Chapter 1 Section 1

Hey All-

So decided that since I am so far away from what was my entire world I have decided to start blogging my daylies (may turn into weeklies, then monthlies but will do my best!).

God has been good to me. I have a great job, in a great city, live in a great apartment, have great friends, with new experiences daily!! On the downside, I live WAY too FAR away from my family and friends. I miss having them in my daily life more than anything in this world.

JOB

I am currently working at ESPN, as most of you know. I am a Client Service Representative, which basically is an account manager for a sales team of 5. I work with 85 different clients daily. So my day consists of fighting buyers to let me have my way. Intro into the world of Sales! Give them just enough so they will in turn return the favor. I am currently talking with management about becoming supervisor of my group. Keep your fingers crossed for me! :)

My friends at work are awesome! There are about 18 of us that do the same job and we all have a lot of the same interests. Joy, Melissa, and Deanna all started together and we received the nickname the Quad from the guy group who is named the big girls (as you can imagine just from the names we are a bunch of high schoolers) Joy and I have a lot in common, she played Lax at UNC (go tarheels!) and she lives about 5 blocks from me. Joy is a very passionate person who I can admire a ton. She gives her all into what she does! We go to dinner a lot together or just random shopping. She is amazing and has been an amazing work bff! :) Melissa is a wonderful sweet person. Her and her family have adopted me into their lives and household more times than I can count. I love having her as a sister and she truly is a kind and caring person. Deanna is the mother hen, such a great person to chat with and get opinions from. Always thinking outside of the box! She has been awesome and also is a sister considering she loves Rachel as her own! :) hehe.. Deanna really is an awesome person and I cherish all the moments we have together. Tom and Matty were the boys who started at the same time as me and they have become such great friends that I know will be there for me through anything! Kelly and Brenna started a little later than us, but have easily entered our group and we no longer have the Quad because now we have expanded! :) Brenna and Kelly are both amazing! They have been there for me in so many ways I really appreciate them.

APARTMENT

I live in a charming building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. My cross street is 87th and First (streets are always first in the city and avenues second). I live in a three bedroom apartment with two lovely girls. the building is a walk up (which means no elevator, just stairs) and I live on the fifth floor. Penthouse of course! :)

My roommates are great! Kelsey is a fellow Oregonian and went to Oregon State as well. However, we met in Greenwich, CT when I was there nannying for a wonderful family. She is the same year as I am and we have become such amazing friends and I am thankful everyday for having such a great friend! Katie, my other roommate, is from New Jersey a true north easterner born and bred! We met Katie through our friends Christy May and Carly. It has worked out great her living with us. I have been blessed to have such a great living arrangement.

LIFE

God has blessed me in so many aspects of my life. First and foremost Family. Being so far away from them has shown me how extremely close each and everyone of them are to me. They all fulfill me in different ways but are the most important people in my life along with God. I could NEVER ask for a better family.

Life in New York is very different from anywhere else I have lived. First I don't drive. Occasionally I will drive when I go out to Greenwich, but otherwise it is Subways and Buses for this girl! :) I have a monthly metro card which is the size of a credit card and is yellow. It gets me everywhere I need to go! I walk to the subway every morning which is about a ten minute walk (if it is raining I take the bus to the stop), I take the 6 train down to 68th and Lexington, once I get off there I have to take the 66th crosstown bus through central park and it drops me off right at my building (lucky!!). I work in the ABC building, which can be really fun! I work in the same building that Regis and Kelly are filmed, ABC news, and the people from the View and good morning america are ALWAYS in the lobby.

I sit in a cube outside of a lot of offices. I have surrounded myself with plants and flowers are ALWAYS welcome! :) I also am known in the office as the Oregon girl, and have put up pictures of everyone whom I miss dearly!! so people are constantly stopping by and looking at all of you guys.. All of my friends have the family down and they can recite the names by age! That includes in laws and nephews and nieces! :)

So life in New York City is great! There is always stuff to do, something going on, new restaurants to try, great museums, fun outdoor concerts in the summer, great outdoor dining, Broadway shows, fun places to dance, and a million and one things to do in central park. I love just walking around the city in different areas because they all have a unique feel to them! I find myself running out of time every week!