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You are here: Home / Archives for Don

We’re In

January 21, 2018 at 8:56 am by Claudia

A loooooong day yesterday! But a good one.

After packing up the car, we headed down the NYS Thruway to the Palisades Parkway to the George Washington Bridge to the Henry Hudson Parkway to the West Side Highway to the apartment. The Company Manager and her assistant were waiting for us and gave us the keys. We parked in a loading zone with the hazard lights blinking – only for a short time – but we got a ticket. Dang.

Anyway, this apartment building is narrow and our apartment in on the third floor, so we had to go up and down three long flights of stairs several times. We were pooped. And winded – which makes me realize we need to get in ‘stairs shape.’ Oh, and there isn’t a microwave here, and we found a small one at a local hardware store on the way home last night and Don had to schlep that up the stairs. It was sort of the ‘last straw’ for the stairs yesterday.

It’s a really lovely apartment. We have to get used to the NYC street sounds (especially on a Saturday night!) but it’s relatively quiet during the day and we have our noise machine on at night, so no problem for sleeping.

This is one view of the living room. The photos were taken right after we arrived, so no tweaking had been done yet. Note how much the coffee table resembles the mini version I have in the newest dollhouse. It’s a pretty hip looking place and ‘on trend’ with the cool light fixture on the ceiling and the modern look to the furniture.

After I took this photo, I moved the coffee table closer to the sofa. I love the photo of Manhattan with the Flatiron Building front and center. As I write this, we are currently sitting side by side on the sofa. But I will eventually, I think, choose to blog at the little white table in the first photo. The floors are black wood laminate and they’re pretty cool looking.

The bedroom – it has a cool light on the ceiling as well, but I neglected to get it in this picture. I ended up moving the bed to the left so there was room for each of us to maneuver around the bed. There’s a nice sized closet with lots of room for clothes. There is also a linen closet right outside the bedroom and a coat closet next to the bathroom. The bathroom is very tiny, too difficult to photograph, and the kitchen is pretty tiny, too, but I will grab a photo of it later today.

All in all, we’re thrilled.

After settling in – I did a lot of the unpacking and  ‘stowing away’ while Don drove the car to a parking garage nearby – we spent some time thanking our lucky stars for this place which is only a few blocks from the rehearsal rooms and the theater. It had previously been occupied by the Music Director of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and when the show closed and he moved out, it was offered as a possibility for Margaritaville. It’s all in the timing.

The view out one of the windows. That’s the fire escape you’re looking through.

Eventually, we Ubered up to the Upper West Side to visit The Sill before it closed. The Sill is a neat little plant shop. The original shop is on Hester Street on the Lower East Side, but they just opened a new branch on Amsterdam and 81st.

Specializing in apartment friendly plants, it’s light and airy and very hip.

We bought a ZZ plant and a Chinese Evergreen (both easy care because Don will forget to water them) for the apartment. I may have to add a monstera deliciosa next time I’m here.

Broadway on the Upper West Side.

We made a brief stop at Barnes & Noble (the same branch where I got to meet Louise Penny) and then moseyed over to Central Park. We were hungry and I realized that I was dehydrated and I was getting cranky and tired, so we grabbed some chinese food at a restaurant called The Cottage. Delicious! Felt much better afterwards and we headed back to the apartment to watch a little television and then we hit the sack.

I slept surprisingly well (the mattress is a little too hard for me) and we’re having a lazy morning. I’ll be here until tomorrow morning (I think.) That could change. We’ll see how it goes. Don starts rehearsals tomorrow at 10 am, so he’ll be gone all day, but I could do some more exploring, couldn’t I? On the other hand, back at the ranch I need to chop up the melting ice on our driveway, so we’ll see. It isn’t cheap to garage a car here and we have that darned parking ticket to pay.

Happy Sunday.

 

 

Filed Under: Don, Escape to Margaritaville, New York City 42 Comments

Off We Go

January 20, 2018 at 7:15 am by Claudia

And here we go. Just as soon as the coffee kicks in, we’ll start packing everything up for the move to the city.

I’ll be there for a couple of days and will most likely head back home on Monday. Exciting chores await me, like chopping up the ice on the driveway after it’s had a chance to melt in our warmer temperatures. Whoo hoo. Seriously, though, that’s something I need to do ASAP.

There’s always a chance that I’ll wait until Tuesday, but Don will be in rehearsal all day Monday so I’ll probably head back. Time will tell.

And so it begins. There are mixed feelings, of course. Sadness that we’ll be apart more often than not. But excitement for the time ahead.

I’m not sure of the Wi Fi situation in the apartment. It will have Wi Fi, of course, but whether it will be set up yet remains to be seen. So, if you don’t hear from me, it’s because of that. Follow me on Instagram.

Last night’s sunset.

Happy Saturday.

Filed Under: Don, Escape to Margaritaville 15 Comments

Friday

January 19, 2018 at 9:26 am by Claudia

Said goodbye for another year to the Christmas tree yesterday. This one had a good run  – all the way to January 18th. But it was time and as Don is now focused on the move to NYC, he was fine with it.

I did loads of laundry yesterday in an effort to clean everything Don might want to pack.

I also ate my fair share of chocolate chip cookies, which seem to be at their tastiest at the exact time I should be eating a healthy breakfast.

We had dinner with Rick and Doug last night. They’ve just moved their furniture into their NYC pied-à-terre, which is a studio apartment. Now they’re back here and we’re about to move Don’s stuff into our  pied-à-terre. Turns out the apartments are about 10 blocks apart. As always seems to be the case with me in the winter, I did not look forward into trucking to a neighboring town in the cold weather, but once we got there, the conversation was stimulating and fun and I felt much better for going.

Today is about packing things up, recycling, running last minute errands and generally preparing for the trip into the city tomorrow morning.

I can’t wait to choose some plants for Don’s apartment. Easy care, of course. I’ve been itching to buy some more plants but it’s been so cold here I didn’t want to shock a plant by moving it from a warm building to the freezing outdoors. This weekend will be warmer, both here and in the city, so we should be able to find something for him.

The apartment is furnished and from what we could see in the photos, it’s furnished rather nicely. Don will take along a few things to add to the ambience, but I think we will just add plants this weekend and see what happens as we get used to the space.

Let’s hope our government doesn’t shut down at the end of the day. Since it is controlled by Republicans, all this twaddle about it being up to the Democrats is ridiculous. They have the power. I’m convinced man-child wants it to shut down for the drama of it and as an effort to deflect from the increasingly damning facts about his administration and their ties to Russia, before and after the election.

I’ll refrain from dwelling on payoffs to porn stars.

Happy Friday.

Filed Under: Don, Escape to Margaritaville, politics 30 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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