14 Classic Signs I've Lived in New York for 2 Months

It's been a little while since I've posted, so let me update you on my recent life events BuzzFeed style! Here are 14 things that everyone who's me has experienced recently:

1. My portrait been drawn on the subway...twice.

Drawing 1: Last week, a seemingly homeless man asked for a piece of paper from my notebook. I gave it to him. He gave it back saying it was me. (I was wearing clothes at the time.) Drawing 2: This morning, the guy next to me whipped out his charcoals and pencils and just went for it. It was really exciting until he got to my jawline and included the slightest hint of a double chin. Ugh. Still gave him a dollar.

2. We hosted our first guest in our studio apartment! Specifically, we hosted our friend Laura who just moved to Baltimore with her boyfriend. (Laura also happens to be Eric's ex-girlfriend who is also an improvisor and also an occupational therapist...which means Eric has a type...and also means we get along great!)

Here we are doing a handstand!! And while Laura was here...

3. We went to a Harlem Jazz Club! Really, it was more of a jazz dive bar. And really it was more of an overpriced jazz dive bar. What they lacked in drink cheapness, they made up for in FREE BARBEQUE CHICKEN. Every omnivore's dream. Overall, it felt like being at a birthday party hosted in your grandma's garage with decorations that had been left up from the last party. And no one had time to clean up before you got there.

Classic ghost b-day party decor!

4. Eric sent me this text...

...these were mice that had deceased before we moved in. We won't be offended if you never visit us.

5. We won the lottery to see Book of Mormon and sat front row center! The show was hilarious and amazing and it felt like it was just for us.

I took this...FROM MY SEAT! 

6. We won a costume contest...and then we won Halloween.

We dressed up as Toni and Candace from Portlandia for Halloween and Fred Armisen regrammed my picture! Totally worth the extra 5 minutes I spent coming up with a caption.

We dressed up as Toni and Candace from Portlandia for Halloween and Fred Armisen regrammed my picture! Totally worth the extra 5 minutes I spent coming up with a caption.

7. I did stand up as Toni!

I might make this my forever outfit.

8. We've purchased our signature New York hats.

Probably they're both for me. 

9. I encountered Subway Sword Man.

Since when is it okay to bring a samurai sword on the subway with you? Look at him looking at it. Sure, it's sealed in plastic wrap...that you could bite off with your teeth!

10. I ran in the New York Marathon!

Just kidding...we got bagels! Yes, that's right...

11. We got our first proper New York bagel! It took us 2 months and a half hour waiting in line, but we finally found and consumed one of those really delicious bagels everyone talks about.

You know you're at a legit bagel place when their cream cheese looks like gelato.

12. I didn't get this thing I auditioned for so we had a pizza party and wrote a bunch of silly stories! Overall, New York is actually a pretty great place to get rejected. There's so much happening that it's hard for anything to stop your forward momentum. (I've also had non-rejection experiences, like booking standup shows and getting cast in a couple of student films!) But this pizza story-writing party was the best. I highly recommend it as a coping mechanism or just a fun thing to do. Here's one of the stories we wrote one word at a time:

Can you see the grease stains from the pizza?? Can you guess which color I was??

13. We had a fall party! Have you had a fall party yet? I highly recommend having one. A fall party is when you bake holiday treats and watch a Christmas movie way too early (usually sometime in October). The first fall party took place in October of 2011 with Emily Wright and myself in our USC apartment building. We watched The Holiday, drank hot chocolate, and ate pumpkin spice cookies. This year, we watched Nightmare Before Christmas, drank hot chocolate, and baked/ate a pumpkin pie.

Yum! Fall!

14. I lost an item on the subway forever! It was very exciting to experience this New Yorker right of passage. Specifically, I left my Baggu reusable bag containing an onion, a jar of crushed garlic, 4 eggs individually wrapped in plastic bags and placed inside a tupperware container, parmesan cheese raw bacon, spaghetti, dried basil, and a bottle of wine under my seat. Enjoy the pasta carbonara, stranger!!