Day 1: Best way to start a day? Brunch. It was always a favorite pastime of mine, but here in NYC it’s like a mini-holiday that everyone partakes in. Brunch in NYC isn’t reclusive to just the weekend; today is Monday and the brunch menu was as present as always. I was joined by a lovely lady friend who was visiting from Orlando for a couple of hours. The crowd was loud, but so were we… I’m slowly beginning to appreciate eating in small spaces.

I’ve been running around various boroughs and neighborhoods for the past week looking for a place to call home — at least temporarily. Today, I found it. WooHoo! I’ll be moving in on Sunday and I’ll be sure to post some pictures.

Job update: I don’t have one. It’s been a little over a week, it’s ok — I’ll find one.

Day 2: I haven’t left the house today… mostly because I haven’t spent much time on the Etsy shop for the past week. I’ve also been looking at potential jobs — ones that I would actually enjoy doing. I found a couple and spent the day reading all I can about the companies. My window has remained open all day and every so often I get a nice little pick-me-up with the outrageous conversations that take place right outside. “Benny! Where have you been all my life!” “I’ve been right here darling!” “AH! Benny, you’re killing me!” — All in a wonderfully thick New York accent. It made my day.

The sounds of the Bronx are almost as entertaining as that of the city’s. 

Day 3: My first week was specifically set aside for me (by me) to enjoy my time in NYC and not worry about a thing. So why not the second week too? I lied. I’ll keep chugging along and keep the worry-some attitude to a minimum for the first month. If, after one month, I am still unemployed let the worrying commence. Until then I hope my days are much like today: Old fashioned vanilla egg cream w/ coffee ice cream float in a 1920’s styled restaurant that used to be a pharmacy and is now called the Brooklyn Farmacy, a lovely stroll through Central Park, spicy pad thai in Greenwich Village and a visit to my dream job’s office. I think today was about as awesome as it gets.

Some photos from my Central Park stroll…

This little girl was meticulously setting the table for what looked like her birthday party. There is a carousal behind her. 

I don’t know how anyone can be bored in this city. Even if I’m too broke to do anything, there are constantly free music/theatre/dance/art events going on in the city. On top of that… there’s the subway. No, I’m not sick of it yet. It’s far too entertaining. On my way to Brooklyn earlier today, I watched a father try to teach his baby the difference between Vermont Cheddar and sharp Cheddar. The conversation went something like this:

Dad (handing his baby a small piece of cheese): “This is Vermont Cheddar, can you say V-e-r-m-o-n-t C-h-e-d-d-a-r?”

Baby (taking the cheese into his(?) mouth without much success): “hehe”

Dad (trying again): “This one is called sharp Cheddar. Can you say C-h-e-d-d-a-r?”

Baby: no response.

This went on for a couple of minutes until they reached their stop. I was completely consumed with the two of them, but I don’t think they noticed my giant smile staring at them.

I am constantly inspired by the characters that call this city home.  

Day 4: I’d like to take the money spending down a notch the next couple of days since I’ll be moving into my own space (a tiny white room) on Sunday and will have plenty of time to spend money then. I’ll be taking it easy until then. Today I took a ride down to the Midtown NYC library branch (the big one with the incredible architecture) to figure out what I need to get a library card then headed back to Central Park for a couple hours to work out. I haven’t done any heavy physical activity in a couple of weeks now, so I was uber excited to get sweaty! Running around the Jacqueline Kennedy Reservoir is by far one of my favorite things to do around here. And it’s free. In my company were several other 20 something ladies, a couple of older gentlemen and a group of high school students (who looked way too young to be in high school) participating in some sort of end-of-year running test. I’ve been saying this since I got here, but seriously… these kids are so damn lucky! They’re taking a test – in Central Park – around the most gorgeous place in NYC. Ok.

I’m hoping the universe is still in my favor and will help me land The Job.

Day 5: I’m staying in the Bronx until Sunday morning (I think I’ve mentioned that). It takes quite some time (about an hour) to get just about anywhere from here so I’ve decided instead of taking an hour to go down into the city and then spend another hour coming back I’ll just walk around here. My Aunt accompanied me and showed me around a bit. It turned out much less sketchy than I had imagined and was actually quite nice. The residential areas reminded me a lot of central florida – side walks accompanying car lined streets – only these front yards didn’t have useless lawns — they were filled with mini-gardens or colorfully blooming flowers. There was one that had a Hare Krishna statue with watermelons and oranges at it’s feet. The houses were also all a little different, although all were made of brick.

It was all rather nice. We did come up to a house that looked like it belonged in the back alleyways of Disney World. The seeming normal looking house was surrounded by hot pink figurines, sleigh bells, angel statutes… there was even a life size figurine of Beauty and the Beast. I didn’t have my camera with me, but snapped a few iPhone shots…

We ended the walk with some ice-cream. It was quite lovely.

Day 6: Sweating. Semi-Sprinting as my camera bag galloped over my shoulder blades with every skip I made; a giant smile on my face, I couldn’t help but feel semi-at-home as I weaved in and out of tourists in order to make my brunch date.

I have been trying to get used to riding the subways for a more functional rather than for entertaining perspective. I’ve been late every single time I’ve planned to meet with someone. If you know me, this has made me anxious – every single time. I hate being late. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever really been late (maybe once or twice?) before I moved here. I was late 15 minutes for one brunch date, 20 for another… today I was late 10 minutes because I just can’t figure out the train system. I understand the subway stops — what train stops where — but I’m not sure I understand how the heck I’m supposed to know what trains are running and what trains are not. The weekends are -apparently- also quite the wildcard when it comes to public transportation. I waited 15 minutes for the C train today before finally just taking the E one stop north and walking/semi-jogging to meet up with a bunch of ladies for a Meetup. I was 15 minutes late. I wasn’t the only one, but I hate it. It didn’t take long to cool down and get friendly with the ladies I was meeting, but man am I going to need to get better acquainted with using this system. I can’t be late all the time. I’m going to start planning an extra hour for every trip until I get the hang of this thing.

Before the brunch, I went down to walk the high line for a little bit… here are some photos.

 

Perhaps this is the Sangria speaking, but the amount of love I have for my life -right now- is unreal. 

Day 6: Remember that place I found? I’m moved in today and I’m exhausted — mostly from the serious lack of sleep (from the ragers next door in the Bronx) and the hauling of groceries without any help from the subway system. That is not resentment that you hear, by the way. I just made some dinner and put brand new sheets on my bed… I’m too tired to take any pictures, but I’ll be sure to include some soon!

Tired as hell and happy to finally be home.