Could've been 200 bucks richer

It's a good thing I'm an honest gal...

When at the laundromat there is an unspoken rule:

If the person using the machine before you does not come back for awhile to claim their goods you have the right to empty the machine out & put your stuff in.

Today this happened to me.

I waited for about 15-20 minutes after the dryer was done...waited...the woman did not come back.

So, I emptied her dryers & used them.

Upon emptying the dryer with many pairs of jeans,

I found $200 cash.

I'm assuming she didn't check the pockets before loading in the dirties?

I just stuffed the cash within the pile of clothes...what else to do?

But, she came back eventually (another 10 minutes later) & I told her what I found.

She was grateful.

Merry Christmas lady! & Happy Holidays!

back to bloggin'

So, it's been quite some time since my last post ... where shall I begin:

**Joel & I moved into an awesome wonderful huge & lots-of-light-you-don't-need-to-turn-on-the-lights-til-it's-530 & close to Manhattan & dear friends & tree lined streets & cute stores & wonderful brunch places & a FARMERS MARKET! (yay) apartment.

WE

LOVE

IT!

this is the new living room! LOADS of sunlight

(last place was a cave, always had to have lights on)

& the kitchen, where I am inspired to now cook

(DEF a new thing for me)

our awesome bedroom {where the King bed does not feel huge & Joel doesn't have to stub his toe getting out of bed everytime & where we also need curtains (since our current 'curtains' are sheets) & new bedding}

...YAY!

**A week after moving into our apartment, we went to my college reunion (so how did I get old enough & years passed so quickly that I now have had a college reunion?)

we had an AWESOME time.

--SAW SOME DEAR FRIENDS (my 'transfer' buddies)--

we all transfered the same year, thus all becoming friends & starting our own clique

tailgating before the football game:

Joel & Me; Joey (his family couldn't make it); Jill & Andy & their 3 kids

with my old roomies

Joel & Me (with Erin's son); Laura; Shannon; Erin & her daughter

so great to see all of them, haven't seen Erin since she was pregnant with her oldest, Laura in about 8 years, & Shannon since our wedding 2 years ago.

--TOURED THE CAMPUS--

the 'famous' Anchor of Hope

album cover with Shannon

the Anchor & beautiful chapel in the background

--SHOWED JOEL HOLLAND'S DUTCH VILLAGE THEME PARK

(where I worked as an 'actor' the summer after graduation)

& WOODEN SHOE FACTORY--

Joel tries on his first pair of wooden shows, there are SO many shoes to choose from

reliving my days & sporting the wooden shoes

Joel contemplates a pair

Dutch Village Theme Park entrance...

where we only got tourists on Sunday's

all other days maybe up to 10 folks stopped by

--WE ALSO WENT TO THE BEACH & HOLLAND'S FAMOUS ICE CREAM STOP--

Tunnel Park

Joel runs down a sand dune

YUM! Captain Sundae's & their famous Tommy the Turtle

**a week after visiting Holland...Benjamin (Joel's bro) & Laurie got married in NYC:

Beautiful Bride & Groom.

Joel & I were in the wedding.

all 12 of Joel's siblings were able to make it for the wedding.

All in age order: John, Matthew, Samuel, Paul, Rebecca, Esther, Luke, Stephen, Rachel, Joel, James, Philp, & Benjamin (the groom)

Mom & Pop in front

{& in case you were wondering: there is a 19 year difference btw #1 & #13 & there are no double births)

WHEW!!! & that was just the first 3 weekends since moving into our new digs!

we are happy to be in our new home & LOVE having people over & cooking in our new awesome kitchen (more pics on that later)

Hopefully from here on out I will blog more, I have lots of soapboxes as well to talk about from my 'health hiccups' as I call them.

& I'm aiming to get back to the funny NYC observations I used to do when initially starting this blog (here & here are some examples)

The trains...

With the new move & being on a new train line, I realized that I will now have lived on all but 2 of the colors represented on the MTA subway in the 10 years I've lived in NYC.
I've lived off of:
-blue
-red
-orange
-green
-light green (when the G decided to actually stop at Steinway)
-yellow
-purple

only ones missing are grey (the L line) & brown (JMZ).
& I'm not counting the Shuttle here, since it just has one stop back & forth.
whew!

The End of an Era & A New Apartment!!!!

There has been a Hope College Alum in this building for over 8 years...now the end of an era has come:

After seeing about 30ish apartments in 3 neighborhoods, 12 realtors, & having some crazy/nasty stories to share along the way (see old post & old post)... Joel & I have FINALLY found a new apartment! YAY YAY!

We've learned for this particular situation it really paid off to:
1) be extremely picky (we really strongly dislike our current place)
2) take our sweet time (we'd been hunting for about 2 months). We had actually been wanting to move for quite some time now, but with my health 'hiccups', well, that had to be postponed for over a year.
3) with taking our sweet time, the apartments we were shown got bigger & cheaper as time had passed into the fall season.

Thank you Lord for giving us the perfect place! :)

Some things I will miss about the old place:
-many memories with friends over the past 8 years.
-having a lovely friend live upstairs from us who brings us yummy homemade treats (we'll miss ya Julie!)
-inexpensive (by NYC terms) rent
-overlooking a cute garden in the backyard
-a cute front yard
-the big closet in our bedroom
-a nice landlord
-our 'faux' 2-bedroom
-not having to give directions to friends since they know exactly where we are
-being super close to Panera & the movie theatre

Some things I will not miss about the old place:
-the thin walls
-no insulation between floors
-the lady below who pounds quite rudely on her ceiling with a broom
-her son who will basically threaten us if we don't 'keep it down' (past 8pm)
-hearing the son snore below us
-hearing the folks below us talk, sneeze, caugh, drop a pan, etc...
-feeling as if we always have to vouch for whoever comes over or what we're doing to the folks downstairs
-the nasty shower that has no hope no matter how hard you scrub it
-the bathroom being so close to the kitchen
-living on the first floor so that we hear every peep as folks enter in the front door
-feeling like we live in a cave because of lack of windows
-not having any lights on (inside or out) when you enter the building at night, we've been told to turn these lights off many times...not good, even though it's NYC law (sec 27-2039) to have lighting.
-although there is a wonderful front yard, we can't use it because it's "not nice" to do so with the noise (even though the apts surrounding us all have balconies, basically serving the same function as the front yard)
-this apt has been like my 'recovery home' for over a year...some not so wonderful memories...

Some things to look forward to in the new place:
-still being super close to Manhattan
-a huge foyer when you walk into the apartment & beautiful lobby as you walk into the building
-lots of closets
-a wonderful eat-in-kitchen
-LOTS of windows (even one in the bathroom!)
-corner unit
-5th floor (elevator, not walk-up like some of the places we looked at)
-laundry in the building that is cheaper than the laundry mat we currently go to, 3 blocks away.
-1 block to the subway
-dear friends living super close
-renovated kitchen
-the cuteness of the hood & all of the lovely trees
-being able to sit outside & enjoy the weather & neighborhood
-nice neighbors
-the cute church across the street that has a pumpkin festival!

Oh, there is SO MUCH......
Joel & I are incredibly grateful & are looking forward to having a place that is ours.
He moved into my place when we got married so most of it was my stuff & already in place...now we can work it out together to make it our place.

YAY YAY YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The apartment search continues...

So, Joel & I saw some more apartments tonight.
Many of them were a lot more promising than others we've seen & we are loving the 'hood we've been checking out. The management companies seem to really try to update these places with new bathrooms, kitchens, appliances, paint jobs...very nice.

however, there were a couple bumps that I must share:
-we had a different realtor today than a couple nights ago (diff folks have diff listings so we have to 'cheat' on the realtors to see the most of what is out there). Tonight's woman tried to show us an apartment that the woman a couple nights ago tried to show us. Initially Joel & I smirked at each other knowing we had just been there before, but had hope for tonight since the other woman didn't have the right keys & we couldn't get in before. Well, after walking up four flights of stairs in 90 degree humidity...we couldn't get in and see the place again. Didn't have the right keys...guess this place is just not meant to be.

-in another apartment, Joel peeked into the new restored beautiful cabinets & there were dead crusty roaches inside. ew.

-and lastly, this is my favorite: Joel was quite intrigued by what was out of the window on the 'balcony' (aka: fire escape) of one of the places & I walked over there to see what he was peeking at...a dead mangled bat.
double ew.
i need to start bringing the camera.

the search continues!
off to see more this week, I know the right home is out there for us.
:)

Oh Ugly Bathrooms....

My husband & I are apartment hunting.
Here are some things we are finding in the places we are shown:
-a bathroom all in blue: blue toilet, blue tub, blue sink, blue shower curtain, blue floor, blue tiles.
-another bathroom with 3 layers of tile on the floor, guess they couldn't make up their mind?
-in addition to the 3 layers of tile on the floor, the wallpaper on the ceiling (yes, wallpaper on the ceiling!) was a blue tinfoil-type wallpaper similar to: so, but blue & uglier & with a hue of gold in it.
-another bathroom with lime green & black tile throughout the shower & a matching lime green toilet.
-the outside of the apartment 'building' covered with brown wooden shingles, everywhere. (& it definitely did not have the nice cabin/country feel to it...more like the creepy lady inside feel)
-another building that Joel so aptly named 'Transylvania'.

why do they punish us so?
I'm assuming these owners think that these are acceptable forms of 'interior design'?

I know God's got the right place out there somewhere...in the meantime I'll enjoy the gaudiness.
we're off again tonight to see more!
I wonder what we'll find!?
Queens, NY you have such a way with your decor!

A little vent...

I have come to realize that when living in a NYC apartment, you usually give up one thing to get another…compromise. You give up THE location to have more space or give up space to live in THE location.

I love my apartment. I love how easy it is to get places. (I am in Queens & it is closer for me to get to many places I go to than when I was on the Upper East Side in Manhattan!). I love that I have many friends that live right in the neighborhood & upstairs. I love that I have 2 grocery stores (& I mean REAL grocery stores) just minutes away. I love that I can see the sky clearly when I get outta the subway. I love that I live on a cute tree lined street. I love that I have the best Greek restaurant just 10 blocks from me. I love that I have a REAL kitchen, living room, bedroom, closet, & bathroom. I have given up “location, location, location” to live in a great apartment, in a great neighborhood, by myself (something that is quite rare in NYC unless you’re a rich rich man or wanna live in a box).

All of this said, I have to say…I would give it all up if I didn’t have to deal with the WACKO! that lives below me. I live on the first floor & the landlord’s sister lives down stairs, yes…in the basement. Our building is a ‘family business’. Although, I have been told by the landlord that his sister “is a leech” (you can probably all guess what that means…) & he does not really like to deal with her. But because he runs the building & it is owned by his father, I guess my landlord is willing to deal. Well, I am at the end of my rope with this lady. Let me tell ya a little bit about her…examples:

**When I was moving in she came into my apartment (uninvited) & said “I hope we’re not going to have any trouble” …uh, no! I’m not a drug dealer!
**she told my boyfriend (who she knows & has seen many times) that it was ‘not nice’ for him to sit outside on our little front lawn on a beautiful spring day we were having. (NOT NICE!? What!?)
**on New Years she told my friends upstairs that they were being too loud (just minutes after midnight! On NEW YEARS!)
**I was listening to my music in the middle of the day, at quite a reasonable level, & she came upstairs & asked me to turn it down. I was not having a dance party or anything, I was listening to music.
**when my mom & sister were visiting we were getting ready to leave my apartment & as we were walking around the apartment she banged on her ceiling, my floor…cus we were too loud. We were just walking.
**that same weekend my mom & sister were visiting we were coming home & she heard us coming home & came upstairs to see who was coming into ‘her’ building. (um, sometimes people have friends & family come over!).

The walls in my building from are quite thin & you can hear the people above or below you walking around, talking, watching tv, even flushing the toilet. I can often hear the people upstairs from me walking around or talking & I can hear the lady below me talking & watching her TV too...but this is what happens when you live your life, these are things people do. & you WILL hear these things in a thin wall building.

Last night was the worst...I just got back from a really great relaxing weekend in VT & came home to a hot apartment. So, I immediately turned on the fan in my room (a quiet rotating fan) to cool down. Since it was late, I was trying to be respectfully quiet as I dragged my bag into my room & unpacked...opening & closing dresser drawers, putting my bag away, etc. At about midnight I hear a knock at my door & hear the voice of the lady downstairs “Megan, it’s Vesna!” “CRAP!” I think..."what the heck does she want...I was totally quiet!!!"
I opened the door & she says “do you have a fan on or something?”
"Yes” I say.
“well, can you please turn it off or put a book under it or something? It sounds like a something is hammering & it is quite loud”
I give her a look of are you freaking serious? You’ve got to be kidding me!
& then politely complied “yes, sure, goodnight”

I close the door & I am furious!
A fan, A FAN!!!!! Is now too loud for her! What will it be next?!! Me breathing & taking a shower & cooking dinner & opening the fridge & LIVING MY LIFE!

Wow.

I love my apartment & have the best of both worlds with location & amount of space, but compromised thin walls for all of it & now...this ‘leech’ has GOT to stop.

I should tell her that she needs to stop snoring cus I can hear her in her bed below me when I’m trying to get to sleep.