Hey everyone!
As I mentioned in my last post, we got a new apartment! Now, some people hate moving. For them, it brings back feelings of sadness and leaving behind friends and family, but for me that's not the case. I've moved several times in my life. We relocated several times while I was growing up and while I was usually a little bummed about not seeing my friends anymore, the excitement at the prospect of the new, the unknown, almost always outweighed it. And when I moved into the dorms in August 2013, I couldn't have been more ecstatic. I was finally in college! I had literally been waiting my entire life for this very moment! And I was so lucky. My roommate, Emily, who I had been randomly assigned, ended up being a wonderful human being who I still consider a friend even though we're in different states. When she left WT, I lived with my soulmate, Maddie Todd, for a brief but amazing semester. Then I was finally relinquished from the dorms and Leilani and I moved into Kaipo cottage.
Kaipo is Hawaiian word for sweetheart, and we couldn't have picked a more fitting name for the little house we shared during our last year of college. It was tiny haven of rest in what proved to be an incredibly chaotic but exceedingly fun part of my life.
Leaving it was hard. Because unlike all the moves before, I knew that I wouldn't be back. Leaving Canyon meant leaving some of my dearest friends- some of whom I would see again, yes, but more than likely not for a long time. I moved back to my parents' house for two weeks before hopping the plane for New York. And the entire time I was anxious for the day to finally come. I wanted so badly to finally be in the city that I had dreamed about for so many years. The day of, I was so excited I could barely stand still. I didn't have any pangs of sadness. I knew that I would see my family again. My parents had already booked flights to come visit in the fall, and we had made loose plans for me to visit Texas in the winter. I was fine, right up until the moment I had to hug everyone goodbye in the airport. My mom started crying, my sister teared up, I was still okay. And then I had to hug Brody goodbye. And it hit me that I was going to miss out on a major chunk of his life. I had been there for every one of his firsts, from crawling and talking to him learning to swim. I wouldn't be there anymore, I would have to hear everything second hand. This is the point when I was no longer okay.
So I was crying but I finally managed to leave my family and get in line for security. And I'll never forget, probably for the rest of my life, having to go through the TSA checkpoint, actively holding back sobs, and the agent, a lovely woman whose name I wish I knew, pulled me into a hug and told me everything was going to be okay. Then I was ushered away to hurry and board my flight (I was late, obviously) and the rest was history.
This move was quite different. There was little sadness. Some nostalgia, maybe, for the little Crown Heights apartment that had been my starting point. But as a whole, we were happy to give up the ten minute walk to the subway, the lack of stuff to do nearby, and the creepy guy who ran the bodega on the corner. We were less happy to give up our backyard, but the new apartment was bigger, with more storage and a shorter commute. The actual, physical move turned out to be fairly quick and efficient, and we are happily settling in to Bushwick.
For those of you may be looking to move across the city, here are my tips for making the move go as smoothly as possible.
1. When you decide you want to move, start saving every penny. Literally. Moving is so freaking expensive, you guys. There's your first month's rent, your security deposit, maybe a broker's fee, the application fee, the cost of the uhaul, the money you'll end up spending on takeout the days after you pack your pots and pans and have not. So. Much. Money.
2. Have your documents ready for your application. They're going to be asking for lots of paperwork. I'm talking W2s, tax returns, bank statements. If you are super poor, you may need a parent to sign on as a guarantor, and they will need to have all of that ready too. In addition, you can submit items like, letters of reference from your current landlord and letters of employment to sweeten your app. You want to make the best impression possible on your prospective new landlord. It's kind of like a first date, except if it goes badly you could end up homeless.
3. Congrats you found a place! Your app was approved, you paid the ridiculous amount of money required by the landlord, you cried a bit at your now empty bank account, but you're back to being happy and excited. Now what? Remember that Uhaul I mentioned? BOOK IT NOW. RIGHT NOW. I am being so serious. Jess booked ours as soon as we picked a weekend to move (because she's a freaking champ) and when she went to pick it up there was a line of people trying to book one to move that day. There are 8.4 million people in this city, Waiting until the last minute and hoping a truck is available is a recipe for disaster.
4. Have wonderful friends. Like us. We were so lucky that each of us had a friend (Joe, Allissa, and Daniel) who gave up their Saturday morning to help us haul our stuff across Brooklyn. We couldn't have done it without them. Well, I mean we probably could have, because we are fierce, independent, strong ladies, but it would have taken way longer and we would have been real crabby. Also, feed these friends. Buy a pizza. Or burritos and beer, like us. So when you do it all over in a couple years, they'll be willing to help you again.
We love the new place. I can't wait to experience all kinds of firsts here. It's a new chapter in what promises to be an amazing story.
As I mentioned in my last post, we got a new apartment! Now, some people hate moving. For them, it brings back feelings of sadness and leaving behind friends and family, but for me that's not the case. I've moved several times in my life. We relocated several times while I was growing up and while I was usually a little bummed about not seeing my friends anymore, the excitement at the prospect of the new, the unknown, almost always outweighed it. And when I moved into the dorms in August 2013, I couldn't have been more ecstatic. I was finally in college! I had literally been waiting my entire life for this very moment! And I was so lucky. My roommate, Emily, who I had been randomly assigned, ended up being a wonderful human being who I still consider a friend even though we're in different states. When she left WT, I lived with my soulmate, Maddie Todd, for a brief but amazing semester. Then I was finally relinquished from the dorms and Leilani and I moved into Kaipo cottage.
Leaving it was hard. Because unlike all the moves before, I knew that I wouldn't be back. Leaving Canyon meant leaving some of my dearest friends- some of whom I would see again, yes, but more than likely not for a long time. I moved back to my parents' house for two weeks before hopping the plane for New York. And the entire time I was anxious for the day to finally come. I wanted so badly to finally be in the city that I had dreamed about for so many years. The day of, I was so excited I could barely stand still. I didn't have any pangs of sadness. I knew that I would see my family again. My parents had already booked flights to come visit in the fall, and we had made loose plans for me to visit Texas in the winter. I was fine, right up until the moment I had to hug everyone goodbye in the airport. My mom started crying, my sister teared up, I was still okay. And then I had to hug Brody goodbye. And it hit me that I was going to miss out on a major chunk of his life. I had been there for every one of his firsts, from crawling and talking to him learning to swim. I wouldn't be there anymore, I would have to hear everything second hand. This is the point when I was no longer okay.
So I was crying but I finally managed to leave my family and get in line for security. And I'll never forget, probably for the rest of my life, having to go through the TSA checkpoint, actively holding back sobs, and the agent, a lovely woman whose name I wish I knew, pulled me into a hug and told me everything was going to be okay. Then I was ushered away to hurry and board my flight (I was late, obviously) and the rest was history.
This move was quite different. There was little sadness. Some nostalgia, maybe, for the little Crown Heights apartment that had been my starting point. But as a whole, we were happy to give up the ten minute walk to the subway, the lack of stuff to do nearby, and the creepy guy who ran the bodega on the corner. We were less happy to give up our backyard, but the new apartment was bigger, with more storage and a shorter commute. The actual, physical move turned out to be fairly quick and efficient, and we are happily settling in to Bushwick.
For those of you may be looking to move across the city, here are my tips for making the move go as smoothly as possible.
1. When you decide you want to move, start saving every penny. Literally. Moving is so freaking expensive, you guys. There's your first month's rent, your security deposit, maybe a broker's fee, the application fee, the cost of the uhaul, the money you'll end up spending on takeout the days after you pack your pots and pans and have not. So. Much. Money.
2. Have your documents ready for your application. They're going to be asking for lots of paperwork. I'm talking W2s, tax returns, bank statements. If you are super poor, you may need a parent to sign on as a guarantor, and they will need to have all of that ready too. In addition, you can submit items like, letters of reference from your current landlord and letters of employment to sweeten your app. You want to make the best impression possible on your prospective new landlord. It's kind of like a first date, except if it goes badly you could end up homeless.
3. Congrats you found a place! Your app was approved, you paid the ridiculous amount of money required by the landlord, you cried a bit at your now empty bank account, but you're back to being happy and excited. Now what? Remember that Uhaul I mentioned? BOOK IT NOW. RIGHT NOW. I am being so serious. Jess booked ours as soon as we picked a weekend to move (because she's a freaking champ) and when she went to pick it up there was a line of people trying to book one to move that day. There are 8.4 million people in this city, Waiting until the last minute and hoping a truck is available is a recipe for disaster.
4. Have wonderful friends. Like us. We were so lucky that each of us had a friend (Joe, Allissa, and Daniel) who gave up their Saturday morning to help us haul our stuff across Brooklyn. We couldn't have done it without them. Well, I mean we probably could have, because we are fierce, independent, strong ladies, but it would have taken way longer and we would have been real crabby. Also, feed these friends. Buy a pizza. Or burritos and beer, like us. So when you do it all over in a couple years, they'll be willing to help you again.
We love the new place. I can't wait to experience all kinds of firsts here. It's a new chapter in what promises to be an amazing story.
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