nyc exploration #1

Yesterday, Matt and I went to this really good Egyptian restaurant in Queens with some good friends, Matt and Julie. The owner was delightful and entertained us with some witty banter, great food, and lovely service. Afterward, Matt took me to Roosevelt Island to see the city from a different perspective.


Roosevelt Island is a really weird little place that lies in between Queens and Manhattan. It's only about a city block wide but is jam packed with tall buildings. It's almost as if the island used to be part of Manhattan and then just broke off and floated away a bit. The noise of Manhattan is still pretty incredible to me. On the side of the island that faces Queens, all you hear is the gentle sounds of the East River. On the side that faces Manhattan, the only thing you can hear is the white noise hum of traffic and lights.

In other news, I got a promotion at work! I am the new POS supervisor at Club Monaco in Soho and am really liking it so far. The work is a lot of clerical type stuff, which I really enjoy, and I get some more responsibility which is always nice. Of all the things to be excited about, I'm most thrilled about having benefits. Yay! After last summer with my unplanned gland surgeries, I have learned that having health benefits is a top priority.

Hope all is well with everyone!

1 month point.

I've been living in NYC for just over a month now and I am finally starting to feel settled in. I'm getting used to all the walking so I'm not exhausted all the time, and I can manage finding my way around pretty well now (with the help of my phone of course). I really like my job, and the people I work with, and things at work seem to be going in my favor. More on that subject next week.

As far as upcoming summer plans, a trip to London, ON may be in the works in July. BUT! One for sure, super exciting plan is...


Paul and Abby's wedding!

They are the best, and I am so excited to see them!

♥

Isn't this cute?

entering the work force.

I start work at Club Monaco in Soho tomorrow. I have a really strange feeling about it so we'll see if I stay there. Anthropologie offered me a job but I had a few questions that I'm still waiting to hear back about. If I hate Club Monaco, at least I'll have earned my first 4 hours of work in the city.
Wish me luck!

London to NYC

On Thursday I packed up and said good bye to my house.


Chris and Jenny were on their way to Rochester that day, so we decided to caravan. Matt drove the truck.


There was a pretty horrific accident on the 401 so we sat in almost still traffic for about 45 minutes.


Chri decided to walk back and say hello.


A police officer decided to pull Matt over to give us one final happy memory of Canada.


We unpacked the truck.




Sangria settled in fairly quickly.


and I've spent the last couple of days cleaning and unpacking.



It hasn't hit me yet that I live in New York. I know it'll take some time to adjust, but I have to say that I'm really happy to be here.

I haven't prepared myself

for the immense sadness that is slowly taking over. I'm really going to miss London. Well, not London itself, but all of the people associated with it. I've made some amazing friends and am so grateful and honored to have them in my life. Without them I probably would've sunk during some really difficult moments in the past two years.

I'm also really sad that I'm done with school. I've been extremely excited to move on to the real world and get a job that I love, and now that all of this is happening... I'm sad. Matt has been telling me to take advantage of every opportunity I can while I'm in school because I may never have this musical bubble again. And he's right, as always. I think I've done a fair amount of things in the past two years, but I'm looking back and hoping that I didn't miss something that I may never get to experience in the future.

One non-sad bit of my life: I bought some Toms and I love them. I highly recommend you go get a pair. Yes, you.

the final countdown.

As I head towards the end of my masters degree, I'm feeling a cyclone of emotions. There are so many transitional things going on all at once, I have been struggling to juggle all of them. Unfortunately, when stress bombards me from all directions, my mind and body start to shut down. I, luckily, have this wonderful boyfriend to help keep me in check. His "gentle" reminders that my recital is in a week have been prodding my back into reality.

What I'd like to focus on is moving to New York City in 8 days, aka 2 short days after my recital. I still have to pack (and get boxes to be able to pack), decide what I'm taking, tossing, and giving to Good Will, and finalize subleasing things.

The fact that I have a brand new apartment just waiting for me to move into is more than a bit distracting. I'm so excited because it's only 2 blocks away from Matt! I have been having these day dreams about the reality of it all. No more annoying dropped Skype calls. No more 10 hour drives that turn into 14 because I lock my keys in my car at a random gas station in upstate New York. No more driving back and forth to Buffalo to drop off/pick up Matt from the airport. If I want, I can call Matt and then walk 10 minutes to see him IN PERSON. Amazing.


As far as money goes, I decided that I'd like to know where I'm working before I move to NY. This is proving to be difficult. I have 2 potential jobs lined up. After a very strange job interview situation at Anthropologie, I just received an email that I've moved onto the next round of interviews. For me, this will be round 3. I don't know how many rounds there are, but really, I'd like to be done after this one. I also applied at Club Monaco and was interviewed on the spot. The manager seems great, but I have to wait until I hear from them. When I get into town, there is one more place that I am going to apply at, and then I will wait. My goal- start working the first week I'm in NY. No time like the present...

And at the present time, I should be focusing on my recital. Tuesday, April 27th, 2pm, Von Kuster Hall. Please come if you're available. If not, that's ok, too.