More of why I am in love with New York, and other musings.

I have now been in the Big Rotten Apple for three weeks.  I still love it, and don't intend to not love it any time soon.  I have started auditioning, and all that crazy business.  I have also started temping for a little bit of income here and there.  I move to Harlem tomorrow, to the 6 month sublet I have set up.  I am really excited to be in Manhattan.  Jersey City is not that far, but it feels so out of the way that I am looking forward to the move.  I am also looking forward to being in a bigger ward, with hopefully more opportunities socially.  I have not had a ward like that for a long time, not since before I was married, actually.  It is going to be kinda crazy, you know, going to church and knowing someone may or may not be checking you out at any given moment.  But it will be good for me.  Who knows, maybe it won't be like that at all.  I haven't been yet, so stay tuned.

In a recent post, I talked about how moving to New York was very much a new start for me.  It is that, and since coming, I have realized something even further.  I think I subconsciously thought of myself as Recenly Divorced Nicole.  I truly never thought about that until arriving here.  With moving, and a clean slate and all that, I feel like my divorce is no longer part of my recent history.  Sure, I will always have it, and it is a large part of who I am.  I don't mean to say that I want to pretend it didn't happen.  It is a VERY important part of me, but it is no longer a qualifier to my identity.  I no longer feel compelled to share that information as part of my recent history upon meeting someone.  As of now, I am just Nicole.  People don't know anything about me here, so now I can let that kind of information happen in the natural course of things, instead of feeling like it is my personal elephant in the room.  I don't know if that makes any sense.  But I am no longer Recently Divorced Nicole.  I am just Nicole, and THAT IS AWESOME!

As a wise man once sang, it's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life, and I'm feelin' good.  Or, you can just watch the music video for what I have just decided is my new theme song.  How's that for cheesy and over dramatic?  Get over it and watch, or listen, or whatever:

And with that, I think I am done baring my soul on this blog for a while.  I could be lying, but I have done some pretty emotionally open writing on here, and I am tired of being so serious and heavy.  For now, I just want to show you my new life in New York. 

So, here you go.  A few pics from my first few weeks here:

Bryant Park on my first day here.  I was so tired, but just had to get out in to the City.  So happy to be here!

I arrived the day before 9/11.  This flag is a the WTC site, just hanging from the crane.  So stoic and beautiful.  I love my country.

The site of WTC One being rebuilt is awesome. 

You can barely see them, but if you look closely you can see the two sky lights shining up into the night, symbolizing the two towers.  This was on the evening of 9/11.  It was a very poignant day for me, and again, so glad I was there, and so grateful to live in this great country.

This is a store front on Bergen Street in Jersey City right by my first apartment.  It makes me giggle a little bit.

This didn't even happen on 9/11.  WTC One, all lit up.  God Bless the USA.  :-)

Sometimes, as you are walking through the subway station, you see your friend on a poster for "Mama Mia."  And you take a picture and upload it Facebook immediately.  Yes, that is my old friend from Les Miz days, Graham Rowat.  In spandex.

 

And then, sometimes you go on girl dates with Debra Weed.  Shake Shack and Porgy and Bess?  I think YES.