The Best and Worst Parts About Living in New York

Over a year ago, I wrote this post comparing Boston and New York. I determined that New York won, and now here I am, a year and a half later, looking at the best and worst parts of living in that "winning" city.

I thought of this topic whilst walking through Grand Central and overhearing multiple people voicing their own variations of "I hate commuting, specifically on the 6, when it's muggy and partly rainy outside and everyone is in bitchy moods because it's still only Tuesday and they haven't had coffee, yet, myself included."

Okay, who am I kidding!? New Yorkers never admit that they're in bitchy moods! I think that's because we're all jaded and are in permanent bad-moods, but that discussion is for another time.

Getting into the nitty-gritty... drumrolls please...

Top 3 Reasons Living in New York STINKS...

3. Mixing Tourists and Business-People in high-traffic areas
-  Commuting on a rainy morning, depending on the areas where one lives/works, one can run into puzzled-looking tourists with maps who don't apologize when they walk into you (it's expected that a New Yorker not apologize, but it's rude if a tourist doesn't.) ....Or wannabe golf-pro-business-men (The latter are the men who walk along 42nd street with Golf Umbrellas, because it's always necessary to walk on crowded streets with an umbrella the size of your kid's Barbie-Hummer! Duh!)
- None of this is fun, and if your curls have ever gotten twisted in the spikes of a golf umbrella, it's even more annoying.


2. There is Always Reason to Drink Celebrate
- Some people may see this as a positive thing. However, I can tell you that after a week of going out every night after work, waking up either hungover or with a severe case of dehydration- all you want to do is crawl back to the house you grew up in and morph back into a 6 year-old with chicken pox and have mom help you heal.
Example of real-life week:
Monday- going out with a friend who's in town for business for "one four drinks, to catch up!"
Tuesday- going out after work with clients to celebrate a successful website launch
Wednesday- going out after volleyball to celebrate winning
Thursday- going out with the girls because "we haven't seen each other in soooo long"
Friday- going out with old work friends because "we haven't seen each other in soooo long"
Saturday- IT'S SOMEONE'S BIRTHDAY!
Sunday- going out for brunch and having Bellinis before football

1. A Latte Costs $6.65
- Depending on which Starbucks you venture to in the city (even if they're just across the street from each other,) the prices are always different. Everyone pays the price that the barista tells us, because we have to. We'd rather fight with strangers with golf umbrellas than the guy who's in charge of our fuel for the day.
....HOWEVER- The Starbucks in the Waldorf-Astoria has the most insane prices for to-go-burned coffee-mixed-with-milk that I've ever seen. It was nearly $10 for a grande skinny vanilla latte. Did they go to Colombia to get this sugar-free liquid vanilla straight off the vanilla-tree while I waited in line? I'm confused... But, inevitably- I paid for it. (But never went or will go back.)

Top 5 Reasons Living in New York is AWESOME! (There are more than the "worst reasons" because living in New York is just as I write: awesome.)
5. Free Concerts in Central Park
- My roommate saw Ray LaMontagne there one night after work and I saw Selena Gomez (heart beats rapidly) on TV performing there for Good Morning America, too.

4. I Can Wear Whatever I Want
- And no one judges. Well, unless I was to wear skimpy cut-off daisy dukes to church on the Upper East Side... but I try to live my life as Julia-Roberts-POST-Richard-Gere, and not pre.
- For example, I own a pair of royal blue skinny jeans that I'm in LOVE with.
I am currently wearing a black faux fur vest, at work. No one is looking at me funny. Although, I think this is because they may be chilly and would want to borrow it, but are too afraid it's actually a live bear and he would bite them if they took it from me.

3. When Friends Visit, It's Always Fun
- I've had a bunch of friends come down and always have a great time going out. Going to either the Canal Room (which I held off against listing as the "Number 1 Reason Living here is Awesome",) or going to a wine bar, out to dinner- there is always a ton of things to do (and so many places to choose from.)

2. Rockefeller Center during Christmas Time on a weeknight

- This is when there are the least amount of tourists around. It's always so romantic to walk around Rock Center at night when the tree is lit. However, it's terrible to do this on a weekend evening, since you'll lose the romantic spirit due to the amount of people in the area and you'll wind up sweating in your nice dressy-coat while trying to take a photo in front of the tree, which some small child or old person will inevitably be in because they're lost or bored and wandering around. (See the guy on the left??!)

1. Because There is No Better Place Than Manhattan
- Period.
(I mean, maybe Nice or London or other "foreign lands" are cool, sexy, intriguing, and have fancy languages, but New York is NEW YORK. Even Frank Sinatra was a fan.)

And there you have it, folks!

The fact that I live and work (and breathe) Manhattan always helps me get over the fact that my hair gets tangled in golf-umbrellas or that the cost of a latte is comparable to my gas bill.

xo