DUMBO

Today was DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) Day for us. We'd heard this Brooklyn neighborhood was cool, so we decided to check it out. Before heading over there, we had to stop for two essentials: coffee (Joe) and food (Pita Joe) - complete coincidence.

When we arrived in the DUMBO neighborhood, we turned the corner and were greeted with this view:

We visited some art galleries:

And Bryan visited his favorite kind of gallery:

Then we went over to Williamsburg (another Brooklyn neighborhood) for a free book reading. It was funny.

Dinner Cruise

Recently, I took Alyssa on a romantic dinner cruise (IKEA ferry and swedish meatballs at the IKEA cafe). Shopping here is a nightmare. To get to IKEA, you literally have to take a boat. And good luck carrying the 500 pound mirror you just bought. Remember to bring your own innertube and tow rope.



Cool views of the Statue of Liberty, though.

Snow Day!

It's no Redwood Falls Golf Course hill, but New Yorkers do what they can with Central Park.

Crumbs

Delicious cupcake shop. Hot Chocolate (L) and S'Mores (R) pictured above.

We Found It

After 10 days of homelessness and an apartment hunt we wouldn't wish on our worst enemy, we finally found "the one."

While it's no diamond in the rough, it works for us - bedroom big enough to fit a king size bed (wall-to-wall, but still!), a living room large enough to fit our guests (can't wait!) and a tiny "kitchen" (perfect for how much we cook).

Entrance to our building


Our "kitchen" built into a wall in the living room

Our bedroom closet

First Day of Work

Alyssa and I had our first day of work on February 8. Alyssa said she "always takes a picture on her first day of work," but I think she meant first day of school. Regardless, we took the pictures (see below).





I'm sure the person behind me sees this all the time...

Cheesesteaks Are Gross...Sorry, But They Are

Before we began our jobs in New York City, we had a three-day training session in Philadelphia. See below. You get the idea.

Although the training sessions lasted all day, we were able to see some of Philly in the evenings. Arriving a few moments before closing, we simply pushed aside a middle school tour group and got what we came for.

And of course...

But more importantly (to Bryan).....the famous ROCKY steps!

And for the grand finale, cheesesteaks. I thought I would love cheesesteaks. Cheese + steak, how can you go wrong? But it was gross. However, cheese + fries = heaven.

Apartment Search

I feel like reading about someone's apartment search is like seeing vacation slides from a trip to Nebraska. However, we felt we needed to share the following pictures to give you some idea of what we were up against during the hunt.

Typical New York bathroom...







This was the ONE closet in the entire apartment. Also, you can't really see it in this picture but the wall in the bathroom was slanted towards the toilet so that you had to sit sideways.



Mirror/Fireplace/Weird Figurine combo in the bedroom



Front yard



Meow



While searching for apartments, we stayed at a hotel in Midtown. First they gave us this room:



Until we asked for an upgrade and got...


I don't even know what to say to end this post.