• • • La Vie Est Belle • • •: Settling into Life in New York City

A little over a month ago, I made a big change in my life and moved to New York City. I was a little nervous about moving to the biggest city in the country after spending the summer in my tiny New England town, but I was beyond excited about starting the next chapter of my life! I had started to feel a little depressed over the summer while I was home, but after accepting a job in New York, my mood completely changed and I finally felt happy again!

I am currently working at one of my dream companies—L'Oréal! When I applied to some internships and jobs at the company, I definitely didn't expect to be offered the positions, since it is the world's biggest company in the beauty industry and I knew it was super competitive. But when I heard back from them offering me a Customer Marketing position within the Maybelline-Garnier-Essie brand, I was so happy! I have been there a little over a month now, and I can confirm that it was the perfect choice for me, and I really love it. It is a lot of hard work and stressful at times, but it is such a fun industry to be in and everyone that I work with is so friendly and super helpful with me as I'm still learning everything. I am in a 12-month position for now, but I'm really hoping that when the 12 months is up next October, they are able to find a permanent spot for me somewhere in the company!

Before coming to New York, I was having trouble figuring out where to live. As I'm sure you know, New York is so expensive, so my options were kind of limited. I did meet a few people through different Facebook groups who were looking for roommates to sign a lease with, but after thinking about it, I was a little afraid to sign a year-long lease with girls I never met for an apartment that I probably wouldn't see until moving in. So instead, I found a short-term option in Brooklyn where I am paying month-to-month. I'm living with another girl who is nice and the apartment is pretty good, but I am starting to look for other apartments as well! My commute to work now is about an hour each way, so I really want to be somewhere more central. I'm also really hoping to be in an area where there is a lot going on, because the part of Brooklyn I am in isn't super nice and there aren't really any good restaurants or shops nearby. After being in the city and knowing the neighbourhoods a little better, I think I am going to focus my search in the Financial District, the part of the Upper West Side/Harlem near Columbia University, Long Island City, Astoria, and Downtown Brooklyn.

I've had a lot of fun since being here too! I have a friend from Elon who lives one subway stop away from me, so I have been seeing her a lot. I have also met some great people through work as well! After being in my boring town all summer, being in New York is a complete 180 and there are always so many things to do here! I have done lots of exploring, shopping, going out to bars, and I've been to so many great restaurants!

I will definitely be posting lots more about my time in New York really soon! My mom recently visited for a weekend, so I am going to dedicate an entire post to that. It's also starting to get so Christmasy and festive here in the city, so I have been absolutely loving that, and will be getting as many pictures of the decorations as possible. Thanks so much for reading! If you have any New York recommendations for shops, restaurants, attractions, etc that I should check out, I would really appreciate if you could let me know in a comment! :)

xo Christie

One of the perks of working in the beauty industry:
company scavenger hunts around the city to check out the latest beauty trends! This is in Saks Fifth Avenue.