MTV Cribs for the NewLI Employed

BEFORE

In about 6 or 7 hours, my apartment went from ^this^ to THIS:

AFTER

Chair and dresser (YES! That's a dresser...in the living room) put together, as if whatever...world's best brother? DUH!

P.S. The sleeper sofa JUST clears the dresser, so if you come to visit (PLEASE, DO!) I may be climbing over you to get to anything on the other side of the living room. You've been warned.

All carpets provided by landlords. Soon to be changed, I'm sure.

See the tiny pumpkin?! My landlords gave that to me as a welcome gift. LOVE them. 

Books on book on books.  

#sadfact  The only cookbooks I own are for desserts.  I have a book for each:  

Cookies

Cupcakes

Brownies

Anything made with chocolate

Hot Chocolate

Cookies, Brownies & Bars

And an express dessert cookbook

Pops of color are kind of my thing.

Who needs a headboard? Art & Accent Pillow (Soon to be pillowS)

I love cubbies.  Desk & Diploma

The turnaround time on this was astounding to all of my co-workers. But like I told them: you don't get my Gramm on the case and NOT have the whole place finished in one day:  

Pictures hung, bed made, but most of all: clothes put away.
Now I just have to keep it that way!

LIving with Road Rage

Soooo, I live in New York now. But I don't live in "The City," which would be so much more fun and convenient. And that means I still need a car to get around.

I'm just going to go ahead and say it: 

I HATE driving (and most drivers) on Long Island.

Why?

Is it because, generally speaking, people are idiots on the road, and Long Islanders just happen to be more annoying than most?

The fact that the "main drag" (a road that, in many other places, would be considered a highway) has about 5,000 stop lights on it? Seemingly EVERY. 30. FEET??!  

• Which is something that helps to make a slightly less than 9-mile drive take just under an hour to complete?
• That they decide to perform construction on said road smack-dab in the middle of rush hour? ("Excuse us while we lay out cones and drop three lanes to one; it's not like you have to be at work or anything")

That their coveted L.I.E. has a speed limit of 55mph, and who actually drives that slow?...in the LEFT LANE!!?

Or maybe that I've almost died AT LEAST 5 times in the week and a half I've been living on LI because people don't use their blinkers (LIKE, EVER!) while proceeding to cut me off?

Whatever the reason, I've honked my horn, screamed creative obscenities at other drivers, made angry gestures, etc.

In short, I'll probably lose something like 5 or 10 years on my life (and go to Hell) from the stress they cause me. #JERKS.

I said it on my second day of work, and I'm saying it again now.  

"Road Rage:  It's gonna be a thing."

A word to the not-so-wise Long Island drivers, with a little help from my friend, Luda:  "MOVE, bitch, get out the way! Get out the way, bitch! Get out the way!"

#RANT

I'll leave you with a bit of good news: 

At least I can listen to Country while I cruise!

Also, just when I'd had it up to ::here:: with the traffic, some guy flirted with me in the toll line. So I guess it's not all bad?

La La LI La La La LI

I'm employed, but homeless. Kind of.

Only "kind of" because I have temporary lodging while I find a place to live...strategically located around the corner from a mall.  When you're as big a fan of #retailtherapy as I am, and your bank account and wallet are collecting cobwebs like mine are, this is TORTURE! 

The Point:

Apartment hunting at the last minute (for instance, when you find out you're starting a job in 5 days in an area you've never been to/spent a good deal of your life trying to avoid) is kind of like the Hunger Games. You know right away which ones won't make the cut, only one apartment is left at the end, and you'd do anything to get your hands on that rental agreement. There's lots of trickery and obstacles along the way, enter Craigslist scams and competing prospective tenants.

The Plan:

1. Create EXTENSIVE apartment spreadsheet
2. Browse Craigslist (because what other choice do you have so close to desired move-in?)
3. Call/E-mail these people to set up an appointment and hope they're not trying to steal your identity
4. See 'em and sign on the dotted line

In Practice:

One person DID appear to be trying to steal my identity...let's hope she didn't. Barbara, I'm looking at you.

Number of appointments:  6

Number of apartments seen:  3

1. Great neighborhood, FAR away (relatively speaking) from my job. Small, but clean. Way too expensive, but manageable

2.  SLUM. Not kidding, even a little.  Don't believe me? Here's my conversation with the current tenant:

Tenant:  You want to live here?

Me:  Yes, well maybe.

Tenant:  No.

Me:  I'm sorry, what? What do you mean?

Tenant:  This place is rampant with mold and mildew. I go through about a gallon of bleach a week. You don't want you live here.

He was right...I DON'T want to live there. Ran into the landlord on my way back to the car. This is what he opened with: 

"I mean, it's a basement apartment. You can't expect it to be the Taj Mahal, you know? ::Chuckle:: What do you think?" 

Oh, you want my thoughts?! They consist of only one thing:  RUN!!!!

3. PERFECTION. Great neighborhood, even better landlords, perfect amount of space, rent is all-inclusive (heat, water, electric, cable!!, internet!!!!!). #obsessed

• Deposit:  Made
• Other appointments:  Cancelled
• Furniture:  Purchased
• First Month's Rent:  Paid

Apartment:  FOUND

Look out, world! I'm LI-bound

The "search" is (finally) OVER!

My life has taken quite a few turns these past few months since my lamentable return from Spain.

Summer started off bright and carefree (as it should), full of vacations and plans to catch up with old and new friends. I was embarking on a summer of "funemployment" and life was good.

Dim:

As the real world came knocking, as it was bound to do, I found myself unprepared and overwhelmed by the fact that I had a "kinda-sorta" career goal, and NO CLUE how to get there, wherever "there" was.

How unlike me! 

Dark:

I like plans, I like having things figured out! Except that I didn't have either of those things, which meant I was unsure about a lot, particularly myself. ### of job applications sent, a lot of waiting, a few interviews, more waiting, and no responses. Such is the slow-going life of a post-collegiate job seeker.  These were some dark, dark times.

But fear not! Another vacation was right around the corner and, let's be honest, I was happy for the escape!

Darker:

As Nelly Furtado would be so happy to remind me, "All good things come to an end." So, like Rabbit in 8 Mile, I snapped back to reality, which had changed from slightly depressed to sheer panic overnight. (Thanks for that, dwindling bank account)

This time I was taking a different approach:  I knew where I wanted to be (employed...ANYWHERE), I just needed SOME way to get in with a company.  Solution:  Temp work à la staffing firm (insert name here)!  Interviews scheduled, promising job prospects rolled in...

Light at the end of the tunnel:

...and THEN a series of rather unfortunate events created a wonderful window of opportunity for me:  A CEO change at my uncle's company meant there were a lot of available positions that needed to be filled immediately.

Friday the 14th

Late Morning:  Uncle slides resume across desks of influential co-workers' desks

Around noon:  HR calls to schedule interview for Monday AM

Monday the 17th

Mid Morning: Interview

Afternoon:  Receive call:  "They want to make you an offer"

Wednesday the 19th

Mid Morning:  Please fill out this background check so we can make the offer

Bright, Bright, Bright Sunshiny Day:

Thursday the 20th

Mid Morning:  Offer Made

Early Afternoon:  Offer Accepted

Start Date? Wednesday, September 26th

After 3 months of searching, I went from woefully unemployed to starting work as a full-time employee with EXCELLENT benefits in about a week and a half.

Call me Cinderella!