We are moving to NYC!
I CANNOT BELIEVE IT! (Caps are totally appropriate because I am SO excited!)
Yes, my Marc was officially accepted at Columbia University's Teacher College.
He is going for Gifted Education. I am SO proud of him! He has worked so hard!
He has not only been a excellent student, he has also been a great daddy and husband too.
I cannot wait to enter this next season of our lives. It will be a two year adventure and quite a change from Auburn. I am excited to focus on these new experiences! We will be there by Jan. 10th. 2012.
To top it off--MY BEST FRIEND WILL BE ONLY 11/2 AWAY!
I foresee so many weekend trips and weekday adventures together!
I keep going on highs and lows. Its going to be very hard being so far away from my family.
This is going to be a very difficult move but I am embracing this change with open arms.
Staying positive. Not many get this chance. So thankful!
We will be selling everything (save a few precious items), including our car.
I am so excited (and scared) to live so minimal for the next few years!
I am so excited for the girls! Growing up around diverse, different cultures...
Oh my word. It is insane!
Oh and I want to meet you all!
Got any frugal tips for NYC? Let me know!
xoxo
p.s ahhhhhh!
AH so exciting! Best of luck on your new life adventures!
ReplyDeleteWOW!!!!! What an incredible opportunity for you & your family! And congratulations to Marc :)
ReplyDeleteSo exciting for all of you!!!! Can't wait to hear all the adventures and stories you'll have there in your chapter of life!!
ReplyDeleteCheers!
wow that IS so exciting! I'm so excited that I'll be following your blog through all of it!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!!! That is freaking awesome! :)
ReplyDeleteWOW! congrats!! how exxciting!!
ReplyDelete-m
Amazing! Are you guys provided with Campus housing? My experience with NY is that it is super-expensive to live, but obviously it is also completely do-able. My advice is to find housing (if not provided) outside the city. Either in one of the outer boroughs or across the river in Jersey or even upstate a bit. Commuting by train is super easy and the way most people do it anyways. Everything is easily accessible and it is not uncommon for people to commute 45 minutes to-and-fro. We lived in Brooklyn (as do most of our friends) and worked in the city. If you do your research, you'll be fine ;)
ReplyDeleteI am so excited for you and your family! New York City is an amazing place. <3
ReplyDeleteWOW!! I've always wanted to live in NYC! Seems like such an amazing place to raise kids. Can't wait to follow this adventure with you!
ReplyDeleteWOW! i am so excited for you. i have plenty of ideas for living frugally in the city. but I'm in Chicago, not NYC. you're starting off right by selling your car. way to go.
ReplyDeletecongrats to ya'll!!!!! we're moving about 2 hours from NYC in the Spring, maybe we can meet up one day! what a fun adventure!
ReplyDeleteHi Love,
ReplyDeleteI've been a lurker for a while on your blog...Thought I'd finally say a formal HELLO and How do you do? You are moving to NYC and that is where I live! LOL Congratulations to your husband and your family. Columbia is amazing...such a beautiful, diverse, culturally rich neighborhood. I am sure you are going to absolutely love it. If you need anything, me and my beautiful seven year old daughter are just a stone's throw away across the bay! Such good news!
PS: Frugal tips: There are great bodegas up there...shop in the local little markets, not the bigger named more commercial supermarkets. Also, I'm sure you will get to know Fairway Market...which is awesome. If you like Spanish food...you will find some of the best up that way, too--and for reasonable prices. As I think of more, I'll post.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck Bekah!!
ReplyDeleteI just started reading your blog a few weeks ago, so this is my first comment...
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, congratulations!
Second, I did my undergrad degree at Columbia and just graduated in May. I live in Los Angeles now, but I have so much I could tell you about living in NYC!
Morningside Heights, the neighborhood Columbia is in, is absolutely lovely. It's an amazing, diverse and really cultural place. Columbia's campus is gorgeous, and there's plenty of parks near by. My fave is Riverside park, it overlooks the hudson river and has a beautiful view of New Jersey (which is actually not a beautiful place.)
As for what Kristina said about living in Brooklyn or Jersey- I absolutely do not recommend it for Columbia. The only train that goes to Columbia is the 1 train, which makes it a somewhat long commute from certain places. My boyfriend lived only a short ways into Brooklyn yet it was an almost two hour commute to get from his apartment to Columbia, which was a real nightmare. It takes over an hour to get to the first stop in New Jersey from Columbia, so unless you guys are willing to have a long commute, it's really not worth it. I know Columbia has great undergraduate housing and it's a really reasonable price compared to anything else, so I would definitely say go with campus housing if you can.
As far as frugality... well, be prepared. It's an expensive place to live. Any Whole Foods in Manhattan is crazy expensive, but Trader Joe's is pretty reasonable for certain things. the closest Trader Joe's to Columbia is on 72nd and Broadway and it's really nice. There's also a place called Fairway on 125th and Bway that's a really awesome grocery store, and is reasonably priced as far as NYC standards goes. Near Columbia there's a place called Westside Market on 110th and Bway that's also pretty good.
There's a target on 225th that you can take the one train straight to, it's about a 30 minute ride, but it's def worth it every few weeks to get staples and stuff. The main drug stores in NYC are Duane Reades and they can be really expensive, but have decent sales.
As for thrift stores and such, I never found a good one. All the goodwill places and stuff were always super super picked over, and there's a lot of ridiculously expensive boutique-like 'vintage' places. That is one disappointing aspect, but I bet it's possible with some work.
Also, as far as on campus things at Columbia, there are so so so many free activities and meetings and displays that give out free food! Absolutely try to do a lot of that stuff. A lot of it is really cultural and ethnic and is a great why to try new things for free!
There's also so many wonderful museums to visit and most have free days, like the MoMA is free Friday from 4-8pm, so those are really great fun activities to do. Keep in mind subway fares though. It's free for the kids, but it's $2.25 each way, so if you and Marc go any where you'll be spending $9 on a trip! Just something to keep in mind.
Wow, I am so sorry for the novel but omg I love NYC and I have so much to tell about it! If you have any questions you should totally email me! I adored Columbia and had the best four years of my life there, and I spent massive amounts of time exploring and trying to find cheap things to do. I also lived there over the summers in apartments, so I know quite a lot about apartment hunting and prices.
Congrats!! I've been following your blog for about a year now, and you've given me so much inspiration! I love NYC... I live about an hour away in Connecticut so I'm there every once in a while :) There are definitely lots of ways to be frugal in the city- the fact alone that you can pretty much walk/take public transportation anywhere will eliminate the need to drive, and there are lots of little markets... each neighborhood seems to have its own, so it all depends on what part of the city you live in :) Be prepared to save wherever you can- prices are definitely higher in and around the city (believe me!) but you truly seem to have awesome ways/ideas on how to save and live minimally! I wish you and your family all the best!! Would love to meet you btw!
ReplyDeleteWow! Congratulations, you guys!
ReplyDeleteMegan I am in CT where are you??? I will be abducting Bekah as much as possible hehe!
ReplyDeleteI'm in Fairfield! ahh somebody else from CT?? where are you!?
ReplyDeleteLove your blog btw, Kelly!
ReplyDeleteWow, I've been reading your blog for a long while now, but this is just such wonderful news that I'd thought I'd comment! I'm a student in CT but NY is home for me, so I'm glad you're moving up here--I just know you'll love it :) All of my cousins who are raising young children there say it is such a wonderful experience. Congratulations to you and your family! I've also taken classes at Columbia and I know that it is a spectacular place!
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited for you all! We just made the move to Albany, NY from IL (18 hours) this August. We're actually moving again (about an hour from NYC) in a few months!
ReplyDeleteAs for frugality on the east coast, you may already know this, but many of the apartments on the east coast don't come with the luxuries that those of us from further west are used to. Most apartments probably won't have central air, a dishwasher, etc. When we were apartment hunting I embraced the differences and just thought if everyone else can live without it then I can too. And we do. It just works here and it saved us a boatload of money. Window units are really easy to pick up from graduating students. Probably even easier to pick up in the winter.
Be careful of signing leases without seeing the apartment. A short-term lease might be a good idea if you are not going to be able to visit in advance. We tried to do that and felt we were being misled so we came to visit. That trip was SO helpful to put things in perspective.
Thrifting in NYC will be very hard. I lived in Boston for a while, and it was terrible there. The trick for thrifting in cities is to get away from (1) colleges and (2) public transportation. (This sounds like it could be a problem for you.)
For really great advice about moving to NYC I should suggest the NYC subreddit (http://www.reddit.com/r/nyc) where you can find all kinds of advice in the sidebar and from the SUPER helpful users. Here is a good thread on apartment hunting: http://www.reddit.com/r/nyc/comments/iabpt/solid_advice_from_a_girl_whos_starting_the/
Most importantly, make sure to BREATH a lot :) Moving can be super stressful. As long as you are prepared and organized everything will be fine. We sold a lot before we came and the minimalism is so great!
Best luck :)
Also: watch out for craigslist for apartment hunting. There are tons of rental scams on there.
ReplyDelete:( So sad, but so exciting :)
ReplyDeleteBest place to thrift are the housing works thrift shops, but you have to go when they're having a sale. Normally their stuff is overpriced, but if you hit one of their $3 skirt/shirt/dress/pants sales, it's heaven! They're very selective in what they take so the quality is pretty good.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of an affordable neighborhood that's commutable to Columbia, I'd check out Inwood, which is at the tippy-top of Manhattan. I know a few people who live there and commute to the UWS and they really like it.
Oh my goodness! That's so exciting! Congrats to Marc on being accepted!
ReplyDeleteaww youre ganna love the northeast! were awesome people!
ReplyDeleteWow! So very exciting! This will be an amazing experience for you and your family. Don't forget to stop and breathe...all the details will work out as they should. ;)
ReplyDeleteI'll second that...Inwood is up there but beautiful, family oriented. Not much thrifting, unfortunately. I agree with the others. I live in Staten Island and have some decent stores here, fortunately. But I often will go to Jersey to Unique and Goodwill. Maybe one weekend a month you can rent a Zip car for the day and head over the George Washington Bridge into Jersey to thrift.
ReplyDeleteAhhh! Congratulations, that is so exciting! I'm so so happy for you guys, that is really really awesome! I'm sure you guys are going to do great and I can't wait to hear all about the move. Woohoo!
ReplyDeleteCongrats! I live in nyc and have moved around a bunch in and around the city so PLEASE feel free to email me if you need any advice/have any questions. The Time Out NY Kids website always has tons of free activities listed and of course there are a million public libraries and other fun meetup groups for moms. As far as the apartments, it's pretty expensive any way you slice it. But I'm sure you will find what works for you. If you're family is on a path here, the universe will provide everything you need to live here :) Best of luck with the move! Please reach out! xoxo
ReplyDeleteWow Bekah! Congratulations! I have lived in NYC for nearly a decade, in Manhattan & Brooklyn. I love it here, and I hope you will too! There is so much culture and good energy here. Let me know if you'd like to talk/meet anytime.. I can give you advice on different neighborhoods, apartment hunting (just went through that), thrift stores, farmers markets, etc.. Also, I have a small group of friends with new babies, who all had home-births, and are lovely ladies, that I could introduce you to. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have!
ReplyDeletexx
Belle
OMG... shut up I live in NYC I have a BUNCH of tips for doing cheao and free stuff here email me at foxesthieves@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited for you mama! I wish you so much luck getting ready for your adventure and new start in a new place! Can't wait to follow along :)
ReplyDeleteOh wow! Such a big step. I can't wait to hear about all your adventures!
ReplyDeletecongratulations! i just checked out your shop and ordered some goodies as a sort-of-donation-of types...i hope it helps! i wanted to send a message with the payment but there wasn't an optiont to do so. adventures lie ahead for you!
ReplyDeleteAmy from http://fate-filledtimes.blogspot.com/
<3
So exciting! Can't wait to welcome you to the big apple!
ReplyDeletebekah, im so excited for you guys on this new journey. i would be just as scared as you are, but you seem to have the best possible outlook and optimism about it! congrats to your boy! you must be proud.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure how I found your blog but I really enjoy your adventures with your adorable family.
ReplyDeleteI live in Phialdelphia and travel to NYC often. Enjoy your time there it is an amazing city. I am not sure of too many frugal tips but if I come across any I will be sure to pass them along.