new apartment

I realized that I haven't posted about the fact that I'm in a new place. I am! Me and Leora moved into a 1 BR convertible on 90th between Columbus and Central Park West. In the last month, we had the wall put in so that it became a 2 BR and we moved stuff in lots of stages. First a little of my stuff, then all of her stuff including 9 sections of a sectional couch (we got rid of 5 of those), and then my parents came down last weekend or the weekend before with a mini van full of furniture, including an 8 ft tall IKEA wardrobe to be my closet and dresser all in one.

It was pretty intense moving and putting together furniture, but it seriously looks awesome now. The living room is a good size and it looks so much like home. Couch, chair, bookshelf, end table, lamp, dining room table and chairs... it looks really good. My mom loves shopping at the salvation army and she picked up some great stuff for me. She had a week at work where she had to be there but she didn't have any appointments, and I swear she spent the whole time on the IKEA website. I'd get random messages ("Nicki, 20 by 30 rolling kitchen cart. Call your mother" ), but I couldn't have done it without her. I think leora and i are going to finish hanging pictures this weekend. My room is small but now that the furniture is in place it looks good too. It's really starting to feel like an honest to goodness, grown up home, that I look forward to getting back to. I'm still getting used to the kosher kitchen, but I love the space and I love having all of Leora's books here.

I was reading Mara's blog about the school v real world debate, and right now, my vote is strongly with the real world. Yes traveling is hard and I work a lot of hours, but I feel like my life has simplified. Some of that is bad- I hang out with much fewer of my friends and much less frequently. But some of it is really relaxing- I have very little to actively worry about. I have to do good work on the job; I have to make time to run; I have to stay as connected as I can to my friends and family. My efforts are so much more focused. It's especially nice compared to when I was looking for apartments.

But I remember school as a time of fractured attention and constantly being pulled in different directions. Always having something I should be doing or some where I should be, either socially or academically. Where I am right now, I have enough money that I don't have to worry about it and I have a finite and known set of demands from one sources (work) rather than a million different classes and projects. I feel more streamline. I wouldn't say I'm doing well on the keeping in touch with people thing, but it's a work in progress.

I have a feeling that from now on, I'm never going to have the time to post anything very often. I can say I'll post once a week or once every two weeks. But when you're on the road and with people all the time, it's hard to carve out time.

I mean, this past week, I went to Chicago last Sunday and got back yesterday. I had training there from Tuesday through Friday and I went early to hang out with Aron (who was in Chicago for a wedding) and meet some of his friends. And it was fun. But I was so ready to be back in my own little apartment in my own big city. The week before that I was outside Detroit at a different site for the same project, but with entirely different people. Is it bad that I'm really looking forward to being back in familiar North Carolina with the 3 guys I'm used to working with?

Training was intense. They take you through a sample case from proposal to completion in 3 days, so you learn stuff in workshops but then you have to immediately do it. I think it's a great model for a training, but they gave us no personal time at all. We went all day (8-6) and then straight to dinner or happy hour. I only ran once in 6 days. I also had regular work that I needed to be doing, so a couple nights I was up late trying to finish stuff.

Since I got home this weekend has been awesome, just what I needed. Aron and I had a rough couple weeks when I first started traveling. There was two or three weekends in a row where we wasted the little time we did have together with stupid fights. But I feel like we're starting to get the routine down. Last night I got in early (the greatest gift that the airlines can give to anyone), and actually had time to take a run before we went to our Friday night dance lesson. I've really been enjoying dance lessons. I suck at them. But it's just a fun way to spend an hour, and it turned into a great date with a long, conversation filled dinner and a slow walk home. Today I've done very little and it's awesome and tonight I get to see Leora. I haven't seen her in 2 weeks cause she's gone home for holidays the last 2 weekends.