Everything's coming up roses!
On Monday, my adventure began bright and early at 8 a.m. I drove to Hyannis with Dad, took the bus to Boston, and caught the Delta Shuttle to LaGuardia. There, I met John, the Williamses' driver. He was the perfect welcome to the city -- so nice and very knowledgeable. He used to be a cop, so I felt very safe driving with him, both because of the protection factor and because he knew the roads like the back of his hand. I am so glad I won't need to worry about driving in the city!
When I got to Eve's, it was like I'd known her forever. We hugged and then rushed right off to her work, babysitting a 7-year-old named Zoe. Zoe and I got to be good friends, which made me happy because Eve says she's had friends over while babysitting before and Zoe sometimes gets shy around them. Not so with me! We took Zoe to gymnastics and got some delicious falafel for dinner. When we got back, I met both of Eve's parents and her adorable chinchilla, Tupman! In between taking ridiculous videos, we talked about my job interview the next day! I went to sleep early (by my standards) to get plenty of rest for my early interview.
On Tuesday, I got up and put on my interview outfit (a cute nude-colored dress, black fitted jacket, black tights, and my nude patent-leather flats) and we made two-ingredient banana-egg pancakes (so delish). We left one for Eve's mom to try and got her seal of approval as well. Then it was off to take Zoe to school for Eve and off to the interview for me! I took the subway to Columbus Circle and walked along the bottom edge of Central Park to get to Madison Avenue. (Who works on the coolest avenue? This guy.) It was really easy and I didn't even need to check my phone for directions. Eve says I already blend in and act like a New Yorker, and she has good tourist-dar, so I am excited.
I got to the correct building and was going to walk up the seven flights of stairs to White Williams Holdings because I like getting exercise, but the doorman wouldn't let me! I guess maybe the stairs are just for emergencies? Anyway, I got to the right office with ten minutes to spare and met Michael first! He was just like he'd been on the phone -- warm, welcoming, and genuinely excited to meet me. I got some tea and waited in the lobby area for a bit while Michael prepared for the Williamses. First I talked to Michael in the conference room and then met Julie, the Williamses' secretary. I even heard Muffin, their Maltese, as they came in, but unfortunately didn't get to meet him. He must have been taken to a different room. Oh, well. Plenty of time for that later.
The Williamses met me together in the conference room and talked to me about my experiences growing up on Cape Cod and why I wanted to move to the city. As I knew from reading Dr. Williams' blog, my story is quite similar to hers in that I grew up in a small-town setting and then moved to the city in my early 20s to work. Mr. Williams explained his interpretation of the position I'd applied for, which was very helpful. They seemed like they would ask a lot of me, but that's exactly what I was expecting and what I wanted. I think I successfully charmed them!
Next, Michael came back to make me an official offer. I'd get two weeks' paid vacation, company-paid medical, and a year-end bonus. The salary was more than I'd expected too! I accepted wholeheartedly.
Then it was back to Eve's to set out on our apartment search (and get some celebratory Mexican for lunch)! We walked all over creation to the appointments we'd made and saw four apartments in total. We really loved the fourth one because it had similar-sized bedrooms and a very open floor plan and living area. There was a complication with that apartment, though, where someone had already put in an offer on the specific one we'd seen, but there was another one that was supposedly a mirror image of it across the hall. While the one we'd seen had just been renovated days ago, the "copy" apartment had been renovated in the past year. The catch was that the broker wasn't able to get in to see whether the second apartment really was a "copy" because the tenant was still occupying it. We remained hopeful that we'd get to see it, but knowing we were working on a time constraint, we made another appointment for the following evening to see a fifth apartment.
That fifth apartment turned out to be great! It had a long hallway on the way in, which dissuaded both of us at first, but we quickly warmed to the way it suddenly opened onto the rest of the rooms. The kitchen was big and could easily be made into a cute eat-in. It had a window, nice shelving and cabinets, ample counter space, and a dishwasher, too! Even the smaller of the two bedrooms was large enough for a king-size bed plus furniture, and both bedrooms had lots and lots of closet space. The bathroom was nice (we checked the shower pressure!) and the living area was open and airy with lots of room for a couch and TV and whatever else we'd like to put there. We really liked this fifth apartment, but still wanted to see if we could get the one we'd loved from Tuesday. Ultimately we wouldn't have been able to see the "copy" until early February, and since that was much too long to wait, we went ahead and put down a deposit on the fifth apartment! There was no reason not to -- it was in a great up-and-coming neighborhood; it had laundry right in the basement; it was well within our price range, even with a broker's fee; and most important, we were really starting to picture ourselves living there!
Now is the hard part -- waiting until Monday or Tuesday, when we'll know if we got accepted and can sign the lease! Our chances look very good because everyone who'd applied in the past few months had bad credit, but all of us (tenants and guarantors) have excellent credit! Cross your fingers for us!!
When I got to Eve's, it was like I'd known her forever. We hugged and then rushed right off to her work, babysitting a 7-year-old named Zoe. Zoe and I got to be good friends, which made me happy because Eve says she's had friends over while babysitting before and Zoe sometimes gets shy around them. Not so with me! We took Zoe to gymnastics and got some delicious falafel for dinner. When we got back, I met both of Eve's parents and her adorable chinchilla, Tupman! In between taking ridiculous videos, we talked about my job interview the next day! I went to sleep early (by my standards) to get plenty of rest for my early interview.
On Tuesday, I got up and put on my interview outfit (a cute nude-colored dress, black fitted jacket, black tights, and my nude patent-leather flats) and we made two-ingredient banana-egg pancakes (so delish). We left one for Eve's mom to try and got her seal of approval as well. Then it was off to take Zoe to school for Eve and off to the interview for me! I took the subway to Columbus Circle and walked along the bottom edge of Central Park to get to Madison Avenue. (Who works on the coolest avenue? This guy.) It was really easy and I didn't even need to check my phone for directions. Eve says I already blend in and act like a New Yorker, and she has good tourist-dar, so I am excited.
I got to the correct building and was going to walk up the seven flights of stairs to White Williams Holdings because I like getting exercise, but the doorman wouldn't let me! I guess maybe the stairs are just for emergencies? Anyway, I got to the right office with ten minutes to spare and met Michael first! He was just like he'd been on the phone -- warm, welcoming, and genuinely excited to meet me. I got some tea and waited in the lobby area for a bit while Michael prepared for the Williamses. First I talked to Michael in the conference room and then met Julie, the Williamses' secretary. I even heard Muffin, their Maltese, as they came in, but unfortunately didn't get to meet him. He must have been taken to a different room. Oh, well. Plenty of time for that later.
The Williamses met me together in the conference room and talked to me about my experiences growing up on Cape Cod and why I wanted to move to the city. As I knew from reading Dr. Williams' blog, my story is quite similar to hers in that I grew up in a small-town setting and then moved to the city in my early 20s to work. Mr. Williams explained his interpretation of the position I'd applied for, which was very helpful. They seemed like they would ask a lot of me, but that's exactly what I was expecting and what I wanted. I think I successfully charmed them!
Next, Michael came back to make me an official offer. I'd get two weeks' paid vacation, company-paid medical, and a year-end bonus. The salary was more than I'd expected too! I accepted wholeheartedly.
Then it was back to Eve's to set out on our apartment search (and get some celebratory Mexican for lunch)! We walked all over creation to the appointments we'd made and saw four apartments in total. We really loved the fourth one because it had similar-sized bedrooms and a very open floor plan and living area. There was a complication with that apartment, though, where someone had already put in an offer on the specific one we'd seen, but there was another one that was supposedly a mirror image of it across the hall. While the one we'd seen had just been renovated days ago, the "copy" apartment had been renovated in the past year. The catch was that the broker wasn't able to get in to see whether the second apartment really was a "copy" because the tenant was still occupying it. We remained hopeful that we'd get to see it, but knowing we were working on a time constraint, we made another appointment for the following evening to see a fifth apartment.
That fifth apartment turned out to be great! It had a long hallway on the way in, which dissuaded both of us at first, but we quickly warmed to the way it suddenly opened onto the rest of the rooms. The kitchen was big and could easily be made into a cute eat-in. It had a window, nice shelving and cabinets, ample counter space, and a dishwasher, too! Even the smaller of the two bedrooms was large enough for a king-size bed plus furniture, and both bedrooms had lots and lots of closet space. The bathroom was nice (we checked the shower pressure!) and the living area was open and airy with lots of room for a couch and TV and whatever else we'd like to put there. We really liked this fifth apartment, but still wanted to see if we could get the one we'd loved from Tuesday. Ultimately we wouldn't have been able to see the "copy" until early February, and since that was much too long to wait, we went ahead and put down a deposit on the fifth apartment! There was no reason not to -- it was in a great up-and-coming neighborhood; it had laundry right in the basement; it was well within our price range, even with a broker's fee; and most important, we were really starting to picture ourselves living there!
Now is the hard part -- waiting until Monday or Tuesday, when we'll know if we got accepted and can sign the lease! Our chances look very good because everyone who'd applied in the past few months had bad credit, but all of us (tenants and guarantors) have excellent credit! Cross your fingers for us!!