Setting up the Wardrobe
The furniture arrived last wednesday. The wardrobe and the bed.
The bed was easy enough to put together. Animesh did it all on his own. Its stuck to a corner of the room to conserve space. I took out our brand new Ralph Lauren 350 tc sheets to christen it suitably. The sheets were great but I had the hardest time working the sheets around the corner. I just don't think we'll be making the bed that often.
The wardrobe was a different story altogether. The wooden frame was heavy and unwieldy. I wanted to call 'Jake', our craigslist helper who does odd jobs @ $20/hr, to help us put it together. Animesh immediately vetoed the idea saying its an unneccesary waste of money. I'm not sure when this atitude reversal happened in Animesh, but its definitely come about in a big way. While I am still in the 'Illinois' mode of wanting everything just so and shopping for clothes and things, Animesh is counting pennies like we did when we were in grad school. He passed up on the one invitation to play golf with stern students ( @ $75/head), the first wine club event ( $40-50/head) and is happily eating simple pasta dinners once again. I'm entirely pleased with this change of heart, but I can't seem to go along with it myself. If I feel my wardrobe is inadequate, and I feel that all the time (more on that later), I do feel compelled to go shopping. Now I haven't had much success with shopping in NYC (more on that later too!), so our cash situation is still OK. But back to the wardrobe we were trying to assemble. Animesh and I came up with a system of working the frames and drawers in parallel, in two different rooms and then assembling them in the bedroom together. Finding enough empty space to do this was a real challenge. But we did it all in under two days. The wardrobe looks so nice next to the new bed with the creamy Ralph Lauren linen. All we need now is to add some handles to the doors and drawers and we'll be able to put it to use. We went to HomeDepot this weekend and got a cordless power drill and screwdriver for the job. We also got a stud finder so that I can the pictures up on the wall. And today, a few short hours ago, the delivery guy from Overstock.com brought in our new Futon that awaits assembly. So we are slowly making something pretty out of this dump of our apartment. I hope we don't have reason to leave it soon.
The other major thing that happened last wednesday was that the cable guy came and fixed us up. I can now work from home if the weather gets nasty or if I am simply too tired for the long commute. This has been an incredible blessing. I am working from home today, and I'm getting quite a lot done without getting all stressed out about the long bus ride.
I had taken a vacation from work last wednesday to get all these things done. I had the most depressing experience in NY when I went out for a little shopping that evening. The main problem with my wardrobe, especially my shoes and bags, is that they aren't meant for NYC. They are ok if you have to step out of the house, sit in a car and drive from one place to another. But if you have to walk, run and stand or sit in not too sanitary public transportation, they just aren't convenient. My purse, the biggest and least fashionable one, is too small to hold my MTA/ bus passes, umbrella, story book, sun-glasses, baseball cap, chapstick and wallet. So I definitely needed a new bag, like a messenger bag from Fossil. A new pair of shoes that are comfortable for walking but have enough heel so that my pants don't touch the ground (eww!). And a lot of simple T-shirts I can wear to work over dress pants, because my tops are too fussy, especially when I am running to watch a train. I also needed an appropriate jacket for later when it starts to get colder at 5pm when I'm waiting outside for the bus home. I have a couple of gift cards from Macy's that people gave me before I left for NY. So I went to the Macy's on 34th. The store is HUGE. An entire block and 8 floors high. They have every conceivable department and desginer. What I didn't see was a floor map or store directory. So I was wandering around not sure where I wanted to be. The sales attendants were too few and overworked to be helpful or even polite. The place was just full of people. I'm not sure why there were so many people out shopping on a weekday afternoon. There were lines for the fitting room, lines for the restroom and lines for the elevator. I saw a few desginers I liked, but the price tag threw me off. So I headed out to the sale section. The sale section was a narrow rack absolutely surrounded by people. By now I really missed the outlet mall in chicago. Nothing stood out as a good enough deal. Maybe I'm a spoiled shopper and too picky, but I'd spent maybe an hour and a half on the apparel section and was getting very unhappy. I think New Yorkers either spend an awful amount on clothes or these were all tourists going crazy in Macy's. Maybe real New Yorkers only shop when they go away on vacation. To Chicago! On my way out, I saw a very cool display of pearls. They had a pearl illusion necklace that I'd been looking for in IL. So I went up to the attendant and asked to about it and heres how the conversation went:
me: "How much is the pearl necklace on display?"
she: "It should be written on the tag"
me: "This one doesn't have a tag"
she: "Is it on the display? Look on the tag" She hadn't moved an inch. Its not like she was busy doing anything else.
me: "There isn't a tag on it, I looked"
She turned and started talking a another colleague. Like I wasn't there. I stood there, appalled for a few more seconds before I walked away, out of the store. I called Animesh to see if he was free for dinner, but he was out to a weekly Stern event, 'The Beer Blast', and couldn't meet me for another hour. So anyway, I went home alone that night feeling quite miserable. I missed my shopping buddies, Yuxiu and Lynn, I missed the stores and I definitely missed the common courtesy people usually treat you with. I even felt bad about having moved to Whippany where I know no one and I eat lunch alone everyday. But its a choice I made, so I can't really complain. But I indulged in some serious self pity that night, I'm ashamed to say. I even plotted ways to get back to Chicago... and of course, there is no reasonable way to do that.
So I resolved to do a few things. One, I will join an art class. Fortunately ( and I HAVE been fortunate in finding an apartment in Hell's Kitchen) there is a great evening art school one block away. Two, I will take every opportunity available to make friends. I have decided to join the 4A group in Whippany and maybe even the WILL (Women in Leadership at Lucent) group in the hopes of making friends at work. I started chatting with this guy from Lucent on the bus, and hey, while its nothing to write a blog about, its a start! And Animesh and I went out for long walks several nights in a row. We live in a really cool area. The Lincoln Center is only a few minutes walk and they have a lot of cool (some free) shows and concerts planned for october and later. The Carnegie hall is nearby. They have a great all night bakery and cafe on our street that has a killer Tiramisu. A jazz bar, an excellent brunch deli and a cheap chinese soup place... all less than a block away. I did my groceries at the farmers market again today. I think they've started recognizing me. Life is actually quite good here in NYC, and its going to get better.
The bed was easy enough to put together. Animesh did it all on his own. Its stuck to a corner of the room to conserve space. I took out our brand new Ralph Lauren 350 tc sheets to christen it suitably. The sheets were great but I had the hardest time working the sheets around the corner. I just don't think we'll be making the bed that often.
The wardrobe was a different story altogether. The wooden frame was heavy and unwieldy. I wanted to call 'Jake', our craigslist helper who does odd jobs @ $20/hr, to help us put it together. Animesh immediately vetoed the idea saying its an unneccesary waste of money. I'm not sure when this atitude reversal happened in Animesh, but its definitely come about in a big way. While I am still in the 'Illinois' mode of wanting everything just so and shopping for clothes and things, Animesh is counting pennies like we did when we were in grad school. He passed up on the one invitation to play golf with stern students ( @ $75/head), the first wine club event ( $40-50/head) and is happily eating simple pasta dinners once again. I'm entirely pleased with this change of heart, but I can't seem to go along with it myself. If I feel my wardrobe is inadequate, and I feel that all the time (more on that later), I do feel compelled to go shopping. Now I haven't had much success with shopping in NYC (more on that later too!), so our cash situation is still OK. But back to the wardrobe we were trying to assemble. Animesh and I came up with a system of working the frames and drawers in parallel, in two different rooms and then assembling them in the bedroom together. Finding enough empty space to do this was a real challenge. But we did it all in under two days. The wardrobe looks so nice next to the new bed with the creamy Ralph Lauren linen. All we need now is to add some handles to the doors and drawers and we'll be able to put it to use. We went to HomeDepot this weekend and got a cordless power drill and screwdriver for the job. We also got a stud finder so that I can the pictures up on the wall. And today, a few short hours ago, the delivery guy from Overstock.com brought in our new Futon that awaits assembly. So we are slowly making something pretty out of this dump of our apartment. I hope we don't have reason to leave it soon.
The other major thing that happened last wednesday was that the cable guy came and fixed us up. I can now work from home if the weather gets nasty or if I am simply too tired for the long commute. This has been an incredible blessing. I am working from home today, and I'm getting quite a lot done without getting all stressed out about the long bus ride.
I had taken a vacation from work last wednesday to get all these things done. I had the most depressing experience in NY when I went out for a little shopping that evening. The main problem with my wardrobe, especially my shoes and bags, is that they aren't meant for NYC. They are ok if you have to step out of the house, sit in a car and drive from one place to another. But if you have to walk, run and stand or sit in not too sanitary public transportation, they just aren't convenient. My purse, the biggest and least fashionable one, is too small to hold my MTA/ bus passes, umbrella, story book, sun-glasses, baseball cap, chapstick and wallet. So I definitely needed a new bag, like a messenger bag from Fossil. A new pair of shoes that are comfortable for walking but have enough heel so that my pants don't touch the ground (eww!). And a lot of simple T-shirts I can wear to work over dress pants, because my tops are too fussy, especially when I am running to watch a train. I also needed an appropriate jacket for later when it starts to get colder at 5pm when I'm waiting outside for the bus home. I have a couple of gift cards from Macy's that people gave me before I left for NY. So I went to the Macy's on 34th. The store is HUGE. An entire block and 8 floors high. They have every conceivable department and desginer. What I didn't see was a floor map or store directory. So I was wandering around not sure where I wanted to be. The sales attendants were too few and overworked to be helpful or even polite. The place was just full of people. I'm not sure why there were so many people out shopping on a weekday afternoon. There were lines for the fitting room, lines for the restroom and lines for the elevator. I saw a few desginers I liked, but the price tag threw me off. So I headed out to the sale section. The sale section was a narrow rack absolutely surrounded by people. By now I really missed the outlet mall in chicago. Nothing stood out as a good enough deal. Maybe I'm a spoiled shopper and too picky, but I'd spent maybe an hour and a half on the apparel section and was getting very unhappy. I think New Yorkers either spend an awful amount on clothes or these were all tourists going crazy in Macy's. Maybe real New Yorkers only shop when they go away on vacation. To Chicago! On my way out, I saw a very cool display of pearls. They had a pearl illusion necklace that I'd been looking for in IL. So I went up to the attendant and asked to about it and heres how the conversation went:
me: "How much is the pearl necklace on display?"
she: "It should be written on the tag"
me: "This one doesn't have a tag"
she: "Is it on the display? Look on the tag" She hadn't moved an inch. Its not like she was busy doing anything else.
me: "There isn't a tag on it, I looked"
She turned and started talking a another colleague. Like I wasn't there. I stood there, appalled for a few more seconds before I walked away, out of the store. I called Animesh to see if he was free for dinner, but he was out to a weekly Stern event, 'The Beer Blast', and couldn't meet me for another hour. So anyway, I went home alone that night feeling quite miserable. I missed my shopping buddies, Yuxiu and Lynn, I missed the stores and I definitely missed the common courtesy people usually treat you with. I even felt bad about having moved to Whippany where I know no one and I eat lunch alone everyday. But its a choice I made, so I can't really complain. But I indulged in some serious self pity that night, I'm ashamed to say. I even plotted ways to get back to Chicago... and of course, there is no reasonable way to do that.
So I resolved to do a few things. One, I will join an art class. Fortunately ( and I HAVE been fortunate in finding an apartment in Hell's Kitchen) there is a great evening art school one block away. Two, I will take every opportunity available to make friends. I have decided to join the 4A group in Whippany and maybe even the WILL (Women in Leadership at Lucent) group in the hopes of making friends at work. I started chatting with this guy from Lucent on the bus, and hey, while its nothing to write a blog about, its a start! And Animesh and I went out for long walks several nights in a row. We live in a really cool area. The Lincoln Center is only a few minutes walk and they have a lot of cool (some free) shows and concerts planned for october and later. The Carnegie hall is nearby. They have a great all night bakery and cafe on our street that has a killer Tiramisu. A jazz bar, an excellent brunch deli and a cheap chinese soup place... all less than a block away. I did my groceries at the farmers market again today. I think they've started recognizing me. Life is actually quite good here in NYC, and its going to get better.
posted by Nayantara | 12:29 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home