December 22nd was our official move-in date at the new apartment.

I did not take photos of the move because I HATE moving. However, this move was probably the best move of my life. Have I mentioned the peace? And the space? We have the whole second floor. And NO ONE lives above us. And rent is easily half of what it would be if we were still in NY. But the commute is three times as much … so yeah, still coming out about even.

As I already mentioned, Erik was in charge of “before” pictures. They all look like this:

He thought I wanted him to take before pictures of the walls and not of the rooms.

Anyway, we’ve been working on gradually making some subtle rental-appropriate improvements that make us happy.

For example, see that random turquoise threshold on the bottom right?

After a couple weekends of sanding through four layers of what was surely lead paint (we used masks!), I put down a coat of strain and a coat of poly … and we had a decent-looking threshold:

The mix-and-match linoleum remains a problem. I’ll have to work on the landlord a bit for that one.

The turquoise is still alive and well in the back half-bedroom (currently masquerading as a walk-in tool closet). We’ll have to address that at some point as well.

Erik’s mom and stepdad came out from MN for New Year’s weekend and helped us feel homey with cupcake plates and competing NFL fleeces. Neither of which did us any good in the post-season.

We used their visit as motivation to get to Halibut Point finally:

Brrrrrrrr.

Their visit also motivated my mom, dad, and stepmom to come up to Gloucester for brunch at Sugar Mag’s and a snow walk around the harbor. And musical winter accessories it seems.

And tea in our new bay window nook!

A few more of my new apartment favorite things …

Ocean frost on the bathroom window:

A colorful snowy neighborhood:

A colorful cozy living room:

And the perfect sunrise view from my spot on the bed:

Visitors welcome!