So everyone keeps telling me that it takes time to officially phase from "moving in" to "decorating" to "living in". But, I'm not that type of person who likes to wait. I'm the person who wanted it all to happen the day I moved in. My million dollar idea is to create a company that in one day, moves you from one place to another and completely unpacks, organizes and decorates your new place. Perfection. You heard it here first, so don't steal it (unless it already exists).
Still having a few boxes on the floor causes my OCD to flair up like a bad case of eczema.
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Because you're all so demanding for pictures of the apartment... Here is where I am in the phases of moving, somewhere between moving in and decorating, aka Phase 1A
Living Room starting to look more put together
I purchased a desk
Today I completed Phase 1B. I purchased a ton of furniture to finish the structure of my apartment. Tomorrow I have someone coming to measure my windows for treatments.
Rugs!
Now I'm patiently waiting for things to be delivered and then I start decorating with nick knacks and putting up pictures.
I know I'm a little overdue on the moving report...
Sunday before I moved Michelle and I ran a few fun before moving errands and then I headed over to my new abode to do a little house cleaning. I met my next door neighbor, Jamie who was SO nice. She was awesome to give me the low down for the floor, I got the general information on each of my neighbors and some informational gossip.
To ensure we start this post off right, here are the before pics:
Front Door/Accent Wall
Living Room
Kitchen
Bedroom
And I know Evan (aka 2012's 2nd hottest Broker according to Curbed) will appreciate this picture, but I couldn't help but share how great he's been through this process. During the walk through he cleaned my bathroom floor because of a leaking pipe (but I wont go there). So I didn't really need to do much bathroom cleaning on Sunday.
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Monday bright and early at 9am the Movers showed up ready to load up the last 3 years of my life into a moving van.
It took 3 movers only 3.5 hours to pack up 30 boxes and my furniture. Who knew I was such a hoarder and it's amazing how fast everything you own can be packed away.
(half of) Before & After
Once we (me & the movers) arrived at my new apartment it was a whirlwind. Boxes started accumulating everywhere and then the movers where gone and I was all alone to unpack. To so say I felt slightly overwhelmed was an understatement. But really, I wanted to find the box that had my cooler of refrigerator contents which had my left over Pad Thai because I was STARVING!
Enough boxes?
Thank God for Michelle who came over after work and helped me unpack. She totally kicked my kitchen's ass! We kept it classy ate pizza and drank some prosecco for dinner to celebrate my new apartment. I'm saving the classy champagne for when I feel like I'm completely moved in.
By the end of the night the living room was slowly unpacked....
The bedroom was a lot easier to unpack than the living room.
My last look before I closed my eyes that night
I only wish I had taken off Tuesday and just not Monday, because let's be honest my need to organize is very intense. OK, really I should have taken off the entire week because Thanksgiving was Thursday and I was already taking Friday off. Oh, well. Lesson learned for next time in 5-7 years.
and moving is on Monday! so, its time to officially pack...
A 1/4 of my place was already packed
but, today was the day to get aggressively packed. So Michelle came over and helped my anxious ass get seriously packed up. We packed my bedroom, what's left of my closets (besides my clothes), my living room and my kitchen.
Tomorrow we tackle the entertainment center and errands for moving Monday.
I feel good about it all. I think I'm ready for the big MOVE.
Then its organization time, my favorite thing for my OCD.
Since Sandy caused power outages through all of lower Manhattan, 41st
and south on Monday night I've been off work all week because my office is on 39th & 5th and they haven't restored power back to that area yet, but hopefully by Monday. I've been going stir crazy at home without a schedule. I wonder if this is what unemployment feels like. My apartment is clean, organized and I've made some amazing meals with my time off. I wish I was already moved in to my new apartment, my time would be better utilized there getting my new home put together.
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To help keep myself occupied and get some social activity back into my life, I've opened up a little Bed & Breakfast in my
apartment for a few friends who are without power starting on Wednesday.
Melanie was the first friend to come up, it took her an hour to get 65 blocks in the late morning once they opened up the streets to cabs and some public transportation. Once she got her she charged all her electronics and was thankful to see a flushing toilet. We were going to go to lunch at my favorite Mexican restaurant across the street, but when we arrived there was a group of LES (lower east side) blocking the doorway and being all "cool", so we opted for the lesser choice of Blockheads. Then we headed over to the madness that was Fairway Market to get food for Wednesday and Thursday.
Amy and Chris came up Wednesday evening for dinner and so Amy could shower. Amy felt like a whole new person after getting clean.
After I made dinner we went out to meet Chris' friends at a bar in midtown for Halloween. Amy dressed like a women who wanted her power back and I apparently dressed like Wilma Flintstone (thanks to a guy at the bar who asked if that's what I was dressed up as, I said, well of course). At first we thought we could take a cab, we went 3 blocks in 5 minutes and then Amy made the executive decision we could walk 20 blocks faster, which was true. After a few drinks for Halloween Mellie and I headed back uptown for bed.
Thursday morning Amy called to advise that she just couldn't live in the darkness anymore and was coming over. Thursday we all did as much work as we could remotely from our blackberries and home laptops, but let's be honest its not the same as being at your desk. Thursday night it was a full house because Amy and Chris decided to spend the night too, Slumber Party! So I made a fabulous dinner of grilled skirt steak and we had a few bottles of wine while flipping between The Voice and X-Factor.
Friday mid-morning Amy and Chris headed out to the Hampton's to his Aunt house to get out of the City and Mel and I brunch at Luke's Lobster. Then the most amazing thing happened, my Laundromat opened and my laundry from last week was no longer held hostage.
Friday's brunch
Melanie is now waiting for the robo call from ConEd that her power is back on. Maybe Saturday night...?
As for our plans for the rest of the weekend: food, tv, out with friends left in the City...?
So I woke up at 8am and looked out my window and I saw this...
Am I allowed to be jaded now? Its just like Irene! Nothing crazy happens on the UES and that is why I live here.
This morning I went for a little walk to check out the damages beyond what I can see from my window (and let's be honest I have crazy cabin fever). Here is what I found on the blocks of E 79 - E 81 between 1st - 3rd.
Woah, Garage sign down!
Big Tree
Small Tree, lucky SUV
The flooding
Later this afternoon I'll take a walk down to my new apartment and check out what's happening to my 168 shares to ensure there is no major damages there. But I do remember signing something at the closing ceremonies that I'm protected by FEMA in case of a flood and I have homeowners insurance that started on 10/13 (I'm not stupid).
I'll also head down to the East River and FDR to get the good pictures of the rising river and highway flooding. Those should be quite awesome.
As for the rest of the City, I won't deny that Sandy was a total bitch and fucked us up. There are 200k Manhattanites without power and almost all of Southern island is flooded or under water. All public transportation is still down and some subway stations are flooded. It is Bananas. Check out FDNY Incidents for all the crazy pics from last night.
More to come later today...
UPDATE: 4:45pm
I went out at 2pm for a wandering walk to my new apartment to see what Sandy had done farther up town. First the whole world was out and about, either dressed for brunch or dressed like they just rolled out of bed, I fell in the second group. Restaurants were starting to open and people were anxious to get out of their apartments and stop eating canned green beans.
As I walked up First Ave there were definitely more down trees; 82nd between 1st/2nd had a HUGE leafy tree in the middle of the street, and near 90th whole trees uprooted. A little more than what I had seen around my block.
As I approached my new apartment building I looked up to ensure no windows were cracked, check, and then walked up to the building. On the 93rd Street side it looked like they were pumping some water out from the basement (?) there was a hose running into the street from the building and water was running out. Then I walked around to the 94th Street side and noticed a ConEd truck on the corner and a guy about to go into a hole (you know those ConEd holes). I continued to turn the corner and looked into the lobby and it was pitch black with a huddle of residents standing around. I'm going to make the assumption after putting together the pieces that Mill Rock lost power last night or this am. Then as I continued up the Street there were 2 other emergency ConEd trucks parked on the block. Guess I was in the right place last night. But if I was already moved in, I would have walked down 29 floors and walked up to the Wishen's and spent the night with them. It's good to have friends so close.
After doing my investigative walk up to the new place I went to the Wishen's to hang out for a bit and catch up. It was nice to have some real contact with people and catch up on life, gossip and Sandy updates.
I was going to walk down to the East River and check out what was going on down there but it started to rain on my walk so I skipped the River and headed home.
So there is this Hurricane named Sandy that is supposed to be the perfect storm that is hitting the Eastern Seaboard tonight. It's been rainy and windy all day, but nothing too scary on the UES. I've had the day off and will have another day off tomorrow because of this classy gal. They've shut down all transit and I've got nothing better to do than watch tv, blog, read and well that's really it. If I continued to watch the news I would be curled up in the corner of my apartment crying for help, they really over dramatize everything. There is a reason I don't live in lower Manhattan, Long Island, Coastal Jersey and in any flood plains. There are parts of the UES, like FDR that are starting to flood a bit because the increase of water in the East River but I don't think it's going to make it up to 2nd or 3rd Ave.
Maybe I'm just jaded from Irene? We all got over crazed, taped our windows, bought a million batteries, non-parishable food, etc and all we had in the City was some fallen twigs.
Yes, the wind is really starting to blow and some friends are texting getting a little more concerned about the weather, but I'm an optimist. I'm not in any evacuation zone, I have a few bottles of wine, so I'm ready.
I think the name Sandy was a poor choice on the weather service, because all I can think of is the Grease song..
I would love it if a weather man dressed as Danny and serenaded Sandy, maybe she'd turn around and go back to High School...
More updates to come as she's supposed to become a Pink Lady and hit NYC this evening.
If anything, pray for me because the rumor is ConEd is shutting down power for certain parts of Manhattan. Hopefully I will never be that certain part.
UPDATE: 5:15pm
Here is a pic from of what it looks like outside my apartment. As you can see I have no cause for concern right now. Just some rain and a few gusts a wind every once and a while.
UPDATE: 7:15pm
I made a delicious shrimp dinner in honor of Sandy around 6:15 with a nice glass of wine. She is now no longer a Hurricane but a Post-Tropical Storm. Looking outside my window, its just crazy windy but crazier shit is happening around the area. Check out the Daily News live tracker for a feed of the details, its bananas. I might have cabin fever, but everything is still kosher on the UES. I just seriously feel bad for those reporters who are out in the winds having to report "Its windy and the water is rising. No one has seen anything like this ever". No shit, send those reporters home, its all the same the water is rising on the coast and it's windy.
UPDATE: 10:55pm
As I'm going to bed, my street looks like any normal night. It is calm with just a few leaves on the street. I hear my neighbors doors opening from them coming and going. I still have power, there is no rain, no flooding and though this entire ordeal I've only had a few major wind gusts. It is times like these that I am grateful that I live on the Upper East Side. I enjoyed a few bottles of my favorite "good" wine and watched way too much tv. Let's hope I wake up to power unlike many friends who are going to bed without because they want to be 'cool' and live in lower Manhattan.
Or really... I own 168 shares of Mill Rock Plaza, 725 square feet of my very own on the 29th floor.
I had my closing ceremonies for the most overwhelming, frustrating, longest, out of control event of my life (thus far) on Tuesday, 10/23. I had a very nice bank teller write the biggest check of my life out of my bank account and then I handed it over and at that moment I felt very poor.
My broker likes to tell me that it's all down hill from here. He obviously hasn't figured out HOW much of a control freak with OCD that I am. I haven't moved yet. That's not downhill, that's a whole lotta uphill until I'm moved in, organized and partially decorated.
Look out for awesome "I've moved" cards to come sometime in November and pictures of the new place once I'm all moved in and put together.
As you may know, every year Megan makes her pilgrimage to NYC for Labor Day weekend and this year was no different.
We'll go day by day to get the cliff notes version of our weekend adventures
Thursday night: Megan arrives, we gossip and then go to bed.
Friday: I have my last Summer Friday, so Megan sleeps in and then meets me at work. We walked in my personal Hell (Times Square) to our favorite College restaurant, the OG aka The Olive Garden for salad and bread sticks because its what we always do. Then headed home for a quick nap because..
Yankee's game vs Orioles Friday night. The Yankees lost, but it was a great game none the less.
Saturday: We really classed it up and headed out to Coney Island. Of course we had Nathan's hot dogs and rode the Cyclone.
Luna Park was OK, the rides were more expensive than the local fair I grew up with, but hey its NY, right? But we got a few rides out of our credits and we had fun baking in the hot sun. I think we got the most for our subway ride walking the boardwalk and scoping the locals.
Somehow we after shoving our faces full of Nathan's we managed to be hungry for dinner, so we ate at Vespa for some delicious Italian and then 16 Handles for dessert. We gotta have our peanut butter sauce for our froyo.
Sunday: US Open! All day tennis! We saw Roddick's second to last match ever, which was quite amazing.
Monday: Monday was something quite amazing. First we went to the Brooklyn bridge for some touristy flare, then stumbled upon Beekman Beer Garden Beach Club. Where we met an interesting group of 3 families from NJ who loved Megan because she was from the OC, they have 'Housewives too. I would have to say that next Summer I'm going to have to head back to Beekman's for HH or weekends after brunches, it was an awesome find.
Megan and I then went to the 9/11 Memorial. I was amazing breathtaking and beautiful. I highly recommend a trip to the site. Its awe-inspiring.
For dinner we ate at Serafina just to ensure we had consumed enough calories over the weekend.
Tuesday: Megan left. So sad
As usual it was an amazing weekend of fun all over the City. Can't wait for next year's adventures....
In August the Frazier's make a visit to New Jersey. It is Makenzie first visit to the East and Jackson's second.
On Sunday, after the Tim/Kenny concert my Mom, Dad, Jackson and Makenzie picked me up at the Trenton train station. It was an interesting ride stuck between two car seats back to Uncle Mark's, but Jackson made me an awesome sticker poster from his trip to the Please Touch Museum.
Can you tell we're related?
It was then swim time for the kiddies, then family BBQ time. Gotta love Uncle Dave's BBQ. I could eat it everyday, though it probably wouldn't be too healthy. After stuffing our faces with delicious BBQ its time to take family pictures. Maybe it wasn't the smartest move to stuff our faces before we take pictures.
Family time around the table
The following weekend was Mom & Dad's 38th wedding anniversary. So I made them go back to the scene of the crime. Dad couldn't even remember how to get to the Church, as he stated he was only there once.
In front of the Church
After we stopped by the Church for a little photo-op, it was back to Uncle Mark's for our last family dinner before the family headed back to Cali.
I love having my family visit, but it's a whirlwind. I'm sure more for my Uncle and Aunts because the fam stays in Jers. My brother keeps saying that when the kiddies get older they are going to spend their Summer's out here like I use to. I'm not so sure about that, but we have a few more years to discuss. Regardless, I love having my family visit and getting to spend quality time with them (even if its limited to a few hours on the weekends).
We got to the Stadium way earlier than we needed to, opps. We didn't read the reviews that there are two opening acts before Timmy goes on. So we had lots of time to eat and gossip about the concert goers finding their seats.
Its a very unique mix of fans in the stadium. I don't know where the rednecks come from because they populated the Stadium like cockroaches. Where is the 'country' outside the City where these fans come from? There are the sophisticated folks who like country music (Michelle and I) and then there are the rednecks in too-tight Wranglers, plaid shirts or ripped t-shirts with a John Deer hat and chew in their mouth. We won't get into the horrid cowboy hats some of the ladies were wearing. WTF, what are these people thinking? It was so redneck that during Tim's concert a fight broke out in the stands between two women. It took Security and NJ State Police a few minutes to break it up. It was OOC (out of control).
Back to the good stuff...
Tim looked amazing and sang all my favorite songs, even ones I had forgotten about but soon remembered as the chorus picked up. "A heart don't forget something like that."
Kenny came out guns a blazin. And we enjoyed 'sit[ting] right here and have another beer in Mexico'.
The best part... Encore with both Tim & Kenny singing their most popular songs! It was by far the most amazing concert I've been too. (And one of the longest).
