[December 29nd – January 4th]

12.31: Oh Hey! I’m back. For good, I promise. Week 31 was mostly me laying in bed near a pool of tissues. Nothing to write home about except my uber exciting Ally Mcbeal marathons. Week 32 got me so excited at the prospect of breathing, I completely forgot I had a blog… By the time this week rolled around whatever hell my body didn’t introduce me with during the 31st week came rolling full force. Needless to say I’m all battled out in the realm of illnesses. I’ve been patiently building a moat of tissues around my bed for the past 4 days, chugging honey water, and thanking my lucky stars this only happens once in a blue moon. I should be feeling better in a couple of days [fingers crossed].

Being sick is not the end of the world, things could be much worse. Too bad it’s my favorite day of the year. Normally, I like to spend December 31st full of flashbacks – the good and the bad – from the year past. I’ll normally go through my photos and read through my journals to see how my inner thoughts have transitioned and hopefully grown. I like to say goodbye and welcome room for the prospect of the new.

Around this time last year (December 2013) I was devastated. For the first time in my college career I had failed to pass a course and unfortunately, it happened to be the last course I needed to get my degree. I got a C minus. The course was evolutionary biology and by far the most difficult I’ve ever taken. I had made plans to move to NYC in February, which were put on hold. I couldn’t believe it. I retook this class (with a different professor) in the Spring semester which pushed my move to May which made for a much smoother move. There was no slushy snow or bitter winds to aide my move. Instead the city welcomed me with sunshine.

It worked out for the best. I didn’t know it last December. I know it now. Things worked out for the better. This seems to be a repeating theme in my life. I can’t speak for anyone else, because we all know life is [no] fairy tale. But I’m one lucky lady.

2014

* Said goodbye to my own oasis in college park. I really loved that little home.

* Graduated with a BS.

* Got to spend time with relatives I haven’t seen since I was 11. It was really nice to have an extended family for a week.

* Celebrated my 24th year by singing my theme song at Big Daddy’s surrounded by great friends.

* Started an Etsy shop.

* Started the first blog I kept up with.

* Packed my life into a suitcase, hugged my parents goodbye, and hopped on a plane to NYC.

* Lived in Washington Heights for 3 months.

* Spent my first month in NYC falling hopelessly in love with the city – dumpling by dumpling.

* Got a job in customer service with a startup called Handy.

* Discovered my dream neighborhood – thinking there is no way I’d ever be able to live here.

* After 2.5 painstaking months of a stubborn search, I found a home in my dream neighborhood.

* Moved into my dream apartment… this process was far more stressful than I could ever imagine.

* Got so incredibly lucky with 2 amazing roomies.

* Landed a new job with Postable.com (Yup! More on this below).

My goodness, this year was amazing. 

I have been terrified, anxious, and stressed to such degrees I didn’t think were possible this year. I have also reached such intense highs that I thought for certain I was dreaming.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned from 2014: If something scares me, it’s a sure tell sign I should be going for it. 

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I end the year on a slightly less awesome note. Alone and sick. Shitty, yes. I have been thinking about the perspective I wanted this entry to have (with me being sick and alone on nye and all) and I had it spun all positively until just about 10 minutes from midnight.

This sucks. There’s really no other way to put it, but nevertheless I just welcomed 2015 with the most optimism I could muster and a toast (my hot cup of Theraflu) to new year. Cheers to the future!

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01.02.15: It’s the second day of the year and I’m feeling better. Not quite at 100%, better nonetheless. Well enough to leave the house for the first time since last Saturday and brave the new year weather! It ‘feels’ like 30F outside… not bad. I have no groceries left in the house and I’ve surpassed the helpless state of being to justify ordering seamless every day. I think I’ve finally had too much Pho.

I like to buy groceries at Trader Joe’s. There are a couple small produce stores in my neighborhood including a Union Market, but these are way out of my budget. Plus, I love shopping at TJs… something about it just tickles my fancy. In order for me to get there, I have to take a bus (transportation within Brooklyn is pretty much limited to buses or cabs). I planned out my timing just right with the help of Hop Stop (an app I’ve come to rely on) so that I get to the stop 3 minutes from when the bus should be getting there. Seeing as how my luck has run dry this week, it wasn’t that surprising when I saw my bus zooming by as I was half a block away. It was 4 minutes early! GRRRRRRRRRR. The next bus wouldn’t come for another 20 minutes. I spent about 6 minutes having an inner-thought discussion on whether or not I [really] needed to buy food. Judging from the looks I was getting, my inner-thoughts were audible. I decided the 3 cans of black beans sitting lonely in my cupboard were just not going to cut it.

The same thing happened to me on the way back from TJs… only this time the sweat building up under my coat and the inability to breathe through my nose got to me. I took a cab home.

These next 3 days are the last days of my epic 3 week vacay… which turned out to be one week of awesome sandwiched between 2 weeks of nose blowing and body aching. I’ll take it. I’m going to take it easy — read a book, continue on my Netflix binge, and MAYBE sneak out of the house for some Brunch on Sunday (we’ll see). Since I haven’t really taken any photos this week, I’ve included a bunch of photos from the previous week below (all iPhone photos for now).

New York Historical Society

View from Bryant Park in midtown

Park Avenue on the Upper East Side.

Carnegie Hill (Upper East Side).

Astoria, Queens.

1.03: It’s snowing. I’m still coughing. The good news? I only woke up once last night. I also discovered Friends on Netflix… by the time lunch time rolled around the snow turned into rain. Bummer. Today is gloomy.

1.04: I left the house today for Brunch with some lady friends in the West Village. A place called Yerba Buena. I decided to skip the brunch cocktails seeing as how I’m still getting better and don’t want to prohibit the getting well process. I really needed this outing… I’ve been stuck in bed for a week and the lack of social contact was getting really old. The meal was delicious (I got some sort of seafood soup) and the waiter was super cute, so all in all the outing was a success.

I’ve started to take more pictures of myself… mainly my outfits. This isn’t a fashion blog, and I don’t really intend on turning it into one, but I happen to adore fashion. One of my favorite parts of living in NYC is that I can finally wear whatever I want and nobody will give a shit. You can never be over dressed. SO, I’m going to catalog more of my outfits since it is such a big part of my living here.

I know I haven’t really kept up with the blog lately and I’m pretty sure I didn’t mention it previously, but I resigned from my previous job at Handy. WHAT?! I know. Hence my 3 week vacay! Come Monday I will be starting a new position as a Jill of All Trades (catchy, I know) with Postable.com. Check them out, you’ll see how perfect they are for me [and I for them]. I feel like I’m starting the first day of school on Monday and uber excited!!