Goodbye 2010

I’m slowly getting ready to head out and welcome in the New Year, but before I do, I must say farewell to 2010. What an amazing year for me. I turned 21, graduated college, got my first big girl job in New York and rented my first NYC apartment. I am so grateful for everything that has been bestowed on me these last 365 days, and I’m looking forward to everything 2011 is going to bring. I officially move into my new apartment tomorrow, and I feel like there is no better way to begin a new year – a completely new beginning…a grown-up beginning, with grown up problems and grown up joys. God has blessed me in so many beautiful ways. I have family and friends all over the country, and I love and will miss them so much when I move. They support me in wonderful ways, and I couldn’t have gotten to where I am today without them. I have such a great life, and I can’t wait to see where my path leads.

With that said, here are my 2011 New Year Resolutions…

-Stay healthy! (Run a half marathon perhaps?)
-Stay happy!
-Take risks!
-Live in the moment!
-Walk around and smell the flowers…literally. This world is so beautiful, and we miss so much because we’re so busy. In 2011, I’m going to take deep breaths, and take lots of chances. No one ever got to where they needed to go by waiting for life to come to them – it’s my turn to go out and get what I want. I’m going to Love, Laugh and Live everyday – and most of all, I will live my life with purpose.

HAPPY NEW YEAR FRIENDS! May love and happiness find you all year long. <3

Blizzard 2010

The blizzard kept me homebound. I tried. I really tried. This morning I woke up at 5:30, straightened my hair, put on my work clothes and went upstairs to eat breakfast. As I was heading up the stairs, I glanced out the front door and noticed that the entire street had not been plowed in several hours. A good three-four feet of snow was sitting on the road and was blocking both of our cars – the cars I needed to get me to the train station. My dad told me to go back to bed, but before I did, I e-mailed my boss to apologize for not making it in this morning. I decided to check the train updates one last time and saw that all trains had been suspended for the time being. So I gave it my all. I still feel like I maybe should have tried a little harder – perhaps getting stuck on the train with no heat or bathrooms for several hours would have really shown my dedication to the company, but that was a hassle I didn’t feel like dealing with (and couldn’t have dealt with unless I trekked through the snow and walked to the station). It’s 1:25 pm here in NJ and the plows have yet to get to our street. I’m nervous that I’m going to need to shovel my way out tomorrow morning to make sure I get to work.

On the bright side of making zero dollars today, I do have the entire day to pack and I’m making great progress. I’m just about ready to go. I’ve been humming the “NYC” song from the musical Annie for the last two days in preparations for my big move on Wednesday (assuming the plows show up.) I have thrown out a lot of “crap,” and I have all of my bins organized. It’s such a weird feeling to know that I am moving out of my parent’s home – I feel so old. The biggest positive about this move (besides the fact that it’s fulfilling a life-long dream) is that I get to take my wonderful, comfortable, marvelous bed – the bed everyone loves to sleep in. This bed (I’m sitting on it right now) is equivalent to the family saying, “Anywhere we are, as long as we’re together, is home.” Well, anywhere I go with this bed, will be home. I missed it terribly while I was at college. The other great snowy surprise was that my best friend, who was supposed to fly out to New Mexico tonight, has been grounded until Thursday afternoon, so she can now help me move into my new apartment. Everything is working out the way it’s supposed to. Here’s hoping I don’t get fired for failing to get into work today – that would not bode well with my upcoming plans.

Once again stay safe and warm! Don’t go outside unless you absolutely have to (because you’ll make me look bad!)

I'm Dreaming Of A White Post-Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday. I feel so blessed (and full of food!), and I’m sad the holiday season is just about over. I’m also sad about the fact that I have to trek to work tomorrow (anyone else see the blizzard outside?) but I digress. On Christmas Eve, my family and I visited the houses of a few friends in town. I was able to see the young children excited for Santa’s pending arrival and laughed with friends I hadn’t seen since last Christmas. My brother, friends and I then went to midnight mass. I enjoy the midnight service because the church bells ringing before the Priest walks down the aisle inform us that it is officially Christmas morning, and everyone whispers “Merry Christmas to each other before officially singing “O Come All Ye Faithful.”

I had a lovely Christmas morning with my family. You can tell we’re getting older when my brother is still sleeping at 10:30 and Dad, mom and I are watching A Christmas Story while I eat cereal – all while the presents are still wrapped under the tree. We had a great time opening our gifts. Mom cried over the collage frame Scott and I put together for her, so a successful Christmas was had. I started cooking the dinner at around 2 and had everything ready for 4pm when our guests started to arrive. I made a green bean and sweet potato casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes, a pineapple/cranberry dessert and a cheesecake – I was so proud of myself…and no one was poisoned.

Today the leftovers are being eaten and a blizzard has taken over the East Coast. I’m pretty sure there is a state of emergency in NJ and NY, and I’ll be training it up to work tomorrow unless a snow angel grants me a day off. This will be much easier once I’m actually living in NYC. Speaking of…it’s t-3 days and my room looks like a bomb went off. Packing up all of your life long belongings and hoping it will fit in a small bedroom is rough. Looks like mom and dad will be storing lots of “Kate” bins in the attic for the next few years.

Happy Blizzard East Coasters…stay safe and warm.

Embarrassing Story of the Day

The other night, my family and I were having dinner at our local Carrabba’s. My parents had never eaten there before so I thought the place would be perfect for my mom’s birthday dinner. We had a wonderful meal – when have I not had a wonderful meal at Carrabba’s – and when we were finished, the waiter came to grab our plates. He asked how our meal was and my dad said…and I quote “I have two things to say. One, my daughter is available and two the food was great.” I’m sorry, what?! I was mortified. The waiter laughed and then, instead of telling my dad he was happily married, which is what I was secretly hoping for since he was nice, but not my type, he goes along with it (I thought for perhaps a larger tip). The waiter then asks me how old I am and I tell him. He states, “Well, I’m 28…a little older than you (hmm, we’re dealing with a genius here) but maybe we could work something out.” At about this time, my brother is about to pee his pants laughing. I’m just sitting there stunned, not sure what I should do or say. The waiter comes back with our checks and turns to me and say, “I left my number on the check. Give me a call sometime.” I could have killed my father.

Once we got home, I had a decision to make. I could write the entire thing off as a bad dinner (something I’ve never had at Carrabba’s☹), or I could be nice. So I foolishly decided to text him to apologize for my dad’s behavior. We chatted back and forth through texting that night, but he started getting weird…Some texts I received that night: “Who is Kate? Tell me who you think you are”, “Did you see how I switched between first and third person in my text?”, “Do you get offended when I don’t text in proper English?” These are not taken out of context. I fell asleep after about 30 odd questions and the next morning received another text asking what I was doing. Now, I thought to myself, okay, maybe he wants to have lunch or something – it’s a Sunday. Nope, instead I get, “Why don’t you venture down to Atlantic City for the day and hang out in the room with me. I’m watching football.” For those of you who don’t know me or where I’m from, AC is a good hour and half away from me (and it was pouring down rain this day as well), and I don’t usually (ever!) go to strange hotel rooms where people I don’t know reside (he’s from my area…why was he in a hotel room for the day?) and “watch football.” Suffice to say, Carrabba’s waiter and I never ended up hanging out. I promptly told him to have a good holiday and he didn’t contact me after that. Doesn’t anyone have coffee dates anymore…or social skills? I miss the good old days of 13 when you went to the mall together and held hands. Dad’s days of playing matchmaker are officially over.

Hope your love life prospers this holiday season <3

Name Change

Yes, Jersey Girl has left the building. She’s flying away from the nest and settling into a new home with a new comforter and a desk looking out into an ally. I decided to change my blog name for two reasons. One, I really enjoy change. And two, I felt it was time for a title that highlighted all of the happenings in my life. After all, I have been writing about my triumphs, travels and tribulations for many months now, so why not reflect that? This Jersey girl will still be taking on the world, but a new life is beginning, and if the journey so far has been this wonderful, I can only imagine what is to come.

Cue the Jeopardy Theme Song:

So much to do, so little time! I was a college student for the last three Christmases, so when it came time to buy the presents, I was usually done by the third week of December. This year, because I’m working, I am still a couple of gifts short. And I have 2 days to fix this problem! After work today, I went straight uptown to buy my dad his cigars (no worries, he never reads my blog), and then I went to take a peak at the Christmas décor one final time before the 25th. I glanced at the tree, saw the shiny balls on 6th avenue (a favorite), and ran back to the Path train to make sure I was home to wrap before my run. Speaking of wrapping, I still need to purchase the bags, tissue paper, and bows for the gifts as well. I’m beginning to understand a little more why my parents are always out doing “last minute” shopping (I’m convinced it’s ALL of the shopping) on Christmas eve and are up until 4am every year wrapping – it was a little hard to believe in Santa when you weren’t allowed to go in the garage for the night of the 24th and all of the presents (ones from mom and dad, and ones from Santa) had the same paper – oh well, they tried.

I made out a holiday schedule (because I’m awesome like that) to make sure I get through the next few days painlessly and stress free. And I even added in 5 mile runs to all the days in order to be able to eat the carrot cake I’m going to bake tomorrow night guilt free. I’m such an organized person…too organized sometimes (OCD anyone?), and literally the only way I can function is with lots and lots of “to-do” lists. Remember when I was back in college and made a “Three-week end of the quarter” to-do list…yea, that was fun. Anyway, I have a plan. And I know God is laughing at me, but I’m hoping to stick to it. Dinner needs to be cooked on Christmas day (PS my extended family still has not told me if they are coming to dinner or not…nightmare scenario for a planner), presents need to be opened Christmas morning, and a pre-Christmas lunch needs to be had tomorrow afternoon. I will get it all done and pat myself on the back at 10pm December 25th, but it is funny how the days of childhood are officially over. No more happy-go-lucky attitude; no more depending on others to get the work done; no more having mom buy the gift you give to dad; Childhood is finished and Christmas is becoming an entirely new experience, and I will start creating my own traditions for my adult life (perhaps my sweet potato casserole will become a favorite; perhaps I’ll give everyone food poisoning). The only thing that matters is that I attempt to roll with the punches, take deep breaths, and above all remember what this time is truly about: Family, friends and a little baby in a manger.

Different Strokes

I wrote on my twitter account (follow me!) the other day that I found it so interesting how people of the same age can be so different and on such different wave lengths. It’s like we all hit the age of, let’s say 20, and boom – we start spiraling in different directions. Lucky for me, my strong relationships with my friends are withstanding our differences, but it still takes work when you’re moving in one direction and your friends are moving in the opposite. This revelation came about when I was facebook stalking (yes, I do that from time to time) a girl who was in many of my English classes. She was super cool, and I saw she had posted pictures from a wedding she attended. The wedding was for two people who were my age: Two 21 year-olds tying the knot. In the next picture someone snapped of this charming girl, she was holding up her own engagement ring-wrapped finger. The guy (who is also 21) she had been dating for 2 years asked her to marry him.

Now here’s where my different people, same age, story comes in. I have not yet attended a friend’s wedding. I have no close friends who have babies (a number of people I graduated with have children now, but no one close to me.) I do have many friends who are in long term relationships, but they keep saying 25, 26…30 will be when they say “I do.” (Many of my friends have also left long term relationships realizing they wanted different things as they grew older.) Now I grant you, maybe if I was in such a relationship, I would be singing a different tune, but the idea of marriage right now literally makes me laugh out loud. I’m 21, soon to be 22. What do I know about life, myself, or the world to be able to make such an important commitment? I need to see Paris first; I need to move to New York City and live in my tiny apartment; I need to be promoted to a full-time job. Perhaps I’m selfish, but I have so many more “me” things to accomplish before I sign up for a “we.” But this is me, and I am not every other woman in the world. People are different. Regions are different. Women of the South marry much younger on average than women of the Northeast (I watched a show once that said if a southern belle was single at 23, her family started to grow concerned.). The national average for women to marry is age 25, so maybe I’m not totally off base with my thinking, but marrying while still in college seems ludicrous to me. I know many people marry after college but even that (23?) seems so young. My parents got married at 28 (and are happily married today) so that could have something to do with my thought process.

I don’t have an end comment to this post, because I will not sit here and judge others for their life choices – There is no right or wrong answer. I have a feeling a few of my friends will be marrying in the next couple of years, but I’m almost certain no one will be attending a Jersey Girl soon to be City Girl wedding for quite sometime. But what do I know? I could pull a Khloe; meet a guy tomorrow and marry him two months later.

New Adventures

Signed my contract? Check. Hold in my possession four keys of different shapes and sizes? Check. Wrote out a very large check? Um, check. Sounds to me like someone officially lives in Manhattan…or will officially live in Manhattan in 9 short days. Despite the fact that the NY Giants ripped my heart out of my chest yesterday, it definitely was one of the greatest days of my young life simply because I became a NYC renter. I may have to change my blog title: City girl takes on the world? Hmm, might need to think about that some more. But hooray for me! I’m moving. I’m moving. I’m moving. I will have to say that at least 17 more times before I believe it. I purchased a new comforter online today (had no idea until after I fell in love with the dark purple hues that it happens to be the same bedding Bella has in the Twilight movies…and yes, this made me love it even more), my ultimate target run will come early next week and then it’s sayonara Jersey Shore. So Merry, Merry Christmas to me.

I’m excited to write about my adventures discovering my new neighborhood. This is the first time in my life that I will be completely on my own. When I first went to college, the majority of my floor-mates did not know the Columbus area well and so we were all fumbling around together (remember the dark ally anyone? “I’m not scared of anything”). The same thing occurred when my roommates and I moved into our off campus apartment. We ventured out together to see where the good coffee shops, local bars, and easy routes to walk home were located. Now that I’m a grown up (scary, right?), I’m searching for grocery stores within walking distance (Whole Foods is 5 blocks away), new doctors, dentists, dry cleaners, coffee shops (DD is on the corner), banks, and bars (I’m 5 blocks from Columbia, so I’m sure the majority of bars in the area will be “college bars.” Definitely positives and negatives to that – future Ivy League boyfriend, future frat boy puking on the street.) I know I’ll be getting tons of pointers from my awesome future roommate, but it’s good to understand your surroundings and discover all that is around you. I always tell people that I am an expert at “touristy” New York. I can tell you every fun thing to do in Midtown, every museum that must be visited and all the subways that get you to and from Times Square, but the Upper (way upper) West Side is a foreign land to me, so it will take many days of walking in circles and sitting in front of my laptop with Google maps opened to conquer it all. As for now, I know how to run from my front door to Central Park and back; I know where to get my Sunday morning bagel, and I know what train I need to take to get to work…I’m way ahead of the curve.

This Is What Dreams Are Made Of

Hello friends…It has finally happened. Yesterday I went to view the apartment I told you about in my last post, and I fell in love. It is so perfect for me, and my future roommate is exactly what I was looking for! I think we’ll get along perfectly. The bedroom is huge, the kitchen is roomy and the price is perfect. I thought I was going to have to compromise in many key areas, but my new bedroom is larger than the bedroom I reside in now. Friends will be able to fit nicely on the air mattress I will be purchasing in the next couple of weeks! I couldn’t be more pleased with how everything turned out. I move in around the 29th of December. That is only 2 ½ short weeks away! So now the packing begins. It’s so funny how life can work sometimes. I didn’t want to get my hopes too high while I was waiting to view the apartment. How many people have to view tons of apartments before finding the one? And I just had to look at one….how lucky am I? I’m thrilled beyond belief and I can’t wait to buy my new comforter for my new bedroom ☺

Pictures to come soon!

I'm Moving...Soon!

I have great news. I finally have decided to search for a living space in New York City. I’m so excited! A relative sent me an email she received from a neighbor saying her cousin’s daughter (does that make sense?) is looking for a roommate. I jumped at the offer, and I’m viewing the place on Saturday. I’m thrilled, ecstatic, jumping for joy, over the moon, dancing in the street. This woman did say she has others viewing the place so I’m trying not to get too excited about possibility living on the Upper West Side (eek!). I’m keeping my fingers crossed and sending up a silent prayer to God that this will all work out. If not, on to the next available place. Ps, this also means I’m officially going to become a New York City blogger – how cliché is that?

I had a small panic attack on the Path ride home yesterday as I started thinking about the possibility of moving out of my childhood home in less than a month. Will I be able to afford it? Will I be happy living with someone I don’t really know? Will I be able to afford it? That question popped up a few times. The one thing I will try my hardest not to do is move back home, so for me, this will be goodbye to my house and Pt. Pleasant unless some unforeseeable event occurs where I have no other option. I’ve been ready to leave the nest for months but now that it’s a reality, I’m a tad scared. My parents completely changed their tune on the whole situation practically overnight – they are all for this move. My thought is that the fight we had this past weekend pushed them over the edge and they are silently kicking me out, but this theory has not been proven. They told me in the car yesterday that people are capable of doing anything they set their minds to (cute, right?), and if I choose to move to NYC, I’ll make it work. I don’t care if I have to work at Macy’s, be a weekend nanny or waitress at nights, I’ll figure out a way to make sure I stay put. I went to sleep last night with all of these thoughts racing around in my head and when I woke up this morning, I felt ready. (It really is true what they say. You should take a night’s sleep before making any major decision in your life. The right answer will be there when you wake up.)

So anyway, there it is. I’m moving to New York in the next couple of months. Depending on how I like this apartment and how the girl living there likes me, it could be January 1st, or I may have to look around a bit more and it could be March 1st, but my apartment search has officially begun and I couldn’t be happier.

To any relatives reading this post who plan to send me a Christmas present: Lots of cash, please. I’ll need it ☺