New York: that was then, this is now

OMG. WE LIVE IN NEW YORK!

It’s amazing to be here. Our dream has come true. We’ve been here before. We’ve dreamed and now we’re here to stay.

2005 – November

We got married at City Hall! Our first trip together after 9 months of a secret engagement – meeting up with our friend from Switzerland to be our witness. We got married on a Monday morning in jeans and celebrated at the 21 Club. We 3 explored the city that week. It was amazing. When we got home we celebrated with close family and friends. And we talked about when we’d get back to New York. We wondered if we’d be able to visit, perhaps for our 5th wedding anniversary, we wondered what on earth it would take to return to live. And as time passed …

2007 – Christmas

With The Mister’s brother living in Washington DC and a passing conversation about Christmas in the States we all of a sudden felt a tug and came over for a week. Xero had IPO’d by now and was 18 months in so we took a week off for a holiday. Being so close to New York we couldn’t resist and came up on the train for a night. I got my first Mac and we saw New York at Christmas for the first time.

2008 – November

We found our minds wandering to New York and missing it and by now Bev and Dan were living in California so we decided to come visit them and have a few days in New York over Thanksgiving around the time of our wedding anniversary. We discovered Ninth Street Espresso and went over the Brooklyn bridge.

2009 – June

Xero won a Webby Award with the ceremony in New York. Sara and Lucy were on holiday in Canada and able to go to New York to accept the award – too good an opportunity to pass up so we dashed over for a 4 day trip! It was our first visit in the summer so we spent a bit of time in Central Park and discovered Shake Shack in Madison Square Park.

2010 – March – July

We lived here! 5 months getting to know the city as residents from March through July – avoiding the very cold and very hot. We had a short term vacation rental in Murray Hill, commuted on the 6 train, used a basement laundry, found a friendship with Cousin G, had several sets of visitors to stay on our fold out couch, went to a couple of Yankees games, museums, visited many many of the independent coffee shops opening up, went to lots of movies, spent a lot of time at Chelsea Market, dealt with a cockroach, experienced our first heat wave, saw 4th of July fireworks from an aircraft carrier on the Hudson River, kept up my Project 365 photo project, sat in parks and cried all the way back to New Zealand. But that solidified it, one day were were definitely coming back here to live.

2011 – November

By now we were living in San Francisco after we came over to help Xero set up their US operations. After an extremely busy month traveling for work to Austin, Las Vegas, San Jose and Kansas – we figured we deserved a weekend off and going as far as Kansas meant we were over half way across the country – plus it coincided with our wedding anniversary! Explored more coffee places, saw a bit of orange in the leaves and a bit of Christmas stuff.

2012 – March

A surprise birthday visit for me! Organized in secret by The Mister … awww <3

2012 – May

Accounting Conference season in full swing and with it being our first year in the States, Xero had to send whoever it could to as many conferences as possible – of course we put our hands up for the New York show even thought it’s a pretty tough crowd! We were stuck in the basement of the Pennsylvania Hotel most of the time but of course Chelsea Market called when the weekend came!

2013 – January

Time for a long overdue visit and we discovered what it’s like to be cold in New York – we tried to limit any time outside to scurrying between subway stations, cafes, public library, shops etc! We went home via Florida to visit Kara so it was from one extreme to the other! 18*F (-7) – 77*F (25)!

2013 – April

Once the year got into full swing and after a trip to New Zealand we made the decision to move to New York. THIS YEAR – somewhere in the June – August time-frame. All systems go and we were back in April to stake out the apartment market while on a work accounting conference trip.

2013 – July

AND NOW WE’RE HERE! Our dream has come true – now it feels like the time and wait has passed so quickly. The hard work has paid off. We’re so lucky to still be working for Xero and to start the next chapter of our work and personal lives here. We live close to Cousin G, we’re getting used to a new neighborhood, finding new cafes, commuting across town on a bus, getting used to the heat, buying furniture, hiring people to build an office, making new friends and settling in for the long haul. We’re here.