the dragon project: our first and last NYC home

we have recently decided to move back to california by end of february. i can't even write about this without getting emotional. i absolutely LOVE new york. i love the busy life and high energy of the city - i can go outside anytime of the day and see people out and about doing anything and everything. i love how professionally driven new yorkers are - whether it's finance, fashion, media, etc. regardless of what others may say, i think people here are very real and direct. they won't talk sh*t when your back is turned, they will do it to your face. but what i dislike most about new york is it's a rat race. no matter how much i make, i still feel poor. even though together mik and i make good money, it's never enough. it's so ridiculously expensive. with a child, it's soooo much worse with the overpriced nannies and play gyms. unless you're filthy rich, don't have kids in new york city. the winter is also brutal and i feel bad when maki can't go outside or go to the park because it's too cold. since i got pregnant, i haven't taken advantage of all the things that made new york so appealing in the first place - happy hours with friends, checking out new and old restaurants, shopping in different neighborhoods, hanging out with friends... and ever since maki was born, we can barely go out! we're paying to be in the city that never sleeps but all we do is stay home and sleep. haha. although my NY friends are all getting pregnant and having kids now, it's still hard to see people at nights and during weekends. we have no help and every time we go out on a date or want to see friends, it's extra $100+ for the sitter. on top of that, we are paying ridiculous rent for our 2-bdrm apt - more than people's mortgages in california! but i must say the main driving factor for moving is to be with family. we want the support system and for maki to grow up near his grandparents and cousins. now is the perfect time and this is the best decision for our family and for our pocketbook -- even though we are leaving our stable jobs.

when i visited new york during my last year in college, i knew that i've always wanted to live here. in 2005, i needed a change in my life and moved to the big apple. i've spent the last 7 1/2 years of my life here. some of the best memories of my life. here is where i enjoyed my adult life to the fullest without any restrictions or limitations - worked hard but also played hard. where i focused on my career and made enough play money to travel the world. where i made close friends with similar interests. where mik and i first built our life together. where we fell in love (awwww). where i got pregnant and ate ice cream nightly. where maki was born and spent the first year of his life (by our move-out date, he will be 11 1/2 months). it will be hard to say goodbye.

yesterday i bought 1-way flights for me and maki. mik will do the cross-country drive with all our stuff. told him we can hire movers but he said it's not his "dream". so on feb 25th, maki and i will fly to SF to be with my family and mik will drive to LA, where we will meet up to start our new life together. i never thought this time would come. every winter, my CA transplant friends and i always discussed moving back. by spring, we all changed our tune and decided to stay another year. but this time it's really happening and not just the winter blues.

this morning as i was walking to work, i watched the snow flurries and thought how pretty they looked. how my days in new york are numbered and i should cherish each walking minute, even in the cold, to think about how new york will always have a place in my heart. then my legs started feeling numb so i hailed a cab.

here are pics of our current apt in the upper east side. i consider this our first home since we moved here with maki already. i can't wait to show him these pics when he's older... while we tell him stories about his first year in the concrete jungle.