a year in the city

*taps on keyboard* does this thing still work?

Dear reader, it has been an eon (maybe about 8 months) since my last post. And boy, howdy, how my life has changed so much.

Let’s do some quick catching up.

I moved out!

I moved out of my old apartment and moved into a new one with my boyfriend and my dog. I’m now in Brooklyn, so it’s a bit harder to get into the city, but I honestly love my home and my area. I’m so happy to finally be able to furnish and style the entire apartment the way I (and my boyfriend) like it.

We still have a lot to go in terms of decor, but I finally got my PS5 and a huge 70 inch TV so a lot of our days are spent watching shows or movies or playing games.

We also have an in unit washer dryer, which is such a stupid adult thing to be excited about but it’s SO convenient. I can do laundry whenever I want for free!

Speaking of adult things, we also recently got one of those ‘Dirty/Clean’ magnets to put on our dishwasher and my boyfriend said this was a painfully adult purchase, to which I agreed.

We also hosted our first get-together, our housewarming, and all of our friends came over and saw the new place. Hooray!

I got a dog!

Yes, you might have noticed I kind of slipped that one in really quickly.

Meet Butters, a rescue from Boston. The story of how we got him is a story for another day, but just know he’s the silliest, goofiest, most rambunctious, and ever-so infuriating little guy I’ve ever known. And we love him so fucking much. He’s two years old.

It’s been weird becoming a dog mom. I had a lot of difficulty with the adjustment at first. He barked all the time, ate everything in sight (still does this), and was incredibly hyperactive. I really, really felt like I had made a mistake by adopting him and was even considering rehoming him or returning him to the shelter.

But luckily, we invested in lessons for him and it’s helped immensely.

One year working

I’ve now hit my one year work anniversary and really felt like I’ve gotten into the groove of it. I love the work that I do, I feel energized and excited to work every single day, and I love the people I’m with.

I didn’t really realize how much of a workaholic I would be. I think because I like it so much I tend to do it outside of work hours and think about it a lot, etc. But it’s not from a place of stress, more out of an excitement of getting stuff done.

I think come October I’m going to really evaluate my work life balance and see if I need to set stricter boundaries for myself (no checking work messages after work hours, for example) but so far, I really love it!

Life! AAAAhhh!

Life this year has been kind of hectic, to say the very least. If I had to graph my year this year it would kind of look like this.

I went to Cancun in January with some of my sorority sisters, which was a blast.

And then I immediately got sick with strep and various illnesses and was effectively out of commission all of February.

March I hosted an Oscar’s watch party, hung out with friends, flew home and spent time with my family for a bit.

Went to a couple concerts in April and flew to Seattle for some work stuff. I also met my boyfriend’s mom and watched the eclipse with them in Vermont. Went to Seattle again.

In May I went to Japan and the Philippines with my mom which was so fun! But I also lost my passport like two days before I was supposed to fly out and had to get an emergency passport and I flew out a day later than my mom because of that. It was a shitshow. Harrowing. Awful. But the US Passport Agency was so kind to me.

And then June I went to Boston and saw Emma, who was briefly back for Madagascar, Eva, and Kylee. Went to a wedding. Got a dog. And immediately started trying to figure out how to move out since my apartment didn’t allow dogs.

In July, I moved in with my boyfriend and my dog. Settled in. Got used to life.

Which brings us here, August 2024. I feel like I’ve lived a million lives since January. Since even May. This year has definitely not what I expected it to be. If you had told me a year ago that I’d be sat in a duplex in Brooklyn living with my dog and my boyfriend, I can say with 100% certainty that I would not have believed you. Literally a year ago today I wrestling with my independence in my postgrad life. I felt alone, a little loss, as I clambered my way through work and taking care of myself and dating but really not dating and. I just didn’t have a clear idea of what I was really doing.

And to be honest, I still don’t. But I look around me and I feel incredibly proud of the life I’ve built. I wake up every morning, do my silly New York Times games, make breakfast for my boyfriend and me, take the dog on a walk, work from home alongside my partner, and once the work day is done, do silly, lovely things with this family I have now formed.

There are still plenty of things that I’m working towards, that feel like works in progress. I’m still diligently going to therapy and am now deciding to tackle issues that I’ve purposely avoided my entire life, which is cool and indicates progress. I’m taking guitar lessons again, which I am so happy about. I’m going to start art lessons in November, I think? I’m working on building my boardgame collection.

But life is pretty good right now and I’m happy with the little life I’ve built for myself in just a year here in the city.