Boston apartments

As I continue to search craigslist every other day for apartments, I feel like time couldn't be moving an slower. I wish there was someway that we could just sign a lease for next year and be setup and not have to worry about it anymore, but we probably won't know where we'll be living until a week before.

As it stands, the plan for next year is that I will fly out to Boston by myself sometime in May and search for an apartment, sign a lease, and then fly back to Tucson, where Galen and I will begin the cross-country drive with our dogs to Boston. I feel like I need to plan something now, even though nothing I do now will really matter. It kind of feels like when we were wedding planning; there was a lot of thinking about how we were going to do things and researching, but nothing tangible could be done up until like 2 weeks before.

Before visiting Boston, we had a few preconceptions about what neighborhoods we'd like to live in. In Tucson, the intersection of River and Campbell is so different than say, Prince and 1st, yet they're only separated diagonally by 2 blocks. Before our visit, we would have preferred to live in either Back Bay or Beacon Hill, but after our visit, I would really be happy living anywhere in Boston proper. Even as we see what kind of apartments we can get for our budget, living outside of Boston in Cambridge, Charlestown, or Brookline seem more reasonable. I mean, really anywhere that is a 20 minute or less commute to Tufts will be ok with us now.

In my ultimate dream, I see us living in a renovated brownstone apartment, a one bedroom, not a studio, with a small yard for the dogs. I mean, it could happen...for maybe $4000/month. :( I think though that our minimum requirements are:
- at least 500 sqft (regardless if it's a studio or 1 bedroom)
- sunlight (please, no basement living)
- dogs allowed
- full kitchen

Nice bonuses would include:
- hardwood floors
- laundry in building
- at least 1 bedroom

Maybe if we got REALLY lucky and hit the 1-in-a-million-apartment-jackpot things would be:
- 2 bedrooms (for everyone to come and visit us!)
- big closet
- in-unit laundry
- small yard for pups
- parking spot (like this would EVER happen in a million years though)


Here are some apartments on craigslist that I wish we could sign leases on now. Crossing my fingers that they're available next year!

This one has a yard! Can you believe it?! (below)

 

Beautiful little city kitchen.

Double our budget for this one! and the next one too

Loft living would also be really cool

And this is what we'd get for our budget but 10 miles outside of downtown

Zumba!

After I finished my Master's program, I found that I had left the program with 20 pounds more weight than I had started with. Just around that time too, my friend Stephanie asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding, and so I decided to make some changes.

I met Emily through wedding planning stuff, and found a kindred Zumba spirit in her. We talked about Zumba at the bridal shower and found out that we were both beginning Zumbees at LA Fitness. From there we began to take classes together, and she was a really huge part of helping me loose the weight.

Of course Galen doesn't admit to this, but I was a bit chubby and was not happy about my body. I needed to use my inhaler before and during each Zumba class when I started, but now I'm down 12 pounds and haven't used my inhaler in 2 years. I decided to start teaching about a year ago, and I feel more fit every day. I love choreographing and dancing, and I hope to continue teaching when we move to Boston.   

Anyhow, here are a few songs that I teach. One of my former students moved to Costa Rica recently and filmed the class so that she could still Zumba over there. These are links to YouTube to the clips that had the best quality. Also, excuse the numerous errors in teaching that I had that night :) 

Live It Up by J.Lo - ZUMBA

Water by Sushy - ZUMBA

Torrero from Mega Mix 30 - ZUMBA

Tacos Apson

After eating the grilled ribs downtown last week, Galen and I went on a quest to have them again. We CSI'ed the photos ("enhance, enhance, ENHANCE") from downtown to try to find the name of the food truck that sold the ribs, but couldn't find their name or likeness anywhere online. BUT, after a Yelp search we found a place called Tacos Apson, which is a typical taqueria in South Tucson where there's a walk-up counter to order, mostly outdoor seating and a long buffet bar with different salsas and Mexican accompaniments.

The only reason why I could see people being apprehensive about eating at Tacos Apson would be that they don't speak English there, and the menu is completely in Spanish. My Spanish is admittedly not at the level it used to be in high school, but I think I've retained enough to survive if I was dropped in the middle of Mexico by myself. Galen on the other hand...he understands almost as much as I do, but he's so self conscious when it comes to speaking. We get curious looks when I'm the one speaking in Spanish and Galen goes for the English. I guess it's the same as with my Cantonese. Galen's much more wiling to try to say things in Cantonese than I am. 

Anyhow, we ordered 2 Tacos Haas, which had carne asada, grilled green chilies, and toasted cheese, 3 costillas de res (mesquite grilled beef ribs), and Galen had one taco de lengua (tongue). The best way to eat everything is with lime juice squeezed all over and avocado sauce, which is different than guacamole. The avocado sauce is just pureed avocado with lime and jalapeño, a staple for Mexican tacos.

Downtown Tucson

Every second Saturday of the month, downtown Tucson hosts a little outdoor event, which they creatively named "2nd Saturdays Downtown", where the food trucks, street vendors, musicians, and Tucsonans come out to play. This Saturday was so overwhelmingly hot though that I think it deterred a lot of food trucks and vendors from participating because past Saturdays had many more people. We still had a fun wandering around and eating mesquite grilled ribs and ice cream.

Little guy sneaking some ice from the water bottle bucket

Cat carrier

Triangle quilt

One item that I can now check off my bucket list is to make a quilt! It's pretty evident that it's my first quilt and my first time using a sewing machine, but I'm pretty proud of it. I didn't  use a cut-out pattern and didn't exactly estimate the correct amount of fabric I would need, so I must've taken 5-6 trips to the fabric store before I had everything. I would sew, get to a point, and realize that I needed more material. 

It's almost big enough to cover our queen sized bed, but I wanted to keep it a manageable size for the couch. We haven't used it much here in Tucson, but hopefully it'll get lots of use during the Boston winters!

Laying out the pattern before sewing

1st row done!

Finished product

The border I used plus a little where my sewing is already pulling apart

The grey back of the quilt and Olive

I swear she's not normally allowed on the couch... when Galen's home.

Dr. Galen's 1st week & Steph's birthday!

Since returning from the East Coast, Galen has started working at Tucson Medical Centre on his surgery rotation. He's been enjoying cutting people open and having his voice actually be heard and matter, as opposed to when he was a student in the background. As a student, the mentality is basically, "Speak when spoken to", but now I think he feels a real sense of responsibility and pride. The only thing he doesn't care for is the hours; he wakes up at 4AM and is home by 5-6PM on a good day. I miss him, but I've got my Zumba class at night, so I'm choreographing a ton of new songs recently, and then by the time I'm done at the gym, he's home.

Also, this weekend we had a barbecue for my friend Stephanie's birthday. Galen and I brought over carne asada and baked potatoes with jalapeño sour cream, and Russell, Steph's husband and my friend since high school, Galen's friend since kindergarten, made beer bratwurst with sauerkraut and corn on the cob. It was so hot out, but we had a Party Pack of watermelon Eegee to cool us off. Russell and Stephanie have THE cutest baby. Her name is Mina, and she just loves everyone. It was Gabby's, our other friend from high school who lives in TX now, first time meeting her, and I think she easily won him over, like she does with everyone.

Gabby learning how to burp Mina...she's thinking, "This is not working."

Mina's eyeing Gabby from across the table after that burping attempt

Katie and Steve's Central Park Wedding

The real reason behind our New England trip this summer was to attend my cousin's wedding. Katie and Steve have been together for I think 10 years now, and I've considered him to be a part of our family for longer than I can remember. 

They had a small intimate ceremony in Central Park, where apparently you can reserve the space for an event, but you can't prevent the public from entering your space since it's a public park, hence all of the random people in the background of some of the photos.

Afterwards, there was a huge reception/banquet with almost 300 guests. The night was filled with so much laughter and love, and I wish them both a beautiful life together.

Mom and Por Por

The Ngs: Matt, Aunt Wanda, Uncle Tommy, Amanda

The Ngs II: Aunt Jeanne and Ryan

Mother of the Bride and Baby Brother, Kevin

Steve and his Best Man, Edde

Mikey slept through the heat

Nicky was so cute that even that lady behind him had to snap a photo

Here comes the bride!...with Dennis

Elegant

My favorite shot of the day

Katie's Maid of Honor, Tia

Paparazzi 

A sweet moment between the ring bearer and his uncle

My second favorite shot

Nicky is so GQ 

The Coquincos: Connie, Nicky, Mikey, and Eric

Baby snuggles