Leslie and the City: Jersey Girl

My shins are bruised, I have two broken finger nails, and every piece of clothing hanging in my closet is wrinkled. But, I’m not worried because I am finished moving for the rest of my life!! (This is a humongous lie; however, it’s the only thing keeping me sane at the moment.)

The movers showed up on Sunday with an enormous moving truck that they then packed with my embarrassingly sparse number of possessions. I did a bit of begging to ride along so that I wouldn’t have to take the subway. They eventually acquiesced, so I climbed into the middle seat, waved goodbye to the three-legged cat and the drunk guy who apparently got tired riding his bike and was taking a nap in the median, and said a few Hail Marys under my breath hoping to get to New Jersey in one piece.

Along the way I saw all four of the new waterfall installations and the remnants of that morning’s Gay Pride Parade. I rambled along in my best Spanglish about my NYC experience and the movers bragged about their kids and their record number of parking tickets. Driving an enormous moving van through Manhattan, we ate ice cream (funny story), cursed at a few bad drivers, pretended to pick up people hailing taxis, and successfully didn’t take out any side mirrors.

When I arrived in Hoboken, we had to play an amusing game of musical rooms that concluded with me sleeping on the couch. However, I was able to finally move everything into my new room last night. Sarah came over with her (pink) tool kit and a Diet Coke (she’s my hero) to lend a hand. She even fixed all the scratches on my cursed IKEA dresser with a furniture pen. With longer hair, more Emo music, and a bunk bed, it would have been just like move in day at the dorm. Sarah’s the best. I couldn’t survive this city without her.

With the move complete, I’m now less than 24 hours away from my Texas trip. Between now and then, I must stay awake through three meetings (Zzz), finish my first major presentation for my new client (eek), pick up my broken sandal from a guy who fixes shoes, TVs and blenders all in the same shop, make sure that my nunchucks and brass knuckles didn’t make their way into my suitcase, and trek to Astoria to sleep on my friend Jen’s couch (because I L-O-V-E couches) so that I don’t miss my flight in the AM.

When will life be normal again?!?

My street...