I can't believe it's already over! 3 years ago when we moved to New York, it felt like we would be living there forever! Some days I really wondered if I would ever make it out. Today I am feeling grateful that we are out, but also grateful that we had the chance to live there and experience so many great things! (Carnegie Hall being at the top of my list)
On one of our last days in New York, Daniel, Olivia, and I went for a walk through our neighborhood in Greenwich Village to take pictures of places that have been important and familiar to us the last 3 years.
As always, Olivia was thrilled to get out of the apartment. She loves going for walks outside.
Fifth Avenue is my favorite street in the world! And believe it or not, that has nothing to do with shopping.
My favorite running destination, the Empire State Building, was on Fifth Avenue between 33rd and 34th Streets. Several mornings a week, I would go to Washington Square Park, where Fifth Avenue begins, and I would run to the Empire State Building and back. It was nice to be able to see my running destination the entire time I was running. We also walked up Fifth Avenue every Sunday to go to church.
Olivia's pediatrician's office was a short walk from our apartment. I loved that it was in a brownstone. The sidewalk in front of the office was a parking lot of strollers--there wasn't enough room for them inside.
The subway... Where do I start? The subway and I had an on-and-off relationship. While it was nice to not have to worry about the expenses of a car, and usually the service was very fast, some days I would have traded the most run-down, piece-of-crap car for having to deal with all the rudeness, smells, sights, overwhelming heat, and waiting in the subway.
In a lot of ways, I think riding the subway on a daily basis ruined New York for me. With the combination of everyone being in a hurry to get wherever they are going, and their view of themselves as more important than the person sitting or standing next to them, the rudeness and competition were overwhelming. And as far as the elevators in the subway are concerned, if you are willing to stand in someone else's urine they work great. Otherwise, use the stairs. Even if you are carrying a stroller with a 10-pound baby in it and there are three flights of stairs to go up. Farewell subway!!!
We will miss Mike, the doorman (left), as well as all the folks who worked in our building at 240 Mercer. It was a wonderful place to live. We won't, however, miss paying rent in New York. :)
This is our building. We lived in four different apartments during our time in New York: two apartments on the second floor, one on the fourth floor, and one on the sixth.
We will miss Washington Square Park and its friendly, though sometimes frightening, squirrels.
Although we will miss the random street performers, it will be nice to get away from all of the smoking. That's one thing we knew we wouldn't miss.
We are both going to miss the Law School. Although Daniel spent much more time there than I did, it was still a community that I felt a part of. Daniel had wonderful classmates.
Daniel will miss the Law Review office. Even though it is in the basement of the law school and has no windows, he loved working down there. It probably had more to do with the people than the office space...
We will miss the little restaurant that got us hooked on sushi. And we'll miss the hostess/waitress lady, Amanda, that always served us and started remembering us. Although her English wasn't very good, she seemed excited to see us when we came in, and we were glad that she stopped bringing us tea after the second or third time we ate there.
This is our grocery store. Now that we are shopping at WalMart and Costco, we realize how small and how overpriced this place was. But one nice thing was that it was within walking distance and was open 24/7.
We will miss the Coles center, our local gym. We really took advantage of it. Daniel and I took a yoga class and a swimming class together there. We spent hours and hours on treadmills, on stationary bikes, and in the weight room. Daniel played a lot of racquetball too. The gym was just a block away from our apartment, which made it very convenient.
Our love for New York extends far beyond things and places. We will miss our friends far more.
I will miss all of the girls I got to know in my bookclub. It was hard moving to a big city with no friends. Addy, the founder of the bookclub, reached out to me right from the beginning and invited me to attend their monthly meetings. There was no pressure to read the books, but there was always an in-depth discussion about the main topics, about babies, and about life in general. We also had several craft days where I learned how to make a baby tag blanket, decorate a onesie, and make Christmas decorations.
This was taken at a Christmas brunch we had at Sarabeth's on the Upper West Side, December 2007. This was probably when our bookclub was at its peak in numbers.
This was taken last Christmas in Addy's apartment in New Jersey. As you can tell, our bookclub had a lot of new little members. And some of us were a little bit bigger, like me. :)
This was my last bookclub meeting, in April. I'm not sure if the bookclub will go on anymore as only a handful of girls are still living in New York. With graduations, layoffs, and growing families, most of us decided to move away. In a lot of ways these girls became my family away from family. I can't say enough about how much I will miss them.
Daniel is going to miss his law school friends. This picture, taken at the final law review banquet, includes many of his best friends from school. 
Daniel will miss Will Ricks, his "cousin," who worked as a janitor at the law school.
Daniel will also miss working with the young men in the local scout troop.
We will both miss Jeff and Britta Goetz, some of our best friends from New York. They lived in the apartment across the hall from us during Daniel and Jeff's first year. We enjoyed the many dinners and game nights we had with them.
New York, we love you!
On one of our last days in New York, Daniel, Olivia, and I went for a walk through our neighborhood in Greenwich Village to take pictures of places that have been important and familiar to us the last 3 years.
As always, Olivia was thrilled to get out of the apartment. She loves going for walks outside.
Fifth Avenue is my favorite street in the world! And believe it or not, that has nothing to do with shopping.
My favorite running destination, the Empire State Building, was on Fifth Avenue between 33rd and 34th Streets. Several mornings a week, I would go to Washington Square Park, where Fifth Avenue begins, and I would run to the Empire State Building and back. It was nice to be able to see my running destination the entire time I was running. We also walked up Fifth Avenue every Sunday to go to church.
Olivia's pediatrician's office was a short walk from our apartment. I loved that it was in a brownstone. The sidewalk in front of the office was a parking lot of strollers--there wasn't enough room for them inside. 
The subway... Where do I start? The subway and I had an on-and-off relationship. While it was nice to not have to worry about the expenses of a car, and usually the service was very fast, some days I would have traded the most run-down, piece-of-crap car for having to deal with all the rudeness, smells, sights, overwhelming heat, and waiting in the subway. In a lot of ways, I think riding the subway on a daily basis ruined New York for me. With the combination of everyone being in a hurry to get wherever they are going, and their view of themselves as more important than the person sitting or standing next to them, the rudeness and competition were overwhelming. And as far as the elevators in the subway are concerned, if you are willing to stand in someone else's urine they work great. Otherwise, use the stairs. Even if you are carrying a stroller with a 10-pound baby in it and there are three flights of stairs to go up. Farewell subway!!!
We will miss Mike, the doorman (left), as well as all the folks who worked in our building at 240 Mercer. It was a wonderful place to live. We won't, however, miss paying rent in New York. :)
This is our building. We lived in four different apartments during our time in New York: two apartments on the second floor, one on the fourth floor, and one on the sixth.
We will miss Washington Square Park and its friendly, though sometimes frightening, squirrels.
Although we will miss the random street performers, it will be nice to get away from all of the smoking. That's one thing we knew we wouldn't miss.
We are both going to miss the Law School. Although Daniel spent much more time there than I did, it was still a community that I felt a part of. Daniel had wonderful classmates.
Daniel will miss the Law Review office. Even though it is in the basement of the law school and has no windows, he loved working down there. It probably had more to do with the people than the office space...
We will miss the little restaurant that got us hooked on sushi. And we'll miss the hostess/waitress lady, Amanda, that always served us and started remembering us. Although her English wasn't very good, she seemed excited to see us when we came in, and we were glad that she stopped bringing us tea after the second or third time we ate there.
This is our grocery store. Now that we are shopping at WalMart and Costco, we realize how small and how overpriced this place was. But one nice thing was that it was within walking distance and was open 24/7.
We will miss the Coles center, our local gym. We really took advantage of it. Daniel and I took a yoga class and a swimming class together there. We spent hours and hours on treadmills, on stationary bikes, and in the weight room. Daniel played a lot of racquetball too. The gym was just a block away from our apartment, which made it very convenient.
Our love for New York extends far beyond things and places. We will miss our friends far more.I will miss all of the girls I got to know in my bookclub. It was hard moving to a big city with no friends. Addy, the founder of the bookclub, reached out to me right from the beginning and invited me to attend their monthly meetings. There was no pressure to read the books, but there was always an in-depth discussion about the main topics, about babies, and about life in general. We also had several craft days where I learned how to make a baby tag blanket, decorate a onesie, and make Christmas decorations.
This was taken at a Christmas brunch we had at Sarabeth's on the Upper West Side, December 2007. This was probably when our bookclub was at its peak in numbers.
This was taken last Christmas in Addy's apartment in New Jersey. As you can tell, our bookclub had a lot of new little members. And some of us were a little bit bigger, like me. :)
This was my last bookclub meeting, in April. I'm not sure if the bookclub will go on anymore as only a handful of girls are still living in New York. With graduations, layoffs, and growing families, most of us decided to move away. In a lot of ways these girls became my family away from family. I can't say enough about how much I will miss them.
Daniel is going to miss his law school friends. This picture, taken at the final law review banquet, includes many of his best friends from school. 
Daniel will miss Will Ricks, his "cousin," who worked as a janitor at the law school.
Daniel will also miss working with the young men in the local scout troop.
We will both miss Jeff and Britta Goetz, some of our best friends from New York. They lived in the apartment across the hall from us during Daniel and Jeff's first year. We enjoyed the many dinners and game nights we had with them. 
New York, we love you!
