Hardships

While life is really great in New York there are a few things that are difficult to get used to. It's difficult when it takes 40 minutes to get anywhere by train or walking. I can't just get in the car and get there, I am dependent upon other people to get me places, like subway drivers, or taxi drivers. I have to go to several different stores to get everything on my shopping list. You have to go to one store for food stuff, then another for toiletry items. There is a Costco which is nice, it's way over in East Harlem so it takes quite a while to get there. It just part of the adjustment that comes with living in New York City. It unlike ANY other city in the nation. I now understand why people are aggressive and a little bit hardened here, its because things are HARD. It's not unpleasant hard, its just that everything in this city takes calculated effort and planning, and tremendous energy expenditure. While my apartment is awesome, I miss a house, with a garage and my Xterra in the driveway. I miss Fred Meyer, Target, Michaels, Costco, and my gym being 5 minutes or less away. Maybe someday I can move back to my beloved Beaverton, Oregon.

A Night in Little Italy

Tonight we met my cousin downtown in Little Italy, it was the Festival for San Gerrano. It was nice to catch up with him while walking among the hoards of people and the smell of garlic in the air. I LOVE walking around New York at night, if you stay in the populated areas and you know which neighborhoods are relatively safe you can have amazing experiences at night in New York.

Remembrance

Tonight I am writing this post from the Lincoln Center plaza. As I sit here listening to the New York Philharmonic i look up at the sky from where I am sitting and see two thin pillars of light and I find myself a little choked up and in awe. I know what those two lights represent and it's overwhelming to see them in person. I can't imagine what tomorrow is going to be like for the native New Yorkers and those closely affected by 9/11. I am not a New Yorker and what happened 10 years ago still haunts me all the time. This event is my generations Kennedy assassination. Everyone remembers where they were that day. I was 21 years old and a student in college starting my senior year. I was running out the door and heard on the Today show that a plane had hit a building. I didn't know it was the World Trade center, I didn't know it was in New York. I remember a few months earlier in the summer that a Concorde had crashed into a building in Paris, so I honestly didn't think anything of it. I ran out the door to head for class. I had a book on tape I was listening too so I didn't hear the radio announcement. After I got out of class I was walking to another part of campus when the guy I was dating at the time told me what had happened. I couldn't comprehend what he was even saying, it didn't make sense to me. I walked into the library that afternoon and saw the footage in the entrance hall for the first time. It was like a punch in the stomach. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I blew off classes and went home and just watched the horror over and over.
So as I sit here in this beautiful plaza surrounded by beautiful music and iconic buildings, my prayers go out to those who've lost a loved one on that terrible day. I pray that hearts will be healed and lives will be blessed with peace.

Fashion Fashion Everywhere and Not a Penny Anywhere!!

I don't know of another city where fashion trends are so obvious. As I was walking around on the upper west side and around mid town tonight I noticed 4 distinct pieces on just about every woman of every size and they all looked amazing and meticulously put together so here it is,

1. The Trench Coat: in neutral or RED, short or long.

2. Skinny Ponte pants, black , brown, gray, and if you dare RED

3. The Riding Boot: ESSENTIAL!! (at least that's what I'm trying to tell my husband)

4. The Circle Scarf, Any color, any pattern, yellow and purple are very popular.

So there is your uniform for fall. Think red and neutrals. Red is everywhere! For this upcoming Winter, just add a heavier coat.

I am currently trying to persuade Dr. J that these items are essential and I need them. I need to work on losing the extra 30 pounds so they actually look cute. Reward maybe?

Rain Rain

It's raining all week this week and since it takes so long for me to get anywhere in this city little miss and I have decided to lay low during the day this week and focus on a huge hurdle in any child or parents life...POTTY TRAINING,dun dun duuuun. Little miss has been waiting a good long while until she is ready and finally she took the initiative last night and did it!! She's done great all day with only one accident. Yay babe!
I am anxiously waiting for Dr. J to get home from work because I am going stir crazy after 2 days at home. I'm going to hit Tasti D-lite down on the upper west side, yes I said DOWN on the upper west side because I live so up high in the nose bleed section of the island the upper west side is about 80 blocks downtown. Tasti D-lite is a place I heard referenced in Sex and the City and have been curious about it ever since. I finally got my first taste about a week ago and personally I like it WAY more than regular ice cream and it's way less calories.
Dr. J is way protective and worried about me going out after a certain time at night alone, so there's a possibility he won't let me go, in that case I'll hit the Dunkin Donuts at the end of the block and read for a while. I can't tell if he gets offended when I take alone time. I love hanging out with my husband, but after a long day with little miss and her constantly vying for my attention I am desperate for a break just to hear the thoughts that flash quickly through my own head.

Jumping back into Life

My first few days here I felt like I was setting up my life again. I needed to find doctors for little miss and myself. She obviously needed a pediatrician and I needed an OB/GYN and an endocrinologist. My thyroid needs constant attention like a socialite needs the paparazzi. I needed to find a preschool that doesn't cost $7000 a semester, this task is harder than you think. I have never been anywhere where parents are SO obsessed over PRESCHOOL! I don't even remember much of my preschool and I don't think it contributed to where I went to college or what I did for my career. Anyway, I found someone at my church running a "Joy school" program from her home, $60, done! Little miss is an extremely active and energetic child, she is constantly busy. Running,jumping, and building forts and castles out of blankets, chairs, and pillows. No matter what I do I cannot seem to ever expend enough of her energy, even after mine is well spent. All this energy unfortunately leads to crazy behavior and trouble listening and following rules. As a first time mom to a three year old it is amazing how much harder life has gotten since she turned three in June. Discipline is a sensitive subject in general, and unfortunately Dr. J and I differ on some disciplinary practices. Anyway, back to setting up life.
A huge part of me is fitness, you wouldn't think it to look at me, I'm not particularly svelte or stacked with muscles, I know they're under there, I feel them, I just have residual evidence of child birth left around the middle. I'm not huge by any means just a tad thick at the moment. My #1 objective since moving here 2 weeks ago was to find a gym. I chose New York Sports Clubs and have been pretty happy with it thus far. They're clean, lots of machines, a nice play area for little miss, and somewhat competent personal trainers. Now I have EXTREMELY high standards and expectations for a personal trainer or fitness leader of any kind. They have to be smarter than me. As former trainer myself, a medical professional, and having a degree in Exercise Science and surgical technology, they just simply have to have a greater knowledge of body mechanics, anatomy, and they must be up on the newest training techniques and equipment. I had a session with a trainer last Wednesday and I must say I wasn't super impressed. I have been incredibly spoiled with some amazing trainers back in Oregon. He was competent with what he knew, but when I started showing him new exercises and different things you could do with a TRX, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to continue with him. I'll stick to classes and cardio machines.
After getting all this set up it is the day to day routine I am currently figuring out. Dr.J's program officially begins tomorrow and he should start getting busier and busier with work. He's been home a lot over the past two weeks and as much as I love him, it kind of throws a wrench in the routine I'm trying to cultivate with my little girl and it's starting to drive me nuts. I'm super happy when he comes home a 5:30, but before then is my time. Preschool starts next week and we have that Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. Other mornings will be spent at the gym and while she's in school I'll run in Fort Tryon Park. We mom's have to squeeze workouts in whenever we can.
The grocery store is an interesting experience. I had no idea, but the grocery stores literally only have groceries. If you want shampoo, or deodorant, or in some cases diapers and wipes, you have to go to a pharmacy, like Rite aid or Duane Reade. At lease this is how it is in Washington heights. There is Target, one in the Bronx, and one in East Harlem. East Harlem also has a Costco, but to get there I have to take the A train one stop, transfer to the 1 train and take that to 86th, then wait for a cross town bus, and then walk 3 blocks in Harlem. Thankfully they have a car service to take you home! I was surprised how HARD everything is here. This is not me whining, its true, even simple errands take a considerable amount of effort and planning. I miss my old Fred Meyer store 5 minutes from my house in Oregon. I could get groceries, toys, toiletries, and clothes for little miss all in an hour's time. Life is definitely going to be vastly different over the next few years.

Welcome to the Big Apple

I have just moved to New York City and have experienced a perplexing range of emotion since arriving here. We just moved from Oregon to New York for my husband to start an "exciting" residency in Prosthedontics (dental implants) at Columbia University. We've been married six years and have a three year old daughter and are anxious to add another child to our family. I'm not going to share much of our backstory because I want this blog to focus on our life and experiences in New York and the crazy things we encounter each day. The journey here was difficult to say the least.
After 3 months separated (not by choice) from my husband and after a miserable 12 hours on a plane, little miss and I finally arrived to the arms of our husband and daddy! If you think that was the end to the problems, ha! Wrong! They lost one of my bags, so I had to stand in a SUPER long line at the Baggage services counter and file a claim. Now, you can imagine that those who work in baggage services are not the most friendly people and not super excited to help you. They are basically expecting to get chewed up and spit out by every single person in that very long line, well multiply that by a New York personality and you have an interesting species of people. I waited another hour in the line from hell and finally gave all my information to the lady at the desk and she said they would find it and send it to my house. Off we go to home at 3am.
I remembered, from coming out to look for an apartment with my husband, the building that my Washington Heights apartment was in. It was a typical New York apartment building, no exciting architectural design. There is scaffolding all around the buildings on my block, a chinese restaurant, hardware store, beauty salon, and a dominican restaurant downstairs. While I remembered the building I really couldn't remember what our apartment looked like, we looked at 2 in the building. We're on the 4th floor at the end of the hall, the apartment is huge! 1100 square feet in New York is practically unheard of, we certainly weren't counting on such a big apartment. Its only 400 square feet less than our house in Oregon. The kitchen is immediately to my right (this would later become my place of solace where I hide out most often), closets to my left. The dining room ahead of the kitchen on the right and the living room at the end. Hubby has painted the living room a warm shade of cherry red. My brownish couches are just as comforting as they were when I last snuggled on them 3 months ago. The deep red walls, the comfy couches and the ivory shag rug make the room inviting and snuggly. Off the living room to the left is the bathroom, the usual black and white tile you find in most NYC apartments and buildings. Down the hall to the right is our room, it's set up the same as in Oregon just opposite side of the room. Little miss's room is across from ours and I have to say, Daddy did an incredible job decorating her room. She has the biggest room in the apartment, it's all hardwood with a pink "counting" area rug in the center. The whole room is flanked with toys, a rocker, a kitchen set, and bookshelves. He put up a flower boarder around the center of the wall and put up the pinkest, fairy-ish, sparkly drapes I have every seen. They look like pink sheets of sugar covering the window, I loved them, little miss loves them. He did an amazing job and I so appreciate him setting up the house before I got there, it was so nice to come home to a home, and not a ton of boxes to be unpacked.