Welcome back

{ Rebel  |  May 2013  |  NYC }

Yes I had a lovely vacation, but the city of New York made me pay for it this week with an onslaught of annoyances (minor one by one, but nasty all together). How you ask?

Well, let's start with the weather. From balmy, tropical 80F degrees in Mexico to windy, shivery, 45F'ish in New York. I had no choice but to rebel against the tyranny of Mother Nature with some summery sandals. Luckily, my insurrection didn't lead to a cold (whew).

Then, more dealings with the paperwork-inducing headaches of the Italian citizenship process meant lots of early mornings this week hanging out at the NYC Supreme Court and NY Department of State to stand in line and hand over some cash just for a civil servant to stamp my paperwork (at least the settings were pretty). No checking of signatures, no affirming anything other than that yes, I'm a slave to the system. But, at least I'm making progress—this weekend I'll be translating records and just hoping that I get my last two ASAP, since our appointment is coming up!)

(Meanwhile, no movement on the US or Sweden front...)

{ NYC Supreme Court  |  May 2013 }

{ Inside the NYC Supreme Court  |  May 2013 }

And lastly, for another posy in my bouquet of overwhelming-ness, the vending machine at my subway station yanked my $20 bill away and spit back my subway card with a $0 balance. I stomped over to the station agent to explain and she rolled her eyes and said I shouldn't have put my cash in the machine. Oh really, lady? Then WHY is there an option to add value with cash!? I had to go to 4 other stations and make two phone calls to the MTA to get some straight answers (which involved me mailing a claim form, my receipt and my sad little card back to them in the hopes that in 3-4 months they'll send me back $20).

I get it, New York. You really, really missed me.

But, the week ended on a high note—I had the apartment to myself last night while R met up with some friends from Sicily that were in town, giving my full reign to do my thing. Which can only mean a night of homemade spinach pizza + a banana / chocolate / cashew butter dessert + a girly movie and a few hours knitting (starting my first non-accessory, non-home-goods, actually-requires-measuring-of-my-body-piece!).

That's more like it.