I'll Miss This Commute

I love taking the ferry to work and back. It's the best in spring, summer and fall when you can stand or sit outside and enjoy the calm. I use the eight minutes that it takes to cross the river to depressurize from my day.

I've been taking the ferry for over two years and haven't tired of the breathtaking views of Manhattan or the magnificent cliffs of New Jersey. The only part I don't like is the cross-town bus, not much to see and awful when there are too many people on it.

I guess it's time to get used to the train. At least there is only three days until we close on the house!

Craft Table

I was looking for a simple table to do crafts on, whether it's card making, scrapbooking, sewing, or gift wrapping. I need the space to spread out and be able to walk away and come back to my projects. Awhile ago I was obsessed with the Pottery Barn Bedford Project Table Set but at $1099 for the table and bookshelves (no chairs) it was quite steep for a hobby table. So I kept looking and found another ridiculously expensive option at Macy's.

I was recently browsing the Ikea catalog at my father-in-law's and found some table legs and table tops to put together. Now I had to see it in person. We swung by Ikea on Saturday and I got to see the Vika Hyttan/Vika Fintorp in silver. I think it's got the perfect look of usefulness in the stainless steel covering/coating of the table top and finish of the legs with a shabby chic flair. I have two size options to choose from both under $175!

Loving These Chairs

I need these chairs... they're Pottery Barn's sea grass chairs. Imagine four (or six, you pick) of the Havana Dark chairs surrounding a round glass table with a wooden base in my kitchen. Do you see it? Do you get why I must have them?

They're more than I'd like to pay for chairs and hope I can find similar chairs for less especially since I need four or six of them and still have to buy the freakin' table to go with them!

I haven't found the perfect table but the first one is the closest one so far. I want to make sure the wood color is close (doesn't have to be perfect) but the chair style and table style need to go. I love the contrast of the cool glass with the I'm sure I'll find the right one in our furniture search.

Let the Packing Begin!

Since the home buying process is moving itself along quite nicely we decided it would be wise to start packing up the apartment. The biggest progress happened when Mandy brought boxes (and the ever important bubble wrap - I promise I won't pop a single bubble) from her last move with their mother. They have boat loads of boxes and I just unfold, tape and throw things in. Here's a picture of the madness that has ensued...

Before I started the packing, Nick had the great idea to capture our apartment. We've lived here for a long time and will want to look back at the pictures and try and remember what it was like to live in 800 square feet. Once the memories were captured Nick gave me the official go ahead to box it all up as fast I could.

I am trying to be very methodical about packing so that I can keep track of where everything is and where everything is going in the house. I've devised a labeling system for the boxes where each box has a destination and then a catalog of what's in it. Hopefully I can keep this up. Right now it's fresh and new in a couple of weeks I may not care anymore. Only time will tell.

Home Sweet Home

I haven't blogged about this because I didn't want to get my hopes even higher and then everyone else's but now it's just about a done deal. At the end of this month hubby and I will be homeowners. We will be slaves to the lovely home in the picture below.


We have been negotiating with the owner for almost two months now and we've only recently come to an agreement and proceeded with a home inspection on Thursday. The home inspection went wonderfully with minor issues that we'll correct on our own. If anyone in the central New Jersey area is looking for a home inspector I highly recommend ours - Robert Hahn of Family Building Inspectors in East Brunswick NJ.

Back to the house and the details I'm sure you're dying to know. The house has 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, (as you can see) 2 car garage, is on 1/3 (I think) of an acre, and has a ... drum roll ....

POOL!A contract has been signed and our closing date is scheduled for April 30! We are very excited but still have a ways to go with the mortgage, title search, survey, etc. before we can feel like it's really happening. I'm starting to pack up but doing it slowly and deliberately so that it's just things we won't miss in the next couple of weeks.