stress sets in

burning the midnight oil...packing and sorting and repacking and resorting. it's so hard to decide what i need to bring...or more like what i want to bring (everything!) with me and what to leave behind. i have only a few more days in ny and i think i may be spending them all packing and getting paperwork sorted out...which isn't what i planned on, but may have to happen. if only i could concentrate and be decisive!

powered up the new laptop today and its a beauty! can't wait to be mobile and go wireless!

thanks :)

i just wanted to say thanks! to all the great responses i received after sending out my email. you guys are the best and so encouraging! i was so worried and stressed about "the business", but you all have been so supportive and while i'm now really only stressed about fitting my belongings into 2 suitcases, i'm super super excited!!

more news

some more moving news! the date i'm leaving new york is all set! my plane ticket has me departing Wednesday, June 28th. that's almost one more week of packing and shipping until I head out to california. I'll be in california for 2 weeks, flying into LA to help train my sister and then back to new york on Wednesday, July 12th.

i'll be in new york for 2-3 days until i depart for turkey. getting the tickets to turkey are a little trickier because i need to get an open ended ticket so that i can arrange my return date to when i like. hopefully i'll get that i'll settled in a day or so.

been dropping off packages to be delivered home, and put in my change of address with the post office. got a laptop this weekend so i'm all ready to work while in transit!

apartment hunting part II

just popped on over to craig's list again and found this great little apartment in istanbul! it's right in the area/neighborhood that i think i want to check out and live...cukurcuma (which is behind the galatasaray high school on taksim). its supposed to be a bohemian neighborhood. or so they say. i think i only remember going there once to a my co-worker's boyfriend's apartment, but i didn't remember anything then. his apartment was nice, but this 1 bedroom looks super sweet! except everyone can see you go to the bathroom?

i also forgot to mention that much to samet's chagrin (sorry, your country's economic empire is falling!), that right now the exchange rate for the dollar is 1.588 USD to every 1 Turkish Lira. The past year it's been about 1.28/1.30. I guess about a month ago it went to 1.58/1.60...that means every 1 Turkish Lira is worth nearly $1.60. So that one bedroom listed is for $1500 LIRA but in USD that would be about $945. not super cheap, but super nice! and better than NY prices! so you all should take advantage of this and come visit this summer!!

making plans

the other week when my sister was visiting before her trip to china, we stopped by a bookstore so she could pick up a few books for her class. i couldn't help but look at the istanbul guide books, though i hardly ever use guide books to guide myself to the nearest 4-star hotel, but really only enjoy reading the strange facts and unusual customs parts of them. i found a copy of the book Styleguide: Istanbul and it looks really promising! The photos are beautiful and i remember saying to my sister, "Gosh they make Turkey look so much nicer than it really is!". What was nice was that there were a whole bunch of listings for small boutiques and friendly cafes in there, and with the pictures looking so beautiful, I will definately use it to check out some shops! They even have a couple of listings for junk shops where you can get vintage furniture. and to get me around, i picked up a map guide put out by Knopf. I like these little books a lot. we used to have a bunch of them lying around the ELLE offices. they are great map guides...and for some reason, for the life of me, i could never really find a good map of istanbul. but here's one that maps out the small tiny streets and ferry pathways and metro vs. tramway vs. tunel lines. should be useful!

i talked to samet last night on the phone and he helped me sign up for turkish courses at a local language school in istanbul. supposedly the pricing for turkish vs. foreigners is different (this happens a lot in turkey...where foreigners/tourists get charged 2 or 3x what turkish citizens get charged...and not just at bars or shopping places...but at museums and schools!) anyway, they wrote back to me and a 8-month course (3 days a week) will cost me about $450.00 USD. they have different levels, but i'm going to have to start out at beginners. apparently my old english teacher manager (from last summer) is taking some intensive turkish classes there. i'm looking forward to it, having something to do and a schedule that will get me out of the house at least 3 days a week!

going to renegade on saturday...promised myself not to buy too many things...i am looking for things specific to my travels...i need more little pouches to hold personal belongings, and i forgot what else. i'm sure i'll find something though. :) on sunday, i'm going to get my laptop!

countdown!

i realize that i haven't posted for a while in this blog, but i haven't posted anything much in any of my blogs...because i've been busy busy off the computer. here's an update on my moving plans:

spent the better part of the last couple of weeks packing and have pretty much packed everything except my clothes and cut+paste stuff. now i have to ship boxes home. i sold some things on craig's list so that helped out a lot too. and all the craft stuff i had leftover from ladie's night, i put into 7" x 7" x 6" boxes and am selling on cut+paste...they are Boxes o' Craft (which i hoped people wouldn't make fun of and call Boxes o' Crap...so I made sure to put some extra stellar treats in each one :). At $20 a pop, I've already sold about 8 boxes so it's going well...i'm going to keep selling them and just find more stuff of mine to giveaway to fill the orders.

i'm still freelancing at elle this week, my last week. and i'm determined to get all my packing and stuff done so i'm not super stressed when i leave. great news is that elle has asked if i'd be willing to do some freelance work while i'm in turkey which will be great...not so stressed now about work and money...the elle gig, as horrible as i do complain sometimes, is actually feeding me well. i've managed to hit my savings goal (for before i left for turkey) and can pay off a chunk of my credit card as well. i just now have to be good about not spending!!!

so many small things to do...cancel netflix, cancel phone bill, buy bubblewrap, send back returns, etc etc. and trying to get them out of the way so i can enjoy the big things...spend time with friends and lola.

i'll most likely be leaving NY on June 28th. the plan is:

California - June 28th-July 13th
NY - July 13th-July15th
Turkey - July 15th

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