Found a New Place! Moving in T-Minus 36 Hours.

Goodbye, Washington Heights! Hello, Upper East Side!

Hello, Best Buy and Barnes & Noble within walking distance. Hello, Shake Shack and Chipotle. Hello, 6-train and good riddance A-train!

So long to the Friday, Saturday, and holiday 2am fiestas! Toodles to our 40° bedroom. Hello, five flights of stairs every single day... And, coincidentally, hey there, quads! Miss me?

Yep, we're moving. And we had exactly nine days to pack this time. Correction: Make that I had nine days to pack. Matt has been absolutely no help, because Matt has been at work all day every day. But, we knew that would happen, so... I've been sucking it up and trying to pack two people's possessions. And it does, seriously, suck.

I have a bit more left... The kitchen and the bathroom, mostly. And the tops of the dressers in the bedroom. All my books are tucked neatly away in boxes and shopping bags, and my clothes are in garbage bags. You should see where my loyalties lie.

The movers will be here at 9:00 Wednesday morning, the internet/tv installation is taking place between 4:00 and 5:00 (so... like... 6:00 and 7:00?), and our first order of groceries should be arriving around that time period, too. So we should have just about everything we need in our new place by 9:00 on Wednesday evening. Then, and only then, will I allow myself to rest.

The past two weeks have been crazy. Absolutely torturous and stressful. But, I think, we're going to land feet first. We got the apartment I referenced in the last entry, the two bedroom on the Upper East Side. 85th and Lexington, to be exact. It's way smaller than the place we have now (even with the two "bedrooms"), but I think it'll work better for us. Less to clean, less to pack with unnecessary furniture and what not. Matt mentioned that he's looking forward to downsizing and I think I have to agree. We barely made use of all the space we have now. Sure, we'll miss it, but I think we'll get used to everything pretty quickly. Especially our new area...

I'm so excited about the new area; it more than makes up for the higher rent, the realtor's fee, and the smaller rooms. There's so much to do; we'll be three blocks from Central Park, one block from the subway stop and the bus stop, and just a few blocks south is tons of shopping. Plus, we're only ten blocks from Andrew for the time being, so no more passive-aggressive arguing about who has to make the trip across the park to visit the other.

Once we actually get settled, though, it's time to really buckle down and save. I have to find more freelance, try to get more organized at work, and start working on the young adult novel that I've had to put on hold during this whole search. We'll unpack a little at a time, try to figure out how everything will fit, and hopefully I'll be able to have people over for my birthday, which is a Sunday this year and comes right before President's Day, which is an office holiday.

Matt's twenty-fifth birthday is tomorrow; I bought presents, but didn't wrap them. Didn't bother with a card for the very first birthday ever because I figured it'd get lost in the mess that is our current apartment. But hopefully we'll be able to celebrate this week or next. His days off may be changing from Wednesday/Thursday to Friday/Saturday, which means we may actually be able to act like a real couple in their mid-twenties and go out on the weekends. Within reason, of course, because we're supposed to be budgeting.

It'll probably take a while to get photos of the new place with all our stuff inside, so for now, I'll leave you with a few I took tonight when I went over to measure the rooms and test out my keys (and the commute). The keys gave me a hard time (as did the stairs... which makes me nervous for the movers...), but I think we'll be okay in this place.

Front door is to the right. At the back of the building. New fridge and stove.

New cabinets, new stove. Not a lot of counter space, but we'll figure something out. I don't really cook to begin with...

Potty.

Room #1 off the kitchen. It's tiny; thinking the futon and something else will go in here.

Room #2, between Room #1 and the bedroom. This will probably be the living room, only because we don't think we want people walking through our bedroom to get to the living room.

Bedroom; bigger than what we have now. Closet is in Room #2 and is pretty deep. Windows look out at the huge apartment complex across the street and the fire station.

Other view of Bedroom.

Eleven apartments later... Still looking... But close?

As made obvious via my Facebook posts from today and yesterday, I am completely worn out. Work plus apartment hunting has totally wiped me out this week. Physically, yeah, but emotionally as well.

At work, it's hard to concentrate on the actual work because all I can think about is looking at apartments. Will we find something? Will we be forced to settle? What happens if we can't get out in time? Do we have enough money for this? Will the guarantors be accepted? And on, and on, and on... Constant stress. On top of a catalog season that hasn't quite started yet, but will certainly keep me busy for a while.

After a disappointing experience Wednesday night, Matt and I met with a new realtor and company last night. And she's absolutely amazing. As I explained to a few people this morning, we told the first agent, "We'd like A, B, and C." And they were like, "Meh... How 'bout X, Y, and Z?" They told us we couldn't afford what we wanted and that we basically had to go up hundreds of dollars in our already tight budget to get even close to what we're looking for. They took us to three places, we couldn't get in one because they didn't have the right keys, and we sneaked into another that the landlord specifically told us we could not see. And the ones that we did see just weren't... worth the money we would have to pay for them.

The first company insisted that for our budget, we'd need to look at studios. They didn't show us a single "true" one bedroom and they didn't even take us to the Lower East Side, which is where we really wanted to be. That is our ideal location. However, we're extremely flexible. We just need Matt's commute to not be stupid long anymore.

So previously that day, I'd gotten an email, a text, and a phone call from an agent from a different company who I had emailed two days earlier. I texted her while we were eating Wednesday night after seeing the disappointing apartments with the first company. By 11:00 that night, she'd already given me a full list of properties we could afford—all true one bedrooms—and most were LES. So we set up an appointment for Thursday and I left work early to meet her at 4.

We saw seven apartments on the LES last night. Seven apartments that, according to the first company, were not in our budget and didn't even exist. And what's even more, the agent took us to open houses. So anyone could've seen them. So it's not like the first company didn't know about them or didn't have access to  them. Ugh. Whatever.

Of the seven, we really liked two. One was directly across the street from Matt's restaurant. The other, three blocks away. We got really excited about them, got our hopes up really far, and decided to put applications in. So we went back to the agent's office on Union Square and by the time we got there, someone else had put in an app for the apartment across the street from wd~50. Bummer. Big, old, bummer. So we went in as a back up and said if we couldn't get that one, we'd want to apply to the one three blocks away. We left the office at 9:45 last night.

Well, we didn't get the first one. And then while we were putting paperwork together and exchanging phone calls and everything else today, I remembered to ask about the second apartment's move-in date. We need a move-in date of February 15 at the latest because new tenants will be in our apartment March 1. Well, of course this place was March 1 move-in. And none of us knew that (agents included) because last night, two apartments in the building were open. And when we heard one was February 15, I guess we all thought the other was, as well. So, we didn't even bother applying for the second one because we can't be homeless for two weeks.

So... we're both totally, completely disappointed. Distraught. Stressed even worse. I couldn't concentrate on my work, and I had planned on staying at the office until 7 or 8 tonight to catch up on the hours I missed when I had to leave early to meet with the agents this week. But at 4:30, I got a text from the agent asking if I could meet her on the Upper East Side at 6:30. And of course I said sure.

And I'm so glad I did. Because I saw three apartments in one building—and I'm positive we'd be happy in any of them. Two bedrooms, living room, kitchen with new appliances, updated bathroom. In all three. In an awesome part of UES. We wouldn't even really have to get rid of much of our furniture. I think we could make it work. So... I texted Matt like mad while he was at work and we decided to apply for them. I was at the office with the VP and my agent until 9:30 again, filling out forms and getting information for the app. It's ridiculous how hard it is to rent a place in NYC, but... I understand it. I do. But that doesn't make it any less of a pain in the ass.

So, our apps are in for that apartment. But... the work is not yet over. And neither is the waiting game. We won't find out if we get any of them until Monday. Tuesday at the latest. So in the meantime, I'm meeting with our agent again tomorrow. And we're seeing a few more places on the UES. So far, I've spent about four hours filling out paperwork in this woman's office. And eight hours looking at places. And I only just started working with her on Thursday. She's awesome. She listens to us. She understands what we want and she's not pushing us toward anything we don't want and aren't ready for. I can't wait to find a place so I can write her a great review on like, every website I can find.

So after I search tomorrow, I'm headed to the office to work in peace for a little while. No phones, no emails. Just need to knock a bunch of stuff off my to-do list. And then, depending on what I get accomplished tomorrow and how tired I am at the end of the day, we'll see if I go back in on Sunday.

For now, I'm going to cuddle up on the couch under a bunch of blankets, watch some TLC wedding shows, and maybe sleep until Matt gets home... in like, two hours. Gross.

So tired. And it's not over yet.

Apartment Hunt #2: Officially Underway

Since I last wrote, quite a bit has happened. At work, we're gearing up for our Fall 2013 season and I officially acquired my tenth book today! (Happy dance.) Tons of original work coming out in time for next Christmas that I'm super psyched to edit. Memoirs and novels mostly, which... is pretty perfect for me.

In the meantime, though, work is kicking my ass in every way, whether I'm at home or at my desk. I have a feeling I'll be spending the next few weekends in the office, just trying to catch up—and then get ahead. Which is actually okay because we could use the money, because...

We're moving! Again.

It's official. I received confirmation last week that we could get out of our lease without any penalties and they already have someone moving in March 1. So we're looking to get out by February 15. We met with an agent today, looked at two places on the Upper East Side, but really weren't impressed. By the agents, by the apartments... The area was cool, but still too far away from where we want to be. The Lower East Side is somewhat unrealistic for our budget, but I've been in touch with another realtor for a different company and she sent us a few listings in the LES that we could possibly see Thursday or I could see on Saturday.

So, we're making progress. We have a few weeks, but we'd really like to know where we'll be by February 1 so we can schedule a moving company, send our extra furniture home, and pack and clean. The search today was almost disheartening, especially because the people we were touring with kept emphasizing that we couldn't get what we wanted. We know we're going to be sacrificing space—and a bit more money—but we're willing to do that if we can spend a bit more time together and reduce Matt's fifteen-hours-per-week commute.

So, mid-February, if all goes according to plan... We'll be seeing Anthony Raneri play an acoustic set on February 13. Valentine's Day is the 14th, although we're not quite sure if we're going to celebrate it because we may be a bit po'. I'll be taking my "floating holiday" on the 15th to watch the movers (alone, because Matt's going to get out of another move. This is #3 that he doesn't have to help with). The 16th, we'll be unpacking. And the 17th, still unpacking, and celebrating my birthday. Again, alone. Unless I can get some people to take me out. And then the 18th, President's Day, the office is closed. So more unpacking!

Busy, busy month. And before that all happens, Matt's birthday is coming and we're supposed to be getting a visit from Stan, which will result in what I can only assume will be an impressive evening as we dine with Matt at wd~50 on a discount. But we'll see what happens.