No air conditioning... at least its cold

Since my last post, life has calmed down a bit. The water got taken care of, the air conditioning is being fixed tomorrow, and our building is supplying us with screens for the windows tomorrow. Why there were not screens to begin with is beyond me.

But I want to say, I am very lucky. I am lucky to have a boyfriend who cares, and will do the little things to make me smile when I freak out and even do them for no reason at all. When our kitchen was underwater, our apartment was how, and nothing seemed to go right, I had to go off to work, and left him to figure out everything. But of course, being at work, I wanted to do everything that I could, and was on the phone ever 30 minutes, which in turn, made me frustrated because all I wanted to do was go home and help him. But I couldn't, so the end result, tears. Of course, I couldn't last more than a week without people in my new office seeing me cry. Crying at the office about non-work related issues has kinda turned into my thing. Probably not the best thing to have, but oh well. I am emotional, I cant help it.

Back to the point,  it was an all around suckey day. Nothing was going right in my mind. All I wanted was something easy to happen. Something to go right the first time. It just was not happening that way. The past 3 weeks have all seemed like a circus (which I should be use to now... its kind of the theme in my life)  When I came home, something did go very right. On the bed when I got home was a fan (to circulate air in the apartment), daisy's and a poem, all being held by the stuffed animals that are on our bed. Thats all it took. The simple act of caring. Knowing that I am not alone, was all it took. It reminded me that it can always be worse, and we are together- which makes all the difference.

But to fast forward, the weather has decided to be on our side- its rainy and cold, so the apartment isn't too hot, and a fan is all we need. The perfect conditions for a lazy Sunday with a pretty awesome guy that I am lucky enough to call my Boyfriend.

Peace, love, and things do go right,
B

RIse and Shine

To start, I want you all to understand, our apartment has not been the most cooperative. We have had ants, a messed up AC unit, trouble drilling things into the wall because of cement and our shower has opposite hot and cold water.

But the past 6 hours take the cake. Early this morning, our air conditioner decided to stop working. The unit wouldn't turn on or of. We just figured, great, we are going to sweat tonight, but at least the building will fix the unit at some point during the day.

A few hours later, I woke up at 6:44 to dripping, thinking the sink was left on. So, I dragged myself out of bed to take care of it and maybe trick myself on going on a run. I walk into the kitchen and feel water on my feet, still in a sleep phase, I was a little confused. Was I dreaming that I was in a pool? Did i pee on the floor? It took my mind a minute to register what was going on- I switched the lights on, and I was a little right, I was literally standing in a pool of water in the kitchen about 2 inches high. The water hadn't spread to the main floor because of the dip in the flooring, but it was pretty close. Water was EVERYWHERE. Overflowing from the sink, coming out of the dishwasher, coming out of our cabinets. Literally EVERYWHERE. The first thing I could think to say was, "Um. T- we have a problem- there's water everywhere" He got up, came to the kitchen and his only words were "Oh shit."

In my pajamas and no shoes, I walk out to the door man and say, "We have a problem... our sink is underwater, literally." His head cocked to the side like I had said I grew a 3rd arm over night. He came into our apartment and says, "holy shit, your not kidding, I will get the super."

And thats where we are right now. 2 men working in our kitchen to try and figure out where the water is coming from...

Stay tuned... its going to be one of those days.

Peace, love and possessed apartments,
B

Chicken Soup solves everything

The past 9 days have been a whirl wind of running around, picking up things for our apartment, grocery shopping, exploring, working, and finding my way around. But today, my body shut down. Completely collapsed. I made it to work alright, had medicine in my body, drank and emergency C and was waiting for the magic to kick in.

The magic never came. Around noon, I couldn't concentrate any more. My mind was going blurred- I felt like I was walking around in a haze. It is a possibility I have developed allergies- or maybe its just a good old cold. But whatever it is- it attached itself in my body and wouldn't give away. So- after 4 hours at work, I made my way back home uptown.

The best thing to come home to when you don't feel good has to be your boyfriend making a fresh batch of homemade chicken soup with matzo balls. The most amazing smell, and made me feel more relaxed instantly. I got in bed and drifted off to the smells of cooking soup. When I woke up a few hours later, a warm bowl was ready for me. It was delicious, warming and did the trick of making me feel better. It really is the natural medicine. Love and care.

Now just need to sleep more and get this bug out of me.

Peace, love and natures medicine,
B

We have arrived!

What a 48 hour whirl wind this has been. After my 51 lb bag got cleared through without extra fees, my flight getting delayed 5 times, T's flight from St. Louis being delayed by 4 hours, one 25$ cab ride, and a quick run to the subway- we both have made it- together to Manhattan!

After we both got to the apartment, we dropped our stuff (it was about 7:00 pm at that time)- and went out to start our gathering of things- every single thing possible. Food, pots, pans, bake ware, silverware, the works. I never knew how many little things went into making an apartment home- one thing I do know, it is 100% exhausting. We finally ate dinner at midnight last night and crashed around 2am. Around 5:45 am I woke up to the voice of our very Russian door man- apparently there are gaps in our front door that allow sound from the hall way to travel, and his voice was not the first thing I wanted to hear this morning. But it happened, and so I was awake for the day. This day was filled with nonstop apartment shopping. We went to every TJ Max, Marshalls, HomeGoods in the city- bought as many things as possible, and as many things as we could carry (we forgot our bubby cart at home that we have lovingly named Barb). And then after that adventure, headed up to East Harem to the only Target in the city and got the rest of the necessaries we were not able to get earlier in the day- great steals on flatware and random kitchen stuff, and then of course no apartment is complete without a Swiffer.

Now... there is just one thing missing- well, actually a bunch of things missing- OUR STUFF. Tonight is night 2 on the air mattress and amazingly enough, our last! Finally, after all the issues with the movers, they are bringing our stuff between 9-11 tomorrow. That means we can actually start to set up our apartment, instead of piling everything in the middle of the floor like it is now...

More to come, and I will figure out how to load pictures!

Peace, love and need a good night sleep... in a real bed,
B

almost there

well, my bags are all ready to go. Its been a great year or so Atlanta, but its time for me to return to some unfinished business up in the big NYC. I know that I have always said that you are not my home- and I am sure that you  will be considered 'home' for a little while, but lets be honest, home is where the people you love are. So, wherever T is, or my parents or my brother, those places are home. So yes, for a time, while T and I are there, I guess you are kinda home. But don't take that too seriously. There are a few things I still need to do up there, become a famous writer, of course, shake and change some things up- maybe change someone's life, maybe run the NYC half marathon, maybe go back to school? All I know is that I have never not finished a challenge, and NYC is not going to be the first obstacles I could not over come. I will not let the city or the obstacles beat me. This time I am armed with some pretty tough ammunition- my man right behind me to catch me when I fall, a few friends I have picked up along the way, and a brain that is one year smarter and ready for this.

I had a lot of people tell me this would never happen, or that doubted my return. Crazy things one will do for love and for someone else. Who would have thought- but crazier things have happened. I guess I now understand what people mean when they say they will follow you to the moon and back. I get it.

I was speaking with my mom tonight about life, and different things changing. I realized that life is that thing that just tends to happen while you are concentrating on other things. I want to pay  more attention to the things that are happening right in front of my face- take in life with both eyes wide open, instead of looking across the way for something bigger and better.What is in front of my eyes right now is pretty cool- pretty huge and pretty life changing... and it all starts tomorrow.

Welcome back blog, welcome back to my journey and my inspiration. Welcome back to the feeling of adventure and excitement. This feeling has been asleep for a little while, almost 8 or 9 months to be exact, but I'm 23 now... just starting the time of my life... in a new city... for the second time around.

Peace, love and see you tomorrow NYC,
B

8 boxes

Well, we are almost done packing. the entire apartment, both of our lives, into 8 boxes, 4 suitcases, 1 dresser and 1 bed side table. its all there, sitting in the living room, waiting patiently to be picked up and start the trek up to to NYC. Its funny, last time I went up there, I only packed for a little bit of time, leaving memory things at my parents house, but this time, its all coming. My yearbooks, memory boxes, small stuffed animals  (that of course all have names), diplomas, all of it, has been packed.

More to follow.... but its all happening in 13 days... the round 2 journey that I am sure to bring a little more than round one. I am one year smarter, one year older and one year deeper into trying to find what makes me happy and still no farther to finding my place in the world. One thing I did pick up this year is someone who I love and loves me back, which makes the journey 2x more fun.

peace, love and packaging tape,
b

We Got One!

This past weekend, T and I went apartment hunting. Seeing as he hasn't started work yet, he went up to the city a week before me to get all the heavy looking finished. His goal was to look at as many apartments as possible in 5 days, pick out 4 that were his favorite and he knew I would love and would fit all of the requirements.

My requirements for an apartment weren't too much to ask: Doorman, Gym, Dishwasher and full refrigerator. Well, these requests didn't sound too difficult in my southern mentality. The building we live in now has a pool gated parking, full gym and 2 showers in my bathroom alone..and of course a dishwasher.. Well... As we all know, New York is a different animal- and a different ball game all together. And apparently dishwashers are not a staple for every apartment in New York.

Well, there is one thing about T that I love, his determination. If it were just up to me, I would have sucked it up, hired a broker and take the easy way out- had someone else do the heavy lifting- but not him. No way jose, he was going to find our apartment all on his own, with no help. He didn't want help for 3 reasons: 1) He likes to do things on his own and 2) he didn't want to pay 2 months rent to a broker- why pay someone else for something he thought he could do all on his own 3) he is stubborn- stubborn as a bull.

He had his work cut out for him. He went back and fourth- uptown to downtown, east side to west side, and even across the river to Brooklyn.  All he knew was my flight landed Thursday night and he wanted to have apartments to show me by Friday, so he worked towards that deadline. I got phone calls from him at work that would sound something like this, "Well, I just saw an apartment with half a refrigerator" or, "How do you feel about not having a stove" or my personal favorite, "How important is a dishwasher to you?" To every one of these phone calls all I said was, "Its not the one, keep on trucking, when you find it, you'll know."

And, I learned something about him that I love- when you give him a task, no matter what it is- he will do it, and do it in its entirety. He is one determined man.  Not only did he find us an AMAZING apartment, with all of my requirements, but it is below our budget, in an amazing area, and is just the right size for the both of us- compared to the apartment we are in now, yes its smaller, but were in New York, everything is smaller there. And he found it on Tuesday- only 1 and a half days into his search. All the stars aligned, and it was perfect.

He showed it to me on Friday, for about  5 minutes during my lunch break (I was working out of the New York office for the day) and we signed the one year lease that afternoon.

So its official, in about 4 weeks, T and I will be moving into out apartment- finally our own apartment together. Now were on the next task... how to ship all our furniture up... The next few weeks should be interesting to say the least.

Stay tuned... I can guarantee you it will be nothing short of a comedy show.

Peace, Love and never stop moving,
B