warming up to city life.

Today will mark the 2nd week E and I have been living in our place in Harlem, and I can't believe it's been 2 weeks already! It's been a little crazy for the both of us, especially E, because he started a waiter job at a place called Bar30 in Rockefeller Center literally 6 days after we moved in, and he's been working 12 hour shifts everyday since he started. I started working at Bar30 this past Wednesday, and it's the first job I've had waiting tables ever in my life. I was very very nervous about it, and I have always been nervous about waiting tables, which is why I never tried to do it. But- if I didn't take advantage of this opportunity I would be crazy because the money is AWESOME, and I really need the money. The bar is only going to be open until the end of August, and then E and I may have the opportunity to get hired in the restaurant that is affiliated with this one, called AJ Maxwell's. So hopefully that will work out- especially for E, I know he wants to keep having steady work.

I have to admit, waiting tables hasn't been as bad as I thought it was going to be, BUT- yesterday was my first day spending my whole shift (7 hours or so) with a section of tables. And I made some mistakes, and I got really scared, and then I felt stupid at some points for making stupid errors, but what can you do? I guess that's how I learn. Our manager (who is good friends with one of E's friends, which is how we got the job) is so much fun to work for. He's laid back, but still professional, and he's very supportive. We get to listen to people's iPod's on the speakers in the restaurants, and everyone I've met so far has been really nice. It's pooled tips so we are like a team. I'm glad that this will be my first waiting experience!

Since I haven't been working everyday, and E has, I've taken on some projects in the apartment that I'd never thought I'd do! I put our bed together using wrenches and I painted the bathroom all by myself! :-p It looks nice, and these things definitely had to be done, whether E was here to help me or not. But I am proud of myself for doing them.

And you know what? I'm proud of myself for taking on this new job even though it scared the crap out of me. I'm also happy that I went on a random audition last Monday, and now I'm going to be singing in the ensemble for a recording of the Lion King with Stage Stars Records! The album will be sold on iTunes and at Colony Music Center in Times Square. It's like a karaoke version that people can buy the album and practice with the accompaniment, or with the vocal tracks, to learn the music for the show. That's pretty cool. I'm excited to be working on new music, and I'm happy that I can add something new to my resume'!

I guess that's city life so far...I've been fortunate enough to be hanging out with my best friend DR a lot, and he's been so great with helping E and I move stuff in and move stuff around in the apartment, and just being a good friend to me through everything. I'm also happy because today I will get to hang with  my other best friend whom I haven't seen in over a year now, L. She was my roommate the first 2 years of the JCS tour, and we also lived together in Astoria for a year, and I've been very sad that we haven't really been keeping in touch, or seeing each other, but hopefully today will be great for us to catch up and have some fun!

I've definitely missed this city, and I'm glad to call it my home again.

welcome to harlem...

Moving isn't easy, but that's okay, because I am absolutely in LOVE with our new apartment. I am thankful for Y for giving us the opportunity to have this wonderful space for not a lot of money. It's definitely a work in progress, but we are making changes little by little, and it's starting to feel more like Ours....

updates, updates.

I just wanted to give a quick update, with more to come when I am back in New York. As of August 1, we'll be living in Harlem, across from the Absyinnian Baptist Church, off of Striver's Row. It's a little further up than we were originally looking, but since we are subletting from a good friend of mine, the rent is much cheaper and we have a 2 bedroom apartment!! It seems a little surreal that it worked out the way it did, saving us the broker fees, security deposits, and a week of looking at apartments, but it seems like divine intervention. It works for us, it works out for my friend, and everybody's happy! So I'll be flying home on the 29th of July to start packing up all of my crap, and E is going to meet me sometime during that weekend to start the move! It's going to feel so wonderful to be living somewhere, on my terms, in control of everything around me. I cannot wait! More to come as the moving date gets closer!!!

finally...

Waiting, and waiting. That's what it seemed like I had been doing forever. In fact, I was waiting for going on 5 weeks for something to happen with my unemployment. After being told last Tuesday that I had to wait for a letter telling me whether or not I was denied or would be receiving unemployment, I was very frustrated. 7-10 days for a simple decision? It was either yes, or no. Monday rolls around and still no letter. So I go online to the Maryland Unemployment website, and I look to see if there is any way that I can find out whether or not they were paying me. There was and so I checked, and lo and behold, there it was: the page showing me that I had been allotted the money that they owed me for those 5 weeks. THANK GOD! Immediately I screamed and felt the world lift off of my shoulders again.

So here I am, back on financial track, and feeling like I can take part in my life again. Money is a big deal, at least for me. It's not that I want to have a lot of money- it's just that I want to have enough to survive on a day-to-day basis. And now I have that again, and it feels good. I can put back the money I took out of my savings account (plus a little more) and feel good knowing that, yes, I AM moving in August. It's going to work out now. 

E and I backstage after a show in Tempe, AZ

I'll be flying out to Florida tomorrow to finally be with E. It's also been 5 weeks since the last time we were together, so I am very excited to see him, to say the least. And this time it's going to be different for us, because, unless one of us gets a job and we have to be apart for that, we will no longer be a 'long-distance' couple. We met and starting dating while doing JCS in 2008, and every time one part of the tour ended and we had some months before the next go round started, we were long distance, since E is from Florida and I'm from New York. So we visited each other back and forth throughout the past 2 years, and we finally were 'roommates' on this last leg of Superstar. It was great, and really showed us that we really could and really wanted to have a place together. E is going to make the move with me to NYC in August, which is kind of a big deal, since neither of us have ever moved in or lived with a significant other before. It'll be different than just sharing a hotel room together, but it just feels right, and we both feel like it's the next step for us to take. I couldn't be happier.

So here's to my mini-vacation in Florida with my Sugar (yes, that's what I call him)- I'm hoping that we have a wonderful time together, since we finally get to take a real vacation (going somewhere fun without having to do a 5 show weekend, or an 8 show week) this coming Saturday. And then we are going to see some Phish shows 4th of July weekend, so it's going to be a blast for the next few weeks!