We're now officially homeowners in South Boston

A couple years back, we sold our home in Boston’s South End and moved to South Boston (better known as “Southie”). Just a few minutes out of downtown Boston, this once predominantly working class, Irish-Catholic neighborhood has lots to offer to its growing and diverse population. Many times before on this blog, I’ve written about our love for Castle Island, just a short walk away, which offers a 22-acre park right on Boston Harbor. We’re also right around the corner from the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center and the city’s Seaport district, home to great new restaurants and hotels, the Institute for Contemporary Art, and the Moakley Federal Courthouse, where “alleged” mobster (and South Boston native) James “Whitey” Bulger will soon be facing the music after his 16 years on the run.

We’ve really come to enjoy South Boston, our neighbors, all of the green space, and easy access to downtown, the airport, and major highways. And on Friday, we made it official, passing papers on one of the penthouse units in the building where we’ve been renting since 2009.

We’re very excited about our new place, a two bed/two bath home with a deck that offers great views of downtown Boston, the Black Falcon Terminal (where more than 200,000 cruise passengers sail in and out of the city each year), and the harbor. And no rest for the weary: tomorrow morning, we’re kicking off a series of small projects to get the place ready for move-in by the end of the month: painting, sprucing up the hardwood floors, and construction of some new closet spaces. No, we’re not doing the work ourselves – my plan is to stay out of the way!

Right after the closing, we rushed home to our new place for our first photo on the deck. That's a ship at Boston's Black Falcon Cruise terminal behind us.

Otis joined us for some summer air on the deck Friday evening.

A shot of our new place. Lots of natural light and tall ceilings. It'll be a few weeks until we officially move in.