The Sound of Settling

My clothes are split between my closet in the living room, the boxes under my bed and the tiny dresser I bought at Target. My toiletries found a home in my nightstand. A divider separates my underwear from my stationary in the top drawer of my dresser. You might think this sounds unorganized, but this is the sound of settling - settling in a Manhattan apartment, anyway.

I’ve recently realized that the “Things To Do To Make My Apartment Feel Like Home” List I’ve been neurotically keeping for the last several months has begun dwindling. All of my boxes are FINALLY unpacked. I FINALLY hung all of my pictures. I FINALLY bought a pot so I could cook my mom’s taco soup and my grandpa’s chili. I FINALLY bought mini blinds and I FINALLY hung them. I’ve FINALLY erased every sign that the people that lived in my apartment before me we’re the most disgusting people to walk the earth. I’ve FINALLY found a place for everything and everything is FINALLY in its place.

I’ve even got an Upper East Side routine now. I belong to a gym and work out every morning at 5 a.m. (READ: when I can drag myself out of bed in the morning). I know how to find almost anything in both of the grocery stores near my apartment. Although I’ll never like having to do my laundry at a Laundromat, I’m use to it. I have a favorite ice cream store. Heck, the dry cleaner knows me by name.

But what really makes me feel settled is a group of girlfriends I’ve stumbled upon through my New York network. Of course I’ve always had Madison Lane and Lilly, and Peaches and Mistletoe have been great about including me when they go out with their friends from school. I even have a great group of friends at work. But there’s something to say about having your own group.

It’s interesting to see how the network formed, but we really all came together at a holiday party Madison Lane threw in December. Since then, we’ve formed a distribution list and have organized dinners and outings through it. Most recently, we grabbed fondue at Honey and saw He’s Just Not That Into You. We’re still getting to know each other, but it sure is comforting to know I can say, “I’m out with my New York girls.”

Now, if only I could manage to pay my dad back for my massive December shopping spree, I’m sure he’d feel a lot more settled, too.

My New York girls and I (with every other girl in Manhattan) waiting for He's Just Not That Into You.