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

Pit and Peak: week of 7.29.13

What a perfect photo!

I saw this in a movie (of course now that I'm writing a post on it I'm completely drawing a blank as to what movie it was). Every night at dinner, the family would share the pit (low-point) and peak (high-point) of their day. I have decided to reflect and do this every Sunday night for the previous week. Yes, I know that weeks start on Sunday technically, but I feel like in the real world they start on Mondays because that's when the work week starts and everything is insane!

Pit: The pit of my week was definitely apartment hunting. It's not a specific event, it just has been weighing down on me and I'm starting to get concerned. My roommate is in Chicago right now for training and literally has been the least responsive person ever. It's frustrating me. Idk, tonight I started going on Craigslist and looking for rooms that way - it's a lot easier than brokers and I can meet with the people after work when I am available. We will see what happens...

Peak: The peak of my week I'd say was I think the check-in meeting I had with the HR department of my company. It went REALLYYY well and made me so much more excited about the company I work at! It's awesome to find a place where everyone is so nice and is genuinely looking out for you. :)

Okay, that's all for this post! I guess we will see if I keep doing this in the future!

On to the next week...

<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

Senior Week

So, this final week at school has been designated as "Senior Week". In other words, the school has set up a bunch of events for us to get drunk at. Though I am very excited to graduate and be in New York (I'm sooooo sick of DC), it's times like this that make me realize how much I'm going to miss this place. 2 nights ago, I had my first senior week cry - I was overcome with emotion when I realized that in a week me and my friends would not be able to hang out and shoot the shit together all the time. SAP ALERT.

What a horrible pour! Still looks cool though.

Biggest accomplishment of senior week so far has been the champagne brunch that was held in our dining hall yesterday. We were each only given 2 drink tickets, but somehow I managed to acquire about 15 throughout the 2 hour event. IT WAS AMAZING. The last time I ever left the dining hall and I don't even remember doing it. After brunch, me and some of my friends participated in this thing called the "Big Hunt", a scavenger hunt spanning all of DC. We ended up just drinking all over the city and accomplished none of the tasks. #winning

As for the apartment search, I don't think the one I went up to go see is going to work out, and I wasn't getting very many bites on my Craigslist emails I would send. So, I re-vamped my introductory "hello" email, and now things are going pretty well! People like looking at my Instagram pics (I put the link to it in the email), so HOPEFULLY I will have something soon.

Well, off to get drunk at more school-sponsored events! C U l8R!

-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

Offer Official!

Today, I am happy to announce that I received my official offer from a big advertising media agency! I am so so soooo relieved. The account I will be working on is great, and I really like all of the team members I have met during my interviews.

My celebration was cut short when I realized that I still need to find a place to live. This summer, I plan on subletting for a few months. I want to live in NYC for a little before deciding where I want to permanently reside (well reside for 1 year, at least). I also have some friends who I want to live with, and their jobs aren't starting until September. Well, one of their jobs isn't starting until September, the other needs to figure out what she is doing, but I will put enough pressure on her so she will figure it out by then.

So, I have officially started the Craigslist room search escapade. It sounds extremely sketchy (I did watch that movie The Craigslist Killer when it was on TV - oh my goodness how terrifying!) but I have a friend who did it and loves the roommates she found on it! Plus, with advertising's salary being so low, I figure I should give it a shot.

Hopefully, I will officially be in NYC during Memorial Day weekend! Until then, I must apartment-search my eyes out until I find a place that's just right.

Catch ya on the flip-side,

-Charlotte