Where I’ve Been

It’s been a little while. Last time I was here I was living in Brooklyn, working for a real estate appraisal company, and spending most of my time planning the next big steps in my life. Since then I’ve taken some of those planned steps, along with a few that were more unexpected.

I’ll be back much more frequently now that I’ve settled in, and I plan on writing a few different posts on the major life changes that I’ve recently gone through, but just as a brief update, here is a little bit about where I’ve been.

Career Moves

You can make the best of anything. No matter what your scenario is, it’s almost always possible to find a silver lining. For a while there, looking for that silver lining was a second full-time job. I was employed at a traditional, highly corporate company in Midtown Manhattan. I thought that I could make it work, despite the impersonal and highly restrictive workplace environment, largely absent leadership, and lack of meaningful instruction.

After about six months, however, I came to realize that I can’t “make it work” in a position like that. To be totally honest, it was like working in the movie “Office Space”, without even the outdoor space in which to demolish the office printer. So I decided to look for something new, and dove into the nightmare that is job hunting in 2019. I plan to write a separate post about that whole experience, but after a few extremely challenging and disheartening months, I found my current role.

I still work in Midtown, but now I work for a software company in an incredible office with incredible people. I feel so lucky to love coming in to work every day. Though I’m grateful that my last position opened the door to the world of Big Kid Jobs, I could not be happier to have made the switch.

Arizona

In my transition period between jobs, Andy and I decided (probably irresponsibly last minute) to take a much-needed break from the city. We booked a flight, packed a bag, and flew to one of my favorite places on Earth.

I spent my birthday climbing mountains and drinking margaritas in the Arizona desert, and it was absolutely magical. I can’t wait to share some of our amazing experiences and photographs from that trip, but for now, here are a few of my favorite shots.

Housing Moves

The only thing more stressful than looking for a new job in New York is looking for an apartment. There are a million and one articles with tips, tricks, rants, and stories about hunting for a home in this city, so I won’t go into the entire process here. But suffice it to say that I spent an ungodly amount of time perusing, messaging, and stressing out about Zillow, Trulia, Apartments.com, Streeteasy, and about a million other sites.

It was a rough time.

But we found it. on July 1st Andy and I moved into our first apartment together in Jersey City, and I am absolutely in love with this place. Forget all of your preconceived notions about JC. In the past few years, the Grove Street area and Waterfront have completely transformed into a fun, safe, and beautiful spot right across the water from Manhattan. Grove Street reminds me of a mini, quieter version of Williamsburg, without the NYC sales tax. The commute to Midtown is a breeze, and getting back to the Jersey Shore to visit friends and family is universes better than coming from Brooklyn. Its an old, beautiful little area, and we couldn’t be happier with it.

All in all, this has been an exciting and fairly frantic time in my life. With learning and getting settled in at my new job, moving to another state, trying to find furniture for said move, and flying across the country last-minute, I’ve been a bit busy. But things have started to calm down, so I plan on returning to this space to write as much as possible. Thanks for sticking with me guys, I’ll see you soon!

Photography by Andy Cavallaro