Learning to live together (and apart)

I like to think of myself as a neat in my own way kind of girl; clutter makes me anxious, I don't mind doing laundry (esp with having a washer/dryer in the apt again, after NYC, huge luxury!) and once I get started organizing OCD-type tendencies will surely soon follow. That being said you'll probably find my clean clothes sprawled out all over the bed until I find the time/will/desire (I now find myself wanting to blog more-so than any other chores on my internal to-do list) to hang them up (in color coded fashion). For all my dear (and fit) friends who trekked the 5 floors up to see my NYC home/cubby-hole, you know when I say my room was the size of a walk-in closet, I'm not exaggerating. I mean, you saw the picture from my first post, I had to sit on my bed to get to my closet. But I loved it - it was mine, it was cozy and it was coordinated in earth tones, all things that make me truly happy.

Now that I have a large, built-in shelved closet (and 2 IKEA wardrobes to work with) I find myself dreaming up ways to store my clothes, scarves, belts, shoes and jewels, because let's face it, not having to crouch down into child's pose and finagle your favorite tank top out of a plastic storage bin shoved under your bed makes getting dressed a totally different experience. Now, I move onto to the point of this post...

I think we all hope the partner we choose is one that makes us better in every way, right? Well, the one I chose makes (read: guilts) me into wanting to be the tidiest I've ever been. Not only have I never lived with a boy, I've never lived with a boy who has to hang all his shirts, hangers facing the same direction, with the top three buttons buttoned (alternating every other one), a boy who has to fold the reusable bags we get from the grocery downstairs into perfect symmetrical squares for storage or a boy has to line up our shoes outside the door smallest to biggest, in a perfect row (just to name a few quirks) before he feels at ease. I could see him die inside a little when my make-up and toiletries were scattered all over the bathroom sink, cringe even more when my mascara, not fully removed after washing my face, rubbed off on the previously perfectly stark white bath towels and have to take 5-10 deep breaths when I got into bed and cocooned the sheets around me, creasing them and causing them to not lay perfectly straight/flat.

All that being said, we're learning, we're growing and we're making space for each other in our previously unattached lives and him in his previously solely-inhabited apartment. AH jokes "you signed up for this...for the rest of your life" when I shake my head or roll my eyes after witnessing the types of behaviors described above. But that's just part of him, and I love it. And (hopefully) he's learning to love me... and all my stuff (that now fills more than my 50% share of the apartment).

Sprucing up the living room

Girl-ifying the bathroom

First home-cooked meal in the apt and the first meal I made Anthony, Chicken Parm (he claims he liked it)

AH got back from a business trip in Hong Kong a few hours ago (will probably kill me for this post once he sees it) and was impressed with meal #2 as well. Good night for me and good Wednesday morning to you all!

xoxo,

Jess

Chinese Holiday?

As I'm sure you can imagine, many, MANY things are different in China. Grocery shopping turns into a bit of a scavenger hunt, a knowledge of taxi-cab Mandarin (or an iPhone app) is essential if you want to get anywhere off-foot, Shanghainese men are found more often than not (gladly, at that) toting their lady's handbag and everything, I mean pretty much practically everything is price-negotiable. Clothes, shoes, purses, sunglasses, incense on the street, you name it (even shots at the bar, this I witnessed Saturday night).


In my 25 years I've spent most major holidays with my family, and to say I missed them this past Thanksgiving is a serious understatement. A mixture of holiday nostalgia and moving half-way across the world five days earlier will do that to you... take it from me. I woke up Thursday morning in China (Wednesday night in America, we're working with a 13-hour time difference) greeted by this from our balcony...

Anthony left for work and I was tasked with the job of finding us a pseudo-American Thanksgiving spread, Shanghai-style. Luckily for us, the American population is substantial enough in Shanghai that many restaurants were offering up traditional Thanksgiving fare. We opted for Boxing Cat Brewery, http://www.boxingcatbrewery.com/enter.html, one of Anthony's new favorite places, which put out an impressive buffet with all the usual suspects; turkey, glazed ham, truffle mashed potatoes (maybe not so usual), green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole and of course pumpkin and apple pies. Christmas music blasted throughout the 3-level restaurant, even A Chipmunk Christmas, my personal favorite (right Mom?) made the playlist. To really drive home the holiday, pre-recorded football games (notably Teebs vs. Sanchez) played above our heads. It doesn't come close to Thanksgiving at home with our families, but it was our first one together, and one I'm sure we'll always remember. 

The next day we had a home-cooked Thanksgiving feast hosted by Ken (Anthony's boss by title, friend for all intensive purposes) and his wife, Vicki. Needless to say it was delicious and I could barely sit up straight (or keep my eyes open) by the end of the meal. I contributed 2 desserts; Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (I smuggled over a jar of canned pumpkin from the States, necessary for T-giving in my mind) and Carrot Souffle. The recipes I used are below (if I may say so myself, both were met with rave reviews). Enjoy :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/george-duran/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies-recipe/index.html

Carrot Souffle: 

2 large carrots (14-16 oz.)

1 stick marg or butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 t. baking powder
3 T. flour
1 t. vanilla
Wash, peel and chop carrots. Melt butter, pour in food processor (I used a blender). Add carrots and rest of ingredients. Mix until smooth. Pour in greased casserole. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Nom. Nom. Nom. Make them. Next time you're feeling fall-like. 

Since it's too good not to share, I'll leave you with this. As I mentioned above Shanghainese men are known by all other Chinese as the most... whipped? (for lack of better term) by their women (this was confirmed by my Mandarin teacher, Jing, who hails from outside Beijing). While I can't quite get Anthony to carry my purse (yet), I can get him to side-braid my hair...

Anthony braids hair: Part 1 of 793,284. Now that I know he has this skill, game over.

xoxo,

Jess

P.S. 

While Thanksgiving ain't no thang in China, Christmas kills it over here (thank god).

Cartier Christmas in Xintiandi

Our Charlie Brown Christmas flair

"Soft Move"

Welcome to my inaugural blog post! As my boyfriend Anthony (see us below) has so affectionately coined it, Saturday the 19th of November, was my "soft move" to Shanghai, China (I know... China...). The soft move included me quitting my job at an accounting firm in New York City, my first job out of college and the place I called my employer/source of funds for three (somewhat) satisfying, always interesting, years, packing up my closet-sized living quarters, saying good-bye to the people and city I love and flying the coop on Continental flight #87, 14 hours direct from Newark to Shanghai.

Anthony documenting the move out (found this on his comp today)

How did I end up in China you ask? As luck would have it, my brief stint in NYC (just shy of one year) was one of the most exciting, challenging, exhausting and lovely years of my life. I left behind some dear old friends, made priceless new ones and will now forever hold a special place in my heart for the incredible city I called home for the better part of 2011. Something else I have to show for my time in the city just so happens to be what leads me to this blog. If you will, please oblige me a brief story time...

August 5, 2011 -- one of those perfect late-summer NYC afternoons where no activity seems more fitting other than throwing on your favorite pair of jean shorts, a neon belt and suede gladiator wedges to meet two of your best friends at The Lot at the Highline (a beer garden of sorts) http://www.thehighline.org/the-lot. Waiting in line to enter the beer garden I met Anthony (I use the term "met" loosely since his first words to me were somewhat of a sarcastic dig for cutting the line that spanned the better part of a city block), who fatefully happened to be standing in front of 2/3 of my usual trio (see Sarah and Anna below), with his friend, Kevin. 

The night it all began...

The rest, as they say, is history... the whirlwind romance that played out over the next three months included rendezvous in Chicago, Wilmington, DE (Anthony's hometown), Dallas (where Anthony lived pre-China), Dallas again, West Palm Beach, FL (my hometown, a trip Anthony made alone to meet the lovely people I call my parents) NYC, NYC again and finally, China. Anthony accepted an ex-patriot assignment here with his company beginning mid-September. So now, here I sit, 115 days into our relationship (yes, you read that right, 115 days, or just short of 4 months), fully moved into OUR (ay yi yi) 2br, 2ba, with an office, apt in Jing'an. 

Anthony and I sightseeing in Qibao

Over the course of these blog posts I hope to share a little slice of my/our new life here 7,000+ miles away from all things familiar. 


Until next time,
xoxo, 
Jess