The Big Move

Ryan and I are now New Yorkers! Can you believe it? 

But before I go into that whole story, let me first say that Ryan and I had an amazing summer being back home in 'Murica. We were back and forth between both of our families' homes in Mississippi and Georgia. We have the best families ever, and I don't know what we would have done without them. Seriously. 

Ryan studied very, very hard for the initial part of the summer for his big Step 1 test, and as usual- he did amazing on it! We celebrated a lot with our friends and family. We waited. And waited. And waited. Waited some more... you get the point. We finally received word that we would be going to New York City [on a side note, this is what I think of every time that I say New York City- ]

 for Ryan's clinicals at the Bronx-Lebanon hospital. We were very excited and overwhelmed! 

Where do we start? Where will we live? Where should we live? Is that safe? How will we get there? How do you find a place to live? How will Ryan get to the hospital from there? We had many questions, but thankfully we got a lot of help from friends and family members as well as real estate brokers from craigslist. We were also able to come to New York ahead of time (thanks to Mary Lou Durant for buddy passes) to scope out a few places and meet with brokers, which was a huge blessing to our peace of mind. We ended up finding a few places which was great because it gave us a little wiggle room with the time crunch that we were in. Here are some pictures from that mini-trip:

Ryan's first slice of New York pizza

Times Square!

We decided on a place, got all of the paperwork in as fast as possible (thanks to Randy's big help for that), and started gathering up as much stuff as possible. We found out that it is a "luxury" to find a furnished apartment in the Bronx-Riverdale area.. so we were going to have to start from scratch. Yikes! But once again- thanks to all of our family members (both sets of our parents, Mimi, and Allison), we were able to pretty much come up with enough furniture to fill the apartment. We rented a Penske moving truck, and started filling the sucker up. Here are some pictures:

About to go pick up the truck

We had some great helpers- Ben, Cindy, and Sam

Waving bye

Before we started filling her up

Great driver

Check out that beautiful silver car

Empty truck

So manly

Thanks guys!

Full truck

Right before we left

So we finally got on the road and made it to the border of Georgia and South Carolina and got stuck in traffic. And when I say stuck, I mean completely and utterly stuck. Apparently, some megabus caught on fire on I-85 and the whole interstate had to be re-routed through some weird detour that took us over 3 hours to go through due to the heavy amount of traffic that was on the interstate. I shudder thinking of those hours that we sat there in that truck... burning gas.. trying to be patient.. ugh. We finally got through it and made it to North Carolina where we stopped at Good Ole: 

Oh yeah- we had the ultimate trucker food and it was delicious. I could feel my arteries clogging as I ate my scattered, smothered, and covered hashbrowns but boy were they good.  We pushed as far as we could that night because we were so frustrated by getting so far behind with the traffic jam. We made it as far as Roanoke, Virginia and stayed in a hotel for about 5 hours to get a little sleep. 

Here is Ryan the next morning trying to pump gas. The gas pump was broken so it kept stopping because it thought that the truck was full so Ryan had to keep changing the handle. It was not very funny at the time, so I had to capture the moment. 

Here is my lovely face at the situation

Long story short: We drove the rest of the way from Virginia to New York on the second day, and we actually made really good time. It was a little crazy once we got to New York, but thanks to mapquest and googlemaps- we were able to do it pain-free.  

On the road again

I think I could be a truck driver if I had to

Well, we did it. We drove a big Penske moving truck from Jonesboro, GA to New York City, NY- ~913 miles in two days. I am so glad that it is over!

But then the real fun worst part started- moving the stuff out of the truck! Hooray! Yippee! I am being very sarcastic because this was the worst part. It was hot. We were tired and sweaty. Our things were heavy. We had to take the elevator many, many times. Thank goodness for the dolly and the lock on the truck. Thank goodness for Ryan's muscles and patience. That is all. I am also glad that that part is over. 

Needless to say, everyone in our neighborhood seems to be very nice. They even came up to us several times during our moving (while we were sweating and holding our heavy pieces of furniture) to welcome us and tell us all about our wonderful neighborhood. Luckily, our manners kept us from stating the obvious: we were very busy at the moment and didn't have time to discuss the history of the Bronx. It was nice to be welcomed, and it helped to give us something to laugh about.

So we finally moved all our stuff in (Did I mention that we had to pay for our parking while we moved everything out, so I kept having to go and put money into the machine because it took longer than we expected... anyway) and started the process of unpacking all weekend. 

Here is a picture of our building that I found online: 

We had a great weekend unpacking everything, but we realized that our apartment is bigger than we originally thought. We needed rugs, nightstands, pictures for the walls, etc. It's hard to buy big things for your house when you don't have a car. We weren't really sure the best way to go about doing this. We kept hearing of other people talking about IKEA because you can pretty much furnish your whole house on a budget. We debated ordering online or from a catalog but Ryan (Yes- I am blaming him on this one) wanted to see the furniture in person. We walked to the subway, took 2 subway trains, and a bus to get there. We didn't really know what to expect from IKEA, but let me just say this: It is hell on Earth. Apparently, everyone else had the same idea to go and furnish their apartment. It was very crowded and many things were out of stock. It was already stressful trying to make decisions about rug sizes, etc. without all of the people bumping into you and your heavy cart. 

In Ryan's words "I would rather drive that big Penske truck all of the way back to Jonesboro, GA than go to IKEA again." That just about sums up our experience there. 

We now have a New York address, so let me know if you want it. We also have cable, internet, and even a land-line. Not sure if I will ever use it, but it came with the package. We went to Target yesterday to pick up some things that we had forgotten in the mad rush of IKEA, and that was pretty pleasant. 

All jokes aside from the rough parts of our moving story, we ABSOLUTELY LOVE our neighborhood, Riverdale. It is amazing. It reminds both of us of the Virginia Highlands neighborhood in Atlanta. We are in a very central location that is near anything and everything that we would ever need. We are half a mile from the subway station and a block on 3 different sides to tons of restaurants, shops, grocery stores, etc. It is so cool to walk everywhere, and I am excited about how in-shape I will be from all of this walking (I better be)! Here is our broker's website that has lots of information on the area: http://3squaremiles.com/2012/07/27/riverdale-points-of-interest-johnson-avenue-and-knolls-crescent/

Today was Ryan's first day at the hospital, and I felt like my son was going to his first day of school! 

I am ready for him to come home and tell me all about it! 

My job has started back, and I am seeing all of my kids from Louisiana again! This time, I actually have my own little office in my own apartment. I have definitely upgraded from my little supply closet on the island! haha 

More pictures to come of our place once it is finally finished!