Nutella Saved the Day

First I would like to say thank you to everyone that has tried to help us find an apartment. Many of our friends have reached out and put us in contact with someone after seeing my blog or Facebook status. We really do appreciate it.

With that being said, if anyone else knows of anyone who can show us an apartment (preferably without a brokers fee), I would love to hear from you. We can take all the help we can get!

While walking around in the Upper East being disappointed by another apartment that can't fit our bedrooms, I did stumble across an adorable bakery. When I saw the Little Brown: Chocolate, Bakery & Coffee (www.ourlittlebrown.com) at 1269 Lexington Avenue,  I knew our day was going to improve.

As I walked inside I was instantly overwhelmed by the amazing aroma of the bakery. I was ready to try everything right then and there. It took me about five minutes to decide what I wanted because everything looked so good. Then I saw the Nutella Rice Krispie Treat ($3.50). I am a huge Nutella fan and had to have it.

I forgot to take a picture of it before I ate it. 

The bar was a good size for the price. It wasn't bad, but I don't know if I would order it again. It was very dense and I enjoy my rice krispies to be lighter and airier when I eat them. The Nutella was present, but not overwhelming which was nice. 

Next time I go I will try the Chocolate Chip Walnut cookie. They said that it was their number one seller. When I saw it come out of the oven after I ordered my treat, I could see why. The cookie was warm and fresh. It looked huge and absolutely delicious. 

I made a reservation for New York restaurant week earlier today. Erica and I decided that since this is going to be one of the only times we can afford some of these places we better go top dollar. I made a reservation at the steakhouse Smith & Wollenksy on the iPhone app Open Table. Unfortunately our reservation isn't until 9:30, but we are in the city that never sleeps so we figure it's ok. I'll let you know how it turns out later. 

Extra! Extra!

Today has been a relaxing, but eventful. Erica and I hung out around the apartment the first half of the day so I could prepare for my interview. We went down to Columbus Circle so I could print off my resume and practice beforehand. The weather was in the 80s and beautiful so we decided to walk around to waste time.

As we were walking around we noticed a group of people standing around this guy and a camera crew with him. I was trying to figure out who he was because I didn't recognize him. I asked a lady and she said they were doing a segment for the tv show Extra!

Next thing I knew they told us to get in the background of the street interview. Erica and I stood there while they filmed and then decided to go. As we were leaving they asked us to come back. I told them I had an interview, but somehow they talked us into it and began interviewing us. 

They were asking us which actor we thought would do the best out of three tv show replacements. Of course Erica and I had no clue so we just kinda made some stuff up. We would ask them and they would kinda suggest stuff and take three different shots. They said it would be on TONIGHT at 7:00 pm (NY time) so go and see if we made the cut! Don't judge us by our answers though haha. After that we left so I wasn't late to my interview.

Before my interview I asked a guy sitting next to me at Starbucks for some tips and he told me to keep it simple and to the point. I feel that it really helped me. I feel that my interview went well, but we'll see. If this one doesn't work out, hopefully I will have another interview soon. On my subway ride home I was hit on by some random guy named Angel. Real promising I know, but at least I know that I looked good in my new suit. 

I was told that it's New York restaurant week so right now I'm looking up all the places that we could go eat at www.nycgo.com. I'm also comparing with www.tvroadmaps.com (a website that shows places that have been featured on the Food Network). Hopefully I will get to eat at all those places one day. 

Oh and one of the girls interviewing me today wrote down some names of some great food trucks in the city that I plan on checking out. I'll keep you updated on which ones are worth it and which ones you should skip.

Dinner at Piola's

So Erica and I met up with our friends Katey, Erin and Tyler at Piola's for dinner. We got there around 8:00pm, which is when their wine happy hour starts. On Wednesdays from 8:00-midnight girls get free wine with the purchase on an entree. There was about a 30 minute wait, but we decided it was worth it for free wine.

They called our table and our entire party was not there so we had to wait. When we were finally sat we were put at a make shift table for 5 people. There was a regular circle table pushed up to a square table. It wan't that bad except that we were crammed into a tiny section of the restaurant. There was a table directly behind me so every time a waiter passed behind me their bottom rubbed against my back. Needless to say when I saw someone coming I began to sit forward to avoid this.

Everyone ordered pizzas, but me. Tyler ordered the Italian pizza. It was very colorful and appealing, but the taste was definitely lacking.  Erica ordered the Artichoke with hearts of palm. It was the best as long as you aren't the type of person to become overwhelmed by the taste or artichokes after a piece or two. I ordered the linguine ragu. It wasn't bad, but it isn't something I would order again. There was that extra spice/taste missing from it. While none of the food was horrible, it wasn't that great either.

Cooking our pizzas

The prices were reasonable for the food they served (between $11.00-$14.00). The atmosphere was the typical loud New York style. We all decided that even though the food was not spectacular, we would go there again for the free wine.

Artichoke with hearts of palm pizza 

Pasta Ragu'

Catching up with old friends and meeting new ones is always fun, especially when a little vino is involved. That always makes the stories better. Next week we will meet again, but this time make reservations.

The Search Continues

Today has been a very interesting, but productive day. Erica and I went to view more apartments in Manhattan today. This is the view of the outside door of a three bedroom apartment that we are seriously considering in Chinatown.

While it may look completely sketchy, it's not actually that bad just kinda dirty. The good thing is that Little Italy is just right around the corner and within walking distance from SoHo. After viewing the apartment we walked around for awhile and got to know the city better.

. 

Later in the afternoon Erica and I went with a broker to view some apartments in the Upper East. We found a one bedroom that we would share in our price range, but we wouldn't have a living room (not good). We also found another one bedroom apartment farther from the train, but with a large bedroom and a living room. Of course this is slightly out of our price range, but we are praying that they will come down. It is a really nice location and has new amenities. Here are a couple of pictures from the larger one that we want. After walking around and looking all day, we decided to call it quits after viewing this one.

kitchen

View of living room from bedroom doorway

View of bedroom from doorway

I have an interview tomorrow with a marketing firm that I am really excited, but nervous about. Please pray that it goes well and that if the Lord wants me to have it that they will offer it to me (and offer me a salary that I can live off of). If it's not the job for me, please pray that I can get some more interviews with other companies.

Erica and I are about to go meet up with some friends from Baylor at the Italian restaurant Piola's in Union Square. With the purchase of an entree (their's are about $15 and under) girls get free wine all night. Oh yeah! It should be fun to see old friends and hopefully make new ones.

8 Down, 22 to Go

You always hear that finding an apartment is New York is bad, but let me tell you, in July it's pretty much miserable. Erica and I spent all day searching for an apartment and still dont't have one. At first, it wasn't too bad because in the morning and early afternoon the weather was nice, but after lunch is when it began to change. Let me give you a brief run down of our day.

We began by taking an hour subway ride to Astoria in Queens to be dissappointed by an apartment, we then took another hour ride to Upper East Side, which after walkimg up a hill and a few miles to where we were meeting a broker we realized we were actually in East Harlem being shown an extremely ghetto apartment. Needless to say we didn't take that one and left before we met the broker. We then took a 30 minute ride to the lower east side to see two more apartments that couldnt fit our beds. All the while the broker from "the upper east" continued to call and text Erica for about 30 minutes wanting to know why we changed our minds. The whole time we were going all over the city we were sweating to death. Every train ride was miserably hot with stgnant air in the metro stations. That definiately added to the wonderfulness of our day. Oh amd we almost got scammed out of $2,900, but luckily Erica's dad saved us.

After all this we came back to our apartment for a little bit because I didnt think I could take anymore. Erica then received a call from a broker in the upper west to see a few places that I agreed to go see with her only if I didnt have to go see another one in Astoria at 7. Well as we figured the first apartment was too small, but the second one is a different story.

This is where our day began to change. The apartment was on the first floor of a walk up (awesome), it had three NORMAL sized bedrooms (PTL), it had a washer, dryer AND a dishwasher (which is very hard to come by for some reason), had an AC unit already installed (a big plus, it was only 1 block away from Central Park (it can't get better than that) and it had windows in all the bedrooms. We were so excited we wanted to sign right then! Unfortunately the broker decided to break our hearts and tell us the rent was $2,990 a month. Completely out of our price range. We tried to negotiate a lower price, but since it was just on the market today they wouldn't budge. We walked away so upset. We finally found the perfect apartment size with a great location, but we can't afford it. Figures. We know what we want is out there though so we won't give up.

I walked back to the subway station to go to our apartment while Erica went to see another apartment with Erin in Astoria. On the way home I was so parched I stopped at Starbucks to get a drink, hoping it would perk me up. As I waited to pay, the lady just told me to take it. She said they were about to close and just to not worry about. It was so amazing that after having such a disappointing day, this lady made me feel so much better and not even know it. I told her thank you and that she had no idea how badly I needed it.

As I walked back to my apartment and all I could think about was how God always reminds people He is there for them. It may be something small, but He always knows how to encourage us right when we need it. After such long day, that simple act of kindness made my day feel so much better.

As soon as I got back to the apartment I immediately passed put. I'm feeling better, but I still think I could sleep another 10 hours haha. Erica and I agreed to sleep past 9:00 tomorrow to catch up on our rest because we know we have a ton more apartments to look at before we find one. People say you have to look at 30 before you find the right one. Well, after these past two days I think we should be close (fingers crossed).

P.S. To top our day off our Internet went out today too. So if there's any typos it's because this was done on my phone.

First Day in the Big Apple

Today has been a very long day. It started at 5:00am and I have been on the go ever since.

I had my favorite breakfast taco for the last timeat Nena's this morning. My dad then drove me to Intercontinental and dropped me off. After he left is when everything kinda hit me. It was the first time I felt semi emotional about leaving. I might have teared up for all of 5 seconds and then I realized I was moving to New York and got over it haha.

I landed in New York around 4:30 and got in my first cab. The entire ride I was in awe of all the different aspects of the city. Upon landing it started to hit me that I was really there. After living in the City of Enchantment my whole life and now moving to the largest city in the US, I realized what a drastic change this was really going to be. While on my way to the apartment, I began to wonder if one day I would take the same drive from the airport to my apartment and no longer be amazed by the city. I hope that doesn't become the case anytime soon.

After arriving, Erica took me to eat at a pizzeria on Stone Street in the Financial District. The weather was nice so we sat outside. We then took the train to Astoria to meet up with our third roommate, Erin, to start our apartment hunt. We found an amazing apartment with a huge living room and kitchen and were so excited. They even had a dish washer (which is a big deal here)! As soon as we opened the door to the bedrooms though, our hopes were crushed. The bedroom was barely big enough to fit my double sized bed. How anyone could possibly live in that is a mystery to us. Sadly we left Astoria today with no possible apartments, but we will continue to look this week.

Erica and I are finally home and relaxing. We have a busy day tomorrow and I'm exhausted so I'm about to crash. I can't wait to see what else the week has in store.

Last Night in Texas

So I promised my mom I would start this blog so she could keep up with me after I move. It might take me a few posts to figure out how to do all of this so bare with me.

I graduated from Baylor in May and I am moving to New York tomorrow morning. I am extremely excited and nervous at the same time. I've only been to New York once. That was a few years ago with my brother for just a few days. Surprisingly I didn't like it that much while I was there and now I'm moving there haha. I think that once I am there and learn the city I will fall in love with it. If I don't, I can always move somewhere else.

Tonight is my last night in Texas. I have tried to do as many comfort things as I can today since I won't be back home for a while. I ate at El Toro's for lunch (the best mexican food in town), I swam in the pool with my nephew and parents, ate dinner with my grandma, hung out with my best friend from home and my dad made me a homemade coke float. So far it has been a pretty good day.

I have to finish packing up and dye my dad's hair. Somehow I talked him into letting me do the Touch of Grey hair color on him and I'm excited!

I leave tomorrow at 6:00 am so I better get started soon so I can get some rest for the next big adventure in my life.