Time for your monthly dose of Beta

So much news to report! But I can't imagine it's news that any of you haven't heard yet.

Regardless....

1. We're moving to Boston! E* got a residency at Mass General cuz he's wicked smaht and it starts in mid-June so things are moving quickly. Thanks to craigslist and some VERY helpful friends, we managed to secure an apartment in 5 days. Although it doesn't have any outdoor space, it IS in a very cool neighborhood, has an updated kitchen, 2 BRs, and a W/D in the unit. Estimated moving time - early 20s of May.
   
   
2. We're going to Europe!!! Of course apartment hunting, graduating, packing, and moving wasn't enough activity for us so we decided to take off for 18 days (!!!) to visit folks in Austria and Germany as well as some straight-up touristing in Paris. E*'s skills with sidestep and cheaptickets cut our ticket prices in half from what we first found a couple of weeks ago. We're also contemplating a stop in Amsterdam.
   
   
3. Busy weekends - now that our time in DC is coming to a close, we're filling up our weekends trying to fit everything in. Last weekend included cherry blossoms (at 8am), Sticky Fingers breakfast, biking around the city, and sunday evening at Adams Mill (a tradition I will definitely miss). Next weekend might hold brunch at Red Derby.
   
4. Pasta - I had been monitoring my rss feed for "pasta roller" for about a month when a mint-condition, all-metal, Imperia pasta roller first popped up. For $20, I was soon the proud owner of a barely used, still in the box w/ manual, heavy pasta roller. I LOVE it. The thing is intuitive, sturdy, and rolls out sheets of thin pasta with very little fuss. The funny thing is, we rarely eat pasta. I've had the same boxes of whole wheat penne, spagetti, and other noodles in our cupboard for nearly a year. But when I tried to make ravioli from scratch over the winter - ravioli is my most favorite pasta indulgence - I was extremely frustrated with the rolling process. I wasn't able to get it thin enough and the raviolis were too bulky. While I haven't yet used my new toy to make ravioli sheets, I have made a batch of regular egg fettucini and this past weekend I made a large batch of spinach fettucini. I have discovered that I enjoy snacking on the ribbon at every stage: dough, fresh noodles, during drying, completely dried, and cooked. I don't think there's any hope of more restraint, so I'll just have to make some more regular trips to the gym.
   
   
5. Mundane closing: Yes, I'm still reading Blindness. The seedlings I planted a couple of weeks ago are looking weak (basil, chile peppers, cilantro, spinach, etc). We watched Slumdog Millionaire on Sat. and loved it - sort of a given, right? At the urging of a couple of friends, we filled our TV show-via website void with Arrested Development. They were right - it is much better if you start from the beginning and watch in order. We had previously filled that void with Flight of the Conchords and were so into it that we watched all of the episodes that were available in 2 weekends. This void exists because shows like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Weeds, Big Love, etc don't have any new episodes available for us to watch. Knitting: I finished a pair of socks for me that I love. Also crocheting a big secret project for the next several months. And yesterday I finished baby booties for one of Erich's mentors/residents that are apparently very cute judging by the squeals of the women next to us.