And that is not what I found on my excursion today. Instead I found Minihane's Flower and Garden Shop on Washington Street, a little northwest of my current abode. Today is the first day I've really explored the streets without my husband. I know, I know, I've been in town three weeks, and I haven't left the house without Joshua except to go to the bank across the street (except one time I drove to a friend's house). I'm a deliberate person. I don't usually embark on something until I feel comfortable, and today I felt comfortable.

So, I decided to find the nearest Starbucks and to deposit the birthday check my Grandpa sent me. But instead of going to the usual bank, I thought it might be interesting to find a different bank NEAR a Starbucks. So, remembering my husband's love for Google Maps, I find addresses for the nearest caffeinated beverage depot and Citizens Bank and plug them in. Success! They're on the same street mere feet from one another.

En route to the aforementioned locations, I discover that I live in a basically adorable neighborhood. Washington is a tree-covered street with brick apartment buildings and wooden houses on either side when you first journey north from Comm Ave. Pretty soon you will come across a Jewish temple and the Our Lady of Fatima Shrine, but it's not till Washington makes a sharp curve west at Cambridge Street that it gets really charming. There is the Green Briar Pub, a lovely English pub that I look forward with gusto to visiting, but most importantly Mandy and Joe's Restaurant and Delicatessen. It seems Brighton has anticipated me. There is also an Amanda's Flowers. It seems they have been prophesying my arrival, perhaps for quite some time.

All of this is a mere mile or so from my current accommodations, and only 0.5 miles from where I will live in September and beyond. Whereupon we will live across from the beautiful Evergreen Cemetery and the Chestnut Hill Reservoir (the cemetery is a particularly good omen, which I may someday explain. I like them). I'm happy we moved here. I'm even happier that I am exploring.