Bleached Hair and Bedazzled Bags

In order to take my mind off the lameness that is currently the Giants defense, (c'mon. It's the Eagles. Let's go.) I am going to describe to you the eerie similarities I have seen shared between North Jersey and Texas.

Note: for those of you not familiar with the state of New Jersey, the state is actually broken down into three parts. South Jersey is like... Oklahoma. Farms, pickup trucks and wide open spaces. That's right. Oh, and Atlantic City. Central Jersey (where I'm from) is home to the Boss and Bon Jovi and is cool, laid back and awesome (of course). North Jersey is the Sopranos. It's women with bleached blonde hair and fake nails, guys that actually say Fuggetaboutit and is home to those accents that everyone associated with the state (oh. my. gawd.).

A disclaimer before I continue. Mom, I know you're from North Jersey. No offense.

This Saturday, my boyfriend and I attempted to attend the Dallas Sample Sale. I think I heard sample sales discussed in Sex and the City once. They're supposed to be trendy sort of yard sales for designers and other high-end labels. How wrong I was.

Our first stop was a warehouse sale. We had parked on the wrong side of the building and walked into a big scary room where the most popular items appeared to be housecoats and dog beds. Second, we found ourselves in a giant antique sale, where everything smelled like a bowling alley or a church (or a terrible combination of both). If you missed it, I'm sorry, because you totally missed out on your chance to buy an ear horn.



The third try was the charm and we finally arrived at the Dallas Sample Sale! Let the shopping begin!

Yeah, right.

This is where the eerie similarities begin. Bedazzled bags, bleached blonde hair as far as the eye could see, jewelry that would have been tacky in the 80s. I started having flashbacks to family trips to Bayonne in the 90s. Household furnishings ranged from what looked like end tables carved out of stumps to collectors sets of colorful crosses. My vision blurred from over stimulation. The tackiness was palpable.

Still... it made this Jersey Girl a little homesick. Pink tipped nails, teased out hair, blue eyeshadow. There's no place like home. There's no place like home.

Missing the Back to School

I get to be mopey for this entry. It's my prerogative as a blogger. I've been talking to a couple of people who are gearing up to go back to school in a few weeks, and it's just now hitting me that I'm not one of them. No more wine nights, library marathons, smoothies at Campus Center, party hopping in the Circles. I miss it. A lot.

I know this is the same kind of crisis a lot of recent grads go through, but that doesn't really make it any easier. My best friends are spread out from Maine to LA, Ithaca to Texas (me!) We're working in restaurants, museums, newspapers, and something along the lines of education (right?) And after all the trials, tribulations, attempts at success, and crazy roller coaster ride that these past few months have been, I just really want to sit back with a bottle of Barnyard Red and play some Cranium.

On the bright side, it's Restaurant Week (what self-respecting Jersey girl isn't distracted by food?) and we're checking out a restaurant called Fuse tomorrow night. Plus, it's someone's birthday, so some celebrating is in order. /mope

Loving Technology

So today I was introduced to a new thing called Flagr, which is really helping me at least map out where apartments are. Right now, my possible apartment map looks like this:



All of them are pretty close to work, which is also good! I know I'm being really obsessive about this, but, hey, that's how I am! My dad yesterday (hi Dad) was telling me how I've got everything planned out and how that's really good etc etc etc - and I told him that if I didn't have a plan right now, I'd probably be freaking out.

I mean, I'm freaking out anyway, but maybe to a lesser degree? Oh well, it's the weekend and it's GORGES outside (ha ha), so I'm off to enjoy the sun!

Sight Unseen

I'm finding out that it's really REALLY hard to find an apartment in a city you've never visited. It leads to falling in love with a place with all the amenities, and then finding out something like this:

(Okay, there IS an image that goes here, but Blogger won't let me do it right now - check back soon)

UPDATE: Day 2 - and Blogger still hates me :-(

Which is kind of conflicting. I don't know much about Dallas, but it doesn't seem like these people can agree on how to rate the place where they actually LIVE. Also, ever the skeptic, I'm not sure that I can trust the positive reviews (may be written by management) or the negative reviews (may be written by management from the place next door). Sigh.

However, I have found a few places I'm feeling good about and I've booked a few appointments. I also found out that there's an IKEA (!!!) right near Dallas, so my furniture needs should be close enough to met. (Thanks for the living room sofa, Mom!)

I also passed my background check today - I guess they decided I wasn't going to rob the museum or something like that. Today also marks one month until graduation (or close enough). I can't believe I'll be leaving college so soon, but I'm really excited to go to Texas!

I might be most excited about doing a weekend at a dude ranch - who wouldn't love that?!

Leaving the Jersey Shore

I was on the phone with my mom today, trying to figure out the logistics of graduating, visiting home, packing, going to Maui (!), and moving to Texas. I had a great plan worked out, except for one thing - it involved me driving south through Jersey on Memorial Day weekend.

Now those of you from Jersey are already groaning and rolling your eyes, but everyone else has no idea what I'm talking about. Memorial Day weekend at the Jersey shore is downright painful. You can't drive south. You can't drive east. And you most certainly can't do either on Friday or Saturday. Why? One word. Bennys. Bennys are tourists from Bayonne, Elizabeth, Newark, and New York (hence the acronym), and they can make any Jersey girl's commute and social live incredibly difficult.

When people find out I'm from the Jersey shore, the first question is always "How close are you to the beach?" The answer is - very close, but it might as well be an hour and a half away. The population of my town nearly triples in the summer, and driving/parking at the beach is a nightmare. To be honest, one of the major bonuses about moving to Dallas will be the decreased amount of tourist traffic.

Anyway, that whole rant leads to me having to drive home 3 days earlier than I intended. Thanks, Bennys. I hope you have a good summer.

Sudden Realizations

Today I've come to realize certain... realities? Like - I'll need an apartment in Dallas (fast!), I have to move across the country, I have to DRIVE across the country, I have to start packing!

Memo to self: start packing. Now.

I only have to pack up an entire apartment before graduation (5/18) so my parents can each load up their cars and try to store all of my belongings in my garage in New Jersey. How did I amass so much stuff? I can't believe four years ago everything I owned fit in a dorm room!

I called a few places yesterday about potential apartments, but I'm not too familiar with the neighborhoods in Dallas. I know I want to live downtown, and I've found a lot of places that are really affordable and have a gym, pool, and hot tub! I'm liking my new city!

I also did a Google Maps search for my drive down there. It looks far, but really interesting - it takes me though a lot of southern towns I've never visited. I'm hoping to break up the drive with some stops in new cities and maybe visiting some people along the way!


View Larger Map

Decision time

So I'm sitting on my couch, relaxing after a whirlwind tour of Minneapolis and watching South Pacific. I think I should be watching a western or maybe No Country for Old Men. After all, I am moving to Texas in less than 2 months!

For some quick background: I'm a senior at a college in central New York, and I've been lucky enough to land my dream job out of school. I'll be working in the marketing department of a museum in downtown Dallas. The only problem is that I've never actually been to Texas, but I love country music and line dancing, so at least I have that!

This blog is going to cover my cross-country move and the culture shock I'm sure I'll experience from moving to the south and just living life after college! It's definitely going to be an adventure, but I'm excited to rise to the challenge!

I also want to point out that it's been my dream since I was eight to move to Texas. When I was 10, I wrote and recorded a song about my love for the Lone Star State, and the chorus went like this:

How many seasons does Texas have?
Oh my friends say 4, but my folks say 365
Before any ol' Texas year is done

There's also a line in the song about wanting to go to Texas no matter what:

No matter what my parents say
Damnit I am ten, I'll do what I please!

I think my ten-year-old self would be very proud of me right now!