me in union square, xmas 2006

you may or may not know that show & tell has been one of my favorite activities since childhood. i could NOT wait to bring my prized possessions in to share with the class. this did not change when i got older…whenever friends came to visit, i would bust out anything new i had to show them! so when i read on one of my (if not THE) favorite blogs that she was having a brag book link up, i struggled with what to share! so i decided i would instead share with you one of my proudest accomplishments.

at age 30 i made the decision to quit my job of over five years and move to nyc (i am born and raised in southern ca). i did not know anyone. i did not have a job. two weeks later i was living in nyc. it did not start off well. a week after moving there, my new roommate informed me that he was moving out. oh and then he stole one of my checks and decided to pay a bill with it. so there i was, drowning my sorrows at the local bar when the bartender offered to let me live in his living room (completely normal in nyc). this was not ideal but totally added to my nyc experience. i am not joking when i say that this place was like joe’s apartment. when you turned the lights on cockroaches would scatter. i slept on an air mattress with roach spray and roach traps on every corner. i started to wonder if i had made the biggest mistake of my life. BUT i quickly grew to LOVE nyc and i spent hours upon hours just walking the streets of manhattan. after about a month, i finally landed a job at goldman sachs and moved into a new apartment in chelsea. i ended up going through two roommates…both being a total disaster. not entirely their faults…i have NEVER been good with roommates. but i also made some forever friends and really had the time of my life. i could have easily given up and just come back home many times, but something kept me there. it was meant to be.

when looking through my photos from my year and a half in nyc, i was kinda shocked at how many pictures of doors i took. i really feel that my moving to new york forever changed me and who i am and opened so many doors in my life. here are some pics i would like to share with you:

i lived on 21st & 8th ave in chelsea. my room was right above spruce florist. you can see my bamboo blinds in the window. i lived right across from rawhide (a gay bar which has since sadly closed down) and it was always a fun crowd. i spent hours just people watching from my bedroom that overlooked 8th ave. so much fun.

on one of my first nights in nyc, i got dressed up and went to the pen top bar at the peninsula hotel (it has since shut down and re-opened under a different name) and bought myself a fancy $20 drink.

i was able to tour the inside of cgbg’s before it closed it’s doors in oct of 2006. i stood on the stage. it was pretty amazing.

this is where i worked at goldman sachs on 85 broad street (this photo was taken early morning on the weekend so that is why there are no people on the street). during fall it was always fun to go have drinks at the little bars on the cobblestone street behind it. i can’t for the life of me think of the names of the bars, but it was fun!

if you are a led zeppelin fan like me, then you might recognize this building from the cover of their album physical graffiti.

and last but not least…you can not live in nyc and not sit on the stoop of carrie bradshaw’s apartment (or where they filmed her front door scenes anyway). i went on the sex & the city tour and had a blast visiting all of the places that the satc girls frequented!

categories: show & tell12 comments

12 Comments ( Reply )

  1. jasna
    Feb 25, 2011 @ 12:20 pm

    Love ur blog : ) xx

  2. the Blah Blah Blahger
    Feb 25, 2011 @ 1:20 pm

    LOVE this!!! I lived in DC after college and have the same nostalgic feeling about it. What a great thing to have stored up in our memory banks!

  3. Katherine @ Grass Stains
    Feb 25, 2011 @ 2:17 pm

    Of all the things to brag about, great pictures of NYC is a great one. 🙂 Loved seeing your pictures and the little caption snippets that bring them to life!

  4. Austin Girl
    Feb 25, 2011 @ 2:27 pm

    WOW!! I’m in love with your blog, the softness, the colors. Your photo of the Led Zeppelin building is stunning. I will be visiting your blog! Take care – Austin Girl
    @austingirl

  5. Laurita P
    Feb 25, 2011 @ 4:09 pm

    looks like your nyc experience was amazing. i’d like to spend some time in that city since i’ve only been there about 24 hours on a few different occasions.

    http://adorablydeliciouslp.blogspot.com

  6. laura @ hollywood housewife
    Feb 26, 2011 @ 8:22 pm

    This is such a good brag! I moved to LA not knowing anyone, but somehow I think doing it in NYC is so much scarier! Isn’t it amazing how risky decisions like that can change a person?

    (Thanks for participating in the link up!)

  7. kelsey
    Feb 27, 2011 @ 1:14 pm

    what an awesome story and piece of your life! thanks for sharing. i love all the doors 🙂

  8. jennz.
    Feb 27, 2011 @ 8:10 pm

    Ahh, this brought a tear to my eye. I remember it so clearly. I am so sad I never was able to visit while you were living in NYC. We all missed you dearly. You are a remarkable woman. It’s weird to say ‘woman’, but that is what you are. Strong, independent and, not to mention, as stubborn as a bull! Love you and thank you for sharing…

  9. Linda W
    Feb 28, 2011 @ 8:42 am

    Beautiful. It is so great to hear and see this story. I up and moved to Austin after college when everyone assumed I’d head to NYC (where my family is originally from). I love hearing from other people what it was like to take a risk and go somewhere new. And the pictures are lovely.

  10. jess @ balanced libra
    Jun 18, 2011 @ 7:58 am

    HOw Cool is this post!? I have been to NY many times to vaca, and I have the sads just thinking about how I never actually got to live there, how rad that you have that experience.

  11. Lisa
    Sep 10, 2013 @ 7:18 am

    Lovely. I am a transplanted New Yorker who spends lots of time daydreaming about how wonderful it would be if we could ever get to live there again. Thanks for the photos and for sharing.

  12. The Stylish Gimp
    Sep 10, 2013 @ 3:13 pm

    What an amazing experience!! I sometimes wish I could go back in time and do something like this … f course my life would not be what it is to day so…. I probably wouldn’t if a time machine ever took me back.