Two years ago when we were moving from our spacious-yet-spider -infested garage apartment in Florida to our mystery apartment in NYC, Chris and I slightly overestimated the amount of space we would actually have. To our surprise we had to leave some furniture on the sidewalk because there wasn’t enough space to even get it into our tiny basement paradise. We even had to put a lot of our boxes in our hallway (which is shared by only our neighbor and maintenance men).
Fast forward two years and those boxes haven't moved an inch, but they did get covered in dust and dead flies. Sorry, neighbor, for making you walk by that everyday. I'm sure any girl you bring home doesn’t think less of you because of us.

Its easy to judge this situation as laziness, and maybe we are a bit lazy, but those boxes just don’t fit and they are filled with wedding shit and sentimental memorabilia from our lives, things you don’t just casually toss out. At least I think they are. In hopes we would get a better and bigger apartment, we haven't even opened them since we moved.

Also, I am kind of terrified to be in that hallway very long. To be really honest it's disgusting.                    
It smells of death, is full of flies, and I kid you not I was walking to my apartment on Monday and a rat fell from one of the ceiling pipes. A fucking rat! If you're concerned about the rat, he lived and ran into the hole that I think leads to the boiler room. This is a really glamorous basement apartment with the only closet being in that hallway. Imagine the terror of finding a jacket or dress in that closet and having your back turned on this hallway. Not fun, but it is what we have.

For family reading this and worrying about us, we are safe. As of now we have never seen a rat or mouse in the apartment and have seen no signs (poop) that they have gotten in. I like to imagine our dogs would try and eat them like they do with any fly that gets in. 
But back to the point of this post, we are going to clean the hallway. With all hopes of moving out destroyed (rent shot up at least another $300 dollars in this area since we moved up plus we'd have to pay our own utilities again not to mention the down payments, extra months of rent, and pet deposits, we'll be here at least one more year) its time to get that hallway in order.

Aside from the disgusting hallway holding me back I am also a bit of a sentimental pack rat so my biggest cleaning mantra is to repeatedly tell myself that saving things will not keep the memories and the less I have the easier it is to manage.

I've done this before and doing it again hopefully shouldn't be so bad.
Some specifics I think about when I have a hard time getting rid of things are:

1. When was the last time I used this?
2. Do I really love this? Would I buy this again?
3. Does it suit my current life ?
4. Will I, or my life, be any less without it?
5. If there was an emergency and I needed to move tomorrow, would I care enough to bring it?

This will most likely get done today, we are finally getting the building to fumigate tomorrow so one of the managers or someone who talks to them might be down, and nothing makes cleaning easier then guests.

I cannot wait to get rid of everything.



-bea

week one of being an adult has been something else.
it started out normal then became frustrating and i think I'm ok with it now.
I'm happy to say i've only had about two wtf am i doing with my life meltdowns, which really only happened during my little people ny / reed making sessions.

I've been doing a lot of organizing and prep work for some of the projects i have with chris and even learned how to finally make transparent images on gimp. so exciting!
i spent tuesday drawing and cam scanning little illustrations to use in some programs for Belt & Ramirez (our duo).

mainly my days have been a lot of this



too much of this really, oboe warm ups and reality tv.
in my opinion its time well spent, staying in shape physically, on oboe, and on pop culture at the same time!

i did apply for my first summer job today. fingers crossed i get it.
tonight however i will be bar backing for chris, which is usually a lot of fun until about 2 am when sleep wants to happen. hopefully i can pull through.
wish me luck!

hope everyone has an amazing three day weekend!
if you can where you are, get your BBQ on and then send me pictures! :)

happy friday
-bea

this past week has been one of the best weeks in the city so far. its has been so great having my parents in town and trying to figure out where to take them and what to show them. i really do miss seeing them all the time. how do people live so far away from their families for so long?

i sadly didn't get any pictures of the graduation dinner this week, but my aunt is too amazing. the spread was insane and she even had a custom banner made. it was all so sweet and perfect. not exactly sure on how i can thank her for all that, but if you by any chance read this blog please know that i am so so grateful for everything you have done for chris and I.

the last picture is from monday, my first day home as an adult with no more school. it was a day full of forms and paperwork and practicing, not the most fun but I'm glad there is work to be done and that i can do it. its not the most flattering photo but look at that pup snuggle. literally the sweetest dog.

hope you all had an amazing weekend!

-bea

Giving my masters recital was an awesome experience. As much as I've complained over the past two years about everything, I have come a long way and I am grateful for the opportunity to be here and to have studied here.

i have been avoiding this blog for too long. april was super hectic very final but also really rewarding.
i will probably do bigger posts on more of the major things that have happened in the past month but in general i am now 26 y/o, i had an amazing trip to florida and performed at the brand new dr. phillips center in orlando >.< , i gave my first masterclass at my old alma mater, and i am getting my masters degree on FRIDAY! this has been so so crazy.

today was pretty amazing too, i had my last class ever. it was my creative spirituality class (a music theory class surprisingly), it ran over into finals week because we all had to give 40 minute presentations. it was an embarrassing and wonderful experience to prepare and be ignored. yay grad school. i also had to make up an exam from when i was in florida, and i way overstudied.

i can't believe i have been in school since 1994... 1994!
i am so ready and extremely terrified to be out in the "real" world. like what will i say when people ask what i do? it was so easy to say i was an oboist and that I'm in grad school. but when you say you're an oboist or a musician that isn't enough it's pretty much always followed by how do you make money doing that or whats your real job? so annoying. maybe i can just remind them how horrible a question that is and how impolite it is to ask that to someone you don't know. do doctors or teacher get asked all the followup questions too?

back to how amazing this day is i've been planning outings for the next three days because my parents are coming to nyc! i am so so pumped about it. it'll be the first time they are up here since i moved two years ago, so i want to show them a good time. planning on doing a ton of touristy things since chris and i avoided all of it when we moved. my mom moved to jersey when she came from cuba and has been to the city in the 70's and 80's but my dad has never been here. if you have any tips for hanging with parents in the city please tell me.

i can't believe the end of school is so close. i even get to wear a pink hood and tassel at graduation. pretty much living out the dream. glad to be back.

-bea