Catching Up

June has passed by so quickly I can hardly keep up with what happened each week. I have wrapped up two very big work events and am desperately trying not to catch the bad cold that has been winding it's way through my overworked colleagues. (Sore throat, just go away please!) I can't believe next week is July but I am thrilled that my summer Fridays will start, Sean will be done with classes, and Miriam and Aaron are visiting us all in one week. Great start to my official summer!

I came to my blog to post something nice about how much we have been enjoying our neighborhood. I was nervous when we moved that it would all be for nothing, that we would still lean towards the hermit lifestyle, cooking dinner and staying in each night. There can be a lot of (self-imposed) pressure in New York to always be out doing something, because otherwise are you really taking advantage of everything the city has to offer? Sometimes all you want to do is sit on your couch and watch TV show marathons on Netflix. Sean and I tend towards that plan more often than not. So I am happy to report that we HAVE been getting out of our apartment and taking advantage of all the wonderful things that are so close by now.

Of course we have the always lovely afternoon or evening stroll in Riverside or Central Park. We are also now within reasonable walking distance to Columbus Circle and all the shopping there. One of my favorite things we have done this month was see a public art project of painted pianos at Lincoln Center (they had been spread around the boroughs but were brought to Lincoln Center for the last weekend of display). Realizing something cool was going on and being able to quickly walk down and see it was amazing. Last Friday after work, Sean and I met for a spontaneous picnic in the Sheep's Meadow of Central Park. It was a beautiful evening, perfect for some cheese, fruit, salads, and being outdoors. I practically had to pinch myself to remember this is my real life.

Lest we forget our old haunts, we went to Astoria last weekend to see Jocelyn and Cory and visit our favorite beer garden, where we of course played Euchre and ate onion rings. Then we went for a walk through Astoria Park and had ice cream cones overlooking the East River. Mister Softee is the standard ice cream truck out here, and he is everywhere. The truck in Astoria used to play music and drive down our block all summer. The trucks on the UWS just camp out in one place and do tons of business. But I digress. It was a truly lovely day, which still, did not make me regret our decision to move, and for that I am grateful. (But Jocelyn and Cory, don't leave us! Are you sure you want to move to Massachusetts? Really??)

I'd say despite the busy-ness, June has been a pretty successful month!

The Sullivans Take Manhattan Part Three: Little by little...

Our new apartment is turning into a functioning home. We just got the last unpacked box out of here this weekend and that feels very good. Our dining table is still covered in yet to be dealt with items and there are frames laying on the floor when they belong on the wall, but it's coming along!

The number one priority for us was getting the kitchen ready to actually be used. Tiny kitchen or not, we like to cook dinner at home 4-5 nights each week and fitting everything in has been a big challenge.   We already had a good pot/pan set up at our old place which we were able to hang on the wall here. We also had an old kitchen cart from college that really needed to go. It was still in fine shape, but doesn't fit the space, and Sean hates it as one comes to hate the kitchen cart they bought at Meijers in a moment of desperation 4 years ago. We did a lot of measuring to figure out what would fit (surprise, not a lot fits) and finally settled on a small prep counter from West Elm which would give us two shelves and triple our counter space. Lucky for us, West Elm is close by and we were able to put the box in a cab rather than pay for delivery. Unlucky for Sean, it was extremely difficult to assemble.

Also very unlucky for us, the size of our apartment has been pretty limiting of what pieces of furniture we can actually buy. We don't want to buy things we don't love just because they work in the space, knowing that we are not going to live here forever. So we try to buy furniture we love that can serve multiple functions over time. This means the cheapest option isn't always doable. Last weekend we also found ourselves hemming and hawing over a new TV stand (the old one also being a college relic that was just too big to fit well). We finally bit the bullet AND paid for delivery and now that it is here, we love it. But as someone with limited furniture buying experience and a limited budget, getting past that initial purchase is still really difficult for me.

Goals for this weekend include finally hanging up a lot of stuff on these blank walls. Our wine rack, new reading lights, photos and art, a double towel rack in the bathroom...etc. There seems to never be a good time to move, Sean and I have both been so busy this month that we have been stalled at getting everything in it's place. Someday soon, I hope to have some very nice photos to share!

The Good List

There are always days that seem a little worse than others. When maybe you didn't get enough sleep, or your apartment is a mess, and other little irritations turn into big ones. It's probably raining and gross outside and you didn't eat breakfast. Anyway, today was obviously one of those days for me. When this happens, I like to force myself to think about good things until I stop being grumpy and feeling sorry for myself. Sometimes I even make a list. It's pretty silly, but it always helps. Here is the good list for today:

-remembering to wear your raincoat and boots even though it hasn't started raining yet

-a sturdy umbrella that can withstand the wind

-comfort food in the form of a big pot of tofu and red lentil curry

-fine tuned Pandora stations

-running for the bus and catching it

-Hillary Clinton is now on Twitter

-listening to Moon River, the best line is obviously "Two drifters, off to see the world, there's such a lot of world to see"

Yep. I have high hopes of sleeping well tonight.

Birthday and JUNE

June is here which seems kind of crazy. It's a very busy month for me at work with two big conferences to plan and staff but getting them out of the way will make for a relaxing summer which I am looking forward to. So lets get on to the fun stuff...

Tuesday night I walked home across Central Park and ran some errands, then headed home. When I got to our building with grand plans of cooking a nice dinner for Sean in my head, I could not open the front door to the building. No matter what I did with my key, that door would not open. I started dripping sweat in our tiny entryway for ten minutes trying to turn the lock. I sighed. I swore. And then I gave up and left. I called Sean and told him he would find me pouting on a bench somewhere in Riverside Park because that door just hated me. But then I had a great idea. Why not go to Trader Joe's and pick up some groceries since I was locked out anyway? Well, this was my first trip to Trader Joe's on Broadway and 72 and let's just say it was an educating experience. The line to check out wrapped all the way through produce, cheese, and meat. People do their shopping WHILE they're already in line to check out. It was rough. After waiting in line with my heavy basket for 30 minutes and carrying my bag home, my arm was ready to fall off. Of course when I got to our building and tried again to open the door, it opened quite easily. Of course by this time it was also 8pm, Sean got home and we gave up all hope of cooking dinner. We ordered pick up from a sushi place very close by and it wasn't terrible. End of story.

Wednesday was my birthday and it was also a beautiful day, perfect for the wearing of my chosen birthday dress, a blue shift from J. Crew with silver polka dots (which I tried to find a photo to link to because I know you were very curious about my birthday dress but it was impossible, that dress sold out in about five minutes two months ago). We've been on a strick no shopping rule, so I actually bought this dress in MARCH but hadn't worn it yet due to the complete lack of appropriate spring weather in New York. One of my colleagues insisted on birthday pie and got me a piece of strawberry rhubarb. Birthday pie is a requirement and it was delicious. Sean surprised me when I got home from work with a bouquet of roses and a stack of very fun presents including new pajamas and a straw hat (can I pull it off? the verdict is still out). We had a nice dinner in our new neighborhood at Boulud Sud. A very lovely birthday.

In other news, on Thursday I played an epic game of capture the flag with colleagues in Central Park, which I am still sore from. My team won, obviously, and I like to think my amazing defense skills had something to do with that. Friday consisted of a long day at work and complaining nonstop about the downpour in New York. It rained all day long. Literally all day. The kind of rain where your bus takes 30 minutes longer than it should, the streets fill up with water, and an umbrella can't keep you dry. We got soaked walking just a few blocks to a bar. We got even more soaked walking another few blocks to dinner. When we left four hours later it was somehow STILL pouring.

This morning the sun is shining a bit and it looks like the sky got all the rain out of its system so we are in for a nice weekend. Sean and I have some furniture shopping to do and I have birthday money burning a hole in my pocket, which means we have a date with the Flatiron district and Union Square.

Happy Weekend!

Life Changing

Beds with built in drawers to store your clothes.

Living a few blocks from Shake Shack.

Your evening commute including the option of just walking across Central Park.

It's taken me a few days, but I can finally say I am very happy that we moved. Loving our new little home on the Upper West Side.

Tips for moving into a tiny apartment

1.  Make peace with getting rid of stuff. New rule: if you haven't used something in over a year, you probably don't need to keep it.

2. CLEAN. Scrub. Wipe down. Do it again. Because the bathroom walls and oven nobs have probably never seen a sponge and they will be better for it. Celebrate the hidden OCD clean freak inside you and let it out.

3. Unpack immediately. Boxes take up a lot of space when you don't have much space to begin with.

4. Get rid of more stuff as you unpack it.

5. Have friends over as soon as possible. This will automatically brighten up a space that doesn't feel like home.

6. When in doubt, go to Ikea. But try not to buy too much stuff.


That's it for now. After some minor moving mishaps and severe dust allergies we are mainly settled and enjoying our new neighborhood!