A House a Home

In the next three months I will be moving three times.  It's crazy, but kind of necessary.  I realized today that my current apartment in Honolulu is pretty pathetic.  I have no furniture so I sleep on an air mattress and use an ironing board as a computer desk.  Other than two refrigerator magnets, there's nothing personalized about my place.  I chalk this up to the fact that I knew this would be temporary the second I moved in.  My next move will be to another apartment in Honolulu which has a current tenant and therefore might look a little more homey.  Then I will be subletting a place in Medford, MA, until August first when I can move into...wait for it...my permanent* place!

I haven't published the story of my Boston housing drama, but the short of it is that I was going to live in Jamaica Plain with my friend Judy and another lady named Sarah, but then we couldn't (this guy got murdered; it was a whole big thing).  Thankfully, Judy is a superhero and was able to find an amazing place for us to move into in the fall.  Incidentally, it will be the most I've ever paid for rent in Boston.  While the place is at the tip-top of my housing budget, here's why I don't mind:

1. The place is big and beautiful.  Hardwood floors, wainscoting, a balcony!  Also, my bedroom in this place is so much bigger than my last bedroom in Boston, which probably originally started out as the apartment Chokey. 
2. Heat and hot water are included in the rent.  Anyone who's lived in Boston will know that heat is the most expensive utility.  And it gets COLD in Boston.  Being able to maintain a 68-degree apartment and not having to pay out the ears for it is a definite plus.
3. It's in an awesome location.  Coolidge Corner is probably the hippest, most happening part of Brookline.  It's close to lots of things, including multiple forms of Public Transportation.  Also, there's a Trader Joe's RIGHT THERE.  I freaking love Trader Joe's.
4. It's in a safe location.  There were places that were cheaper, to be sure, but those places were either disgusting or right down the road from where three people got shot.  In the three years that I've lived in Boston, nobody has ever told me "don't be alone in Coolidge Corner at night."  In addition to that, despite its hip-ness, it's not going to be overrun with drunken noisy BU undergrads all the time.
5. It's in LP1 (the Longfellow Park 1st Ward Boundaries).  For the three years I was in Boston, I was in LP2, which was really a great ward, but for multiple reasons that can go on a different blog post, I'm definitely ready for a change.  Don't worry, I'm not going to forget about my LP2 friends, but I'm really excited about the idea of meeting new people and redefining myself by a different side of the Charles River.

At any rate, I am so excited to move in there.  Even though I'm not planning to live there eternally, I'm going to go out of my way to make it a home, to make it a sanctuary and a place that when someone enters, they will think, "wow, Alex must live here."  

*And by "permanent" I mean until I get married or the rent increases to the point where I'm forced out because I'm kind of cheap.