Making a Brand New Start of It...

Happy One-Year Anniversary to us!

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:26:00 +0000

What we've accomplished in the past year:

- Found two apartments in New York City. One without having jobs, and the other on the second try. Neither with a broker. We are pros.
- Managed to survive this recession! It's good to already be poor when the economy hits the tank; less of a change for those of us without all that much money in the first place.
- Found a group of Charger fans and watched every game last year. Now we have a new bar and really cool T-Shits :)
- Convinced almost all of our friends to come visit (I think the prospect of New Year's Eve in New York helped).
- Convinced one friend to move out here with us; Andie gets here August 1st!
- Made my mom, dad, and grandma come to New York for their first ever visit. And they all survived, but I think Grandma may have had the best time :)
- Had visits from most of Kendra's family as well; we love guests!
- Watched movies on rooftops, in the park, and on piers.
- Gone to a New York Philharmonic concert. For free. In Central Park. Although, eveyone else there was a little more cultured that us; we forgot the wine, cheese, and prosciutto.
- Watched elephants parade down 34th street.
- Saw two Tony-Award winning plays.
- Made visits to Philadelphia (for Thanksgiving; thanks Adam), upstate New York (for the outlet mall), and New Jersey (for a hockey game). And now Kendra is in Massachusetts. I think Connecticut will be next...
- Made some fantastic new friends.
- Voted, in person, for the first time ever.
- Figured out the subway and bus systems. I don't think I remember how to drive a car...
- Learned that even though you don't need a designated driver, you still have to be able to get home.
- Survived our first Northeast winter.
- Visited most of the major landmarks. Although, I've still only seen the Statue of Liberty from a ferry, but that's less crowded, anyway.
- Seen most of our favorite LA musicians here. We still miss the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood though...
- Attempted to compete in a relay triathalon, but then we both got swine flu.
- Survived a global pandemic!
- Managed to get robbed only once.
- Bumped into a few celebrities, including Tea Leoni at Starbucks, and Julia Roberts at a play.
- Been told that we look "very New York." Thanks, we try :)
- And we were both accepted to graduate school programs in the city; Kendra to John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and me to Teacher's College, Columbia. We're excited.

In conclusion, it's been a great year. We've definitely had our difficult times, but overall it was the best decision we made of 2008. It's been fantastic.

Elephants? On 34th St?

noreply@blogger.com (Kendra) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:23:00 +0000

Yes! The circus is here and that means elephants! Only how do you get elephants into Manhattan? Well you walk them in of course! (= Turns out the Queens-Midtown Tunnel isn't big enough for the elephants to come through in a truck, so they walk! Trunk-to-tail in fact, in the middle of the night, through the closed-down tunnel and all the way down 34th St to Madison Square Gardens. Yes, they *actually* close the streets of busy Manhattan so a crowd of ten elephants can stroll the streets. Accompanied by clowns, horses and the ringmaster of course! Now who wouldn't want to go out in the cold at midnight on a Monday to see this???

Armed with hot chocolate, warms clothes, and a drive to stay awake despite the hour, we huddled in the cold and waited anxiously. The streets were closed, with lots of police and flashing lights around, and guardrails had been put up along the sidewalks, hopefully to protect us from charging elephants (although I don't think they stood a chance!) The elephants were proceeded by a full motorcade, and then woo hoo! Elephants on 34th St! They were so cute, holding each others tails with their trunks and just walking... It was one of those things that even as you are watching it, you just can't quite wrap your head around the concept. Sorry the pictures are a bit lame - bad lighting and seriously, those elephants move a lot faster than you would think! Following the elephants was a procession of horses and an assortment of clowns, and bringing up the rear was the clean up crew - a street sweep to deal with any elephant messes. (=

Otherwise things are good - we're both waiting to hear from grad schools to see what our futures hold, and yearning for warmer days. It almost feels like spring one day, then snows the next! No fair. I'm not even sick of the cold so much, just all the junk you have to put on in order to handle the cold. St. Patty's day was an exploration of Irish pubs of all types, and we've been to good shows and sporting events. I'll go through pictures soon and do some recap. We've explored some new neighborhoods, met up with old friends, and even made some new ones. Really seems we're putting down roots in NYC and loving every minute of it. Hope that all is well...Say hello! We miss you and hope you will come visit! We're finding some good places, so we'll show you a good time.

For more about the elephant "event", check out the Daily News article: Elephants!

Sorry for the silence....

noreply@blogger.com (Kendra) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:46:00 +0000

But we are alive and well...and covered with snow! It's quite a day outside today - when I left for work this morning we were already up to 7 inches and it didn't seem close to stopping. It may have taken until March, but we finally got a real snow storm. (=

So this was supposed to be posted last Monday - whoops. Anyway, we will have a real post VERY soon, I promise. We've had some fun the last week and will certainly be sharing! Thanks for your patience and hope all is fabulous with you as well!

While running in Manhattan...

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:37:00 +0000

...I observed the following:
- A german shepherd wearing a vampire rain-cape
- A guy walk straight into a tree
- A mutt with red booties
- My first ever raccoon

Only in New York

Another Birthday and More Visitors!

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:32:00 +0000

Alright, I'm going to back-track a bit back to December when a miracle happened: My father came to New York. The same man that, when I told him I was moving said, "I'm not going to New York" and left the building. That's right, and he loved every minute of it :)

Here he is in Central Park. He really liked the fact that there were squirrels there, which I also think is kind of funny.

We even made it to an Irish pub to have a Black and Tan.

I have to admit that he did very well for a guy that hates the big city. There was only the one incident on a crowded subway car that was interesting: I don't think I've ever seen my dad so worried about how we were going to do something, but it all worked out! It was great to have him here and I hope more family comes soon. And maybe now he'll worry a bit less :)

And then jumping back to the present, Andie came to visit! She was in Connecticut for work training and got here just in time to celebrate my birthday. Now Kendra's not the only one who is old...

We went for a walk in Central Park even though it was freezing, but got a chance to do some advertising for North Face.

I just like this one a lot:

After Central Park we headed down to Bryant Park to go ice skating, always a good idea when guests come in the winter.

And then it was time for my birthday! I was sick on my actual birthday (which wasn't very fun) so we went out and celebrated the night after at a bar in the East Village.

Me and my birthday crown on the bus. Talk about high class.

We also went to our favorite Mac and Cheese place, only to find that the restaurant was closed. The only thing open was the take-out and delivery section, so we ordered our s'mac and went to a bar on the corner to eat it. Only in New York, right?

Andie, Kendra, and I at the bar.

Last week, after our new president was inaugurated, a strange thing happened: Kendra got to teach me a little something about sports! She's been going to hockey games to see the San Jose Sharks since they became a team...One of those father daughter things she and Bob have. So for her birthday she was lucky enough to get two set of tickets for hockey games, which means I get to go too! We're going to see the Sharks in New Jersey next month, thanks to Mark, Michelle and Scott, and got to see the Rangers play last Tuesday night. Now we wanted to look like real Ranger fans when we went to the game, so we stopped by a local sporting goods store on the way and bought shirts. We are so cool.

We even got to see a fight!

So that's what has been going on the last couple weeks here in the freezing North East. We're looking forward to Super Bowl Sunday, even if it is a little weird to see the Cardinals in there. I still say the Chargers should have made it...

Rockin New Year's Eve and Best Birthday a Girl Could Ask For

noreply@blogger.com (Kendra) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:21:00 +0000

Hello! Disclaimer: We have been "borrowing" internet from our neighbors, and apparently everyone decided to rearrange their apartments because we no longer have access to their networks. Point being, we no longer have internet access in our apartment, so we can't update the blog with any regularity. I'm sorry for those who still check in - we are very excited to share our lives in NYC with you, just please be patient with updates. We'll try to be more frequent and more brief to keep the interest high! (= And please leave comments so we know you are still out there in cyberspace reading about our adventures. Now onto the festivities!

In case you didn't hear, a group of our San Diego friends braved the cold and came to visit us for New Year's! We felt very lucky to have so many visitors, especially with limited spaces to offer for comfortable sleep. We managed to fit all 8 of us in our less than 500 square foot, 1 bathroom apartment - and we even got a little bit of sleep now and then. (= I had to work a couple of the days, but Colleen was a wonderful tour guide and showed people the sights.

At the Met, with Michelle and Mark.

The really cool light show they were doing on the ceiling of Grand Central Terminal.

Most of the gang on the roof of our building - I love this picture. Clockwise from bottom left: Mark, me, Scott, Colleen, Dan and Michelle.

Michelle, Colleen and I on top of the Rock - ie the top of Rockefeller building: it's expensive, but the view is very cool.

New Year's! Dan is amazing - he works in an office building at Times Square, so we got to have a party with a heater and a stunning view of the ball drop. And let me tell you if our coats don't get the point across: it was FREEZING that day. So thank you Dan for saving us from the cold.

Nice view huh? We had to get there at 3pm because they shut down all the streets, but we had plenty of sustenance to get us through the night. We played mafia and charades, and danced the night away - for sure the best birthday ever.

In our party garb.

Adam, Mark, Paul and Scott (and the ball).

Almost 2009....

Happy New Year!!!

After getting a little bit of sleep, we finally got ourselves together and went ice skating at Central Park on New Year's Day. Somehow we kind of dropped the ball on skating pictures, but here's the best we have.

One things I learned during with visit is that I apparently have a dance, aptly coined "The Kendra Dance". As in, when I dance, I have very limited moves that I do over and over. Here is Dan, who apparently perfectly does The Kendra, perhaps better than me.

We had the best time with everyone - thanks for coming! We are sad now that you are gone, see? Come back and visit anytime!

More Snow! Happy Holidays!

noreply@blogger.com (Kendra) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 05:01:00 +0000

So after the first exciting snow, we got a lot more! It snowed all day - giant snowball-size flakes! Very thrilling for these California girls. We even braved it and went on with our plans. I thought the snow building up on the garbage on the street was very picturesque.

But not actually as pretty as the snow on our neighbors shrubs.

What can I say - I've never lived where it snows. Even footprints in the snow are interesting.

I love Christmas lights and thought this tree was so pretty. Christmas in the city has been so wonderful.

Merry merry Christmas to you! Looking forward to New Year's - we have friends visiting so there should be some great photos to follow...

It Snowed!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Kendra) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:48:00 +0000

*Note* I meant to publish this post over a week ago, and forgot. But the sentiment is still there! (= Whoops.

News so exciting it deserves its own post! The weather took a turn for the very cold this past weekend, and the stars finally aligned for it to SNOW!!! I can't even tell you how incredible it was. Simply beautiful. It didn't go on for too long, and didn't really stick, but it was enough to pile on the parked cars and enough for this California girl to get excited. I'm not so sure about the cold yet, but if it means snow, I'm on board!

The pictures don't do it justice, but if you look at the light you can kind of tell how hard it was snowing. It even kind of stuck! I can't wait till the next snowfall.

Bring on the cold! We're ready. Christmastime and winter in the city are so much fun. We both ordered ice skates and are anxiously awaiting their arrival because the city is full of places to use them. We'll keep you posted...

I Know, I Know...We've Been In Hiding!

noreply@blogger.com (Kendra) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:05:00 +0000

Sorry! But we've just been having so much fun (and such unreliable internet access) that we just haven't been able to share with you what we have been up to. Suffice to say it is cold but things are wonderful! But here's some catch-up:

We are all about the themed restaurants - we finally found our way to Peanut Butter and Company - a PB restaurant! They serve all kinds of crazy PB sandwiches, and even a crudite platter of sorts with celery, apples, carrots and crackers! Oh the excitement. And of course big glasses of milk to go with the feast! It was pretty tasty and we will gladly take any visitors needing a peanut butter fix.

In November we went to check out the anti-Prop 8 rally going on at City Hall here in NYC. A little taste of home. Nice to feel like a part of it even from across the country. We got there a little late, but there was still a huge turn out.

People had very clever signs and posters.

On to Thanksgiving! Happy (belated) Turkey Day! Hope everyone had a wonderful day and tasty meal with family and friends. I know we are very thankful for all of you, and wouldn't have made this move out here without your love and support. This turkey was our thank you gift to our gracious Thanksgiving hosts - Adam's grandparents. Having no family of our own to be with this year, our friend Adam invited us to join his family in Philadelphia. It turned out to be a great trip! We took the Bolt Bus Thursday morning, which is a pretty fancy bus and only takes 2 hours! Coming from a state as large as California, this was miraculous to us.

We spent Thanksgiving day driving around the neighborhood and spent sometime in the town of Narberth. It was pretty much deserted, but nice to hang out for a bit in the quiet, not surrounded by tons of tourists like in NYC. Such a change of pace!

And oh my gosh! Nature! Who would have thought? We ended up in a very cute park with trees and a creek - I know we have Central Park here, but for some reason a park surrounded by cute, old houses seems more nature-y than one surrounded by sky scrapers.

Credits to Colleen for this pic. Thanksgiving was filled with good food and meeting lots of Adam's family, and we definitely had a great time. Thanks for including us!

Friday we became tourists. Had to take in the history of Philly while we were there. (= Saw the first, and second, national banks, as well as the Liberty Bell. Can't go to Philly and not see the bell right?

City Hall at night - this picture is a little blurry, but believe me, it was very pretty. The east coast definitely has the historical edge - so many old, fancy buildings that you just don't find in California. I still love you west coast, but the east coast certainly has its charms.

Bring on Christmas! We went with a friend of Colleen's to see the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular! Touristy, yes, but we heard it was one of those things you just have to do once. Seeing Radio City was reason enough, but the show was fun too. A little over the top perhaps, but fun all the same. Gets you in the Christmas mood for sure!

Leaving the show we walked by NBC and they were filming 30 Rock. I don't watch the show really, but it was still exciting. You see quite a bit of filming around the city, but this was the first time I saw actual filming going on, and not just set up. I know he's small, but that's Alec Baldwin in the overcoat, to the right of the center. (I know, which one right?)

We couldn't help but get a Christmas tree, no matter how small our apartment may be. We did it up right - hot coco, holiday music, and even matching pajamas! Oh goodness. I think Colleen and I really do spend too much time together.

So precious. And please note the impressive scarf collection we have on the door in the background - gotta stay warm somehow!

We even have presents under it already! Happy Holidays everyone!

My Favorite

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:23:00 +0000

Butch came to visit us last night. He was fantastic. We are happy.

Autumn in New York....

noreply@blogger.com (Kendra) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 06:20:00 +0000

Sorry for the long silence - we've been so busy (read: tired!) that pictures have been less frequent and updates even more scarce. So let's play catch up!

In mid-October, we ventured down to Brooklyn for the farmers market there. Why all the way to Brooklyn when there are perfectly good farmers markets all over Manhattan? Well look!

The market in Brooklyn is right at the arch at Prospect Park. I had no idea this arch (as seen in When Harry Met Sally) was in Brooklyn until I was in a taxi and we passed it, but I wanted to see it again close up! Pretty cool. Not as good as Arc De Triomphe, but I'll take it.

Why go to the farmers market? Well to get mini pumpkins and Indian corn to make pumpkin people! We spent the perfect fall day: take in the outdoor market, collect pumpkins, corn, apple cake and fresh fruit. Run into our friend Adam, who happened to be on a bike ride in the same park. Get soup and sandwiches at a local cafe (called "Propect Perk" - almost like Central Perk!). Then we went home, made apple cider, and carved mini pumpkins!

The final results:

Yay fall! See Colleen's way cool witch and broom? She fashioned it from the corn husks! And the scarecrow with his pitchfork...looks like they did something bad to that poor guy in the middle, huh? (=

In other news, we recently discovered a new restaurant called S'Mac - a mac n cheese restaurant! See our excitement!

Mmmmm.....delicious.

There was a pumpkin festival at Central Park, so we had to go! I think they were going for a world record for number of carved pumpkins. It was soo cool! Orange pumpkins lining the pathways...it looked like something out of a movie. If you can't tell, I happen to love fall and Halloween and carved pumpkins (= This picture just screams fall...changing leaves, rain and all!

Look at them all! This stand was really tall and full of pumpkins! I have no idea who carved them all....surely the pumpkin fairies. No other explanation, clearly.

Obama and McCain were even there!

Next is Halloween! We dressed as the subway lines - Colleen was the 6 train (local) and I was the E train (seeing as I conveniently have a green wig and a blue wig). Brant helped edit the graphic to make our way cool shirts!

Here we are after fighting the crowds at the parade. We gave up and ended up at our usual bar. But overall a good night.

Then most exciting of all - election day! We voted (can you guess who for???) which was quite an experience. We went to the polls bright and early and even figured out the crazy old voting machine. First time for both of us to actually go to vote instead of absentee. Then we got our free Starbucks! What a great day this turned out to be, huh? Little bit of history. We took in the sights at Times Square and everything. Total craziness.

Next up....Christmas! Really looking forward to holidays here. Lights are already popping up and ice skating rinks are open. Check in again soon - we'll be better updaters if you leave comments so we know people are still reading! (=

Smells like fall...

noreply@blogger.com (Kendra) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:49:00 +0000

Hello! Fall is starting to show its face around NYC and we couldn't be happier! Having lived in San Diego for the past 5 years, we've had perpetual spring and summer, so fall is mighty exciting. It was really cold (hah, "really" is so relative...I think it was in the high 50's) for about a week, and we got very nervous that we weren't going to last this winter if it was already that cold in September. Luckily, it has warmed back up a bit, but it still has that crisp fall feel to the air. We have had fun wearing scarves and jackets, and went out to buy big wool coats so we can survive the winter! This past weekend we decided to go for another adventure in Central Park, to see if the leaves were starting to change! They are only starting the yellow, but we had a good time nonetheless.

Yellow leaves! I know they are a little hard to see, but this was the first tree we saw with signs of fall, so we had to get a picture in front of it.

So picturesque...something about the red berries on the tree and the classic lamp post were irresistable.

We finally made it far enough north to see the reservoir - I had no idea there was a body of water this big hiding in Manhattan!

We walked all the way around - it has a nice 1.3 mile walking path around it.

Yay reservoir! Nothing cooler than a large body of water, surrounded by trees and skyscrapers.

Our other favorite thing at the park on weekends, is the random dance roller skating rink they set up in the mall. We found out it is actually a full organization called the Central Park Dance Skaters Association, and they are there all summer and have special events. The season is about to end, so we took in our fill and took some video to share with you!

Our favorite, is an older woman we have named "Hot Betty." She is just so classic and looks like she had some career in ice skating or ballroom dancing in her past.

Some of the other skaters - they are just so much cooler than we are! Some people just skate, but most of them are dancing as well. We are too white to even dance as well as they do, let alone on skates. Maybe someday we can join them...

We'll keep you posted as the leaves keep changing and the temperature drops. Wish us luck - our thin San Diego blood is scared!

Adventures in Brooklyn...

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:17:00 +0000

...and gay piano bars.

This past week has been fun! On Thursday we went to see one of our favorite musicians, Jarrod Gorbel (aka boyfriend number 2, right behind Butch) from the Honorary Title. He played at the Cutting Room which is owned by Chris Noth (and for those of you not in the know, that's Big from Sex and the City). The place was pretty cool and reminded us a lot of our favorite spot in Hollywood. Although it was a little bigger and had a few more tables than the Hotel Cafe, the small room, red curtain behind the stage, and intimate atmosphere was very nostalgic. I thought that one of the hardest parts about moving from San Diego would be the distance from LA, but we've found another piece of home here in New York. And now we don't have to drive 2 hours home at 1 in the morning anymore :)

Then Friday night, we went out with our new friend Dan who's only here about once a month for work. We headed down to the West Village and ate at this place that supposedly has the best burgers in town. The bar/restaurant was packed and we waited in line for about 45 minutes to get a table, but the burgers were good! I don't know if they were worth the long line, but definitely tasty once we finally got to eat them. After dinner we headed to Yogurtland, which is exactly like one of our favorite yogurt places in SD, Yogurtworld. Self serve, pay by the ounce, lots of toppings, and a REALLY good dark chocolate flavor. Genius. Once we were fully satisfied with our yogurt concoction, we headed to Marie's Crisis, a piano bar (that is nothing like the Shout House) with lots of gay men and showtunes. We had a great time! We didn't know most of the songs, but the men that did sure knew how to belt them out at the tops of their lungs! And two of the bartenders would sing duets beautifully while everyone stopped and listened. I think the best part of the night happened when we heard one guy say, "Ugh, there are too many straight women here." Thanks, dude.

And as for Saturday, we took a little trip across the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge is gorgeous once you get close and the views of Manhattan are unbelievable. We even timed it so that we'd be walking back at sunset...doesn't get much better than that.

Not too bad for an amateur :)

I'd read in a book that there's a good pizza place where you can get a pie and eat it in the park under the bridge. We tried to go to this place, but, again, there was a HUGE line to get inside. So instead of standing there like chumps, we walked around the corner to another pizza joint, walked right in, and had great food.

When we first got down to the Brooklyn Bridge park, we stumbled across what looked like a photo shoot. We were hoping it was from America's Next Top Model, but had no such luck. But there were hot girls in lingerie suspended high above the park in a plexiglass box!

Pretty cool, right?

And another couple pictures, just because they are cool:

Who's jealous?

Me, Kendra, and Dan with the Bridge peeking out from behind.

So now it's once again Footballday and we are about to head down to the Still to watch the Chargers. Go Bolts!

Stitchin' and Pitchin'

noreply@blogger.com (Kendra) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:38:00 +0000

What a fun week and it's only Thursday! Work is still lame, but the evenings have been eventful! That's my favorite thing so far about this city: it is so easy to go out at night because no one has to drive, you don't have to worry about parking, and there is always something to do. Monday night was spent at The Still again, our beloved Charger bar. It was made even better because the Chargers were playing the New York Jets and DOMINATED! And our fantasy team won too, so it was an all-around awesome football night. We also met another guy visiting from San Diego who lives in Pacific Beach - turns out those PB boys like to come to NYC. We took another group picture too, so hopefully I can get a copy. I can't get over how many Charger fans show up to this bar!

Tuesday was a little quieter, spent catching up on some TV shows, but Wednesday night we met one of our new friends, Dan, for dinner on the Lower East Side. Whoa! Venturing out of our comfort zone! It's like a whole other world down there - the streets are less straight and not all numbered, so it is a bit confusing. It's also NYU land, meaning college students everywhere. It's very trendy and loud, but fun. Got a recommendation from a co-worker for an italian restaurant that was very good, but very small. There are just a bunch of tables pushed together, so you are basically eating with everyone else in the restaurant too. Then we went for frozen yogurt at "16 Handles". Hah! It's a self-serve place with 16 flavors, so tasty! Nice to make a new friend and explore a new area. He is just here for the month for work training, but then will be here one week per month. We're working on getting him to move here full time, but we'll see. (=

Tonight was Stitch n Pitch at the Mets game - that's us at Shea Stadium. It's this organization that hosts one night at each baseball stadium around the country where you buy tickets in a certain section and everyone is knitting and crocheting! So exciting, let me tell you. We went in San Diego with our group (The Clairemont Hookers - miss you!) and had so much we had to go to the one here. The cool thing about tonight (for me at least) was they had "knitting celebrities" at tables by the section! I met some of my favorite designers, including Debbie Stoller who wrote the Stitch n Bitch series and Kay Gardiner, author of the Mason-Dixon Knitting series. We went to our seats and chatted with some of the other knitters.

The problem? New York is already SO COLD!! We were absolutely freezing. I was working on gloves, and just wanted to knit them as fast as possible so I could put them on my freezing fingers! No such luck. So we froze for a while, got hot dogs and nachos, then left because it started to rain! I was so focused on my knitting I think I saw one pitch, a play or two and no hits. Whoops. On the subway home we ended up in a car with 4 other knitters who bailed early, including the one author so we talked with her some more and inspired 2 other girls on the train to learn. Oh the excitement, I know is what you are thinking. But I love it!

We have so many thoughts for outings this weekend, so who knows where we'll end up! Colleen wants us to go see an Irish movie, but we'll see if that happens....

Weekend with friends, and Central Park wonders

noreply@blogger.com (Kendra) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:58:00 +0000

Sorry we haven't been updating as much, but really it is a good thing because it means we are settling in. Living here is starting to feel more normal, and as such we have a little less to say right now. But our apartment is all settled (aside from the 2 boxes the post office can't find) and we're trying hard to figure out our jobs. They are fine, and finally working again is nice, but both of our jobs are a bit disorganized and we are having a hard time figuring out exactly what we should be doing everyday. I'm still not convinced that research is going to be my thing, but I'm going to give it my best and will hopefully start doing real lab work soon.

This weekend was great though. It seems that all of our friends from UCSD have either stayed in SD, moved to the Bay Area or moved to New England - it's great! That means Colleen and I finally had friends to hang out with - imagine that, real friends! Not that we don't love spending time with one another, but it's nice to add some others into the mix now and then. Friday consisted of pizza, beer and a med school party. Then Saturday we went to check out MOMA finally (Museum of Modern Art, for you non-NYC-ers) and it was really fun. I love museums, even when I don't truly understand the intention. My favorite was this mounted display of post cards someone had sent that simply said, "I got up at 9:17am today" and "I got up at 10:08am today" and so on. I've already promised Colleen that if we ever don't live near each other, I'm totally doing that to her.

I'm sure there is a deeper meaning to the whole thing, but I found it very entertaining. Unfortunately we didn't get to see a whole lot of the exhibits, but that's the beauty of living here - I can go back!

Here's the painting for Colleen and her love of cats:

Apparently it's a line from an old mob movie indicating that some dirty job had been completed - I want to figure out an adaptation for my own life. (=

Saturday night we finally ventured down to Brooklyn where our friend Adam lives to check out the bar scene down there. We ended up at a Cal Berkeley bar of all places, and felt very at home. They even have a variety of board and card games that you can check out from the bar. Another bar has bocce ball courts in the back, but it was too crowded to play. I have to admit, Brooklyn is much cooler than I would have thought. It's funny, because it isn't so far out of Manhattan (although WAY far from the Upper East Side!) and yet it feels like a whole other world. There are actual houses, and people drive places. Imagine that! The funniest part is how quiet it is - in Manhattan, you don't even realize how loud the general background noise is until it's gone! All in all a good outing, so I think we'll be venturing down there again for sure.

Today was spent being very lazy, but finally at 5pm Colleen rallied me for a walk in Central Park. I just can't get over how great the park is - every time you stumble on interesting things, interesting people. There are these 2 guys who set up a show of sort by the fountain where they jump over people. They talk in unison and are very entertaining - good showmen. The best, however, was the random roller rink we found. Just along one of the wide paths was a large group of people skating (on old-school roller skates mostly) around a make-shift oval. They were playing music and most of the skaters were dancing as much as skating. We watched them mesmerized for a long time, marveling at how they are better dancers on skates than we are at all. Just not fair! It got us talking about how lucky we are to live here, how grateful we are that we actually made this move, and how great this city really is.

Hope you all come to visit us soon!

San Dieeeego SUPER CHARGERS!

noreply@blogger.com (Kendra) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 18:39:00 +0000

So we may have moved from the world's finest city, but our hearts still belong to the San Diego Chargers. Sadly, we do not get ESPN at our apartment, and given the likelihood of an east coast team playing at the same time as our beloved Chargers, we are generally out of luck for watching them from the comfort of our apartment. Plus our TV just can't compare to the giant HDTV we watched all last season (thanks Brant!).

But no fear, we have found the ultimate thing in NYC - a Charger bar!!! I know, unbelievable. We didn't think it could exist, but near Union Square is a bar called The Still. When you walk in, you'd think you were back in SD - it's packed with San Diegans in Charger jerseys, singing the Charger song and talking about Hodad's hamburgers and Phil's BBQ. Too good to be true! Sure, there are other people there too, but the bar plays the Charger game on a huge projection and actually plays the sound for the game (which helps a rookie like me figure out what's going on). We made some new friends (including a couple we met on the subway there) and even ran into some fellow UCSD alumni. Given that it is again Footballday (what some people call "Sunday"), we are about to put on our jerseys and head back down. Check out the fun we had last week and why we can't wait to go again today!

The bar - woo Chargers!

The whole boisterous group - I still can't believe how many there were...

Soooo cute - which means a lot coming from me! This mom and her 8 month old daughter in matching jerseys! And every time we all cheered, she started to cry. Whoops. And poor Conor was here to visit, only had 2 days in the city, and we made him watch the Charger game. Sorry!

It was someone's birthday...that's how dedicated this group is!

The game got intense...and sadly, the Chargers blew it in the last 2 seconds! But no fear, there is always next week. (=

Alright, let's go Chargers - win this one! Off we go....

We've parted ways...

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:25:00 +0000

...well, kind of.

Kendra started work on Tuesday, and I'll be starting next week. In a sense, we're moving on from each other, considering that since July 18th, we haven't been apart longer than a few hours, but we're just becoming responsible members of society again. You would think that two people spending that much time right next to each other would get a little tense, but that hasn't happened. She's a good person to move to NYC with :)

As far as my extra week off, I spent all day Tuesday in the park, trying to get a doctor's appointment on Wednesday, figuring out logistics for living here on Thursday, and finally going to a meeting and trading in my license on Friday. The DMV here wasn't so bad, but I was a little upset to have to hand over my California driver's license. Even when I asked if there was any way to get it back (you know, for sentimental reasons) all I got was a cold, "No" and was sent on my way. Now in 2 to 3 weeks I will be official with a New York State ID card. Wow. For a girl who never thought she'd leave California, that's kind of huge.

Kendra's been doing great at her job already, even if it is a bit intimidating. She was told earlier this week at a bar that she's "probably the most accomplished person in here" when she said that she works with pediatric brain cancer. I'm so proud of my best friend!

Once I start working, we'll give another update. We're really getting settled now and absolutely loving it. We were talking about how it will probably really feel like home once we have a routine, which is also in sight.

Now that you've heard from us, make sure to leave us messages of encouragement as we start being real grown-ups.

Welcome back!

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:46:00 +0000

I know, I know, we've been gone a while. Things have been a bit crazy, and also a little uneventful, if you can believe it! We're getting more settled into our apartment, have gotten more of our stuff in the mail, and are starting to relax a bit. Since our little "mishap" with the apartment, we've fixed the windows, been fingerprinted...

and have moved on. We're safe! :) We promise! We're even getting the other gate installed on our window on Saturday.

Before the excitement of that Thursday afternoon, we headed down to the Lower East Side to visit The Doughnut Plant. Bobby Flay has a show on Food Network where he finds the best of the best and challenges them to a "Throwdown." This guy supposedly had the best doughnuts, so we had to go!

We had peach with a fresh peach glaze, tres leches (the winning doughnut from the show), peanut butter and jelly, blackout, coconut, and Valrhona chocolate. They were GOOD and we're going back soon.

What we had planned the day our apartment security was breached was a trip to Central Park. Needless to say, that got postponed, but only until the next day. We wandered around for a while, thought we had gone pretty far into the park, only to realize that we had only covered about 1/3 of it, if that. It's really an amazing place with a lot of interesting people, and all kinds of things to discover.

This is the Bethesda Fountain, and just south of it is The Mall, which you can see on the DVD cover of When Harry Met Sally.

This is the Loeb Boathouse where people with lots of money can eat and get married. It's also on The Lake where you can rent canoes and paddle around, but not on a Sunday because you will stand in line FOREVER.

Here is Kendra standing on a bridge, over The Lake, with the Upper West Side in the background. We live on the Upper East Side. We don't go west. At least not yet...that's unfamiliar territory.

Here we have Belvedere Lake as seen from Belvedere Castle. Just beyond that is the Great Lawn. That's about as far north as we've gone. For a little perspective, Central Park starts at 59th Street and ends up at 110th street. The Great Lawn is just above 80th Street, and we haven't even gone all the way to the West side yet. 843 ares is a lot of land in the middle of this huge city. It's great.

The other day, we decided to go meet some Friends. Kind of.

It's the Friends apartment building! I was very excited to find this since I'm kind of in love with that show. It's in a quiet, cute little area of the West Village. There's a cafe on the ground floor, but it's not Central Perk. We're planning on seeing other famous spots from our favorite shows (or even running into a taping of some) but are still trying to find the others.

Our most recent outing from today was a bit more intense; We went down to the World Trade Center site. There's still not much going on there but construction, you can't really see anything unless they've opened the fence to let a truck in or out, but it's still worth seeing. There is a visitor center set up, and you can take guided walking tours, but we decided we wouldn't be able to handle that. Instead we walked around the outside of the construction fence and peeked in when we had a chance.

The buildings in the background are on the opposite end of the site. They have posters on them (you can almost make them out) that show what the new WTC site is going to look like when it's finished in 2012. It will be interesting to see once it's all done.

Instead of going into the visitor center we found a memorial just around the corner. It was beautifully done and pretty big. There are a lot of pictures, so hopefully you can get the idea.

That's what we've been up to for the past few weeks! Hopefully you'll see that we're doing great, having fun, and that will now live in a stronghold; no one is getting in here again!

Challenged, but not broken

noreply@blogger.com (Kendra) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:30:00 +0000

Some of you have heard by now, and others have not, but on Thursday of last week, Colleen and I had our apartment broken into and some of our things stolen: both of our computers, my iPod and speakers, and some other assorted things. It was sometime in the afternoon, during the 4 hours we were gone from the apartment. We are safe, glad it happened when we weren't there, and have fixed the problem.

We had no idea that our windows opened from the top as well as the bottom, meaning that the windows with the a/c units could still open from the top down. Whoever broke in did so by sliding the top of the window down and "spider-manning" it in as the poilce officer said. Had we known they opened both ways, we would have blocked it. But now we know, and the windows are secured to prevent further issues. The police were called, an evidence collection team came and found a print on my drawer, so I was fully finger printed for comparison. Sort of exciting, I guess. We are just grateful to now be safe, and discovered our weakness before the rest of our stuff had even arrived. We are pretty sure whoever broke in was disappointed by our mostly-empty apartment. Plus both of our computers are old and have very short battery life, so maybe they should have gone for someone else's stuff. Only problem is that now we no longer have computers. I may go get one today, but in the meanwhile, no pictures will be posted (as we don't have any anymore) and blog entries may be delayed. Also, Colleen is now challenged with applying for jobs with no computer, so wish her luck and hook her up with any connections you may have in this fabulous city. Yes, we still think it is fabulous.

The good news is that it got us to secure those windows, as well as get another deadbolt installed on our front door, something we have been meaning to do. Not that that is how they got in, but it is a very important safety measure we needed to address. We now lovingly refer to our apartment as the "crime scene". So please, don't be scared for us, we are fine, and hope you come brave a visit - we're thinking of making "I survived the crime scene" T-shirts, so be sure to give us your shirt size before arrival. (=

These are a few of our favorite things...

noreply@blogger.com (Kendra) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 13:29:00 +0000

Kendra here. (= Happy Saturday!

Sorry we've been dark for a little while - things have been a bit hectic to say the least...We're slowly but surely getting settled. It's funny how things you take for granted as being so easy to do (ie, run to Target to pick something up) become a whole day trip and multiple subway connections later. Yep, that's right - we braved our first trip to the Target in Brooklyn. The nice part is that the mall it is in is attached to the subway station. The problem is that that subway station is HUGE! We were wandering up and down stairs around that place forever just trying to find the surface. But many hours later we had successfully done Target, and managed to only purchase what we could carry. I think that's the hardest part: you no longer have a whole car to load with your findings - you have your 2 hands or you get a cart. Since we have not yet purchased a hand cart, we're stuck with what we can carry. And somehow we always end up on the subway back right at rush hour, which means everyone around us hates our giant bags as much as we do. Whoops.

Pictures aren't available right now, but we thought we'd compile a little list of our "favorite" things in NYC so far:
- Looking for rats in the subway - they run around on the tracks periodically and it helps distract you from how darn hot it is down there before your nice, air-conditioned train shows up. The bad: Waiting for the R train and seeing well over a dozen rats coming out of a hole in the wall ON THE PLATFORM. Especially when the biggest rat we've ever seen was running straight for us. We immediately scurried to the other end of the platform. Yuck!

- Walking down the street, enjoying the cool afternoon air, and walking by the guy peeing between cars in daylight. But the best was the evening there was a mom telling her little boy it was ok, just go on that car there, no one will see you. Way to go mom, teach them at a young age.

- So you hear it all the time: people in New York are soooo rude. Well, so far, people have been fine. Tourists make walking down the street a little more difficult, but for the most part, everyday people are nice. We found where the rude ones are hiding - in retail stores. Of all the shopping we have done, there have been 3 sales employees who have been friendly (2 of which were at Home Depot, where I think it is a pre-req to being hired). And one of them just moved here from San Diego as well, so I don't think he counts. Maybe someday we'll get over the lack of customer service skills in this city, but really it is just sad.

- The birds, pigeons in particular. They all fly quite close to you, making us both duck our heads when one is coming. For the most part, this is not actually necessary because these birds know where they are going, and want to avoid you as much as you hope they do. However, we encountered a pigeon who had a malfunctioning GPS system: after narrowly missing a collision with our heads, it flew directly into the wheel well of a taxi with a very loud thunk. Whoops. I think it survived, and hopefully walked everywhere for the rest of the day.

I think these are the oddities that make city life so fun. We're certainly taking them in and getting a good laugh.

Sorry if we aren't very good at returning calls so far, but we appreciate the phone calls, messages, emails and comments left. Everyone is so incredibly supportive and excited for us. It's nice when we have our more challenging days to know how much love and support we have. We feel bad, because people call us, all excited, "What are you doing???!!!?" This happened yesterday when I talked to my sister, Nicole. I asked if she would be disappointed to hear we were sitting on the couch watching Jeopardy. Her response was priceless: "That's not disappointing! You are watching Jeopardy on the couch in YOUR apartment in NEW YORK!" Hah. I guess living here means not always being so exciting, but the physical location of NYC adds a level of interest. We're happy to keep sharing the mundane, if you keep finding it interesting. We'll get better at updating more frequently again, we promise. And pictures to follow in a bit - we spent the afternoon at Central Park yesterday, and it is stunning. I can't get over the sheer size of it! Hope all is fabulous with you. (=

NYC Factoid of the day: Most vertical windows in this city open from the bottom...and the top! Did you know that? We certainly didn't...live and learn, right?

Starting to Feel Like Home

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:50:00 +0000

We have our apartment! And after many hours on Craigslist, and two (incomplete) trips to Ikea, it's beginning to feel like we actually have a home! All we need now is our stuff...and for it all to fit.

Want to know what a New York apartment looks like?

Here is our bedroom and closet (which is actually pretty big...and we'll need it!)

Our lovely windows in the bedroom

Kendra standing in the kitchen, with half the living room in the foreground (we didn't get too many pictures of the empty place)

One of Kendra's favorite things to do here is to make friends with Craigslist sellers, since we still don't really know anyone else yet (looking for apartments and jobs doesn't leave much room in the social calendar). We sold all our furniture in San Diego, so we're starting over with everything. We search for sale items on the Upper East Side that we want/need, and then we stop by, pick up our new furnishings, and roll them down the street on the fold-up dolly. It's really fun!

That's me with our TWO air conditioners for $75

Kendra and our $20 microwave

And an Ikea chair with matching ottoman, the only thing we had to sit on at the time.

We moved all this in one day and we included in Ikea trip. The closest Ikea is in Brooklyn and they have their own ferry (a NYC water taxi really, but it's a ferry) that takes you straight to Ikea's own dock.

It was like going to an amusement park: long lines, so crowded, and they have their own transportation! We spent a while in Ikea (about 3.5 hours) and made sure we picked out everything we wanted to get later. That was Sunday. On Tuesday Kendra's cousin, Tyler, helped us out with a ZipCar (they describe it as car borrowing) and we made one more trip to get our beds, a table, bookcase, rugs, and a few other thing we couldn't take home on the subway. We are starting to understand how people move in New York: Once...that's it.

Here's the Zip Car all packed...

...and me in the back seat!

So after many days of shopping, carrying big bags onto the subway at rush hour, and one dropped television, our apartment is furnished! Well, almost...we still need our boxes from San Diego...but it looks like someone actually lives at our new home. Very exciting!

Here's our bedroom with our cute rug that we're going to try and keep clean

Our Ikea chair and sofa bed so when we have visitors they'll have a place to sleep (and the mattress still has the plastic on it, so it was a safe Craigslist buy)

We got this 32" TV from Craigslist for $65 and as we were bringing it into the building, we dropped/set it down on the curb because it's so heavy

We're thinking it's a little too big, but it will do for now...and it's smaller than the 42" TV that Kendra originally wanted

And our miniature kitchen! The microwave had to go on top of the cabinets, and we also got a kitchen cart for some added counter space, since it's almost non-existant.

That's where we are now. Waiting for our things to arrive and thinking of ways to make it all fit. We're doing well for only being here two weeks. It's been a great move so far.

Putting Down Roots

noreply@blogger.com (Kendra) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 01:30:00 +0000

Well it may have felt like hell on earth, but the search is over - we got an apartment! It's a 1 bedroom on the Upper East Side, but we're thinking the bedroom will be large enough for 2 twin beds, and with a large living room. It's on the first floor, but at the back of the building so it looks out over a garden area about a story up (so it feels more like the second floor). And it is on the best street! So classic New York - tree-lined, and surrounded by brownstones. Ours isn't as cute from outside, but at least the street itself is cute. Very close to the subway, which will be nice when the cold and rain really hit. No laundry in the building, but there is a laundry service right outside the door: it's perfect! You drop off your dirty laundry and pick it back up all clean and folded. Not a bad deal.

We signed the lease yesterday (after an interview with the management company!) and get to pick up the keys in the morning! So exciting, and such a relief to have that challenge behind us. We had some very low points where we wanted to give up, having felt like we had seen every 1 bedroom on the Upper East Side, but we persevered and made it! Now it's onto furniture accumulation, but that will seem like a breeze after the torture of apartment hunting.

And the other great news is that I got a job! I got my official offer from Cornell Medical School to work in a cancer research lab with pediatric oncologists. I have a meeting with HR on Monday, but I should be all set! Such a relief, and I think I will learn a lot. My specific role in the lab is working with various brain cancers, and the research sounds very new and very interesting. My dad compares it to going to grad school, with how much I will learn from this. And whether I end up pursuing medicine or research or not, this will be an incredible experience. So wish me luck and I'll keep you posted on how it goes!

Pictures of the apartment to come - stay posted!

Although we love our new city...

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:08:00 +0000

...we have found Hell on Earth. If you've ever wondered, "hmm...I wonder what Hell on Earth is like" we have the answer: Looking for an apartment in Manhattan, in August, with no job, and an out-of-state guarantor.

You call people about apartment postings, and when they hear that you've just moved here and are "in between jobs" they act like you're nuts! Then they ask if you plan on getting a job, you joke with them and say "Well, no I was just going to see what happens" and they don't seem to think that's too funny.

And the apartments go so fast! The minute you say you'll take it, someone else was a minute before you and it's already long gone.

I think the most frustrating part is that with jobs, Kendra and I would be making enough to get an apartment without a guarantor (also known as a co-signer because, that's right, we don't have jobs) but even having a guarantor from California doesn't do too much good. Apparently they use the mob out here to get their money and they don't like fly across the country if need be. We had one woman tell us that a guarantor from out-of-state "doesn't help us at all" and we finally had to give an in-state name and address for papers to be served should we not pay our rent.

One apartment we liked wanted SIX references each, on letterhead, and signed, just to get started in the approval process.

If finding an apartment is Hell, then Brokers are the devil. Basically, a broker has magic keys that, once you decide on an apartment, BAM! they get $3000! If you use a broker, which is hard to get around since everyone and their mom has a license, they get 15% of your first year's rent. It's unbelievable and should be illegal.

And it's SO HOT! 85 degrees yesterday but the humidity makes it feel like 90 and you're walking up 6 flights of stairs that you SWEAR you've already seen because it's the 30th apartment you've been to in the same area. Don't you wish you had moved with us?!

We're not complaining though because we know this is going to be the hardest part, it's just too unbelievable not to share. As we were heading to one appointment yesterday, we stopped and noticed the Empire State building and that calmed us down a bit. Some things have been really difficult so far, but then we look up and see these amazing things and we realize why we moved. We wanted to really experience this city and we are doing that, and have been since we arrived last Thursday.

Don't worry! We're doing fine, and things are only going to get better! Our new motto for right now is, "You're only allowed to Panic! at the Disco"

Some of our NYC firsts....

noreply@blogger.com (Kendra) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:24:00 +0000

Well we're trying hard to establish ourselves in this crazy city, and it is proving to be more challenging than we would have liked. Jobs are starting to come through, but slowly. I had an interview at Cornell Med for a cancer research lab, and fingers-crossed they'll call with an offer today. And yesterday I actually got to interview at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia...whoa. I was way overwhelmed by the opportunity, actually getting to go into one of the offices here in New York, but I do not yet have the experience or skills for a position there. I am on their call list for temp work, so that's a start. It was quite an honor to go there though, and I'm glad to have had the chance. Colleen has an interview tomorrow, so wish her luck!

We've been searching for apartments and finding it very disheartening. We found the perfect place, only to lose it. We had the applications in and were told we were the only ones going for it and they took it off the market, then somehow they gave it to someone else. Go figure. Now nothing is quite as good as that one, so we're taking the day off. Too many negative thoughts about apartments clouding our ability to find a good one. And have you heard of broker fees? They should be illegal! Long story short, a broker helps you find an apartment, then you owe them a fee of 15% of a year of rent....so like $3000 off the bat! It's awful, so we're trying to avoid them.

But in the meanwhile, here are some of our NYC firsts!

Our first picture in New York, at JFK. Yay, we made it!

First glimpse of the Chrysler Building, and the Empire State is peeking out too.

The first place we ate - good deli sandwiches.

First grocery shopping trip! D'Agostinos...milk is way expensive!

First Metro card - we're already feeling pretty good about the subway.

First (and only so far!) cockroach, yuck! This one was in the display window of a drug store.

First view of Central Park - and from the Plaza Hotel no less - talk about beautiful!

First trip to Times Square - Colleen compares it to Vegas: just a bunch of ad space. So many tourists, we didn't stay long and won't be going back any time soon.

First outing to Trader Joe's. I'm so happy they have one here!

But oh man, it's soooo crowded! Apparently everyone else is pretty excited it's here too.

And to top it all off, our first subway rat! Tyler informed us that they run all over the subway tracks and from the street garbage bags on the sidewalk. So far this is the first and only one, but we definitely walk quickly by the garbage...

I know it's hard to see, but I promise, it's there.

Back in Time - Some Pictures of Leaving

noreply@blogger.com (Kendra) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:27:00 +0000

So now that we've arrived safely and we're getting our bearings, it's time for a bit of reflection - a look at our exit from San Diego. We had so much love and support from friends and family, it made leaving very sad but it's great to know how excited you all are for us.

After cleaning my stuff out of my apartment, it took over Colleen's. Thanks Z for letting us invade for a couple of weeks! Amazingly, everything fit in boxes or suitcases, but you would never know it at this point.

See! These are the boxes we are shipping, about 25 in all. Not so bad for 2 girls moving cross-country, right?

We went out to celebrate Michelle's graduation and birthday, for a final night at the Shack in La Jolla. Miss you already!
(Me with Mark, Brenna and Scott)

Brant and I spent the weekend soaking up downtown San Diego one last time, including a trip to the "famous" Pink Berry. Honestly, I could take it or leave it, but gotta try it once right?

My dad and Bonni took us to the Brigantine in Del Mar for a goodbye lunch the day we left. I never knew it even existed! Such a cool view of the Del Mar Race Track - we even ran into jockey Mike Smith at the bar!

Us and our luggage - there was way too much, but the guy at the counter didn't even weigh them! So even though we are pretty sure they were all around 50lbs, we got away without extra charges. Good news!

At the airport, our flight was a bit delayed, but it gave us more time to say goodbye.

Us with my mom and Bonni - nothing better than 2 moms to help us with last minute packing and keeping things under control. Thanks! (sorry for the blur, my camera was dying)

At the check-in counter, we're really leaving!

Parents waving us goodbye through security...sad to say goodbye, but very nice of them to send us off.

Now we're here! Stay posted for our next post, with many of our New York firsts! Now it's time to find a home and jobs...wish us luck!