Boxes!

Yesterday we received our first shipment of SD boxes, which contained clothes, some of Mark’s shoes and a few random house things. Boy, it was like Christmas, opening boxes. Can’t wait until the other boxes arrive. At least we don’t have to wear the same outfit everyday anymore.

This Friday the couch we ordered is supposed to come in as well, so we’ll have something else to sit on other than the two dining chairs. Slowly but surely our place is coming along.

The weather is nice again and we’ve been taking advantage by running more errands. Another IKEA visit yesterday…

Not much else to report. We tried a sushi spot right around the corner from our place and it was great. Cheap too so we’ll be regulars there.

There are so many restaurants even in our Brooklyn neighborhood, we don’t have to eat at the same place twice for a while. No more same old Cheesecake Factory dinners.

We’ll let you know what other goodies we stumble upon.

It’s Snowing Again

Last night was our first night in our new home. This morning we woke up to a winter wonderland. Our bed is placed up against the bedroom window so when we looked out, everything was covered with snow. Last week it was warmer than San Diego and today we wake up to beautiful fluffy snow. It was still snowing hard by the time we got up so we went for a walk in a park that’s 10 minutes away. The park was inundated with dogs and their owners having a great time. It was awesome walking through the snow, watching happy-go-lucky dogs have a blast. I thought of Pepper and how princess would be cold. These dogs were definitely used to the snow.

Anyways, today we’re assembling more furniture and buying small things (coffee maker, etc.) at Target since we didn’t make it there yesterday.

If any of you feel winter nostalgia coming on, we’re just 5 hours away (or 8 if you are reading this from Germany).

View from bedroom window 

Typical Brownstones 

Dogs ahead 



In Our New Home!

Yes, we finally made it. As of today, we are officially moved in. We are still missing some furniture but slowly we are adding to the bed and dining table now in our possession. At least all the utilities are working, the cable and internet too and we can work from home. We are waiting for our boxes to arrive from SD and then we can really fill in the gaps.

Today we’re still going to Target and IKEA to pick up random things, and can’t forget the groceries. Boy, we’re pooped.

Think I’ll leave it at that for now. Hope everyone back home is doing well and we look forward to showing you our new home. Until you come visit, we’ll post photos.

Times Square Finally

We finally made it to Times Square. We've only been here almost a month...
It is awesome. The lights, the people, the action and the energy can't be described, you have to experience it in person. Since we were starving, we decided to celebrate our arrival at the square with Olive Garden. I know, my favorite place (note the sarcasm) but it was right in the middle of everything and dinner was actually very good. We had to wait for a table so we got wine at the bar. The waiter brought the bill before we were seated for dinner and the wine came out to $20. That's a little less than what I'd hoped to pay for dinner. Everything was pretty much $5 more expensive on the menu than at Olive Garden in SD. You pay for the location...
Nevertheless, dinner was good and we had the nicest waiter ever. The location really couldn't be beat and it was wonderful walking off the meal in the area afterwards.
Let's see, what else have we been doing since the last entry? We have been buying furniture (the delivery prices will get ya) and setting up utilities, etc.. As usual, taking care of business. We even did that on Valentine's Day. However after that we had a very affordable dinner at a Japanese Ramen place by our house and shot pool/darts also at a local bar. I can safely say that both of us had one too many beers. Hope you had an equally fun V-day. :-)

NY Pricetags, ha ha!

So it’s time to buy furniture and we haven’t made it to IKEA since the subway to or from that direction is under construction. Ah, public transportation… Anywho, today we walked around our neighborhood and Soho and popped our heads into whatever furniture store came our way. We saw some really nice things, some really crappy things and some in-betweeners. The last store we both went to was tres chic with a price tag to match. We fell in love with quite a few items, particularly a chair (normal sitting chair, not a lazy boy or anything like that) and asked for the price. The lady said it sells for $9,000. That’s right, you’re not reading a typo. She mentioned it’s the most expensive chair in the store. That’s the kind of taste we apparently have. Here I was ready to buy two, but never mind. As Mark said, that’s the price of a car. So most likely, when you all come to visit, we’ll lounge in possibly pimped out IKEA stuff. If not, it will be just regular IKEA stuff.

Let’s see, what else is new? Finally made it to the laundromat, hooray, clean clothes! A lot of places here have either self-service, where you do your own laundry, or drop-off service, where you drop your laundry off at the place and they wash/dry/fold it for you. Sometimes they even deliver it to your house. Sounds nice but on a regular basis, that gets expensive. So we did our own laundry, forgot softener, dryer sheets and change to actually operate the machines. We were obviously the only rookies there. The Chinese guy washing/drying/folding someone else’s clothes helped us out. We were there a couple of hours which was kind of nice because it gave us a chance to do nothing else besides read and relax. And do crossword puzzles.

Thanks for taking the time to read the latest about us. For now, that’s all folks.

Taking Care of Business

This weekend started out very busy. Now that we have the keys to our place, we have to buy cleaning supplies and straighten out the place. Thankfully it's mostly clean because it was renovated before it was even listed by the broker. Just have to clean the floors and touch up the kitchen and bathroom.
This morning we took a couple of suitcases with half the clothes and some books to the apartment. Thanks to my terrible sense of direction, we took the subway going the wrong way and ended up in a not-so-nice part of Brooklyn. Tried to take the subway going the other way and it was out of order. That’s NY for ya. After schlepping the luggage around for 15-20 minutes, we were finally able to hail a cab and make it to the new home. We had no more energy to actually clean the place so we grabbed lunch with a friend, explored the neighborhood a bit and then went grocery shopping before coming back to the old home. And that’s a wrap for today.

New Home!

We're super excited to say we got a new home, at least for one year. It's in Brooklyn and although not as big as our last place in SD, it's definitely bigger than the closets we've seen in Manhattan. Give us a couple of months and we'll be ready for visitors!

Living Room

Bedroom 

Yes, it's a yard!

Weather Report

Don't have much news to share today other than the ridiculous cold wind that almost gave me a Michael Jackson nose. Had to run a few errands and foolishly decided not to wear tights under my pants since the sun was shining. Ok, this might have sounded funny.
We always look out the window to check the weather and see how people are dressed. Today I saw sun, no umbrellas, which in my mind equalled San Diego sun. Got outside and mini frostbite set in. Don't think I've ever experienced such wind before. You know how you sometimes see people on TV walking against the wind, holding on to something on the street so they won't be blown away? That was me. I was walking with my eyes closed. And then I turned the corner and typical for city streets, the typhoon was gone. That explains why I was the only person walking on that side of the street. Guess that's something we have to learn from the locals. So I haven't left the house since I got back, not even to do the laundry...
On a happy note, Mark should be arriving home any minute now, which puts me over the moon. Can't wait to continue our NY adventures together.

Pics of Temporary Home

By the way, some of you have asked to see photos of the place we are staying at. These are the only ones I have. The first is the bedroom and the other two are the living room. It's not as clean right now since Araceli didn't move with us. :-)

Free Entertainment

Who says you can't get culture in NY without breaking the bank? Just got back from a classical concert at the Austrian Cultural Forum and it didn't cost me a penny. Except for the cab ride, which actually was a lot more than it should have been since the driver took his sweet time.
The concert consisted of solo piano pieces and a few operettas. Since this had to do with Austria (my favorite of course), it ended aptly with Edelweiss and another song from the Sound of Music. Classical concerts aren't everyone's sort of thing and I can't say that I am a regular fan, but it's nice to enculturate oneself once in a blue moon. Try not to fall asleep next time you give it a try. :-)
Other than than, just waiting for Marky-Mark to get home. He said Oklahoma City is the most exciting place ever and he wishes he could spend more time there. Just kidding. He's working his butt off and doesn't have time for sightseeing the Midwest.
Tomorrow I'm finally making the first trip to the laundromat since the building we are staying in doesn't have laundry facilities. Thankfully there's a laundry shop around every corner here.
That's it for today's news, stayed tuned.

Finally it's Saturday

We are so happy it's the weekend. It's been an exhausting week.
Unfortunately Mark has to travel to Oklahoma for work tomorrow and will be gone for 2 days, so I have to figure out what to do with myself during that time. Already reserved a ticket to go to an Austrian classical concert. Not very exciting for most people but sometimes it's nice to just listen and relax.
Yesterday we went to a bar a few blocks away from our house and ran into an old school buddy of Mark's. They hadn't seen each other in over 15 years and weirdly met up here. The guy invited us to go to a club where Q Tip was dj-ing. Every time Mark runs into a buddy here, we get VIP treatment, I swear. Got to the club, the line at the door was ridiculous and we went straight in since his friend knew whomever. Danced all night in our non-club gear since we still just have our suitcase clothes (thermals and running shoes) and had a blast. On the way home, stopped and had the obligatory slice of pizza and finally made it home at 4am. No wonder I slept half the day away today.
The rain also brings out perpetual laziness. Today it rained like it never does in San Diego. It rained all day and I mean all day. Went grocery shopping and it's quite different than loading up your car after going to the store. The Trader Joes' line wraps around the store twice so it takes at least an hour just to shop there and then you have to carry home whatever you bought while holding your umbrella, so you never load up more than what you can carry. That means we have enough food for about two days. After that, it's back to the store. Definitely learned to be more economical while shopping, more out of sheer necessity than will power.

Home Hunting

For the last two days we've been apartment hunting all over Manhattan and Brooklyn. This would be fine if it was the weekend, but we have appointments scheduled throughout the day and have to work every remaining minute. It's been tiring.
So far found a few nice places so we'll keep our fingers crossed that something comes through. Of course we'll keep you posted.
Other than that, we haven't had time for anything else. Trying to cook meals at home to save money but the kitchen is tiny. We're eating pretty good considering...
The big winter storm that everyone in SD asked about did not hit here. It drizzled for a couple of days and it was cold but that was it. No snow. There is a good amount of ice on the streets and we have to be careful walking. Mark continuously warns me about black ice. Nic, if you are reading this, ask Ed about it.
Since we can't ship anything to this temporary place, I'm still walking around with my only pair of shoes I brought. I think it's time I buy a new pair this weekend.
Mark is feeling very creative since being here and bought art supplies. Naturally. Not much room to draw though in our living room.
That's it for today, have a good upcoming weekend. And feel free to respond to posts here. Don't be strangers.

Fun in the snow

Sunday we finally went to Central Park again and got to see it covered in snow. For as many times as we’ve visited NY, never saw NY covered with snow. It was awesome and super awesome. If anyone wants to visit in the winter time, I strongly encourage you to do so since the park is at its most beautiful under a blanket of snow.

Since there was a blizzard the week before, there was well over a foot of snow covering the park and we had a blast running around, getting our non-waterproof clothes wet, snowball fighting and taking pictures. The highlight was definitely Mark pushing me face down into the snow. Landed superman style.

Afterwards we bought hot honey-roasted peanuts from a street vendor and stuffed ourselves with Japanese rice desserts as we walked around Fifth Avenue and Rockefeller Center. Freakin’ perfect afternoon.