New York Delights

Ok, I'll make a deal with you. I'm going to write a nice long post about my life in New York. Something that will hold your attention and rivet you for a good 5 minutes before you must get back to whatever it is you were doing before you thought "Ooh! I could check up on Carissa's blog and see what's there" and subsequently signed on to find this post. I know you're super excited to dwindle away a few minutes while living vicariously through me so, like I said, I have a deal for you!! You MUST comment before you leave this site. Please, say something because I'm beginning to think no one is reading this!! If you've commented recently, I'll let you off the hook, but seriously - come out of the shadows and say hello :) Ok, on with the post:

I feel that I have not provided much information lately about my life in New York, sorry! In truth, things have not been altogether exciting lately!

Well my job is going well. In case you didn't know, almost everyone else in New York works in finance. These people work REALLY long hours and make a lot more money than I do, but they have virtually no time to enjoy it because they work so much. Case in point. I've been going to this great fellowship group on Thursday nights. Last year they met at 10:30pm. So the e-mail I got said this:

"We are moving the time up an hour to 9:30. If people are concerned about consistently not getting out of work in time, please let us know."

Apparently getting out of work by 9:30pm can be an issue in banking. Dang! Anyway, so work has been going well. Right now I am managing a team of about 80 participants and 8 mentors who are training and fundraising for the P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona marathon in Phoenix in January. They meet for training on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings. I have been joining them on Wednesdays because the practices are usually pretty fun, but I skip out on Saturdays because its at 8:30am and I refuse to run in the morning if I don't have to :) I plan to run a marathon in April in Nashville, the Country Music Marathon. I'm extremely excited, and training starts in November. I'm so excited!!! Oh, and I'll be fundraising, so y'all better get ready :)

ANYWAY...So yes, there's work. Then there's the rest of life, right? Well, New York has certainly been an adventure, but nothing terribly challenging. I would say right now the hardest part is that I definitely don't have a group of friends yet, but there's also just not enough time in the day to really have time to build relationships with people. This fellowship group has been really great (the one I mentioned above, regarding meeting time). The people there are all really nice, and a few of them are even Vanderbilt Alumni!! I'm a firm believer that people come into your life for a reason, so I am just keeping my eyes wide open and getting to know people as best I can. Fortunately, I have a great job for meeting people because we have so many participants every season and most of them are the same age as me! I love the Team In Training people that I've met so far, and I am looking forward to getting to know them even better!

My daily activities really vary from day to day, but I'll give a few examples below:
*Going to the gym, which is right across the street from my work. The gym is actually pretty nice and over looks Park Ave, so there's lots of people-watching while you're on the treadmill.
*Run! I've been trying to keep my endurance at at least 5 miles and my speed up so that when I start training for the marathon, I've got something to start with :) I usually run this loop:



*Fellowship group. I mentioned this before. Basically we get together and study a portion of the Bible, right now we're working through Galatians. Each week someone new leads the discussion and we take prayer requests, etc. It's a good time.
*Netflix. I know, I know, I'm in New York, why would I want to watch T.V.? Well, partially because now that I'm officially out of the homework phase of life, I need to catch up with what I've missed for the past 5 years in terms of movies and T.V. on DVD. So, THERE!
*Getting a drink with my roommate. Unfortunately, Sooz is a VERY busy girl, but I do like to squeeze a drink in here and there, because I do have a very fabulous roommate!
*Comedy Clubs. I've only done this once so far, but my roommate really likes live comedy, so we went down to the Comedy Cellar and saw a few really funny people and some scary ones. I'm sure we'll be doing it again :)
*Seeing the sights of the city! New York is a massive place, and it really is impossible to see everything. So, I'm trying to chip away slowly, often taking detours out of my way just to see the different areas of town where I've never been. Last night, for instance, I walked from the subway to Chelsea Piers just to see a new area. Chelsea Piers is this giant entertainment complex on the Hudson river with bowling, fitness centers, restaurants and all sorts of other things. There are also some MASSIVE yachts there, probably owned by the famous and CERTAINLY by the rich. So I just walked around gawking at the boats a little last night too.
*Visiting Taylor's house. I LOVE going to Taylor's house for several reasons. First, they have nice comfy couches and a big-screen T.V., perfect for Saturday and Sunday-afternoon football-watching. Second, New Jersey offers plentiful, more affordable convenience shopping, so I usually wait for the weekends to buy things like shampoo, groceries, etc. out there. Finally, it is SO nice to get out of the city and stretch out a little. Whether its sitting around on the couch or talking a walk along the river, it is so refreshing to be surrounded by the suburbs and trees sometimes. Oh, and Taylor isn't so bad either :)

Well, I hope that's a small picture of my life for those who care. Leave a comment so I know you're reading!!