Nos Vecinos...

A Few (yeah right) Words About Our Neighborhood and its Inhabitants:

For those of you who may be concerned about the area where we are currently staying, and are about to be living for the next year, let me give you the low-down on "the Heights." Then, hopefully, some of your worries may be calmed.

Now, I am not under any false presumptions that the area we are in is a super-safe, high-class, white-picket-fence, leave-your-doors-unlocked kind of place. However, we have been here for almost three-weeks now, and although some call this area "Harlem" and get very nervous that all sorts of ill fates await us, we have come to know the neighborhood as a safe-enough place to live and feel comfortable. (I say safe-enough because, it is New York...just like any big city there is going to be a need for some extra caution and vigilance.)

This area is mainly populated with families. Lots and lots of Dominican families to be more accurate. There are some college age students here and there, you see some young professionals in business suits and a varied mix of races, but predominantly there are Spanish-speaking families with several small children running and chasing each other about, wearing I ♥ DR t-shirts.

Walking up the street at night is not scary, although it does come with some cat-calls and teasing, it is never threatening (and the older gentlemen and tweleve-year-old boys do have the courtesy to leave you alone if you are walking by yourself...it is a game to them, not a scare tactic). It can get to be annoying when you are schlepping yourself and some bags up the street after a sweaty, stuffy subway ride and you know you look ten kinds of raggedy, but the older Domincan men still sit in groups by the bodegas (small neighborhood 'markets') and say "Oh, God Bless You..." LOL

There are always so many people hanging out at all hours that we feel very comfortable being out and about after dark. Most people are gathering to chat on a bench after a long days work, or to play cards with their neighbors while their kids play tag. It feels like it is still summer with everyone staying up late to hang out (it makes me want to play kick-the-can so badly).

So, those are our neighbors. Now, for the neighborhood itself...

The area from 123rd street to 155th is known as two smaller neighborhoods that border Harlem, Washington Heights (to the north where we are now) and Hamiliton Heights (to the south by where our new apt. is).

Although these areas are not high income neighborhoods, they have gone way up in value over the last few years. This is due to the gentrificatioin of the area. Builders and companies are starting to pay more attention to potential in these areas and have begun renovating older buildings and putting in more "corporate America" type of shops (Starbucks, etc... though sadly not near enough to us... lol).

What this all means is that the neigborhood is in a transistion period. It is becoming more and more commercialized... which, while bad for mom and pop shops, is good for developement and typically leads to better public safety.

Here is a site to check out for more info on the area. http://nymag.com/realestate/articles/neighborhoods/hamiltonwashington.htm

It also provides insight as to why we are excited about the cost of our rent. The avg. rent for two-bedroom in this area in 2001 was $1,200-$1,500. In 2003 the avg. rent was $1,300-$3,500!!! ($3,500!!!!) So, really, our rent is a steal.

Plus, you cannot beat living IN Manhattan and having a subway stop ON your block. Literally, just three buildings away. :) :) :) :)

I can't wait to move in!!! We were getting to know our street a little better last night and noticed a group of Dominican guys hanging out on the stoop next-door. Em and I were thinking that we should bring down some cookies or snacks para nos vecinos when we move. hahaha. What must the think of us two, attached-at-the hip white girls wandering all over their neighborhood?

*VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE!*

A Little Rewind:

Miss Emmy and I have been looking for housing since, well since BEFORE we got to NY... but really, we started looking the second day we were here.

Our first weekend consisted mainly of Craiglist searching, calling/emailing potential landlords, waiting for potential landlords to call/email us back, setting up meeting times, and hauling our butts over to Brooklyn to check out the places we'd found.

We did have some good leads in Brooklyn, decent prices and okay places, for the most part. A couple "NO WAYS!" (like the no-window, stuffy-beyond-belief, basement apartment we saw first) and a couple "Oh, pretty cools!" (like the three-story Victorian with REALLY cute features and tons of space).

However, nothing was really coming together. Either the potential landlord did not seem to excited about us (like telling us they had SO many people still looking instead of offering a lease) or we just weren't willing to make the 30 minute train ride to a so-so neighborhood for a so-so apartment.

Our New York Friend's roommate, The Only Boy, had a friend who we had heard about prior to The Big Move. She was moving to Virginia and looking to sublet her one-bedroom on 137th St.

When we had arrived in NYC, The Only Boy told us that she already had someone applying, but that he felt it would fall through. After our first weekend plugging away at the house hunt we found out that the applicant for "our apartment" had indeed fallen through.

The Only Boy got us in touch with his friend and went with us to look at the "our apartment" on 137th on our first Monday in NYC (one week ago).

We really liked the apartment.

It was $1100 for a one-bedroom, small, but very cozy, with a bedroom just large enough to fit both of our beds and a roomy living room with plenty of space for both a desk/vanity and a dining table (the bathrooms in NYC are VERY teeny and hard to get ready in, so we have decided most likely a vanity will be needed at some point).

We spoke with The Only Boy's friend about the landlord's requirements... there were MANY. My mom had already faxed us W2s and pay stubs for her and my dad, but it turned out that this guy wanted... TWO years of 1040s (W2s just would NOT do), THREE consecutive pay stubs, SS Card, ID Card, AND a letter of recommendation from a previous landlord (how well do they know their tennants to "recommend" them??)

My poor mom, rushed back to the house on her lunch break, prepared documents for the third time in two days, and faxed everything to us at Our New York Friend's work. I wrote the recommendation letter (having worked for the previous landlord) e-mailed it to my old office, had my boss sign it and fax it back to us.

THEN... a 16 page fax later... Our Potential Future Landlord had everything he needed to accept or deny our application for "our apartment."

We waited.

It felt like for-EV-er.

But, soon enough he called us with the news......


WE DIDN'T GET THE APARTMENT!?!?!


Now, I know what you are thinking... "Well, of course you didn't get it, you only LOOKED for three days, what do you want? A miracle!?"

Well, YES, we did. Is that too much to ask for? Or at least a little luck? LOL. :) Afterall, it was "OUR APARTMENT!" (When we took the subway past the 137th stop I would tell Em I could read the sign that said "Em and Lo, if you lived here, you'd be home by now.")

We had already fallen in love with the street it was on, 137th. (It has a cafe that we found on our first walk down Broadway and have since eaten at more times than I can remember and other cute, NEW restaurants... nice for the Washington Heights area which consists primarily of Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds and dimly-lit neighborhood bodegas.)

We had already fallen in love with the idea of living on the SAME BLOCK as a subway stop.

We had already given up the idea of living in Brooklyn, half-an-hour from everything big.

SO... When The Man Who Was Dead To Me told us he had another apartment in the SAME BUILDING... he once again became Our Potential Future Landlord.

The other apartment he had available was a two-bedroom!!!!!

However, we would be paying much more for it, $1500. That was definitely the high end of what we had been looking to spend on housing... BUT for a two-bedroom in Manhattan, even as far up as 137th, trust me, it was going to be a DEAL... if we liked it.

The bummer: we had to wait until today, almost a week after losing the one-bedroom, to see it. They were putting in new floors. So we waited... impatiently... and half-looked for other things, but really hoped that this one would pan out.



Fast Forward:

We FINALLY saw the apartment today...

We love it!!!

We arrived to the building a little after ten this morning and finally met Our Potential Future Landlord, face-to-face, after speaking with him, playing phone tag, leaving messages with his management team so many times throughout the week.

The super showed us the apartment while the landlord waited outside. (We are not really sure why... is he too good to show us the apartment? LOL)

On the 5th floor of an ELEVATOR building (!!!!), we opened the door to apartment 57 and found a big, bright, two-bedroom... with EQUALLY sized rooms (this is a rare find in NYC... we have seen so many aparments with one normal room and then one glorified closet), facing the front of the building, with a nice sized living room, a teeny, tiny bathroom (oh well, can't win them all) and a decent kitchen.

We were very excited and are pretty sure that the young super thought we were the biggest dorks ever... cause, we are, especially when we are excited.

Then, we went back downstairs and spoke to Our Future Landlord. We did not put any money down today, though we were both eager to do so to keep from losing "our apartment" for a second time. He will be contacting us today or tomorrow and sending us the lease.

HOORRRAAYYY!!!!

After only ten days in The Big Apple... WE HAVE A HOME!!!! YAAAYYY!!!!!!



Hopefully, that puts some people at ease, knowing that their silly, little CA girls are making it so far in the city. :) PLUS, tomorrow, Miss Emmy has an interview!!!! YAY!!!!

Okay, this took too long to write, I am very tired and I think Our New York Friend's apartment has some sort of gas-leaking thing going on in the kitchen, I feel woozy. Must... open... windows... :) More later!!! xoxo!!!

Evening Entertainment

(I will add the trip from airport to city as soon as I feel like it... which is not now... for now...a Classic NYC Moment...)

So, we are sitting here on our blow-up mattress in our NYC Friend's living room in Washington Heights- a.k.a. the faaaar Upper West Side of Manhattan- and we hear the already familiar sccrreeeeeeeeeeeccchhh.... of tires.

Our friend and her roomie in their bedroom next to our "bedroom" rush to the window... "Did they hit!?" (Apparently, this is a fun NYC past time, now I know even more about what Dane Cook meant...lol)

"They" did not hit... but it turns out that we got to see our first NYC arrest, lol, so classic.

Two police cars had chased a vehicle to right in front of the apartment building, one police car cut the vehcile off. The police forced the driver of the car to the ground and place him and another male passenger in cuffs.

The third passenger, a female, was seated on the street with them and shouted to an onlooker, "Get out of here!"

It was all very COPS, as the officers had stern faces and the one very portly officer, who must frequent the Dunkin Donuts shops that are more prevalent than Starbucks here in NYC, searched the vehicle.

Our NYC Friend opened up the window and we climbed out onto the fire escape, as many neighbors were doing as well.

LOL... It was just too funny how people all around seemed to pause and watch what was happening. I guess this is what life is like without a tv. :)

However, it soon lost it's charm. An officer made eye contact with me and I began to feel like a guilty peeping-Lo; I snuck back into the aptartment through the window. (I was pretty glad to be off of the escape which, though made of metal, felt somewhat unstable and questionable to me...haha)

Eventually, the passenger's cuffs were taken off and he and the female passenger got back in the vehicle. The driver was finally arrested when the sheriff showed up. I half-expected someone to say, "Show's over folks."

But no one did.

Screeching cars. Tubby cops. Late night arrests. Fire escapes. Classic NYC Moment.

9-11

Hundreds Gather in Rain to Mark Sixth Anniversary of Attacks



This is how wrapped up I am in my own world and trying to get life moving in NYC....
I completely failed to comprehend the upcoming date until I was looking at bulletins this morning.

September 11th.

I can not believe it has been 6 entire years.

The ramifications of that day are still strongly affecting our country, but often times they seem so lost in the background noise of everything else that goes on in our busy, busy lives.

I just wanted to take a second, especially since I am in New York, to think about how that day felt and wonder where it all is headed from here.

I love everyone who has always been a part of my life. I could never imagine being seperated from any of you by such a tragedy.

I really hope that when all is said and done people will remember those lost and realize that 9-11 was about more than just the beginning to a new, shitty agenda... it was the day many people's lives were forever altered by the actions of others.

*IMPORTANT NEWS FLASH*

My awesome roomie, Miss Emily has a blog now too! You MUST go see! It is great! Especially the title she finally settled on... refer to my previous post for a clue as to why it was chosen.

YAY EM!!!!

Miss Emmy in NY: Life Is a Subway

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

A JetBlue jet plane to be exact...

The Flight:

-We boarded the plane and The Nice Man With Stinky Breath sitting in the aisle seat of our Row very kindly helped Miss Emily place her bag in the overhead compartment.

-We seated ourselves- Em by the window and myself in the middle- popped in our headphones, looked at each other as if to say "well... here goes..."

-I turned to Em several times through the first minutes on the plane and sang "LIFE IS A HIGHWAY... I WANNA RIDE IT... ALL NIGHT LONG..." to her.

It is, afterall, our OFFICIAL song of moving. LOL

-The plane took off and we tried to settle in with our wonderful little individual headrest screens. However, as we quickly came to find out, and the flight crew (slighlty less quickly acknowledged) the regular channels were not working.

Fearing we would be doomed to watch the awful, boring in-flight station play the same commercials and blah-blah-blah interviews for five whole hours, we were relieved when Mr. Metro Flight Attendant said that everyone would be able to view the Fox First Look movies... for FREE! YAYYYY!!!!

-We decided to watch Once. (The same movie of course so we could comment to each other)

I won't take the time to go into the movie, let's just say it was a slow indy film, with a lot of heart and some music that I REALLY enjoyed. I recomend it to those who like music+indy films. I hope to download some songs as soon as the energy to do such things arrives.

Oh and of course it made my teary eyed at the end as anything heart-warming and romantical does. (What a sap.)

-Em seemed to fall asleep toward the end of the movie, which made me a bit sad because I really liked the end and wanted to chat about it.

-The Nice Man With Stinky Breath slept through most of the flight clutching a pillow that he took from the plane, not using it AS a pillow... yet preventing other passengers (ahem.. us) from doing so. LOL.

From time to time he turned in my direction breathing his sleepy, I-ate-before-the-flight breath on me... which is how he earned his rep.

-We fell asleep in fragments and half-snoozes, on and off throughout the flight but neither of us slept very well... and it made me feel rather fidgety and cranky as flights like that tend to do.

However, I did very much enjoy watching where we were on the Google Map channel... that should be in EVERY flight. Seriously.

-THE COOL/SCARY item of note for this flight: over most/all of Kansas we were flying above (and sometimes a bit too close for comfort to) some AMAZING thunder storms.

By thunder storms I mean BEAUTIFUL displays of lightning.

I thought that what we saw during my stay in Paso was beautiful, but seeing eletricity shooting through the sky, illuminating clouds from within, and sparking in amazing patterns... from IN the AIR!?!

Absolutely BREATHTAKING. (I only WISH I could have taken pictures, but I doubt it would have done it justice.)

-We were a little frightened to think that we were so close to such power. We reassured ourselves that all was safe, afterall, if the pilots were confident doing such things, they must:

a-know better than us that there is no danger
b-do this all the time
c-be crazy daredevils who dance a tempting tango with fate
d-only a and b

We believed "d" to be the correct answer, otherwise... man, we were lucky.

-The flight was mainly smooth, with a few, fairly rough, bouts of grab-onto-each-other turbulence, and a couple hold-onto-the-armrest shakes, mostly over the Ohio area... which seemed like it took FOR-EV-ER to fly over... ask Em, she'll tell ya. :)

-We began to approach Pennsylvania as the sun was reaching the east. (Or rather, we were approaching the sun... while the earth was turning... and other sciency stuff about rotations and coriolos force...? hehehe)

It was another stunningly beautiful sight to see. It made the five hours of stuffy air and neighbors breathing on you more bearable.

-As we approached NY I snapped a shot of my First East Coast Sunrise...

-We were more than glad to land and the closer we got the more I kept thinking... "OMG!!!! NEW YORK!!!!!" as I sang Frank Sinatra in my head.

-We had a super smooth landing and waited through my LEAST favorite part of any flight. (being TRAPPED, so close to being free, in the creepy tube that is a plane while everyone pushes and shoves and almost drops bags on you. Argh...)

-We finally deplaned and took our first steps into NY and our new adventure!!!



So far we are doing well. Doing our best to stay cool and keep focused on the tasks at hand: find jobs! find a home!

House hunting, job hunting and craiglisting are in FULL effect, with only a few fun little trips here and there. I promise you all, we are not being the crazy NYC party girls you see on tv... we are gettin it done, without wearing ourselves too far out... after all, it's about balance.

Once again... MORE TO COME! Next time will be the LONG trip into and the first sights of... The City!

xoxoxo!!!

<3 Lo

Good Omens

Well . . .

WE'RE IN NEW YORK CITY!!!!!

"New York CITY!?!?" (hopefully you said this correctly, with a southwest accent, a-la Pace Salsa commercial)

Yessir: The Big Apple, The City That Never Sleeps . . .

Okay, almost never sleeps? Let's just say that after our nearly-sleepless plane adventure (I use the term adventure here both literally and sarcastically) :) ... the only thing that we could think to do once we made it to our friend's place... was pass out.

I know, I know . . .

You are supposed to try and stay up to get your internal clock (thymus gland??) back on track, but after the day we had, our brains were so mushy we could not function; you'll have to cut us some slack this time folks. hehehe

...I like lists to organize events, so here is one of many to come...


On Our Way:

-We went to dinner with my family and Miss Emily's Papa... :)

-We sat around at my house, made some calls to our NY friend and those who were wishing us well.

-While the "grown-ups" (because we still do NOT fall into that niche) chatted and looked at us lovingly. (I think?)

-I enjoyed my last west-coast sunset! It was a little odd because of all the smoke in air from a fire near San Jose, but still really pretty, maybe more so since the whole sky had a weird glow to it.

-My brother, begrudgingly, snapped a shot of me with my luggage to prove I was really all packed... see...

-I said goodbye to wonderful Fischer family! xoxo! (with a patented Fischer-Family-Hug, of course!)

-I hopped in Miss Emily's Papa's vehicle (which was sadly void of the puppy, Zoe... jk Em! hehe) and we headed OFF to the PLANE STATION!!! (known by most as the airport.)

-Good Omen 1: We arrived at the airport and pulled up to the JetBlue area. Litterally. Right up to it. No other cars were in our way and the space open for us was DIRECTLY in front of doors into the terminal.

-Good Omen 2: As we prepared to wheel in all of our... make that... ALL OF OUR LUGGAGE (to emphasize the quantity, volume, and weight)... and Em's Papa went to park we see that the doors are DIRECTLY in front of the JetBlue desk, no $2.00 cart or tip-worthy help needed. :)

-We wheeled, dragged and cajoled ALL OF OUR LUGGAGE the, thankfully, short distance to the desk.

-Good Omen 3: We were the ONLY people arriving at the JetBlue desk and were assisted DIRECTLY by all, two, of the attendants.

-We loaded ALL OF OUR LUGGAGE up on the scales, one-by-one, each knowing full well that we were going to be paying for overages: I had one suitcase that was about 10lbs overweight (+ $20.00) and Em had an oversized, overweight piece (+ $50.00 size and + $20.00 weight).

-My Man told The Man Helping Em to place $20 on for my bag. The Man Helping Em, (henceforth to be known as Mr. Awesome) told her he would charge us $20 for each bag!! (completely ignoring the oversize aspect and the fact that she was a smidge, a half-pound, into an additional $20.00 weight bracket). We were pretty, darn excited!

-Good Omen 4: My Man and then left the area. Mr. Awesome, looked at us as he loaded her bag on the belt and nonchalantly (to the point where I almost missed the meaning) esaid to us, that he was not going to charge us at all. FOR ANYTHING. He told us to just make sure that we kept it quiet and that next time our bags were only 50lbs. !?!?!??!?! This is where we made the jump from "pretty, darn excited" to REALLY stoked! Mr. Awesome had just saved us $90!?!?!?!

-We hung out with Em's Papa in the terminal food court.

-Mark met up with us to say goodbye and help us pass some time in the airport. That day he had finally earned his COMMERCIAL MULTI ENGINE rating! yay!

-Em's Papa and Mark had some starbucks while Em and I grew increasingly anxious.

-Finally... It was time to make our way toward the gate.

-We said our goodbyes and made it through security without anything eventful happening.

-We waited at the gate, which made for great times doing one of my favorite sports, people watching. Airports gather the strangest people. Especially when waiting for a red eye.

-We boarded the plane via the stairs on the tarmac! Something I had never done, it was very old-school Hollywood... well, minus the glamous... and photogs... and add in weird airport men staring as you walk. So, not really like that at all. BUT it was fun anyway, I REALLY wish one of those airport men had offered to take pictures as people boarded... but I guess that would not have been JetBlue efficient... boo. hehehe :)

After all of our Good Omens our trip was off to a great, smooth start... I have run out of steam and it is TOO HOT for further thinking.

This was far too long, but I really think the excitement of all our awesome deals and lucky breaks that night needed to be taken into account. It was a big ease on the nerves... and the wallet. :)

More later!!!

10 . . 9 . . 8 . . 7 . .

7 hours until our plane takes of from San Jose!

The nerves REALLY started to kick in last night...

I had been hung over all day (no bueno...let me tell you...) and really did not want to go out, even though I had talked it up all the night before. However, my friends talked me into it, and I could not stand to be a flake, so I decided to meet up with my good friends Heather and Jane (friends since the 7th grade!) :) and some other awesome high school friends of Mark and I (Alex, his gf, Zahed, Mark).

It was the best decision I could have made: getting out, even sitting around not drinking and listening to (VERY BAD) Karaoke, was much better for my wavering nerves than sitting at home watching Real World re-runs and making myself crazy over the little travel and packing details that I still have to iron out.

I had a great time at the Briannia Arms (the Brit as the San Josers call it), although I was very dismayed to not have my camera charged and get a pic in the fun British phone booth... le sad. :) It was good to see everyone one more time before heading off.

This morning, I was able to get the rest of my things together and set a reservation for our shuttle from the airport! It is only $35 for the shuttle all the way into Washington Heights (far north and west in Manhattan)... as opposed to the $50 flat rate for a taxi from the airport. Plus, these two heavy-packers would probably have a tough time fitting all our baggage into one cab. hahaha...

SO... we are basically ready!

Em and her dad just got here to my home in San Jose. We are all going out to dinner and then it's off to the airport!!!! AAaaaacchhhhkkkk!!!! Crazy!?!?! LOL.... Wish us luck, we'll try to bug you all as soon as we get there... Well... not THAT soon since it will only be 4 a.m. here.

Love you all very, VERY much!!!

"Leaving on a jet plane... don't know when I'll be back again..."

Great Expectations

I am moving to New York City.

In three days.

With my best friend.

(That last phrase always takes the edge off of the fear that underlies the first two. hehehe)

I have been a Californian my whole life, born and raised. I have always claimed to be a true-blue, never-leaving, sunshine-loving Cali girl. I am stepping out of this idea of myself and out of the home state I love so well in search of something... maybe in search of everything...

Adventure.
Career.
Friendships.
Life.
Myself.

I have tried my very hardest over the past month to keep my expectations of what will or may happen in NYC at bay.

I have a very strong tendency to create great expectations and often (all too often) wind up being disappointed in the results and realities of what I find in life and what I feel is "thrown at me" by the powers that oppose my happy expectations.

I aim for this blog to be about actions/reactions, silly/sad/crazy/pathetic situations, mishaps, mistakes, adventures/misadventures, small triumphs and the general chaos that I expect will make up The Big Move to The Big Apple.

Of course, I will not be able to completely keep out the hopes/dreams/wishes for what I really want to happen with this move, but I desire the ability to write primarily about what IS happening... a sort of "live in the moment" blog... less of a whining about how sad I am that things aren't perfectly how I expect them to be... I'll save that for myspace. ;)

In my life I have typically started each new phase by trying my hardest to excel at whatever the new adventure or task was. It is this attempt to excel and prove my worth that has created in others and myself high expectations for what I will accomplish and who I will become. This pressure to perform is partially my own fault, but can also be largely attributed to the way I was raised.

I want to expand on this idea further...

However, I have decided to make this post short, uneventful and fairly lack-luster.

I am hoping to counter this cycle of elevated expectations that I place on my life - on myself, on every activity I encounter, on every person I meet, even this blog - and that I have placed on me by others, and allow myself to maintain the nice breathing room I worked my way into by having mediocre expectations for myself through my five years in college.

Basically, if I do not expect too much from every post, and you do not expect too much from every post... it will be hard for anyone to be TOO disappointed. Who knows... the next one could be amazing... but let's not expect it to be. ;)

So, welcome friends! If you miss me, this is where you can find me. I am merely a quick www. and a few sarcastic words away from you. Plus, I'm always roaming the myspace/facebook social networks and I know I'll see you there. I do not expect to be too lonesome for anyone in NYC... because I hope to have you all with me at all times.

Thank you to the people who have motivated me, supported this move and cheered us on in the process.
Thank you to my parents for their never ending, far reaching love and support.
Thank you to my best of friends, Miss Emily for going on this amazing adventure with me... and to think freshman year, I used to tell you I would never move to New York. haha!! :)

Love Always,
the LoLo