Five Years In NYC

Memories through the last few years, the final photo my first shoot for the blog!

This week marks five years of living in NYC. As cheesy as it may be, I still can’t believe I get to experience this city every day. It feels like yesterday I moved here with no job, no apartment and just the dream it would all work out. Now five years later, I’ve found a job I love, friends who feel like family, this outlet to share with you all and experiences I truly couldn’t get anywhere else. Even when I’m frustrated, exhausted and ready for a break, I always want to come back to New York. I’m so grateful to be able to live here and today I’m sharing five lessons I’ve learned this past five years.

1. Take Advantage Of Every Opportunity: Go to events, be a tourist in your own city, try new restaurants, go on the blind dates, the opportunities are endless. This city is all about connections and meeting new people from all around the world. Take advantage of all of them while you can and you never know where it may lead next!

2. Enjoy Your Alone Time: When I first moved here, I didn’t have a ton of friends yet in the city and really learned to explore the city alone. NYC is the best place in the world for wandering by yourself. I’ve loved discovering new spots, going to Broadway shows alone and just soaking up the city when I can the last few years and learning to be comfortable doing things truly on my own.

3. Your Friends Become Family: Living far away from my family can be hard but I’ve been blessed to find my people here who I turn to for both the good and the bad. They’re the friends who try new restaurants with you, who support you at work events, come over with a bottle of wine when you don’t want to leave the apartment and make traditions with. The past five years we’ve found our spots, our favorite late night pizza, our summer traditions like Rockaway every August and most importantly, they make NYC feel like home.

4. Somethings Are Worth The Extra Dollar: Everything in NYC is ten times harder. You can’t always throw your groceries in the car or do a quick load of laundry. While I believe in almost always taking the subway and saving where you can, sometimes its ok to spend the extra few dollars on a cab in the pouring rain or pay a Taskrabbit to help you build a new dresser in your tiny apartment. We all need to give ourselves a break and it’s ok when we can’t do it all.

5. Soak It Up: Living here, we’re always on the move, trying to get to the next place as fast as we can and sometimes we forget to sit back and soak up all this city has to offer. There truly is no where else like New York and while we may love to complain about small apartments, the expenses and the long days, this is a place like no other and we need to remember how lucky we are to be here.

Plain and simple, New York, I love you.