Life as a New Yorker - Year 2

Today marks my 2nd year in New York City! Happy newyork-versary to me! It's actually the longest place i've lived since I moved out of Georgia. Yes, I was in college for 4 years, but before it turned 2 years in Baltimore, I studied abroad in Shanghai for a semester. Then, 1.5 years later I graduated. As for my masters, I moved out of Baltimore two months shy of two years.

So.. congratulations to me for living in a city for over two years! And i'll admit that not only have I grown spiritually, mentally, physically (like grown in weight), but also I've grown to become... well... more and more like a New Yorker.

Here are some changes I've noticed during my two years here... as illustrated with gifs of judge judy of course.

Saying "I Love You" Through Food

Growing up, my parents never really told me or my sisters "I love you". I actually didn't think it was weird that my parents didn't say it until I went to college and everyone would hang up the phone with, "bye mom. I love you too!" The way I end my phone conversations with my mom is usually, "okay, okay, okay" *click.

So of course when I told my friends that my parents rarely say "I love you" to me, they were all, "oh my gosh.... I'm sorry..." But then I realized that my parents do say it, they just say it in their own way. My parents version of "I love you" is..

Let's Talk Kakao Emojis

It's been a while since i've written a blog post. I'd love to credit my blog absence to having such a glam NYC life that I forgot about all of yall boring people not living in the Big Apple... but that would be a complete and utter lie.

....So let's just say life got in the way.

Anyways, I was talking with my best friend on Kakao today and we were discussing how awesome Kakao emojis were. And so I thought i'd share my favorite kakao emojis that I use on a daily basis.

The Classes I Wish Colleges Offered

My Alma Mater

The more I learn to be an adult, the more I realize I don't know what I learned from college or what skills I took away from my experience there (okay fine, learning to drink sort of counts, i guess...). I feel like in elementary through high school I learned so much - addition, subtraction, spelling, how to read.... and then I got to college and grad school and I'm not entirely sure what happened. I feel like college did a sub-par job in helping me transition to adulthood and get ready for the "real world". So I took it upon myself to draft up some classes, along with the course description, that I think would have been very helpful for me and probably that every college should consider a required course before graduation.

Learning to Trust Through My Strategic Hot Mess Life

As Easter suddenly decided to appear out of nowhere and then passby in March, I've been seriously reflecting over the last two weeks  about what Easter means to me. Yes, i know, it's about Jesus' death on the cross and his resurrection three days later... but I've been reflecting on what that means to me as a 26 year old female, living in NYC, trying to figure out life and trying to figure out how to do this whole adult thing. In essence, what does the resurrection personally mean to me beyond the typical "He is risen and my sins are forgiven!" (which, don't get me wrong, is a fabulous thing).

And so i entered church on Sunday, excited for Easter sunday, but quite unsure in my heart. 

The Places I've Been in 10 Years

Yesterday, as I rummaged around for my passport, I realized that it's set to expire in June of this year. That means... it's been ten years since I've gotten my passport. TEN YEARS.

I actually quite clearly remember getting that passport photo taken. I had to take several shots because my hair kept falling over my eyes and I wouldn't follow the "don't smile" directions. Because honestly, if you don't smile you look fat and mad. In the end the lady gave up and printed out a picture to which I thought "oh. oh. ohno. i'm stuck with this photo for ten years..."

Now, in a blink of an eye, I'll be turning it in soon to renew it for another ten years...

What It's Like Being the Single Sister

The one great thing about living in NYC is that it's full of single people.

Oh, you're single and have been an adult for many years?! I'm single and i'm a new adult! 

And so it's great living in NYC because you get all this 'single power'. That's when you feel even more energized and powerful and independent because you're a single female.

BUT there's nothing like spending a week with family to reel you back to life outside single-full-NYC and remind you what it's like to be THE ONLY single person in your family. AND now that sister #2 has a baby of her own, I'm starting to notice subtle changes in the way life used to work: