The Art of Small Spaces

If you have never experienced the market in New York that we call real estate, then you have no idea the crazy, competitive creature it can be.  Any ideas that you may have had in Texas regarding apartment hunting should swiftly be thrown out the proverbial barred window.  For instance, I lived in a 700 sq ft loft apartment in Galveston with all stainless steel full-sized brand new appliances, washer/dryer in unit, dishwasher in unit, mahogany cabinets, granite countertops, and walk-in closet.  I paid $700 a month.  Granted, I got a great deal. But if I were to find an apartment like that here in New York, I would expect to pay closer to $2000 a month...if I wanted to live in Harlem.  Actually, if I were to live in an equivalent apartment in the area where I am living now, I should expect to pay something closer to $2500 to $3000.  It's just the nature of the beast. Having spent the last few months poring over Craigslist ads, I have a decent idea of the market.  Here is my conclusion:

The Ideal New York Apartment

1. It would be anything over approximately 400 sq ft.

2. The ceilings would be high enough that when you reach up, you don't touch them. 

3. There would be a laundry room in the building, or if not in the building then at least in the area.

4. Rarely, you might find one that has central heat and A/C.  Mind you, central heat can also mean that the landlord/super controls the temperature for the whole building, which is piped into your apartment through a permanent radiator type thingy ma-bop.

5. It might have it's own separate bedroom. But there are stipulations to this as well.  For example, any room that has a window can technically be called a bedroom.  So a large studio can deceptively be called a 1 bedroom.  A room that is no larger than a small closet can also be called a bedroom even if it is only large enough for one person to stand in the middle of the floor with arms at their sides and look out said window.

6. There is actually light in the apartment, i.e. you don't feel as if you are living in the worst dungeon in all of New York, only the second worst dungeon.

7. It has an elevator. Again, this is quite rare.  And this is something one has to take into consideration, as the Fresh Direct grocery deliveries have a policy that forbids delivery to any walk-up above 5 floors.

8. If there is a dishwasher and/or microwave in the apartment, you might as well go ahead and collect your lottery winnings with it as well and don't even THINK about asking for a balcony.

9. There is a closet in the apartment that is at least 3 times larger than a "center for ants." (If you can tell me what movie that is from, we will be friends.)

10. You aren't paying a broker fee, which can add up to as much as $3000 to $4000. 

11. There is a doorman to greet you on those lonely nights when you are feeling particularly like a loser.

12. Your appliances were made in this century, and in addition, are large enough to actually, you know, MAKE FOOD.

I am sure there are many more things I can add to this list.  However, I am attempting to adjust my way of thinking and adapt to these new surroundings.  Therefore, I will focus on the positives.  In my apartment for example, I have come across:

The Conveniences of Living in a Small Space

1. I don't have as much to clean - not that I really clean that much anyway, but the rare times I do, oh man, it's on.

2. While taking a shower, everything I need is within reach.  I realized this one morning as I looked over and saw that my toothbrush was within arm's length.  I have started brushing my teeth in the shower.  Likewise, if there is a towel any where in the bathroom, there is no need to get out of the shower in order to retrieve it while dripping water all over the bathroom floor.  It's THISCLOSE. 

3. I can easily find my cats.

4. Getting up to fetch the remote control is no longer such a chore.  Interestingly, I have a remote control to my A/C unit that sits in my window...I am just not sure what I would do if I had to get up and walk the 1 foot distance to adjust the temperature.

5. On that note, heating and cooling isn't as much of an issue.

6. And last but not least, the small space allows you to get cozy with any loved ones who may stop by to visit...and the neighbors, and the people on the street, and the delivery men, oh and the dog next door. You might actually feel as if you have friends, in some weird, stalkerish, I-don't-really-know-you-but-I-KNOW-you sort of way.

So see, what's there to complain about really?  For anyone who doesn't know, I am currently only subleasing a fully furnished apartment until the end of August when I can find something more permanent.  Let's just all hope that I still maintain an upbeat outlook by Sept 1.

Lauren, on the other hand, hit the jackpot.  She opted for the very affordable subsidized housing that NYU Medical supplies to their residents.  When she told me this, I pictured your typical ancient dorm room with some strange, looming smell and that weird dorky foreign neighbor who looks at you strangely out of the corner of his eye in the elevator. Boy, was I wrong.  She has a lovely studio in a brand new building with a dishwasher, very large closet, central air and heat, decently sized bathroom, and full kitchen.  Plus, she has this view (from her 12th floor apartment wall that is totally glass):

Yes, that would be the Empire State Building and Chrysler building.  Geez, some girls get all the breaks. ;)  Oh well, maybe I will find something spectacular come September.

While on the subject, I was reminded last night about at least one of the inconveniences of having a small space.  My bedroom at present can only accommodate a door OR a bed but not both.  There would be no way to open the door without it hitting the bed, so the door has been removed.  While this is not usually a problem since I live by myself, I did forget one little thing.  The Stupid.

The Stupid (aka the Stupid One, Chicken,  Xerox - see the second blog entry) is my orange tabby.  He is a very, very sweet and loving cat. But He. Is. Stupid.  He has very annoying habit of waking me up at 4 AM because that's when it's fun to find anything in the apartment that makes noise.  While he has always done that for as long as I have had him, I usually have the option of just shutting the door, listening to his yowling for about 5 minutes, and then going back to sleep.  Not anymore.  So he, being the punctual young bloak that he is, awoke me at around 4:15 AM with his usual scratching, which this time took place under the bed.  I turn on the light and see tiny little paws coming up out of the cracks at the foot of the bed.  I then lean over the edge, and this is what I see...

Yes, that is the end of a lizard.  A lizard. 

I am looking at this lizard through blurry, sleepy, very angry eyes and wondering to myself, is this for real?  Is this some sort of New York thing to have lizards in your apartment? So I poke it.  Yeah, I didn't really know what else to do but poke it.  It doesn't move.  Hmm... So  I finally did the only thing I knew to do and went to get a paper towel.  I didn't know what to expect.  Is there going to be a bloody half on the other end?  If it is real, is it still alive? Meanwhile, Kiki, my other cat, has a look on her face that is the cat version of how I am feeling...

This look says, "Why are we awake, and just how stupid can this annoying male be?" Blink, blink.

Exactly, Kiki.  Exactly.

Well, it turns out that the lizard was just a very life-like replica belonging to the little girl whose parents own my apartment.  I picked it up and carried it into the kitchen to throw in the trash while the Stupid One followed me staring longingly at the prize in my hand.  Did this stop him? Oh no.  I also ended up taking away his play mouse and hiding it under my pillow and then later a plastic bag.  After he had nothing left, he still managed to crawl under the bed and scratch at nothing while patiently waiting for something else to arrive. What a dumb boy.  As I tell him almost everyday, no one would love him if he weren't so sweet.

I do plan to post some pictures of my current apartment.  I unfortunately do not have time today due to some unforeseen issues that arose this morning and afternoon in human resources and employee health at Metropolitan.  All of that deserves its own blog at a later time.  In the meantime, you will just have to use your imagination.

By the way, Crumbs cupcakes (see yesterday's blog entry) were good.  HOWEVER...I just wasn't quite satisfied with it.  My itch for a cupcake just was not scratched.  So yesterday, I found...drum roll, please...Two Little Red Hens bakery.  Let me just say, the "hens" ate the "crumbs." (Yeah, I know. That was cheesy).  This place was fantastic.  It's a tiny little bakery here on the upper east side. I had a banana cupcake that almost made me fall off my little stool (or maybe that was just the fact that I have a large behind).  Now I know where to go should the itch for a cupcake arise again.

That reminds me...it's been pointed out that I talk about food...a lot. I can't help it.  Food is so good.  But I will try to talk about other things from here on out.  I said TRY. Should you feel the need to make any suggestions regarding topics on this blog, please, for the sake of all that's sweet and delicious, do let me know.

Deliver me.

So, today I am embarking on and continuing a newly learned practice.  It's called DELIVERY.  Back in Texas, when one thinks of delivery, thoughts come to mind of chain restaurant pizza arriving at your door in 30 to 45.  Let me just say that in NYC, this is a much more involved concept.  This city is, without a doubt, a hermit's dream. 

While most people here get more exercise in one day than most Texans get in a week, this isn't necessarily a given.  If you wanted, you could carry on with the business of your life all from the comfort of your own home and ratty pajamas.  While in Galveston, I had a difficult time finding a restaurant that would serve food past 8 PM. In New York, I have any kind of food I could imagine at my fingertips (literally) at almost any time of night delivered personally to my doorstep.  You want pizza, pick from any variety you can conjure up.  I had a pizza the other night with sundried tomatoes, whole wheat crust, roasted garlic, and jalepeno pesto at almost midnight (I shouldn't admit that).  I ordered Persian food and had it in my hands in 15 minutes. Yesterday, I ordered a wrap for lunch from a restaurant that has 50- yes 50- different kinds of wraps.  You want a Thanksgiving meal? Why not have it in wrap, complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy? (I opted for the safer Mediterranean wrap).

But it doesn't just stop there.  Why do your own laundry when someone will pick it up from your house for free, then wash, fold, and box it, and lastly deliver it to your doorstep (again for free) nicely cleaned and smelling lovely?  Why do your own grocery shopping when you can pay an extra $5.79 to order all your grocery needs online and have them delivered, freshly packed, to your doorstep?  This includes all groceries from shampoo to freshly baked bread to cheese to kitty litter.  Need a new litter box and leash? The pet store will deliver whatever you need FOR FREE! This can really get out of control. In addition to the delivery, you don't even have to talk to a human.  You order everything online, click your mouse, and wait patiently for your order to show up.  Yesterday, I had to have my own little personal pep rally in my tiny living room just to leave the apartment.  What's even more pathetic is that the rallying was all in the name of getting a cupcake.

Hopefully, this doesn't become a regular occurrence.  I can at least talk myself in to making the effort to say, drop off my own laundry, or pick up my own food.  I dunno.  We will see.  Luckily, all this walking I have been doing lately has definitely made its mark on how my clothes fit, but if I keep eating all this amazing food in my knit pants that have no limits, it might end up going in the wrong direction.  Just keep me in your thoughts...

Crumbs Bakery - as you can see, this was totally worth a pep rally...

Speaking of delivery, I now have received all my things that I delivered to myself, proving that the shipping method when  moving does occasionally work.  I shipped a few boxes via FedEx Home Delivery and even set an appointment time to receive my boxes.  This worked great.  Granted, the FedEx guy decided it would be ok to ROLL one of my boxes up the stairs.  I did give him an interesting look when he rolled the box in front of my feet and then cheerfully asked me to sign for it.  Hmmm...   But I shouldn't complain.  Everything made it.  Nothing is broken, and this morning after my grocery delivery, I even received my last box containing all of my DVD's that I shipped media mail for $14.  Woo!  

In the meantime, if you are in this area and want to be just as lazy as I am, you should check out these sites:

http://www.freshdirect.com/ - all groceries, all at the click of a button

http://www.hamperville.com/ - laundry done the electronic way, including your choice of softener scent
http://www.allwashedup.com/ - even cheaper laundry done the electronic way

http://www.wrapstarny.com/ - remember that Thanksgiving wrap?  Here ya go...

http://www.twoboots.com/ - all over NY all the time

I am sure this is just the beginning.  I will keep you posted.

Food, glorious, food!

Quite honestly, one could use an entire blog totally devoted to the food in NYC and still have more than enough material. So I will try to keep this short...er. As many of you know, my mother came to NYC with me to help me get settled in and to see the city. And as many of you know, my mom has celiac disease and has to eat a gluten-free diet. While she never complains about having to limit what she eats (god bless her!), it makes me happy to find things that she can eat and that we can share. I am figuring you can only have so much fruit and guacamole. And since this is the city where you can find just about everything, I figured we would have some choices on gluten-free restaurants. I was right. I found a blog on Yelp written by a girl who has celiac and used a lot of her suggestions in addition to some general searches. To see her blog, visit www.yelp.com/list/gluten-free-in-NYC-New-York.

1. Risotteria - This place was ah-maz-ing. It had a huge list of different types of Risotto. My mom ordered the gruyere with green onions. I ordered the gorgonzola with walnuts and chicken. My friend Lauren joined us for this one since she stayed with us Monday night. She ordered something with goat cheese and chicken. They also had an extensive list of pasta dishes, pizza, etc, as well as (and here is a the kicker) gluten free breadsticks that were so yummy. We were all in love.

2. Rice to Riches - I happened upon this place on a previous trip to NYC, and imagine my glee when I found out that it is gluten free. This place specializes only- yes ONLY- in rice pudding and is set up like an ice cream shop with at least 20 different flavors of rice pudding. It's very good rice pudding, mind you. Every sign in the store likes to remind you how fattening it is, but what the hey? It's good stuff. My mom and I shared the Almond Schmalmond flavor. Lauren had never had rice pudding before, and the concept of rice and pudding mixed, well, she wasn't quite sure what to think.

3. Peter's- Peter's is what I would consider the gluten free JACKPOT! It is located merely four or so blocks from my apartment. We initially went there because we read that they have gluten free pancakes. What we didn't realize is the extent of their gluten free menu. They have everything from pasta to burgers to cheesecake to breakfast to tex-mex. You name it, they pretty much have it. And it's good food too! Needless to say, my mom and I made several trips to this one. She was one happy lady.

4. S'MAC - The name is short for Sarita's Macaroni and Cheese because that's what they serve...only macaroni and cheese. They had 12 different concoctions of the cheesy good stuff and the option to make your own, almost all of which could be made gluten free. My mom and I shared two different types - the Parisienne and the 4 cheese- both of which came out in a little personal cast iron skillet bubbling and screaming to be eaten. I will be re-visiting this place.

5. Tu Lu's bakery- Uh...yum! Tu Lu's was actually just around the corner from S'MAC, so we headed there for a little "after mac-n-cheese" dessert. Because we couldn't decide what kind of cupcake we wanted to try, we opted for several of their bite size "minis." Between the red velvet cream cheese, buttercream strawberry, peanut butter and chocolate, and chocolate chocolate, we weren't sure which was our favorite. We just knew that they were gone pretty fast. Wow.

6. Sarabeth's - While being the snootiest and most expensive place we visited, this certainly was not the best. The waitress was extremely nice, but the food was, eh, mediocre.  It's located right next to central park and serves as a nice little place to meet your girlfriend for lunch, but I am not sure I would re-visit. There is just too much amazing food in NYC to waste the stomach space. Plus, my mom and I had to listen to a model sitting next to us ramble on and on for at least solid half hour about herself and her modeling and how fat everyone is in the USA. It made the meal a little less appetizing.

7. Pala Pizza - Yeah, wow. That's all I gotta say is wow. We headed to this place after seeing The Lion King on broadway. The only drawback was when we didn't get the address right and were heading into what seemed like the bowels of Soho wearing heels and dresses at midnight. Not a good idea. We quickly mended our ways after passing a few seedy characters with their beedy eyes and not-so-witty comments in our direction. But I think it was worth it in the end. This pizza could possibly be the best pizza I have eaten. We ordered the Zucca, which included a butternut squash puree, pancetta, and smoke scamorza cheese - all gluten free of course. I could have married that pizza. I could have.

Well that concludes the majority of what we ate while my mom visited. If you didn't want to know every last thing we ate, then too bad, you already read the blog. I should throw in that during that time I did try a Gray's Papaya hot dog and papaya drink. If you have seen the movie Fools Rush In (in addition to several other popular movies set in NYC), you will know about Gray's Papaya. The hot dog was pretty good, and the papaya drink tasted like a nice refreshing smoothie. But I am not so sure it was anything to write home about. There are many places in NYC to get a solid hot dog. It's to be decided if it was worth the sweaty trek to the upper west side, but hey, at least we got to see another part of the city.

Yesterday, I had a torta at a little Latin Bistro in Soho. Frankly, I don't remember the name of the place, which might have something to do with the large pitcher of "knock-you-on-your-butt" mojitos that I shared with Lauren and company while watching the USA get beat by Ghana in the World Cup. Eh, who knows? The torta was good, but definitely couldn't compare to the sloppy greasy ones I used to eat at Gordita's while in Galveston. Mojito's = really good. Torta = so-so. (By the way, I just looked it up, and the name of the bistro is Ideya).

NOTE:
Speaking of Lauren, if you plan to read this blog (I am aware that this classification of readers could be low in numbers), you will likely hear a lot about her. She is a close friend from med school, and she moved to NYC on the exact day that I did to start her residency in radiology. Lauren and I tend to have pretty funny adventures, and since we both are starting this particular part of our lives together, I am sure these adventures will continue. If you haven't already and you are dreadfully bored, you might check out my other attempt at a blog http://mytripjournal.com/jennifer. This blog documents the trip that Lauren and I made to Ireland, England, and Scotland at the end of our fourth year of med school. Let's just say that she and I always keep it interesting.

The Past Week

Since I just started, I have some catching up to do. It's been a busy week! Instead of shoving it all into this post, I will just do a little at a time over the next few days.

This section is officially titled

The Flight

I won't bore anyone with the goings-on prior to arriving. Just know that it included a lot of melt downs, freak outs, and patience from my loved ones around me. I worried. Oh yes, I worried. Was I going to sell my car? (I did.) Are the cats going to be ok? (They were.) Is there any way that I am going to be able to pack everything in time? (Somehow it happened.) And the official morning of the move, my mom and I schlepped 5 huge suitcases and my 2 cats up to the airport and barely made our flight. We had 2 suitcases right at about 50 lbs and 2 more just below 50 lbs. That's a lot of lbs.

To anyone who is faced with the challenge of moving two cats across country, be comforted by this post. I read every blog, forum, article I could find on how to move your pets. I pictured terror. I pictured scratching, cats running around airports, yowling to ear piercing proportions. Alas, none of this. The cats just stayed put in our arms while we walked through the x-ray. Yes, you heard me. To take cats through the airport, you have to take them out of their carriers and walk through the x-ray with them in your arms. I was so stressed about this process that I literally was shaking as I was walking through the machine, which of course always helps the cat's stress level. We did give them a tiny bit of a tranquilizer provided by the vet (maybe I should have had my own). I wasn't sure the pills did anything until I realized that Kiki (my big fluffy, strong-willed girl) was kneading her paws in her carrier on the flight signifying contenment and relaxation. I looked at her and realized she was experiencing her own personal kitty version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Whew! The cats have done beautifully since arriving. They don't seem too phased by their new home. I expected some anti-social behavior at least for a few days, but they are out and about and snuggling as usual. Kiki tends to get stuck trying to get out from under the bed and Xerox (aka Stupid, The Stupid, Chicken, etc) is neurotic as ever, but beyond that, there is nothing to report.

Kiki decided to find some new hang outs while we were moving...

I think they're comfortable...

Let's give this a try...

I don't think I am good at blogging. I've tried it multiple times. Diet blogs, travel blogs, blog blogs.... I am either just too lazy, too unmotivated, or too busy (probably all three), and if you know me well then you know I hate any picture if I am in it.

But as of June 21, 2010, I made a big move. Actually, I made the biggest move I've ever made in my life. I went from my comfortable little niche on the island of Galveston - where I have been for 5 years- to this large, busy, awesome island called Manhattan. I am now more than a thousand miles away from my entire family and the state where I have spent all of my 28 years so that I can embrace the hot dog stands, tiny apartments (mine's no exception!), and subway system. So...in order to stay in touch with my loved ones (and because I suspect a lot of things that will now go on while here probably should be documented), I decided to start this blog. Before I officially get started, I feel I should personally and preemptively apologize in advance if I suck at this (yes, Mom, I said suck). My entries may be spaced out too much or not enough. I may ramble on incessantly. I dunno. We will see. Either way...

Here we go.