If you saw any of my video intros on this website, you'll know that I was living in a very small apartment - typical NY living - and I was still HAPPY, even during lockdown where I've spent most of the time inside!
Well, as many of you during the pandemic, I had to pivot and started to work from home so it was time to move with Mr.Grey into a bigger home (I think he was getting tired of seeing his Human so much).
I was lucky because I maintained a good relationship with my landlord during the pandemic, and he happened to have inventory. So he had this 2 bedroom available, closer to where I was living before, with outdoor space! It's really amazing because I feel like I am in a house, although I am in an apartment in the middle of NYC! So I decided to move... And it was the right thing to do.
Although the process was relatively easy because I basically could transfer one lease to the other, I still went through the motions at the end, and so I decided to write a small guide for people who are looking into moving in NYC - which has a lot of basics that anyone around the world can follow... As they say - "if you can make it in NY, you can make it anywhere".
Having the keys a few days in advance made it easy to book the movers to a Friday (instead of the weekend) and start bringing fragile things like my plants over that week. Still, my Dracaena Marginata, which I had to bring with the movers, didn't make it. Also, I had to coordinate with a Sofa Doctor to break my sofa... again! - to get it out of my apartment and also inside the new one. And you may think - how did someone with my experience have to use a Sofa Doctor? Well, it all started before my previous move - working in furniture retail I had an amazing opportunity to get a good quality sofa that I loved, at a fraction of the price. At the time I asked the broker for the width of the door (which had no problem in fitting), but I didn't account for that small part of the hallway that was too narrow, right outside my door - in my head, I only remembered the stairs and my apartment was right here!... And so it began my journey with the Sofa Doctor. Which although I had to pay for it more than once, was still worth all the trouble and $$. Had kept the direct contact of the person who helped me the first time, helped me not having to go through the main company who was subcontracting him, so I still saved in the end. Plus, the sofa I own is a good one, and I can even change the covers if they start wearing out too much. this is very important to me, especially nowadays when I've become even more focused on sustainability - I want my "things" to have a long life cycle... Find out more on my free downloadable PDF.
So the morning of the move, because it was such a small space, I barely could move in between boxes. The moving still took quite some time, and Mr. Grey was giving me a hard time getting into his carrier. but we made it! At the end of the day, when we were in the new home I was thinking - it was worth it!
In the end, as the movers wanted to eat before leaving, the easiest thing was to get them some pizza. And I wasn't planning on eating any of that, but I didn't follow a basic rule which was to have some leftover food with me... All of a sudden it was already past 9 pm, there was nothing decent around to order quickly some food, especially in the middle of a pandemic with places closing early... And my food devil goes: "come on, we're tired and there's nothing decent open...Not even Locanut, that you like so much!...plus you've been soooo good!". The angel still went "but you know you're going to feel more tired - plus it has cheese and we don't eat that". Then the devil said, "just this once - you know you haven't been eating dairy, so just one bit won't hurt you". And I did it.
Looking back I know why this happened and I gave into eating a nonfunctional food - it's been quite some time that I didn't have any dairy indeed, and yes it is so true that the body has this amazing feature which is, helping you forget the pain (can you imagine if you would remember your pain all of the time? How painful would it be? - no pun intended). So I had forgotten how it really feels. However, I am glad for this experiment because it helped me reminding me of what happens when I eat pizza and cheese. I felt bloated and sluggish (which I expected) but the next day I woke up with a headache (the part I had forgotten) plus now I love my own version of pizza even more! And this is something that would never have been possible if it wasn't for WildFit... And one of the reasons I am immensely grateful for WildFit is this food awareness and tools, like the food timeline.
2 days in, and I was able to finally cook at home. It still took me a few days with boxes around all the rooms, but 2 weeks later things started to get into shape and I was able to finally start planning the small details that make a room. I'll write about some cool choices I did in another post but for now, this was a consolidation of teachings, and I can say we are in a happy home! Download my PDF below, and get cool resources for when you need to move.