Apartment leasing!

So you are an young hip adult and you just leased your first apartment! ME TOO GIRL

Are you excited?

Do you feel sick?

Do you hate your roommates? 

ME TOO GIRL

No just kidding I'm rooming with some of my best gal pals. 

Want to see my apartment? Okay cool! Here it is!

Here's my bathroom:

My dining room:

And my living room:

Expect not. 

I live in Manhattan.

As a student. 

So introducing this weeks blog post title: 

Realty checking and lowering your standards: Manhattan living 

When I first started looking for apartments I was like woah. Things cost money.

Most real estate in New York City is around $4,000 a month at cheapest. So my plan of paying $500 and living with two people, slowly died in front of me. 

My friends and I decided to start talking to brokers and see if we could use them to get to an apartment. When she got us one at 100 John Street, we were all super pumped! 

But then she sent us her fee of around 6,000 dollars just for helping us get the apartment! 

DO NOT DO THIS

Just go into a leasing office and ask if they have any available apartments, no fee no hassle. 

My roommates and I found a very cute apartment on Greenwich Street in lower Manhattan and we love it. I pay 740 a month to share a master bedroom and IT IS AWESOME. 

Heres my roof view from the back. It is a little difficult to see but you can make out the Brooklyn Bridge! The other side shows the Freedom Tower!

Here's my classy front door.

My living room!

And finally my bedroom!

I love my new apartment, it's no 90 million dollar view but it's perfect for us! 

So be realistic, lower your standards AND GO LEASE AN APARTMENT 

It's Mother's Day!

So this one is for my momma. I thought this post would be smart for two reasons, one because it is mother's day duhh and two because in your twenties your mom starts to become your very best friend. You start to call her when anything happens to you, instead of gabbing to your bff who probably never cared in the first place. But then you start to think, was my mom my best friend all through life, and I never really noticed? Yes, yes she was. All this time, she had been planning a friendship that would last through the ages. 

So because my mom rules, I'm going to list all the things she has taught me over the years, that have showed me how to be a good person and to live a happy life. 

1. The first thing my mom ever taught me was love. How to show love, how to love others and how to love yourself. I was lucky enough to go through my whole life, knowing how loved I was by my mom and that it was unconditional, nothing I did (or broke) could ever make her love me less. 

2. My mom taught me how to enjoy life, by laughing and loving every second of it. Even though there will be bad days, we called them Sunday night blues, it can all feel better after some laughing and loving. 

3. My mom taught me how to love God and love others. She never used God as a bad guy who would get angry with me after I had messed up, but rather a father figure who loves me unconditionally just like my mom does. I never fully understood God's love until it was explained to me like this, the love I feel for my mom is in a way the way I should love God. And then loving others, my mom always taught me to be kind to other kids and show them God's love. 

4. My mom taught me how to take adventures in life, to be brave and courageous. She reminded me that God (and her) would always be with me, and I should never be afraid of taking chances. She had me try out for auditions, sing in front of my church, befriend the girl who was alone at lunch; do things that I didn't know the outcome of but try them anyway. If it wasn't for her encouragement, I would have always been timid, regretting the chances I didn't take. 

5. Lastly, my mom told me everyday how special I was and how important I was to the world. I really needed this growing up, and I even need this in my life now. No one makes me feel the way my mom does, and without her I wouldn't feel the way I do about myself. The confidence I have in life is through the love and support I feel from my mom. 

Thank you momma for giving me my first best friend, Laura. 

Thank you for raising Jenna, Laura and I to be strong women who love God and love others. 

And thank you for raising more than just your four kids, Zach, Jenna, Laura and I, but all of our friends and other children who you felt deserved more love than they were given.

I love you momma, unconditionally, just like you taught me. 

When you're in your twenties, life basically tells you that you have to figure out your end goal. No more undecided crap, you have to pick something and then work to that goal in order to have a successful life. 

But the more I think about it, I'm like no. I decide my future. And when I'm 70 years old and in my coffin, I still want to be asking myself what do I want to be when I grow up. Because even though it is like really hard to switch careers and people will say it's impossible, YOU SAY TO THEM, NO, YOU ARE IMPOSSIBLE. 

I have a lot of careers I am interested in, and have been for a while. Right now I am at a school studying Media, Culture and the Arts with a minor in Business. Do I seem like the kind of person to do business with? No. I would not trust the person who thinks that I can be in a professional setting. 

I know who I am, I feel like I can accurately define myself. I'm like a California 4, a New York 5 and an Antartica 10 because there I'm your only option.  Career wise I would probably be best suited as a quirky kindergarten teacher who later gets fired because she ate all the kid's paste. 

But whatever, I still have my whole life to experiment with different jobs. 

So to encourage you to not give up on your goals, here is a list of all my current and past dream jobs. I'll let you know why, how far I got with it and how to achieve the goal in the years to come. 

A Prima Ballerina 

I started dancing at California Academy of Performing Arts, when I was just 3 years old. I freakin loved it. I loved to dance, I loved my teachers and I especially loved my friends. I wanted to be a Prima Ballerina when I graduated and come back to CAPA and be like "hey guys it's amy, remember me I'm a star now and I'm just visiting my humble beginnings location". Then when I was about fifteen years old, I got tendonitis in my achilles. It sucked. I still danced but I had to quit ballet and that was really hard. But don't worry I wasn't even good so it's no loss to the ballet community, only my sad heart. 

How far did I get?: 15. I already said that. 

What can I do to achieve this goal, you ask?: Um get new legs? I don't know SHUT UP. 

A Gymnast Like Shawn Johnson Because I Love Her

In 2008, Shawn Johnson was the Olympic balance beam gold medalist and all-around floor exercise silver medalist. I love the Olympics, I love the women's gymnastics portion and I LOVE SHAWN. My mom and I religiously watched that year and it really made me want to become an Olympic gymnast. After the Olympics, I started practicing Shawn's routines(without the flips or anything hard) (basically hand gestures), and watched any news coverage starring Shawn. At one point she said she had a stalker that was planning on kidnapping her and I was like is she talking about me? Did I take this too far? Turned out it was like a crazy stalker 40 year old man from Texas. I was relieved it wasn't me, and then I was like wow this guy is crazy, the things some people would do to be friends with Shawn am I right?

Anyways

How far did I get?: I once went to a birthday party for my older sister Jenna at a trapeze place. Yes you read that right. And if you want to humiliate her for it message me and I'll give you her home address and we can meet up and egg her house. Anyways that is probably how far I have gotten, wait is trapeze even related to gymnastics?

What can I do to achieve this goal: Probably try and go back in time and start at a young age because I read you can't really start is up so late in life. So my answer is time machine. 

Being Marilyn Monroe 

My mom and I love Marilyn and have seen all movies/movies about her life. Even at a young age I saw her as an idol.

How far did I get?: This photo. 

What can I do to achieve this goal: Nothing she is perfect and I will never be her. NO ONE REPLACES MARILYN. 

Being A Disney Princess 

Who didn't want to be a Disney Princess when they were younger? I did, and I even showed my dream proudly at the school Halloween parade. To be honest I think this dream in particular is the saddest. Because looking at that chubby face makes me feel sorry for my mom, who clearly knew my aspirations in life. Actually no, my mom not only thinks I can be anything, she thinks I should be anything I want. If that was my kid I would be taking that photo thinking "maybe she'll turn out really sassy and get her own reality show or something. Probably not though", but to my mom she was probably thinking "oh my gosh every mom here must be so jealous of me, she is the spiting image of Ariel, I should call an agent for her". 

How far did I get?: NOT FAR OK

What can I do to achieve this goal: SHUT UP

Being Jane from Tarzan and living in the wild 

This one is really serious for me. Jane is my ultimate girl crush, I have seen Tarzan about a million times. I watch it monthly just to stay up to date with the memorization of the lines, and to remind myself to move to the Amazon and study monkeys. But I also hate walking everywhere, I'm really allergic to poison oak and mangoes and other tropical plants, and I am afraid of untamed monkeys. 

How far did I get?:  Today I went outside. 

What can I do to achieve this goal: Move to the jungle, be British, go by Jane Porter and marry an ape man. 

Actually you guys, give up on your goals. Get a steady job with security and then cry yourself to sleep every night, wishing you were someone else. My friend does that and she is totally sane, her name's Amy. Different Amy than me. Ok end of post. 

AMY'S TIME'S TOP 10 © ™

Hello ladies and lovers, after reading the BALONEY that was the Time's top 100 people, I decided to make my own list of influential women in my life that rock. And because you do not care about my list or any of these people, I will shorten it to 10 and I'll let you know why they are people to look up to.



Note: These women are all (even though they don't look it ;) ) older than 20, and all have qualities I want to have as I get older.



1. Kimberly Reeve
Reason: Because she is my teacher for this marketing blog and she decides my grade if we are being completely honest.
Tip to learn from her: She is like super successful and really smart so the tip is be educated and maybe you can be like her but probably not because she is always really fashionable and just has her life together so it is kinda unattainable. #canihaveextracredit #andyourlife

2. Sherry Diestler
Reason: Because I was 9 pounds in her belly and it only got worse for her once I came out. #loselose
Tip to learn from her: She loves her kids more than anything, and all of her kids (minus Zach and Laura and Jenna) turned out really good. Being a good mom is one of the hardest jobs in the world, and she nails it.

3. Jenna Rentz
Reason: She raised me, which was so easy for her but then she also had to help raise Laura. #winlose
Tip to learn from her: She is a bomb cook, and only uses ingredients good for your body. I guess to put in her words "I want my family to live a healthy life?". I don't know, that doesn't sound right.

4. Laura Park

Reason: Because she was born to be a leader. Her initials are "LEAD", which kinda makes me wonder if my mom planned for me to turn out this way. "ARJD"? Was I a born confused person? C'mon Mom, a little effort.
Tip to learn from her: Laura always stands up for the little guy, no matter if it's a girl being bullied at school or herself being cut in line at Water World. Laura handles injustice with grace and tattle tailing. (jk) (but she did actually try and get those girls kicked out)

5. Nikki Diestler

Reason: Because she is the Bo$$ at her job basically, and works with college kids who can be the worst.
Tip to learn from her: You don't have to choose between a job you love and your family, you can have it all! And Nikki does! #winwin

6. Katherine Chang

Reason: Because even though she is not in my blood family, and my giant head didn't come out of her body, she also helped raise me.
Tip to learn from her: Katherine is a living example of someone who puts other people's needs ahead of her own. A great example is how she is always going on missions trips to better other people's lives, and a less extreme example is letting me sleep on a tiny couch with her even though I sleep fight and steal blankets.

7. Kay Rentz

Reason: BECAUSE IT'S KAY YOU GUYS C'MON
Tip to learn from her: HER LIFE. HER LOVE. HER FAMILY. HER CLOTHES.
(*note, Kay is my sister's mother in law, who in no way is related to me but could be if she just responded to one of my emails asking her to adopt me) #icanmoveintomorrow #iwillnotbepayingrent

8. Lori Delasin

Reason: Because she is a mom of six kids, looks great, has a social life, has a job, has a husband, and has six kids!!
Tip to learn from her: Apparently you can have six kids and still kill it in life. #win(x6)

9. Suzanne Barton

Reason: She is the sweetest woman you'll ever meet, and cares so much for the people she loves.
Tip to learn from her: A positive attitude in life will guarantee you happiness and lots of love.

10. Joanne Diestler

Reason: Because she is hilarious, beautiful and is a cat/dog whisperer.
Tip to learn from her: Dye your hair red, and shop at thrift stores for the latest fashion trends. But you probably will never look as cool as she does anyways so that sucks for you. And me.




This has been   AMY'S TIME'S TOP 10 © ™    tune in next week where Amy will publicly rank her friends and family on a scale from 1-10 calling it
AMY LOSES ALL HER FRIENDS AND FAMILY IN ONE NIGHT  © ™ 

Juuuust kidding, you are all 10's in my eyes :)

"Families are okay" -Eleanor Roosevelt probably 

I'll start with saying I personally love my family a lot. I'm the youngest of my two sisters and two brothers. This kinda gives me a good perspective of how to deal with family in your twenties. Because when you get older, family changes a whole lot. My family grew twice the size, and now I have a million other siblings in my life. 

Out of the above people you see, I only grew up with two of them. Below are the idiots I grew up with, (minus my oldest brother Matt).

The gawky santa in the back is my brother Zach, the girl with glasses big enough to be seen in space is Jenna, the girl with most likely my Barbie doll is Laura and I'm the unbathed rude little girl in front. Together we were chaos. 

Now having my siblings grow up faster than me was an interesting transition into my adult life. I saw what high school might be like, then college and then post college life. Each of them a little different, I saw multiple paths to my future and how to get there on my own. But at the time I hated it. I hated when they left home, I hated when they moved out, and I hated the idea of having to share them with their own families. Now I was young when having these feelings and I didn't know I would actually love my in-laws more then my blood siblings; I wish I could have understood what was going on. 

Well here it is, they were growing up. They were moving on in life. Things change. 

And it's a good thing!

Now below I am going to list a couple things I wish I would have known about a family growing up. Because readers, you are adults now! Your family is going to change, if it has not already.  

WEDDINGS

Stress stress stress. No matter what they say, it's stressful. Even at my brothers wedding, at age 8, I was so stressed out about not getting red lipstick on my dress I barely enjoyed the getting ready. I also did end up getting lipstick all over the front of the dress, and had to borrow tide from the mother of the bride.

Tips on a stress free wedding day

1. It's not about you, it's about your sibling. Do what you can to make their day easier and maybe don't put red lipstick on your white flower girl dress.

2. Go over your speech ahead of time. No matter what you think of yourself, you are not a stand up comedian or inspirational speaker. Type out a speech and stick to that.

3. Make sure the guests are having a good time and your sibling is having a good time. Make sure they eat and don't have to fix any messes that occur.

Here are three pictures from three of my siblings weddings! 

IN-LAWS

It's really not someone who takes your sibling away from you, it's getting a new sibling that will treat you better then the sibling you already have. In-laws are awesome.

Tips:

1. Include them in family events. Let them be apart of your sibling dinners and outings, they want to be included!

2. Get to know their family, try to take interests in what they like. My brother Stu is the biggest Auburn fan in the world and now I love Auburn too! And it makes our relationship better.

3. Hang out with them without your sibling. You want to be able to get to know them for them, not just what your sibling says about them. Plus you can dish about what makes your sibling the worst.

Here are the before and after pictures of my family.

Because of Zach, I have Nikki.

Because of Jenna, I have Stu. 

And because of Laura, I have Travis. 

And Lastly, 

NIECES/NEPHEWS

There's nothing better then having a niece or nephew. These children are like your own, except you don't have to worry about them growing up to resent you. They love their aunts and uncles and will automatically think you're cool because you're not their parents. 

Tips:

1. Don't tell your siblings what you let the children do. If they had some candy or broke their arm on your watch, its not really necessary for them to know. 

2. Don't try and parent them, be the cool adult that they will listen to and want to hang out with.

3. Be there for them at special events in their life. Go to the recitals and games, be present because they're going to remember who was there for them while they were growing up. 

Here are two of my nephews. They're awesome and way better then their parents. 

Semaje!

Isaiah! 

Last tip: Love your changing and growing family. Life is beautiful. 

DIFFICULT WOMEN: MAY WE TRY NOT TO BE THEM OR GIVE BIRTH TO THEM

When I hit 20, I realized that not all women want the best for you. In fact, many women you encounter in life, want the worst for you. I had known this when I was younger, but I always thought that once I was an adult, people were more mature and nicer. In fact in elementary school I thought this about middle school, then about high school and then about college. Truth is, people just get worse, especially because they are older and smarter.  What was once a "you're a fart face, go eat lunch with the nerds ", turns into "you simply cannot sit here due to your stench and low income, please take your lunch break in your car alone". 

A common misconception about these females, is that they go away at a certain age, or that they become less rude. While every case is different, I have dealt with difficult women throughout my small lifetime. Every case was different, but they became more hurtful over time. I am going to go through five different scenarios with these women, using personal experiences while I was growing up. 

5 YEARS OLD: 

 

Note: My sister Laura is an angel, probably one of the sweetest people you'll ever meet. She is caring, thoughtful, loving and kind. Without her, my life would not be complete. However, this story is about her alter ego, younger Laura, my arch nemesis. 

I am the youngest of five siblings and the closest in age to me is my sister Laura. Growing up, we shared everything and nothing. What I mean by that is I shared most things and she "shared" some. An example of this confusing sharing process that I am not sure she understood, was when we shared a room. The room had a door, a bed, a closet and a large window. Laura decided that to "share" the room, she would tie a string across half of it and split it up. The half she got had the door, the bed, and the closet, while I had the window and some carpet. This is sharing with Laura. When we did performances for my mom and dog, we "shared" the stage. When we got Christmas presents, we "shared" them. While she loved me more than probably anyone in the world, she was still very difficult in a living environment. Laura was probably the first female in my life, that I had a difficult time getting along with. 

10 YEARS OLD:

In fifth grade, I sucked at math. I had to stay after school and go over my tests with the TA in my class because I was that bad. Almost every problem was a challenge to me and caused long sessions with my teacher and TA learning what my other classmates seemed to understand. One day after school a girl in my class asked why I always had to stay late with the TA. I explained I was having trouble with the math tests and needed to go over the material. To that she laughed, told me how well she was doing in math, and that the kid behind me doesn't even have to see the TA. And just to clarify, the kid behind me ate his boogers and glued stuff to his face, the kid wasn't entirely going places. While the comments seem stupid now, at the time I remember being really hurt. 

15 YEARS OLD:

When I was fifteen, I had become really close with one of my teachers. She was tough, but I really respected her and wanted to make her proud with my work. While at one point she really liked me, as I grew older she became less of a fan. Her comments were always very honest, but one really stuck with me at that age. She said, "Amy you are like a plateau, you never get any worse or any better". 

20 YEARS OLD:

I've really only been twenty for a couple of months now, but nevertheless I have still dealt with difficult women. Only a little bit ago I had a woman of significance in my life tell me that I am not a role model or leader in life. This woman had not known me more than maybe a couple months, but still felt the need to remind me of my leadership capabilities. 

Minus my silly sister and the snotty little girl from fifth grade, these women had a significant impact on my life. Neither of the women knew me all that well, but still felt the need for pointless hurtful comments. Women sometimes tear each other down, because of the insecurities they have in their own lives. The comments really never go away completely, as you can see they can follow you around your whole life. But I would encourage you to not let them get to you. Everyone gets hurt sometimes, and everyone has hurt someone else. In fact after my teacher told me that, I punched her in the face. Just kidding, but I thought about it! 

Difficult women are all of us. We all can be difficult in someone else's eyes. Be more aware of your actions, be kinder, and when hurt from a woman try to brush it off and love them anyway. 

You know  what sucks? Yes that’s right thank you, dating in your twenties. All kinds of different old hags tell you exactly how and how not to date while you sit biting your nails and ripping out your hair. THIS ENDS NOW. 

Ladies of the internet, stop googling how to date and who to date and get out there and find out for yourself! No article is going to tell you exactly who is right for you, and when they do they could be wrong! 

I’m gonna go through every advice I’ve been given and prove that no one way is the right way. You can do whatever you want in finding what you want out of your relationships!

1. DATE AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE

This is a great way to really know what you want in a partner. After dating so many people, you are bound to figure out what exactly you expect from someone while dating and who works best with you! Whoever you are, you are awesome. And you deserve better than the first person you ever date. Plus you can spend this time casually dating people while traveling or working on your career. Because you, can do it all.

2.   DATE ONLY IF YOU SEE A FUTURE WITH THE PERSON

This way is also great if you really want to get married or stay together for a very long time. Going into each relationship with the expectation that it will be a long lasting relationship, is a really mature way to go about the dating life. If your end goal is to be married or whatever, then you are literally dating people in the hopes of that outcome! Good for you for knowing what you want in life. #ringbeforespring #ringbeforefinals #ringbefore40 #ringbeforeidie #optimism

3.   DATE SOMEONE WHO IS DIFFERENT THAN YOU ARE 

In most peoples lives, people associate with people they share common beliefs and ideals with. In this type of dating you are forced to understand different peoples opinions and love and respect them for it. You become a more mature, and well rounded individual. Good for you, you’re brave and openminded.

4.    DATE YOUR SOULMATE, AND THEN MARRY THE CRAP OUT OF THEM 

If you start dating someone you know you’ll spend your life with and want to marry them, then do it! If you know that will make you happiest and you will love them forever then what is holding you back? You are a lucky one, I wish you all the happiness in the world and an invite to your wedding and reception and  family gathering and I’ll be staying in your house the week of the wedding.

5.     DATE NO ONE

You don’t need no one holding you back. People can be the worst, especially in relationships. But you, you are free! You can work on your career, move to a different country, spend time with friends, family; really do whatever you want. Don’t let people tell you that you need to date in order to be happy. You define your own happiness!

In all these, it is important that they are not mutually exclusive. You can always travel or move to a different country while being married or in a relationship with someone. You can also be extremely fulfilled in your life without a romantic partner. Every person is different, and every dating experience is different! Date who you want and forget the rest. 

Also just a small note on dating:

Today I saw a lady on the subway looking on her phone. My cell phone was dead and at home (100% charged and in my hand), so I was completely forced to see what she was doing on her phone. She was going through each of her photos of her and her husband, zooming in on not her face like most of us do, but her husbands. After every zoomed in picture she would smile to herself and go on to the next picture. When looking for a partner in life, I hope you all find a person you want to zoom in on just their face. I hope they make you grateful and remind you how precious love is in life, just like the woman on the subway.