Bring It On Home To Me

Some pretty awesome things have happened in my life over the past year, making the fact that I basically gave up posting here quite the tragedy. Let's hope I've learned my lesson . . . Here's to catching up and moving forward! And I'll start with a post about my first New York apartments.

Finding an apartment in New York City can be quite the overwhelming experience. Good thing I didn't know how crazy it would be until it was too late to change my mind! I met a girl on a housing google group for members of my church who I wanted to live with, so at least I wasn't in it alone! We both spent hours and hours scouring the internet, calling brokers, and sending emails. I came up one weekend to look at places and thought I'd found the perfect place until the reality of income requirements set in. A general rule for renting in the city is that you need to make at least 40 times the monthly rent to qualify for an apartment. If you don't make that, no worries, all you need to do is find someone who makes 80 times the monthly rent who will sign for you. No problem right? Except the rent for any kind of decent place in Manhattan is at least $2,000. Yikes! Luckily there are a handful of other options that made moving here an actual possibility without having to make $80K a year.

Technically I've lived in 3 apartments since moving to the city. The first was on the Upper West Side. A friend and her husband were leaving town for a month and needed someone to sublet their apartment so I ended up staying there while looking for a more "permanent" place. We found a great apartment on the Lower East Side (almost Chinatown) through the google group, the day after I moved here, which was much sooner than we'd anticipated! The girls were moving out but needed someone to take over the rest of their lease right around the time Chelsey (my new roommate) was getting to the city. We lived there from the end of August until December 29th when we moved to the Upper East Side (almost Harlem).  It's further uptown than either of us had ever intended to move but we have at least twice the amount of space and a washer/dryer in our unit - no more laundromat!! This is a huge deal.

Before we moved Chelsey and I decided to make a little video of the apartment. When we're all settled into our new place (read: get more furniture) we'll make a video of the new place too. So if you're interested, here is what our charming little apartment next to the Manhattan Bridge looked like!



A few pictures of the view from or window . . .

This was definitely not a bad thing to wake up to!

The bridge all lit up! Photo courtesy of Chelsey.

Where did Brooklyn go?! I love the fog . . .

Whereas there are things I miss about this apartment (mostly it's location) I'm really excited to be in a place I feel I can settle into and stay for a long while.

Where Do You Want To Go?

Why I moved to New York . . .

Come Together

Friends! Family! Random strangers who happen upon this blog! I have something VERY important to talk you about, so get ready . . .

These are two of my favorite individuals on the planet:


This is what they do:


And this is what they sound like:
So good, right?! Their names (for those of you who might not know) are Ian Axel and Chad Vaccarino and they are seriously two of the most amazing and talented people I have ever met. As we speak they are in the process of recording some of their new material for an EP that will be out later this year and GUESS WHAT?! We can all be a part of making that happen!

Here are Ian and Chad to tell you a little more about themselves and what's going on. (Just as a heads up, when you watch this video you may find yourself wanting to want to sign over your bank account in support of their project. That's great and if anyone understands those feelings it's me, but just keep in mind that you still need to eat, keep a roof over your head, etc. Got it? Good. Now you can watch . . . ).



In all seriousness, any amount you can contribute will be amazing and greatly appreciated. Go here to donate and find out more about the awesome rewards they're offering in return for your support. Note that the estimated delivery date for the music is next month! That means, you back the project today (or within the next 9 days) and sometime in September you could have the music you helped make on your ipod. That is a super fast turn around as far as Kickstarter projects go . . . ;)

Please and thank you!!

P.S. Aren't those the coolest t-shirts you've ever seen?!

Leaving Home

Well, it's been two weeks since I moved out of The Knutson's house. It's strange that I don't live there anymore. I keep having dreams where I find myself in the house or my old room and then I remember that's not my life anymore, so I try to sneak out before anyone sees me. I lived in that house a few weeks shy of 4 years, that's the longest I've lived anywhere save the house I grew up in. The first week was was really tough, especially when I was driving down the street and saw the new nanny driving the kids in the van. That was pretty much the worst thing ever and I tried not to think about too much to keep the tears to a minimum. Luckily I have some pretty amazing friends who not only took me in but also let me talk things through.


Virginia truly has become my home. I love it so, SO much and frequently question my decision to leave. Then I remember when I left Draper. I has an amazing group of friends, the perfect living situation, a new job offer, and was dating more than I ever have in my entire life. Life was amazing and it didn't make any logical sense for me to leave but it turned out to be exactly the right thing to do. There have been so many parallels between my move to DC and my move to New York, I can only assume this will turn out the same. Right? ;)

And in case you were wondering, I miss these two like CRAZY!!!!!

Life Less Ordinary

There are some big changes around the corner. 

A lot of them. 

So I thought I'd start with something simple.

A haircut: 

Now for something slightly more life-altering:

 I'm excited beyond words.

I'm a little bit nervous.

I'M MOVING TO NEW YORK!!

Love Me Do

I'm just gonna put this out there - I might be the best nanny on the planet . . .

Days Gone By: Sailing

There is a very generous family in our area who takes the Relief Societies in our ward sailing on the Chesapeake every year. I've only been on the trip twice and this was the first year I made it on to a boat (we decided not getting home until later would be worth it). It was SO much fun! There are so many amazing women in our ward, I tell you what! I love having the opportunity to get to know the new girls better and being around long time friends.