Let's just dive on in, shall we?
This is us on the morning we closed on our house! We were finally able to set all the stresses aside to enjoy and get excited on our new adventure. The next pic is a picture of me and my friend, Pam, who was also our realtor.
This is me and Caleb at his school when he won the VIP Award at his school for the last 9 weeks! The school held an assembly and he was given a certificate and a yard sign. What an amazing kid he is! This is also a picture of us on Easter Sunday headed to Church. He looks like such a businessman in his tie...and the funny thing is, he was carrying a briefcase that had his 'laptop' inside. Too cute!
The pic below is a pic of Caleb holding Sasha. Sasha is HUGE! But, she's such a sweet and good dog! This was the 2nd day in our house...we ordered pizza, had some friends, Caleb and my Aunt over. We had a blast and Caleb and my Aunt Coney were soo helpful!
Here's pics of Caleb at his school carnival last week. He stayed with us because my brother in law went out of town and Caleb desparately wanted to go to his carnival. It was a lot of fun...and so.very.hot. My gosh, I forgot how HOT it is here! How cool is the karate picture?! Caleb is actually in karate and is an orange belt. He even said: HAAA-YA! lol.
Okay so here's some awesome pics...our apartment in NYC! I took these pics after the movers had taken everything out. The apartment looked HUGE without anything in it. We happily left a closet system that we weren't going to need anymore and also a sleeper sofa that we had in the office. We slept on the sleeper on our very last night. I can't even begin to tell y'all how sad that night was for me. I was excited to come back to Texas, but was also very sad to leave New York. Even now, I get very sad seeing NYC on tv, in pictures...and looking at our pictures from there. I miss something different every single day. Yesterday it was sample sales. Today it was getting a mani/pedi/chair massage from my fave place on w.72nd st. I could go on and on. I definitely wasn't ready to leave...but, am thankful that I at least had the opportunity to experience it and meet the friends that I did. Our apartment was 2 bedrooms, 1 bath and about 600 square feet - that's being generous by the way. Our rent was roughly a whopping $2k/month. Hard to believe, right?!
This is the entry/way. The front door (you can't see it) is on the right of those hooks. We kept coats on those hooks...and they piled up! The next picture is the living room area. See that pipe? That's where the heat travels to the radiators! When I first moved to New York, I had never seen that before and I had no clue what it was. It makes all sorts of strange sounds in the Winter too. We had our couch on the side where the pipe is and our TV on top of a little entertainment unit on the wall across of it. You literally had a walkway to separate you from the couch to the tv. See those bookshelves? They fell down - twice! Luckily, nobody was hurt. Also, notice there aren't any windows! We lived in what's called a "railroad" apartment. The rooms on each side are like squares and the middle is very narrow.
Another shot of the living room - you can see the office/guest room. And yes folks, that's our kitchen! Look how tiny the stove is...and our fridge? It wasn't a full size fridge! We had decent cabinet space, but that's only because we really didn't have many pots and pans to cook with. Now y'all know why our registry list for pots/pans and dishes weren't long! Lol. You can also see our bedroom from this picture. Oh and see the framework for the door on the right in the picture of the kitchen? That's the bathroom door!
Here's our bathroom! Notice that when you open the door it's an automatic, hello mr. toilet! That's our shower to the left. If you've ever been on a cruise, it's very similar. You basically just have enough space to turn around. And last but not least, our sink and mirror.
Our bedroom! This is the view right at the door. Now remember, the bathroom door was about a foot away from me to my right - at most! That's one of two windows in the room (the other window is on the same wall, just a little bit further down). See that box on the window? That's a window unit! Not many places have central A/C, so we lived through Summers with a window unit. It's funny because having one made me appreciate central a/c...and not everyone in NY has window units...some don't have anything and survive just fine.
The picture also shows our closet systems - this was one of the best Ikea purchases ever! We never would have made it with just two itty bitty closets. These were a HUGE help. The empty space in the middle was where our dresser went. We took that with us because, well, for one, it's a Pottery Barn dresser and two, it was one of the things we bought from the many PB gift cards we got for our wedding.
I'm standing in the space where our bed was and yes, you are staring at my closet. I know you're wondering how I fit everything in there, but when you're cramped for space, you really have to make do. We kept bins under our bed full of Winter clothes when it was Summer and vice versa. My closet was packed from top to bottom...That rod collapsed once and I broke the door twice! I am showing the pic of my closet empty and the other pic shows it full so you can see just how small it was. We were waiting for the movers to come, so I hadn't touched a single thing in my closet. Also, this room had its own entryway from the hallway of the apartment building. You could actually rent out this room to someone and have them come in directly to their own room without going through the living room.
The pics below are pics of the office/guest room. It's about the same size and layout as our bedroom, but faces the back of the street. Our bedroom faced the front of the street. See the radiator? That's the lovely thing that gives you heat during the cold Winters! We also had a desk and another bookcase in this room. The desk was tucked in the corner below the 2nd window. We came home one day and that corner was drenched with water! It was raining and there was a leak in the window. Luckily, our laptops didn't get wet. The next pic shows Jim's closet. His was just as full as mine!
Last but not least, here's a pic of us standing in our kitchen before we went to eat on our last night as New York City residents. Can you tell I've been crying? Can you tell Jim is stressed out?
We truly were so sad to leave, but excited to start a new chapter. I can't say enough what that city did for me and what it did for me and Jim...and what it did to us. With no family and no friends (in the beginning), we truly had each other. We were a team - we cried together, laughed together and learned together. Living in such tight quarters really tests you, your patience and your relationship. Yes, I've slammed those doors as hard as I could during one of our arguments. And yes we've both yelled at each other with all the anger our lungs could hold from one side of the apartment to the next. And yes, I actually threw a remote control from our bedroom to the other bedroom too. And privacy? What's that? Definitely not something you have in such a small apartment, that's for sure. Good and bad, this was home. We made it home and it felt like home. We loved coming home to it every day, we loved relaxing there during the weekends and truly embraced it. This experience is something we will never forget - and that's putting it lightly. I am certain we will be telling stories for a very long time.
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