No more suitcases!

No more living out of a suitcase- I'm finally moved into my apartment! Yay! I've been subletting a girl's room for the past few weeks while she was out of town. It was much cheaper than being in a hotel until my apartment was available, but it meant I couldn't really unpack anything...

Saturday was the big day! Thanks to my friend Frances- my best friend in elementary school in California, who happens to live in NYC (yay, I know somebody here!)- and her boyfriend Matt for helping me move. It was SOOOOO much easier to haul my giant suitcases to the taxi and into the apartment with their help, especially since I didn't even have to carry the heavy ones up the stairs :)

We had an ornery taxi driver on our little moving adventure- we got to my apartment and he pulled to the left side of the road (it's a one way street and my building was on the right side). So we mentioned we needed to be the on the other side and he said "why didn't you tell me?!" Probably because we had already given the address and the even numbers (which my address is) are on the west side of the road, didn't think we needed to explain that but apparently you do- at least to this guy. I guess that's just not common sense, even for someone who makes a living dropping people off at addresses all over the city, go figure ;)

After we brought my suitcases in we headed off to Cafe Lalo for brunch. You may recognize this cafe from the movie "You've Got Mail." Frances and I went here a couple weeks ago when I first arrived and she wanted to take her boyfriend to try it. They have about a billion different types of eggs and really yummy desserts.

Brunch at Cafe Lalo

The great thing about the Upper West Side is that there are little cafes and bakeries like this all over the place- if only I had the money to go try them haha.

Did I mention my apartment is a walkup? And I'm on the 4th floor? Yeah, it's just a few stairs... I spent all Saturday afternoon walking back and forth and up and down the stairs between Bed, Bath & Beyond, Duane Reade (like a Walgreen's- but with some groceries), and Whole Foods buying all the essential since I basically just brought clothes and my computer with me. Luckily they are all within about 7 blocks, but I could only buy what I could carry at the time so I had to make a couple trips to BB&B. They do deliver, but it just seems like a waste of money when I live 1 1/2 blocks away and I have two legs ;)

What I really miss? Walmart. Yeah, never thought I'd say those words. In fact I was laughing thinking of a conversation Krisann and I had one day on a beginning of the school year/new apartment trip to Walmart. We said how excited we were to graduate and be able to afford to shop at Target instead of Walmart, because that somehow felt like moving up in the world haha. And now, I wish I had a Walmart- unfortunately the closest one is in New Jersey, and the only Target on the island is way up on 125th on the East Side- because it would be so much more affordable to get all the basics!

But anyway, here I am! All moved in :) Next post with pictures of the new place!