Home in Harlem

Yep, that's right, my new hood is Harlem (pun intended). Let me tell you: when you don't quite feel like throwing away thousands of dollars (LITERALLY) on a brokers fee, and don't want to live in limbo for a month between your lease ending and another beginning, and your future roommate doesn't have a job out here yet... your choices are a bit limited. However, the new unit is a HUGE upgrade for me, and I am really starting to feel at home!

For one, there is truly a sense of community in Harlem. My neighbors greet me on the stairs and people say hi on the streets. Our apartment is HUGE and affords us so much space. We may have found nicer neighborhoods waaaaay out in Queens (EVERYWHERE in Astoria has brokers fees), but from where I am I can WALK to work in TEN minutes. I'm not even exaggerating... I left the house at a quarter til yesterday and was worried about being late, but I still showed up five minutes early. And it is so spacious and sunny where we are.

See below the living room...





And the entryway...





The kitchen...







And the bathroom...





Alex's room (before he'd even flown to NYC yet)



Aaaaaaaaand MY room!! (And YES those are TWO closets!)









I certainly miss my old neighborhood, and this will take some getting used to, but I think Alex and I are going to be pretty happy for this year!

Staff Directory

Sometimes I still don't realize that I work for Columbia University! I know, I'm so pathetic, saying that every five seconds, but it's starting to hit home.

http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/about_sipa/staff/staff_directory.html

Awkward-angle picture of me on the staff directory of the SIPA website. Yaaaay!

THEweekend.

This past weekend was many, many things. NYC Pride Festival Weekend, Dad's Birthday Weekend, and ultimately Moving Weekend. It was so exhausting, it's still hard to talk about it!

I HAVE to say this though: for as much as I say I'm alone in New York City, or "don't really know anyone out here," I was proven completely wrong and actually overwhelmed by the amount of friends and help I had come to support me in my move. Knowing what a deplorable task it is to move, and not wanting to displace anyone, I ONLY asked Ronnie and Betsy to help me schlep things up and down stairs to my new digs. Just talking about the dreaded upcoming move around the (old) office though, people were actually VOLUNTEERING to come and help! All in all, I ended up having EIGHT pairs of helping hands! In addition to Ronnie and Betsy, Jayna and Jenny came, Jenny got a plus one for her husband Joe, then Asias admission manager and super social Josh and his wife Shoko came along, and Chrishon even drove down from Boston to lend her organizing expertise and car. I felt SO THANKFUL and BLESSED, the Dinosaur BBQ and Coronas that I bought as a thank you just didn't feel like enough.

It did get incredibly interesting though. Here's a back story: after going to Ronnie's on Thursday for dinner, my last chance to finish the packing was Friday... but that went out the window when the day was spent with the new office having lunch at Eataly and walking the Highline Park, only to finish around 3:30p and I end up at the old office like a lost little kitty from the pound going back to my first home. And what? There was a happy hour? So I crashed that. Hours after the Triple Crown we relocate to a Latin / Brazilian live music joint and when Josh and I decide to split a cab uptown, I couldn't quite make it all the way, so I crashed on Josh's couch that night, waking up late on Saturday morning, and giving me no window of opportunity to finish the packing left at my place. Not to mention, Josh was hooking Alex up with an old bed so we had to drive the UHaul to his parent's place in Westchester first! So I show up late, hungover, and on a time limit, and we cranked that thing out... packing and unloading, returning the truck and all! Josh was a MACHINE.(BTW, it was my dad's bday on Saturday and he called and i was SO flustered in the middle of the move, HE had to bring up the fact that it was his birthday!! Sorry about that again... but you got the card later that day, which is proof that I never really forgot about it!)

Even after the lunch and relaxing, Chrishon, Josh and Shoko stayed and helped my UNPACK everything... putting all the rooms together and everything! Can't thank everyone enough. After showers and relaxing, Chrishon and I met up with Josh and Shoko again and their friends down at some bars in the East Village. Everything was pretty lively with the recent NY State decision to legalize same-sex marriage. Chrishon and I get back around 3 or 3:30am to spend the first night in my new place together, and I woke up with so much sunlight!!

After Starbucks and morning omelettes in my old neighborhood, Chrishon and I went to down to the Village to check out the Pride Street Fair and parade. SO FUN!! Everyone was so friendly and in such a great mood and we got free things at every turn! After Chrishon left I went home to continue organizing and touching up, took a wonderful nap in the sunlight, then woke to Josh and Shoko calling and inviting me back down to the Village to Fat Cat Jazz, a great little joint with live jazz music, a bar, and tons of ping pong, pool, and shuffleboard tables. A lot of other work people were there and we hung out and walked around the STILL-lively city in the wake of Pride, and I finally crashed last night aroun 2:30a!

And THAT was my weekend!

Midweek Moment

Wednesday is over, and this whole week has been a little crazy. Everyone wants to know how the new job is going (understandably so) and the answer is: it's great! It's FABULOUS to transition to such a calm and relaxed environment after what I left. I am getting to know the office and the coworkers a little more, so everyday it gets a little easier.

The truth is that right now, I can't think past my upcoming move. I am SO stressed, it is wreaking havoc on everything. I haven't been to ballet, I haven't been exercising, and I ate two whole size Hershey bars today. I've been so busy every day after work and the thought of needing to pack everything stresses me out to the point that I try to go straight to sleep so that I don't have to think about it or worry over it. My place really isn't THAT much stuff... but packing is tedious and long, and bubble-wrapping and organizing is annoying... and wondering if I'll still use this or that before I move... I have just been insanely stressed and can't think of anything else lately :(

This was day #2 after I bought my mug from the bookstore.



I've gotta survive past this weekend's moving session...

Columbia University!

My first day as a staff member at Columbia University is officially complete! Everyone asks how the day was: it was great!! I would also like the thank the following people for their well wishes on remembering my first day at the new job: Mom, Pops, Chrishon, Jayna, Emilie, Adam, and Kathleen...... and I HAVE to give a RIDICULOUS THANK YOU!! to Ronnie for a RIDICULOUS good luck email. Please read below:

KRISTIN KELLEY,

CONGRATULATIONS on YOUR FIRST DAY AT COLUMBIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy and excited for you, and you are going to be a phenomenal success here!!! I am SO ridiculously JEALOUS of you and you are going to break right through the sky and smash into the stars and fall like a glittering beacon of light broken of a unicorn's prism-esque horn.

I hope you have a fabulous first day, and TELL ME EVERYTHING SOON!

BTW, who are you crushing on right now? You know it was bound to happen already in the 3 hours you started.

LOVE,
RONNIE

If that's not the perfect way to start the day, what is?!

The main thing that was difficult to accept was how CALM the place was. Coming from Embassy, summer is our busiest season, tenfold from any other time of year, so it is incredibly stressful, high paced, high-demand, and borderline chaotic. Switching jobs in the middle of that I realized I was subconsciously expecting to have to jump into another job with that structure, but without knowing anyone or the job quite so much. Going to a university in summertime is just a sweet, sweet soothing calm. My body felt tense and ready to work and move constantly, but no one was demanding it, so it was incredibly bizarre to be so relaxed!!

The people I met so far are great, and I've only met 5 or 6! Apparently a lot of the department was on vacation but coming back tomorrow. One of the student workers' name is Lion, no joke. Every Tuesday morning there is a staff meeting, so I will be introduced and meeting everyone then. Today was a lot of logistics still. Turning in documents to the I-9 processing center, getting my staff ID, getting my internet and Columbia accounts set up, going over manuals, etc etc. It was very low key, but it feels so great to work for an Ivy League school!! I feel at home again in academia and working in student affairs, it brings me back to my college days of working at Student Health Services.

After work I actually walked home down Broadway in perfect sunshiney weather. I stopped into the Columbia University bookstore and couldn't resist buying a coffee mug (what can I say? I collect them) and a shirt.



When I had visited Yale University I bought a shot glass because universities are just fun (and I could use a shot glass or two!) but it is so much more exciting to buy paraphernalia from a university I support and that supports me (literally)!

It is hard to wean myself away from my friends, my coworkers at Embassy. At lunch break I felt so absolutely lonely and homesick for Jayna and Jenny I actually thought I was going to cry, so I had to go take a walk to get outside. It's a transition. Now that the worst is over and I am easing into the job, I focus on moving my apartment... godspeed to me.

First Day of New Job Eve

Had a fabulous weekend, although busy, and hectic. I am SO NERVOUS for my first day of work at Columbia tomorrow. I haven't had a first day in awhile, and when it comes to work, you just want to be comfortable. I am so nervous about meeting people and learning my tasks and just takin' care of business in general. It's like a very stressful first day of school.

I am finally collapsing into bed at 11:15pm, but dishes washed, place clean, showered, coffeepot on auto-brew for the morning, alarm set, new outfit bought, nails done. I haven't had a manicure and pedicure in ages it seems. Feels great to be starting fresh with my nails done.



And yes, that is a Kate Middleton replica engagement ring on my middle finger. My bad!

Closed Chapter

I am officially done with StudyGroup's EmbassyCES brand of English language instruction. What a journey that was. It's so surreal to be done with it, it was sad to leave the office and the people. I've said it a million times but it's true, and it will be hard to transition from that. I still feel like I'll be in there on Monday morning. It was hard to stay too focused. I was listening to Lady Gaga and texting people. Oops.



The last day was crazy. They really squeezed every last drop out of me. I was so busy with cleaning up things and requests that everyone kept sending to me that I barely got to train my replacement at all. Not to mention, it seemed to be so many people's last day! But I bid thee Embassy's New York Study Center farewell! This was the view from our building



And a typical view inside our office of us hard at work...



And distracted by visitors from the corporate office! Leo the IT guy... and Daniel from Creative Services



Did I ever mention my boss bought us all exercise balls to sit on instead of chairs? He thought it was sophisticated, cool, and "so google."

In honor of the last days Jenny brought in a green tea cake for breakfast, our manager took us out to a great lunch, and then after the work day was fully over we headed downstairs to Triple Crown!

In the elevator on the way down they gave me a card, apologizing because we were so busy, not everyone got to really sign the card. My manager bought us the first round of drinks, and the rest of the night I spent with all the coworkers and friends and students that were able to make it. The bartender kept bringing me drinks and shots that people were buying for me, I sorta lost count. I started referring to the card that I received as my "yearbook" and passing it around and begging everyone to sign it.

The student services team is me, Jenny and Jayna, and everyone loved to refer to us as Charlie's Angels, you know the Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu version. We were all so close, that everyone was asking how Jayna and Jenny would continue, and what would become of The Angels. That's when all the crazy photo shoots started.
















(Jenny told us to do Blair Witch Project faces lolololol)











Goodbye Embassy! I feel a little lost and weird without it, but am SO THANKFUL to be parting ways with that company and moving on to Columbia University. See you Monday!

The End of an Era

Greetings,

I am sad to have to announce that two of our staff members in Embassy New York are moving on to new positions.

Kristin Kelley has been the NY Housing & Visa Manager for a little over a year, after coming over from Embassy San Diego. She has done a wonderful job taming the beast of New York allocations and volumes, while maintaining relationships with our large network of homestay hosts. She is moving on to a position at prestigious Columbia University so please join me in congratulating her and wishing her well in this latest development in her trans-American adventure.

Joe Harper is familiar to many in the Embassy world, having worked in IAC, Embassy student services, and for a long time as an ESL teacher as well. The number of departments that Joe has worked in so successfully is testament to his flexibility, openness and capacity to learn. Joe continues to broaden and deepen his experience by moving on to a position in the Travel & Tourism industry.

Both Joe and Kristin have brought their unique gifts to Embassy in the time they were working with us. Kristin, her vivaciousness and acuity; Joe, his serenity and kindness. They will both be sincerely missed. The language industry world is a surprisingly small one, however, and we may allow ourselves to hope that our paths will cross again in the future.

I will follow with an announcement of Kristin’s replacement in a separate email.

Sincerely,

Greg Bartels
Center Director Embassy New York
Regional Manager New York, Washington, Florida
www.embassyces.com

The Tree of Life

Well, wrapping up a pretty uneventful weekend. Ronnie and Betsy in California, and Jayna with Stephen, so after the happy hours on Thursday and Friday nights, the weekend was dull in comparison. I've been catsitting for Betsy so I've been at her place on the Upper East Side to feed and play with the kitties. But aside from that I've laid low and relaxed. Everything is about to get really crazy and hectic and stressful with the new job and the move, so I figured I deserved it to prepare myself mentally.

One thing I did was went and saw the movie The Tree of Life with Brad Pitt. Wow. What a movie. How to sum it up? It's not a traditional piece, and I think putting Brad Pitt into something so artistic and aesthetic and unorthodox made people go in with some expectations... that were clearly unmet considering a good third of the people in the theatre ended up walking out on it. There was a good half hour of what looked like a National Geographic documentary, just images and images of deep sea waves, of cosmos and galaxies, volcanoes, canyons etc. A few whispers but no words or dialogue. It feels like you are exploring someone's entire life and brain, like you watch every memory they can bring up from their mind, and watch it as they remember it. And bringing it into the origins of the universe has more to it than I could pick it up on the first view. But it's not a "normal" movie, and not for everyone.



It's my last week at "Sing Sing" as Chrishon likes to call it (lololol). SO. MUCH. TO. DO. from packing up my office space, training the new person (if they find one) and wrapping up my work, to gearing up for the new job, getting my hair and nails done, and get packing and cleaning my current apt and make arrangements for the impending move. How different life will be in a few mere weeks!

Great Change

You may not know it from analyzing my life, but change scares me. It's hard to shake up your life in any capacity. Even though the long, crowded, hot train rides to midtown in the morning were annoying, I still am already thinking "awwww" at the thought of foregoing them while my commute turns into walking to Columbia come June 20.

However, the other day I went up to fill out paperwork with HR and get a lot of forms in order. How pleasant and beautiful it was to stroll through the cobblestone campus with the large field and fountains, statue of Columbia herself and the library around. It reminded me of UC Berkeley actually. I was instantly transported back to the world of academia and higher education. I. AM. SO. HAPPY. to join Columbia University and be in this field.

I walked back the same way i came and couldn't resist taking this picture



It's in front of the Columbia Library... my whole welcome file that the (amazing and fabulous!) HR lady went over with me briefly that is for my reference and me to go through. So many resources and great news about joining the team.

Though my current work had a happy hour last night as a "Lanch Party? Lunch Party? LAUNCH Party" for our new software, and another tonight to gear up for the heavy summer ahead... June 20 just can't come soon enough.

Haters Gon' Hate

Jayna found this picture of the little kid in the tuxedo and passed it around, and we started saying "Haters Gon' Hate" around the office. It got phased out a bit, but the other night with Pietro it came up and I couldn't stop saying it! I have to relive all of these cause, you know, haters gon' hate!



Jayna would add that tagline on lots of pictures and pass them around on forwards in the office. As per below



It's going to be so sad to leave this office and my coworkers and our fun and environment here. It's a scary and stressful thing to change jobs, I'm trying not to focus on it too much and remember how badly I wanted to find something new! There are great people and offices and coworkers everywhere, and I'm sure Columbia University has a great atmosphere and team to join.

New York City v2.0

A long time in the making and keeping secret, I can now officially announce that starting Monday, June 20, I will begin a new job with Columbia University! I am very, very excited to move along with higher education, stay in New York, and work for a prestigious Ivy League school!! It certainly feels like a step in the right direction. It's less bitter and more sweet, but I really will miss my coworkers, we had such a sociable office, and everyone I started with in San Diego, and it felt like I was already walking into a support system here in New York, but it's definitely time to move on.

As if a new job wasn't enough transition, I will also be moving apartments! You may remember back in the fall when Alex was in town and we hung out, and he mentioned he wanted to come to New York. Well kids, dreams do come true, and Alex is moving out here at the end of this month, and we have decided to rent a 2 bedroom apartment together. I'm looking forward to having a roommate again, and a new living space, even if moving IS the WORST! Details are still being finalized.

Alex and I met in the high school youth group and were part of a tightly banded group of friends about 7 or 8 people deep, although we all sorta lost touch come college, but with no animosity. Alex and I were also on the same team for a Mexico missions trip one year which still yields some of our inside jokes. I'm looking forward to him coming to the city and being my roommate!



So, with a crazy hectic MONTH, and no rest coming anytime soon, I also got to hang out last night with another friend from high school in town with his family, Pietro! We found a sushi joint in East Village WITH A DOLLAR MENU! Finally sushi gets it! Pietro and I had a great time, out late with great Sapporos but definitely paying for it this morning.

Come July 1 I will sufficiently have started what Ronnie refers to in my life as "NYC Version 2".

City Musings

Recently I was thinking about the weird things around here that I've gotten used to and I wanted to share because I never would have been used to them in California.

-The sound of cooing pigeons that can come round the clock, and the young pigeons that are starting to haunt my fire escape until I bat them away

-The fact that any street you walk down could have AC units dripping water on you and make you wonder if it's raining or you just have AC water dripping on your freshly washed hair, or worse, you walked under a bird

-Not batting an eye climbing staircase after staircase for the subways, for buildings, for apartments. Although I am mildly bitter that I live on the 4th floor and have climbed up and down these stairs everyday for a year now and still don't have a celebrity-status rump

-But still haven't gotten used to the overcast weather in summer yet though :(

Stay tuned because this week I'm going to drop a bomb on y'all!

Rock Star

What a crazy, crazy week I've had, and I ended it by living large after being up for 36 hours with a brief 3 hour hiatus of sleep. My dad came into town on Thursday for one night. We met up after work and had a great time. We checked into this hotel literally half a block away from my work, then went and had dinner on the patio of a great restaurant on 7th Avenue in Chelsea, before going up to Times Square and zipping back down to catch a showing of Hangover 2. It was perfectly warm weather, so there were lots of street performers out on the corners playing for change. My dad would give money to anyone with a guitar, which makes me think that his love for music and the sheer volume of street performers would cost him his 401k if he ever lived here cause he would never be able to pass any of them without dropping a buck or two for them lololololol.

We got out of the move around 11pm and I headed out to a birthday party for my coworker at his sugar daddy's A-MAY-ZING loft at Union Square. I mean, this was out of movies and incredible to see personally. I even had to announce myself to the doorman lolololol. The wall-to-wall windows gave the most breathtaking views of the entire skyline... the Union Square tower, the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, the general stretch and pull of the Tetris-like buildings and glittery lights of traffic on the grid streets. Beautiful. We were even up on the roof at 2am and watched the lights of the Empire State Building switch off (gotta save that energy!). The pictures I snapped from my phone:





I think I left there around 4am. I split a cab with my other coworker, and got dropped off at my dad's hotel so I could sleep in since I was right next to my work. I crashed, woke up 3 hours later and we got breakfast at the hotel, took my coffee to go, and then we walked to the Kmart at 34th Street so I could buy some clothes to wear for the day. I tried on the shirts over a tank top but bought pants without having the time to try them on, and it all turned out pretty great! Said goodbye to my dad that morning and headed up to work.

What a stressful week and day! Our company launched new software that is not fully developed and we've all been struggling with it and all of our work has been taking much longer, if it is possible at all. So naturally on a Friday after the launch week, many of us found ourselves in the Triple Crown bar just below us. Hair of the dog, eh? I stayed for awhile before dragging my sleepy self home. When I got up to my apartment I realized how hungry I was, but how lazy and tired too. I actually ordered Chinese food from the restaurant on the corner 1 block down. Yep, that happened.

More Times in Beantown

The beautiful Memorial Day Weekend of 2011 took me right back up to good ol' Boston, Massachusetts for good times with Chris, whom I hadn't seen since before Christmas! We had an absolutely fabulous weekend, walking the harbor and city, clubbing it up near Fenway Park, getting sanded at Revere Beach, and visiting the Sam Adams brewery! We also had plenty of downtime of movies, snacks, and our typical catchphrases we repeat constantly... "DEE-light!" "Did you know he makes that sound EVERY time he exerts himself?" "I'm on VACATION" and "I wanna go to the beach, and meet boys, and drink beer and dance!" (Finally saw the genesis of that last one... Bridget Fonda's SHAG anyone?? SO cute and classic!). It was a great time outside of NYC, with a friend, relaxing and partying.

We did a harborwalk tour that started at Christopher Columbus Park. We found parking and spent about 15 minutes trying to GPS the park from where we were... only to find out that it was RIGHT BEHIND US. Technology ruins you, kids!



Chris offered to take a picture of me, and a guy passing by thought she asked him to take a picture of both of us, so we decided what the hell, and let him do it



Onto the North End Freedom Trail... This is Paul Revere's house



This was the church the "one if by land, two if by sea" lanterns were hung



Chris and I were headed back to the car to make it to the Sam Adams brewery when I was musing at the Italian district and how I wanted a cannoli, and turns out we were RIGHT in front of Mike's Pastry, a really famous Italian bakery that SPECIALIZED in cannolis. We got two and took them to the car. I got this amaretto cannoli and it was THE. BEST. THING. EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!! Chris had to drive, but I couldn't resist digging into mine, and I didn't talk, all I did was make "mmmm" sounds of this thing. It was HANDS DOWN UNBELIEVABLY SCRUMTRILLESCENT.



And we made it to the brewery! I liked to speak in a southern accent and say "Uhm, excuse meh, is this hurr the Sam Adams winery? This is whurr they make all that wine?" Lolololol







We got a tour of the brewhouse, followed by taste testing of 3 different brews!









Walking back after our great time at the Lansdowne by Fenway Park



And after lunch on Monday, walking along the Charles River just down the block from Chris' place



What a perfect start for a great summer! Next will be Chris visiting me in NYC