This weekend was a good and not so good weekend. Nothing great happened and nothing horrible happened except for the norm.
The Good:
- On Friday we had a surprise birthday party for our friend Amanda. She turned the ripe old age of 22 and was not too surprised by the surprise (I guess her husband needs to work on his surprising skills).
-We got a bunch of errands done of Saturday: grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, and picking up a crib for the babes.
-Pat didn't have early morning church meetings.
The Not-So-Good:
By the end of Saturday I determined that it was a "I hate NYC day." I have these days every so often, sprinkled among the "I love NYC days". It was just one of those days where you are faced with the everyday challenges that NYC poses. Some of these challenges include:
Grocery Shopping: This task has never been fun for me, but grocery shopping in the city, is just pure torcher. Finding the items you need (Fairway, although large for NYC, ain't no Walmart), navigating the crowds and isles, swallowing the ridiculous city prices, and getting your bags home without a car are just some of the reasons why we never have food in our apartment.
Shipments: I bet if you never lived in the city you never thought about how difficult it is when you receive a large shipment to your home. I recently ordered a few ottomans online and my dear friend, Maribeth, was so nice to let me ship them to her doorman apartment. Even though her apartment is only 5 blocks away it's not exactly fun to lug two 20lbs awkward sized ottomans that far in 90 degree humid weather.
Laundry: I loathe laundromats. Even though we live above a laundromat, meaning I just have to walk downstairs to do my laundry, it's still the bane of my existence. First, out of the 30+ washing machines in "our" laundromat, only 4 work, while the others either are taped up with duct tape or have a sign that says "Not working." This means if there are two people doing their laundry all the washing machines are taken! Second, when you have to pay for you laundry every time you do it, you want to make sure your getting the most bang for your buck. That means I don't do small loads here and there throughout the week, but rather, doing laundry is an EVENT where I end up lugging 2 1/2 Ikea bags full of clothes up and down two flights of stars while pregnant.
Furniture Shopping: I found a great crib on Craigslist that I was able to get my hands on. The crib was located in Dumbo, Brooklyn, only about 8 miles away. However, 8 miles in the city is actually pretty far so in order to pick the crib up we had to schedule a ZipCar (A program that we have a yearly membership to for the several times it is needed) for an hour and half, which we sill knew would be cutting it close. Luckily, everything went smoothly and by the time we dropped the car back off we had 10 minutes to spare.
Space: With the soon to be arrival of Baby Koelling I have started my baby supplies shopping, hoping to get everything squared away and set up before the fatigue of the 3rd trimester sets in. The thought of this has been stressing me out as there is absolutely no room for anything new in our 450 sq/ft one bedroom apartment. Yet, I decided to embrace the organizational challenge and tried to not let it cause me anxiety. However, once I got our new crib the suppressed anxiety resurfaced as I realized that our apartment is going to feel a lot more cramp for the next year.
Of course living in NYC has its perks, but those perks usually don't come with the everyday tasks that need to be done. By the end of the weekend, I told Pat that next year we are moving back West.
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ReplyDeletePlease don't let these days ruin your time there. I know what you mean though, days like these make being in New York hard. But take it from me, you will miss the City so much. You did a lot on a whole Suturday. You are so productive! Can't wait to see the little space you created for baby K. You better take pictures of his little corner and post it on your blog.
ReplyDeleteI got stressed out and exhausted reading that post and I'm not even pregnant! ;) Sorry for the rough patches...I LOVE the idea of you moving back out here!!! :) You are having an amazing experience though and you guys are making the most of it! Hang in there! Love ya Linz!
ReplyDeleteYeah living in the city seems so fantastic til you think about living there longer than a weekend visit. The grocery shopping and laundry would be the death of me. I barely go shopping here where it's convenient so I imagine we would starve if we lived there. You are a stud so I'm sure you'll have the cutest, organized, and slightly cramped apartment. :)
ReplyDeleteDon't leave us! It would be sad to see you go. But I totally know what you mean about "I hate New York" days. Mine usually happen on laundry days too... Just after I've hauled it up two flights of stairs and I'm all sweaty and then I remember I still have to go grocery shopping that day. Yuck!!!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see what you do with your apartment once baby comes. Your apt is one of my favorites in the city because you have done so much in such a small space, and it doesn't feel cramped at ALL, it just feels cosy and is super stylish and well-decorated. I am sure you'll come up with great ways to fit baby and all his stuff with style.
Also, I love when a zipcar run is perfectly timed... But it is soooooo stressful trying to make it back in time! I always think I'm giving us more than enough and then traffic or whatever happens and we end up turning it in with just minutes to spare.
And lastly, I LOVE that crib! I've seen other people with it and I just really love it. That's awesome you scored it on Craigslist. Yay for you!!
I don't know why it says "unknown." This is Angie!
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing Angie is that even though it said Unknown I TOTALLY knew it was you! hahahah I could just hear your voice through what it was saying! hahahah Made me laugh so hard that I was right!
DeleteI have a few things to say to you, missy. You are working too hard!! Get those groceries ordered! And have your laundry delivered! It's worth it, and it will make your life so much easier when baby boy is here.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Joanna! Stop working so hard! :) However, the thought of you moving out west makes me happy!
ReplyDeleteAlso, don't worry too much about all the baby stuff. I think you will be surprised by how much you can live without. I went from carrying a huge purse and diaper bag to just grabbing a diaper and stuffing it in my purse as I walk out the door. Keeping it simple makes things easier!
ReplyDeleteYou're life inspire me. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you :). It was so interesting to read about life in NYC. It always sounds like a fairytale when you see it in the movies. We live in Finland´s largest city Helsinki and this is almost countryside compared to New York ;) .
ReplyDeleteHEY HEY!!! I love your blog! I love this post!! I seriously love living in NYC but...all the things you mentioned almost pushes you over the edge! I would add humidity and subways to that list haha!!
ReplyDeleteHello hello! :) Just checking in.. I've miss so much when I only check in (or remember to) every few months! :) no baby yet huh? All those wonderful things about nyc made me smile. ;) Here are a few of things that I decided to embrace when it started to feel like NYC was kicking my butt!... freshdirect.com. I resisted for so long! It was overpriced and I had no problem lugging groceries (every other day) on my own! .. until Gavin was born, then I sucked it up and joined! Having groceries delivered to your door (even up all those stairs- at no extra charge) is well worth the money! I still picked up produce on the street though. I have to be able to touch it before I buy it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it was only something I did once in a while, and there is nothing like (or as expensive as) having your own washer/dryer, but I miss the drop-off laundry service. If you are lucky, you can drop it off and they will deliver it back to you! :) I usually only sent out whites/undies, since I hang-dry so many of my other clothes.
I can't give you any tips with regards to furniture deliveries- that was nice of Maribeth though. I have my own headache stories when it comes to furniture deliveries, but when it comes to buying on Craigslist, if it's not found in my immediate neighborhood it might as well be on the moon. We aren't going.
Oh, and our final favorite thing- that helped us stay in the city, living in tight quarters, as long as we did was the Container Store! (and maybe Manhattan Mini Storage) Their creative ideas of making the most of your space was priceless! People still comment on how efficiently we make use of our space in our flat here. I had 12 years of practice. ;) I'm really good at the game Tetrus too. It translates into real life for me- I am really good at not leaving a square inch of space unused... (hopefully) without being cluttered. They really help with ideas for storage and "going up." We customized our closet with Elfa and it made a world of difference... not just for clothes, but other things too. I wonder if they would have good ideas for storage with your newly acquired baby stuff. :) Although I was glad for limited space in that department, you really can get by with less than they say you need. Who ever "they" is. It's something you don't understand until you've gone through it.. or cannot fit it in, and discover you get by just fine without it.
And as far as moving... I think you should go to Boston next! I had to agree with everything you said in that post about your visit to Boston. It was fun to see Johnny and Joanna. I have always loved Boston too! If we didn't have to come back to NYC (or surrounding areas), my vote would definitely be for Boston as our next hometown.
How's that for a "comment"... ha! and I just read the other comments.. Joanna said the same thing.. and so much more concise. ha. sorry... i should have just sent you an email..