About time for a post

Well, I'm writing this from my NEW, COMFY, green and purple bed in my NEW, COMFY, multi-color apartment in Astoria! Today was the big move-in and it was...hard, easy, fast, slow, horrible, great.

I'm suddenly getting really tired from typing and looking at the bright screen but I'll do my best to pull through and elaborate on my life in general right now.

So yes. today was my big move-in day! It started at 7:00 am when I woke up to drive to UHAUL in White Plains, NY with my mom. Apparently there were NO 4'x8' trailers available in Stamford, or Norwalk, or Darien or anywhere closer than White Plains. We got lost on the way (the mapquest directions told us to take a sharp left on a street where left turns weren't allowed...awkward), but once we got to UHAUL things went quickly and we got back to our house by 9. We were ahead of schedule (I hired moving helpers from 1-3, so we wanted to leave Stamford by 11:30 to get to Astoria by 12:15 and unload stuff before the moving helpers came) even and in good spirits.

BUT...
then my mom was having a hard time backing into the driveway with the UHAUL trailer on her car. I told her to pull forward into the driveway across the street and then back up straight into our driveway. But that didn't work...and my mom pulled all the way forward into the driveway across the street and got stuck (it's a long, curved kind of driveway). I couldn't direct her out...so these two ladies who lived in either side of the driveway were yelling to us from their windows...
It was horrible! My mom was getting all upset and these ladies were trying to give us directions but I was tired and cold and not paying attention. And apparently my mom doesn't know left from right. And apparently if you want the trailer to go to the right you need to back up to the left because it moves in the opposite direction of the car.

45 minutes later...
We finally made it out of the driveway and my mom hit our neighbor's car with the trailer.

We had breakfast and packed the trailer and the back of my mom's car relatively quickly. We actually left Stamford at 11:25-5 minutes ahead of schedule. We got to the apartment without any problems, were able to find a big parking spot and unload stuff from the trailer.

But then the moving helpers were late. And when they finally did show up (we were expecting them to c ome in a van or something but they just took the subway over) they looked homeless and really scrawny. One of the guys had holes in his clothes and was smoking a cigarette and HOLDING it in his hand when he introduced himself to me. I'm pretty sure the hand he held forward for me to shake had a cigarette in it-who does that?!

However, against all odds and appearances, the moving helpers were GREAT and fast. It only took them 30 minutes to carry all of my stuff up the three flights to the apartment. I directed them on where to put stuff and nothing was broken or anything.

HOORAY!

So, I did some unpacking and then my mom, David and I decided to walk over to this restaurant that my mom's friend had recomended to her. She said it was the BEST Greek food she'd ever had.

But, we walked in the wrong direction first and then we were way off from the restaurant.

An hour later, David was being cranky and my mom was showing off her nervous smile so we pulled into a Green pizza place and had some heroes/fries/baklava. I guess I had a bad sense of direction. When I'm driving around or walking on my own it doesn't matter if I'm going the wrong way because I can just turn around and not worry. It's just when I'm with other people that I notice how far off I am with directions...

We got back to the apartment around 5 and they left :(
I unpacked, made my bed (see above), put some posters up (including a map of the NY subway system above my dresser-I don't care how dorky it is!, and a cat calendar that my nana gave me. why a cat calendar? there are so many different kinds of calendars people can have), talked with my roommate Jamie for a little while (Larry's in Long Island til tomorrow), talked on the phone for a little, tried to watch TV and now I'm going to bed! I could really use a good night's sleep so here's hoping...

Besides the apartment, things have been going well. New Years Eve was fun if not a bit stressful. Katelyn, Jesy, Alex, Heather and Mike met me in Brooklyn and we went to a party in Brooklyn with my friend Erin from work. It was HARD finding parking for everyone and coordinating everyone's arrivals. But, we made it to the party and had fun. There was pot everywhere, the people there besides us were total hipsters, but there was good hummus, champagne at midnight, a nice view of Manhattan...so I can't complain. Plus it was just really nice having everyone together. We haven't all been together, for an extended period of time (K, A, H, and I) since August! That's too long to go without seeing some of your best friends...

Anyway, next year I am NOT organizing New Years Eve. Someone else can plan and worry...
My dress was cute though and there were some nice pictures taken and posted on facebook. I did get some nice phone calls after midnight so that made my night a little bit :)

Work is same as usual. Phones ring, sometimes people really annoy me, lunch is fun...
My mom baked some peanut-butter cookies for me and I put them at my desk on Thursday. There were 48 cookies-they were all gone by 1 pm when I got back from lunch! People from the 5th floor walked down just to pick up a few and I got calls and e-mails telling me HOW delicious the cookies were and asking for the recipe :) That made me feel nice.

I'm trying to plan fun things now that I'm gonna be in the city. This upcoming week I'm having dinner with Kate one night, going to play MAFIA at Erin's house Wednesday, having dinner w/ Kia on Thursday (location TBD), and then doing Shabbat services w/ Erin somewhere.

I saw the movie 'Juno' Tuesday with my mom. I just need to note that here because I AM in love with the movie soundtrack and the movie itself. IT was such a great, feel good, spunky movie. I loved the character of Juno. I want her to be my friend. I'm definitely buying it when it comes out on DVD (Kristyn-do you have a DVD player? If I buy the DVD I can bring it to Honduras and we can watch it together. I REALLY think you'd like it). I already bought the soundtrack :)

Who should I vote for for President? Clinton vs. Obama...