Movin' on Up!

We finally moved in to our new apartment and are slowly furnishing the space. Moving large furniture items in a highly populated area using public transportation is impossible! We have to coordinate our plans for furniture around weather, money and human strength.

If we don't rent a U-haul to move the items ($20-$40) or have them delivered ($20-$30 delivery fee), then we take the subway/cab/ferry or walk. Moving large or heavy items in these over-crowded areas can cause quite a ruckus. Slim and I do not want to risk driving in the city either, so the U-haul's out.

We found chairs for the room, but how do we get them home?! We haven't figured that out yet, so we have two barstools. Hopefully, there will be more to come.

We found fantastic resale shops in our neighborhood (http://www.housingworks.org/social-enterprise/thrift-shops/), so we're keeping an eye on them to get the ungettable get.

To our future guests, ask Rachel about the manual labor you'll be treated to when staying at Chez Grace & Slim.

A Sigh of Relief

Slim signed the lease for a studio apartment on the Upper East Side (Yorkville, technically) last week. We payed the deposit and are scheduled to move in on the Oct. 15. This seems legitimate, but New York has fooled me before.

We stopped by to view the apartment Saturday, and it is a typical New York apartment: small. the good news is the neighborhood is fantastic and the location is great. It is a quick, three block walk to Central Park!

The east side Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir three blocks from our front door.

My sister arrives this week, and Slim heads back to Texas on Monday. We spent the weekend visiting events with Open House New York and walking around our new neighborhood. More pictures to come once we're in to stay.

We took a gondola ride to Roosevelt Island and participated in a free, guided tour if the south part of the island. It is a fantastic part of New York, and the gondola ride is beautiful.

The hospital at the southern part of the island:

The view from the promenade walking to the South Point Park.

The views from the gondola ride to Roosevelt Island.

Update

A quick update for family and friends: Chris has looked at about 10 apartments and we're waiting to hear back from two in Brooklyn. He has appointments to see four more today. We hope these work out, because we've moved three times this week.

Thank you for the generosity of all the good thoughts and especially to the people that have put a roof over our head when ours caved in.