adventures

This past Thursday, January 21, 2016 marked my 5th year anniversary living in New York!

5 years ago I remember packing my bags and making my way to the big city. As my cab drove past Central Park, I looked out at the beautiful park and horse-drawn carriages. I remember locking that moment in my memory. Not only was it my first day living in NYC but it was the first time I’d ever seen snow.

Flash forward as I look back on the past year, I’m flooded with so many wonderful milestones. Last year I started working at WebMD, I moved into a new house upstate in Suffern, NY with my boyfriend, I bought a car, and adopted two of the cutest kittens alive – Earl and Lady Grey (like the teas). I also traveled to Iceland and was the first Monahan to be in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Photos of all these adventures below.

Every year I write an anniversary blog post. Each year I like to reflect on one thing that I’ve learned, and last year involved an overwhelming amount of change.

Adjusting to a new job involved change.
Living with my boyfriend, being a homeowner in a new town and having a new commute involved change.
Visiting Iceland, a country I’ve never been too – change both change of cultures and changing me as a person.

It’s been a rollercoaster of adapting, mixed with stress, and just trying to figure it out. For the most part I think I’ve learned that change is exciting and you never know where it will take you.

The best thing to do is to keep an open mind. Eventually you’ll get into a flow, and even if you’re not comfortable with that person, place, or thing that’s changed you, you can either embrace it or learn from it and move on.

Over the next year to come I’m excited to see where life takes me. I’ve already booked a trip to Ireland, Florida, and Charleston. I’ll also be running/speed-walking the Disney Princess Half Marathon in February.

Finally my main focus this year is to make new friends in my area and to focus more of my time on my passion for food. This means a lot more cooking, blogging about health and fitness, and of course continuing to eat my way through NY.

UPDATE:

While this blog post was sitting in “Draft”, I found out some very heartbreaking news that my grandmother passed away on Sunday, January 24, 2016 at the age of 88 years young.

I want to include her in my post because she means everything to me and who I’ve become as a person.

On Sunday my dad sent me this photo of the hotel bill from my grandma and grandpa’s honeymoon in New York. The date (1/21) is my NYC anniversary – only 60 years prior. I thought that was very serendipitous.

I miss you terribly but you’ll never be forgotten. I will continue to take you with me through every journey and milestone. Rest in peace grandma, love you.

Today marks my 2nd year in NY. It feels only like yesterday my cat shoved himself into my luggage bag.

Before I knew it I was face to face with snow for the first time in my life.

“New York forces you to grow up fast,” a friend said to me this weekend. He couldn’t have been more right. Every single day you’re given a new challenge that makes you think faster and learn quicker than you ever thought possible. Changes are made daily; you need to learn how to adapt.

I’ve learned quite a bit over the past 2 years. Here are a few secrets I’ll let you in on:

1.) It will never get any easier. Ever. There will always be snow, rent, tourists, homesick-ness, and everything comes at a cost because lets face it, it still annoys me that you have to pay for the beaches here.

2.) Ignore the haters. Inevitably someone will cut you in line (and never apologize), no one will ever give up their seat for you, and you may face a time when someone will throw you under the bus. Hear me out. The truth is there’s far too much competition here. Everything needs to be fresh and fast, simply because there are too many talented people here. Everyone wants to be seen. My advice, ignore the haters. Master getting people’s attention without excuses, without sacrificing someone at the cost of your benefit. They may think they’ve accomplished something, but in the end they are still the same — mediocre at best.

3.) Stop questioning the city. At some point you will eventually learn to accept it for who it is – Like a pain in the ass family member, who in the end you love regardless of all their faults. Because the reality is this place changes you. I would never have had the opportunity to do 2% of the things I’ve done here back at home. Looking back I’ve been a part of some amazing companies, made some good friends, and with all the things I’ve been able to experience I feel truly blessed and lucky.

There is really nothing like taking that leap into the unknown and knowing you will probably fail. The key is to fail harder again and again. Because those who have it easy, those that are so naturally successful aren’t nearly as interesting as those that fail, learn, get up, and tries it all over again…. (Look at Kim Kardashian, she’s got to be the most boring celebrity ever. As Grumpy Cat said it best, “I wish I had her talent of having no talent, and getting paid for it.)

This journey has been both exciting and terrifying. But there is nothing quite like that feeling of figuring it all out – The Uncomfortable Zone. I’m not sure what’s in store next but I do know that I’m excited about the adventure. And I do know I want to continue to write it all down, whatever it might be so I’ll never forgot.

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It wouldn’t be a true Nicole post without lots of photos so here is a #2yrRecap: