Apartment Hunting We Will Go

So, as you know, the time for us to leave our fabulous apartment is fast approaching. Our lease is up at the end of February, and unfortunately, they're raising our rent. We probably could afford to pay the new higher price, sure. But as it is, this apartment is a major splurge. I always say I advocate paying for experience, and that's what this apartment has been. I doubt we'll ever live somewhere nearly as awesome. I mean, you've seen the view, right?

But, it just isn't smart to keep spending our money on this experience. So, as I mentioned many months ago, we're looking into moving to Hoboken, NJ. We visited Hoboken last summer and just found it utterly charming. Rental prices are quite a bit lower, which would allow us to build our savings as we figure out our next step. Hoboken is right on the Hudson River, with great riverside parks to enjoy. The main street, Washington Street, is just adorable with tons of restaurants and shops. With its close proximity to the PATH train into Manhattan, Eric's commute to work would be comparable to what it is now (time-wise), he would just be on a train instead of walking. Basically, it's a very smart move for us, and one that we will probably even enjoy.

Our property management company has a building in Hoboken, and we are considering moving there. However, when we looked at it over the summer, they had one-bedroom apartments with an awesome Manhattan view available. Now, there are no more apartments with a view open right now. That's not a deal-breaker, but we did start looking elsewhere at other options.

This past weekend we went over there to really take a look. We looked again at the building I just mentioned, and also went a little bit south into Newport to look at some buildings there. Newport is another option for us - very close to the PATH train and ferry, just a 10-minute walk along the river from Hoboken, very convenient with tons of nearby grocery stores/banks/veterinarians/etc., and lots of apartment buildings to choose from. It's not nearly as charming as Hoboken, but it's very convenient.

The way I think of it is this: When we lived in the D.C. area, we lived in Crystal City (Arlington), Virginia. Crystal City was a great area, with all the "life" conveniences you could want - lots of apartment buildings, grocery stores, Costco, a mall, Target, close to the Metro, etc. It did have some nice parks/restaurants along the Potomac, but other than that, it wasn't a place you'd really spend your weekends wandering around. It wasn't a bad neighborhood or anything, it just wasn't particularly interesting.

However, 10 minutes by Metro south of Crystal City was Old Town Alexandria, which is where I worked. I loved Old Town. It was so charming, with beautiful row houses and tons of restaurants and shops along King Street. King Street ended at the river with a lovely boardwalk. We would go out there and wander around on the weekends or in the evenings, just because we loved the area.

In our current scenario, Newport is Crystal City and Hoboken is Old Town Alexandria. Both are great places to live, but Newport is more "life" convenient and Hoboken is just more fun. I'm not sure which is the better choice for where to live!

We looked at Newport first last weekend, and as we left there I was thinking, "this makes a lot of sense, it's so convenient." But then we got to Hoboken, and I just fell in love all over again. My feelings were solidified even further when I saw this on Washington Street:

People, that's a Grimaldi's Pizza (my favorite NYC pizza) right next to a Crumbs Bake Shop (my favorite NYC cupcake place). THINK OF THE MEALS HERE. I nearly died. Clearly, I was so excited, I felt compelled to take a picture. Who can not love a place where Grimaldi's lives next to Crumbs? It's food heaven. Plus 10 points for Hoboken!

Rental prices in both Newport and Hoboken are comparable, and although we weren't blown away by any apartments in particular last weekend, Eric is going back this weekend to look at a few more options in both areas (I'll be in Florida). I'm hoping he finds the perfect home for us!

We have to let our current building know if we're moving out altogether or transferring to their Hoboken building by January 20th, so we will definitely have to make a decision by then. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, I'm just trying to wrap my head around leaving Manhattan. I know this is the right move for us, but man, do I not want to leave. I love it in the city. I love our apartment. I love that I can walk out my door and be in the midst of Midtown. I love that I can walk to Central Park and Times Square and Rockefeller Center. I love that I can look out my window and see what color the Empire State Building is lit up each night. I love that on his way home from work, Eric passes celebrities as they leave 30 Rock or the Letterman show. I love that movie premieres happen just blocks from our apartment. I mean, it's just an awesome place to be. We're in the middle of it all.

I know Hoboken (or Newport) will be great, but it will be an adjustment. Just to give you an idea of one minor thing we'll have to get used to, Eric and I checked Seamless Web late Sunday night after our day of New Jersey apartment hunting. Seamless Web is a hermit's dream come true - it's an online food-ordering service that delivers food from bajillions of local restaurants. You can order almost anything you want, whenever you want it. We've ordered diner breakfast before. We order Italian or Mexican or BBQ. We order sushi ALL THE TIME. Whatever you want, all in once place. You could order pie if you wanted. It's amazing.

Anyway, I had the thought, "what if there is no Seamless Web in Hoboken?" So we had to find out if there was. And, there is. Hoboken's Seamless Web includes 70 total restaurants (seven of those serve sushi, which is very important to me). Not bad, right? At midnight on a Sunday, five of those were open. That's not terrible.

However, compare that to NYC. The Seamless Web just in our neighborhood (not even Manhattan as a whole) includes 282 restaurants, 36 of which serve sushi. At midnight on a Sunday, 33 were open. I mean, that's just awesome.

And Newport is even worse than Hoboken. Newport's Seamless Web only includes 48 restaurants (four serving sushi), and only two were open at midnight on a Sunday.

Of course, Seamless Web is not a deal breaker. It's just an example of how we'll have to move on from our NYC luxuries and get back to regular life!

I know we'll only be a short train ride from Manhattan, but I will be sad to no longer live in the city. It has really been an unforgettable experience.

But now, our search for our next place continues. I'll be sure to keep you posted!

Welcome, 2011!

 Happy New Year from the W. family!

Happy 2011, everyone! I hope you all sent 2010 out on a high note and that your 2011 is off to a great start.

We had a very nice New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, albeit quiet and low-key. That seems to be the theme of our holidays this year, doesn't it? We're all about being mellow.

On New Year's Eve, Eric left work in the late afternoon. We met up for a late lunch then ran some errands around town while we hatched our plan for the evening.

Let me be honest with you - there was a BRIEF moment last week when Eric and I considered doing the Times Square thing all over again. We figured we would go much later than we did the first time and just see what happened. Since we've already done it once, there would be no pressure to risk frostbite or really make ourselves crazy standing out there if we decided we didn't want to. So, we thought we could give it a try because we could always just leave if we felt like it.

And then, I met up with Eric on 8th Avenue that afternoon and started to see The Barricades. I hate The Barricades. The Barricades are what NYPD uses to corral people into pens for any big event (Macy's Parade, Rockefeller Tree Lighting, New Year's Eve, etc.). People are herded about with no discernible rhyme or reason, at the total mercy of the police. I took one look at those barricades (and the police officers gathering en masse to begin the people-herding) and decided our couch looked like a much more appealing place to spend the evening.

Cops arriving in the area at about 4:00 p.m.

But, after we ran our errands, we thought it might be kind of fun to just go out to Times Square, snap a couple pictures with our new camera, then come on back home. So, we stopped back at the apartment to pick up our camera and our 2011 glasses, then made our way east. We headed out there around 6:30, I think - a full hour later than we left the first time we did this.

One thing that I remember from the first time we did the Times Square thing was that they only let you in at certain cross-streets. This year we ended up at 59th Street trying to get in. They had a security checkpoint there that was excessively inefficiently run. It took us FOREVER to get through. There were about 10 cops standing around, and for quite some time, only one doing the pat-downs. Then they spent a good while arranging The Barricades and not letting ANYONE through. Finally they got back to us and we worked our way in. You had to completely unbutton your coat to show what was underneath, then at a second check point they wanded/patted you down and checked your pockets. This year they actually enforced the "no backpacks" rule (they definitely did not when we went the first time), so some people were turned away. It was a very slow process, and thinking back, I'm not sure why we stuck it out. Oh, what we will do for a nice photo op.

Eric in the security line

When we got through security we ran right over to 7th Avenue, which is best for a far-away view of the ball. They had a bunch of the pens still empty but closed, so we just wandered around and took a few pictures from there (around 58th Street).

We're far away, but you can still see Times Square waaaaay down there!

At 58th Street

As we stood at the end of a pen taking pictures, they happened to open up that pen and let people in. We made our way through ANOTHER security check and into the pen. We got a spot right at the front of the pen and took a few more pictures. Then, as we were thinking about leaving, they opened up the pen again and let us move even closer. I nearly got trampled as people tried to run for a good spot, so that's always fun.

When all was said and done, we finally ended up in a pen at about 53rd Street. So, five blocks closer, which wasn't bad. We hung around for a bit and took some pics from there. (For reference, last time when we got to Times Square at 5:30, we ended up with a spot at about 48th Street. So, by leaving an hour later, we were moved back about five full blocks.)

The view from 53rd Street

 The ball

Eric, back in Times Square!

Me

The screen below the ball says "Season's Greetings!"

We just love NYC.

To be honest, we again briefly considered sticking around for the duration. By that point it was about 7:30, so we only had 4.5 hours to go. And let me tell you about this HOT New Year's Eve! Honestly, we picked one of the worst possible years to commit to the Times Square thing. In 2008, with wind chill, it was TWO DEGREES at midnight. TWO. Like, here's one degree, and here's his friend, and that's it. NO MORE DEGREES. It was the kind of cold that makes you think if even the tiniest part of your skin gets exposed to the elements, it will freeze right off in seconds. It was brutal. Last year, it was in the 30s but rainy. Waiting around for hours in the rain is no fun at all, so I don't feel sad that we missed out last year. But this year, it was in the LOW 40s at midnight! It was honestly 40 degrees warmer this year than the year we did it. 40 DEGREES! That's so many degrees! It was downright balmy. We were running around out there without hats or gloves, which would have been unthinkable two years ago (for proof, compare the pictures of each of us above to this picture of Eric or this picture of me in 2008. Notice a difference in our attire?). So, given the fact that we were already in a pen, and were not anywhere near freezing to death, we considered staying.

Then we thought, no.

We just didn't feel like standing around in those crowds for 4.5 more hours, so we made our way out. When we got to Broadway we had to show proof that we lived on the other side of town for them to let us through! It was crazy. Also, we passed over Broadway at 54th Street, and just south of there we saw they had a huge screen set up to watch the ball drop because Broadway curves there, and you can no longer see the ball. Yet there were TONS of people still penned in, to watch the ball drop on a screen. What is wrong with you people? Why on earth would you stand in that madness to not even be able to see the ball drop live? Don't you know if you're going to watch it on a screen, you might as well do so at home? Crazies.

The screen on Broadway, because the street curved and the ball is now behind the buildings on the left

Yet still, ALL THESE PEOPLE are waiting to watch the ball drop on that screen. Get your lives together, people!

So, we finally made it home and settled in for the night. We ordered pizza and relaxed on the couch. At 10:00 we watched the hourly countdown they do in Times Square from our living room, and saw fireworks for that. At 11:30 we turned on Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve, put on our 2011 glasses, poured the champagne and got ourselves in position to watch the ball drop. Eric took photos of the Big Event while I videotaped it, and it played on TV in the background. Did you know what they show on TV is on about a 12-second delay from what is happening live in Times Square? Well now you do!

The New Year's Eve view from our apartment! The Empire State Building is still lit red and green for Christmas, and you can see the bright screen from Times Square with the ball above it to the left. Those two spires on the buildings to the left are also lit up like a party for the occasion!

Zoomed-in view of the ball from our apartment

Opening the champagne

The ball is dropping!

 2011!

 Midnight fireworks in Times Square

VIDEO: The ball drop from our apartment (please pardon my annoying voice)
(Also, if you listen carefully, after I announce 2011, you can still hear the people on TV counting down! There's that delay I mentioned!)

The awesome thing about how our whole night played out is that we can now tell people that "We went to Times Square on New Year's Eve and watched the ball drop live" and it's totally accurate! So, sure, we didn't watch the ball drop live from Times Square but we did watch it live, and we were in Times Square on New Year's Eve. Semantics! 

But you know what? As awful as the Times Square thing was two years ago, I'm so glad we did it. It is so cool to watch it on TV now having had that experience. We know the excitement those people feel each hour, and especially as midnight finally approaches after having stood out there for all that time. We can remember exactly how it all happened. For example, before the ball drops, they play "Imagine." It was so incredible because everyone stops being crazy and sings along and it becomes this really beautiful moment. When we were there we were surrounded by people from all over the world, yet everyone knew that song and sang along right there in Times Square. It was so cool, and when I heard "Imagine" playing in the background on TV, that all came rushing back to me. After the ball drops, they play "Auld Lang Syne," then "New York," then "It's a Wonderful World," then "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." And still, when I hear that on TV after the ball drop, I remember how it felt to be there. It was such an unforgettable life moment and I'm so glad to have experienced it once.

After the ball drop, we had ourselves a nice New Year's smooch, drank our champagne, sent some text messages and answered some phone calls, and were generally merry. Good times!

Cheers to 2011!

Talking to my sister

Way to join the party, Achilles!

He's eying my champagne

Glasses? We don't need glasses!

Starting the new year off right!

And that was our New Year's Eve!

We spent our New Year's Day relaxing at home (what else is new?). We watched a great Gator game (Urban Meyer's last as their head coach, boohoo!) and made ourselves a delicious dinner of ham, green bean casserole and sweet potatoes.

All in all we had a very nice holiday, and I think 2011 is off to a great start. Now let's see what this New Year will bring for us!

Farewell, 2010

Here we go again. Another round of out with the old, and in with the new. As always, I'm amazed that another year has passed so quickly. Where does the time go?

I do love the New Year though, don't you? What a great chance for a fresh start. As I said, out with the old and in with the new. It's the perfect time to say "good riddance" to those things that have been getting you down, holding you back or weighing on your mind and start over with a clean slate. People make resolutions to better themselves, we approach the world with renewed hope, and get excited about things to come.

But, all that starts tomorrow! Today is a day for looking back and reflecting on where we've been.

What a year 2010 has been! We have done so many new things and gained some great experiences. I've been having so much fun over the past couple days as I think back to the year that has gone by. We've achieved some personal goals, visited new places, spent time with family, traveled, enjoyed our city and each other.

In my memory, these are some of the highlights of our year in 2010:

• Chipping away at my bucket list: I fulfilled my dream of horseback riding on a beach (twice!), conquered my fears and went scuba diving, served on a jury, wrote my name in wet cement, and  jumped into a pool fully clothed.
• Working our way through our NYC To-Do List: We crossed a LOT of things off this year, including ice skating in Rockefeller Center, watching circus elephants march down 34th Street, walking the entire loop of Central Park, and seeing a performance by the New York City Ballet.
• NYC Rocks: We also got the opportunity to do some other very cool things thanks to our city of residence, like attend the NFL Draft and tapings of The Late Show and the Colbert Report; celebrity-watch at red carpet events and premieres; dine on caviar and champagne in the presence of supermodels at Fashion's Night Out; and hang out with the stars of Dexter at the Season 5 finale screening party.
• Travel: Man, we did some major traveling this year. I went on a two-week, nine-island cruise with my sister; we made a spontaneous weekend trip to Los Angeles (where we sat on the Friends couch!); Eric went to India twice; we each went to Florida quite a few times (including one trip together for my high school reunion, one trip by myself to see Heather's show, and Eric once for Kelley's graduation); we went to Cleveland for my family reunion; I went to Bloomington, Illinois for Molly's bridal shower; we went to Mexico for Molly's wedding.
• Eric's athletic accomplishments: Eric had a great athletic year. He met his goal of running a half marathon in under two hours, played Bethpage Black, and broke 80 on the golf course.
• Toni: Toni has continued to make incredible improvements this year, and we were delighted to celebrate her birthday (one we were not sure we would see) in October. She continues to amaze me.
• Birthdays and anniversaries: I had the best sushi of my life on my birthday; we celebrated our third wedding anniversary by unknowingly each making each other the same gift; and I kept on listing the things I love about my husband on his birthday.
• Molly got married: I pulled off Molly's bridal shower in Illinois in October, and we had a great time at her wedding in Mexico.
• Visitors: Heather, Molly and Zita came for Memorial Day; Jeff came for a weekend and we discovered Hoboken; Megan and Rachel, Mark and Sarah came in August; Heather and Aunt Debbie came in December to see the Christmas sights.
• Achilles: Achilles turned seven years old this year, and presented us with new challenges and problems to solve. But, he is still cuter than ever and bringing us much joy. A major Achilles highlight was his superstar status at this year's Easter Bonnet Parade.

Quite a year, right? We are so lucky to have made so many great memories this year!

VIDEO: A look back at our year in 2010

Once again, I thank you so very much for spending another year reading the things I write and sharing in our life. I hope that 2011 brings nothing but joy and good things to all of you.

As for me, I have great hope for 2011. I'm looking forward to shaking off anything from 2010 that is still weighing us down and starting fresh. I know this year will definitely bring some changes for us (starting with a move out of our apartment in February), and hopefully all changes will be good changes. In the meantime, I am just thankful for where we are today and all the wonderful things I have going on in my life. I am very blessed.

All the best to you and yours in the new year!

Signing off for 2010,

Meghan

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

Well, here we are, three days past the December Blizzard of 2010. As you know, on Sunday we got 20 inches of snow. Central Park recorded 18 consecutive hours of snowfall (and check out this 40-second time lapse video of 20 hours of snow in New Jersey!). We had wind gusts over 50 mph. We had thundersnow. All three New York City airports shut down completely, are still a long way off from being back to normal operation. Bus and train service was suspended, and public transportation continues to be a disaster. (Remember those people I mentioned who were stuck on a subway train for hours? They had it easy compared to the people stuck on a train for 32 hours!) There was even snow inside the subway stations. Record numbers of cars, buses, trucks and even snowplows were (and many still are) stalled in the roads.

Three days later, things are still a mess. The airports are not yet back to normal (and angry mobs seem to be breaking out), and neither are the buses or trains. Many streets still have not been plowed (not in our area, but there is a great deal of anger directed at Mayor Bloomberg right now due to lack of response in this mess). The snow has long stopped, the winds have died down and the sun is shining, but we still have 18 of the 20 inches of snow we got holding firm on the ground, and people are still trying to dig themselves out from under it. What a mess.

But, Eric and I were lucky in that we were not affected by the disastrous consequences of such a snowfall. Our streets were plowed, Eric can walk to work, and we were not trying to fly in our out of the city (nor were our loved ones). In fact, we even benefited from the blizzard: Eric got the day off from work on Monday, creating an unexpected long weekend, AND the Broadway show Billy Elliot offered a fabulous snow day deal that we took advantage of: $30 orchestra level tickets (regularly $115) for Monday evening's performance! An extra day off work for Eric AND a super cheap Broadway show? Okay by us!

Let's recap our Blizzageddon experience, shall we?

By the time we woke up Sunday morning, this was the view from our living room window:

That's right: nothing. Just white snow swirling about. At that point, it was really just flurries, and there was only a very slight accumulation.

We spent some time relaxing around the house, then in the afternoon decided to go downtown to see if we could get some snowy Wall Street pictures. The snow was falling a little heavier and the wind was starting to pick up, but the worst of it was still a couple hours away. So, we bundled ourselves up and went downtown. We hit all our usual spots: Ground Zero, Trinity Church, the Bull, the Stock Exchange.

We've barely left our apartment, and I'm already getting pelted by snow!

Snowy streets in our neighborhood

Snowy wreath in front of the Ground Zero cross

Trinity church cemetery

Christmas tree in the Trinity Church cemetery

Wall Street Bull

At least this bike is staying warm!

The Stock Exchange Christmas tree

By the time we finished checking out all those sights, things were really starting to pick up. The wind was just whipping snow in our faces, and at times it was so strong we could barely walk and we just stood still until the gust died down. We were chilled to the bone and ready to head home, so that we did.

Happy to be out of the wind and back in the subway

Warming up on the train ride home

Our wet clothes drying out in the bathroom

By the time we got home, things were really kicking into high gear. Weather.com told us we already had about five inches of snow on the ground (we estimated only one inch when we first left the house a couple hours earlier), and they predicted that number would double within the next 2-3 hours (it did). We basically hunkered down and watched things unfold as the night went on. We did take Achilles out briefly, and as I mentioned in my first snow post, he absolutely HATED LIFE while he was out there. That dog is all about a walk (and being wherever we are generally), but even if we kept on going, he turned himself right around and went back to the door to wait.

Snowy view from our apartment

Our grocery store's delivery bins getting a nice snow cover

Me walking the poor, miserable dog

Snow accumulating on our window sill as we lean out to look down the street (stalled cab near the corner at the bottom)

Snow starting to pile up around the trash can across the street

 

Our Nativity practically in silhouette against the snowy white outside

Eric woke up at 7:30 the next morning to check his email to see if his office was open, but he said as soon as he looked out the window he knew it would be closed. The snow had really stopped falling, but the wind was still whipping it around so much it looked like it was still coming down. We took Achilles outside that morning (still hates it), then relaxed a little until things quieted down a bit.

Luckily, a narrow path had already been shoveled on our sidewalk. If not, the snow would have been taller than Achilles!

  

Can you see the very tippy top of a fire hydrant sticking out of that snow bank?

  

Snowy street corner

 A look down the street

After a while we ventured out to take some pictures of our snowy city. Since we have already photographed Central Park in the snow multiple times, we decided this time we would stick around midtown and actually get some city pictures. We stopped by the theater to buy our Billy Elliot tickets, then roamed across town through Times Square, over to Rockefeller Center, up Fifth Avenue (where we walked past Kelsey Grammer and his new girlfriend), and then back home by way of the park (because really, how can you totally resist Central Park after a good snow?). Get ready, here comes the real onslaught of pictures! These are just a few of my favorites:

I would say there was definitely snow in THIS subway station!

Eric and me on snow piles in Times Square

Still on a snow pile in Times Square

Snowy Christmas lights

On Sixth Avenue

Snowy ornaments

That's me up there on top of that Sixth Avenue snow pile!

NBC Studios

The Promenade at Rockefeller Center

Thanks to our new camera, Eric was able to get this shot of ALL of 30 Rock with the tree and angels below it!

Snowy cab

Eric on a snowy bench

Pulitzer Fountain

Back in Central Park

Snow people on the trees

Snowy lamppost

By the time we finished all that walking we were tired and frozen, so we went home to warm up for a bit (and eat some more delicious Christmas lasagna) before going back out for Billy Elliot.

I thought Billy Elliot was excellent, by the way. Very well done. It was funny, cute, touching, moving. I especially liked the parts where they intermingled the bitter struggle between the police and the miners with the innocence of the children. What a striking contrast - very powerful. Overall, a very good show, and man, you can't beat the price of the tickets!

The theater

After the show

And that was our experience with the Great Snowpocalypse of 2010!

Quick note: I'm going to put the rest of our snow pictures on my photo share site this afternoon, if you want to see more!