Fish and Chips for St. Patrick's

Fish 'n chips similar to those we had when visiting Ireland last summer.

Lovely dinner for St. Patrick's day the hubby and I shared (crafted by Spencer himself). I made corned beef and mashed potatoes Sunday, therefore Spence wanted some fish 'n chips for the 17th. Lighting was aweful, but the chips were nice and crunchy on the outside, soft and chewing on the inside. The fish (haddock) itself had a fantastic, crunchy beer batter with a lovely soft, flakey texture.  Must repeat.

Craicfest 2014

Sunday, March 16, 2014 Shermin and I ran the Craicfest 5k in honor of St. Patrick's day.  Though a gustily 21F, the route was fantastic, starting at Cambridgeside Galleria winding down by the river, over the bridge and back with a fantastic view of downtown. The after party took place outside the food court, with several brewing sponsors such as Notch, and Nightshift Brewing. Because of the harsh conditions, my 29:04 finish time made me happy (humble brag; 667/1422); there was one point running over the bridge where an icy gust of wind gave me instant goosebumps and I was shivering the entire run. Ohs wells, overall the course was excellent, not too hilly, just several narrow areas that made it a bit difficult to keep pace because there were 1400 other people trying to also squeeze through. It was just fucking freezing! 

Just remind me to wear green next year.

Enjoying Notch's IPA, very tasty!

Another Race #

Shaking like a polaroid picture because we were freezing after the run.

Lots in green getting ready for the dance party-best way to spend a Sunday morning!

DJ stage, and arch we ran through for start and finish.

Pickups

[At Skeeball league, The Greatest Bar, downtown Boston, MA.  I'm standing in a group of people with my teammate Kristin, and Spencer is rolling. A guy standing next to me has the balls to say...]

"Are you going to divorce him because he's rolling so bad?"

"No, and he's a rooskee anyways"

[Spencer rolls a 320, which is excellent.  He walks over and I tell him what this guy, whom I have never met before, said to me. He says to Spence...]

"Gotta try, right?"

Dark Souls II

Dark Souls II released today!

Darks Souls changed the way I view gaming, with its challenges, completely open story-line and fantastic setting. "Prepare To Die" boldly emblazons the game's cover, and die I did, over and over.  Death comes not only from the hundreds of different enemies prowling the various locations, but from the actual locations themselves. Never a hand railing, sometimes lava-filled, othertimes pitch black locales that leave you constantly in terror, breathless with what enemy will spring you at the next turn. In the gorgeous Crystal Cave you navigate across invisible paths. 

Not just bosses, but all enemies must be taken seriously; nothing comes for free.  Each enemy, each location is expertly designed, requiring a strategy, such as special armor or ranged weapons, depending on the boss.  No repeats, everything fresh and difficult in its own way.  

This makes for such a beautiful premise for a game. All the death, terror and destruction makes defeating a boss or ringing the second bell of awakening that much sweeter.  Because of the difficulty, you learn the intricacies of each locale or enemy; revisiting the location later is like revisiting an old friend. Although Grand Theft Auto V and Skyrim were fantastic games, Dark Souls takes the cake, harking back to what games used to be, not the movie-wannabe's they have morphed into.

I could ramble all day, but I think Kevin VanOrd of Gamespot wrote an eloquent review of not only Dark Souls, but Dark Souls II that capture the emotion and breadth of the games. And hit me up if you made it to Kiln of the First Flame.

Fish Needs a New Home

If I could be certain Olive and Arthur wouldn't snack him, maybe I could sell the adoption to Spence.  Alas, who puts their fish on Craigslist?

Casa Chelsea

 More Casa Chelsea pics:

Small-ish kitchen, but more updated than what we have now, plus 3X the counter-space if you can believe it.

Big gas stove, but outdated everything-cabinets, sink, counter.  Ohs wells, we can customize it to what we want.

Condo was staged to have the dining room right next to kitchen, with 2 large couches in living area.  We will prob put couch like in prev pics, facing wall with art and put the TV on that wall.

View from top of stairs.

Super high ceilings, love the wood and architectural detail.  Would look fantastic with new flooring, maybe distressed hardwood?  

Office space with awesome natural light.  Like I said before, this space/area alone is as big as our current living/dining/office area.

I think I will refer to this as the cat window from now on, I imagine once those screen-stick-ons are removed they will love watching birds in the trees right there.

Ceiling.

Inside the nook, it was staged to have a pull out couch, desk and little dresser shown.  Curtains def have to go.

Stairs are gray now, but I still think black stair and railing would look better.  Not sure it is worth buying new railing?

Current bedrom is painged black, but once that is changed it will be a super large, functional bedroom.  I forgot to snap a pic of the second bedroom.  Future plans: turn the closet into a second bathroom.  Love the ceilings, even though it technically is a basement.

Bathroom pic.  Vanity not so bad, love the under sink storage (we have been living with a pedestal sink).  Tile is hideous, as is the molding, mirror and faucet.  Pretty cheap and easy fixes, however.

Washer-dryer :)

Pickups

"Are you trying to thumb-war me?"

"No, sorry I bumped you"

"No, I was offering"

Casa Chelsea I

We are moving to Chelsea, MA! 

Photos from the listing that caught our attention: 

Open concept living/dining/kitchen

Kitchen is about the same size as what we have now, but there is room to grow if we so choose.  

Appliances are decent, obv a vast improvement to the crap we have now. Plus, we have a dishwasher so no more marathon 45 minute dishwashing nights.

The previous owners built in this side room as a dining room (adding temporary, non-structural wall), but we could put a pull out couch in there, completely remove the walls, or I think the best option for when we sell this place in a couple of years, change the doors to make a 3rd bedroom.

Located in the back corner near the front door, our new washer/dryer peeks out of the bathroom.  

View from other side of condo.

A nook the size of our current living room/office/dining room is back near the large windows. The ceiling contains nice, big wooden beams.

Lots of crap on the windows from the previous owner, our cats will love those windows once we remove the glass privacy screen stick-ons.  Plus, I plan to finally get some house plants to kill.

Staircase down to second floor/basement with 2 bedrooms.  I may paint these black but we shall see. Our home inspector claims there is likely original brick behind the drywall, so I certainly will do a little digging to validate that claim.  Brick would add fantastic architectural detail.

Hard to depict, but there is TONS of room in this "master" bedroom, plus three closets-2 shown.  The one on the left we plan to renovate into a second bathroom and move the washer/dryer down to this bedroom.

Obv lots of improvements over the current living sitch, maybe I'll post some pics of the literal clusterfuck we current call home.

Cons: ~20 minute drive to work for me now, I'm used to walking to school everyday (0.7 mi), public transportation is certainly lacking in comparison to Brighton (however, the T Silver line will be in Chelsea 2015), and Chelsea is more of an up and coming neighborhood (but they have invested millions in the last decade to curb crime and build great new condos which have attracted many young professionals such as ourselves), plus the bedrooms are downstairs and pretty far from the bathroom, so we hope to add a second bathroom in the future (and maybe a third bedroom before we resell the place in 4 years), no patio or outdoor place.  Ohs wells, things to strive for in the future, possibly if or when we move to Milwaukee??? ;)

Holy crap, after living in 495 sq. ft. for 4 years this August, it will be cray-cray having a dining room table for board games and room for a nice big sectional couch...yes, the little things in life.  

Free hottub on Craigslist

Whilst scouring the free section of Craigslist this old beauty tickled my chuckle-bone.  It's free, so one can be certain no ailments befell it in its grand life hosting many a boozing party and withstanding the polar vortex with amiable fortitude.  Granted, our new place certainly has room for it, but we don't close until April 25, so what will I do with it until then?

However, for those interested...free hottub!