The Old New Apartment

So I've had these pictures up on my desktop for a while now, but keep running out of time to post about my new apartment - and the apartment doesn't really seem "new" anymore. I've been here for almost a month now… and like it a lot. I keep telling people that it's probably the nicest place I'll EVER live, which probably just says more about the kind of lifestyle I expect to have as a starving musician. But maybe if I visualize hard enough I can live like this forever. ;)

Anyway - the place, as I said, is nice (at least for me). It's down on Wall Street, a couple blocks from the NY Stock Exchange, so I see a lot of suits and get to be part of a lot of reverse commutes, which is nice. There's a 24-hour doorman who knows all our faces and names, and there's got to be a lot of us since there are 15 or so rooms on each of 30+ floors. They have all these valet services that I'll likely never use, and there's a pretty new gym that I hope to use more than I'm sure I will. Anyway - here are a couple other perks…

The lounge, complete with couches, wireless internet, pool tables, card tables, private study rooms, board games, and a grand piano.

The roof-deck… would have a nicer view if ALL the buildings out here weren't so tall…

And the movie theater where they show movies every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday…

Anyway - so that's where I live. Other than that, school is going well… I'm only taking two classes, one on Digital Audio Processing and another on Music in Film. They are technically and theoretically over my head, respectively, but I'm enjoying the challenge, and meeting a lot of really interesting people, many of whom are older and already have a lot of the kinds of work experiences I would be stoked to have.

Aaaaaand, I'm still working at Grand Central, though we're hoping to be done-done by the end of October. I still think it's a good gig, but I've had just about enough of my windowless dungeon to last me for this life.

Good girl!

Adrianne is with Ellie one day and asks, "Is Ellie a good girl?" Ellie responds, "No. Zach… good girl."

Haha.

Okay - here are some pics…

The family!

Proud Uncle

Mommy and her girls…

Cara!

Ellie monkeys around!

Tummy Time!

Adrianne and Steve make such beautiful babies!

I'm up in Everett again for about two weeks trying to spend as much time with my nieces as possible since I'm not sure when the next chance I'll get to spend this kind of extended time with them will be.

Cara is so much bigger than she was the last time I saw her, and that seems like just yesterday! She's spending a lot of "tummy time," where we put her on her front so that she can work out her muscles in her neck (holding up her head) and strengthen up her arms for crawling. She's super alert and really likes to look around the room. Sometimes I think she could do that forever. I remember that the last time I was here, I remarked that Cara helped me understand where the phrase "sleeps like a baby" came from. That has completely changed - or else, maybe Cara's just not a baby anymore…

Ellie is also cute as can be and is talking more and more. She seemed to remember me and all the things we did together last time I was here (and seemingly enjoyed the games we played enough to want to do them again), which was really nice. I think that this is the first time that I haven't felt like we were getting to know each other all over again.

Anyway, there will be more pics to come, no doubt, but here are some to whet the appetite:

Tummy time!

Ellie shows off all the art projects she did with Mommy! Adrianne, you and Ellie are so creative!!!