New York is a transient place.
Shops and restaurants that were there on the street corner you can wake
up and the next day they are gone. A
police incident can occur one minute and then in a blink of an eye the street is
hustling and bustling again like nothing ever happened. Things come and go and the landscape can
change quickly. For New York life this ever changing world also includes one
other thing : roommates.
I hadn’t had a great success with roommates in my first year in renting
on the Upper East Side. Now I know when
I say Upper East Side visions of Carrie’s massive cute Upper East Side
apartment come to mind .. rent control or not that apartment is not
real!!! I did live on the Upper East
Side but as far away from 5th Avenue as possible. You could be surprised to learn that as glamorous
as the movies and TV shows have you believe this part of Manhattan is there are
some really family, low key and low priced places to be found.
After my latest Aussie roommate did what so many of us do – find the
one place you love most in NY and find a way to be there (in this case he fell
in love with Brooklyn) it was time to consult back with the bible of Manhattan
: Craigslist. Back in 2006 Craigslist
was a trusted, well known Internet classified’s site where you could find
anything from true love, preloved furniture and a new roommate to love. Within hours of posting for a roommate on
Craigslist the hardest part was culling through the 100’s of emails you
received in response.
Generally I tried to find other Aussies to help out. New York can be brutal when it comes to
finding someone normal and safe to live with and I figured I had at least one
of those to offer! This time around I
had an email from an Aussie girl who had just moved to New York. We arranged for her to come over to view the
apartment and have a chat and four hours later we realised we hadn’t stopped
talking! Her name was Anne and her ambition
was to live in New York forever. Originally
from Western Australia she had come for a two week holiday to New York, fallen
in love with the city and by the end of that holiday had, as only Anne could,
already scored herself a job.
Anne was extremely ambitious, smart and driven. She moved into the apartment and we shared a mutual
love of cooking for each other (coming from a Vietnamese background her cooking
was amazing), heading to the local karaoke bar and a cocktail … or two. Her Dad came to stay with us and I have never
met such a happy man. He was originally
from Vietnam and you could see how proud he was of his daughter. After a year she decided to move in with her
best American girlfriend. We were
actually both really sad to be leaving each other but I consoled myself with
Craigslist and sorting through again the many many replies.
Anne and I would meet up for brunches and swap the latest gossip every
few weeks. After she returned from
Australia one year though something had changed : New York had big competition for
her heart. She had met up with an old
high school friend from Facebook and they realised how much they liked each
other. A few months after she returned
Toby came to visit her in New York. I immediately
saw a lovely guy and pretty much told her that she could move on from New York
but he was a keeper. They ended up
travelling around the world and she moved back with him to Western
Australia. Talk about a fairy-tale
romance!!
I was happy for her. There are
so many times that you can think you are in the right place until someone comes
to steal your heart away and you find your true destiny in the one place you
never expected it : right there where you started. Last year Anne and Toby got married in
Perth. She invited me to the wedding and
it had been a year or two since we had last seen each other.
This was my very first visit to Perth, even though my mum had grown up
there and spent much of her early adult years there. It was so nice to set the backdrop to so many
of my families stories. The wedding was beautiful
and as Anne didn’t have a big bridal party I was able to make myself useful and
help with all the wedding preparations.
I even got to make her bridal bouquet and discover a talent I never knew
I had!! It was such a lovely visit to
Peth to see Anne’s dad again and meet the rest of her family and friends. When you get to know someone overseas you
only really get to know one facet of their life, I was now able to fit the
jigsaw pieces together to form one whole Anne.
The last day I was in Perth and Anne and Toby had headed off on their
honeymoon and I was left to my own devices.
So I decided what better way to finish up my time there than checking
out the shopping in Perth! It was
amazing. I must have been there at the
right time because there were so many specials!
The dress I am wearing today is a dress I bought in Perth.
If anything Anne has really taught me to believe in helpless, romantic,
unbelievable fairy tale love… after all she found it twice, once with a city
and then with her now husband. Because
you always hear about stories like hers, but now I have actually seen it happen
in real life I know they can come true.
Yours in dresses
Skye
Day 22: Follow Your Heart
Bought: 1 Year Ago ago
Price Range: 29.95
From: Perth, Western Australia
What I like about it: I really like the blend of colours and fun print
Tag Info: Made in China, Paper Scissors, 92% Rayon, 8% Spandex
Photo Credit: KMcKinnon
