Greetings from Jersey

Oh, apartment living.  I hate it.  It’s the pits.  The area we’ve moved to is really nice though, so I’m thankful for that.  Also, the apartment manager has been really responsive and patient, which helps because there’ve been a lot of little issues with the place so far.

The Good:
1. Starbucks (duh)
2. Target, Trader Joe’s, Ikea (you know, all the stores that I haven’t had access to in the last 5 years)
3. The ice cream truck has SOFT SERVE and SPRINKLES and WAFFLE CONES instead of pre-packaged ice cream bars
4. NYC is a hop, skip, and a jump away
5. The girls have played outside every single day, and made loads of new friends
6. Lots and lots of trees

The Bad:
1. The apartment has electrical issues
2. The kitchen has a *total* of two drawers. ARGH.
3. The bathroom has one outlet, and no cupboards
4. My commute in to work is uglier than I thought (and the asshole lady at the MTA put me on the wrong train home my first day)
5. The apartment has no blinds. Yeah.
6. NJ drivers are mostly (but not all!) asshats. Way worse than SoCal.

Bryan really really loves it here, though.  Like, a lot.  He’s hinted that we should buy a house in this area.  I’m still ambivalent, and getting adjusted.  I don’t do well with big changes like this, and I’m still getting used to leaving my family and going into the office to work.  It’s been really stressful and strangely emotional for me.  I find myself crying sometimes for no reason (I think just pent-up anxiety).  It really caught me off guard.

Pictures to come soon — I’m mostly excited that we were able to find some pretty nice furniture for dirt cheap at Ikea, and that we’re getting our space set up and organized.  The sewing room/office is a little cramped, so I haven’t been able to set up my machines yet, but I hope to get that done this week.  Yay!

Comments

[paperhat]

MTA does suck. So does big change. But guess what? You are going to rock the shizzah out of NJ and NYC -- AND: get tons of ice cream and bunch more stuff too. Big hugs !

[Krystyn]

I found it hard adjusting to apartment living too when I moved to my loft a few years ago. And as it was a converted warehouse space, I had a lot of the similar issues you listed here. Some advice, if it helps?

Kitchen drawers: I bought a skinny freestanding island at IKEA. Gave me two more drawers, another shelf, and more counterspace. MUJI (near our office) also has portable, skinny, apartment living sized solutions for storage.

Bathroom: MUJI has the best cart for this. Fits right inbetween your sink & toilet, or against a wall depending on how your bathroom is set up. I still use mine, even though I have more storage space now. I can show you on a lunch break!

Commutes suck, true, and there's no way around it really. But sometimes I will get off at a different stop, or transfer to a different train that drops me in a different part of Soho. It gives you a nice scenery change, mixes things up, and on a pretty day helps you destress from the ride before you get to work.

Blinds: We had the oldest, dirtiest, dag nastiest dark brown matchstick blinds in our Brooklyn apartment when we moved here. We bought paper shades. They're cheap and the light filters in nicely. Brightened up the whole apartment. :)

p.s. I'm really glad you're here if that helps!