WE'RE HERE!!!!!

Ok...so we've actually been here for almost two weeks but as you can see by me not posting in the last two months...I've been a huge slacker. I've blamed it on being overwhelmed but let's be honest, it was mostly just plain laziness. So...I've decided to be better about it--we'll see how that goes.

Two weeks ago today, I picked up the uhaul and started loading up. We rolled outta Wilmington Saturady morning, October 2, and made the drive to Raleigh to pick up Ana and load her stuff. With the help of my stepdad, Mitchell, and Ana's dad, Wayne, we managed to fit everything in...it was tight but we made it.



After our furniture, U-Haul tetris game was over, we hit the road. We made it into Maryland, almost to Delaware when we decided to stop for the night. The next morning we made the journey the rest of the way. The trip was a piece of cake until we got to right outside the city where we ran into a few snags, but two hours later we were in front of our apartment and ready to unload!

After getting everything in, it was hard to decide where to even start with unpacking amidst complete chaos! But...we just got to it, and box by box made progress. By Monday, we had everything pretty much put together and the only things left to find a place for are still sitting out two weeks later. I imagine it will be a month or two before everything is completely unpacked and in it's place but for now we're settling in. I was surprised how fast our apartment felt like home but I'm definitely comfortable here already and am excited about what's to come!

SO much to tell...

Where to start? I suppose there wouldn't be so much to tell if I had posted some news in the last 2 weeks but I've been pretty overwhelmed. There has just been so much going on and so much that was up in the air since we got back from our apartment hunting trip that I didn't even know what to share, especially when nothing was official yet. I guess I'll start with the biggest news and then get into how we got there.

The BIG news is...we've officially changed our moving date to October 3, 2010! While we really wanted to move up September 1 for a number of reasons, the apartment we fell in love with wasn't available until this time so we had to make a compromise. Luckily, Josh was able to stay in his current apt the extra month and it was no problem for Ana and me to postpone our move one more month. AND we just got word today that our application was approved so we will be signing the lease in the next few days and emptying our bank accounts to secure the place!

After the crazy weekend we had apartment hunting, we are so thankful to have found such a nice, clean apartment that we love and can make our new home. We had a lot of ups and downs on our short trip up including: finding a great apt the first day only to find out there was already an application on it, to looking at a $3000 a month dump where I'm sure a large population of the LES cockroaches live, to spending 8 hours in the ER after Ana got food poisoning, and ending with finding the absolute perfect place only to find it wasn't available until Oct. Luckily, our last down found it's way up when Josh's landlord agreed to let him stay until October. The only problem now is that after being up there, I'm so excited to move I can't believe I have to wait another 6 weeks!

All in all, I'm so much less anxious and overwhelmed about the move after our trip. As some of you know, I was having a lot of anxiety in the last month but I'm now more sure than ever that this is what I want! Now it's time to trust God's plan and listen to the wise words of the Beatles--"There's...Nowhere you can be that isn't where your meant to be" ;)

FOUR DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok...not til we move. That's actually ONE MONTH from today! But in just four days, we will be up in New York looking for a place to live. I'm so excited to finally have our place so I can begin to wrap my head around what I can and cannot bring with me. I will definitely be downsizing!

Over the last few weeks Josh has been looking around with our realtor narrowing down the choices so that we have a good base of apartments to look at when we get there Friday morning. We will be spending Friday and Saturday looking at neighborhoods and apartments and will hopefully be able to get something locked down since Ana has to head back to NC on Sunday. If that doesn't happen, Josh and I will still be up there on Monday to keep looking or to get done whatever else we need to get done. I'll be coming back Tuesday to keep working away for a couple more weeks but hopefully with pictures of the new place and a little piece of mind.

Apartment Hunting!

Our apartment hunting trip is confirmed!!! Ana and I will be heading up to NYC August 6th to meet up with Josh and start our apartment hunt! While I will be there until Tuesday the 10th, Ana can only stay until Sunday so we have a short amount of time to get a lot done!

Because of our limited time, Josh is going to start doing some of the leg work for us with the realtor he used last year when he moved to the city. We've narrowed down the neighborhoods we want to be in to the Lower East Side--which was rated #1 by NY Mag this April for young, single, cash-strapped New Yorkers--SoHo, and any of the Villages. The plan is for him to have it narrowed down to 3 or 4 apartments that he likes that are in our price range so we have a base to look at that Friday afternoon when we get there. Depending on what he has for us to look at then and how we feel about them, we will either make our choice or keep on hunting!

It should be a fun and interesting trip for sure with hopefully only a small amount of stress!

Meet My Future Roomies!

I'm very lucky to have two great friends to move in with in NYC. Not only will it be great to share this amazing experience with them but it's going to help immensely to share the bills with them too!! First meet Ana Townsend:



Ana and I met while working at the Ale House 5 years ago. That same fall I joined Pi Sigma Epsilon, the marketing and sales fraternity at UNCW, where Ana was already a member. Ana moved back to the Raleigh area, where she is from, in Oct. of 2008 to work for Greystone Bank where she is an accountant. She is currently working on getting her Masters in Accountancy online while still working full time. She's definitely got a lot on her plate but she still finds time to make it down to see me in Wilmington quite often and I try to get up there as much as possible as well! I can't wait to be back in the same town as her having fun, fun, fun!

My other roommate will be Joshua Livesay:



Josh and I also met while working at the Ale House 5 years ago. We made a lot of mutual friends there so even after we stopped working together, we stayed good friends by running in the same circles. Josh graduated from UNCW with a degree in History. After graduating he got the itch that so many of us do to get outta town and try something new. So, last September Josh made the big move to New York City. He's been living up there since then in a one bedroom apartment in downtown Manhattan while working at Planet Hollywood as a server. Josh has an incredible zest for life and has definitely been making the most of living in New York City by exploring every chance he gets. I can't wait to start exploring with him and it will definitely be nice to have him there to help us adjust to a new city!

NYC Video

Check out this awesome video that my good friend Cameron found for me!! Makes me want to move tomorrow!!!

NYC from Kegan Kim on Vimeo.

Why NYC??

Why NOT New York?! It's amazing! :) Seriously though...there are definitely pros and cons to the big city but in the end, the pros won out.

Living at the beach the biggest con I hear from people is "What are you going to do in the winter??" My response is usually, "I think I'll be fine." Which is usually followed by a pause and then a shrug with the response, "I guess you are from South Dakota." And while my blood has thinned considerably being in the South for six years, at least for now, I'm excited for snow again! We'll see how I feel after a few months of it... I'll definitely have to help Ana out...living in the south her whole life definitely hasn't helped to prepare her!

Even with that and a few other cons (cost of living, teeny tiny apartments, etc) they just couldn't outweigh the obvious and exciting pros! An endless amount of things to do/see and people to meet, the amazing energy that lingers in the air, so many new things to explore...I could go on and on! One of the other great things about New York City that other places didn't have was that I already have some amazing friends living up there so I won't be alone when I experience a little beach homesickness! One of my best friends from home, Kimberly Nelson, will be living in Queens this year as she finishes up PA school...another of my best friends that I met while in Wilmington, Chris Casteline, lives in north Jersey, only about an hour outside of the city...another dear friend, Josh Livesay, will be sharing an apartment with Ana and me. I'm so excited to be living closer to these great friends!! In addition to these close friends, there are also high school buddies who have made there way to the city during their journeys and families of friends who live close by. It's definitely always good to know you have people who care nearby just in case.