New Kids on the Block

Tomika & I are finally finishing up our move to Park Slope, New York. The past few weeks have been hectic and admittidly a little stressful for both of us but we're happy and excited about starting our new chapter in Brooklyn. Thanks to an excellent set of movers who were both fast and very affordable (higly recommend them), and the gracious help of Tomika's dad & brother, all of our stuff is now finally where it should be, albeit in a somewhat chaotic arrangement (still much unpacking yet to tackle.)

Our decision to move to Park Slope came after some frustrations in looking for a nice, large, affordable place in Manhattan (where I was previously living) and Tomika's interest in the Park Slope/Brooklyn area. We did afterall have one of our first dates at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and then another at her company's picnic at Prospect Park. I know she also enjoyed seeing the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens with a work friend too. So it really isn't that surprising how the area itself showed its head as an option.

This isn't to say I didn't take some convincing. I was very happy in my little corner of the Upper East Side in Manhattan. It seemed to have everything minus a clear view of the sky, I was close to the park, and walking to/from work was not that difficult. But, the way these things go, a 250 sq. ft. apartment just doesn't work for long for two people and Brooklyn made much more sense for stretching out a bit. After Tomika had me look at places in Park Slope with her, my mindset changed and I warmed up to the idea of living there.

Finding the right place though took some effort. We saw several places and none were quite what I was looking for. The neighborhood's got an old-style/Brownstone look and feel to it and my idea of "modern" is a little harder to come by. There's apparently a gentrification process going on too, so prices vary wildly depending on the specific locale. We did check out one place that was fantastic on the inside: modern, two balconies, elevator, two bathrooms, stainless-steel modern appliances, the works...but a broker's fee of over $4k and a location on the bottom of a hill to get to the nice shops and park just didn't cut it.

We ended up finding a place through David of Berman Realty on Seventh Avenue. We didn't see many places we really loved but the one we ended going with was large and opened right onto the ave, so it offered convenience. It's newly remodeled and so it fit our tastes better than most of the older places. The only catch: a three flight walk-up (but at least we get a daily workout and the subway is very near.)

So thanks goes out to Tomika for persuading me toward this neighborhood. Honestly if not for her I'd probably have just remained in Manhattan in that tiny, little 250sq. ft. apartment instead of this nice 1200sq. ft. "manor." And the local "flavor" has definitely warmed up to me: I like the artsy atmosphere and it's definitely much more tattoo-friendly than my old hobble.

Where we're living is only a few blocks from Prospect Park and our apartment opens up right onto Seventh Avenue. There're two 24-hour convienient marts right outside our door, some lovely little places to eat (Mexican, Thai, pizza, a diner, etc..), and the F and G trains are only a two-block walk away.

So I've decided to start this little blog to journal all the local experiences we have in this new part of town, as well as recording as our own relationship develops, and to report on all the little local events and news that goes on in our little corner of the world.