where has my ugly naked guy gone?

As I mentioned awhile back, I have my own ugly naked guy who lives across my building. He is often partially or fully naked, has vibrant red bedding and stays up pretty late at night. It has become part of my nightly ritual to take a peek out my window to see what's going on with him.

Lately I have had a few close calls to thinking he had moved out of our building. Once the red sheets were replaced with new white sheets, another time there was a red mattress out on the sidewalk in front of our apartment building--did he move out?! I was always fearfully wondering. I was worried and had a gut feeling he was going to leave soon. Then one night I saw there was a girl in his room! This must be a new guy, because the ugly naked guy I know had never had a girl over! But somehow, the red sheets resurfaced and my faithful ugly naked guy still inhabited the room below me.

Sadly this all changed last night as I was going to bed. I did my nightly peek and found this shocking discovery!! Clean wood floors, no red bed, and no ugly naked guy.

I can't believe this.

best two out of three

"In New York they say you're always looking for a job, a boyfriend or an apartment. So let's say you have two out of three and they're fabulous. Why do we let the one thing we don't have affect how we feel about all the things we do have?"

-Carrie Bradshaw, Sex & The City

My good friend Kilali reminded me of this episode as we caught up over pasta, steak and a bottle of wine last week. I've been reflecting on my almost three years(!!) in New York and based on my track record, found this quote to be true.

When I first moved to NYC I had all three: job, boyfriend and apartment. The job and the apartment were far from amazing, but they did the trick. Then the boyfriend and I broke up shortly thereafter. I still had 2/3: job and apartment.

By the time I gained a new boyfriend my lease was up and I had to find a new apartment. I was literally homeless and bummed around on friends' couches and airbeds for a month. But I had 2/3: job and boyfriend.

There was a short period of time when I had all three again, but the relationship faded away. I was left with 2/3: job and apartment.

Said boyfriend and I were on-again-off-again for awhile, and during an "on" time I had to find yet another apartment. I had a stable 2/3: job and boyfriend during this time.

The apartment was found, I still had the same job, but the boyfriend and I broke up immediately after I signed the lease (I was literally assembling my new dresser in my empty apartment when we broke up). But I still had 2/3: job and NEW apartment.

It was me, job and apartment for awhile until I gained a boyfriend. It was a brief encounter having all three again, but it was only a few weeks until I was laid off from my job. But to get me through it, I had 2/3: boyfriend and apartment.

My job search was on for a few months and I landed a fantastic job and essentially again had all three for a bit. Then boyfriend and I broke up which leaves me in my current 2/3 state: NEW job and apartment.

Making sense of my jumbled timeline is confusing and my summary is probably not even fully accurate. To break it down, I've had 4 jobs, 2 boyfriends and 4 apartments all in under 3 years. Its confusing and hard to remember which apartment went with which job, etc. Basically I have found that I am always missing or wanting a new one of the three things when I should be happy and proud of what I have.
As for my fraction balancing now, I am not letting my job go anywhere... so I guess that means by the time I need a new apartment I'll have a new boyfriend, right? I suppose it only makes sense.

what I've been missing in my life

One thing is driving me nuts... literally. Nutella. We all go through stages of cravings, but this one is getting bad. I come home from work and eat this for dinner.
It all started awhile ago when I started mentioning to Laina that I was really missing Nutella in my life. Then it really opened a can of worms when I ordered vanilla Nutella panini ice cream sandwiches last Friday. It was pretty much the best thing that's ever happened to me. Now I can't get it off my mind or off my spoon! I bought myself a jar last week and then Laina came home with one to surprise me! Now we have 2 jars in our kitchen and I've lost all self control and begun trying to incorporate it in every meal. Here are a few images that make me happy and want another spoonful.

yum. Hey Laina--Halloween costumes?

milk to go

I love "to go" things as much as the average person. I love that I have the option of picking up take out, grabbing a coffee on my way to work, or eating Go-Gurt. We live on the go!! This was made very clear to me when I saw this mom strolling down Fifth Avenue BREAST FEEDING her baby!!Some things are not meant to be portable just quite yet.

slip ups

What's a first day of work without a little awkwardness, right?

I went to bed Sunday night exhausted from a crazy fun too-much-vodka exactly-how-I-wanted-it-to-be weekend. I was too tired to even plan out my outfit the night before... yep, I was THAT tired! I am the girl who has her closet color coordinated and always has her outfit picked out the night before and ESPECIALLY on the eve of an important day!!

I first awoke from a nightmare where Juliann (my weekend Boston visitor) caused me to miss my first day of work because she couldn't find her bus back to Boston! So I woke up stressed out and confused with how much time to give myself for my new commute. I ended up being about 7 minutes late for paperwork. Big fat OOPSIES...

I got my ID issued, got to my new desk, was welcomed, got a little tour, etc. Phew.. so far so good. Then I realized that I have been meaning to buy a slip for the skirt I decided to wear yesterday because it is see through--oh yeeahhh... Definitely see through and yesterday was also laundry day which means I didn't have the best choice of undergarments. I decided to go to Bloomingdales on my lunch break to buy a slip. I told the sales girl I didn't need a bag for it because I was going to put it on immediately. She glanced down and noticed my cream colored skirt and grey underwear combo and with a little smirk, pointed me to the fitting room. I got in the fitting room and put the slip on and all of a sudden MARBLES flew off my wrist and bounced all along the fitting room floor. My favorite bracelet broke and went bouncing around in the Bloomingdales fitting room.

I scooped the beads up and realized I was starving. Food was second on my lunch to do list after the slip, so I wandered around my new work area in search of a deli. I found one that seemed strangely familar so I walked in. This deli had hand drawn pictures of all the food just like one near my former employer Abercrombie & Fitch. hmm interesting, I thought. They had the exact same things and prices too. That's when I made eye contact with one of the guys behind the counter and we exchanged a strangely familiar look. It was one of the guys who used to make my turkey club for me every day at my old deli!!!

In the packed deli he shouts, "hey I remember you! How are you? Your hair is different, but I would never forget you!"

I responded that I recognized him too and that I have highlights now. He informed me that the deli has the same owners as my alma mater deli a few blocks away. We had a nice little laugh as he handed me my familar and comforting turkey club.

Still smiling at the irony and full circle moment I had, I was stopped by the receptionist on my way back to my desk because I had a flower delivery! My boss had sent me flowers as a welcome! So fun!!! Day one yesterday was a slip up success.

friday funday

I'm SO excited it's finally Friday!! It's my last day of work, my Boston bestie Juliann is visiting, I'm slightly hungover for the second day in a row, and this weekend is gonna be FUN! I may as well be wearing this.