Birthday and Beyond!

Hey Everybody!

I decided to keep a blog about life in NYC. A quick recap; I'm starting my internship as a Junior Designer at Christie's Auction House tomorrow. I am living with my best friend and roommate from Cincinnati, Emily, my studiomate, Amy, and my new friend, Allie. We all go to school at DAAP and have co-op positions here in the city. Our apartment is pretty nice, lots of finished wood and old mirrors. The bathroom here is literally a closet. (Pictures to come in the next few days.) Emily and I are sharing a bed in one room and Allie and Amy are in another.

Dec 29th: Adam and I left for the city from Peek n' Peak at 10 am on Thursday after spending three days with both our families skiing and celebrating Christmas. From far west NY to far east it took almost 8 hours! Adam was a pro at navigating the intense city traffic. He was calm and collected when traffic was five cars across on a three lane highway.

View from the 95 bridge into the city.

We showed up a little earlier than my landlord to the apartment so we explored a few blocks of the East Village. There are so many great restaurants here! There's also a supermarket and laundromat less than a block away. Once we moved the entirety of my car into my apartment (it was full to bursting), we unpacked and cleaned up. Since it just so happened to be my birthday we walked a few blocks to make our reservation at Taureau. It's this amazing fondu hole-in-the-wall. Very expensive, but so worth it! We got a pot of Smoked Dutch fondu with button mushrooms, asparagus, beef salami, and croutons to dip in it. One pot was more than enough for us and once we ordered our dipping items were unlimited. I was determined to have some type of cake on my birthday but since Butter Lane was closed we opted for Italian pastries at Veniero's instead. I got a cannoli which was the perfect ending to the night.

The Shake Shack in Madison Square Park at night.

Dec 30th: Adam and I spent the day unpacking more and recovering from the drive. Since I was the first girl to move in, Allie asked us to meet her at Penn Station around 10:30 pm and help her with her bags. It was about 45 degrees out so Adam and I decided to leave early and walk the 25ish blocks taking our time. We even stopped at the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park for a strawberry milkshake. The atmosphere with the lights and people dining outside was so inviting! Finding the right entrance to Penn Station took us thirty extra minutes but we were able to bring Allie back safe and sound :) Since we told her we would eat dinner after she showed up we chanced upon Table 12 for a midnight dinner. They have an amazing variety of teas (Adam and I loved the Buccaneer) and I was impressed that they sold okay food at such a late hour.

Dec 31st: Adam, Allie, and I braved the Times Square area to figure out where I would be working. I should have thought ahead and realized it would be unbearably crowded at 3 pm on December 31st. After snapping a quick photo in front of the office, we found a Forever21 for me to pick up this leather jacket. I dressed up (fringe LBD + grey leather bomber + mary jane flats + orange Indian scarf) we headed out to celebrate New Years and our (almost) two years of being together.

Side note: Many of you may be wondering who won the present competition between Adam and me. (In reality, it was more of a joke than a real fight.) For Christmas I got Adam this fleece-lined jacket and he got me these silver-threaded texting gloves. He also got me this book about wine for my birthday. For our two-year anniversary I got us tickets for a New Years Eve cruise. He got us tickets to Wicked for when he visits in March. We obviously declared a tie so I owe him unlimited BLTs when he visits and he owes me flowers sometime in the next two months. I'm pretty sure I got the better end of the deal on that one ;)

So no, we did not go to Times Square on New Years Eve. I don't like standing for hours in the cold and Adam isn't into crowds and pop stars. Besides, I had these great tickets for a ride on the Hudson around the Statue of Liberty. There were unlimited h'orderves, an open bar, and an amazing view from inside a climate-controlled boat. The DJ was pretty annoying and there were some crazy characters about but we just turned our chairs to face the water and enjoyed the magic. At midnight everyone got champagne and went to the top deck to see the Brooklyn Bridge fireworks.

View of a bridge from the NYE cruise.

Jan 1st: Amy popped up at our door with her parents, ready to move right in. Adam wanted to do some sightseeing so we asked Allie to show us around. We visited Pier 17, Battery Park, and the outside of Ground Zero. We also stopped at Panini & Bread Company for lunch. I wasn't impressed with their confusing ordering process or slow service, but their number 2 panini with portabellas was pretty good. Allie and I took the subway to Brooklyn to pick up groceries at PathMark and Target. It's not that fun to figure out how to carry all the stuff you bought but I was thankful to understand the rail system better. We dropped off our stuff and then went to Ryan's Irish Pub for dinner. My chicken pot pie was huge but not very flavorful. Still, it was fun to get a Sam Adams and watch the Broncos. I discovered that Allie has a sweet tooth too so we took her by Venerios for dessert. Apparently the demand for sweets after midnight is high in the East Village. Dreamtown! When we got back we discovered the one downside about our apartment is that although the internet is fast, it doesn't like to work consistently after 9 pm. My laptop was cranky so Adam and I watched a movie on his brand new Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone. Showoff.

 Panorama taken on Adam's phone of Pier 17. Allie and I are at both ends of the picture.

Jan 2nd: Adam left before 8 today. I was pretty sad because the next time I see him (March 1st) seems so far away. But Emily managed to show up less than an hour after he left and I realized that with such great roommates it will be hard to be sad. After intense unpacking and cramming stuff into places that most people wouldn't consider storage (ie. under the bed, in a corner, in random boxes...) Allie, Emily, and I decided it was time for retail therapy. We grabbed lunch at S'mac which has gourmet mac n' cheese. I really liked their Indian style Masala mac. Then we headed to Union Square. I think I was the only person who bought stuff—Forever21 (I'm addicted to cheap, stylish clothes), VS (Semi-Annual Sale!), and Madewell (great sale prices on shirts)—but it was pretty fun to browse too. We'll have to stop by Strand again, I was fascinated by their 2nd floor of design books. We also popped in the Ace Hotel for some Stump Town coffee. My latte was delicious but the hotel was too crowded to sit in. We were exhausted when we came back so we stayed in and made stir fry. When Amy came back we sipped white wine while watching How I Met Your Mother and the Bachelor. I can already tell that the next three months is going to be filled with good food and trashy tv, hooray!

I apologize if this post is long, boring, or tmi but I feel guilty about hardly contacting home the past week. Hopefully my next posts with be briefer and more diverse. I will put up more pictures too!

Miss you Cincinnati and Cleveland,

Kendrasity