Moving.

I supposed this blog could use some updating. Never mind the lack of attention and utter laziness I have displayed in trying to regularly write down my experiences. As of last Thursday I am no longer a tourist of the Upper West Side. This news may be shocking and devastating to my throngs of readers hungry for more news of my recovery from Shake Shack addiction and the upcoming Summer along the Hudson movie series that we so enjoyed last year. But fear not my faithful readers, while we have left the safe boundaries of strollers and dogs along West 79th our new place was not such a long trip away. We will still be trolling around our favorite neighborhood haunts every so often but now in the role of visitor.

I used to comment often to my wife that we lived in the best part of the city. The greenery is abundant and overwhelming of the sidewalks and streets. I have rarely felt the reality of living amongst an ocean of concrete and skyscrapers that fill the rest of the island. I am even able to forgive the neighborhood of its' bargoers and party scene that seem just around the corner whichever street I walk my dog down at night.

I loved living here and had it not been for our close proximity to the parks and the rest of the charms of this neighborhood I might very easily have slipped into insanity those first few months after moving here. However exciting it was the move here from Dallas was nerve filled and anxious. We weren't quiet sure how this new life would play out and having a place that I enjoyed to spend my weekends and nights eventually made the transition work out fine. I never got over how poor these Yankee's taste in food is but the rest of it I adapted to.

Now two years later we've grown a bit tired of living in 350 sq feet. We wanted some space and had spent the better part of the last 6 months scowering Craigslist and the NYTimes for apartments all over the city. Prices seemed to be dropping everywhere (except Brooklyn but those people are loons anyways, only someone living in Brooklyn could convince themself its better than Manhattan). I enterntained fantasies (more commonly known as delusions in real estate) that we could upgrade to a 1 bedroom barely more than we currently paid.

It was to these delusions that we returned from our trip to Ireland a month and a half ago to begin our apartment hunt. Over the next few weeks we saw over 20 apartments. We worked with 3 different realtors and wasted hours of each day emailing and calling about real estate listings we saw online.

All I can really say about the hunt is that New York people are insane about real estate. In no other city in the country would the apartment hunter pay the apartment realtors fee for listings they've never even seen. Negotiating down a fee for a man to pick up a key from his office and let us into a building he's never seen nor researched anything about had me ready chuck it all and move to New Jersey. My wife talked some sense into me on that last thought but the mere fact that we even went to look at a complex there should tell you the depths of my despair. I saw more one bedrooms smaller that our current studio than I imagined possible. I never before knew that a queen sized bedroom really meant the bedroom would only hold a queen sized bed and nothing else.

We had every intention of wrapping up the hunt quickly and spending the first weeks in June packing and preparing for an easy move. Life just doesn't always play out to my best laid plans. As it happens the first complex we looked at was on Roosevelt Island, a small island between Manhattan and Queens with a few larger complexes than your traditional brownstone walkup. The apartment was great but we couldn't commit either of the 2 or 3 times we almost decided it was the place. We just weren't quite ready to give up on living in the UWS for another year and feared we'd miss out on easy access to everything. ALthough only one subway stop away from patsy's pizza and serendipity on the east side, the east river felt like an ocean between us and the buzz of the city.

At last we decided to give it one last look after touring Stuy Town for a second time as well. After weeks of wading through the dregs and dumps realtors were willing to show us in our budget the place seemed like a palace now. Laundry? Check. Floor to cieling windows? Check? Almost doubling the size of our apartment square footage? Got that too. I am happy to report that we have been living at the Octagon on Main St (I love being able to say I live on Main St in NYC) for the past week and are loving it so far. The city is easy to get into and just moving into a one bedroom from our studio I never imagined how much I could enjoy space in an apartment. I promise more updates are to come about our new place. For now it suffice's to say we are sad to leave the upper west side, happy we are still close to all the things we love about the city and excited to live in an area with a small town feel with views of the east side skyline.