A New York State of Mind...

57th street and 6th ave
Single Cut Brewery, Astoria
Big aLIce Brewery, Long Island City
ST. Jame's Theatre  

       Yay I’m finally writing about some of the things I’ve been doing while being back in New York! Although this stuff was a month ago it was the start to my longer than expected return and I just haven’t had the chance to write about it all yet. There really is nothing like coming back to the motherland and seeing the New York City skyline pretty much every day. So literally night one of Sam and I landing in New York we got to have a good catch up with my parents and celebrate my dad’s birthday! A few days later we celebrated my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving! This one was even more special than usual as my dad was invited to partake in the parade as a marshal. It is my favorite tradition to wake up at the crack of dawn on thanksgiving day, put 2-20 layers of clothing on (weather depending) and stand in the middle of NYC braving whatever elements mother nature has conjured up that year. But the love I have for it is nothing compared to my dad, who started this whole tradition with us since I was a little one. This year Mother Nature decided to make it colder than Frosty the Snowman’s nuts as it was under 20 degrees (Fahrenheit sorry English readers I’ve not quite mastered Celsius yet) and a wind chill that brought the temperature into the teens! Now since I have literally gone just about every year, I’ve seen my fair share of cold days but this one was definitely one of the worst, and apparently one of the coldest days on record for the parade.

But talk about a kid in a candy store, I have never seen anyone more in their element and absolutely loving life than my dad was working that parade. It really made the day, and Sam and I were able to stand in a VIP section which gave us the perfect view of everything. And also some much needed coverage from the intense wind. Of course after the parade Sam and I spent some time in Legends bar (where we first met) while we waited for my dad to finish up his marshal duties (lol duty). Now you don’t understand what a feast is until you have been to my parent’s house for one of my mother’s infamous Thanksgiving Day dinners. I do mean dinners plural because the day consists of meatballs for breakfast, a first meal (you eat your favorite dishes), second meal (eat the things you were too stuffed to get to in meal 1), third meal is a combo of what were the favorites of the day and dessert. Add some naps and movies in there and you’ve summed up our day. Not to mention there’s left overs for about a week as my mom’s meal preparations are for a small army.

For the rest of the time that Sam was here that week we made it a point to see our friends and visit Astoria as much as possible since we both missed it so much. That also meant that we went to a lot of Queens Breweries. Probably our favorite thing to do while being in Queens. We stopped at our old local brewery Singlecut, then to my favorite Big aLICe. And even thought it wasn’t lit yet we stopped by Rockifeller Centre Christmas tree. Unexpectedly we stumbled upon the Candy Nations exhibit while on our way to Bryant Park. Their annual winter festival is probably the best holiday event going on in the city. They have a massive ice skating rink in the middle of the park with loads of small stands to buy handmade items and personalized gifts. And I have to say as I’ve done ice skating there a few times the prices aren’t horrible and when you buy the ticket you are allowed to come back the entire day and use that same ticket. Which is nice if you want to have dinner or a drink in the little restaurant and then go back to skating. But be advised if you want to save $15 on storage fee bring your own gym lock for their free lockers. They also sometimes have Groupon for it, which allow you to skip the line and get free hot coco when you’re done skating. I really do love this place and it’s always my number one recommendation when people ask me where to go in the city during Christmas time. This is also a place I had brought Sam on his first visit back to New York when we were dating, so it’s somewhat of a tradition to go.

http://www.jenkell.com/laurence-jenkell-exhibition-candy-nation-broadway-garment-district-new-york-october-2018

https://bryantpark.org/amenities/bank-of-america-winter-village-at-bryant-park

               

     Just after Sam left and I was feeling a bit down, my good friend Molly invited me to go see Frozen on Broadway, compliments of her sister Brittany. Honestly anything on Broadway that is put on by Broadway is just sensational. The affects they have leave me as an adult mesmerized so I can only imagine how kids must feel about it. I also saw Aladdin in September in London and that blew me away too. I would advise that you grab drinks beforehand because the prices were insane for their specialty cocktails named after characters in the show. Perhaps it was the sadness in my eyes or just the fact that the bartender over heard my sob story as I was telling Molly, but my “Arendelle” drink had more vodka in it than expected. But I appreciated the gesture none the less. I now feel like all other Broadway shows won’t be able to compare to the magicalness that is the world of Disney. That or I am just a giant child… probably just that.

 

Things are looking up... kind of

     Um let me start off by saying... WHERE THE HECK DID NOVEMBER GO? I swear it was only last week that I was starting to get ready for my trip back home to New York. Now it's been 10 days since I left England! Lots has been going on between coming back and the last time I wrote about Oktoberfest and ice skating at the Museum of Natural History in Kensington. Still in shock it has been that long since I have posted.

    So here is an update on things before I get back to my happy go lucky posts of exciting places I have been going to. Sam and I left London with the hopes that once I landed our solicitor would submit my paperwork for my visa. Since the course of true love never did run smooth, we hit a few bumps along the way. A lot of it had to do a lot with miscommunication and lack of time to formulate an actual plan. Currently the solicitor has completed paperwork and by Monday we will have a full idea of what the next steps are. Nothing quite makes you scattered for brains than not knowing where your life will be in the next week let alone next month. 

   I was set to fly back with Sam to England on the 27th of November but because the paperwork had still not been completed, let alone handed in because of insufficient documents, I had to change my ticket. This meant a few things were about to happen. I had to change my return ticket date to a time that I still don't know will be enough, and I would have to do the number one thing I thought I would never have to do again since marrying Sam... we'd have to be apart for what is still an unknown amount of time. And let me tell you, if I could talk to the Nicole and Sam that were merely just saying goodbye to each other at terminal 4 of JFK airport as boyfriend and girlfriend, well I would have laughed at them. Because nothing hurts nearly as much as saying goodbye to your husband that you had seen everyday for the last 507 days (yeah I actually checked). It also meant that I would be missing the Mumford and Sons concert at the O2 on November 29th that I was lucky enough to get seats for, and because I didn't buy insurance (thinking what could go wrong?) I have to just eat the money for them. Which is a whole other annoyance I wont begin to go off on. But obviously this was the least of my worries but just a small add on. 

     What should be happening in the next few weeks or so should be simple. Sam meets with the solicitor on Monday, he then has the entire batch of documents and application nicely and neatly sent over to me so that whenever it is that I have to go to the embassy to get "checked out" I have everything I need in order to make their jobs easier to say yes. Then I will have my visa and finally be able to go back to my new home and start an actual life with Sam. I say actual life because I haven't been able to work and teach, the job that I have dreamed of doing since the age of 5. Not only that, to me a life is having structure and a regimen. It may sound weird but I long to have an alarm set for something I actually need to get up for. You might be laughing but to me in order to not turn into a couch potato (which has happened at times) I need to have a set schedule. I'm not that friend who's like I might be doing this or I might go there. I'm a solid yes or no lady. So Sam and I are back to our long distance relationship routines of Facetime regularly, ridiculous amounts of phone calls, watching tv shows at the same time so we can talk about them, and of course binge eating (my stretchy pants are doing overtime work after Thanksgiving). 

     You might be asking yourself, ok Nicole I'm reading these good things and all seems to be in motion here, what's the problem? Well my life wouldn't be as exciting as it is if there wasn't some twist in all of this. Since I changed my return flight to the 17th of December, it now puts a heavier time restraint on when things can get done. That's also because the man helping me schedule my return flight let me know that there are no other seats or days available to return until January. Sure I could maybe try a different airline or maybe even airport if I really needed to, but at this point with no incoming money from funemployment, it's just not realistic. Sorry not sorry if I sound like a bit of a drag here but this situation has not been easy. I am not playing down the fact that I am extremely fortunate to have parents who love me incredible amounts that I get to spend a lot of quality time with now. Or that I have another family across the pond who loves me too. It is just a hard pill to swallow when something you thought you were so sure of getting gets ripped out of your hands in an instant and you're forced to change a lot of your future plans. And the not knowing is what kills me the most. 

     The entire reasoning of me even sharing all of this is because I hope that if this unfortunate situation becomes of a friend of a friend or even someone who just happens to stumble across my page, I want to help them and inform them of everything that I know and have had happened to me and Sam. I have already had a few people contact me that I had not known previously before starting this blog. I've been asked about long distance relationship advice, and on the process of immigration. While I don't make myself out to know everything about either subject, I would help someone the best I can to feel even slightly better about what they are going through. I know we're not the first and most certainly not the last. 

     To end this on a positive note I'll let you know some of the good things that have happened so far since the last post.

1. I have created an incredible bond with a 7 year old girl, who I know will be in my life fora very long time. 

2. I have been able to spend Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday) with my parents and Sam.

3. I got to see my 4 best friends in the entire world and all their fellas.

4. Sam and I got to visit Astoria  and Legends bar in NYC (where we first met) a few times while he was here and reminisce on some amazing memories while living there. 

5. I legally changed my name to my married name!

6. I have plans to see a lot more of my friends and family for the next upcoming weeks while I'm in New York.

7. I have booked a trip to LA for next Friday to see my beautiful best friend Jordana.

8. And finally yesterday the 29th of November I was FINALLY granted my professional license for teaching! This also means that I will have the qualifications to teach anywhere I'd like to when I return to the UK. 

There will be more posts to come VERY soon, with all these good things happening. I'm doing my best to stay positive in the meantime and hopefully can update with good news soon.