New Resident in Watertown

Well, the big news of the year is, I bought my first home!  It's the first floor and a half of the house pictured below.  Usually my mini will be parked right where I'm standing there.

Just like with a job offer, the application process was so slow and complex that I didn't want to write anything about this ahead of time.  Back on March 10, I put an offer on a condo just one day after it had gone on the market, and March 11th (after a rough night of waiting by the phone & warming a barstool at Matt Murphy's), the sellers accepted my offer.

These last two months the process came along gradually and it all went fine, but things have felt nuts for me simply because I had 2 trips to Colorado, 1 visit to California, and an upcoming complicated 2-week trip to Europe with my family that kept me doubly occupied!  
Thankfully it all came together right on time, and I attribute all of the calm to my brilliant, easy-going real estate agent in Watertown who didn't let anything slip, who was patient, honest and listened when in January I said, "I am not in a hurry; I don't want to buy anything right away" and then had the good sense to ignore me on that when I quickly changed my mind in late March.

One of my favorite things about Watertown is everybody knows their local businesses and their neighbors -- it's a very small town, so I can only hope I'm going to be the small town gossip on this street, a redheaded single-lady nutcase from Calfornia who wants to adopt a dog ASAP and is known for peeling out like batshit in the black mini cooper that screams "Santa Cruz" off the back windows.  Kidding.  Maybe.

The cute businesses in my neighborhood (besides an array of Armenian and various Mediterranean markets) include Sofra (well loved among the vegan Cambridge crowd) and Magnolia Wine which I am relieved to report carries a great selection of small beers, including Abita. 

Russo's (below) on Pleasant St., a huge fresh indoor/outdoor market, was actually my inspiration for moving to Watertown and I'm not the only one to say that.

Literally the first 10 minutes that I was entering my home for the first time, the mailman walked up and asked "Are you Lara Sue?" which was a good sign - and let's be honest - expected. The handwritten "Lara Sue" is known by mailmen far and wide.

One of the first items of business was a cute doormat.

Note to self: time to shop for some house number tiles. Black and white hardware-store stickers will not do.  Something New Orleanian, perhaps.

Another first item of business was getting a few friends in place -- there is a beautiful jade green tiled fireplace in my living room, and this is by no means the final placement, but I made a little altar of favorite things, good luck charms, family, friends and such on the mantel.  Wiiiiiiiliillson!

Second item of business was picking up my favorite incredible Greek yogurt from Sophia's, a shop just at the end of my street (technically not in Watertown, but Belmont!) that has everything a wannabe-Greek could ever dream of.  Yummmm.

On moving day, I was impressed to see the sides of the house are blooming with pinks - although everything in Boston is blooming beautifully this year. When I viewed the house in March, I actually didn't know there was anything planted!  A huge tree behind the house provides gracious shade for the the summer. 

Gorgeous roses arrived from my mum n' dad the day after closing.

By the way, it's hilarious the things you realize you never noticed when you were house-shopping.  My bathroom is very basic, beige and plain, except for the ornate faux-gold foliage on the TP hanger.

Also the bathroom and some of the other doors have a skeleton key. How very Alice. "Well, one good turn deserves another!"

If I look a little tired, this photo is a huge understatement of that.  

It was taken at midnight last night after I spent an hour driving myself crazy looking for a shower curtain (which it turns out, was still at Mary's, after all that).  My bedroom is going to look like a homeless person lives in there for a while.  I have a mattress on the floor and no furniture, really.  I have a pig-in-pajamas lamp from Amelie that needs to come out of the box.  But I'm trying to just get a handle on the kitchen first.

The owners before me had left a file of receipts and history for construction or repairs done on the home including apparently, an unwelcome visit from squirrels in the basement.  My goal is to keep a binder of the same stuff, but it's getting a noticeably sloppy start. 

It's pretty sad that when I took inventory, I only owned one spoon!  Ha.  I've been living with other people's silverware so long...

So I picked up some polka-dotted (seemed right) silver at Targét last night.

Thank God Amy's wedding souvenirs last weekend were packets of freshly-ground coffee and lots of it.  Kate and I were hoarding the coffee, and I really needed it this week and last week when things are all packed and I _can't_ find my anything.

Everyone keeps asking "Are you so excited???" with eagerness in their eyes - but truth is, moving is draining. The 250 sealed-up boxes and containers staring me in the face are overwhelming me, so I'm going to have to take it in small bites and not over-commit to staying up to 2 am looking for the shower curtain, or socks, or soap, or Ben Gay, or whatever.

I also already really miss JP - I've been feeling nostalgic about it all month, even though just yesterday there were 2 cars' windows busted out right outside my front door there.  It was a sad fact when my bike was immediately stolen when I moved in, but there is still a happy friendliness and picturesque charm to the ultra-urban über-trendy part of Boston.  No matter what gadget I buy, I can never possibly replace the exceptional cappuccino that I'd buy just two steps from our front door in Stony Brook.

Here's a photo of Mary's phenomenal living room (the day after the spray tan for Amy's wedding).  The thing I might even miss the most is how people go cruising by our corner with their windows down, blaring anything from Michael Bolton to Desmond Dekker to the salsa soundtrack from SNL's Manuel Ortiz Talk Show... it cracks me up, and is never-ending.

 ...the little guy who always startles me on Mary's porch

The first day I moved into JP, the neighbors were all having drinks and snacks on the patio together, laughing up a storm and instantly invited me to join. Our neighbors completely rebuilt their patio in the Winter, and today was the first day they had the same outdoor activity again, as I was moving out! 

Well, cheers to summer, and stay tuned for blogs in the coming weeks from Ukraine, Poland, Italy and Switzerland with my mum n' dad.  Phew!

p.s. Unrelated to all this, I am obliged to mention that the news of MCA/Adam Yauch/Nathaniel Hornblower's death last weekend left me feeling ill -- not a good ill, but distinctly ill, for sure. At least the tributes have been great so far, and can't wait for the inevitable more tributes to come in the coming year.

Oh, word

Phew! After the rough February and March of budget season at work wrapped up on Friday, I first had to celebrate with some Irish fish n' chips with Ronnie... but then I took a personal day Monday to walk around Brooklyn with my cousin, Kim who has an incredible eye for art, especially street art. Kim could tell me the names of who did what based on their spraypaint and stencils or signature. It was unexpectedly tank top weather, and a perfect day for a slow mosey.

As you can see, any unmarked walls in Brooklyn are fair game -- certain neighborhoods like Greenpoint are a playground / free gallery for artists and/or smart asses. Easily my favorite shop was a place full of Mexican art and gifts called Fuego. We ended the bright day at Brooklyn Brewery which I must say, felt surrealy like trying to get into Oz - there was this odd, short bouncer woman hanging out at the warehouse door, trying to convince us that we were too early or too late for the "tour", but she had inconsistent excuses... with some urging and persistence, she let us in. It was 7 bucks, and should probably just be free, but it was still good.

Couldn't help but laugh about this cute bookshop, thinking of the Beastie Boys song Oh, word. "the name's MCA, made in downtown brook-lyn"

Wait, which way? Wha?

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Kim's home and studio in the Bronx

Her beautiful collection of milagros - more on that here: http://kipiboo.blogspot.com/2011/01/hearts-collecting.html
Below, Kim's mini squares make one great wall centerpiece - check out her big stuff on http://www.kipiski.com or little stuff on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/kipi

I also loved walking Kim's neighborhood -- the low-key, beach bum bungalow community of City Island (which looks a lot like the location of Hitchcock's The Birds, even though I know that was Buzzards Bay in California). I guess it's a little touristy and chowder-housey, but it was romantic and adorable. Kim is the epitome of the cousin who's too cool and talented to be related to my family, but my grandmother and her mother were first cousins, it's true. I am psyched that after years of wanting one, I finally purchased one of Kim's paintings this weekend, and hope I can pick up another rectangular one in the Winter.

Super chill City Island:

Marveling at her neighborhood's private little beach... imagine you can sit & have your coffee on the water every day! Ahhh!

The marina where Kim reports to her seasonal sailing team
a little bar on the end of her street

On Tuesday, I worked a long day at Columbia University School of Journalism for an incredible event suporting the Democracy in Action study guide that was one of my first projects for Facing History, supporting the PBS American Experience film, Freedom Riders. While managing this project for Facing History, I've had the honor of befriending the co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Nashville (back in the 60's), and a close colleague of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's, the wonderful Bernard LaFayette, Jr. (http://vimeo.com/38923944) Every time I talk to Bernard, I wish I could move down to Atlanta and take one of his courses at Emory University. But it's great having him speak at our events and engage teachers and students like no other. He is a joy and a treasure.

I hope to have some news about moving to Watertown in the coming month, but nothing is official just yet. Keep your fingers crossed~
at brooklyn brewery, above

life's a bummer when you're a hummer

Work is busier in February than any other month, so I can't tell you how ready I was to embrace March 1st last week.

These last few weekends, I've been itching to go for a long drive, so yesterday with nothing major on the agenda, I took a drive out west to the Berkshires and did a little driving around Lanesborough, Pittsfield and shopping in Northampton. Funny - Bostonians keep griping how we've had no Winter this year, but the western part of the state sure has had Winter! There were frozen waterfalls everywhere and four inches of snow from Springfield onward. Here's a candid photo of the beautiful Lake Pontoosac, where my mom grew up ice skating (her house backed up to the lake).

Generally one of my favorite things about a road trip is the iPod karaoke opportunity for hours on end, but yesterday it was just not gonna happen. A case of laryngitis has been going around at my office, and it traveled to me just in time for birthday weekend. I actually don't feel very sick, but my voice is completely gone as of this morning, so I now have a whole new appreciation for text messaging. My iPod was having a solid day yesterday regardless, and made me the most perfect "shuffle" mix for the drive, which is here on spotify.

L Boogie Review

Photo courtesy of BrooklynVegan.com

Last week there was a last-minute miracle in my life -- Ms. Lauryn Hill returned to a semi-consistent tour schedule (?!) with about six dates in February, and performed at Boston's House of Blues Thursday night. I only found out about 3 nights before. The web world was buzzing that she'd been showing up VERY late and was a "wild card" as far as the music was concerned. I worried a little, but didn't skip a beat to buy a ticket. Her show at The Wang in 1999 was one of the best in my life. I think a lot of people had the same last-minute notification about this because Thursday's show sold out the day-of.

I should have never doubted Ms. Hill.

My friend Ilana and I walked in just one minute before Lauryn was entering the stage with an explosive energy over booming DJ's at 9:45 p.m. (not so late as I thought). Her rearrangement of Miseducation was on fire -- a big band layered lots of funk, rock and old school soul over the melodies that we all know. She sped through the lyrics of the fastest Miseducation songs like Final Hour and Lost Ones with an unbelievable perfection and articulation. The crowd's jaws were dropped. It took us like 3 years to learn those lyrics at regular speed, now she's smoking any chance of us singing along. Her ballads of course, were also gorgeous, fluid and yet, often became rocking and loud midway through as well. She included just about anything you could want from her past lives in the Fugees and in her brief solo career, all in a bigger, better, revisited kind of way. I really, really, really hope that one of these few February concerts were filmed or recorded for release. And I hope she starts headlining a few tours this year, she could really move a huge crowd.

Only bummer was I didn't bring a camera (you can never quite capture the magic, anyway). People snapping distant photos of her on their iPhone amidst the intense purple lighting will barely get a faint glimpse of how remarkable it really was. But the above picture from Dec. 2010 is just what she looked like, including the furry little vest and arms of jelly bracelets: bad ass.

"you could get the money, you could get the power, but keep your eyes on the final hour"

- Lauryn Hill

Childhood re-claimed!

The week after New Year's, I had planned to visit California for a friend's wedding and another friend's new baby, and I decided ahead of time to spend a full day hitting one of those bucket-list to-do's and to look through about 8 boxes of my Dad's old slides that are archived safely, but never brought out.

We ended up making digital copies of about 300 (out of thousands) and I printed about 50 or 60 for myself and friends. But the real benefit to it was something I can barely even articulate.

There were many, many picutres of myself that I don't think I ever had seen over the years, even though I can remember sometimes taking the picture. My parents were good about printing the "best" copies for our albums and always saved school photos from each year, but there's tons of candid shots that I didn't remember, and there were a couple years that they didn't print at all - when we moved from Boston to California (1982-1984). And I must say, my Dad is an amazing photographer. He used to be involved in a couple of Boston Camera Clubs and won several awards there. Sometimes his slides of us (like the one above) were just a filter test or lighting test, but those are some of my favorites.

Here's some of my favorite surprises, starting with Kristen reading to me when I came home from the hospital (under the quilt which later became a teeny shred -- but I still have the book!)
Kristen with Richard, our lion

me in our Lexington yard - it's no wonder we both still love patterns on everything

my famous cheeks

Kristen age 6

my mom was very ambitious with cake-baking!
at the Cape

at Universal Studios

at Disney