I began this blog when I moved from Chicago to New York in April 2011 at the completion of my three-year-stint in the Lyric Opera of Chicago's apprentice program. It was a long-awaited home-coming (I hadn't lived in NYS since high school!). I was excited to begin life as a free-lance opera singer, to be once more with family and friends, and colonize the best 425 square feet money could buy. ;) Manhattan proper was cost-prohibitive and just a bit too over-stimulating for this nervous creature, but I was immediately drawn to the slightly more intimate, independent spirit of Brooklyn. I've always felt a pull to historical architecture, really, all things old, and the streets of beautiful, low-rise brownstones set me a-flutter. When I walked into the second-floor corner apartment in Prospect Heights, I knew it was home. Original pumpkin pine floorboards. 9 foot tin ceilings. Huge corner windows and plenty of light. A cute little nook framed by an antique plaster arch. Yes, it was small. Yes, the kitchen was cramped, poorly laid-out, and hideous. The scratched floors might have veered from shabby chic into shabby. But to me, it was undeinably beautiful. It would be my Victorian wedding cake cum artist's aerie cum looking glass.
Five months into it, my attempts at home improvement were seriously floundering. When I moved in, I might have glossed over the fact that I have no handiworking skills. Like, at all. Also, motivation/action is sometimes an issue. I was similarly striking out on the dating front, having endured a series (dating back to Chicago) of tepid, strange, and/or platonic dates, and contemplating pulling down my profile from OkCupid all together, when I was contacted by a mysterious sun-glassed stranger (Seriously. She was either wearing sun glasses or looking down in all of her pictures. Fishy.). I almost didn't write back (My personal despair plus her half-assed profile. And no eyes... no eyes!!), but decided I should give it one last chance.
After some back and forth (plus technical issues; I was on a technology blackout due to my phone being stolen and the cats eating through the computer charger), we arranged to get cocktails at Brooklyn Social.
I've never believed in love at first sight, and I'm still not sure that I do, but the minute I walked through those doors and saw the tall, blond-haired woman waiting at the counter, I felt I had finally found what I was missing. The best date of my life turned into a whirlwind courtship, a move-in, an engagement and then our marriage. I've never looked back. ;)
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Molly. My wonderful, intrepid wife. Truffle-hunter of all things. Francophile. Literary agent. A dreamer, like me, but also a do-er! She occasionally writes a post here, when I sufficiently twist her arm.
Mushu.
The most needy, er, loving cat I know. Master of sit, shake, spin, rise, and jump.
Perpetual lap-cat and nightly little spoon.
Half siamsese, half tabby, I found this blue-eyed boy at a Siamese Rescue Center when I was living in Philadelphia.
Mia.
The family oddball. Lover of tortilla chips, coffee foam, and foot-stalking. Master human-hair groomer and chirper. Mia hails from Illinois.
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