CITYist

6 years ago, we all lived together in Seattle. Last year, we realized it had been WAY too long since we were all in the same city together. This weekend, we had our first annual roommie reunion in Florida. To say it was anything short of epic would be a lie. Girls weekends rock.

After spending literally every.single.weekend of the past 2 months moving, I can’t even begin to tell you how utterly relieved/exhausted I am now that the bf + I are finally settled into our new place together. Yes, we did it. We are cohabiting. This is the first time either of us have lived with a significant other - coupled with the fact that we’ve both lived on our own for a number of years now, I’m a little anxious to see how the transition period will go.

Despite the enormous stress that comes with moving (there were some pretty tense moments, not gonna lie), we are finally done. And we’re happy. I love everything about our place (okay, maybe not everything - those bedroom curtains were kind of a bad choice), but nearly everything:

- our spring green desk with its uber-trendy lucite chair;

- our MASSIVE luxury-hotel-style king bed that I practically need a step ladder to get onto;

- our little sitting nook for us to spend some alone time whenever we need it;

- the gauzy white curtains floating in the living room;

- the random knick knacks we’ve picked up on our travels;

- the double knife racks that are equally impressive and intimidating;

- the Botero sketches mounted above the TV;

- our outdoor furniture that we got for a steal and painted blue;

- our bold blue front door…

…I love that our place feels like home. I love our place so much that when I wake up each morning, I not-so-secretly wish I could work from home just so I wouldn’t have to leave. But most of all, I look forward to going home each day, knowing I get to come home to Aaron.

Did I mention that in the midst of all this moving and cohabitation, I also finished grad school? To be honest, moving has been so all-consuming that graduation barely even registered on my radar, but it happened. I even have the pics and diploma to prove it. See??

Sorry for the weeks of silence, everyone! Between moving (did I mention that the bf and I are finally finished moving?!! I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am), graduation, and my mom’s visit - I’m afraid I haven’t had much time for blogging. 

Here are some photos from last weekend. I took my mom to NY to see Rent. She hadn’t been to NY in over a decade and asked to see her all-time-favorite musical on Broadway. We had a fabulous time, eating too much and walking until our feet hurt. So glad I got to show her around one of my favorite cities!

New Orleans, Louisiana

Nikon d5000 :: 50 mm f/1.8 lens

And the move continues…

This weekend, the bf + I moved the majority of my belongings into his place. We had originally planned to take our sweet time about moving, but you know what? MOVING SUCKS. It really is like ripping off a bandage - you just have to power through and get it over with as quickly as possible. 

Highlights from this weekend’s move:

1. The bf shows up at my place, sees my boxes and gets a look of sheer panic, and mutters “oh god. This is actually happening.” (Yeah, that was an ego boost right there!)
2. Somehow fitting all of Ikea in a Mazda. 
3. Buying our new bed! (Get ready king size, here I come!)
4. Taking down an entire Chipotle burrito in under two minutes after an exhausting day of shopping.

Next weekend we have more purging and shopping to do. I’m somewhat extremely daunted/overwhelmed by the amount of work we still have left to do, but we’re getting there. Can’t wait to be completely done and show you all the final results!

I’m not quite sure how the bf + I managed to clean out his closets, buy a bed, and go for a long bike ride in between various family dinners and finishing thesis this weekend, but we did. 

I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all: We’re moving in together. We just made our first big purchase for our new home. And I’m done with grad school. Holy hell.

The last night of our conference, all of the attendees were taken to Luna Park for a night at the amusement park. Unfortunately, it was raining pretty heavily so the only ride they were able to run were the bumper cars. But we didn’t let that stop us - we rode the hell out of those bumper cars until they finally kicked us out. :)

I spent my last night in Sydney at the Opera House. I couldn’t think of a better way to cap off my week. I had planned a nice quiet solo date night at the opera: a nice dinner at a fancy restaurant followed by the Marriage of Figaro.

But my date for 1 quickly grew into a party of 8. It was fantastic - I took 7 of my colleagues to their first-ever opera. It was a modern rendition of the Marriage of Figaro, which I found interesting. The only bad part was that it was sung in English…which means I couldn’t ignore all the plot holes and was more critical of the performance than usual. But overall, it was a good performance with great talent.

And I checked off another item from my bucket list: seeing an opera at the Sydney Opera House!

Things I learned in Australia:

1. There’s no such thing as drip coffee. There are only cappuccinos and lattes.

2. Tipping is the exception. You only tip if the service was out-of-this-world good. And even then, the max you tip is 10%.

3. Running on the left side of the path feels weird.

4. Australians are uber athletic. I’d wake up to run at sunrise before my meetings, only to find the beach packed with surfers, runners, cyclers, and yogis.

5. Paton’s is the best brand for Australian chocolate-covered macadamia nuts.

6. The ferry to/from Manly is the best way to check out Sydney Harbour.

I was lucky enough to spend last week in Sydney for work. Our meetings were held at a beachfront hotel on Manly Beach, the most adorable little beach town outside of the city.

Sadly, I didn’t get to do much sightseeing in Sydney, since I spent most of my time working, but I did manage to sneak in quite a few photos during our events and in between meetings. This first batch is of Manly. Enjoy!

Well I made it to Australia! Here’s a quick blog post to wrap up my trip to South America before I go and explore Sydney.

Things I’ve learned in Rio:

1. Sunscreen is insanely expensive here.

2. You can flag down buses like they’re taxis.

3. Never stop in a favella at night. Not even for a red light.

4. ALWAYS hide the keypad when typing in your pin number. 

5. The Sunday before Carnaval is NOT a good day to visit the Cristo.

6. Juice bars are to Rio as Starbucks is to Seattle. You can get suco anywhere and everywhere. 

7. They must put crack in their açaí, malencia, and manga sucos.

8. It’s considered “uncool” to bring your own umbrella and chairs to the beach. You’re supposed to rent from one of the barracas instead. 

9. Hardcore Cariocas play beach volleyball, futbol-style (i.e. no hands. only head, chest, and feet are allowed).

10. It’s hard to get around Rio without knowing the language. And Brazilian Portuguese is confusing. No bueno.

11. Cariocas self-segregate by postos according to social class. 

12. EVERYONE wears a bikini in Rio. No matter what shape, size, or age.

Carnaval in Rio is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. The parades don’t begin until 9pm.  With 7 schools performing and each parade lasting 70-90 minutes, the party continues until dawn (we left at 6am and there was still one more school to go). 

Each afternoon leading up to Carnaval, the city shuts down major roadways for neighborhood block parties (called “blocos”). Revelers party on the beach beginning in the late morning/early afternoon and stay out until the wee hours of the morning.

And there are cleaners. Everywhere. I can’t even imagine what the city spends on cleaning crews throughout the city during Carnaval. But they do a great job - coming in immediately after parties end to clear the streets and reopen them for traffic. Of course, the boulevards along the beaches still end up smelling like a public urinal, but considering how many hundreds of thousands of people are out partying for Carnaval, I have to say the level of cleanliness is impressive.

Even more impressive are how early the revelers get out on the beach the next morning to soak up the sun, skateboard, run, and bike…it’s like they hadn’t just got to bed only 2 hours ago.