Goodbye UES, Hello Astoria!

So as of yesterday I am officially moved in and a resident of Astoria. After moving everything in on Monday, I wasn't able to actually organize/unpack until yesterday as the previous roommate didn't move until then. Much thanks to her for the free television and large 6 drawer dresser from Ikea. I was in the hunt for a TV and dresser but didn't want to spend much money on either.

Living in the Upper East Side was a great experience for the first time I ever lived in New York City. Although I was quite far from the subway and major shopping streets, I enjoyed the fact that it was quiet. It felt like I was back in the Sunset district of San Francisco. Few dislikes about where I lived: took at least 45 minutes to commute to work (whether by subway or bus), was located a little to far from the subway/major streets (I basically was on the East River), my room had a small window that barely let in any natural light and lastly, that the apartment was a fourth floor walk up. Perks were that the building had laundry and the super was very attentive to any problems/needs we had. I will miss my roommate who I've been friends with since college, but I know she is excited to finally have her boyfriend/family in New York. Good luck to her.

My new place in Astoria is right near the Triborough bridge and 31st St/Astoria Blvd. It's nice to be in an outer borough and feel like I live in more of the suburbs than in a big city. I've always liked that feeling, so I'm excited to save money and enjoy it. Perks of my new place: 2 blocks to the subway with a 20 minute commute to work, on the first floor, half a block to the Bohemian Beer Garden (a great place for summer time), more space and two large windows that have tons of natural light. Few dislikes I've encountered so far: laundry is on the next block (not too horrible), grocery stores are at least one subway stop away and even though I have more natural light/windows the room gets warmer faster. Here's to my new place and awesome new roommate Monica!

My birthday: 6 days!
Vacation/cruise: 12 days!

Whirlind of a Week

Man it has been a whirlwind of a week. As of a week ago I was:

1. Still in my old apartment
2. Hadn't started packing
3. Playing in the cornhole playoffs
4. Playing our last game of the regular kickball season
5. Nervously cheering on the Rangers for the playoffs
6. Anxiously awaiting the Memorial Day party at the Big Deck House of Fun

After unsuccessfully not continuing in the cornhole playoffs I was excited to meet up with my good friend from college, Steven, who was in town for a few days. Via Facebook (of course) I saw that he was in town and reached out to him to see if he wanted to meet up/catch up. It was so nice to reunite with him and catch up on what seemed like years since I had last seen him. Turns out we hadn't seen each other since we walked at graduation, crazy!

My usual Thursday kickball was coming to an end with our last game of the regular season this past Thursday. Our last game was one that I will definitely not forget. Only having 6 players at game time, I was able to recruit 3 players/previous teammates who were luckily just ending their game on the court opposite our game. With their help we managed to beat the team 9-8 even in the on and off pouring rain! Winning secured our spot in the playoff bracket by remaining 11th out of 20 (14 teams only make it to the playoffs). Playoffs begin this week, let's go Menace 2 Sobriety!

After a week of cornhole, kickball and starting to pack, I was excited to start the holiday weekend off with a bang. Tom hosts a Memorial Day/Summer Kickoff party every year and after the fun I had at the Labor Day party, I was excited for festivities to begin. What a great night it was despite the New Jersey Devils beating the Rangers in over time to clench the Eastern Conference Champions and to be the opponent to the Western Conference Champions the Los Angeles Kings (yay Kings!) in the Stanley Cup finals.

The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning and packing, as I had scheduled to move my belongings on Memorial Day as to have friends to help me and to not be in a time crunch moving on the 31st. My new rooommate was amazing to let me move my stuff temporairly into the living room while the old roommate was packing to move out. Although that meant I would have to sleep on Ann Marie's couch for two days, I wanted to get everything moved with no rush or stress. So my Memorial Day was spent moving with the help of Kevin and Janssen in 85 degree weather, but managed to complete my whole moving in about 2.5 hours.

Here's to a new apartment, unpacking, June, my birthday and the much anticipated cruise with my family. :D

Dear Monday

Dear rain, although I usually enjoy your company today is not one of those days.

Dear much needed vacation, 22 days but not soon enough.

Dear Memorial Day party, I'm excited you're so soon!

Dear moving, 1 week and much more packing to do.. let's do this.

Dear birthday, can't believe you are here again in 16 days.

Dear May, I can't believe you flew by in the blink of an eye.

Dear summer in New York, please be here soon; I can't wait for all the fun things to do.

Dear new roommate, so excited to be living with you and becoming good friends!

Glorious Weekend

Last Friday I was sitting in the office going crazy with trying to schedule more apartments to check out hoping that I would find something by the end of the week since May is almost half way over. After scheduling 6 places to look at in less than 48 hours, I was on my way to my first Yankees game. It was also my first time ever being to the stadium so I was excited to join Ann Marie, Eric and Eddie. It was such a nice night, although beyond exhausted I was able to experience a Yankees win against Seattle. There will be many more baseball games to come in which I hope to be in a much better mood for and will enjoy to the fullest extent.

After a crazy day all over Brooklyn and Astoria, successfully checking out 4 apartments, two of which were way to far/too small for the price, I was finally able to relax and watch the Rangers beat the Washington DC Capitals one last time to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals!! With the LA Kings in the Western Conference Finals, I will be excited to see what two teams make it to the Stanley Cup.

Sunday I luckily only had two check out two apartments mid afternoon in Astoria. The first one was in a nice, newly remodeled apartment building with gorgeous views and easy access to a grocery store, post office and laundry. Although it had it's perks the second apartment I looked at was definitely a better fit for me. Turns out the place was a great fit for me and Monica, my now future roommate, we bonded quite well. I'm so excited to not be homeless come June. It's 2 blocks from the train, a park, a beer garden and a laundry mat. Here's to my new place! So the official countdowns begin:

Moving: 16 days
My Birthday!!: 22 days
Vacation/Cruise: 28 days

On the Road Again...

So I have officially moved here over a year ago and my apartment lease is up June 1st, meaning I am on the hunt for a new place to live. Definitely want to make it easier on myself by not having to deal with a management company, huge security deposit, application, etc. Instead I am looking for an individual room for rent dealing one-on-one with the current tennants and/or management company. This requires less time and frustration on my end, and only having to worry about myself. When time and money allows, one day I will be able to afford and want to live on my own, but for now I just want to find a place to live. I love my friends and they have offered me their couches if nothing follows through but I sure hope that is not the case.

Here's to my next home!

365 Days Later

365 days have gone by since moving to New York City, CRAZY! I can't believe it's been a year already since moving here. There are days that I sit back and realize how much I have to be greatful for. Friends I have made, memories made, a job to be greatful for, great coworkers and just an overall sense of accomplishment that I have done what I wanted and gotten to where I am today.

Few things I have learned the past year living here:

1. Cab drivers can be your worst enemy or your best friend, if you're lucky. Don't take them unless need be.

2. Pedestrians have the right of way, regardless the situation.

3. There is ALWAYS something new to check out in NYC.

4. Social sports leagues are the best way to make friends.

Season of Social Sports

Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la la... Just kidding; well really it is. The start of a new season of New York City Social Sports Club leagues are probably the highlight of every season for me. This season I have signed up for kickball again with my good friend Nicki who is playing for the first time. It's nice to be the "experienced" one between the two of us for once. So far I have only played one of two games due to my work trip to California but the first game was such a blast with my new team. Menace 2 Sobriety as we are called are made up mostly of people who know each other through work, mutual friends or from seasons past. There a few of us that are free agents/only know one or two other people on the team, but what a blast this team is. I'm so excited for the rest of this season.

Sadly, trivia wasn't scheduled for the spring season due to venue issues. So Nicki and I with two of our other friends, Janssen and Kevin signed up to play cornhole. What's cornhole you make ask, as I did last summer when playing for the first time. Cornhole is a game in which players take turns throwing bean bags at a raised platform with a hole in the far end. These platforms are usually made with plywood or plastic and are often decorated. A corn bag in the hole scores 3 points, while one on the platform scores 1 point. Play continues until a player reaches the score of 21. There is even an American Cornhole Association as I just found out when I googled cornhole. So every Tuesday we, team "We Prefer to Stick it in the Pie Hole" play cornhole in the upstairs of a bar near Madison Square Garden. Thus far it's been a learning process but also realizing I'm not half bad, we'll see how we do as a team overall.