NEW YORK

I'm baaaaaack. Wow, it's been almost a year since a post. I must be busy or something?

BUT it has been SIX months since moving to New York! Time flies when you're having fun! Truly, these last six months have been fun, new, exciting, busy, demanding, rewarding, surprising, lovely, magical, and happy! 

I have so much to say, so sorry if this post is SUPER LONG because it will be. Where do I even start? I guess I'll start with our apartment/neighborhood!

OUR APARTMENT:

This is one of the biggest blessings we have received. Maybe ever. One of the stresses I had when we knew we were moving to New York was finding an apartment. We found out Alex got into school around this time last year. We thought maybe student housing but I wanted to make sure I couldn't find a better deal ;) Well, thank goodness for the Mormon community (hello...built-in friends everywhere in the world) because there is an LDS housing Google doc for NYC. I posted on it to see if anything was available come summer. Sure enough, a miracle happened. A girl messaged me and told me they were moving in May. Their apartment happened to be a 15-minute walk to Columbia, was fairly spacious, AND had rent control. You might not know what this means if you haven't lived here. As long as the lease to this apartment keeps renewing, the rent never goes up. So yeah, it's about half the cost that it should be. Totally amazing and we love it and I count my blessings every day for it. Sure the laundry is in the basement and the kitchen/bathroom are small but IDGAF because it's perfect for us. 

Our neighborhood is great. There are actually semi-cheap places to eat (unlike places in Midtown or the West Village). Our favorite place is called Saiguette. It's Vietnamese and it's incredible. We're also by two major train lines, a post office, 3 grocery stores, and a billion other restaurants. We love where we are. We have already had people stay with us TEN times now haha. We're basically THE airbnb of New York. Come visit ;)

COLUMBIA:

Well, I can't really speak for Alex, but from an outsider's perspective, Columbia has been everything he (we) have ever hoped for! First, we have met SO many incredible people. Seriously, just some of the most down-to-earth people are in Alex's class. Second, the network is unreal here. Pretty much every large company you can think of has given an info session on campus. The resources here have been incredible. There are Columbia grads all over the world working for every company, and the love they have for the current students is huge. Anyone is so willing to help, mentor, tutor, chat, and help in any way they can. 

School has been VERY BUSY! Some days I barely see Alex because of all the classes, studying, networking, interviewing, etc. He is really making the most of it and I'm so proud of him. I also don't think I've ever seen him so happy! He is definitely in his element being back in school, but this time he has an even greater purpose. He's so into everything and is soaking up his time. He's also part of a club called "Follies" where they basically make music videos and make fun of things about Columbia. It's hilarious and I never thought I would see him be a part of something like this haha. It's a great outlet. 

Alex is basically 1/4 of the way done and time is already flying! I am so happy for him and we really feel that this is where he was supposed to go!

(OH BTW I'M ALSO TEACHING ZUMBA ON CAMPUS. NBD. I TEACH AT COLUMBIA.)

MY JOB:

ALRIGHT let me just say that I have lucked out BIG TIME. I could not have asked for a better place to work. I was so nervous because I truly loved some of the offices I was at in Utah. My first few interviews out here were NOT GOOD (aka the dentists were crazy or their staff were crazy or the place smelled like musky cologne). 

The office that I am at now is the exact place I am supposed to be. Dr. Rhieu, the dentist I work for, is terrific. She is actually from Arizona and has been on the east coast since she started college. She is so kind and treats me very well! I also love the staff I work with. Everyone is amazing, as well as our patients. I see mostly young professionals (25-40) that work in all different places. The office is new as of January and the VIEW is incredible. I overlook the Trinity Church and it's beautiful! 

I am working full time and my commute is about 40 min. This was the only drawback I had at first but I actually love my commute. I read my scriptures on the train ride down and then read or listen to music back. It's a nice way to decompress and I'm not dealing with traffic ;)

OKOK on to the fun stuff. I made these lists myself and am real proud. I'm sure I'll add more in another 6 months.

FIRST LIST: MYTHS ABOUT NEW YORK:

1. Wall Street is where all the finance jobs are--FALSE. They are all pretty much in Midtown. There are some finance companies in the World Trade Center, but Wall Street is def not the finance capital any more

2. New York has the best food in the world--MMMM YA fight me on this. This is straight opinion and maybe it will change! New York has (almost) every kind of food (sorry but haven't found a bomb Mexican place yet) HOWEVER most places are average. YES there are some amazing restaurants and a lot of good treat places but my favorite restaurants of all time are not in New York. The other HUGE issue I have is everything is so overpriced it almost makes it taste worse haha. They always say free food tastes better.

3. People are rude--I mean, sure, you get some rude people. But in a sea of 8.6 million people, of course you'll have some rude ones. For the most part, I think people here are nice. NOW. You have to realize that in Manhattan, there are so many people from all over the world. But for the people who are true New Yorkers --they are nice people! Like so down to earth and hilarious. A little blunt, yes, but being blunt makes life easier! I see people all the time give up their seats on the train, go out of there way to help you with directions, smile, etc. People here are nice.

4. New York is dangerous--Honestly, I have never had an unsafe moment, especially around where we live. Manhattan is so safe. There are always people around at every hour of the day. And just FYI--Buffalo, NY is more dangerous than NYC. Look it up.

5. The Upper East Side is ritzy AF--I mean, Gossip Girl ruined this for us. Sure, if you're right by the park on 5th Ave, yes, you are loaded. However, I'd say the richest people live in Tribeca/the West Village. Go there. There's nothing but apartments and super expensive bars and restaurants. 


FAVORITE NEW YORK MOMENTS:

1. Winning the Mean Girls Lottery--OK so Alex and I went to the in-person lottery for Mean Girls and Wicked and WON BOTH. Sadly, I don't think they do the Mean Girls lottery anymore, but you can still do it online. Mean Girls is in my top 3 favorite movies so obviously it was a magical experience AND we were in the front row! So, so good. Go see it.
2. Macy's Thanksgiving Parade--This was a top New York moment despite the 20 degree temps. Sure, it was freezing, but SO much happiness! It's just amazing to see something you've grown up seeing on TV. Being a part of the action and energy in person was incredible.
3. Seeing the view of Central Park from the Robert Restaurant--made me realize how beautiful that park is and felt like a Gossip Girl moment
4. Going to the Hamptons--also one large Gossip Girl moment. SO beautiful there
5. Seeing a man pee on the subway--I mean....it's New York. There's nothing that you won't see. 
6. Yelling at a car like a true New-Yorker--the light was green for me to walk and I was walking with phone in hand. A car tried to turn the corner and almost hit me. He yelled at me to get off my phone and I IMMEDIATELY yelled back without thought. I've definitely made it, Mom.


There's so much more to say about this amazing place we live but I will save it for another post. Here is a huge picture dump for you to enjoy :)

xoxo,

kay

London

Back in September, we had friends that asked if we wanted to take a trip to Paris with them. Of course we wanted to, but we had just gone to Italy/Greece earlier in the year. However, YOLO and FOMO are a real thing for Alex and me so we jumped on board! First off, tickets were only $450 out of LA. There's a cheap flight to LA from Provo, so this was a good decision! Our schedules with our friends were a little different so Alex and I went out about 5 days before them to go to London as well. 

Ok, let's talk LONDON. London is charming, clean, historic, and ended up having GREAT food. I didn't know what to think about the city before we went. They speak English, they aren't known for their food, it's pretty safe, they like tea :) ...we just really didn't know what to expect. I researched a lot on Pinterest (basically how I always plan trips) and we made a schedule. London is great because of the variety of activities (see list below). 

Here's some of the things we did while in London:

1) I'll just start with the one poor choice---Buckingham Palace. Never do it. It was long, boring, crowded, and stupid. Sorry, I said it. Seeing the outside was semi-cool. But don't watch the changing of the guards, I beg you.

2) Harry Potter tour---DO THIS IF YOU ARE A HP FAN!! It's called Tour for Muggles. You walk around the city and see different filming locations, places where J.K. Rowling wrote or got ideas for her book, etc. So much fun! (We also went to platform 9 3/4 on our own at the King's Cross station)

3) Borough Market---the best market you will ever eat at. Get the pulled-pork mac'n'cheese. BOMB. FREAKING BOMB. The market has food from all over the world. The Ethiopian food was a close second!! SO GOOD.

4) Ride in the double-decker busses (aka busses). Almost all of the busses are double-decker so you will ride one if you get a train/buss pas. It's so fun to sit at the top!

5) Hyde Park. Beautiful in the fall and there were still colorful leaves in late November. They had a winter festival at night that we went to as well.

6) TEA TIME. You will regret this if you don't go!!! It was my favorite thing I did in London. We went to the Orangery. You get cute little sandwiches, scones, desserts and wonderful tea.

7) Musicals. We saw Les Miserables and Matilda. Both so good and way cheaper than in New York!

8) Tower of London and Tower Bridge---so historic and beautiful. We watched a documentary on the Tower of London before we went. Really cool to see that history in person.

9) Westminster Abbey---where most of the royal family gets married (except Harry and Meghan) and the coronations take place. Gorgeous interior.

10) British Museum and Museum of Natural History. We saw the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum, which was awesome. The Natural History museum was incredible and is HUGE! If I were to pick one, I would do Museum of Natural History. Both were SO great.

11) DAY TRIP---we took a day trip to the Windsor Caste (where Harry and Meghan are getting married and the queen lives on weekends), Oxford's campus, and Stonehenge! I'm SO glad we had a few extra days because this tour was amazing. All 3 were great sights. Stonehenge was my favorite!
12) Other Landmarks---Big Ben (sadly it was under construction), the London Eye (large ferris wheel), St. Paul's cathedral (we just looked at the outside because it was so expensive), House of Parliament (by the Abbey and Big Ben), Trafalgar Square, Notting Hill (all the cute houses), Shakespeare's Globe Theater, Harrod's (huge department store), Picadilly circus (mini Times Square)


Pictures from London:

Such a fun trip! We will definitely come back some day. 

xoxo,
kay