Good morning, friends! How was your weekend? This was the first weekend in a really long time where we were around ALL weekend, without many plans, too! It worked out really well since RM and I were really itching to finish home improvement projects and get more unpacked. Living in a half unpacked apartment for 2 weeks has been challenging, to say the least!

For those of you who may not know the whole story, no, we did not buy a home! We are renting a 2 bedroom apartment in a 2-family home that RM’s mother owns (she doesn’t live in it, in case you’re wondering 🙂 )and it really needed some serious updating. To help keep the costs down for his mom, we have taken on projects that we can do: painting, sanding, etc. Ideally, we would’ve done this BEFORE we moved in, but we didn’t want her to go a month without rent so we’ve been living and renovating at the same time. While it hasn’t been terrible, we are both really ready to be done the renovations and be fully settled in!

But, before we got to renovations, let’s talk about the weekend. I met up with RM in the city after work since it was such a gorgeous night (and because I had an appointment in the city at 6pm so it worked out great). We started at Vanderbilt (used to be The Vault) and then decided it was too nice to have drinks inside and went over to Sterling’s because they have a great outdoor patio.

Once we got home, we decided to walk over to Buff’s Pub since it’s so close AND so good. I got a delicious Gyro-style wrap and RM got their famous wings. Both were delicious!

After kickboxing on Saturday, I ran a bunch of errands, including a stop at Watertown Main Street Florist, where my friend Jen works on Saturdays. She hooked me up with a beautiful bouquet of fall-esque flowers. Thanks, friend!

The rest of the day consisted of sanding, priming, painting and starting to unpack kitchen items… finally!

By 7pm, I was more than ready for a shower and dinner! Although RM’s mother stopped by and dropped us off some food (bless her!), we opted to keep that healthy food for the week and treat ourselves to dinner at The Local in Newton. Their motto is “Live simple. Eat Local.”, which RM and I love! The restaurant had a great vibe, great beers on tap and a delicious menu. We decided to each get our own side salads and then shared the Brussels sprouts and stuffed acorn squash (with quinoa, spinach, chicken and feta cheese) and everything was fantastic. The flavors were so complementary of each other- we can’t wait to go back!

Sunday morning started with a nice breakfast followed by finally emptying all the boxes with kitchen stuff and figuring out what to keep and what to donate.

Overwhelming, huh?! I’m happy to say that by the time we went to bed, all the boxes were unpacked and everything you see was either put away or put in a box to donate. YES!!!

Mid-day we took a break to celebrate my friend Amy’s 30th bday! Bowling, booze, food and the Patriots- it was a great Sunday Funday. I always love seeing all my girlfriends!

And that’s a wrap! It felt so good to check a bunch of things off of our to-do list and to finally really feel settled into our new place. Although I’m not big on “DIY” stuff, I do have to say it’s a very rewarding feeling to look around and see the makings of all our hard work. RM has been so patient with me (my stamina for this type of stuff isn’t very long… 😉 ) and so helpful with organizing everything and generally just working so hard to make our house a home!

What’s up with you guys?! How was your weekend? Do you like DIY projects or “move in ready” status? Do you usually go out to eat on the weekends or make dinner?