It's my party...

Though I've been feeling sad about spending yet another birthday away from my loved ones, things are starting to look up. Today I came home to this:

Okay, so it didn't really look like that. It was actually in a USPS box with just my address on it. Gabby, don't think you can just not put your address on something and think that I would not recognize your handwriting.

Anyways, I decided I would be good and not open it until my actual birthday.

JUST KIDDING. I just wanted to pretend I had the patience. HAH!

I know you're dying to know what's inside, just as I was.

I'll add a lot of break so you have to scroll down all the way.

Keep scrolling...

Glitter gold TOMS!

Only a best friend would remember that one time you mentioned that you wanted these shoes when talking about her baby brother buying a pair for own best friend. I now declare TOMS shoes best friends shoes.

Now, if only I were going to work tomorrow. I want to wear them out!!!

iKrazy

Yesterday my roommates and I decided to take a trip to Ikea. To finally furnish or attempt to furnish or at least make decisions as to what to do to fill up our space. Because really, 2 weeks with nothing but cardboard and boxes to act as your furniture doesn't really make coming home very comforting. Actually, that is a lie. We love our place and have already declared that we will be living here for at least 2 years.

However, we do need furniture. I mean, I'm still sleeping in an airbed. If I'm going to call NY my home, it needs to be a place where I can lounge. And we are all tired of lounging in a full sized bed.

So we spent about 8 hours going to, eating in, shopping around and coming home from Ikea. Or should I say...Ikrazy because that is how we felt at the end. The thing about Ikea is that you go through the whole freaking store carefully handpicking the items that will make your home. You have a 15 meatball meal with ligonberry jam, mashed potatoes and elderberry drink with your roommates. You layout your place and discuss the allocation of costs. And then you get down to the warehouse...to realize that not only do you have to pick up your own pieces but EVERYTHING YOU WANT IS OUT OF STOCK.

Then begins the delirium. Waiting in line to ask if they have it in the back, debating on whether you really need it or if you should pay the one-time flat fee to deliver only half of what you picked out or if you should just go home and come back another time when ALL the things you picked out are in stock.

Of course we spend some time looking through the as-is section to see if we could score deals. In the end we just picked some alternatives. Maybe they weren't as cute as our original picks but they at least served the same function. Because we'd be damned if we had to pay the delivery fee more than once.

We got some coffee/side tables, a COUCH, a rug, a dining table, a table for the kitchen and then some. Of course, after standing in line we had to have a snack of non-fat vanilla frozen yogurt or, if you are Jackie, you get a Pepsi with NO ICE...BECAUSE THEY ARE OUT OF THAT TOO. Then we decided to go back and get more tables. Get ready to leave, make it past the receipt checker, down the stairs only to realize the $8 table you're carrying has a DENT in it. So one has to go back and exchange it. And then see your roommates like this:

So yesterday night our place transformed..a bit. From this:

Literally cardboard and boxes ya'll.

Hard at work. Carrying those pieces through the subway was AWFUL.

!!!

Basked in sunlight.

There will be more. Our couch was special delivery so please stay tuned for the next 10-14 business days.  GET EXCITED.

Working girl

I've decided to show ya'll my commute to work!

I would post pics of the apt but it is BARE and I do not know if I feel like sharing until my bed gets here. We shall see.

So I wake up in the morning feeling like P.Diddy...just kidding.

Every morning I leave this cute apt:


Turn the corner and walk down Broadway, a main and busy street in Astoria. I love it:


I walk to the subway and wait for my train, outside of Manhatten most of the trains run above ground:


I get off my first train and then transfer to a train that comes, literally, into my building. Hello Manhatten! View from the platform:


The above ground trains move rather slowly compared to underground ones. I always pass this awesome building I named the graffiti building:


I think the building is so cool and I enjoy seeing it everyday. One day I'll visit.

The train then wooshes into Grand Central and I exit like this:


Yes, the 7 train is about 6 stories underground. I walk up the stairs usually because the escalators are so slow. And for the morning commute, both go up only.

I pass a Starbucks and YAY work!


I make my way to my tiny desk. Okay, so I don't have a cube yet...this is temporary, we're moving soon to the upper floor and this is what I got. But I also got the best computer. And see my Smuckers' jars? ACCOUNT REPRESENT:


And as a bonus, what I wore to work today:


Do I look like a seasoned New Yorker yet? The canvas tote I carry has my lunch in it. I prefer not to put food inside my baby aka my beautiful, yellow bag. Duh.

Resurrection

I think it's the right time for me to bring back my blog. Why? Because I am now back in NYC...permanently.

I was blessed enough to graduate college and land a job in my dream city. Which also happens to be the dream city of millions of others. I am excited to report my adventures, musings and missteps to my...ahem..DEDICATED readers.


I live in Astoria, Queens. I love it here. I get low rent but a large apartment. Cozy cafes, bustling bars and small grocers line the streets along with all the other necessities such as laundromats and discount stores.

It's cute and homey. Our land lady/owner is a nice, first generation Italian named Ninfa. She has the cutest Italian accent and knows all the neighbors who are Italian as well. Joe and Lucy, our neighbors even grow grapes in their back yard. It's quite lovely.

My nabe also feels very safe. I have no qualms, yet, about walking home at night from the subway alone. We live pretty much in the heart of Astoria close to the main streets of Broadway and Steinway so there is always something to do.

So, I hope ya'll are ready for more posts. I want to be more prompt and informational than last summer. I know my friends and family would also love updates about my oh-so-glamorous life as a New Yorker.