So much stuff......

Well as many of my family and friends have been telling me, I am a major slacker when it comes to blogging. It is in part that I am very busy and part that I am very lazy! Nonetheless, this will probably be a long one because a lot has been going on!

Apartment News:

We have an apartment and we love it!!! we got to move in last Thursday! it was incredibly filthy so I spent the first day cleaning like crazy, and now it is pretty and nice.
Side note: I had my first "buying lots of stuff at target and taking the subway home" experience. I have to say it is not my favorite thing in the world. Lo had to work, so i went solo to target to get all the cleaning supplies. It is nice because we live right at a subway stop and the Target is right by a subway stop as well. However, the downfall is that to get back on the subway at Target to go home you have to walk up this ginormous flight of stairs, which when your carrying $100 in cleaning supplies is not the easiest task. I was trying to do it in one quick, power to the top kind of fashion, but of course, as often happens to me, I get stuck behind some slow poke who is meandering all over the place and I can not get around with my arms full of bags! SO, by the time I got up there I thought I was going to DIE and my arms were all shaky from hauling the bags. sad, I know.
ANYWAYS....back to the apartment...we got a pretty sweet deal, aside from our teeny tiny bathroom, the rest of the place is pretty roomy, in a cozy sort of way. The kitchen is bigger than I remembered from when we first looked at the place and the bedrooms are an awesome size. All the New Yorkers that we talked to are very impressed with our find, so yeh, go us!!! AND there is plenty of room for visitors so start buying those plane tickets people!!! Sadly however, we have NOTHING in our apartment. Just a crappy air mattress that we share and our suitcases until we finally broke down and bought two $11 camping chairs at K-mart. But thankfully we should be getting our stuff sometime next weekend. We still won't have a couch though, so yeh camp chairs!!

Employment:

Well, so while all this apartment stuff is great and exciting I still don't have a job and the cost of moving in and getting our stuff shipped has left me BROKE!!! now I know I told you all that I got hired with that company, but unfortunately I don't make any money until I get set up with a family which is turning out to be a rather SLOW process and I am feeling a bit discouraged! I have only received four family profiles, and none of them seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. In most cases it has been either too few or too many hours. I was still willing to interview with them anyway, but that hasn't happened either. One family, the one that looked the most promising, I did interview with. The mom was very nice, and although it seemed that I may have been doing more custodial babysitting stuff than actual teaching I was almost ready to settle. But it turns out that she wants a two year commitment!! Well, I can't do that, for a variety of reasons that I am sure are pretty obvious, but that is what she wanted, so that job went right out the window!!!! BOO!! I talked to my supervisor at the company about it, and she did apologize because they do discourage parents from asking for a commitment beyond one year so early in the process, and she hopes I am not discouraged and she still wants to show me families, which is all fine and great, but lady I am not living off my looks here in New York, I am BROKE!!! I feel bad, I really like this company and the people who work there are sooooo nice and helpful, but it is just taking a little longer than I expected. If I had an unlimited supply of $$$ it would be one thing, but I do not, I a barely even have a limited supply, so I have moved on and started to look into other options.
AND I applied at a preschool this past Monday, the head of the school called me Monday night around 9:45 saying she was sorry to call me so late but she was looking at my resume and really wanted to call me then instead of waiting until the next day. So that is a good sign right?? I had an interview on Wed. The school seemed really great! It is Montessori affiliated school but not strictly Montessori. The position would be as a teacher in a classroom of about 20ish (can't remember the exact number) kids and two other teachers, from 10-2:30 and then I would run the after school program of about 7 kids from about 2:30/3-6 pm...ten to six, sounds perfect, and they offer full benefits....SO I am really hoping that they liked me and will hire me because I think it would be a great working environment! So keep that in your prayers please and I will keep you all posted!!!

In the mean time, to make some extra money, Lo found this company that does promotional events for other companies (such as one of the regional cable/Internet/phone companies) at street fair type events. She got hired on and asked if they needed any more people because her roommate was also very interested. Basically we hand out free stuff and tell people about the company and try to get them to sign up...but my job was a little different. Part of the free stuff was a free family photo with the cartoon character "Bloo" from "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" (cute show, you should check it out for some giggles), and NO it was not my job to dress up in the character costume, it was my job to escort the person in the suit from our booth the the firehouse across the way every half hour so she can take a break and not get attacked by children! And the pay is really good, even though it is long hours (7-7) on your feet dealing with some crazy Long Islanders! Since it is out in Long Island, and we have to be there at 7 am, we have to leave our apartment by 5:15 am to take the subway to Penn Station and then take the LIRR (Long Island Railroad) an hour to where the event is!! It will all be worth it when I get my paycheck!! So this friends and family is how Emily is currently surviving in New York. I will add some stories about all the CRAZIES out in LI later because this is getting pretty long. I will probably have some more after tomorrow because we are working again....gotta pay rent in less than four weeks!!!

OH and next weekend, hopefully our stuff is coming, so that is exciting, and then the weekend after that we are going to Washington D.C. because my sister and brother-in-law are going to be there!!! YEH!!!!!! I keep telling my sister to bring my Monkey but she wont! BOO!!! something about the five hour plane ride...blah blah :)

Okie, well that is all for now, more soon!!! xoxo!

I am an Anutie of 3 now!!!

This morning my Brother and Sister-in-law had their second baby boy. Sounds like the labor went very smoothly-Go Cheryl, your such a trooper!!! So now I am Auntie to THREE adorable and perfect little boys: Aidan William, Brayden Lee, and now Owyn Kenneth! I can't wait to hear all of the stories of when Aidan sees his little brother, the result of Mama's tummy bump that he has been giving hugs and kisses. I can just imagine him with baby: "Play cars? Baby Brother play cars? hhmm??" Hehe! Okie, well more baby updates as they come!!!

Mice....

Lo and I both saw one this weekend in the apartment were we are staying....I was sitting on a chair in the living room talking to my mom on the phone and one crawled out from underneath Kimi and Muna's bedroom door. It saw me and then scurried back into the room. The next day Lo watched one stroll across the middle of the kitchen floor. Apparently Kimi and Muna just saw one a little bit ago walking from the trash can to under the stove. Kimi says she thinks she saw it stop and laugh at the two traps that have been deactivated since yesterday when one of the roomies stepped on them while cooking. I am not too sure how I feel about the whole situation. When I was little I was a bit different (and allergic to most normal pets) and I had baby mice for a while as pets. I kept them in a big glass aquarium and they always died really easily. Which is why I don't understand how these apartment mice are such survivors. Are New York mice just some sort of hardcore breed that just live in your apartment and there is nothing you can do about it?!?! Is that going to be a part of my life here in NY? Coexisting in the the same household as mice? They don't pay rent! They don't even make you cool dresses! NO BUENO!

I have a job!!!

So this morning I received a call from the woman I have been in contact with at TeacherCare, who has been putting all of my paperwork together, welcoming me!! So yea...I have a job, sort of, I still need to get set up with a family. But she said that she would soon be sending me profiles of families to look over, and once I decide on some I can start interviewing with them. I do really like that i get to pick the families to interview with. It is nice to know that I have a good amount of control over my work situation! But the families still have to like me when I go over to meet them! I will get info ahead of time about their child/ren and then I am supposed to make up sort of a sample lesson plan to show them that pertains to their child's needs and interests. Anyhow, that is the news for now, more later when I find out about the families!

Updates Continued

Monday morning we went to look at another apartment in the same building of the one bedroom that we lost....this one is a two bedroom, but a bit more than what we were planning on spending, however it is still a really great deal for a 2 bedroom in Manhattan, SO...we went to see it and we like it a lot! The kitchen and bathroom are teeny tiny, but the bedrooms and living room are a good size, so we decided we wanted to take it!! We told the landlord and offered to put down money, which he said we did not need to do and that he would call YESTERDAY OR TODAY to get the lease paperwork together, BUT HE DID NEITHER!!!! and so now we are a bit impatient/worried....(why didn't he call?!? does he not like us?!?) hopefully he will call tomorrow, I will let y'all know what happens.....

Also, today I had my interview and it seemed to go fairly well....basically they need to run a background check on me and check my references and then I can begin interviewing with families. I was told that the whole process can take around 1-3 weeks. I am hoping for closer to one because I need an income STAT!!!

Updates Galore!!!!

Oh man, it has been almost a week since I have written anything on here and a lot has happened!!
Where do I start???
okay...the weekend....
Friday: Lo and I went over to Astoria Queens where my cousin Liana and her husband Darren live. We went to lunch at a yummy Greek restaurant and then went into the city to see a play the Darren was in entitled "And We All Wore Leather Pants." Probably one of the most unique plays I have ever seen, and very funny too!! Plus it had a good mix of old classic rock, which makes everything awesome!
All and all it was a very fun evening spending time with my cousin! She and her husband are very fun and entertaining!

Saturday:
Went to lunch with my friend Jess, and then she showed me around the area of the city were she works, which has a bunch of cool, but out of my price range, little shops and cafes. It was a pretty mellow day.....

Sunday:
Went to a church called The Journey that Muna's roommates go to. It is really important to me to find a church here in NY. I liked this church but I think I need to go a few more times to figure out if it is the one for me. One thing I really liked is that they have focus groups that you can get involved in, which is a great way to get to know people in the city, and they are starting a new series of reading the New Testament with your group, which would be really great for me because I am definitely a slacker when it comes to reading the Bible.....SO....I don't know, their are good things, but I am just not feeling 100% yet.....Then, after church Lo and I went to explore Central Park and stumbled along the skating rink...not ice, but ROLLER...and it was one of the most entertaining things I have ever watched. We watched for over an hour! There are some extremely funny characters out there, and we just hung out there and made up names and stories for all of them! It was great comedy. After, we found this little street fair with yummy food, and a few extremely expensive jewelry booths (BOO!) and a bunch of other random boring stuff (which Liana warned us we will see at every street fair), but there were a few booths selling cashmere scarfs (cute/soft/warm!) for only $8!! but sadly they only took cash and we didn't have any, so hopefully we will find them again at another one of NY's many street fairs!

My first "New Yorker" moment....

The other day Lo and I get off the subway and it is super crowded. Lo gets a few people ahead of me because I get stuck behind this huge tall guy with a giant umbrella who is just meandering all over the place in front of me and I just cannot get around him! I go one way, he goes that way, then I go back the other way, and then he goes that way too, and he is sticking out is big giant arm with the crazy long umbrella so I can't get past that either! I look up and see Lo is half way up the stairs already! So, I work up my nerve and somehow make a quick maneuver and manage to get one foot ahead of him and then I give him a nudge and push my way by and then I hear him mumble something about "oh geez, these New Yorkers...." hehe!!

More and More

Job Update:
Well I didn't talk about it in my last blog, but on Monday I got a call from this agency I applied with right before I came to NY. It is called TeacherCare, and they provide nannies/in-home teachers to families in NY. The pay is good and it would be a great way to get on my feet, plus I really like that it incorporates a teaching aspect working one on one with the kids, taking them on field trips and planning curriculum for them rather than just a babysitting nanny gig. I had sort of a pre-screening quasi-interview over the phone and they asked me to come in for an actual interview next Tuesday and I am very excited. I think it will be a rewarding and fun job to have until I am ready to go back to school, so I really hope they like me and decide to hire me. Once they hire you, they give you profiles of different families looking to hire a teacher-caregiver and then you get to pick which families you want to interview with depending on what kind of circumstances you are looking for! So everyone wish me luck for next Tuesday please!!! :)

Bad News....We did not get that apartment we wanted :( the landlord called this morning and APPARENTLY he was also showing it through a broker and they gave a lease to someone else this morning! GEE, thanks for not letting us know that you already had someone ahead of us before we busted our asses to get all of the ridiculous paper work to you!!! UUUHHH FRUSTRATION!!! But Blythe from my old job at work told me that it just means that it was not meant to be and there is something better out there for us! which was a something I really needed to hear because while we were in the process I prayed to God that He would let us get the apartment if it was what He wanted for us, and that if we didn't get it I would know that it was just not what He wanted and that He had something better for us, so I really think the He was reminding me of that through Blythe!
SO the apartment hunt continues!!!!

On the subway today.....
The subway is a funny place, it is it's own little world. Most people sit on the subway pretty straight faced, making no eye contact, no attempts at conversation with those around you, just waiting to get the heck off at their stop! Laura and I are not really this way all the time...we people watch, make comments, giggle incessantly, basically stick out as major non-New Yorkers!
Well, today while we were waiting for our train Lo smiles to someone behind us and I turn to see three Latino gentlemen sitting with their guitarras, and oh man the excitement within me just begins to build! SO the train comes and they get on to the same car as us and just start playing and singing mariachi music....oh my goodness I was SO excited, and Lo and I are just giggling away, so enjoying our subway entertainment, while all the other New Yorkers just stared into space, not excited at all, making no eye contact or showing any appreciation of the musical treat. AHH, I love mariachi!!! We gave them three dollars, it was definitely my BEST subway experience so far!

Now lets fill you in.....

Okay, so I think this may be long. I meant the other one to be short and it turned out long so....just bare with me.



Friday the 7th-Lo and I arrived to JFK at 7 in the am!! we had not slept very well on the plane so we were very tired. We took a airport shuttle to our friend Muna's house all the way up in Washington heights. It was a long trip, over an hour, sitting in the tiny part of the bench seat left by the obnoxious couple I was sitting next to...let me put it this way, she probably owns a small dog that she makes him carry around in a purse!....anyhoo, our driver was nice and funny, a native New Yorker, he kept calling Laura and I "Ma" (hehe!)
So we get to Muna's, have absolutely no energy to do anything and just crash out. Hours later (well maybe just 2) we get up, go buy our first Subway metro card and Lo gets her first experience in the the NY Subway, aka suffocating tunnel of heavy heat. We got to meet up with my friend Jessica, who I met in Spain, who just moved out here from Montana to work as a accountant for a Hedge Fund Co....she has an awesome job and awesome apartment, she is where I aspire to be in a few years!!!!



Sat./Sun./Mon. : APARTMENT HUNTING in BROOKLYN!!!!!!!!!!

Brooklyn is not too far from the city (the main part of the city) but from where we are up in Washington Heights it is a bit of a trek....about an hour plus on the subway. The very first place we looked at we get off the subway and take a nice little "stroll" of about two miles, to find a basement apartment, with no windows...hmmm, no thanks, I think we will wait until we have been looking for a bit longer before we do something like that......the rest of the weekend was spent in a similar fashion, but the apartments did get better......we were not in love with any of them, but they were not awful. On Monday we looked at one that seemed to be the best so far, a fourth floor walk-up in Brooklyn, with a dead baby mouse in the stairwell, ahh home sweet home!!! We told the realtor we were interested and she hasn't stopped hassling us since, wanting us to bring her two money orders for first months rent and deposit ....basically she is all about the sale and we think she has maybe never even been to Brooklyn, at least the area were we can afford to live. Laura mentioned to her that we took a different subway stop than she told us about and she said she wasn't really sure because she doesn't take the subway-yeah whatever lady!!!
-ok, so why are we not jumping on this apartment? Well, after seeing it we got a call from our friend Muna's roommate Jeff, who has a friend who needs to sublease her apartment because she is moving to Virginia. It is in a good location a little bit south of Muna's house, right by a subway stop and near a good amount of cute restaurants and cafes, and only about 15 mins from the main part of the city. The landlord is really picky and basically wants our entire lives, well that of Lo's parents at least (they are co-signing the lease for us since we do not have jobs yet) we submitted all of the paperwork today so everyone pray that we get it please!!!!



Something Fun.....
on Sunday we decided we needed to do something fun for a little break from the hunt so we decided to go down to Little Italy to this place Lombardi's, the first pizzeria in America, and another place, Rice to Riches, a rice pudding place (yummy!) for dessert. Turns out Little Italy is NOT the easiest place to get to from up we are staying. It is on the lower east side of Manhattan and we are on the upper west side, and it is bit difficult to get from east to west on the train, soooooo over an hour later, and a hot suffocating under ground "path" (aka walk half the way there underground and right before you feel like you might pass out you will get to the train connection you need) to the next train, we end up in Little Italy about 10:30 and both places close at 11, so we decided to just go to Lombardi's (boo no rice puddin'). We got oh so yummy pizza with tomato, basil, giant mozzarella slices (yummy cheesy hot goodness!), sausage, mushroom, and olives! IT WAS DELICIOUS!!! and we got a slice of history along with it!!!

Okie, the end for now!!! Hasta!

Moving to NYC

Well, as most of you reading this already know, I have recently made the decision to up and move from my home state of California to New York City. Typical responses from those I tell this to:

(1) "Oh! how exciting! That is going to be so great!"

(2) "Uh! Why?!?!?"

(Let me just tell you from personal experience that this second response is NOT the one that someone wants to hear after they have made a MAJOR life choice-) Nonetheless I will explain the reasoning behind my decision to move to the Big Apple:

It all started back when I was 18 and I made my first visit to NY for my cousin Christopher's graduation from NYU. From that moment on I was basically hooked and have always said since then that at some point in my life I would live in New York.

Then, the following September I moved to San Diego to start school at SDSU and I met this one girl with short hair(most of you know her as Laura, Lo, Lo-lo)....turns out she was pretty cool, and we became friends, then roomies, and then platonic life partners, anyhow, I would always tell her and our other girlfriends that I LOVED NY and one day after I was done in SD I was going to move there. As Lo and I became better friends I would tell her, "hey, after graduation you are going to move to New York with me" and she would say, "um, no way, it is too f-ing cold, I would never move there!"

Jump forward five years..........

We graduated in May.....then it is summer time.....we work.....we look for careers (or something)......we look for apartments....nothing......nothing..........Basically I was in this post grad funk...didn't know what to do with myself OR what I WANTED to do with myself, so I came up with the great idea that I am going to uproot myself and go to NY.....AND best of all, Lo wants to go too!!!!

Okay, so basically that was just a very small and quick summary to get me to where I am now, which in in New York, trying to make a life for myself. I have decided to start this blog as a way to document all the stuff I am doing, vent about the hard times, laugh about the crazy times, celebrate the good times, and mostly to keep my familia and friends updated on all that is going on over here.

We arrived last Friday and a lot has happened AND not happened. BUT.....all that info will have to wait until tomorrow, because I am sleepy and need to rest up for all the MILES of walking I will be doing tomorrow and the day after that, and the day after that..... (BUT I LIKE IT)
Okie, good night for now!!