HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Dear Friends,

I hope you have all been having a WONDERFUL Halloween 2007 and eating as much candy as you can stomach.

As our official first holiday in NYC, Em and I decided to get into the spirit by attending our first friendly house party this past weekend.

The costumes there were GREAT:

Cupid, Tina Turner (a guy... with amazing legs and HIGH heels!) Operation, Double Dare, BOXED Wine, Peas and Carrots, Mario and the Princess, Supergirl and her Superman (as Clark Kent), and of course two little buggies: Lady Bug Em and Bumble Bee Lo.


TODAY we are going to attend our first NYC PARADE!!!

Deemed as the "Best event in the world to see on October 31" (Or something to that effect), the Village Halloween Parade draws in 45-50,000 parade participants, 2 million spectators, and $60mil in commerce to the city!!! It's crazy!!!

This year's theme is "Wings of Desire", so Em and I as our little winged selves happen to be right on point with the theme. (It's like we knew. We're pretty much awesome!)

I hope that it will not be too crazy trying to get down there on the subway or trying to find a place to stand. We are eager to get a glimpse of the "Thriller" dance group because our friends are in the dance as zombies and ONE of them is playing Michael Jackson for the SECOND year in a row!!! (She was even interviewed by local news station NY1 about her role.) Yup, we're friends with practically famous ppl!

Alright, time to put on those antennae and wings!

Hope everyone has a safe and fun night!!! xoxo!!!

En La Casa (part 2)

So... it's official, we are pretty settled... I mean once you pay the second month's rent, it's a done deal. :) Here is the household update...


Furnishings:

OUR POD HAS ARRIVED!!! Hoooorraayy!!! On Thurs, the 18th Em met the three movers downstairs to unlock out whole world. They unloaded our entire life in just 1.5 hrs.

We were able to back in the glory and beauty of our beds after purchasing $35 bed frames from a neighborhood furniture store, literally, just down the street.

NO MORE AIR MATTRESS FROM HELL!!!

::happy happy happy dance::

We carried the frames with us to the laundromat, one block over, finished our laundry, and then set them up during commercial breaks of GREY'S ANATOMY (which we finally were able to watch in REAL TIME since the TV was also in the pod. YAY!!!).

We were able to relax and watch the show on Em's huge comfy bed while folding laundry instead of crowding around a laptop on two crappy camping chairs.

In the living room, we are still sitting on camping chairs, and have now added our faux-couch (a.k.a. our coffee table topped with pillows and a blanket to - barely - cushion the booty) to our lovely situation.

I think one of the best parts may have been unpacking the kitchen. As the boxes became empty, the cabinets became full; seeing a stocked kitchen and all of the cute dish items we've collected over the years really helped make the move from house to home. (Pictures should be coming soon, the kitchen really is pretty damn cute, with our martini glasses and bakeware displayed above the cabinets, a la quasi-model home status.)

We will soon get a living room rug and some curtains (we really like some stuff we found at Urban Outfitters, we have been kind of obsessed with that place lately), but we are trying to spend as slowly as possible, building our home in increments.

Right now we are working on getting some dressers together so we can (FINALLY) stop living out of suitcases. I bought one last night on my way home from the same store and it will be delivered Thursday! Can't wait!


Bugs:

We bought roach motels.

It had to be done.

We stratigically placed the little poison palaces about the house and have not seen a roach since. I guess with the squashing of the original few and this toxic temptation, we are really no match for those creepy crawlies!!!

MUAHAHAHHAAA!!! (Or, I mean, something less evil?)


Noise:

As I have mentioned, we live in a fairly (very) boisterous neighborhood.

The livley family gatherings and bumpin' dance parties taking place on the weekends are one thing, but now that I have moved into the other room, I have noticed the real problem: sharing a bedroom wall with a family's living room.

Children. Multiple children, playing loudly. I am glad they sound like they have fun as a family, BUT it is 11:30 p.m. shouldn't they go to bed so I can wake up at 7 a.m.!? K, thanks! Also, the last couple of nights they must have had someone (or the dad is in the dog house) staying with them, because I have heard very loud man snoring through that wall. I mean, if I can hear you THROUGH THE WALL, there may (may?) be something wrong with your nighttime breathing.

THE WORST PART, is that something VERY ODD goes on upstairs at about 3 a.m.

I don't know how, or why, we never noticted it before... BUT the last few nights at 3 in the morning we have been woken up by LOUD baby crying (more like toddler... or "miniature child" as Em put it) and VERY VERY VVVEERRRRYYY (I don't want you to think it's quiet in anyway) LOUD LOUD LOUD banging/slamming of something into the ground.

We have both been scared awake out of a dead sleep by whatever it is that they slam into the floor (ahem... HI THAT'S OUR CEILING!) that shakes the entire house.

We have yet to figure it out, but it is VERY odd and HIGHLY obnoxious. If it continues, we will soon have to talk to the landlord.

Really people, I just want to SLEEP... THROUGH the night. That would be amazing.

Repairs:

Household woes, repairs, and then more repairs...

FIRST, our tub leaked into our downstairs neighbors' apartment prompting her to wake us up at 6:30 a.m. one morning to alert us to this fact. (Because.... I look like a plumber? Or... the super? No? Didn't think so.)

They fixed it. Leaving a mess in our bathroom.

THEN, our upstairs neighbors' (also known as Those Who Make WAY Too Much Noise!) tub started leaking into OUR bathroom.

After a few cold drip, drips from above, I realized that there wasn't just ONE cold spot coming out of our shower head and looked up to find a bulging crack over my head. ACK!!! lol

When you feel like the whole ceiling is about to burst, it is amazing how fast you can shower.

Well, we have been struggling with this for about a week now.

Living with a bathroom in shambles, because we have given up trying to clean since the super inevitably has to come back upstairs and tear something else apart.

Also, my window does not stay open on its own, the kitchen window does not stay open on its own, the ligtbulb in the entry went out (we are apparently supposed to change this ourselves... cause, duh, I have a ladder in my small NY apartment!? and/or I am 7ft tall...? Totally. Hopefully we can be nice to the super and he will end up fixing it, because...) one of Em's lightbulbs also went out.

LOL, we can't win folks; just can't win.


HOWEVER...

We are still really loving having our place in the city and the convenience of the location. Hopefully we will get to know our neighbors soon and the noises will be reduced. Wish us luck!!! And... if you are feeling charitable you can make a donation to the EmiLo Couch fund.

Thanks! LOVE YOU ALL!!

En La Casa (part 1)

Things have been going pretty well in our little house.

For the most part.

However, as in anything I encounter, there is no perfection to this place. It is not a total dump, and the location + room sizes still make up for most shortcomings, but here is a taste of the few sour spots we have encountered, thus far, in our lemonade.

Furnishings:

Or lack thereof.

-We have come to loathe our air mattress more than EVER, since it is deflating rapidly and we no longer have access to a pump.

If you have ever slept on a VERY low air mattress, please, send your sympathies courtesy of pay-pal, for you must know the utter hopelessness of waking up to feel you butt/elbow/knee grazing along a rubber covered floor, only to know that you must sleep there again that next night.

-We have also come to hate our camping chairs, that we thought we were so clever to pick up in lieu of a couch. After about 20 minutes of sitting in one of these your body has two options:

1. Slouch down until your neck is resting uncomfortably against the chair's flimsy back.

2. Remain in an upright stance and allow one's butt to go completely numb.

I typically opt for the former evil, and Em for the latter. Leaving the two of us, sitting by ourselves, with our whining complaints echoing off our bare walls.

"OW! My neck HUUUURRRTTSS!!" (huuurttss....huuurttss....)

"MAN! My buuuuttt...!!" (buuuttt....buuttt...)

Bugs:

For at least the first week / week-and-a-half, we were convinced, and excessively relieved after the horror stories we have heard, to find not one bug in our happy home. Then, the inevitable truth of New York life crept in upon us...

-It started out with the flies.

Yes, true, we had left our screen-less windows (that's an issue for further discussion...) open for many days, but it was warm out and we had not yet seen any bugs appear. THEN, one or two common house flies would buzz in-and-out of the living room, nothing to fear or freak out about though.

...UNTIL...

OUT OF NOWHERE!!!! An odd and uncalled-for SWARM of teeny, black, fruit/gnat-like flies appeared clustered upon our freshly painted ceiling and wall. WTF!?! We thought... these windows have been open, why all of a sudden!? We take our trash nearly every day (the trash chute is convenient but VERY small) and never let food sit out, not even crumbs! Especially, not fruit!

Em texted me about The Great Fly Fiasco while I was out one day and I stopped by KMart on my way back to get a spray that would rid us of these icky invaders.

It did the trick.

For about 24 hours.

THEN, they were back again! A friend informed us that the big flies may have lain some eggs in a crack some place, and as we have many teeny nooks and crannies about our (very aged) apartment... I took the spray back our and sprayed till we nearly passed out!!!!

THERE!!! Now come back, we dare you!

They have not. Mission accomplished.

That is...until we saw :: dun dun DDUUUNNN ::

-Our first (notice I say first) ROACH appeared darted across the living room!!

Now, I know what you are thinking: "Ewwwwwwwww!! You are dirty and disgusting!!"

BUT... we are NO such thing: we hardly have anything in our house, so there is no clutter; I already mentioned our trash-taking-out habits,;AND without any rugs our floor demands being swept quite often.

So, please friends, do not think less of us for this evil critters encroachment upon our home, we are truly filth free girls.

I squashed this little guy, despite previously mentioned friend's attempt to "set him free" (dude, it's a ROACH!!! Not a LADY BUG!!!). That was that....???

Again, no. Phase two... roach SCURRYING along the wall... in the back bedroom (aka our dressing room / all our stuff is in there, until we really move-in, room). *Sigh* SQUASH!

Why, Mr. Cockroach, why must you come in this place? This clean, empty, little house. What did we do to you?

That is all we have seen for now, but we have resigned ourselves to the fact that it is an evil truth of the city that roaches are EVERYwhere, and just count ourselves lucky that we have yet to see a spider or a mouse.



NOW... There are also some humorous, household malfunctions that I will regale you with, but for the time being I have worn myself out with this sad little recount of our domestic woes.

Farewell, for now.

The Move In

For those of you who don't know: WE HAVE MOVED IN!! :)

Last Thursday, Em and I met with Our Landlord in the morning to give him drop off our completed lease. (This, of course, is after we had sent it across the country for my parents to sign, and they had sent it back again, in a four day roundtrip...the little lease made it back safely and into the hands of Our Landlord).

He gave us our keys, with a warning that The Super was still in our apartment fixing a couple "last minute things." This made us a little worried, but the idea of living in our own space and not someone else's was all but overshadowing any other thoughts at that time.

After breakfast at Our Cafe, Vinegar Hill (or V-Hill as Em as since dubbed it) we went into the apartment to check things out. Everything seemed to be in order, for the most part. The new stove had not had its burners placed on it, the new fridge still had its shelves all tapped together, and the new cabinets (along with EVERYTHING else in the living room and kitchen) were covered with a layer of saw dust. (Apparently workmanship in NY does not include clean-up... yay.)

I had to go to training that day aaaalllll the way in Long Island (I hope you all used your BEST LI accent for that one)... which is a whole other story in itself, to be shared at another time. (The short version is that I have been doing some temp work, and Em has gotten in on it too... with many of the jobs taking place in Long Island...)

So, we trucked back up to Our New York Friend's house and packed up all our stuff. (It is amazing how even things that have remained packed for three weeks still need so much attention and repacking.)

With a vow to my dear roommate that I would return safely from my first (or, rather, first of many as it would turn out) adventure on the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) I finished getting myself ready and headed out to find my way to training.

While I was out, Em, being the super-awesome roomie she is, went all the way up to the Bronx to fetch the much needed cleaning supplies for us from Target. She had to HAUL everything up the stairs to the subway, because it is above-ground at that station. THEN, she proceeded to scrub the heck out of the apartment and rid it of the layer of funk. (It looked SO great when I got back to it, like a whole new place!)

When I finally arrived back at the apartment that night we had to wrestle with our massive amounts of luggage and find a way to get them 16 blocks south to our new home.

Now, finding a cab company to call in NY should be a simple task, right?

Right.

It isn't.

Google taxi or cab or car sevice with our zip code and you will find things in New Jersey, Long Island, Queens or Lower Manhattan. Call the 800 numbers and they will give you lists of companies, however, you will have no idea as to their location.

With our lack of online success, we had to resort to standing on the corner.

Attempting to avoid the pricier town cars that offer transport in the heights (and honk at you incessantly any time you are standing on a corner) we strained our eyes to find a yellow cab. Two drove by without paying any mind to Em's stratigically outstretched hand.

About to give up, she gave it one more shot, and with the both of us wiggling and flailing our limbs, the cabbie seemed to understand that we were in need of a ride. (Seriously, it looks SO much easier on TV. LOL)

We hopped in and took the quick 16 blocks ride to Our Street and struggled to yank, pull and haul our things from the cab's cramped trunk and back seat over to the curb and up Our Stoop.

At last, we reached the front door, made our way inside, up the elevator and into La Casa.

Phase one. Completed.

Sadly, we still had a large portion of our things waiting back at the other apartment.

Luckily, one of Our New York Friend's AMAZING roommates (they all were so VERY very kind and hospitable to us during our stay, and I just realized how much I am missing their company and fun stories) offered to use her work car to take us on another trip.

We met her back at their place and made the final trek to our new home.

HOOOOORRRAAAAAYY!!!! We had arrived!!!!

After exactly 20 days in NYC, we had moved into OUR OWN PLACE!!!

It was an amazing feeling. (Although, some what hampered by the fact that we had NO place to sit and were still SHARING a REALLY crappy air mattress for the next couple weeks...booo...)

So, for about a week now, we have been enjoying getting to know our little home. The kitchen was bigger than we remembered, and the bathroom perhaps smaller, but the rooms were as big and wonderful as we found them the first time.

We are currently sharing our awful bed in the sunnier, smaller front bedroom and through the week have acquired some nice little additions to make the interim more comfortable: two camping chairs serve as our "couch" and a rolling suitcase as our "coffee table," we also purchased a (very cheaply made) $10 standing lamp that is delightfully bright for its price, and a full-length mirror to make it easier to get ready for our upcoming interviews.

Our "pod" left SD on the 2nd and is set to arrive in NYC on the 12th, at which time we will make our final payment and set a date for the MOVERS (YAY!!) to bring our things to us. Trucks can not park for long periods on the streets in NY, therefore, it is mandatory that movers bring everything from the truck into the apartment for you. (We are planning on sitting in our camping chairs and pointing where everything should be placed, while drinking cool beverages and fanning ourselves, of course... hehehe)

Things are going smoothly en la casa, for the most part, but next time I will share with you the pitfalls and mishaps we have encountered.

Now, I must go to sleep, for it is back to Long Island EARLY tomorrow!