Our humble abode...

By popular demand I've finally taken pictures of our apartment! I couldn't get a picture of our bedroom, however, because the angles are so funny that it would literally be a shot of our bed. And well, for most of you, the thought of that probably isn't too exciting. And for those of you that do think it's exciting, you're weird. I digress...

So here's the living room/what should be our eating area. However, the eating area doesn't exist because there's no room for a kitchen table. We've been relegated to the kitchen counter stools, which is just fine. I would rather have more space than to cram a table in there. You would think in a small apartment one would have a corresponding sized TV. Well, apparently you've never met my husband because he likes things big... Wait, did I just diss myself?












Next up, is the office/spare bedroom/Bella's lounge. Are you seeing a theme here? Things must be used for multiple purposes! I would show you a picture of the spare bedroom closet, but that's just frightening. It's basically been the receptacle for anything I can't find a place for.

Notice Bella in her typical "work day" position. I'm cranking away at the computer (which I couldn't fit in this shot) while she naps for 8 hours. Rough life I tell ya.












And finally... the kitchen! I actually really love the kitchen - it's way more modern than our kitchen back in Minnesota. It's definitely smaller, but it's actually really functional! And it's connected to the living room so John and I can still talk while I'm making dinner and he's watching his big TV.











Well, that's most of our 1000 sq ft apartamento! If you want to see the rest, you'll just have to come out and visit.

For the birds...

It started out like any other day. John, Bella and I made our way outside of the apartment building to take Bella out for her morning potty stop and see John off to work. After about a block of walking we sent John on his way and Bella and I kept going around the block while she proceeded to sniff a thousand things and pee on about 3 of them. As we were walking I kept feeling like something was following us. I soon realized that a pair of birds kept hopping from tree to tree behind us as we made our way down the block. Not thinking anything of it, we kept going about our business and the next thing I know something hit me on the back of the head.

Well, of course the usual instinct is to scream, right?! So of course, that's what I did... 7:30 in the morning with people all in their nice business attire and here I am in my shorts and tank top walking my dog and screaming like a mad woman. Yep, I'm THAT girl. This nice little parking attendant looked at me and just kinda smiled, and I felt the need to justify myself and to let him know that I was just attacked by a bird. It kinda felt like that scene in Dirty Dancing where Baby says "I carried a watermelon". Like after those words came out of my mouth, I repeated them in my head thinking "I'm such a loser!"

Fearing for my life (and Bella's too) I went into a slow jog while pulling Bella along with one hand(remember she has to sniff EVERYTHING) and using the other hand to kinda wave around my head and run fingers through my hair to try to deter the birds from making another move. I literally felt like a crazy person on the inside but feeling like I had to hold my sh*t together since there were actually normal people all around me.

Well, we safely made it to the end of the block and back into the apartment building. I now seem to have a mild phobia of birds after that incident. And now every time I mention the incident to people they ask me if I've ever seen the movie "The Birds". No, I haven't and there is NO WAY I'm going to watch it now because they are legitimately psycho little beasts - I don't need a movie to get me more worked up about them than I already am!

City Life is Exhausting!

Whew! What a weekend! It's so fun that there is so much around us to see and explore! Friday night John and I decided it was just a casual night so we headed to a local pizza joint. They had a Chicago deep-dish pizza that was to die for! I swear I will never get sick of the endless amount of restaurants around here!

Saturday we decided it was time to go into the City and do some shopping! We hopped on the train and went to SoHo for the afternoon on Saturday. Despite the fact that it was sweltering hot, we had a great afternoon. The SoHo area of NYC is awesome - all of these amazing stores put into these old buildings. Such a cool combination of new and old. We spent a lot of our time in Bloomingdales and then we hit up a couple of other stores along the way.

After shopping we took the train up to Madison Avenue so I could "test run" a trip I need to make into Manhattan for work on Wednesday. So excited to be out of the apartment for a few hours to visit a client! I'm sure I will leave for the appointment way earlier than necessary as I'm totally paranoid about finding the right trains and getting there on time!

Saturday night we took Bella down to the dog park so she could spend some time running off her leash and enjoy a sampling of freedom! I think she really liked it and she pooped herself out!

Sunday afternoon everything caught up with us... well at least Bella and me. John was working away and looked over and the two of us were passed out. I don't think we've quite caught up with the pace of city living yet!!

Things that make you go YUM!

Ahh weekends! They give us the chance to explore this awesome new city of ours! We decided on Saturday to take the light rail up to Hoboken. It was literally just a quick 10 minute trip and we were on our way! We had two objectives for the day - eat sushi and go to Carlo's Bakery. Rough afternoon, huh?

Well, after strolling just a few blocks from the train station we found the place that John's co-worker had recommended - Sushi Lounge. I was so excited to be in there because I hadn't eaten sushi for months! Well it totally exceeded my expectations - it was so good! We will definitely be stopping back again soon to try other sushi rolls on their large menu. And of course when my sister is in town this may be a necessary stop!

Next up -- the bakery! Okay for all of you TLC junkies out there, you have to be familiar with Carlo's Bakery, right? It is the bakery that is featured on Cake Boss. It's a big Italian family that runs it and it's located in the heart of Hoboken. Well, we knew we were getting closer when we spotted THE LINE. Not just any line. A 2-1/2 hour wait line!

After deciding the best cannoli or cake in the world is not worth a 2-1/2 hour wait (at least not today) we kept walking and checking out the sites in Hoboken.

As luck would have it (lucky for me, not for my waistline) we came across Crumbs Bake Shop. And can I tell you how amazing this place was? Well, I'll just let the photos speak for themselves:

And I must say, if there was ever any doubt I had a sweets-loving husband (which there shouldn't be). This man ordered the Fudge Chocolate Chip cupcake. The lady at the countered asked if he wanted milk, and he smartly said yes. But then we go to check out and he swaps his milk for HOT CHOCOLATE! I mean I love chocolate and all but a chocolate fudge cupcake with hot chocolate? Yum?!?

Old dogs, new tricks!

Of course my biggest worry out here was my little Bella! On the list of worries:

How will she survive the 18 hour drive?
My proclaimed WORST DOG EVER TO TRAVEL WITH IN A CAR must find something special about a U-Haul. Maybe it's the vinyl seats, maybe it's the NO CRUISE CONTROL FOR 18 HOURS, maybe it's the fact there is no leg room. I dunno, but it sure did the trick for this little one. This was Bella for about 98% of the trip:












Can she ride an elevator?
The elevator is becoming the place where everybody fawns of her. I think if I had her in their too much her head would be so big she wouldn't be able to get back out.

Will she be able to go the bathroom without grass?
Woodchips, trees, whatever - she's game. In fact, she's gotten so good she decided to relieve herself near a person that was dining al fresco. How cute of her, right?

Will she bark when we leave the apartment?
Um, Yes! However, she stops shortly after we leave. Yep, we're THAT neighbor!

I know, I know I'm totally ridiculous - but a mama worries about her baby! Needless to say, Bella has astonished both John and I and has adjusted remarkably well.

I guess she is a city dog after all!

Take me out to the ballgame!

Well we've already discovered one of the great advantages of living near the City is professional sports! John's brother and sister-in-law, Mike & Anna, were in NYC for the weekend and we met up with them to catch a Mets game on Monday night. Now, while I was very excited to see them I was DREADING sitting in those cramped seats while it's pushing 100 degrees outside! Luckily, we got to our seats and by some stroke of luck they were in the shade... and there was a breeze! It turned out to be just a gorgeous night to watch a game! The Mets of course lost, but it was still fun to take in the scenerey and they did play a good game!












We got back to the apartment around 11:30 Monday night and opened the door to an anxious little puppy! She had pulled my purse around the living room, emptied the contents of her little doggy bag and managed to pull some paper towels off a shelf. This new life of hers is still a work in progress...

Welcome to New Jersey!

I don't think I've ever been so relieved to see a sign in my entire life. The moving weekend started with a couple glitches - the first one being the lawn mower. I decided to be all ambitious and mow the backyard with the riding mower for one last time. After one pass down the hill in the backyard, the thing sputtered and totally died on me. Did I mention it was at the bottom of the hill? Needless to say, I decided to leave it there until John could help me. So after that debacle I headed out to the airport to pick up John. Well, he arrived just fine but his luggage on the other hand - did not. We had so many things in there that were important (and valuable) that we about flipped. Luckily, American Airlines came through for once in our history with them and delivered the bag to our home the following morning.

Thursday was spent packing, moving and loading. Once the house was unloaded we (I use the term loosely) went through the house and got it all cleaned up. It looked so good and brand new once we left. Leaving was pretty sad and I tried not to get all sentimental over it, but the McAllister jeans in me took over and I got a little choked up. This is the house John and I built together, we got engaged there, was our first house together, brought Bella home there, and much more. It's so sad to be leaving all of those great memories, but we're sure to create many more at our new home in the City!

We said our goodbyes to our empty house and got on the road. We stopped in Dubuque to unload a lot of items to store, to pick up Bella and to see our family before we left. Then the three of us packed up the U-Haul and started the long journey to our new home. After two days in the car, 18 hours of driving (by John), and seven states of scenery we are here! We arrived in Jersey City by 5:00pm on Saturday night, we were so relieved to get here and we did not run into any holiday traffic! The drive actually went better than expected. Our biggest fear was how Bella would handle that many hours in a car since she is a notoriously bad traveler. I don't know if she had just missed being with John and I for the past month but she was amazing - such a trooper!

Here is a photo of the condition of our apartment kitchen on Saturday night. You can see we have our work cut out for us! The weekend will be spent unpacking and hopefully doing a little bit of exploring as well. Until next time, Happy 4th!