Living In Squalor

We sometimes joke that our friends would be surprised that we occasionally (occasionally or more frequently than not) "live in squalor." Living in squalor happens when we haven't picked up around the house in a while, or when we have cat fur that have become tumbleweeds, accumulating in corners and under the couch. Well, if we ever did live in squalor, we are certainly living in squalor now. We are in the middle of packing and sorting. You know, the part where all your belongings are sitting in limbo and out in the open, not tucked away in the back of a deep closet. Boxes on boxes of books shoved into a corner, and bags or things to be recycled or given away.

I used to think that the reason squalor occasionally exists in our house is because we just have so little room. Of course, that was just me fooling myself. We went to someone's apartment yesterday evening (in the neighborhood) to look at a bed frame we are thinking of buying second hand. His space was small, but so neat (and stylish!). I'm not sure where all his "stuff" was, but I told Chris that I wished I was him- where moving would consist of just the furniture and three (maybe four) small measly boxes of belongings. 

I don't think we have a problem with getting rid of things, we just have a problem with how often we go through and get rid of items we don't need. But perhaps we need to look at how we come to accumulate things that we don't truly need.

I've always heard the saying that moving is a great time to clean. You should only take with you items that you love and/or find useful. (This gets tough with items like the paper shredder. I hate the paper shredder, but it is useful. And it is sentimental- Chris carried this paper shredder that weighs probably over 40 lbs in a backpack through Manhattan...twice! He'll be sad if we ever have to get rid of it).

So, my goal for the new place (and I'll have to be Chris on board) is to keep it minimal. 

*First photo: making progress with packing. Oh, that bin of dirt houses our wriggler worms- an item that I love (granted it's an eyesore) AND find useful!

The "Original" Blog

We have not moved in six years. It's safe to say that we are, we have been pretty settled. Before we lived in our little apartment at the bottom of the Hill, we lived in an even little-er apartment at the top of the Hill for a year. Before that, we lived in an even smaller apartment in the heart of New York City for two years. And before that, we were in a moderate sized, one-room apartment in Boston for a year. So, you can see that we are no strangers to moving, but it's been quite some time since we've had to even think about it. 

I started packing yesterday and I found what I call, the original form of blogging…an old scrapbook that I started in college (of course, this is why packing can be so time consuming- finding and looking through old treasures!). These were the days when online blogs were certainly more rare, and memories were physically cut, pasted, and hand-written into an album. I loved reading out loud the blurbs I wrote. We laughed and commented about how "teenager-y" it all sounded. Truth be told, it did, but then again, a teenager did write it.

I also concluded that we might have liked each other more back then…perhaps not really, but we liked each other differently. It was evident that we grew old (older) together and had we not, it wouldn't really have worked all these years later. 

It's funny what your mind remembers and what it forgets over time. So, I'm glad to have documented some fun times. I hope that this blog serves a similar purpose for me in the future (only, when I pore over it then, there will be less laughing at the writing style!). 

Oh, and we seemed to have also found some original "selfies," too!

Spring beginnings

The weather has finally started to thaw out and warm up this week. This is truly the first week this year, where I am starting to think that spring has finally arrived and here haven't been days below 32 degrees! 

We spent some time in New York two weekends ago. Though one of the days was just purely miserable with constant downpour of rain, we had a good time. Of course, Harry came along, which I documented a little here. We indulged in some pretty great food- one of my favorites being a chicken and waffles brunch. As you can see from the photo above, we made it to Ippudo, a ramen restaurant in the East Village. Chris enjoyed it a lot, and though it was pretty great (and he gives me completely grief for saying this), I have said that I wasn't necessarily blown away, per se. I look forward to having some amazing ramen in Tokyo for comparison (maybe some day!).

Interestingly, we spent a lot of time in Brooklyn- more time than we have ever spent before. And though I appreciate the quirkiness of it, I also appreciate that it is not a town for me (or us) to live in. Several evenings ago, after our trip, we just happened to stumble upon an interesting documentary about the gentrification of Brooklyn and the controversial downtown Brooklyn re-zoning project. There was a sadness conveyed in this film, and it places a different perspective about all the "citifying" and "hipsterizing" of Brooklyn. It was nice to have spent some time in the neighborhoods that were being discussed.

On a very happy note, during our trip, we were able to stop by the Lower Eastside Ecology Center's booth at the Union Square Farmers' market to pick up our wriggler worms!  We are starting our indoor composting project again and I could not be happier. As you may know, we had one for years…YEARS (more on their story in a later post). 

We have the big move coming up next month and it will be a whirlwind of packing, traveling, and organizing. Until then, we've been trying to make it to our neighborhood eateries (nothing fancy) and last night, we took a nice stroll across the Boston Commons to Uburger. I will definitely miss it!