NYC - "If you can only have one great love, then the city just may be mine. And I don't want nobody talkin' shit about my boyfriend."

"Miranda: Why do I think living in Manhattan is so fantastic?
Carrie: Because it is."

Well, today - today is my ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY in NYC! A year ago today I lugged two bags over my shoulder hopped on the Amtrak in Providence, RI and bid farewell to Massachusetts. I arrived at Penn Station confused, scared, excited, overwhelmed and jobless. My friend Jenn had extended her hospitality and invited me to crash in her small studio apartment in the Bronx with her. I did not have a clue what I was going to be doing except working part time at one of the Manhattan Home Depot stores. Hoping, hoping and hoping that I would find a legal job soon and that I wouldn't be back on that train to Massachusetts to return to live.

Well, within 2 weeks of living here I got my first legal job (the one I am currently still working at) but it did not start until the end of April and I was working part time at the 59th Street Home Depot store. And within a week of living here, Jenn and I had rented a 3 bedroom first floor of a house in the Bronx and by April 1st I had all of my items that had been in storage for over a year moved to NYC and I was standing on my own 2 feet again.

When I got on that train a year ago, I really wasn't sure I would even be here a month. But look I have been here a year, have a decent job, making good money, I don't work at Home Depot anymore, I moved into Manhattan in November into a great apartment on the UES with a great roommate, I have soooo many good friends here. I have a family here, this is my life, my world.

I have created a life here. A life that I love.

Yes, there have been ups and downs over the past year and maybe some of the hardest things I have ever had to deal with.
"Carrie: Despite the fact that there are over eight million people on the island of Manhattan, there are times you still feel shipwrecked and alone. Times even the most resourceful survivor would feel the need to put a message in a bottle, or on an answering machine."

But overall this year was great, the move was one of the best things I could have ever done for myself. I want to thank Jenn S., MY PARENTS especially, my brother and katie for helping my make it possible. Mom, Dad you are my rock and my world, I wouldn't be where I am today without you guys and your love and support.

There is no place in the world I would rather be right now. NYC is fabulous, I have a fabulous life, fabulous friends, and we are always doing fabulous things. I love it here, I love NYC, I am in love with NYC.

Today in NYC, is a gorgeous day!! Spring has arrived!

I am leaving work at 5:00 (unusually early for me!) to head to a rooftop bar with Carolyn, one of my coworkers and closest friends for a few happy drinks and then off to a Cuban restaurant to meet Michele, another good friend and former coworker, and my roommate Jen. Afterwards we will be kicking back on the UES somewhere with some more drinks and Carolyn's husband Andy and his soccer friends - to end the evening watching Elephants march down 7th Ave. (Literally) Tonite the elephants for the circus come to town, they walk thru the tunnel from Queens and down 7th Ave to Madison Square Garden. For some reason, I find this a very fitting way to end my day. The Elephants Coming to Town.

Happy Anniversary to me and to NYC (my boyfriend)!!