I can't believe we just wrapped up our first full month here in New York City. Its been one of the busiest months for us of the year so far so lets talk about what we've been up to in our first month in the big city.

RECAP OF THE MONTH

The month started with us checking out of the beautiful Conrad in Soho and getting the keys to our first NYC apartment in the Upper West Side. We left the hotel at around 10 AM and took a taxi with all of our luggage (and there was a ton of it) to our new place. After getting a tour of our apartment from the apartment staff and recording an apartment tour we were out to hit the very warm streets of NYC. If you watch the video you will hear me say it but July 1st could potentially be the hottest day of summer this year.

We spent the rest of our first day in our new apartment going to Pottery Barn, West Elm and Bed Bath and Beyond in Columbus Circle. One of the early lessons in our time in NYC is that we should get as much shipped to us as possible. Walking around like we did on the first day in our new apartment is not easy, especially when its breaking triple digit temperatures.

The next week was both of us starting our new jobs, and boxes upon boxes upon boxes being delivered to our apartment. It was normal for us to get 4-6 boxes a day for the first two weeks we were here and needing the bell cart to bring it all up. We got to know the package staff very well in our first few weeks here at the new apartment.

What was great about our first full week of work was that it landed right on the July 4th holiday so we had a day off in the middle of the week. We spent most of the 4th unboxing a lot of our deliveries and beginning to set up the apartment. We did have a really nice walk down the Hudson river almost 30 blocks to Riverside park where they have clay tennis courts (which I will get Jenn to play with me on at some point).

A week after we got keys we got to finally fold up the blow up mattress as our boxes had finally arrived from the movers. We met them bright and early on July 8th at our storage unit to drop off our Christmas stuff and then at our apartment. We got so lucky with great movers on both coasts. They did a great job and in the entire move we only lost one stemless wine glass out of the entire move. The rest of that weekend was me following Jenn's lead as she turned our blank canvas into a work of art.

One of my favorite memories of our first week in the new apartment was when we finally had our dishware and were able to eat at home. I cooked Jenn's favorite pasta dish and we enjoyed some wine and cheese while I cooked. It was the first time in a month we were able to take a step back and enjoy our new apartment and understand what we just accomplished.

We had our new couch, chair and entertainment center get delivered the following week which made for a great day for me to work from home and take those deliveries in. I've never seen Jenn more confident in her choices of new furniture but she knew what she wanted for this apartment and she blew me away. We aren't even done yet and the place looks incredible.

The next couple of weeks were no less busy but not nearly as exciting. A lot of our weekends consisted of returning things, buying more for the apartment and catching up on our rest. We did try two new churches this month. The first was Hillsong which we didn't care for at all and will not be going back to. The other was called The Journey which was OK, not our favorite but far better than Hillsong. We're still looking for a more progressive church, and if we are going to find it anywhere I'm sure it will be in NYC. We also had two handymen come out, the first to mount our TV's and install our Nest thermostat, and the other to hang a dozen pictures, a couple mirrors, and shelving.

The other thing that truly took over our July was trying so many different NYC eateries. For the first week, we ate out every day (because we had nothing to cook with or eat on). That slowed down a bit when our stuff arrived but we tried at least two dozen new places and 95% of them were great. We've had a couple Ramen spots, Thai, Italian, Pizza, Mexican and a bunch of American variants. As advertised NYC has been a great food place, not to mention incredible for coffee.

And like that, we wrapped up the month of July with an almost fully furnished apartment (just waiting on a coffee table), two new jobs, and a life in NYC that we are just starting to feel comfortable with. It's been an adjustment for sure (more for me then Jenn) but as we start to get used to the day-to-day life of Manhattan we are finding more to love about city life.

TV WE WATCHED

If i was to describe our TV watching in July it would be best described by two shows that captivated both of us. The first was finishing up the second half of Westworld Season 2 which we missed with our move. It was no where near the highs of season one but both Jenn and I liked where it ended. The other which is easily one of the best shows of the year so far is The Handmaid's Tale Season 2. That show is one of the hardest to watch for its portrayal of what feels too close to being real. It's far and away one of the best shows on TV today.

BOOKS I READ (OR LISTENED TO)

This was not a great month for reading. First I'm trying to get into a good routine of listening to books to and from work each day. The good news for me is the commute is a lot shorter then it used to be. The bad news is it means I have to find more times to listen to books. I've found that because I walk so much during the day that I end up listening to about as much as I used to anyways. Sadly two of the three books I've been listening to in July weren't great. Especially Naked Lunch which is probably the worst book I've ever read.

MOVIES WE WATCHED

None this month sadly, its been a very busy month.

GAMES I'VE BEEN PLAYING

Although Jenn and I haven't had a ton of time to watch any movies this month I've been playing a ton of video games while Jenn puts together our apartment. I started and subsequently finished Assassin's Creed Rogue: Remastered. Now the only Assassin's Creed games I haven't finished are the first one and Assassin's Creed: Unity. I followed that up by playing Shadow of War a game I've had since it was released and am finally getting back to it.

2018 GOAL TRACKING

I'm modifying this section. Instead of talking about the various stats I'm collecting I thought it would be more useful for me to track how I'm doing to the goals I set out for the year. So here we go:

Goal #1: Read 32 Books: I've read 19 books and am currently on track to hit my goal.

Goal #2: 250 Days of Perfect Performance on Habitify: 169 days of perfect performance. Behind schedule due to an insanely busy year.

Goal #3: Run 300 Times: I've run 167 days so far in 2018. Over the halfway point of 2018, I'm very behind on this goal.

Goal #4: Keep Weight Under 140: I've yet to go over 140lbs

Goal #5: Write 12 Chef Joel & Jenn: I've written 2 so far. Very off track and unlikely to catch up.

Goal #6: Complete Travel Photo Books: I've completed one but have a lot more to do. The furthest behind on this one.

A Look Back - July 2018