I’m writing while sitting in a freshly assembled Poang easy chair from Ikea (I could sleep in this thing it’s so comfortable) in my new apartment in New York City. This Friday will mark our one-month anniversary of living in the city, and although the feeling of moving here has been exhilarating, the actual physical experience has been a roller coaster of planning, moving, plans falling through, frustration, surprises (some really really good), and general confusion which has already taught me to adopt a more go-with-the-flow outlook.

One of my friends who has called NYC home for almost 10 years passed on a bit of wisdom to me while he helped me move in to my apartment a couple weeks ago: essentially, having a type A personality is a blessing and a curse while living in the city. On the one hand, persistence and an impulse to control your destiny is important in a city of 8 million people. But on the other hand, knowing when to bend and ease up on controlling every situation is essential. I’m learning to draw from these two wells of thought as we slowly piece together our apartment and transform it from a living space into a home. And if loosening the reigns doesn’t work, there’s always puppy videos.

Below is the movie we filmed while traveling across the country last month. I had a great time filming, editing, etc. so there might be more videos in the future. We’ll see!