Goodbyes

When you’ve got two weeks exactly from the day you’re hired to the day you start your job, it leaves little time to mourn over selling everything you own. The only exception was Lil’ Red, my best friend in car form who’s safely gotten me through many a snow storm in Sardine canyon- I was still writing the KSL car ad when I got a call on her, and the next day she was gone. I bought Lil’ Red in 2005- she saw me through high school, college, marriage, and a plethora of awkward phases in between. That car was a 4-door box of memories.

And then, an hour after Lil’ Red’s new owners drove her away- the check engine light came on.

Of course it did.

After visiting the mechanic they had a hefty bill to pay, after that I realized that I gave them extra tires to Alex’s old Audi instead of snow tires, then the bill of sale I gave to them had issues, then the title was mailed to the wrong address and never made it to their house. Everything that could go wrong, did. And in the meantime, we were working full time and trying to plan our move and move out of our house. It was crazy, and by crazy I mean completely insane, but in the end I learned a great lesson in kindness, and patience, and couldn’t have sold my car to greater people.

Speaking of moving, we couldn’t have done it without all of the help from our family and friends- lifesavers! They were there until all hours of the night cleaning, packing, lifting, loading and moving boxes.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we have the best friends and family anyone could ask for. And even though saying goodbye wasn't easy, we'll still see them on holidays, and via unflattering angles on Skype. 

281 West Center Street

A few weeks ago (before we knew that we would be moving), I asked our friend and photographer Sami to come and capture a few photos of our little green house on Center Street in Logan. If I had the time or the skills, I would devote an entire scrap book to our home entitled, "Our First Place" but I figured I had better leave the capturing of memories to a professional.. no one wants to remember our giant laundry pile which overtook our guest room for almost a year, or our sink which practically shouted, "No, there is no dishwasher here be it mechanical or human."

We have had so many memories from our upstairs apartment in this quirky old historical house- from our shower with two doors, to our faucet knobs that turned backwards, and especially the secret rooms with hidden doors- we sure miss it all a whole lot.   

 

I'm so glad that we will always have these photos to look back on, and remember how much we loved this little green house. But for now, we're on to create more memories in our new NYC apartment, and even though the closet won't be able to hide our laundry piles, we're still excited to make our overpriced shoebox whose rent in any other city could pay a mortgage and support 3 kids soon to be apartment a home!

 

And then we found out our hotel actually does have a rooftop terrace.

 Ha, of course it does.

We also discovered that all of Alex's hair can fit into a bun (as seen above), and I'm not sure which discovery he was more excited about.

Just living that New York dream.

Right now, I'm looking out at New York City from our rooftop terrace, drinking an ice cold coke and admiring the city lights while I think about how amazing this place is.

Just kidding.

I'm laying on the bottom bunk (yes, you heard right) of our overpriced hotel bed waiting for the (insert expletive here) internet signal to disconnect again. We don't have a view (unless you count the brick wall I can touch from our window), but we do have a shared bathroom and a 10" flat screen TV with cable so that's almost as exciting. 

While I'm sure your imagination is running wild, here's some visual entertainment for you:

We do have a sink across from the bunk bed latter, which is overall very convenient because who doesn't want to brush their teeth from a latter?

If you'd like to know how to move across the country in two weeks, start a new job, and pay too much in hotel bills because you were naively unaware of how difficult and expensive it would be to find a shoebox of an apartment, then you're talking to the right person.

This 'adventure' has been nothing short of adventurous. When we got here last Saturday, our friends Bryce and Laura generously let us overtake their entire living room with an air mattress that we semi-consciously purchased at a bed bath & beyond after our red eye flight. Not only did they feed and house us, they did it for a whole week. Let me just tell you, that is a considerable square footage sacrifice for any New York apartment. We could not be more lucky and grateful for such wonderful and generous friends!. Not to mention our entire life is crammed into four extra large suitcases which were also strewn about their living quarters- a complete aesthetic nightmare if you will, but they couldn't have been more gracious and kind about the entire situation. We are way too blessed in the friend department.

My first week of work has been great, just the typical 'I'm new and have no idea what I'm doing or where to find any post-it-notes' kind of week. Basically, I design multimillion dollar apartments, and we are homeless. Irony at its best.  

The good news is that we finally found an apartment last week (hallelujah- miracle!) and have just been trying to get our ducks in a row before moving in (aka still trying to wrap our heads around the brokers fee we'll have to pay) which will hopefully happen this week! 

The miracles, blessings, and stories we have to tell from these past couple of weeks will keep our future children entertained for days, I'm sure. The best stories are the ones you never expected to tell, and right now our lives consist purely of the unexpected.

 If nothing else, at least this will be entertaining.

The kind of thing that never happens, except it did.

How was New York last week you might ask? Well, I hopped on a plane for some vacation (and Shake Shack) time with Alex, and I came back with a job offer and a two week start date- So i'd say my life's expectations have been exceeded x1000.

The trip was great, other than the fact that I missed my initial interview due to a slight date miscalculation on Alex's end for which we won't point any fingers. After arriving at the airport at 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday night, bags and neck pillow in hand, it was soon realized that our flight acually left Thursday night. There may or may not have been a public tear fest courtesy of yours truly. But the good news is that everything worked out better than expected, aka- I got my dream job. And I still can't believe it. We're moving to New York in two days, we've sold almost everything we own, and we still don't have a place to live- but it's okay. Because so far, everything has been working itself out in miraculous ways, and I have a husband who is supporting my dreams and making the whole process a wonderful one- which in and of itself makes me the luckiest. I will also be about 2,000 miles closer to about 5 Shake Shacks, and that definitely contributes to the lucky factor.