, B, C, D, E, F, etc. What?? That's when my freak out started. 

We had to ask––I mean Paul–– had to ask a gentleman next to us. He helped us purchase tickets. The payment wasn't working. Turns out the machine we were using didn't work either. Oh Boy! Eventually we got our tickets, went through the T doors and made it to the train. 

Now... which exit do we get off? With so many options, we really didn't know the closest one. Paul had to look up in his phone. We decided on State Street, with a 25 minute walk... through the snow. It was slightly miserable. BUT, Boston was really pretty. Due to the poor conditions, nervous about being late and cold/snowy weather I didn't take any pictures of my first trip to Boston.

---

The Wine Expo was amazing. We went to a Kevin Zraly's seminar, who has the best selling wine book in the world! Impressive. He was very funny.

This is what some people are saying about the guy: 

“... the #1 wine education bestseller in the world.”

—2010 Gourmand Hall of Fame - Wine Books

“Kevin is the the finest wine educator I have known,
a naturally gifted speaker, exceptionally articulate,
refreshingly humble and candid. He has already made enormous contributions to wine education
and appreciation.”

—Robert Parker -- The Wine Advocate

“Zraly is the most talented, effective and
entertaining wine teacher I have met”

- Michael Apstein of The Boston Globe

“Zraly's own appetite for wine is the reference
point for much of his edgy classroom humor”

- Robert Bierck of Business Week Online

--

We had lunch afterward at Durgin's, which was pretty good. Gordon said the waiters are sassy. Our waiter was a little sassy, but mostly strange. We had great conversation with Gordon and Thea and enjoyed our activities, including the long snow storm walk through all of Boston.

The website for Durgin's Park is very cool. I would say a nicer than the actual place, so nice marketing by them! 

On the way back I did sneak one pic of the T... so JK I did take a picture.

Cheers!

Amber

NEWS: Paul started his new job at Konarka. He is so smart and good at everything I know he will do well! It is a lot of work jumping into the position. The guy he's replacing was there for 2.5 years (6 month contract being renewed each term).

Hopefully just one more week of Crazy next door!!

It's my Dad's birthday and Grandma Shirley's birthday tomorrow. Happy birthday!

WINTER: MOVING ON...

Chilly here in Mass, and I heard it is in Minnesota too! The states are finally moving into winter weather; dislike.

Last night Paul and I made a special recipe from my mother. Tetrazzini. Yum! I made this cute little recipe card, which I'm going to do for all my recipes handed to me from others, including my signature logo. Logo doesn't take credit for the recipe––just makes it part of my recipe box. Credit's to my Ma, as it says so.

And the end product looks like this! YUMS! Note, the pig timer from Hollis Pearson :)

I would recommend this meal for warming up the insides on a cold winter day! Hope you are all staying warm.

NEWS: Our crazy neighbor (who paces the halls mumbling about jobs/college, yells swears at random, slams doors that knock my mirrors off my bathroom wall, and stares and me like she's going to murder me) is scheduled to leave by the end of the month. I talked to the landlord today, and she doesn't have a good feeling about it. Court was mentioned...


We are also going to the Boston Wine Expo with new friends Gordon and Thea. I was in cousin Anna's wedding with Gordon a long while back, and we are meeting up for a wine seminar and lunch afterward. HOW FUN!