Home Sweet Chaos

After a hair-pulling, emotional train wreck of a week and a transcontinental flight the first thing I like to do is walk into a an apartment full of boxes where a wife-less husband has been "bach'ing" it for a week. Now there's a dose of reality for you. Remember how I explained my ideal Saturday scenerio in New York? Well, not so much, not right away.

MDHK had had his own chaotic week getting started in his new position at work. We were both road weary and beyond ecstatic to see each other. It wasn't a teary movie reunion at all. I felt like I'd done what I needed to in that department the day before. No, instead it was filled with relief and giddiness.

I've always found that sushi and bubbles will usually cure what ails. So we headed out to explore our new neighborhood in search of both. Sushi wasn't hard to find. We live near the East Village which has been deemed by Traveller magazine as the new "Little Asia", thanks to the likes of David Chang's Momofuko and others.

The bubbles weren't hard to find either. When we found our apartment we celebrated at Bar Veloce, an incredibly small, incredibly clever design of a wine bar. So naturally we headed back there for more bubbles and celebration.

So there you have it! Our first night together in our new home, in our new city. Not bad for two weary road warriors, one of them rather jet lagged, but both very happy. Now about all of those boxes. I suppose you can guess how the next week went, right?

One of the Hardest Things

One of the hardest things I've ever done is to let go of everything I know and most of what I own. The last few days in Seattle were absolutely the hardest. With MDHK already gone and the remaining crucial details in my hands I was a bit of wreck. As I made my final exit from the home that housed our entire 13 year marriage I decided I couldn't do it alone. So, I phoned Kent at our aprtment in New York and as soon as I heard his voice I burst into tears. Through my sobs I managed to get out only two words; "I'm leaving". Cutting the rest of the sentence short I realized it sounded like I was saying that I was leaving HIM. So I pulled it together long enough to sob; "The house. I'm leaving our house. I can't do this alone". He shared my sadness and then walked me out the door, making sure I said 'good-bye' and 'thank you' to every room.

I spent my last evening in Seattle in the company of what I can truly say are 4 of the most loving and supportive friends a girl could ask for; Jennifer Worick (we've shared some big stuff in a short amount of time), Annie Rihnsmith (a.k.a. BFF & Calla's mom), Dawn Hobson (kind & generous hostess, even kinder and more generous friend) and Christin Snyder (a good cousin, and even better friend). Sitting outside at Ponti's I confessed my emotional breakdown earlier which they quickly re-named a 'break through'. The point being that it had to happen sooner or later, right? I quickly recovered (as you can tell by the funny face making in the photo which unfortunately doesn't include Christin, acting as a photographer).

The next morning as Annie (and Calla) drove me to the airport I felt prepared, at peace and excited. Once I boarded the plane and settled in next to two completely stoned people I felt amused. Luckily they were too busy inhaling bags of snack mix to notice the little tear I shed as the plane pointed towards my new home in the Big Apple and the Apple State faded into the distance.

The Final Countdown

Tonight as my friend Carol Peterson and I were exiting the gorgeous Paramount Theatre here in Seattle, after an evening of 'foodie porn' (Anthony Bourdain and Mario Batali together on a stage with nothing else except Luke Burbank, microphones and potty mouths), she asked me;

"Do you realize that this time next week you will be living in Manhattan?"

If it weren't fo rthe fact that the last month has been the single most stressful period of time I've ever almost not survived I'd say "no". But at this point all I can think to say is, "I sure as hell better be because this roller coaster ride needs to end somewhere". To give you an idea of what I mean, it goes like this:

• Last week in April: we shoot a video as a way to market our house and it goes on the market
• First week in May: we fly to NYC for full week where we run into a friend of Kent's from High School, find an apartment in 2 days and I go to my first women entrepreneaur networking event.
• Second week in May: we have had a tremendous amount of interest in our house and we accept an offer. In the meantime I start prepping the house for the movers to come.
• Third week in may: the movers come pack, load and drive away with all our belongings. The SOLD sign goes up and all in the same day local TV news, KCPQ FOX calls and asks to do a story on the sale of our house using video and internet.
• Fourth week in May: We sell our cars, find homes for our cats, MDHK makes his final departure for our new home in NYC and the movers deliver our possessions.

Here I am now, in an empty house, alone, staring down the barrel of my last 6 days in the house and the town that we met, fell in love, got married and foster our lives in. The amount of stress that this move has caused me (and the damage to my skin) is only made tolerable by the fact that indeed, this time next week I'll be living in Manhattan (the East Village to be exact)!

Say "Cheese"!

Three statements you just won't hear in NYC:

1. "I just can't get enough of the vegan pizza here"
2. "Good thing there aren't any decent cheese shops in Manhattan"
3. "Give me a pumpernickel bagel and hold the cream cheese"

What's one thing that pizza and bagels have in common? Where's the best celebrity watching in Manahattan and also where I have a $50 gift certificate to from my BFF? What was I looking forward to saying to "Randy" my fictitious neighborhood bagel monger every day?

"Hey Randy, give me a pumpernickel bagel with veggie cream CHEESE!".

I suppose if I asked you to guess what food item I just found out I'm ridiculously allergic to you would be able to guess pretty quickly. CHEESE!

How can you move to Manhattan and be allergic to cheese? How will establish I my friendship with "Randy"? What will I say when someone comes to visit and asks "Where's the best pizza"?.

Food is a major part of my life. Eating is more than the thing I do too keep from passing out. It's an absolute passion. Cooking, shopping for it, reading about it and of course eating it. And I am planning to do a lot of it in NYC, starting with pizza and my favorite bagel monger. So this little discovery is more than a set back. it's like some sick joke! Basically the same as moving to Seattle and being allergic to salmon and coffee. What's the frickin' point already?!

I'm slightly devastated. Well on the bright side, I guess I will just have to turn my street food intentions towards hot dogs or falafels. I am officially now accepting your favorite NYC street food alternatives!

My First Meltdown

I'm an obsessive planner. I love to plan things and then proceed to make myself crazy doing it. Lately, almost every person that I talk to asks the same question "How's the move planning going", to which I reply with complete composure, " Great! We are just moving along as planned. It's really busy but its coming along just fine". And then I just hope no one but me can hear the screams of panic inside my head as I try not to go off the deep end in public.

Well, it happened. Thankfully not in public. We all knew it would, especially MDHK (who now more than ever deserves the "D" in My Darling Husband Kent). Last Friday night we were enjoying a quiet, intimate moment, nuzzled together in an after-work nap when I had to go and ruin it by bringing up my current source of stress and obsession; the estate sale. Feeling much like I've been working in a vaccum on this project because MDHK has been extremely busy at work I had it all planned out in my mind. Unfortunately I forgot to inform him. So when I said, "Are you ready to start going through the house and setting up for the estate sale next weekend?" he acted like I had just landed from Mars. Not the reaction I was looking for. Of course I responded like any level headed, rational, adult, female would; I FREAKED THE HELL OUT! Not just a little but a lot (super unattractive and really bad for your complection I might add).

Once I calmed down long enough to ask MDHK what he needed to get on board with this program a few things became very clear:

1. I was not from Mars

2. All he needed was to see it in a schedule, which he promptly produced in Microsoft Project

3. He was not only on-board he was ready to kick into high gear, which we have for the last 3 days.

4. I was going to owe him one really special dinner of his choice (which turned out to be paella Sunday night).

5. As suspected and repeatedly learned, we own a lot of stuff!

And if you are curious about our estate sale and want to see what it looks like to get rid of 60% of your belongs in one weekend you can visit our listing http://www.nwsource.com/classifieds/scr/detail/?id=15761873

A Girl's Prerogative

Isn't it said that a girl's pregogative is to change her mind? (first you have to know how to spell it!). Ok, so I've changed my mind.

Through a friend, of a friend, of a friend (got that?) I have found THE place to live in NYC. However, it is not in TriBeCa. It's on the Upper West Side. Kinda a ways up there (West 71st) actually, by my standards. But I'm sure that there's a bagel place around the corner and if his name isn't Rodney it's something like Marcus or Len. I have my priorities.

SERIOUSLY, this place is IT. It's huge by NYC standards at a lofty 1,000 sqr ft with 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, updated kitchen and now, it's a block from 'The Park' (for those that don't know, that's Central Park). But here's the clincher. The bedroom has one whole wall of closets! Three of them to be exact. Two for me and one for MDHK, of course. Its so gorgeous and so perfect I can hardly type straight. BUT.... (you had to that was coming) its currently listed for sale at a price that is probably twice what my house in Seattle is worth. BUT...she is considering renting it for maybe what we might be able to afford.

ok, I know what you are thinking, "Snap out of it". I don't even live there yet and I'm already broke. Oh, but you have got to see it. Come to think of it, when you do, let me know if its all 'that'!

Reality Check 1.01 THE UPDATE

I ask you; Does this look like the face of someone who is living in baby exile? Week 1 of the BFF's new baby, a.k.a. Calla Marie Rihnsmith. The lovechild of our best friends Annie and Ethan. As you well know by my earlier post "Reality Check 1.0" I have spent 9 months waiting to be put in baby exile when Annie had her baby. Instead she arrived and I realized that my moving to NYC wasn't such great timing afterall.

Well, let's just say after one week we are all smitten with Calla, The BFF still remembers my name, I got them a webcam for their laptop so we can Skype, and I might not be such a looser afterall for leaving so soon into little Calla's life.

Or at least I hope not.