Friday, March 29, 2013

OUR HOME

when we arrived in nyc we lived in temporary accommodation for a month in midtown. as convenient a location it was i couldn't wait to find our own apartment somewhere less busy (ha, less busy in manhattan, no chance!) and somewhere to call our home.

apartment searching was rather fun, once we got over the shock of the 15% annual rent broker fee we had to pay, that incidentally we hadn't been informed of! we had no idea what neighbourhood in manhattan we wanted to live and although we were given a broker for advice we still didn't have a clue. all we knew is that we wanted to be close to transport for nick's work. we tried to walk around neighbourhoods in our first week, but since all of downtown was in darkness because of the Sandy storm we were limited to midtown and upper west. one weekend we ventured into the west village and loved it. the only thing was, so did everyone else and so not only were there very few apartments but they were tiny.
it was our third week in temporary accommodation and so we had one last day of apartment searching and we found our home. its in our ideal location and amazing size for manhattan. it even has a spare room....well, its officially a 'closet' but seeing as it fits a double mattress and our guests we call it the spare room! and how did we manage to get so much apartment within our budget? well, we live on the top floor in the attic and so have sloped ceilings and some areas of our apartment are crawl only access! good job we're not the tallest couple!

we were so blessed with perfect timing the day we moved in not only did our container arrive from the uk with our one arm chair and our belongings but also our delivery of furniture that we bought in the us arrived. and so here it is. welcome to our home.












































Wednesday, March 27, 2013

WEEKENDERS

in one of ricky gervais' podcasts karl pilkington talks about whether living on the poor side of the street is better than living on the rich side. his argument for always choosing to live on the poor side is that the view is better. and this weekend i couldn't agree more with karl because we went for an afternoon trip to brooklyn heights (not exactly 'poor', but its considered the underdog to manhattan). the thing with living in manhattan is that you are surrounded by all the tall buildings which can become quite depressing and then when you reach the river you're faced with views of queens, brooklyn or jersey which are nothing to shout about. 
and so this weekend brooklyn heights showed its true colours (i'm already a little bit in love with brooklyn so it didn't have to work too hard) and wowed us with its incredible views of downtown and midtown manhattan, its chilled out vibe, cool cafe's and restaurants, birds and trees and even a tiny pebbled beach. i like brooklyn. lots (don't be fooled by the sun, it was still freeeezing). 


look at that view. brooklyn bridge and downtown
we found window arches
hes so much fun
birdie
a garden with a view. freedom tower in construction
just love it
blurrrrr
carousel in a greenhouse on the pier
carousel in a greenhouse on the pier under brooklyn bridge
manhattan bridge
beach
downtown
more downtown
brooklyn bridge. empire state. and trees.
huh?
brooklyn and manhattan bridges

Saturday, March 23, 2013

WEEKENDERS PART 5

monday
i had a surprise day trip planned for nick. we went here. i had heard some really good reviews about it and so thought we would give it a try. 

we got on the subway and went all the way to the end of the line, ending up in the china town of queens. after waiting 15 minutes, precisely placed by the entrance of a car park and opposite a bank as instructed, the mini van came into sight and continued to drive towards us...and then past us, despite our frantic efforts to wave it down. by this point nick was not hopeful about his surprise trip and it didnt get any better. we eventually arrived and after we had paid and received our 'keys', watch like devices strapped to our wrists which opened the lockers and kept a tab of all that was flogged to us once inside the complex, we went inside our changing rooms upon which a gender specific uniform was thrust into our hands. not the usual robe and slipper spa uniform but shorts and t shirt that were so big you had to delve into layer upon layer of excess material to find anyone actually alive inside them. a slight exaggeration. obviously.


anyway, once that was all out of the way we had a wonderful day hopping from themed sauna to sauna, laying on the straw mats, being pummelled from the water jets and bracing the freezing outdoors to sit in warm bubbling jacuzzi's. it really was an amazing spa, aside from the nude rooms, the uniform and the journey.  


we came away well and truly relaxed and refreshed for the week ahead.