Pit and Peak: week of 9.2.13

Ugh, I've hardly posted this week. I've just been so sick that I haven't even had the desire/energy to blog about anything - and blogging is always fun for me, that was a serious problem! Anyways, I am feeling a lotttt better now, so I should have some things to share this week :) But first, the pit and peak of this past week:

Pit: The pit of this week BY FAR was being sick and icky. I even took a day off work for it (a pretty big deal for me because I hate admitting that I am sick. It takes a lot to make me take a break!). I hate just having absolutely no energy and feeling terrible. THE WORST.

Peak: The peak of my week was...GETTING A NEW JOB! Okay, I've been keeping this on the DL, but I've been so unfulfilled at my current position. Idk, I am just so used to being mentally challenged all the time at college and my current job was just not mentally doing it for me. I interviewed while sick and managed to land the position, and I gave my 2 weeks' notice on Friday. Very excited to begin this new role in the advertising industry! I think this will be a muchhh better fit! Also close seconds to this peak: making up with my best friend and moving into my new apartment!

My furniture is supposed to come to my new place this Wednesday. Yes, I am taking a personal day off my current job so I can be there to move in the stuff and get building (hayy Ikea furniture!). Very excited to get everything officially settled.

<3, Charlotte

Looking forward to fall!

A lot of people are very upset about summer being officially over. Apparently everyone considers Labor Day to be the unofficial end of the season. While I am also sad about this, I thought I should write a post about the things I am looking forward to for my first fall/winter in NYC! There are so many parts that I love about September-December - I want to focus on that instead of the fact that my swim suits will probably not see the light of day for the next 8 months (moment of silence for that, please). And there are other things that are happening right now that I am excited about, too!

• My adult swim team is starting tomorrow. I started swimming with the team during last season, but we just had a 2 week break while they cleaned the pool. Now this season is starting up again tomorrow night and I cannot wait to FINALLY get back into shape. AND to compete at meets!
• Moving into and decorating my new apartment. I've talked about how I am currently living in the building of my next place, but we are moving to the unit exactly 5 floors below us. In a week we will be all done with that and will just have to put the finishing touches on decorating and such! Very excited for this headache to be over (and to not have to be sleeping on a blowup mattress every night).

• Football season! I. LOVE. FOOTBALL. I know a lot of people like college football, which I do too, but my college team WAS AWFUL, so I gravitate more to the NFL. Football is my favorite sport, and I am excited for my first season as a New York Giants fan! Though the Chicago Bears will always hold a special place in my heart, I gotta get with this NYC sports camaraderie!

• Seeing what is going to happen with this guy...I've been hanging out/talking with this guy for a little bit now. He's so awesome (I've written about him before) and I am excited to see what happens with us! Still not looking for anything super serious at this point in my life, but it will be fun to just hang out and get to know each other better :) Big smiley face for that one!
• Halloween. It will be my first Halloween in NYC!! I've had some costume problems in the past (ie - I put on a teal dress with a black belt and called myself a crayon) but this season I want to be so much better and go all out with my costumes! Ahh I need to start looking into different parties at clubs and bars and such to see how my friends and I will celebrate this crazy fun day/weekend.
• TV shows resuming. Now that I have a TV again, I am really looking forward to some of my favorite shows starting up again! The shows I keep up on are Parks and Rec (actually watching a marathon of it right now that's on this FXX channel I just discovered), Modern Family, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Workaholics. But now I will probably be watching a lot more shows because one of my roommates works in TV production. 
• Fall fashion. I love fall and winter fashion. The coats are so cute, and a great pair of skinny jeans makes me incredibly happy. All the fashion trends are great for this coming season, and I can't wait for the weather to change so we can all take full advantage!
• Holidays in NYC. Saved the best for last - SPENDING THE HOLIDAY SEASON IN NEW YORK CITY! This is probably going to be one of my favorite things about living here. I'm already planning going to the Rockefeller Center tree early in the morning to beat the tourists. And OBVI I'm going to participate in SantaCon (been counting down the days to that since I saw all the pics of it last year). It's going to be awesome!

So beautiful! What's not  to love about this?!

So, if you're really sad about summer being over, I am definitely with you on that one. But just think of all the fun that's to come! I'm so excited for the last part of 2013 :)

<3, Charlotte

Sign apartment lease? Check!

Last night WE OFFICIALLY SIGNED OUR NEW APARTMENT LEASE! I am so so happy about that for 2 main reasons:

A photo I took of a part of our lease!
(very restricted bc of all the legality of the
document, but still, pretty cool!)

1. Though the building had official documentation that we are moving to our new apartment unit on September 7, we didn't have any official lease in writing until last night. It is just a major relief to have this all written down and official!
2. I actually get to cross something off my "10 Goals for This Year" page. I've been doing a few of the things on the list, but they are more like rolling tasks (ie: don't get fat, etc), so this concrete accomplishment has made me very satisfied :)

Very excited to officially move now. They took down one of our temporary walls that is up in our unit now and they are taking the other pieces down on different dates before we actually move out, so privacy is going to be EXTREMELY LIMITED these next 1.5-ish weeks. I can tell I'm going to get to know my roommates very well during this time. I don't hate it!

Happy Wednesday!

<3, Charlotte

New apartment (part 1)

I have been talking about this for a few posts, but I am officially moved into my new apartment! Here's the deal why my move isn't final. So I found this apartment on Craigslist (and my roommates ROCK, got lucky on that one). The girl that had my room moved out last weekend and I could move my stuff into this place whenever. Unfortunately, the building is renovating this apartment unit, but we got the same exact one 5 floors below. We're moving there on September 7th (after we put in the temporary walls again and such).

Living room right when you walk in!

Another view of the living room.

Soooo, I am living like a semi-homeless person/college student again. I don't want to order furniture to this apartment if I'm just going to move in 2 weeks, so I am sleeping on a blow-up mattress. I also

Hanging rod and some of the pink bins.
#collegeliving

have saved these bright pink (not upset about it) bins that I had all throughout college, which is what a lot of my stuff is in for the time being. And I have a hanging rod in my room for the clothes that don't fit in my closets because I don't have a dresser or anything yet.

Even though this situation is not completely ideal, it is MUCHHH better than the place I lived in before this. Luckily I LOVE the color pink, so I'm not really upset about my room looking like a pink explosion happened in it :)

My windows (love this view)! And those
beautiful bins.
Also note the blow-up mattress.

It's so nice, everything is set up since the girls have been living here for an entire year- I've been just hanging out and watching TV in our living room all day. My roommates are really cool and so nice. Since they're both not here this weekend we are going to do something this week to get to know each other better. (Well, they already know each other since they were roommates before, but I don't know them very well OBVI)

I could definitely get used to this living arrangement! Just have to worry about moving into our new place in a couple weeks.

Very very happy right now!

<3, Charlotte

Weird Things Seen Around NYC: protests

This is happening outside my apartment...

Pit and Peak: week of 8.5.13

Week 2 of this tradition!

I cannot believe it was a week ago that I did this for the first time! It's time for the pit and peak of my past week.

Pit: The pit of my week was definitely having that terrible encounter with my ex-soon-to-be-roommate - Ellen's - boyfriend. You can read about the incident here, but that definitely was my low-point for the week. I hate when people are mad at me! And I had being put into terrible situations. UGH. Still bothered but def not as much as I was right after the fact.

Peak: OBVIOUSLY the peak of my week was finding an apartment!!! Ahhh I had been waiting for so long and it makes me so relieved that everything came together. And that the place is basically a palace. UNBELIEVABLE! Supposedly the other girl moves out in a little over a week, so then I am definitely starting to move my stuff into my new place! YAYAYAYAY

Okay, onto the next week! :) Hopefully this one will be much less dramatic.

<3, Charlotte

That's not fair

Today, my company had an outing, so we weren't in the office and were drinking the entire day (more to come about that  tomorrow!). But tonight, I got dinner and drinks with Chloe. It was more mellow because we were both exhausted, but it was good to see her and just hang out for a little.

As we were leaving, we were walking down the street when I hear Chloe go "Oh hey". I look up and it's Ellen's boyfriend. (Sidenote, I've officially decided to give her a name, Ellen is my friend that I was going to live with, but it didn't end up working out for a number of reasons.) I didn't really know how to act since a lot of people now know that me and Ellen aren't living together by now, so I also was also like "hi!"

He goes to give Chloe a hug hello and turns to me and gives me a ginormous death stare. SO UNNECESSARY AND RUDE! I decided to ignore it - I'm probably the least awkward person ever so that wasn't that difficult - and I also went in for a hug. He didn't even make eye contact with me while doing so. He then talked to us for about a minute, and when I say "us" I mean only Chloe, and then we parted ways.

Ugh, the entire encounter left me with such a terrible feeling. Ellen was the one who told me to go for it and gave me her blessing - was she lying to me when she said that? We both ended up wanting different things in a place, and her not even being in town when we were looking for places (and not answering her phone for DAYS when I would try to get in touch) didn't help the situation. She put me in such a bad spot, and now I feel like I look like the bad guy.

That's not fair. And now i feel like crap about the whole thing.

<3, Charlotte

Apartment Search Day 2: When a broker cancels your appointment

The cancel button was pushed on me today :(

Sooo I was supposed to meet with another broker this morning. And she canceled on me last minute.

VERY UPSETTING!

So now today I guess I'm going to try to look up some places online and reach out that way - maybe I can schedule something else for this afternoon.

UGH, I just feel like I've lost a valuable day in this search.

Frustrating.

<3, Charlotte

Apartment Search Day 1: figuring out the NYC apartment scene

Today I officially met with a broker and saw a few apartments! It was a very, very interesting experience.

I am quickly learning that not everything that my roommate and I want in an apartment is going to be possible. I did know that would happen to us before, but now that I have actually seen a few places, it has been officially shoved in my face and I have to accept it.

I WISH this is the type of places we were looking at!

We went to 2 different apartment buildings.

The first building was on 28th street between 1st and 2nd Avenue. It was beautiful - new, there was a doorman, laundry in the building, and literally the PERFECT apartment was one of the places that I saw there. Like I literally am in disbelief that that place was so amazing, and within our price range. But the location is just too inconvenient. We want to be more central, with 2nd Avenue being the FARTHEST east we could go. And we want to be closer to a subway than that building is.

The second building was on 38th between Park and Lex. It was an older building but still had a doorman and laundry. One of the places could have worked but it was just too expensive. The other couldn't convert into a 2 bedroom and have a decent sized living room. So neither place really worked in that one.

So, even though I didn't find anything I learned A LOT today. And this broker that I met with was very nice and definitely has our best interest in mind. I told him what was good and bad about the places I saw so he knows what to look for to show me in the future. I also have a meeting with another broker tomorrow! Hopefully I can put some of my knew knowledge to use.

Ah, it's been such a crazy day, and it's not even 1pm!

<3, Charlotte

The problem with the work day is...

One thing they don't warn you about when you enter the real world is how work makes you put all of your personal life needs on hold. Now, not such a big issue except for the fact that by the time you get out of work, the places you need to go are all closed.

That is what I'm going through right now.

I wanted to meet with a broker tonight to see apartments, but I was told that even 7pm is too late for us to get inside any buildings. Ugh, and it's not like I can just take an hour off of work on the fly or in advance because I have NO IDEA what will come up! (This is why I love being in advertising, but right now it is KILLING ME that this is the case)

So, I have scheduled meetings with brokers to look at apartments on Saturday AND Sunday. Meaning my planned Saturday afternoon at the Smorgasbord in Brooklyn that was supposed to happen with me and my friends no longer can be. :( At least not with me going along.

Real life's so hard!

<3, Charlotte

Okay, it's time to find an apartment!

Tomorrow, I'm supposed to meet with a broker to look at some apartments. Looking for a new place has been more challenging than looking for my summer place for a few reasons:

1. My roommate isn't living in NYC right now. She's off in Chicago at training for her job. So it's basically all on me to find us a place. Ugh.


2. We have started to contact brokers too early. We've been talking to them for 2 weeks now and places are JUST opening up. I know how that's how it happens in NYC but AHHH I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHERE I'M LIVING IN A MONTH!!


3. When I was looking for a summer place, I had the mentality of "I can deal with this for 3 months". Now, I'm freaking out at every place I see because I know that we want to ideally live there for 2 years. Finding a more permanent place is much more stressful than finding a temporary one!

This may be us if we can't get our act together...

Hopefully I will have some success tomorrow so we can get everything settled within the next week! Then all the madness will be over.

Wish me luck!

<3, Charlotte

Early planning stages - moving for a second time!

I'm sure I've mentioned in some other posts that the place I'm living at this summer is only for the summer. I'm going to be moving to a new place in September, and my parents are paying for my summer housing for my graduation present (they are seriously the BEST for doing that for me!).

On Saturday, I had lunch with my future roomie, Eliza. We went to Pershing Square (which I was SUPER excited about since Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis went there in Friends with Benefits), where we would discuss all the different things we were looking for in a place. Our list of wants ended up being as follows:

• 2nd Avenue or west


• Between 44th and 23rd


• No more than 1400/month


• Doorman


• Not too far from a subway stop


• East Side

So, we have OFFICIALLY established our criteria and are not beginning our search. We are open to living with some more girls - supposedly the rent gets cheaper as the number of people you live with increases, so if we can find some good big places we may do that!

I am sooo excited to begin this search again and to find a new place! (Should be much easier than last time now that I actually LIVE in NYC!)

That's all the updates on that for now...

<3, Charlotte

UPDATE: Move-in Part 1 = Success!

Today, we officially moved all of my things into my summer apartment! I'm so happy that my parents approved of the place I picked out ALL BY MYSELF. Big girl moment over here!

We drove up to NYC  today, moved everything in, then drove back to DC to end the night. So, there you have it, it is my last night in DC. Right now. I'm feeling so many emotions right now it's unreal. Sadness mixed with excitement mixed with nerves - I'm just trying to take it all in and appreciate the opportunity I have been given (sidenote: the job starts in a week!).

Tomorrow, we are DRIVING back to Chicago from DC. KILL ME NOW. My dad claims it to be 10 hours but bullshit, it's 11 or 12. Ugh, it is going to be rough. Over the course of today and tomorrow, I will have been in the back seat of a car for 20 hours. Yikes, should definitely not have verbalized that!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="512"] Oh, the back seat of a car. Why do I have to spend so much time here?[/caption]

Welp, getting up at 5am tomorrow morning for the drive, so I'm turning in early (of course, not without watching a few episodes of Dexter first, streaming online now - I LOVE HAVING INTERNET AGAIN!).

Wish me luck!

<3, Charlotte

No longer a hobo!

I HAVE OFFICIALLY FOUND AN APARTMENT! I am proud to announce that I will be living in Murray Hill for 3 months this summer. It is the biggest relief ever. And I have never had my own set of walls in NYC before, so I'm totally excited.

Some things I learned from my Craigslist search:

1. There are actually a lot of normal people that use Craigslist. You have to correspond a few times and see how they talk via email, but it is pretty easy to tell who is going to be normal and who is going to be a weirdo!


2. Time frame is EVERYTHING. A few times, I went to apartments that wanted a year lease, and I told them I only wanted to commit to 3 months at the moment, but I would be more than happy to extend it if everything works out. NEWSFLASH: no one wants to do this process more than they have to! If you don't match with their time frame, don't even bother.


3. It is impossible to hit everything on your list of apartment criteria. Though I did get a lot of the things I wanted (neighborhood, safety, time frame, building perks, [kind of] price range), I do with my roommates were cooler. I was debating between this apartment and one with an AWESOME roommate, and the apartment itself was nicer than the one I decided to take. However, this building is much nicer in general with a doorman and laundry in the basement. And it happens to be closer to my job which is good.


4. Your introductory email is incredibly important and needs to be amazeballs. This is the first impression people get of you. If you come off like a boring stiff or essentially say nothing, you’re going to get no traction. Once I fixed my introduction email and included my a link to my Instagram account, I got so many more responses, and people already had me on high priority without even meeting me!

So, yea, I learned a lot from this experience. Hopefully when me and my friend look for apartments in a few months we can use some of this knowledge and get a KICK ASS place!

<3, Charlotte

The apartment search continues...

Okay, so some of this Craigslist stuff is not as weird as I thought. Although I have run into a few of the "please scan and send me a picture of your ID so I can prepare the agreement" requests after my first email to the listing. That combined with the email being in barely-conceivable English is top-notch sketchball alert. Anyway, I have found a place I REALLY like and am going to check it out tomorrow (which also means I will be in NYC - YAY!). The girl renting it out went to the same college as me, so I feel like we will get along great. And I really want to live in Stuyvesant Town, and that is where this happens to be!

I've also tried roommates.com, which seems like it would be amazing, but if you actually want to interact with anyone you have to subscribe and pay at least $20 depending on what kind of access you want. I'm really starting to personally encounter that expression "no such thing as a free lunch". SPOILER ALERT: IT SUCKS.

On a completely different note, I have 2 close friends that are moving to NYC about a month after I start my job, and they really want us 3 to live together. It's an idea I would be entirely for, except I really just don't want to move twice in one month, and be starting a new job, and be still adjusting to New York in general. I feel bad, they really want me to, and it would be great, but personally I just can't do that. And housing is supposed to be completely about you and what you're comfortable with. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise!

If this is my experience tomorrow, I just might lose it.

Hopefully after tomorrow I'll have some exciting apartment news to report!

Until then,

Charlotte