Quick Lola Pic

A few days ago, Ma Soeur sent me this pic of my sweet Lola after a romp in the garden. Is she not the cutest?? I miss her tremendously, but I'm so happy to get updates via pics and videos.

Day 28... IKEA, NY-style

Today, I FINALLY made it out to IKEA Brooklyn to get my very-badly-much-needed-omg-my-life-will-be-so-much-better-when-i-have-this desk. As you can imagine, a trip to IKEA in New York City is quite different than it would be in any other state. You can't just drive there, park, shop your heart out, and then come back and stuff your goodies into the trunk. Nope, you've got to take a... wait for it... WATER TAXI!

{image: timeoutnewyork.com}

So my friend Noel and I met on Wall Street, walked over to Pier 11, and hopped on the IKEA water taxi. And it was surprisingly lovely! There's a nice air-conditioned (tres important on 90-degree days like today) section with comfy seating and wonderful views of the water. The whole trip only takes 15 minutes, and it's quite pleasant. I highly recommend it!

Getting back with your stuff, however, is un peu less glamorous. But I got my desk parts and chair set up for delivery (and I think I may have ordered the wrong size desk top so... that'll be interesting). Everything is arriving tomorrow afternoon, and I *really* hope that I can make it work because I really really really want a desk. Like, now. I want a place to sit and type and write and apply my makeup and eat and all that other stuff other than my bed, which has been the hotspot of all aforementioned activity (no bueno). The desk is large, and if I do make this table top work, then it will likely take up half my room but... whatever! I don't need much walking space. ;) I'll keep you posted!

In other news, I cannot WAIT for my beautiful Filofax to arrive!!! I've purchased all the lovely diary inserts and other goodies to go inside of it, and I just can't wait to get my hands on it and organize and plan and color coordinate and all that good stuff. Why are planners so much FUN?

I am convinced that this whole "job search" bidness will go so much smoother once I have a proper desk and planner. Wouldn't you agree?

Dat 27... Dilation

Today was a Monday in every sense of the word. And apparently Monday's when you're not working at a soul-sucking desk job can be just as bad as those Monday's when you were. My day started late, as I was unable to fall asleep AGAIN until the wee hours of the morning. After doing some work on the macbook, I headed out for my eye doctor's appointment and was immediately hit with the most sweltering, swampy heat ever. I immediately regretted my outfit of pinks shorts and a drapey tee and wished I had worn my skimpiest bikini instead. By the time I got to my dear doctor's office, I was disgusting and literally had to pat myself down with paper towels so as to not disgust everyone around me.

Then my oh-so-pleasant eye doctor (who was really nice, but a typical NY style know-it-all jerk with little patience who dissed TX and then told me what lawyers should know how to do) proceeded to do all kinds of things to my eyes and put what felt like 100 drops of various who-knows-what onto my eyeballs (and in the process tugged repeatedly at the delicate skin under my eye which DON'T YOU KNOW DOCTOR IS THE SKIN THAT AGES ON WOMEN THE FASTEST???). An hour later I left with sore eyes, wrinkles and a complete lack of clear vision.

Naturally it started raining as I walked home. Once I got home, I discovered that I had missed the UPS guy who was delivering my new blender. And then I came back to my computer to realize that I completely suck at finding a job. I can't even write a good cover letter, for crying out loud, and then I really REALLY felt stupid and my eyes hurt and I couldn't see a damn thing and I was rude to my sister who is just trying to help me but clearly thinks i'm a slacking idiot and I ordered fried food to comfort me but it just made me violently ill and I just wanted to give up and crawl into a hole for a long, long time. So I turned off all the lights, pulled the shades, lit a candle, blasted the A/C, and covered my eyes for the next couple of hours.

And now I can see, but I'm still feeling incredibly ... stupid. What happened to me? What happened to my abilities? Law school is what happened. And being a lawyer. It destroyed my ability to write/think/act in a NON-legal (and therefore creative and interesting) manner, and now I feel like I am no more prepared to find a job than any bright-eyed and bushy-tailed 22-year old college graduate who likely does NOT have a mountain of student loan debt.

Sigh.

I'm just having a bad day. Mondays suck. Hope yours was better.

Days 24 - 26... Pizza, Babysitting & Free Yoga

My Weekend:

~ "Babysat" (I use the term loosely as I didn't once meet the baby while she was awake) for a friend of a friend in town for a wedding. Got to hang out at a sweet penthouse north of Times Square - easiest job ever!

~ Walked across the Brooklyn Bridge avec Roomies Deux et Trois to stand in line for 45 minutes at Grimaldi's, the famous Brooklyn pizzeria (took pics on the Holga - will share when I develop them!) Yes, the pizza was fantastic, but the walk and wait were exhausting! (Oh and obviously I ate cheese, which means I haven't been eating vegan, which is another post in itself. Stay tuned.)


~ Attended a free and very packed yoga class at a beautiful new studio in my 'hood - Yoga Maya. Lots of chanting... twas interesting. The teacher left us with 2 statements to ponder: (1) Your attachments prevent you from seeing the truth; and (2) If you center your life around the divine, instead of yourself, you will be a much happier person. (#2 is something my Mom has told me time and time again, so it was a nice reminder.) I am eager to start a regular yoga practice, something I haven't had for years.

~ Discovered the yumminess that is Amy's frozen meals. I have always abhorred frozen meals, but these are quite delicious, pretty healthy, and all organic!

~ Visited the brand spankin' new four-story, 90,ooo square feet Forever 21 in Times Square. It is literally a department store. Also? It's open until 2 a.m. on the weekends. I went after babysitting on Friday night/Saturday morning around 1 a.m., and it was PACKED (altho you can't really tell from the picture). Insanity.


~ Ordered a Filofax after reading this post by Gala Darling. (And yes, I ordered the exact same one.) I've been a Planner Pad fan for a couple of years now, but honestly, it's a pain to lug around, and I don't like how un-customizable (is that a word?) it is. So I'm giving the very versatile (and more portable) Filofax a try.

Days 22 & 23... Oh, the Food.

The food in this city is, without question, phenomenal. You can pretty much whatever kind of food whenever you want it and probably delivered to your door within 20 minutes. For this reason and the fact that Manhattan kitchens tend to be the size of a coat closet, many people spend their entire NY lives sans cooking. I thought I could hang with this mentality, and admittedly the novelty of ordering all kinds of delicious food off seamlessweb and having it arrive within minutes to my 3rd floor walkup was delightful. But after four weeks? I'm sick of it. I WANT HOME COOKED FOOD.

I want simple food, not-so-greasy food, not so overpriced food... I just want normal home cooked food. For the first time since my very first day here (remember the shower incident?), I miss my Austin apartment and its kitchen. And my ginormous fridge and pantry all to myself. And my granite island - OH the island! I miss being able to whip up all kinds of fun goodness. And? I miss my garbage disposal (yup no garbage disposals here in NYC...).

Alas, although my kitchen here isn't the size of my old one, it's still fairly big by NY standards. The problem is that I share it with 3 other girls (2 of whom do not cook and survive on lean cuisine... *shudders*). The fridge is always full of booze, takeout containers, and ridiculous, half-filled bottles of water (these girls? SO NOT GREEN, but that's a WHOLE 'nother post) so it's not like I can stock it with all my organic yumminess. So, I have to cook and eat simply. No elaborate recipes for me, no not anytime soon. Right now I have to stick with the basics and be happy with that.

So tonight I cooked for the first time since I've been here (like truly cooked, not just heated up a frozen Amy's burrito). I made a simple but delicious tomato sauce (think tomato basil meets arrabbiatta meets a whole lotta garlic) with whole spaghetti. It was delicious. I didn't even make any sides to go along with it, just had a big bowl of perfectly al dente pasta, and it was heavenly.

Also? I'm returning the Vitamix and just ordered a waring pro blender off Amazon for about 10% of the price. I know that a Vitamix will be in my future, but for right now, it's just too big and too much. (Also? I'm afraid someone here will break it.) I thought I could live off green smoothies from Terri, but they are SO not as good as mine and SO not cheap either. So I'll meet in the middle and make smoothies in my $50 blender that probably aren't as velvety smooth as my Vitamix smoothies, but they'll just have to do. :)

Days 20 & 21... Exhaustion

Today, I wallpapered and painted my closet (see below), stood in line for Yoga at the Great Lawn in Central Park, and did some job research.


Yesterday? I slept. ALL. DAY. As in... alllll day. I woke up at 9 and went back to sleep. I woke up at 12 and went back to sleep. 4? Back to sleep. Then finally up at 6:30 because I heard my roomies coming home from work. Uh huh... I was WIPED. Apparently my weeks of nonstop activity and past few nights of only 5 hours of sleep (SO not enough for moi) caused my body to shut down. I'm glad I caught up on sleep, but I'm still having trouble falling asleep at night, despite waking up earlier and earlier every day. Annoying! Any tips?

Days 18-20... Scenes From Le Weekend

drinking Caronas on the Hudson @ the Frying Pan with fun friends

spending quality time avec Roomie Trois (the petite blonde)

and her friend Mallory

cucumber/cilantro/sugar-in-the-raw martini @ Rabbit in the Moon

in Greenwich Village

fun times with old and new friends

scary movie night on Wall Street (yes, I am holding a bottle of Prosecco)

I am loving NYC more and more the longer I'm here. I've (mostly) mastered the subway system, I've made incredible new friends, I LOVE my apartment, and I am more sure than ever that I made the right decision moving here. I hope you too had a fun and fabulous weekend. Lots of love from moi to you.