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 :)