The beginning, part 2

Like Amanda said, trading New York City for suburban life takes some getting used to. At first I felt like I was on an extended vacation. I loved the clean air, being able to see the stars, listening to the creepy silence, having abundant space, and enjoying plenty of time to myself.

Then, after about a year it occurred to me that this was my life. No Thai take-out for dinner, no spontaneous drunken meetings at bars, no opportunities to see the latest Almadovar movie in the theater, no places to wear my cute heels, no hailing cabs while eating pizza, no subway musicians, no running into a friend on the street, no buying organic toothpaste at a deli, no street art or crazy fashion spottings.

Suddenly I was hit with an identity crisis. I was a city girl without my city. Going out for dinner, seeing rock shows, and hanging out with friends were all a bigger part of my life than I remembered.

And what was I supposed to do now? Cook? Garden? Learn to play a new instrument?

Okay.

I can go back and visit NYC any time, but it’s not the same. My life is here now. We bought our house. And my husband, who is worth moving just about anywhere for, is pretty happy here.

Besides, I like to embrace challenges, and adjusting to domestic life is definitely a challenge for me. I gave NYC nearly 10 years of my life. Change is good.

I’m glad Amanda and I are going through this together, even though we live in different states, separated by a body of water. This blog is our attempt to make sense of our new strange, yet peaceful lives.

The beginning...

I’ll be the first to admit, this is intimidating. When Rania mentioned doing a blog last month, I was more than excited about it, but when it actually came time to begin the writing, I found myself staring at a blank page, waiting for my thoughts to articulate themselves. Now it’s nearing the New Year and I promised Rania I would have my first blog entry ready. New year, new blog she said.

It’s impossible to say what this blog will really turn out to be, but we have some basic ideas of what we’d like. Rania and I have recently followed a similar path: we both lived in New York for years, enjoying a blissful downtown, indie rock life. We had a lot of fun, drank a lot of martinis, wore mini skirts year-round, danced to many an 80s song. Only recently did we leave both leave behind the urban landscape we came to call home, Rania moving to the North fork on Long Island to enjoy a laid-back life of surfing and swimming with her husband Jason, and me moving to a beach-front home on the Connecticut coast, where I live a low-key sun n’ sand life with my partner Dan. It’s completely different from living in New York. This blog is supposed to be about just that.