"Around the corner"

Let me clear one thing up before I fill you all in about my past few days:

If I go to the park, "it's just around the corner." If I go to the grocery, "it's around the corner." If I have tea or go to Pinkberry or Lincoln Center or a restaurant or the flea market, etc, "it's just around the corner." (Hopefully you see where this is going). I live in about a 5 block, 3 avenue distance from almost EVERYTHING I need or want. I'm steps from Central Park, a hop away from Columbus Circle, a block from the flea market, minutes from everything.

But over the past week I have apparently said, "Oh, I did this or I did that..." and my mom consistently replies, "Well, where it or is it near you?" and the answer to everything has been, "Oh! It's just around the corner!"

I don't notice that I say it as often as I have, but in reality I am "just around the corner," from a lot of things. It is so much easier to say "around the corner" than to say "it's about two avenues west and six blocks uptown." --- My equivalent analogy to this is: "My parents home in Arkansas is around the corner from our church."

Back to reality, today I had an interview with a business company for an editorial job. Not design, not writing, but copy-editing. And if you know me, the difference between two, to, and too causes so much confusion that I would rather rewrite an entire sentence than use "too." This meaning, copy-editing is not my strong point, and if you happen to be an english person or a grammar freak, then you already know that editing is not my forte, which is made obvious throughout my blog.

Nonetheless I did not take the position, but I got a couple of names to call and look to for freelancing design, as well as people in the design industry. This is good and this is a plus! Next week I am meeting with someone I spoke with today about design. This man has done incredible work, so I am looking forward to meeting him.

(I seem to be going backwards here, but just hang tight, I'm going to cover everything)

Last week, my friend Morgan (pledge sister from Mizzou who is from PA but lives near me in the city now) went to Cilantro for margaritas and guacamole! Hands-down it might be my favorite place to eat up here, I mean, I have already blogged about it twice. I am taking mom and dad when they come up here on Thursday.

Morgan and I had a great dinner and made plans to have brunch and go to the Met to see the Muse to Model exhibition one more time before it closed on Sunday, August 9. The exhibition was put on by Marc Jacobs and Conde Nast. Even Mickey, who will admit museums are not really her thing, would have enjoyed this exhibit completely.

Morgan and I met on the Upper East Side for brunch at Good Health. I had an open-faced omelette with grilled vegetables (go figure) that were marinated in this teriyaki sauce. And I am not a big fan of teriyaki but after I finished I had to ask.

Afterwards we walked to the Met and spent over two hours in the exhibit and read everything on display, and studied the gorgeous couture. Then we went up to the roof, and snapped a few pictures (with both of our little apartments in the background..... meaning we could see the tall buildings that overshadow our boxes.

Morgan has the photo of me and my apartment, but here is Morgan with hers

My cooking life

Kitchen Success!

Wednesday I went to the market and got amazing fresh fruits and vegetables. (They aren’t Daddy Joe’s Arkansas-homegrown-vegetables, but they were fresh nonetheless and hit the spot for dinner last night). It was nice to be able to eat in and cook myself what I wanted to eat. I sautéed asparagus, fennel, peppers, portabella mushrooms, onions, etc. and marinated them with a filet of tilapia and had a fantastic dinner. But after putting the fish on the grill I realized I don’t have any plates. I have plastic cups and ice cream bowls (thank you Amanda) and Gladware containers. None of which are a plate equivalent. So? I washed the styrofoam tray the fish came on originally and used it as a plate. It’s amazing how resourceful I have become with the lack of typical amenities. I dumped all the cooked veggies in a Gladware bowl.

After fixing myself dinner, which I will proudly say, in total only cost $6, and I have another tilapia filet leftover.

Basically, this put my PB&J to shame.

Besides all the vegetables, I proudly made several bowls of fruit that I could throw in my bag, take to the park and enjoy there. So as I write, I am having a bowl of fresh pineapple, mango, bing cherries, and raspberries. (Saving tip #2: don’t buy precut fruit, it is nearly a 200% mark-up. So I bought all local whole fruits and have cut them up myself). Yes, I bought a whole pineapple and cut it into pieces with a butter knife.

Utensils. Over two years ago, I bought my first kitchen table. It is very 50s with a red vinyl top and chrome legs. The chairs were my grandmothers and nearly rusted shut (old school metal folding chairs) but DIY, I covered the chairs in black damask vinyl and gave them a new coat of paint. What does that have to do with my utensils? Everything.

I don’t have room for my table or chairs in this apartment, but the $7 set of utensils that are red and white frosted plastic (I guess that is a way to describe it?) are still with me, 6 knives, 3 regular forks, 4 mini forks, and 2 spoons. ­­

Today I went down to Washington Square Park and enjoyed the sun and breeze before heading to visit a friend at work. After a quick coffee break and hello I walked around Union Square, oh how I miss it (Last year I could walk there, but now its 20 minutes on the train). While walking in Union Square I checked out the farmer's market. Eggplant, cucumber, peppers, heirloom tomatoes, green beans, spinach, basil, squash, zucchini, garlic.... pure bliss!

After I loaded up on vegetables I came back to the apartment, dropped eveyrthing off, checked the mail, (thanks Patpat for my nothing letter, made my day! Glad you got to see Karen) and then ran by the grocery mart to grab some actual chef's knives. (So much easier to cut all those vegetables with a real knife, compared to a butter knife).

And I had again, the best dinner. The eggplant was my absolute favorite! hit the spot! I grilled the veggies on the George and also had a nice little filet of salmon alongside. Yum!

Now you have heard all about my cooking experiences thus far, and my love of vegetables!

maggie

my life - currently

I apologize that I haven’t blogged in a few days, and I wish I could say it were because I was working or off doing something really cool. But if I said that then I would be lying.

And for the most part the past week hasn’t been very eventful, besides moving in to my sweet new shoebox in the sky of the Upper West Side.

But seriously, last week I spent most of my time waiting on boxes to arrive (since I had to be there to sign…. and they all tended to come around 5 o’clock or later. I wish I would’ve taken a picture of my apartment last week. It was full of 30-50 pound boxes overflowing with… clothes, towels, kitchenware and books. Finding a place for everything, was nearly impossible, as I had no hangers, no storage to put anything in. I finally went to buy hangers but then it took a couple of days of motivation to get everything put away. Now my shoebox looks empty again: one lonely air mattress with one pillow, green sheets and a brown blanket.

I was finally able to go to the grocery store now that I have forks, spoons, knives, and plastic drinking cups from every bar in Columbia, Missouri (yes, I made sure before I left Columbia that I had minimum ten cups to bring with me; who needs to purchase glass when you can have Shakespeare’s, Tin Can, Big 12, Heidelberg, and Mizzou outfitting your cabinets? Maybe it’s just me). Slowly but surely I’ll be filling up my apartment.

Many people say New York is a pocket-empting, no saving, type of town. But guaranteed everyone that says that does not understand the amount of free things to do or get. Yesterday I walked out of my building and found a futon, side table, and random stuff that someone was throwing out because they were moving. Whereas, I’m not the one to take a mattress off the street, I grabbed that table and carried back to my apartment. Last year I found a free TV on the street, and this year I have a table, thus far. Hey, pay it forward.

So I’m between two things that I should buy (not today, not tomorrow, but when I actually have a job with an income) for my “kitchen.” Currently I have 2 gas burners to cook on, a sink, and an oversized mini frig with a very mini freezer. Also my GF, George finally arrived in the mail last week. I cannot live with my George Foreman! So the question at hand is: should I buy a microwave or a confectioner oven? I know the microwave is practical and I’ve never lived without one but is cooking time the only advantage to the microwave? There is a lot you can cook in the oven and not in the microwave, but is there a lot you can do with a microwave that cannot be done with a mini oven?

My dad told me I cant put a microwave in a cabinet so my four square feet of counter space is limited. I don’t have room for both appliances. Living in the 21^st century would you ever think this would be as big of a decision as it actually is?

Big news of the week: grocery shopping; I finally have milk, cheerios (can’t find trix!), hummus, and ingredients for PBJ; I’m pretty much set.

What’s next? Continuing the job search and meeting people. Confinement in a white wall room with basically nothing in it, can really make a person crazy. Thank goodness for technology, although I dropped my itouch in the bathtub. Not cool.

Broken Mirror from the Unkown

They say if you break a mirror you get 7 years of bad luck. Well, what if you jump out of bed because you hear a loud "crash, shatter along with the sunken heart feeling that you have to clean something and its 2 a.m."

Welcome to my reality. But is it bad luck if you have NO IDEA where the glass came from? Seriously, no idea. I got out of bed on Tuesday morning (so basically Monday night, aka my first night in my apartment...) to investigate. The only mirror in the bathroom (i thought) was the medicine cabinet but all pieces were in tact. Weird.

So I think that if you don't know how it broke, why it broke, or where it came from, then it cancels out all the bad luck. Agreed? Humor me and agree.

Well I have a picture of it, although it is after i started sweeping it around 7 p.m. Tuesday evening. I went to Duane Reade and the only "dust pan" they had was attached with a small, and I mean, small broom. So I guess for a tiny apartment i need a tiny broom? Due to this unknown disaster in my bathroom, I was out 12 bucks for a broom measuring 4 inches in width.

Done complaining about it. It's just so weird. Like, really, really weird.

Maggie

My space in the city

I have my own space. Roughly 250 square feet of space on the Upper West Side that I can call my very own! While the entire thing isn't as big as my own bedroom in Arkansas, my new home fits the bill (no pun intended).

I moved in today about noon with a weekend suitcase and my purse. The mailman (Bill) asked me who I was visiting and I said I wasn't, I was moving in... just waiting for the super (Danny) to meet me downstairs with my keys. Bill looked at my bag, looked at me and said (somewhat sarcastically), "So... ya run away from home to come tackle the big city?"

My response was almost a quizzical 'yes,' but I rethought my answer and said I was moving with a light load. He looked at me and smiled and continued filling the mailboxes.

Then I met Danny with my keys and I walked into my new apartment! Ahhh, I haven't stopped smiling all day! I dropped my bag and got back on the train to go back to Brooklyn to get my actual suitcase that was in Park Slope with some family friends. I stayed and chatted with them a bit then hauled my suitcase 12 blocks back to the train to get on and head back to the Upper West Side. (Now we're on moving outfit #2).

When I got home I unloaded all of my stuff and decided to head to Bed, Bath & Beyond to grab an air mattress, a shower curtain, ya know, the necessities. Leaving empty handed (no, I bought plenty, but had it all delivered later in the evening). I then presumed to walk to the east side to the container store for hangers and a dish drying rack (which of course I needed knowing that I don't have any dishes?? Nonetheless, it was there, it was affordable so it came home with me)

I got home, ordered a salad from around the corner, and ran to the corner grocery for milk, trix, water, and propel. When I got back, the Bed, Bath & Beyond delivery man arrived. I blew up the air mattress, took a long cold shower (I have been hot all day moving all over the city... so the cold was necessary).

I took a video of the apartment vertically on my camera, and that means on you tube it's like sideways. So check it out, turn your screen or your head and see the best place on earth... I mean my shoebox that I'm obsessed with! click here to view

For all those people who never thought I would do this.... well, I guess the only thing to do is smile, because if you tell someone your dream and they don't think your completely insane or crazy, then buddy, you're not dreaming big enough.

week one summary

One week and I've been in two apartments, sleeping in a bed one night, a twin air mattress 5 nights, which I believe is mostly used as the dog's bed, and one night sleeping on the floor, due to over crowdedness. But tomorrow it is all over. I get to finally move into my own apartment. (Can I call it an apartment if it is one room, with a 2 doors - one to enter, and one to a bathroom?)

Regardless, I love it and I can't wait to make it my home!

Oh, I'm living in an adorable building on West 72nd between Columbus and Central Park West. I walked over to my apartment Friday from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, oh, it was only a perfect ten minute walk through Central Park. And I found a great mexican restaurant right around the area that I'm moving to, Cilantro. Some friends and I went to see the new exhibit's at the Met and then went to grab a bite to eat. Here are some pictures from the roof top sculpture installation.

Yesterday I stayed in, trying to get some things organized and having my mailing addresses forwarded and send my resume to a few people, which did happen, but of course I had to take a break and make a detour to IKEA. fyi: don't go on a Saturday in the middle of the day, while people are all trying to pack for college. It was a little insane, but thanks to the Beatles kept me entertained.

Currently there is a rain storm that looks more like a hurricane and trees are going to come straight out of the ground. It's 8 o'clock and I am just going to watch some movies, sleep and wake up to a hopefully, rain free morning.

My last night in Brooklyn (living. not visiting),

Maggie

Day 1

Finally here. After talking about this move for a year now, the day finally came. The plane was on time - I was on time - and besides the early wake-up call at 4:00 a.m. everything went smoothly.

I got off the plane, grabbed my luggage, and grabbed a cab to Karen's house. I walked in and she had a huge spread made up, including spinach, basil, tomato and mozzarella salad, along with fresh baked bread, brie, olives, and hummus. After only having a granola bar since I left Arkansas, this was a pure delight.

I am staying with a friend in Williamsburg, Brooklyn while I search for my apartment, but before she got off work, I had some time to kill. Karen and I decided to go for a walk and oh, at the corner of

President and 6th, (less than one minute from Karen's), Martin Scorsese's new series for HBO, Broadway Empire, was being filmed. We sat on a stoop and watched everything happen for a couple of hours, then went up to Prospect Park before I headed over to Williamsburg.

Here are a few pics from the set.