Bye Bye NYC

Goodbye 9K! We had a great run!

We will miss your incredible fratio that provided us, and many others, with incredible amounts of joy, grilled meats, pong games and afternoon relaxation - you were the perfect oasis in the concrete jungle. Thank you fratio, you will forever hold a special place in our hearts.     

Photo by: Anna Petrow Photography 

We will miss your cozy paint colors (that we had to pay a small fortune to remove once we left) and your ability to make us feel truly at home.

Photo by: Anna Petrow Photography

We will miss your direct rays of sunlight from 8am - 11am and beautiful sunsets and shadows.

We will miss your ability to contain only 1 documented cockroach and 4 small mice.

We will miss your flexibilty to transform from a smelly 2 bedroom frat cave (sorry Johnny) to a beautiful, young adult, 1 bedroom apartment, almost perfect in everyway.

We will miss your sweet doormen and the way you always made it easy to get a cab.

We will even miss the sweet lady who worked at the laundry mat next door. Although your same day service claims are completely bogus, you were a part of our life and routine - bouns points for telling Michael he looked like he lost weight! It was only fitting that after we were all packed up and moved, we waited on the floor of our empty apartment for over an hour waiting for our laundry from you. 

You know what, we may even miss the crabby manager in the sweater vest at Morton Williams (grocery store) and our neighborhood bum. May I finally forgive you for your incessant defecation on our block.   

New York, 9K, you were really, really good to us. 

As one famous New Yorker would say, on to the next one! 

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Flat (Apartment) Hunting

As Michael is currently working and adjusting to life in Singapore and I am still in New York for a few more weeks, Michael has been tackling the apartment hunt on his own. I have absolute faith in him to find a great place for us to live - after all, he DID find on his own what is very likely the only apartment on Park Avenue with a beer pong table and charcoal grill.      

Michael has seen quite a few places and has sent me a bunch of pictures for my review. 

Some interesting characteristics to note: 

Kitchens-in-cages. Can't you just picture me cookin' up Sunday supper in my little cage. Not surprising, this is built to manage the strong odor of certain foods. It's actually very smart, but its relevance to us is TBD ;)

Bomb shelters. According to Michael... 'new buildings added them after 9/11, the door weights like 300 lbs and can withstand an attack. If the whole building fell down there would be this tall silo of bomb shelters and a helicopter would come pick you up.' Wait, what? I think he made that up and most everyone just uses it for storage. 

Washer and dryer outside - like literally outside. As to not heat up your place. Genius. Also, coming from NYC I would just like to pause and bask in the glory of actually having the option of w/d inside the apartment. I have arrived!  

Balcony's not built for taller people (i.e., 6'4 Americans). Michael is worried he is going to fall over on the edge from the 35th floor because, 'his center of gravity is too high.' 
I mean I guess he has a point...

Over all the places are amazing. Amenities for days. I can't wait to show you our new home once we find it! 

     

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The Maiden Voyage

I anticipate the 'voyage home' section of this blog to be all parts hilarious, ridiculous and insufferable, but in the meantime I want to chronicle how the other half lives for once. Clearly, Michael and I are not accustom to flying in the lap of luxury. We can barley afford to sit exit row on a connecting flight to KC, much less business class on an international flight. BUT as part of Michael's company moving us, they paid for our maiden voyages over.

Behold, the man, the myth, the legend: Singapore Airlines, 100-seat, all business class, direct flight from EWR-SIN. The worlds longest commercial flight, clocking in at an impressive 18 hr 40 min non-stop. Note, I am documenting this because we will likely never see the inside of this airplane again. One, because there have been rumors it will be cancelled this fall and two, tickets can easily run into the 5-figure range.

Mumm, enjoy that lobster while you can, Michael!

11:00pm EST take off for arrival '2 days' later. 

 Salad course. 

Forget that piece of meat, look at that heavy-handed pour! 

Mmm, cheesecake.

Good night. 

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We're Headed East

The rumor's true!  

Welcome to 'Let's Go East.' As Michael and I make the move to the other side of the world, I decided I wanted, no needed, to join the blogisphere to chronicle our lives living, working, eating, drinking, traveling and attempting to overall survive and thrive in our new home - Singapore(!) Oh yeah, I guess I should throw in wedding planning in there as well. That should be interesting. I aim to keep our family and friends (and our own memories for that sake) updated on the random happenings and adventures of Michael and me - just two midwestern kids tackling a new city. country? (er, city-state).

The first few posts will be dedicated to Michael's solo time over there and our New York farewell tour. The last 3 years in New York City have been so incredible - the friends we have here and the city itself - it will be extremely difficult to leave, and impossible to replace - but we are excited and ready to GO EAST! (get it, get it?)

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