North Cambridge Apartment

So, as some of you know we were recently relocated to Boston, MA. Ryan is working in Burlington, MA.

                                                                                                                 Side note: 

                                                 The best grocery store EVER is found in                                                                                  Burlington! It is called Wegmans. It is the greatest                               

 place for us both. With the way I ate it can be hard 

                                       to go to the grocery store and get everything we both                                                                                want....but here we can basically get the same                                                exact stuff! The Wegmans brand labels everything 

GF (Gluten Free), V (Vegan), 

LF (Lactose Free), FF (Fat Free) & more! 

This cuts down our time there and 

makes it so much easier for us to shop. 

Thank you Wegmans! 22 minute drive is worth it!

  

This is me on the side of Wegmans...the snow is just insane here. 

Okay- Now to our North Cambridge apartment.....

Here is our new apartment at Vox on Two. So far we really enjoy living here. Location is good...minus the snow effecting the travel everywhere. We have a wonderful view of a wooden area with trails. 

 

So this is before our place was "Amanda'd" out as Ryan would say. 

 Goodwill will be receiving at least 10 boxes of our stuff

as we have absolutely no where to put it all...it is probably time anyways. 

Below you will find our place "Amanda'd" out...some stuff still doesn't have a home yet but I am handling it....like the TV which one day will be on a wall mount above the fire place. It is currently blocking my adorable little coffee area! 

Here is the view from the fireplace side:

Next you will see the kitchen view before 

& after

This is the bathroom in our room. It is such a great size! 

This is is what we (aka I) did with it:

Here is my Craft Cave/Guest room. I do not love it but it is better than no space for guest or all my art! If anyone has any advice to offer an making the most of apartment living I would love to hear it! 

Below is a messier picture...probably more realistic of what it will typically look like with me painting everyday. 

Close up of the make shirt craft area. This is the same table Ryan & I created using two bookshelves from target and the top we built out of scrap wood from other projects. The peg board you see is trimmed in scrap wood and stained to match.  

I figured I would show you the messier version of this as well....

Luckily we have rather large closets & I did my best to completely fill them....I mine like test the strength fill them! This took forever but I finally figure it all out and found a place for everything. There is stuff hidden everywhere...let's hope that we don not need any of it any time soon. 

Our room

We gave in our bought our first bed frame from Overstock

The is the wall opposite from our bed. 

We also got a special gift during our move in.....

SNOW!

so much dang snow here in Boston. This is insane. Coming from MN we are use to snow and cold. The "cold" here is nothing compared to MN but the snow here tops the snow there. The level you see here at decreased and increased 3 times since this photo was taken. 

Two side projects:

Here is a refurbished door that was going to my a sliding barn style door for my craft room back in MN....but plans changed so now it is kinda of like out command center. 

Ryan is making the most of all the natural lighting we have an is taking on growing some fruits & veggies. Here is the Avocado...fingers crossed this one works!

Thanks for your interest! I will be posting again soon on our life here in Boston....if we ever get out to explore. Check back on that if the snow ever stops....it is currently snowing as I am typing....our explorations of Boston might have a to wait awhile. 

Celiac vs. Restaurants in the Boston Area

I don't know if it is because I added some fish back into my diet or if the food out here is just that good but man does the Boston area know how to take care of people with Celiac Disease. 

I am not a huge fan of eating out as I was vegan before we moved here & gluten free. I almost always got sick or left just as hungry as I was when arrived & with a headache or discomfort. 

Since we have be "living" here in MA we have had to eat out almost for every meal. We are living out of a hotel since our stuff hasn't arrived yet. For those of you who don't know...My husband Ryan took an opportunity that has relocated us to Boston! We re so excited to live here for the next 18 months or so. Currently we are living out of a hotel and having to eat out for basically every meal- which of course had be worried since we decided we were doing this. 

Luckily I have this wonderful app called Find Me Gluten Free which locates all places near your current location that offer gluten friendly services. The services vary and I find the reviews to be the most useful for me. Using this app we have found amazing places here. I have not got sick once! This has to be a record for me....and gosh with the bread! Everywhere we go they offer me bread which I am not used to...I think I finally hint my limit an luckily I no longer want it when they offer! Phew! 

Some of the places we have ate at are: 

This first ones is probably our absolute favorite! They support local and were so friendly. 

b.good

We went for dinner one night, bought juices to take back with us and went back the next day for a late lunch :) We downloaded their app as well and received a free french fries (which are baked & simply amazing) I like their sweet potato fries & Ryan likes the regular fries....the calories are listed- check them out....you will be amazed! 

This is place will be one we visit often. 

Burtons Grill

okay, if you are looking for some good, fresh seafood and an allergy friendly environment...this is the place! They have the best Gluten free bread so far & specialize is allergies. We had an absolute fantastic time and left raving about the place. Anyone who visits us will be going here for sure. Due to my gluten and dairy allergy they worked with me to create a delicious meal. Managers are the only ones allowed to bring out food to people with allergies to ensure no last minute cross contamination. Highly recommended! 

Not your Average Joe's

The service here is fabulous! We ate dinner here and went right back the next day for round two. I have never been so full eating out since being gluten/dairy free. The onion roll was a perfect start....I probably should have stopped after the first one but I think I ended up eating 3. I choose the Sage Pecan Salmon dish that was served with rooted veggies and a cranberry-almond quinoa. The dish was flavorful and cooked perfectly. It was my first time eating fish out here so I was overly full from the meal but the flavor was delicious! 

Legal Sea Foods

When I first spoke with Ryan about his time in Boston (when I was still out in MN) He mentioned the place he ate at....Legal Sea Foods. He talked about it for days! We were wondering around The MOA of the Boston area, the Burlington Mall on one of the days we were getting pounded with snow. As the day went on we realized it was dinner time and most places were closed already due to the winter storm warning....so we went here. I had Buffalo Popcorn Shrimp & it was completely gluten & dairy free!!!!!!!!! Gosh I was happy :) There was even avocado chunk in the dipping sauce. For dinner Ryan & I split the Mahi-Mahi a baked potato and mashed potatoes. 

I took the baked and Ryan took the mash considering the whole dairy thing. I ended up giving him my Mahi, it was good but I couldn't handle the chewiness. It was too meaty for me...made him happy! Plus all those Buffalo Popcorn shrimp was more than enough for me. Everything that is made Gluten free is marked on the regular menu and from what I was told doesn't share the same fryer with anything else besides diary items.Here is there dinner menu .

Well That is all I have in current new for eating out in the Boston area. With all the options here I am sure we will be trying a new place soon. Until then, if you are looking for items at home Wegmans grocery store has some great options for the gluten free lifestyle. 

Boston Area Restaurants- WIN! 

To eating happy & healthy in the Boston area! 

The Dutch Lady Designs

WOW! I can barely stand it!

 I spent hours upon hours trying to figure out how to edit my blog and design it myself....well I am not all that tech savvy. So I went to my beloved Etsy where I found Daphne with Dutch Lady Designs. Working with her was organic and so enjoyable. Her excitement and dedication showed through the wonderful communication we had. She brought all my visions of my perfect blog to life & so quick! 

I have been "blogging" now for a while but I have not actually been a Blogger until now. I feel more comfortable with my posts having such a wonderful designed blog. Thank you Daphne for creating this beautiful layout for me and giving my the boost I needed to get myself out there in the blogging world. You can see what else I had to say about working with Daphne here. If anyone is on the some struggle path as I was and is looking for the right designer to help, I recommend Daphne! Let me know if there are any other questions about the process or working with The Dutch Lady Designs and I would love to answer them!

Resource used to determine my color palette during this process was

from Design-Seeds

I loved this selection...except it was missing my one main color: Mossy Green so I combined the above palette with the below's green. 

Now that my blog is beautified

 fingers crossed I get better at blogging so I get become the blogger, DIY-er & artist I want to be! 

I will be working on my blogger skills and posting more often, hoping creating a steady schedule for new posts. I follow wonderful blogs and am researching heaps on living the life of being an artist & blogger but am always grateful for advise and guidance. One blog I found, ERIN e FLYNN has great experiences about starting up an LLC and will be helpful once I get to that part of my journey. 

If their is anyone else out there that is willing to reach out please know that I will be more than happy to hear from you. 

Best wishes on this wonderful winter day in Cambridge, MA....anyone need some snow?