A New Chapter: We Moved to NYC
Goodbye California!
A few weeks ago, a few days before Halloween, we donated and sold everything we own, including our cars and furniture. We packed up our remaining clothes and personal mementos into 4 carry ons (2 each). Everything we had to our names was in those 4 carry ons. As a minimalist, I have never felt so liberated in my life! Before our flight, we stayed in a hotel near our office for a few nights, so we could easily walk to work while they did some repairs to our condo to prepare for tenants. After a few days, we finally boarded our one-way 6am flight on October 28th (now one of the most memorable days of my life) and I have never been so excited to get on a plane! After landing in NYC, we stayed 1 night in a hotel before moving into our new apartment in the city.
That first night after arriving in NYC, we walked around Chelsea in awe and in a bit of a daze. It did not feel real that we had just moved across the country in a matter of 6 hours. The city was buzzing with energy, random Halloween costumes everywhere, and it was a perfectly beautiful fall night. The only way I could describe how I felt was my heart and soul felt weightless. For the first time in a long time, I truly felt like I was on cloud nine. I knew in my bones that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I was in a city I love, with the person I love - and my heart felt so full. Cheers to a new chapter!
These first few weeks in NYC have been an absolute whirlwind. I have soaked up every second of it and it has been nothing short of exciting, thrilling, and energizing (while exhausting in the best way possible). We have continued to work every day (did not take a single day off for the move) and did not miss a beat adjusting to life and work in a new place. To add to the excitement, I also started a new job on a new team at work 1 week after arriving! We got all the basic furniture we needed within 1 week of moving in. And we have already done tons of activities and logged probably close to 100 miles of walking, including Chinatown, Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, Broadway Show, the Knicks Game at Madison Square Garden, Wall Street, Ground Zero, Little Island, Battery Park… the list goes on! We already have established some favorite places and feel so excited by how much we still have to explore. We also went rock climbing with Sam and Shay and have been walking absolutely everywhere. It recently took a turn to very cold winter weather, and lots of holiday festivities and decor have already been put up. Today we went to Winter Village in Bryant Park and it was so adorable. I am in love with this city and so happy.
Quick Rewind: final moments in California
In the final few weeks before moving, I spent lots of time with family which I will cherish forever. Perhaps the most memorable of them was spending a few nights at my mom’s house and having the best “girl’s time” where we did lots of interior decorating, reality TV, and just laughing and talking non stop. I will never forget that time with my mom who will always be my soul sister. Before I left, we went to lunch and she surprised me with a beautiful gold “R” necklace (very Carrie Bradshaw) which I treasure so much. I also spent lots of time with Donovan, taking him to acai bowls, Target, and jumping around his room. His laugh makes me so happy and he is truly auntie’s little trickster!
My mom and I also planned a baby sprinkle for Ronnie and Beth, who have since welcomed my adorable, most precious nephew Tristan into the world! The sprinkle was so much fun and we loved seeing our close family and friends. I loved getting to see Mercy, Kaia, and Donovan play together, and give them tours of the house while they explored and asked lots of questions. They are the cutest little trio!
We had a great time visiting the fam and catching up on all the things with Luke & Sophia. It is crazy how much they have grown up into literal adults over the past 10 years that I have known them! I always love hanging with them so it was very bittersweet knowing we won’t get to hang out at the Pires family events together as often.
I took Mercy for a final tea party and spooky escape room date at the Winchester Mystery House. This time, we wore dresses in addition to our little hats, and Mercy loved the scrapbooks of memories I made her from the past 9 years (since she was born). After the escape room (which we were SO close to escaping) I let her pick out any dress she wanted, and she chose a beautiful sparkly gold dress that looked so cute on her (and of course a matching one for little sis). It was hard to say goodbye to those two little bundles of love - I adore them very much!
