The Pursuit of Happiness in Manhattan
Half Classic Six has been fairly quiet this past year and there is a good reason. Week before last I posted a personal essay written in the fall of 2016 about my love of New York City and my complex relationship with it. Now it is finally time to reveal some of the goings on this past year, and the changes are B.I.G.
To know me is to know that I have long been a methodical type of person… The tortoise in the race with the hare… Slow and steady wins the race right? This explains why I am also a very driven person when I set my mind to something, which is the reason I hold the following quote very close to my heart.
OMG! It’s finally done! Really! It’s more than a year later than we wanted, but I am grateful to say that I have finally finished our kitchen and it is spectacular! It has been sitting at the 98% completion mark since this past spring, but we finally managed to get the last of it done and, for the moment, we can relax.
Today marks three years since we signed the contract for our apartment and three years since I started this blog to document our experience. It had only been a few weeks since our Manhattan Real Estate Shotgun Wedding, and were so very excited (and grateful) to have found our gem, a nice sized one bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Looking back at our hopes and dreams for our home at the time,
The kitchen is turning out to be absolutely beautiful. I cannot begin to express how much we love our *Barker Cabinets! But the kitchen isn’t done. Okay, it’s 98% done, but it isn’t done, done. But it is still awesome! There remains some trim to paint, closet doors to install, and a few little things…. Blah, blah, blah…
Long story short, we have had a multitude of things going on in our lives, sucking up every moment of time we have, and I have been stretching myself to get as much done as I can.
You may have noticed a decided absence of posts for the past couple of months. Rest assured we are still here, and things are for the most part, okay. That said, we have both been super busy with heavy workloads, and lots of life, and other obligations… We are also still absorbing the realities of our new political climate and how the impact could potentially change things for us forever. A lot to think about really.
This is the final week of 2016 and “Is it over yet?” is on repeat in my brain. 2016 started out on a very high note for Yoav and me. We had big plans and were so looking towards finally settling into our home after completing the biggest renovation project I have ever tackled, our kitchen. Here we sit at the end of the year, our kitchen is close to being done, but we are not there yet, and circumstances have thrown us a huge curve ball into our lives of which I will shed some light on further down. [Lead Photo: Bixby is totally over this year too.]
I have thus far avoided the topic of politics on Half Classic Six. Mostly because I believe politics and a renovation and decorating blog don’t mix well. However, in light of recent events, I cannot help but feel the need to at least acknowledge the impact of what I believe to be the biggest election of my life. I also want to be very clear that this post is not about who you did or didn’t vote for, that is your choice. But it is about how the current state of affairs has impacted me in a profound way. Things are just different now.
It has been a while since I have had regular postings and updates on HC6, but rest assured, I am still here. The realities of holding down full time employment while renovating your home are challenging enough, but when you factor in a 50%+ increase in work load due to external circumstances, it shifts life to a less than balanced state and makes getting anything done on the apartment all the more challenging. A classic case of work-life out of balance or as I prefer, unbalance.
Hi, my name is Devyn. This was my blog about the adventures of finding, buying, renovating, fixing up, restoring, DIY'ing, and decorating a part of New York housing legacy. We have left NYC for a new life in Philadelphia. Visit my new blog Our Philly Row and read all about our "fixer-upper-ing" an 1852 rowhouse
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