Because Sharon Asked.

So, I know there are those of you out there that think about us and say to yourself, "I think it's cute that they tried to move to New York but ended up in Jersey. It's cute but, I would never live in New Jersey." Well, here is the story of how it all went down.

Lindsay applied (and recieved a scholarship) to the City University of New York. It's on 34th Street, you know the one that had the "Miracle"; also, it is across the street from the Empire State Building, so when Lindsay goes to school, this is where she goes:
That's the view from the front door of her school.

So I got a job on 87th and 3rd on the upper east side. Just a few avenues away from Central Park and the Met, so when I went to work, I went there. Today I just got home from my new location at Rockefeller Center, You know, the Christmas Tree with the Ice Skating Rink, or 'The Today Show' so this is where I go now:
The address of my new place of employment is "50 Rock," for those of you in the know. I don't mean to go on about how cool New York is (real cool), but to convey the New York-ness of our House here...

In Jersey.

When we looked for an apartment in the city, we were shown tiny little rooms in scary spots that were not close to anywhere we needed to be. Note: we were actually shown a room with a hot plate and a small window, Lindsay said to the man, "Uhh we have a queen sized bed" and the man replied with a laugh, "Well, that won't fit in here!" That little room was a subtle $1400.00 a month.

Regardless of the horrible house hunting experience (and it was horrible) we had no other option.

Our dear friends had set us up with their dear friends who were living in Tukahoe. It was incredibly gracious (think about it, would you let total strangers come stay at your house?). It turned out that they had a brother who was with his wife in Asia for a month and we could stay in their apartment for a few weeks. (The couple in Asia ended up becoming our best friends Liz and Jared of the St. Patrick's day post.) They lived in Hoboken.

We had never considered Jersey because we were moving to Manhattan. One day we were getting ready for a day of house hunting in the city when we passed a small realtor who had an apartment listed in our range. We asked about it and the woman told us she didn't even have the keys yet and didn't know anything about the property. We gave her our name and went back to Liz and Jared's and made some appointments in the city. An hour later, just as we were leaving, the woman called and said she could take us to see that place we had asked about. We almost turned her down but we were in the area and not in a place to be real picky. She walked us down Garden Street, a beautiful, tree-lined street with parks and colorful brownstone buildings. I honestly thought that this was some realtor trick to make us think we were in a good area, but there at 615 she stopped and we went in. It was (and is) small but sweet. It has a great big kitchen...


lovely nooks for reading or just sitting...


a delightful patio/backyard area...


perfect spots for books and flowers (which came from the backyard)...


a cozy place for sleeping (and sniffing, apparently)...


and a romantic view of the neighbors. (Yes, that really is the view from our patio, and yes, the rainbow is real.)
It truly is a wonderfully charming home, and we adore it (and, somewhat begrudgingly, Jersey). Won't you come and visit? If we have the time, we could stop into New York, too!

~P & L