pro duck tivity

[kismet09]

Considering that it's almost too hot to think right now, it has been a very useful weekend in the moving process.  olaugh, wisemonkey and journal-less Ben came over yesterday and helped us load the POD - this was critical as there were a couple of furniture pieces for which I just wasn't strong enough to be the second set of muscles on a two-person team.  The 12' POD is filled to its limits, and left just enough in the house to allow us to live comfortably for the next 2ish months.  We probably should've packed up more kitchen stuff.  I parted with the waffle maker, crepe maker, and toaster oven, but we still have the kitchenaid mixer, cuisinart, blender, and microwave out -- probably more small appliances than we needed to leave. I also didn't pare down the pots/pans or tupperwares, but I packed all of my bento boxes (sad, since bentos are most useful to me in the warm weather, when all I want for lunch are raw veggies, hummus and other very bentoable foods). 

Tim and I wandered to Davis Square for dinner and had tasty Tibetan food at the newly-expanded Martsa. Everything was very good (it probably didn't hurt that we were starving) -- mango noodles, sauteed potato/spinach/onion, and an appetizer with fried bread and chickpeas. The tables are very close together, and the place is popular, so we listened to others' conversations as much as we had our own, but that was fine. It was nice to be out and about, people watching.  I pointed out a couple as we were driving into the square, commenting that they looked like the kind of people we could be friends with.  Turns out they were the only people we came across out of throngs of people who Tim knew (the male half of the couple sang with Tim's choir, and Tim had met the female half as well).  I apparently have a good eye for people and coincidences.  We took home two Kickass Cupcakes from around the corner (the mojito is rum soaked and very good) and I fell asleep while Tim watched baseball.

This morning, we were up bright and early to try to beat the heat, and get to New Hampshire in time to meet our realtor and look at houses.  It took an hour to get to town, which is pretty good time.  We had breakfast at Popovers on the Square, wandered around for half an hour, and refueled with caffeinated beverages at Breaking New Grounds, a very large, popular coffeeshop that would be great for Scrabble gatherings -- plenty of space, good sized tables, air conditioning...

Our realtor picked us up in her Mini Cooper, which was a little hilarious for two reasonably tall people.  She was apologetic and promised to bring her bigger car the next time.  We saw two houses in Portsmouth and four in Dover.  We could get a ridiculous amount of house in Dover -- we saw two that were 3000+ sq ft for less than 400K -- but I'd feel just as isolated as I do in Waltham, I think.  So, we'll try to focus our search in Portsmouth, and see if we can't find something with decent ceiling height and enough yard for dogs.  It was definitely a good first visit -- I feel like I have my bearings more, the realtor knows more about what we're looking for, and it has motivated me to get this house fixed up as quickly as possible.  I'm starting to get excited about being able to personalize a new home, and there's a part of Portsmouth that's just now starting to revitalize a little, so if we bought now, it'd probably grow into an even better property by the time Tim has tenure.  In any case, it's nice to think we might stay still for 6-7 years.  I don't think I want to have to pack up my house again any time soon.

Comments

[lyrical1.livejournal.com]

You are looking in the area I was living in before my move to baltimore. I was working downtown (on top of Bull Moose) and I lived in Exeter. Might be an area to think about. Very close to the university, and has a cute little downtown. Also there are sections of Kittery that are developing and are walking distance from downtown Portsmouth that might be worth thinking about. I'm so jealous of your move!

[kismet09.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tips! We just found out about a place in Kittery that I absolutely love... I'm a little bit nervous about the commute to Durham, though - it seems like there's just the one bridge, and my job will probably have me commuting during rush hour.