Our first official NYC post! I can’t quite believe I am sitting in our corporate housing apartment that we’ve been talking about for months. It is completely surreal and it definitely still feels like I’m on vacation. Zach started work on Tuesday and is pretty much in a routine already that looked similar to his Seattle schedule. The past week has been a complete whirlwind but an exciting one at that!

First Class. What a trip. Zach’s company provided us with First Class seats for our one-way flight from Seattle to NYC. I have only ever flown in premier seating once and THIS was nothing like that experience. We each had our own lounge chairs (with the option of turning into a bed…of course, I tried it!) with private televisions with hundreds of free movies (heaven!) to choose from. A gourmet meal with an unlimited snack basket accompanied with unlimited pours of any alcoholic beverage you could imagine (Why, yes, I’d love some more Chardonnay!) which not only made the flight even more entertaining, I think it helped calm our nerves about what exactly we were doing on this one-way flight to NYC. Needless to say we were feelin’ real good by the time we landed! Unfortunately, our buzz quickly evaporated as we sat at the baggage claim for 40 minutes waiting for our luggage. Apparently if it’s too cold outside they will not get the luggage from the plane until it warms up. Huh? It’s the Northeast! How can THAT be a rule? Our luggage finally arrived and we hopped in a cab to begin the 30-minute ride into the city. As we approached that infamous skyline, you could feel the energy in the car shift. All of a sudden, it just hit us. We’ve made it.

Corporate Housing. AKA Times Square. Our building is quite literally just off of Times Square which has been so exciting as newbies to the city but we now understand why locals have no interest in living in this area. It is very congested with tourists and traffic and while it’s been convenient and fun for the time being, we certainly won’t miss the Times Square billboard sounds and lights from our living room window. The apartment itself is beautiful and a great size considering how small it could have been given the size of an average NYC apartment. I’ve been feeling incredibly grateful for Z and how hard he worked to get to this point in his career, a place where his company is taking such good care of him and his wife throughout this entire relocation process.

SNOW DAY! Our first true day in NYC was Monday and oh what a day it was! The coldest day of the year (nope, not kidding!) and it was snowing buckets from noon until late in the evening. So after grabbing our morning coffee & tea we headed straight for Macy’s Herald Square to get proper East Coast winter weather attire. That place should have it’s own zip code! It is bigger than any department store I have ever seen. For two people who have little patience for shopping I think we navigated it pretty well. Once properly attired, we walked around in the snowfall which was, at first, almost magical but then it caught real cold, real quick and we were soon ready to find a cozy neighborhood bar or cafe to take cover for awhile. We braved our first jaunt on the subway which I am pleased to say is much easier to navigate than I originally thought. We took the green line on 6th Avenue to Gramercy Park and spent some time there exploring and then meandered our way into the Flatiron District and Union Square. All great areas we’re exploring for our potential, new apartment.

Back to the Grind. Bring on the Sunshine. The majority of this week has been in two parts for the Harris duo. Z Harris has been back to work as of Tuesday and has already fallen into a familiar routine of long days, late happy hours, and early mornings. His team has been so welcoming and they have expressed many times throughout the week how happy they are to have him. #ProudWife. This J Harris has been out exploring and connecting with some of the few familiar faces we know that also live in NYC. Met up with a girlfriend on Tuesday to explore her neighborhood, the East Village, and had a one of our all time favorite meals together in a sweet, little Italian wine bar. I’ve also been in full blown apartment hunting mode and spent all of Thursday with our broker trying to find our NYC home. So far I am completely in LOVE with the Upper East Side but we’ve still got a handful of neighborhoods to go before we make a decision. And thankfully, while the temp has still stayed pretty low, the sun has finally made an appearance. What a difference the sunshine makes!

All in all, it’s been a surreal week and I am looking forward to having my honey back for more exploring this weekend. Tonight we’re headed to SoHo to meet some other familiar and friendly faces, Erin and Trevor, at their favorite pizza place, Kesté Pizza & Vino. Also excited for our first Northwest visitors, Mitch and Kylie, who arrive tonight and will be here for playtime all weekend long!

Cheers to week one!