Our First House

It's been almost a month since we closed on our first house! Yes, I know that this post is a little behind schedule, but let's just say we've had a lot of projects going on here in Ithaca. After working with Ron and Mom on painting, flooring, and some updating, we finally moved all of our "stuff" here two weeks ago. And as I write this, we're getting the carpet installed in the bedrooms. Slowly but surely, the house is starting to look more and more like our home. And I love it! Ever since we started the house search, we knew we wanted something that we could work on, improve, and make our own. Well... we got one! It's been a LOT of work, but it's totally been worth it.

Since the house started as a "Straight out of the 70's fixer-upper," I'll be doing more detailed room-by-room posts. There are some serious before and after shots here! Until I get to each and every room (the living room will be my first post - it's nearly there!), I'll hold all of you over with some quick pictures from our first few weeks of home ownership.

We love our huge backyard!

In the first 10 days of having the house, and with Ron and Mom's help, we managed to:
- Tear up the old carpet (which was in nearly every room)
- Washed the walls and ceilings to prep for the painting
- Prime and paint all the rooms (Turns out, I'm quite the painter!)
- Paint all the ceilings - Thank you, Ron!
- Install an automatic garage door opener
- Replace two outside doors
- Replace the toilet
- Replace the faucet in the kitchen
- Lay laminate flooring in the living room/dining room/kitchen
- Replaced the light fixtures in the bedrooms, living room, bathroom
- And finally, started to paint the trim (which we are still working on... There's so much trim!)

Emma didn't like the fact we were working 24/7.

This window in the living room overlooks the driveway.

Can you see Amit?

This is how you know Emma saw him...

It's one of her favorite places,

at least when someone is outside.

It's pretty cute to see her looking out the window.

Breakfast break!
Emma loves when Pappy eats... and shares his food. 

Emma's other favorite place has been by the front door,

where she watches her new friend, Mr. Chipmunk as he hangs out on our front steps.

She literally watches him (and waits for him) for hours.
Although, he hasn't been around as much since he ate all the birdseed.

Dinner break at Ithaca Beer,

such a great view!

And this is how we all felt after Ron and Mom left.

 Now that the carpet is being installed, we'll finally be getting the bedrooms unpacked and put together! It's going to be so nice to have the main floor of the house nearly finished. We definitely could not have made this much progress without Ron and Mom's help! Next up, our finished living room!

Our Latest Weekend Destination

It's April already? Spring is here and I have barely blogged about anything. I'm sorry for slacking! As we get closer and closer to June, we just keep getting busier and busier. It's hard to believe that we're only three months away from the end of residency and the beginning of a new chapter in the Finger Lakes.

We've started to spend a lot more time in Ithaca, as we search for a place to live. I haven't been taking many pictures, but I do have a few snapshots to share. We've been having a great time getting to know Amit's new colleagues and sampling the fantastic eats in town.

We love our drive to Ithaca, 

it's so scenic!

Amit found this little gem.

It's a tiny place, but makes some fantastic fortified wine.

The port was very popular at dinner!

We've stopped at Buttermilk Falls, 

and can't wait to hike up along the gorge!

And of course, we must try some of the Ithaca wineries.

Especially when they are this close to Cayuga Lake!

You know I can't help but take a few pictures of our food!
This was at a Mexican restaurant downtown.
Amit got tacos and I had chicken mole enchiladas. 
It was delicious!

Last weekend we had lunch at Ithaca Beer Company.
It was great!
We will definitely be regulars here!
(Would you expect anything less from Amit?)

We had some fantastic weather last weekend!

We are so excited to explore Ithaca! Hiking, the Farmer's Market, Cayuga Lake, restaurants, and the list goes on. It is looking like it will be one fun summer! 

Settling In

It's hard to believe that a month has passed since we moved into our new place in New York! We've gone on so many other fun trips in June that we didn't really get to explore Webster until the last few weeks. So far, we're really liking our new home!

Emma loves her spot by the door.

Enjoying dinner on our new deck!

 When she thinks it's too hot out,

she lays in the AC, but still in the sun.

Silly pup.

Man, have we missed fun weather!

 We have tried some fantastic restaurants!

Chicken and waffles, fried catfish.

So excited about the southern cooking!

Did we mention that 

we're only a 5 minute walk from 

frozen custard?

And last, but not least,

the reason we live in Rochester...

Isn't he so cute??

Next weekend we will be checking out our local Farmer's Market, hopefully going for a walk in another local park, and maybe even laying out on the beach (weather permitting). Even better than that? In about three weeks, I'll be back in NY full-time and we'll get to finally head to the Finger Lakes! We're excited to visit some wineries, and I definitely need to find some antique shops! 

Our Latest Move

Right now, I'm enjoying a little vacation back home, before I head east to unpack a few more boxes and then go to class.

We have no more furniture in Boston, 
so we made Emma a bed out of an old sleeping bag...

She loves it!

We successfully moved into our new place in Webster. On the 8th, while I was at work, Amit and the movers packed the truck. I came back home, grabbed Emma, and hit the road! Dad met us in Webster and the three of us became moving machines!

My Navigator

Webster is 6 hours west of MA.
Emma slept in the weirdest positions throughout the ride.

I wonder what she is thinking...

We spent a little time on Friday night unloading the truck. Saturday we unloaded/unpacked/put things away literally all day.

Emma loves the landing.

(She's just super tired in this picture.)

This is her other spot.

She can get a tan and supervise the deck, at the same time!

It was one very busy weekend, but it was nice to have the townhouse all ready for Dr. Patel! He's started orientation on Friday and will be back with patients in no time!

Exploring Rochester

I'm back! Honestly, besides Amit's Haiti trip, there hasn't been much to blog about recently. Lucky for me, that's changing! We are now less than two weeks away from welcoming Grayson into the group, so I have a few baby girl projects to get working on. Pictures will follow! I also am enjoying February vacation this week. I have lots of schoolwork and studying to do, but I will hopefully be able to devote a little time to crafting.

Back to the reason for this blog post. Amit, Emma, and I were able to drive to Rochester on Sunday and spent the majority of Monday exploring the neighborhoods, the hospital, and one of the real highlights of our new home.

Thanks to Ron's travels, we stayed at one of the La Quinta's in Rochester on Ron's tab. (Thank you, Ron!) The hotel was great, Emma was just a pain in the butt. She didn't want to sleep on the chair or in the bed with us (since she never does), so she kept moving around all night long. I wasn't too bothered by it, but Amit was definitely annoyed. (She must not have cared that we had to drive home, since she then slept the entire 6 hour drive home, while poor Amit had to stay awake and do some of the driving.)

Amit stopped by the hospital to finally meet the director in person and check out the clinic. He loved it and is really excited to start there! Emma and I went to check out Lake Ontario and went for a little walk alongside the beach. The paved bike path was great; we'll definitely be heading there for some nice, early-morning walks!

Our Walk
(Yep, that's some snow still on the beach.)

I loved our visit, even though it was really quick. We actually saw a decent amount of the surrounding suburbs and have narrowed down where we'll look for a rental. While we were driving we learned some important information.

1 - We are super close to the lake, which will be lots of fun. 

2 - It seems like there are lots of park areas to explore. 

3 - There is a HOBBY LOBBY!!!!

4 - Rochester also has a Jimmy John's AND Little Caesar's. 

(Seriously, how did we live without them?)

5 - The hospital is right near one of the highways, 

which should make Amit's commute easy.

So now that we've physically been to Rochester, we're getting rather excited! Amit will start orientation at the end of June, so hopefully we'll have time to move, make a quick trip to Chicago, and unpack everything before I start classes in July. We're now four months from the move and three months away from graduation! Looks like we better get ready for some new adventures!

And the winner is...

Rochester, NY

Starting this summer, Amit will be doing his GPR at Rochester General Hospital! When Amit found out (last Monday, the 30th) that he didn't match to Burlington, he started looking at other options, including Rochester. He had been in touch with the director via e-mail and phone conversations off and on over the past week. Our favorite BU faculty were super helpful in getting their recommendations to RGH, since we couldn't use the paperwork he had already uploaded to the Match website. Needless to say, we were just a little bit stressed about figuring out what residency we would go to. On Monday afternoon, Amit got a call from the director, offering him the position! We were definitely shocked - we thought he would have to head there for a formal interview sometime in the next few weeks. Turns out, the director was impressed with the recommendations and thought Amit would be a good fit! (Obviously he's awesome, but it's nice when other people realize that, too!) We took Monday night to research Rochester and the program a bit. Amit called him on Tuesday morning, asked a few more questions, liked the answers, and accepted the position! Another plus to Rochester is that one of his classmates is doing a TMJ program at the University of Rochester, so Amit will have someone to hang out with while I'm still in Boston.

We're definitely excited to have a new place to explore: the Finger Lakes, Niagara Falls, Lake Ontario, Toronto, the Adirondacks. It looks like we'll have a busy year! I think we're going to enjoy being only 10 hours from Chicago, too. Hopefully we can visit Rochester during February vacation for a day or two. Stay tuned for more details about our next move!