#13

The past few weeks were really wonderful staying with Gina, Mark, Adah, and Kate, as they were extremely hospitable and open to us. Seth and I tried to help them out around the house by cooking a few nights a week and watching the kids (and dogs) a little, but it was still hard not to feel like we should be doing more for them.

Gina had been great in helping to prepare us for moving into an apartment. We went out to BJs and Lowes last week and this weekend we staked out a bunch of garage sales in the affluent neighborhoods nearby. After living in her quaintly decorated house (cute and cozy, like a model home from "Southern Living" magazine) and observing some of her secrets, she has really gotten me motivated in buying vintage/antique style furniture. It will be really exciting to go to more garage sales once we get settled in, though I am sure dingy old Waltham won't be nearly as good as Westford.

We now completed our 13th move in about 9 months; yesterday we moved our last load out of Mark and Gina's place and spent our first night in our apartment in Waltham. We had spent about a week slowly collecting things and dropping them off on our way to Brandeis in the mornings, trying to reduce the move-in mayhem. We also spent the weekend searching craigslist for furniture and borrowed Gina's minivan to pick it all up and deliver it to our new place.

The apartment is not in a very inspiring neighborhood, but the trade-off is that it is located right behind the northern border of Brandeis--it is only a 10min walk to my classes, and about 15 to Seth's office. There is also a yoga studio and Hannaford's grocery store within walking distance, and Moody St (where all the 'action' is) is about 1-2miles away. The inside of the apartment is pretty neat: all hardwood floors, a large bathroom, a very cool sun-room, and a decent sized kitchen. I think once we get settled in and find some more furniture (like a table, some chairs, and a desk), it will be a great place to relax and get work done.

It is a wonderful feeling to finally be living in our own place--we really haven't had an apartment to ourselves since leaving Chapel Hill two years ago (although living at college in Canberra was close). We got to dig out a few of our old household items (well, the ones we decided to keep), and start to build a collection of things we probably won't have to sell any time soon. There are so many little things about living in a 'permanent' home that are easily overlooked and underappreciated. Some of these things are especially noticeable in the kitchen. For example, I can now buy a large bottle of a good quality sauce or oil and know that I can keep it until it is used up. I won't have to throw it away in a few days/weeks/months if I don't finish it. The neat thing about this is that I can build up a nice variety of kitchen supplies and experiment with ingredients (like exotic rices, grains, spices, etc). Also, now that we don't have to share living space with other people (which usually isn't all that bad) we will be able to 'stock up' on items we know we will need. This will greatly reduce our trips to the grocery store, which we used to have to make several times a week. However, the most significant thing for me, I think, is that this afternoon we will be able to unpack our bags. We packed them when we left Canberra in May, four months ago.

With luck, we won't need to move again until we actually buy a home.