The New York Update, and a New Blog

Hello? Is anyone there?

🙂

It’s been nearly three months since I last posted here about our upcoming move to New York City. Now that the dust has settled a bit, it’s time to bring you up to speed.

The move to New York went as smoothly as could be expected, but considering the magnitude of it all, it certainly wasn’t without its stress. First of all, we had to purge most of our belongings (especially furniture) because we knew we’d be moving into a dinky apartment and we didn’t know how much would fit in it. Between selling furniture and giving away what we couldn’t sell, during those last couple of days in our home, we literally had one place to sit in the whole house, and no television because the TVs were all packed up. 🙂

On Feb. 10, the day before we closed on our townhome, we packed (almost) everything that was left into a 15-foot U-Haul truck. We packed it to the gills, and still had to throw away some stuff because it wouldn’t fit in the truck. We truly didn’t know how to fit one more thing into that truck.

 

We moved into a hotel on Wednesday, closed the sale of the house on Thursday, and drove out of Denver for a cross-country trip on Friday. For the next week, we sat, all three of us, in the cab of the U-Haul (we’d sold both our cars) and drove just about as far as we could stand it. We stopped for an extra day near St. Louis to dodge a snowstorm, and even then the weather was uncooperative at times, but not treacherous.

When we finally arrived in New York, we had decided to store our stuff in Staten Island so we wouldn’t have to navigate the truck in the city. We hired a couple of guys to unload the contents of the truck into storage, dropped off the empty truck, and walked with our suitcases to the Staten Island Ferry to take us into the city. Lady Liberty greeted us on the way. Not a bad way to make an entrance.

An Uber ride later, we were finally at our temporary home–an extended stay hotel in Queens. Here we would sit tight until we found an apartment to live in, which, we were told, could take weeks considering the demand for housing in NYC.

As it turned out, and thanks to God’s provision…it took only one day to find our new home.

The second place we looked at was a fourth-floor walkup in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. There are prettier streets to look at, although the neighborhood is relatively safe. But within our price range, I don’t think we could have found an apartment more suited to our needs. It addressed all our biggest concerns. A roommate floorplan with bedrooms on opposite sides of the apartment, which gives The Director his own sense of space. Two bathrooms–almost unheard of. A nook for The Wild One to set up her studio, so she wouldn’t have to find/rent an external space–and a view of the Empire State just outside her window. Exposed brick in the living area, and high ceilings. It just seemed like God’s provision. So we jumped on it. A week later, we were in.

Now, several weeks later, we’re still adjusting to life in the city. We still don’t have all our storage solutions figured out in the apartment, but we’re almost there. Everything is new, unfamiliar. It’s a whole different lifestyle, especially learning to live in the big city without a car. Learning the subways. Learning how much time it takes to walk to the subway, and how long it takes to get where you’re going. Figuring out how to shop for basic things, how to carry your things back with you, and what sorts of things are better delivered. Figuring out laundry (yep–no laundry in our building). All the stuff you sort of take for granted, all your regular habits–they are all done differently in the city. It’s a huge adjustment, but we knew that coming in.

Meanwhile, we’re already slowly but surely starting to make connections, which is a vital part of what we’re doing here. Our real estate agent, it turns out, has family members involved in the entertainment industry here; we’re meeting with her sister this week, and in the process, there might even be a job opportunity for The Director on the set of a major film. (Not directing–ha!–but still good exposure.) I had been taking composition lessons via Skype from an instructor who happens to live in Queens, so I attended a meetup where I got to meet her in person, along with a number of composers who are actually making a living here. I expect those new friendships will be very informative. The Wild One’s new studio is about 95% set up, so she’ll be ready to start painting within the week. We’re all anxious to begin working in earnest, but it takes time to get everything together. That’s sort of where we are now.

So that brings us up to date–a lot more information than perhaps you were expecting or hoping for :), but this is really the first time I’ve been able to journal about it, so…

OH, AND ONE MORE THING…

As if I hadn’t had enough to do–the new blog I’ve been hinting about for months is finally live. It’s called The Clan Artiste, and it’s a website, blog  and soon-to-be podcast that will discuss issues common to artists and creative types, interweaving our personal story in the midst. If you’ve been following our story here, and still would like to do so, that’s a good place to pick up the thread. Go check it out!

Thanks for reading and following along. It’s been one heck of a journey, and it’s still ongoing…

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to visit my favorite spot in Brooklyn–the Promenade along the East River. Just to give you an idea of the view….