30 Things: New York City

A list of things that make me happy in New York City, in no particular order and all unique to me.

1. The Endless skyline.  

2. Winter is 10x less cold and snowy than it is in Minnesota (where I'm from).

3. The small spaces. It requires you to be creative with your space and purge your stuff. Hoarders are not welcome here.
4. There are lots of places to by plants. Most of the time you can find plants for sale on the streets, and sometimes you'll discover plant shops like this one:

5. I can afford living here. I didn't think that was possible before.
6. I don't feel lonely in the city 99% of the time and I have made some great friends here.

7. Pictures of James Franco are all over subway stations. I melt every time. He's on Broadway too! 

8. Redeemer Presbyterian Church and the Table Church.

9. All the parks that have the word "square" in them. Madison Square, Bryant Square, Washington Square, and Union Square! 

10. The millions of coffee shops and bakeries. Not including Starbucks. That's a whole 'nother monopoly. It's the city that never sleeps.

11. People I love in Minnesota are only a facetime or phone call away.

12. Art comes in many forms. A pool of grass? A Belly crawl? You'll find it all. 

13. There are some amazing companies, specifically start-ups, that are located in NYC. Some of my favorites are Etsy, kickstarter, Warby Parker, Harry's, Dormify, and Pencils of Promise. There are so many more. 

14. I can get cheap fruit everywhere. Like on every street.

15. I live right by the east river. In fact, I live on an island! How magical.

16. The subway system. I can go wherever I want, whenever I want, and not have to worry about gas or parking. When I'm feeling productive I can even read or write on the subway.

17. All the fashion. And I'm not even that into fashion! New York is an incubator for fashion design.

18. All the art! I think every famous artist that has ever lived has a piece of work somewhere in New York. The MoMa alone will overwhelm any art buff.

19. The fire escapes on apartments. I think they are the coolest thing. They're always the first thing I notice about NYC buildings and apartments. 

20. Elf was filmed here, and that's one of the best movies. 

21. People want to visit me... Even though I know their real motive is visiting the city ;)

22. Holiday festivities. There's currently a Big Egg hunt going on all over New York City and the eggs are beautiful! Let's not forget what goes down on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years!

23. The amount of NYC tourist buses I see go by. It reinforces that I live somewhere special.

24. The majority of really good slices of pizza cost .99 cents per slice. 

25. I've said this before, but the ONLY Target in Manhattan is two blocks away from me. Life is complete. It also makes NY feel a little more like my home in Minnesota.  

26. The smell of the Nuts 4 Nuts carts. I don't even like nuts that much, but the aroma of these carts get me every time.

27. Parks like this one exist. Those are two of my 6th grade students at Washington Park. Aren't they adorable?

28. A bunch of movies and shows are filmed here. It's pretty normal to find streets and parks closed down because of filming. 

29. All the bridges. Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Williamsburg bridge. They are all beautiful. 

30. The culture and diversity here is like none other. You'll meet every type of person on this planet in this one city.

That was fun to write. Stay tuned for my next post which will be 30 things I hate about New York City.

Just kidding! What's there to hate about it?! 

And I certainly wasn't kidding about James Franco.