moving

First Weekend Back in the Philadelphia Suburbs

June 11, 2022 by Alicia 2 Comments

As I write this, I’ve now been at my new job for 3 weeks. I feel like the time is flying by as after the first week, I got an apartment and have spent the last 2 weeks settling in.

First, I have to mention, the rental market seems as crazy as the housing market. I looked at 2 apartments and I ended up choosing the first one. One, because it was actually available right away and two because it was updated and I didn’t feel like I was going to find a better priced option. I have to say although the apartment is a small studio, it is perfect for this transition period. We hope to next year buy a house somewhere in the Philly suburbs. There were many apartments that were not available until July/August or September. Basically if a person gave notice today, you had to jump on that and wait 2-3 months for an apartment. Pretty crazy!

I moved in May 31st and had a few days sleeping on an air mattress and going to stores everyday after work as I made my list of things I needed. Brian came down the first weekend with our spare bed and mattress. I could feel after a few days on the air mattress, my back was not loving it. I was definitely happy to have a real bed in the apartment. We grabbed lunch in the King of Prussia town plaza at Paladar Latin Kitchen and Rum Bar. It was very good. I even got a mojito because when at a rum bar…

I honestly don’t usually drink, but my drink of choice would be a mojito. I only drank half because it was quite strong and I could feel it so Brian finished it off for me.

We had to leave room for dessert because my first couple days in the area, I discovered Duck Donuts. I have heard so many things about this donut place on Instagram and it is worth the hype.

After we were stuffed, it was time to shop for furniture. I had reached out to a couple people on Facebook marketplace but most of the furniture was not available or the person wasn’t free that day. Given that we had a short period to get use of Brian’s truck, we went to IKEA to see what we could find. Brian decided we needed a futon and I’m glad he did because it works well in the space and it provides an extra sleeping area if I have a friend stay over. I think we were at IKEA for 2-3 hours and we left with 3 carts!

The last time we lived in the Philadelphia area in 2014, Brian paid for the mattress and desk from IKEA, so this time I could return the favor and paid for the furniture. I think I’ll make a separate post with the photos, but we got a TV stand, microwave stand (really just a cabinet), futon, side table and a table for a desk. Additionally, we picked up a new set of sheets, a couple pillows and miscellaneous items. The only item we didn’t get was a desk chair, the one we liked was out of stock and they told us more were coming in. Unfortunately it has been a week and I still don’t see any in stock from checking the website. I may have to find another chair.

By the time we unloaded the truck with everything, it was like 7pm! I really don’t know where the day went. We had a huge lunch that tied us over so we decided on sushi for dinner and went to Sushi Nami close by. It was the perfect amount of food (I didn’t take a picture!) and when we got back it was time for bed.

The next day, we went out for breakfast to Nudy’s East Side cafe. It was such a cute place and the temperature that morning was beautiful. We sat outside and enjoyed breakfast. I thought I had ordered the short stack of pancakes but she put it in as a full. I didn’t even realize until I ate most of it and was paying the bill. Apparently I was a little hungry.

After breakfast, we needed to go to Home Depot to get a few basic tools to build furniture. We picked up a screw driver and hammer and a nice tool bag so I can start building a tool set for the apartment.

Brian put together the TV stand and then we quickly built the microwave stand before it was time for Brian to head out. I spent the afternoon running around for a few more items. I actually went to 3 different Target stores in this day! I ordered a coffee table from one that had it in stock. Then I later ordered a microwave from another that was closer. Brian and I had gone to one earlier to look for tools but Home Depot ended up being the better option. It was quite the running around weekend to get everything in order but I’m glad we did it in one weekend. Luckily it doesn’t take much to furnish a studio apartment and it’s much cozier now.

I was happy to cook dinner in the apartment and do some meal prep for the week ahead.

I enjoyed all the places we ate at, but I normally do not go out for 3 meals in a row. It was best to go out though since we didn’t have furniture in the apartment initially or a place to sit and eat. I had been sitting on the floor and using my yoga blocks for my plate to sit on for the week.

The apartment is coming together though and I’m getting into a new gym routine and learning a lot at work.

NYC and Packing: MIMM#99

December 12, 2016 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Today is my first Monday not working. I will be spending the day packing though. Ugg why is packing so hard?! I don’t even have that much stuff. How do people pack a house? Last time we moved I hardly packed. Well I also had hardly unpacked most of my things in the 11 months I lived at that apartment. This time I reduced more of my things and I have to actually pack things into boxes since they will be sitting in storage for months. Last time we just threw stuff in the car and took multiple car trips.

The good news is I sold my microwave and table over the weekend. I think I have a person to buy my desk too. That reduces the big furniture we have to store. I just have a bunch of boxes, but really I don’t have a lot of stuff. I have quite a few boxes of books. I never bought a bookcase in the last 2.5 years so they have stayed in boxes. Also since I always felt like reading books as they came out and Amazon was easier than the library, my book collection grew a bit…next place, I should probably get a bookcase.

Anyway back to the weekend. Saturday I avoided packing by meeting up with some of Brian’s family in NYC. Brian decided to work so he can pay me the other half of rent 😉 (kidding, but he did decide to work). I am more into the NYC adventuring. OMG it was crazy crowded though. Even the train people were standing when we had another hour to go on the ride. I bought a book and read on my kindle for the ride.

I got to NYC and grabbed a snack and checked out the Macy’s windows a bit.

Then Brian’s cousin amazingly recognized me as I was walking through Times Square. I was pretty impressed they somehow ended up behind me. We first went to get tickets for a show. The line was HUGE! It took about an hour in line and while Brian’s aunt waited, we stopped in the M&M store and Hershey store. Even those stores had lines to get in!!

We then had lunch at Burger Heaven which was especially delicious being that it was already 1pm so we were all hungry. Then we headed to see the Rockettes!! It was my first time seeing them and it was fun. You were also allowed to take pictures and I brought my actual camera and got some nice photos. We had close seats.

After the Rockettes, the street was mobbed. I mean we all were like bumper cars shoving and knocking into each other. It was the only way to get around and I couldn’t help but laugh when we were stuck in a crowd and you have to flow with the crowd. Also have to love how the street crossing is two ways and you will see people trying to get by the other way. It was nice to eventually get some breathing room once we crossed a couple streets.

We walked by the Christmas tree. My first time seeing the tree as well!! I think this year’s is one of the biggest too!! It was beautiful and yes very crowded at Rockefeller.

We walked around to see some of the lights. Saks on Fifth Ave had an awesome show that we caught part of. So many lights, so many people. It was chilly but honestly I am thankful it wasn’t snowing or raining.

We parted ways shortly after 5:30 as they had to catch their bus and I had to head to the train. I got turned around at one street but found the station and made it to the station with 4 minutes until my train was departing. I went to my track and HOLY PEOPLE!! I started to head down the stairs and all I saw were tons of people. I still wanted to see if I could make the train and managed to shove my way towards the escalator. The fun part was when the escalator came to the bottom and the door opening was more narrow so we all would just run into people. Then finally I got on the platform, there were tons of train cars and I got a seat. Not a window seat, but a seat. Halfway through the train ride I was able to get a window seat. It was pretty loud, lots of talking on the train so reading wasn’t as successful on the way back, but the ride went by pretty fast and I made it home shortly after 8 in time to take a hot bath and use up some bath salt.

Sunday was all about packing, except it started with making pancakes and blogging. I wrote up some posts and then started to sort. I mean where do you begin… I started with my file drawer and sorting stuff to shred. Later in the day I borrowed a shredder from my friend.

For lunch, I ordered chicken wings. I was craving some Saturday night and skipped dinner Saturday so told myself I would order wings Sunday. I had sweet potatos to use up as well and cooked those up. I invited my friend over and we watched 2 more episodes of Fuller House and ate wings, salad and sweet potato fries. Here I thought I basically had no food and would starve but I didn’t even have to leave the apartment and ordered wings. Gotta love ordering online!!

chicken wings and more — I guess I won’t starve

I spent time sorting my closet and packing away the things I know I won’t need for my trip. I also put together a give away pile that my friend enjoyed looking through. Then I stocked my friend up with protein powders, spices and more from my pantry. I think that is pretty good payment for helping or watching lol. Her husband was like, I’m not sure we need more stuff.

In the evening I heated up my chicken wings in the oven since I no longer have a microwave, but they heat up better in there anyway. I watched a Christmas movie, working on this post and then went to shredding paper before packing up some more things.

Moving really makes you think twice about the stuff you buy. It also feels good to get rid of so much.

Thanks Katie for the link up and congrats on your beautiful baby girl!

What’s one thing you did this weekend?

Have you been to NYC during Christmas season?

Sickly, NY plates, Friendsgiving: MIMM#96

November 21, 2016 by Alicia 4 Comments

What a weekend. I took off Friday and my body decided to get sick. It has good timing like that coming on weekends…I had woken up around 4am Thursday morning with a sore throat. Now sometimes I just wake up with a really dry throat. This soreness wasn’t going away though and throughout the work day, I felt worse and worse. I had decided there was no way I could swim at the gym which I had wanted to do in the evening. Instead I just took a bath with some detox salt and laid on the couch with a smoothie and a book.

To be truthful though, I had so much sinus pressure that I couldn’t even concentrate on reading so I watched Gilmore Girls until about 8pm and called it a night and slept on the couch Thursday night.

Friday morning I was up at about 5am. I could hardly sleep really. I made some breakfast, which I didn’t really want to eat, but knew I needed something before getting on the road. Around 6:30am, I left and stopped at Dunkin for an iced tea. I seem to associate iced tea with road trips and not feeling well as those are the main times I get them. I made the drive and arrived at the insurance place at about 10:30 or so. I got my new car insurance and then headed around the corner to the DMV. I got to the DMV right before the lunch crowd. I only had 1 of the 3 forms I needed apparently so I was filling out the confusing forms and suddenly like 10 people walked in. There was no line when I had arrived. Luckily it didn’t take too long and I had eventually filled out the forms correctly. First, drivers license and new photo. I smiled and hope that it is a decent picture despite feeling like death. It took about an hour at the DMV which isn’t long really. It was perfect timing as Brian had just arrived from driving back from his parent’s. I met up with him at the house and he could tell I was really not feeling well. I didn’t feel like doing anything so I went to bed and he took my car to get inspected, the final step. I think I was in bed for 3-4 hours. Though I couldn’t really sleep, but laying in bed was like the only thing I felt I could do. Good thing I took the day off…

Eventually I got myself together and hopped into the shower, hoping the steam would help. Then we went for a ride to his cousin’s. I needed food, but the only thing I felt I could eat was a bowl of rice. Luckily his cousin had a quick microwave quinoa and brown rice mix. I finally ate and drank a ton of water and was slowly feeling better.

We headed out for dinner with his Aunt, friend, brother and girlfriend. We went to an Italian place. Pizza and cheese things don’t sit well with me when I am NOT sick, so those were out of the question. I decided on bruschetta, a side of meatballs and green beans. After all the carbs, I needed to balance it out with meat and veggies now that I was feeling a bit better. I ate most of what I ordered and then we had the dessert display, the perfect little shot glass desserts. I had to go with chocolate mousse, there was no questioning. The smoothness of the mousse slid down my throat, making it feel better. It tasted delicious and was consumed so fast there is no picture.

After dinner, we dropped off his brother and girlfriend and headed to see our family friends to talk about our travels (in case you missed the announcement here). I got to play with the kitten, who is double the size from the first time I met him on September 30^th. I had a blast and was glad to be feeling a bit better even if I was still stuffed up.

It was nearly midnight by the time we made it to bed. Considering I went to bed at 8pm the previous night, that was late.

The next morning we slept in until 8 and then I read for a bit before Brian finally got moving. I decided to just get a bagel for breakfast down the road and then we parted ways as I drove back to PA with my new NY plates.

tim hortons iced tea — Tim Horton’s iced tea for the ride home

I stopped at the grocery store and may have picked up a few things not on my list as I was hungry. I arrived home and it was 71 degrees outside!! 71 in mid November!! My windshield and windows needed a good cleaning so I took care of that before finally eating.

avocado sushi with ham and cheese crackers

I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning, making food for my potluck Sunday and relaxing. I read for a couple hours before going to bed at 9 because I was exhausted again.

Sunday morning I was up at 6 since I went to bed so early. I took advantage of it and got laundry done and tons of cooking. I also caught the sunrise.

I was done with my meal prepping for the week by 9am!

meal prep bean quinoa salad — bean salad and quinoa salad for potlucks and sweet potatos for me

The important thing I finally did Sunday though, was adding a box where you can subscribe to my blog posts. I should have done this a long time ago, but finally I am doing it. I want people to be able to subscribe so they don’t miss a post while I travel. Sign up now in the sidebar. I am thinking of working on a newsletter as well.

Though my voice still sounds awful, I made it through teaching yoga and then got ready to head into the city for a Friendsgiving potluck with my fellow yogi graduates. I took the train since it was Philadelphia marathon day. I was not attempting to drive in that.

It was so nice to see everyone and chat. We also shared so many delicious dishes. Hours went by so quickly and before we knew it, it was approaching 8pm. My train back was at 8:40 so I had a bit of time at the station, then back home to head to bed. The weekend started out chill as I was sick, but the down time was probably needed. I was glad to end the weekend with friends sharing delicious food.

Thanks Katie for the Link up.

Have you had a Friendsgiving? This was my first but I would definitely be up for doing it again, so fun.