As I started writing this post, breaking news on the television told me that a helicopter (or some smallish flying object) just crashed into a very tall apartment building on the Upper East Side. Well, I thought, I'm going up on the roof to see if I can see anything. So onto the roof I climbed via the old, rusty fire escape. And sure enough, to the northeast across the river, the tallest building in that part of the skyline had huge plumes of black smoke pouring out of it into the cloudy sky. And seeing that was enough for me. Down I climbed, and crawled back in through the kitchen window and picked up my ringing phone. It was Brooke, calling to make sure I wasn't on the Upper East Side. Awww. I love my friends.

What I had originally intended to tell all y'all is that we just put down a deposit on a wonderful apartment 4 blocks from here. A fully refurbished, brand new floors-walls-cabinets-and-bathroom 2 1/2 bedroom apartment on a quiet street with great parking. AND they told us we could move in early. AND they like Jack, who had an "interview" of sorts. AND it's only a two family flat. (See, the fewer families that live in your building, the fewer bad cooking smells that infiltrate your private domain.) I am so very happy to have a space of our own. (Let's just hope that one more move doesn't snap Jack's fragile little doggie brain.) Now all we have to do is have our stuff shipped up here from Virginia (where it's been in storage) and I get to actually LIVE in New York instead of just... I don't know... float.

In other news, I love my job. It's a wonderful shop on a bustling corner and I work with delightfully friendly and creative girls who remind me lots of my Papery girls in Arlington. I'll actually be working more once the holidays near, and because I'm completely insane I actually LIKE working amongst all the Holiday Craziness. Good times. My printmaking classes are sort of tedious, but it's good because the guy who teaches is demanding really high quality stuff from us. Challenging, but I am learning from the best.

Today we took Nicole's little pug-dog, Emmy, to the vet for surgery. She has not been well, because she likes to eat things like carpet and cloth and paperclips. It had been discovered that she had a large foreign something or somethings in her belly that was making her a very, very sick and sad girl. So today she had the lump removed, and she needs your good thoughts to heel quickly. And also not to east anymore carpet or paperclips.

Fall is arriving in New York City. The leaves are changing and you can feel November hinting in the evenings. I love it. I love it a lot. And, if I'm not mistaken, it has just now started raining.

And by the time I finished writing this blog, four more people have called to make sure I'm okay. Yay.