Mystery Meat

Hello again! 

Another week has gone by in the city, and (CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!) tomorrow starts JULY!!!  Summer is just flying by!

So due to an overwhelming response of extremely detailed requests for posts you'd all like to read from me...NOT!... The real story is that I didn't get a single one!  So it's chef's choice again and tonight's special is mystery meat!  No, but seriously, I thought this time I'd share about...dun dun DUN... my apartment!

It literally is relative to the quality of mystery meat...who knows what's all in it, but when pickings are slim, you just gotta take what you can get!  I found this place through the friend of a girlfriend of a friend's brother...no joke- that's really how it happened!  It may sound sketchy to you, but I consider it a blessing!

The apartment has a completely open floorplan with a loft above, where my 3 roommates and I sleep every night....on our air matresses.  I'd be lying if I said us 4 girls weren't starting to feel the lack of walls, bedrooms and privacy after living here for nearly a month.  But as we know, nothing in this world is perfect, and my apartment, or "Feisty 5C" as I like to call her, has some flaws, too.  (Actually, I literally just made that nickname up right now, but I think I like it!)  Yes, my key sticks in the lock so sometimes the door won't open, and the oven is "missing a part," (according to the flakey maintenance man), and one of the towel racks in the bathroom fell down, and the toilet won't stop running (I know... "better go catch it!"...good one), and we have no dishes to eat off of or chairs to sit on, but it's still home!  At least for now!  And, as I've learned from my mother, any place is simply as cute as you make it. 

So let me invite you to see my living space for the beauty it deserves...

The place is located in the Lower Manhattan in a neighborhood known as the Financial District.  The 9/11 Memorial is literally RIGHT across the street from me.  And as you may have seen from my last post, a BEAUTIFUL panoramic view of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the Jersey City skyline lies right on the Hudson River (i.e. what I like to refer to as "my backyard").  I've enjoyed many relaxing sunsets there on the water, including this one:

In our luxury loft apartment, all of us have designated our own little corner to keep our belongings.  Even the girls we are subletting from are storing their stuff here! Hehe ;) And since I don't really have a dresser or a closet here to store my clothes in, and living out of my friends Vera Bradley suitcase that I frantically stole mere MINUTES before I boarded the Megabus to come here didn't seem like the best option, I decided to be proactive and buy a storage....thing. 

So after an interesting experience of doing THIS:

(lugging a giant box on the subway back to my apartment)

and trying to channel my inner handyman (or lack there of), I somehow, by the grace of God, managed to turn THIS:

Aye yi yi...

into THIS:

Voilà!

which, on a GOOD day, usually looks like THIS:

"...in my own little corner, in my own little chair..."
(oh wait, we don't have any chairs)

So again, no mansion or 5-star hotel, but beautiful in its own way!  We do actually have a few chairs now- three to be exact.  One is a bright blue folding chair that any soccer mom would love to covet.  Another is a wooden, spinny office chair that I literally wheeled right up the elevator and into our room from the garbage out on the street in front of our building. And the third chair was left here by our sublessors.  (Why do I feel like I just started telling you my own rendition of "Goldilocks and the 3 Bears"?)  Regardless, this chair is seriously the most comfortable chair I have ever sat in, in my ENTIRE LIFE!  (I'm sitting in it now as I type!)  It's one of those round chairs, and the cushion is covered with this really soft velvety material and it just hugs your whole body right up like a warm embrace!  I got some weird looks from my roommates after saying this, but I imagine that sitting in this chair is comparable to what it would feel like to literally sit in the hand of God.  So glorious.  Plus, it's so cute too!  See for yourself!  (Annnnnnd *cue* angels singing "Hallelujah Chorus")

Another one of my favorite things about living in the "Feisty 5C" (oh yeah, it's really startin' to stick now!) is my sudden interest in cooking.  Yes you heard me, COOKING!  I've recently discovered the majesty that is Trader Joe's grocery store (more on that in a later post) and have since expanded my comfort zone to include making meals like these:

Couscous, chicken, garbanzo beans, feta cheese, and craisins

Good ol' stir-fry! (veggies from local farmer's market!)

Just kidding...
I bought this deluxe salad with
grilled peaches and watermelon at a restaurant.

Hopefully you don't think my cooking looks like mystery meat.... Plus I just told you what each meal was, so no mystery there!  But seriously, I hope you enjoyed the Chef's Choice tonight and appreciated hearing a little bit more about my "city-living" experience!  More comments from ambiguous followers who choose not to clearly identify themselves by name are always welcome! Just kidding... But seriously.  (Maybe just include the initial of your last name or perhaps even your ACTUAL first name to help me out a little bit?)  ;)  Love y'all!