the good, bad, and ugly of NY

update: thanks Staci for pointing out that i put maple syrup in the wrong list. it is definitely part of the GOOD! i was just checking to see if anyone was paying attention =) ps no offense to anyone who reads this blog and wears camouflage. It just seems a bit out of control here. =)

The Good:

1. Living simply. Our apartment has one love seat, one rocking chair, one Formica-top table and 4 vintage vinyl chairs. And one bed. It's nice not having a lot of stuff around.
2. Elvis' work is about 8 minutes away, meaning he gets to come home for lunch everyday. This is such a treasure to eat lunch and dinner together, especially after him working 2nd shift this past year.
3. There is actually an Old Navy in town. And Big Lots. We're set.
4. It snowed 2 days ago but none stuck. Meaning we got to see if but didnt have to deal with the nasty consequences.
5. Suzy sleeps in a closet (we made sure the door will never close...don't worry!) which means she has no windows, and thus sleeps in much later.
6. Niagara Falls is just 1.5 hours away. We hope to go after Christmas.
7. The library has an awesome kids section, complete with sofas for the kids, dress-up area, puzzles, toy kitchen/grill, crafts, etc etc etc. We went to a Christmas party at the library last night and it was actually really nice.
8. Our 3 ft tall tree. We made almost all the ornaments for it and Suzy loves it b/c she can reach every branch.
9. St. Bonaventure University is just down the road. Thomas Merton used to teach there, which is pretty cool. Apparently they have a history of good basketball as well.
10. Fresh maple syrup. Made right here. We are going to the place they make it on Saturday, which is great b/c Suzy only wants to eat pancakes every single day.

The Bad:

the chair. so bad it's almost awesome. 

1. It's typically too cold to walk outside, which is our favorite exercise. But we have started salsa dancing at night in the living room after Suzy goes to bed.
2. The pizza. We love pizza and ironically enough, we are really missing our California NY-style pizza place, "Mama's". Isn't this NY???
3.  Our '70s style apartment. The powder blue tiled bathroom with the swirly pastel wallpaper is pretty rough. But the gold velvet upholstered rocking chair is so bad it's almost good again.
4. No kids around. Where are all the kids in NY???
5. We really miss pupusas, fish tacos....really just authentic tacos in general. Not much diversity around here.
6. There are no sidewalks in town which makes walking really hard.
7. There is no Wells Fargo anywhere within 100 miles, nor is there Kaiser Permanente, our health insurance. Both of those have given us major headaches.
8. We are really missing our community, as we always have lots of interaction on a daily basis. No interaction here.


The Ugly:

1. We have YET to see another Hispanic in town. Not a single one. This is extremely sad for us and pretty unbelievable actually. Not much other diversity either. Haven't heard any other languages spoken, which is a huge change from LA.
2. The camouflage. On men, women, babies, trucks, etc.


Luckily, the list of good is longer than the ugly.