One Month

Today marks the one month anniversary of when we arrived in California. The past month completely flew by but it's been amazing getting to know our new home. Most days I feel like we're on vacation and we'll be on a plane heading back to Brooklyn before we know it. I think it's going to take a while for it to feel like home.


Here are a few things I learned about California in my one month living here:
1 - (most) Californians are really into their cars. The most popular cars are Mercedes, BMWs and Prius' (see #2). Driving around in my car has been interesting because we have what you call a "Brooklyn Bumper" - meaning that anyone that has ever driven in Brooklyn has most likely hit my car. I think we scare away other drivers. Maybe it's time for a new car...or at least a little TLC.


2 - Californians are really green. ...which is awesome. We forgot to bring our Baggu bags with us once while grocery shopping...lesson learned.


3 - Californians are really nice. Brett and I have been completely blown away by how nice people are here. I don't know if it's all the sunshine or what but I like it. People will go out of their way to help you.


4 - Produce and wine is cheap(er). Gas is not. $7 for a bottle of Kendall Jackson. Yes, please! $4.45 - soon to be $5.00/gallon. No thanks. 


5 - There are crazy looking spiders here.




6 - The Governor of California is from our town. We kept seeing many undercover Feds when driving past this one street. After a little research, we found out why. 


7 - Less walking. More driving. This has been the biggest thing to get used to. Being from NYC, I'm used to walking everywhere. We have to drive everywhere here. I used to love driving while in high school but then stopped when I moved to NYC for college. I then grew a major phobia of driving. Luckily, being forced to drive, my phobia is now gone. Now if only I could stop driving like a NY taxi driver... which leads me to #8.



8 - If you see a pedestrian, STOP. One thing that I'm really not used to is having cars stop for you no matter where you are. I'm pretty used to risking my life just so I can cross the street. With that said, I really need to regain this reflex while driving...asap.


9 - The pace is much slower. Everyone always said that California is much slower than New York but I never believed it. It's refreshingly true. There would be days that I was walking (olympic style speed-walking) from my train to work and would look up and see how many other people were doing the same exact thing. I felt like I was a part of the race and I hated it. If you slowed down for 2 seconds you would have someone behind you cursing because you were slowing them down. Here I find myself having to slow myself down and it's nice.





10 - California = No more headaches. Literally. My family is seriously headache/migraine prone. I used to have to take Advil on a daily basis. I haven't had one headache since I've been here. Enough said.


So after a month being here I definitely feel this is one of the better decisions I've made in my life. Do I miss Brooklyn? Of course. But for now, I'm pretty darn content.

NY to SF Road Trip: Day FIVE

On the last 3.5 hours of our trip I was so anxious. Brett had picked out the apartment himself so I knew very little about our new place. I don't have many photos from this leg of the trip because I was mostly too excited to take any and I took more video than anything. But we finally arrived in our new house and it's absolutely perfect. The boy did good. No, the boy did great. It's been 65 degrees and sunny ever since we got here and all the flowers are in bloom. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a very easy time adjusting to living here.


Thanks for letting me share photos from our  trip. Hope you've enjoyed them!

NY to SF Road Trip: Day FOUR

Day Four was a better day since we only had to drive about half the time we had been the last two days. Knowing we were staying with a good friend of ours for the night also made things nicer. I never thought I'd say this but Utah might be a new favorite state of mine. We were only in Park City for a few hours but I know I definitely want to go back. I think my favorite part of the trip was running around the Bonneville Salt Flats. We were both so tired of sitting that we pulled over and just ran for a few minutes. Felt quite good.

And luckily, Lake Tahoe is now our new Catskills. 

NY to SF Road Trip: Day THREE

On Day Three I was starting to get a little anxious mostly because a lot of it was spent in Nebraska. It's a pretty state and all but I've never seen so much corn in my life and hope I don't have to again for a while. Luckily after Nebraska came Wyoming which I've always wanted to see. Since we had all entire lives packed into our truck we couldn't stop in any of the national parks but hopefully we'll go back.

The sunset in Wyoming was pretty memorable and at this point I was really just hoping for a glass of wine. The last leg of the trip is coming up next! 

NY to SF Road Trip: Day TWO

On Day Two we were off to a much better start. We left PA around 6am and had a set goal of getting to Omaha, Nebraska by the end of the night. We made it all the way to Council Bluffs, Iowa which is only 5 minutes or so from Omaha. Brett drove all 16 hours. Actually, he drove the whole trip! Am I spoiled? Yes, yes I am.

Snacks are key on long road trips. I pretty much ate my way through Iowa.

Day Three coming next! 

NY to SF Road Trip: Day ONE

The first day of our road trip was kind of a rough day. We ended up driving down from the Catskills with our UHaul (and car in tow), stopped at our apartment to pack everything into the truck, cleaned and then said our goodbyes to Brooklyn. By the time we left we were pretty wiped. I'd be lying if I said I didn't cry. I'm going to miss the heck out of Brooklyn but we'll be back...someday.

Our goal for Day One was to end up in Ohio. We had to stop in DuBois, PA due to a snowstorm that came out of nowhere. It was pretty scary since we couldn't see more than 1 foot in front of us. I was pretty sure we were going to be sleeping on the side of the road. Luckily Brett was smart enough to follow the only truck that kept driving and we were able to drive 7 more miles to the nearest exit and we stayed in a hotel. Brett handled it like a champ and I was starting to think he was either a truck driver in his past life or he took a UHaul safety class without me knowing it. I, on the other hand, was flipping out. Day Two coming next! 

3,248 Miles Later

After 3,248 miles, 11 states and 4.5 days, I can finally say we're now in California! Driving cross country has always been on my "bucket list" and I have to say it was one of the cooler things I've ever done. I would do it again in a heart beat but maybe not in a UHaul...


I'll be sharing photos of our travels this week but for now I'll leave you with this picture of me getting a little nutty in the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.  

NY --> SF

We are leaving for San Francisco in just two days and for that reason my computer is going back in it's box and I'm signing off. See you in about a week! 

What I'll Miss about NY

Although I'm extremely excited to be moving someplace new, there are so many things that I will really miss about the place I've called home for the past 8 years. Most importantly, I'll miss being on the same coast as our families and our friends that have become like family. I'll miss the amazing food that is always just a few steps away, the culture, and being able to walk absolutely everywhere. I'll miss our apartment and even our cute, little doorman who's greeted me home every night. I'll miss the Sunday night dinners that Brett and I have with our greatest of all friends, Dave. And before I get too teary eyed I'll let the following photos do the rest of the talking...

Brooklyn has been so good to us and I feel pretty damn lucky to have lived here for as long as I did. Don't get me wrong, there are certainly things I won't miss but I think the good out-way the bad too much to list those. I've been looking at our move not as if we're leaving New York but as we're just talking a break from it. It's pretty exhausting living here and sometimes you need to leave in order to really appreciate it.

With that said, the next few days will be spent packing up the rest of our things and saying "goodbye" to our friends so that we can leave super early this Sunday. And because this town has spoiled me with good food, I will be posting a few of my favorite restaurants. Stay tuned! 

Looking Forward To

1. Our New Home
2. Being Organized. After this move, I think I'm going to try to be as organized as possible. Any tips?
3. Working From Home
4. Weekend Trips to Yosemite National Park, Napa, Lake Tahoe, Big Sur
5. Growing a Garden
6. Exploring a Whole New City - What should we check out first?


Top Left // Top Right // Middle Left // Middle Right // Bottom Left // Bottom Right

We're Moving!

After almost three years of talking about living someplace new, we've finally decided to move. We've spent the past few months trying to decide where our new home should be. We thought about Asheville, North Carolina, we looked at L.A., we even thought about Burlington, Vermont. But none of these places seemed to feel right for us. We finally came to a decision two weeks ago. (Nothing like last minute huh?)

Starting February 1st, Brett and I and all of our things will be driving across the country to our new home, San Francisco! I'm excited, I'm nervous, happy and the tiniest bit sad. But we're mostly excited to explore a whole new city and everything San Francisco and it's surroundings have to offer. 

I spent the past weekend packing up box after box and getting rid of so many things that I didn't even know we had. It's really hard getting rid of all the stuff that you've accumulated over the years but when you only have a little car and trailer to carry all your things in, it's pretty important to only take the things you love.

When we leave in two weeks, I hope to share photos and the progress of our travels across the country here on my blog. Hopefully the internet will allow for that... And as for saying goodbye to Brooklyn, ya, I'm not quite ready for that yet.

P.S. Speaking of getting rid of some of our things - I'll be selling my Gocco Printer on ebay this week in case anyone is interested. Feel free to email me at bowarrowdesigns@gmail.com for more details.

(Photos from our California Trip in 2010.)

Two Weeks Notice

Today I quit my job...for the past 4.5-5 years I've been working as a graphic designer in a big advertising agency in Manhattan.


I've had a job ever since it was legal to start working (13 in NY). I've worked in many restaurants, babysat, worked on a farm, tried my hand in retail (totally not for me) and had design internships all throughout college. I'm very thankful for being as lucky as I have been with getting work but now it's time to make some changes.


For the past two years, I've gone to work everyday and then went home to work on my etsy work. It wasn't easy but because I did, I can now do what I love to do full time. In two weeks, I'm trading in the steady paycheck, paid vacation days and amazing health benefits to be my own boss. It's time. I know it's not going to be easy but I feel prepared. Well, as prepared as I possibly can be. My website is up, my inventory of envelopes is ridiculous and my sketchbook is full of new designs for the shop.


So when I said that 2012 was going to be all about changes, I meant it.


Oh, and there's one more crazy change that's happening in my life but I'll tell you more about that another time...thanks for reading! (Image Source)

Here She Is!

It's 2012 and that means it's time for me to say "goodbye" to my old blog Bklynstitch. 2012 is going to bring about many changes and I hope to share them all with you here. So I welcome you to the new blog of Bow & Arrow Paper & Design Co. You can view more of my work here. Thanks for stopping by! 


(You can view my old blog here.)