Moving in today!

Taylor and I are starting the process of moving in to our new place today!

Yes, Taylor and I have decided to share an apartment in the months leading up to our wedding. In an ideal world, perhaps this wouldn't be the case. But we live in the real world, and a combination of many factors brought us to this decision. Among them:

• Taylor and I have been long distance or pseudo-long-distance for almost 3 years and need some time where we can really coexist as we prepare for marriage. With demanding jobs and the difficult logistics of New York City, any arrangement where we live separately makes it really hard to spend quality time together.
  
• The New York City housing market is insane and it is not financially responsible for us to be paying two rents
• Taylor will probably be getting a job in Manhattan, so living with his parents in New Jersey and commuting is just not feasible (he'd probably end up staying in the city with me most of the time anyway)
• The timing worked out really well and we found an amazing place in our price range!

Taylor and I still very much adhere to the values we were raised with and have upheld throughout our relationship and we hope you all will support us. I know for our part, sharing an apartment by no means diminishes the excitement we have to finally be married and start our lives together :)

Let the apartment search end!

So....time for an update! So, people have been asking me for weeks if I have an apartment, and they always seemed surprised when I seemed relatively calm about the fact that, no, I did not have an apartment 2 weeks before I was to be moving in. Call it a sixth sense or just sheer laziness, but I knew that Taylor and I could find something relatively quickly if we put our minds (and feet) to it. Well....I WAS RIGHT!!

Taylor and I have found an apartment and I couldn't be happier! All the credit for the find goes to my fantastic fiance who scoured Craigslist like it was his job last week (it kinda was) and found this gem of an apartment with a really great management company. Before I go into too much detail on this particular place, let me tell you just a little about how the search went down.

So, we had found a place that we wanted to check out last weekend. The place was on 110th and 2nd ave, squarely in East Harlem. But the price was REALLY good ($1,200) and it looked pretty big. We didn't want to wait too long to see it, so we set up a viewing on Thursday night. Since we were going to be looking anyway, Taylor also set up to see 2 other places and I arranged to check out an apartment in a building I used t live in. All of the apartments besides the original one we wanted to see in Harlem were located in the high 70s and near 2nd Avenue.

So, our first stop was with this guy named David who showed us 2 TINY apartments at 77th and 2nd. They were both $1,600 and he kept telling us that in order to find what we were looking for, we would have to spend $1,750. I said PSHAW. Then, we rushed up to 110th and 2nd to see the apartment we had originally been interested in. It was in a nice building in an up-and-coming section of Harlem. We really liked the owner and the apartment was a decent size for the money. The only problems were a) there was no true living room. The bedroom and kitchen both had a lot of space, but not enough to make a separate living area from the bedroom, and b) it was really dirty and yucky. The guy promised they were replacing the bathtub, re-painting and re-staining the floors, but with just 2 weeks to move-in it seemed like they wouldn't get it all done in time.

So, we left there, putting the apartment as a "maybe" and headed down to this apartment viewing that Taylor had set up. The woman showing the apartment was very sweet and had her daughter with her. We went up to the apartment and (for me at least) it was love at first sight! And it was so surprising because Taylor had just found this apartment on Craigslist and it had no pictures or anything. Usually that means its a dump, but this place looked great. Here are a few photos:

When you enter the apartment, the kitchen and bathroom (shown above) are on the right and the living room and bedroom are on the left. We really like this setup because it makes it feel a lot more open, but since the kitchen faces in, it feels separate. We saw many apartments where the kitchen was just one wall of the living room, which we didn't really like.

This is the view from the bathroom looking out through the living room and into the bedroom. Most likely, we'll have a couch on the left wall and a TV mounted on the right wall of the living room.
One of the best things about this apartment is all the storage space, and the fact that that storage space is in the bedroom! Many apartments have really small bedrooms and don't have closets in the bedroom. This one has a full-size closet on the left and a door-sized one on the right. Both of them have storage space above, too! I love the mirrored closet doors on the left because they make the room look so much bigger. And since they slide rather than opening out, we have a lot more space. The close on the right is money because it can serve as a dresser too!

This is the bedroom from the door. It's hard to get the whole thing, but you can tell from this photo that it's decent size and has lots of light. Also, the floors are really nice.

Finally, the bathroom! The bathroom has lots of space. You can see from this picture that, for some reason, our toilet will be about 6 feet down a tiled hallway. In the foreground, you can see the corner of the sink, which has lots of flat space, and then you can sort of see how next to the sink, there's a fair amount of space for more storage, which is great! The tub isn't full length, but it isn't just a square shower either, so we're ok with it.

So there's the apartment! We'll have to get creative with our space, that's for sure, but we are so happy! Oh, and they allow dogs (one might be on our way in the next 6-9 months!) and I met the super and he was really nice. The apartment is not in a doorman building, but there's a florist next door who is apparently willing to accept packages and hold keys if you have guests coming. It's a really great arrangement!

So anyway, we did go out looking at apartments on Saturday. The first two people we met with took us to apartments only to find the doors locked (and apparently they didn't have keys). So, we only ended up seeing apartments with one broker. There was one that we liked, but it lacked the closet space that this one had, so we're going to stick with this one.

So, I am speaking a little out of turn here, because I am actually in the process of trying to get all of my application materials to the leasing company as we speak. Hopefully, if they deem me worthy, we'll be signing the lease this afternoon!!! :)

Let the apartment search begin!

So, some of you might be interested in following Taylor and I as we search for an apartment. So here's the kickoff!

So most apartment hunting in New York, especially if you're on a budget, happens on Craigslist. Listings on Craigslist can come from anyone; brokers, landlords, tenants looking to sublet, you name it. When I moved here, it was most certainly a seller's market. Brokers charged up to 10% of the first year rent (which, for a $2,500 per month apartment meant like $3,000 up front!) and rents were really really high.

Well, Taylor and I rea REALLY lucky becaue right now it is definitely a seller's market. Rents are down (about 15-20%) and landlords/management companies are so desparate to rent apartments that they are actually paying the broker fees!

So we're in a good place and here's what we're looking for:

1 bedroom aparmtent - with a bonus room if possible!
$1,600 per month or less
Upper East side - Convenient to my work and relatively cheap area
Not too far east - The subway is at Lexington Ave. and we're hoping to stay within a couple blocks of that to decrese commute time
Nice bathroom - Taylor is really looking for a a nice bathroom
Size - we don't need a gargantuan place (and let's be honest, we're not going to get one for our budget), but the bigger the better for us.
Dishwasher - this is a total nice-to-have...but it really is VERY nice to have!
Pets - We want an apartment that will allow us to have a dog...down the road :)

We have 4 or 5 apartments that we're looking at tonight and I'll try to post pictures and a debrief tomorrow!

Had a really bad case of the Mondays...

I spent the entire day yesterday with a new blog up on my screen thinking about how I should start typing, but it just never happened. I had a TOTAL case of the Mondays, probably because I just wasn't ready to say goodbye to Taylor for the week :( I'm so sick of being separated and cannot wait until we are in the same place for more than an evening a week (or a few weeks a year, for that matter).

Anyway, I wanted to give a nice update on our weekend for anyone who is interested :) So Taylor got back last Tuesday and of course I was there to pick him up with his parents. We hung out Tuesday night and then I headed to work on Wednesday. He had an interview on Wednesday at 2pm (talk about getting back in the swing!), so he came in a little before lunchtime and we ate together and talked about the job and the interview so he could be prepared.

Then, he went to his interview and I didn't see him again until Friday after work (I know, I know, I'm whining, but it stinks!).

Friday night we just hung out at Taylor's house. We watched TV and chatted with his parents. He was still really tired from the time change, so it was pretty low-key. On Saturday, we ran a bunch of errands. We went to Target and bought some of the things off of our registry that we want to make sure we have when we move into an apartment in July.

Then we went to Verizon and Taylor joined the 21st century and got a BlackBerry! I think it's quite an adjustment for him, going from no cell service in the mountains of Indonesia to full blackberry service in New York City. I'm trying to be gentle and not e-mail/text him every second, but I think I'm failing :)

After all of our shopping adventures, Taylor and I went out to dinner and then went out with Taylor's friend Stephen. Stephen had gone to Indonesia to visit Taylor at the end of the trip, but they hadn't seen each other since Taylor was held in Indonesia. By the way, a little note on that. I think we might be making some progress on the baggage situation. One of Taylor's suitcases did not make it back with him because it got stuck with Air Asia. The hook here is that Air Asia was not connected in any way to Taylor's flight back to the US from Singapore, and they don't fly here, so there's really no way to get his bag here. They sent the bag to their central office in Jakarta and my dad actually knows someone in shipping in Jakarta so hopefully we can get it here!

Anyway....we went out with Stephen to a couple of bars in the illustrious Bergen County area. Taylor has a pretty low tolerance after 10 months in a Muslim nation, so needless to say it was pretty funny. We came home around 2. Taylor passed out on the couch until 6am and I went to bed :)

Sunday was spent mostly chilling around Taylor's house and doing some paperwork stuff for my benefits at work. We also looked on Craigslist at apartments and have appointments to look at a couple of them this Thursday. If those don't fly, we are planning on looking at apartments all day Saturday as well. Hopefully by this time next week, we'll have a place to live!!! :)

Stay tuned...

Taylor is home!

Taylor arrived safely from Indonesia on Tuesday evening. Since then, he's been sleeping at odd hours and getting re-acclimated to hot showers, American food, and being surrounded by English speakers.

I have been staying in the city with friends, but I haven't taken my computer home at night which is why I haven't posted yet! I will make sure to update the blog this weekend, but for now, here's a photo of Taylor and I just an hour or so after he got back :)

Why immigration is NOT our friend...

So...Things have been a little tumultuous since Friday at about 2am when my phone woke up from it's nightly, regularly scheduled nap and alerted my that I had received SIX messages in the preceding hour. That's right, 6!

So here's the little backstory. Taylor was originally scheduled to return to the United States on May 31st. His employer over there had secured all the paperwork and he had a ticket on United Airlines. His Visa expired on that day. So, a few months ago, two of Taylor's friends decided to take some long-overdue vacation time and go visit him in Indonesia for 2 weeks. And since Taylor didn't want to spend those two weeks working, they decided to do it the last week he was teaching and then extend his time in Indonesia for a week so that they could travel. So, in April I worked some magic on the ticket agent with United (and also pretended I was a truly unfortunate female whose parents had named her Jeffrey Taylor but who went by Taylor) and managed to change his flight by 8 days for $25 (you read that right, a $25 change fee for an international flight! Not bad!).

THEN, Taylor realized he also had to have his Visa extended so that he could stay 7 more days. He worked with his employer (a pseudo govt. agency that runs the Fulbright called AMINEF) to have his visa extended and received word from them that it went through, but that he would be responsible for his own exit permit (whatever that means).

So, fast forward back to Friday night. It's Saturday afternoon in Indonesia and Taylor and his friends were just about to board a flight to Singapore so that they could all catch their flights back to the NYC area. And Taylor. Gets. Detained. For real. Like, no-bribing-your-way-out-of-it, you're-not-going-anywhere-Mister, tough-luck-you-don't-have-the-ridiculous-paperwork-we-require STUCK in Indonesia! Apparently that "exit permit" was absolutely essential in order to terminate whatever special long-term working permit Taylor had. As if leaving the country is not enough of a termination!!!!! So, just 18 hours before his scheduled flight back to the US, Taylor finds out that he will not be going to Singapore or anywhere else for that matter until he has this exit permit. Which, conveniently, can only be obtained by going to Jakarta and waiting until the office opens on Monday.

So, all 6 of my messages on my phone pertain to this matter, most importantly the issue that Taylor is now definitely going to miss his flight out of Singapore on Sunday morning. So at 2am on Friday I get on the phone with United Airlines hoping to work another Miracle. Again, I pretend I am the sadly-named Jeffrey "Taylor" Smith, who is a girl, and I had to tell him the whole sob story about how I was stuck in Indonesia after spending 10 months there. Again, I sweet-talk the ticket agent, even employing a little Indonesian (he revealed that he was Indonesian part way through the exchange):

Agent: oh, you've been in Indonesia for 10 months, [anda bisa bicara Indonesia ] Can you spean Indonesian?
Me: [Hanya sedikit] Only a little
Agent: [Bagus!] Good!
Me: [Saya masih belajar] I'm still learning
Agent: Well I have arranged your flight now.
Me: [Terimah Kasih Banya, Pak!] Thank you very much, sir!

So, thank GOD I was able to change Taylor's flight to Tuesday morning out of Singapore for no fee (we had already paid it so apparently now changes are FREE!). God Bless United Airlines, that's all I have to say.

This meant that Taylor had 1 day to get to immigration, get the right exit permit, and book a flight to Singapore.

Whew...

To further complicate matters, apparently Indonesia will allow you to load your bags on a plane before confirming that you are legally required to board the flight. So, his bags were already on the plane when he was detained and apparently could not be removed. Luckily, he had checked one of them in his friend's name because when his friends arrived in Singapore, they were almost arrested for trying to take the bag that was in Taylor's name. They managed to get one bag back and it is safely at Taylor's house now, but the OTHER one was returned to Bali (presumably because no one told them that they sent Taylor to JAKARTA), where it sits to this minute because, well because with all the time changes I'm not sure which way is up but essentially there wasn't a flight out to Singapore in time for Taylor to get it in time to go to his United Airlines flight back to the U.S. It's all very confusing but the bottom line is that we will probably never see his other bag as long as we both shall live.

Ok, sooooo....Taylor flies to Jakarta and gets a hotel and waits for Monday morning to roll around when he can go to immigration. All the while we're googling "Exit Permit Indonesia Processing Time" to try to figure out if he will be able to sort it all out on Monday or if I will have to once AGAIN work the magic on United (and try to dupe another ticket agent into believing I am my fiance). The internet says it takes 2-3 days but we are undeterred.

Ok, so now we're up to last night, Monday morning in Jakarta. Taylor heads to immigration at the buttcrack of dawn. They tell him that he is missing a letter from his employer (seriously, SERIOUSLY!?) stating that he should terminate his work permit. The fact that a government would require a letter like this is just beyond me. So he gets in a cab, goes and gets the letter (thankfully, this doesn't take long), and heads back to the immigration office where the desk workers proceed to tell him it will take 2 hours to put a stamp in his passport. Poor Taylor. So while they are contemplating rubber stamps and ink pads and doing whatever voodoo you have to do to leave Indonesia, Taylor goes and checks out of his hotel and buys a flight to Singapore for a few hours later.

And now, he sits in Singapore, sans suitcase but with computer, waiting impatiently for a flight in 9 hours to come home :)

I made it!

Hello all! I just wanted to post that I am alive and well and back in New York City. I can barely believe it...

I started my new job today and it's been a whirlwind but I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm having a blast and can't wait to tell you more about it when things slow down!