As I mentioned before, I have always loved do-it-yourself projects. But this week, after having a couch delivered in 7 pieces and assembling a really annoying bookcase, I finally had a realization: I’m so over it.

*the couch, before and after*

Listen, there is nothing better than the feeling of putting something together and getting to admire your own handiwork. But seriously, who has time? After working all day, working out, having dinner and going back out to one of our venues , do I really have hours to spend figuring out which side this screw is supposed to go into, what size washer to use and more importantly, why I have SO many pieces left over. Every. single. time.

Sure, I’m thrilled that I finally have a couch (which I’ll barely use considering I’m home for about 6 minutes each day) and an actual bed (goodbye air mattress!)

But next time, someone else is putting it all together.

A bed, at last!

I dont DIE for pizza like some of my fellow New Yorkers but I was still determined to find a decent slice upon moving to the desert. I thought my search would be futile – until I discovered Russo’s. By discovered, I mean that I drove by it every day on the way to work and dismissed it as likely being “gross” until my mom was told by an old friend who relocated to Vegas 15 + years ago that Russo’s was the real deal.

And it is. I stopped in for a dubious taste test one afternoon on my way to a meeting. I had low expectations. But the perfectly melted cheese, crunchy thin crust – and even some of those extra burnt bubbles – pleasantly surprised me! The NJ-bred owner and I bonded over our love for the East Coast and after finishing the enormous slice, I told him I’d be back. And I will.

But my real quest for perfection was for the best bagel. I am a bagel fanatic. Every morning after chugging a super healthy Green Love from Organic Avenue, I would stop at Deli on The Cliffs near my office in Englewood Cliffs, NJ for a scooped out, toasted sesame bagel with veggie cream cheese. On the side, of course. I’m not an animal.

I figured that my love affair with carbs would end once I moved out West. And for the first few weeks here, it did. Nary a single bread product crossed my lips for breakfast. Until I heard about The Bagel Cafe.

This place is LEGIT. They have an amazing deli counter, they know what “scooping” is, they stock Dr. Brown’s and they give away The Israelite Daily at the front counter. As an honorary Jew – I completed 10 months of a conversion class, after all – this felt like home.

The bagels are soft and doughy, the veggie cream cheese chock full of perfectly cut peppers, carrots and other goodies. They even take out all of the insides, until just the outer shell is left and it gets really crunchy when toasted, just how I like it.

Unfortunately my beloved new bagel go-to is a 20 minute drive so it won’t be a daily routine. But I’m just happy knowing it’s there, when I need it.

Anyone who knows me knows that one of my biggest obsessions while living in NYC was the Green Love juice and a shot of E3Live from Organic Avenue. Every single morning. Two shots after a long night out.

So I was in a panic when I decided to move to Vegas – drinking my daily green juice had helped me lose 8 pounds, changed my energy levels (I have way more) and just made me feel 100 times healthier in general. I knew I couldn’t live without it.

Sadly, the closest location was 2,570 miles away. In Manhattan.

At first, I contemplated having my Green Love shipped every week but that was silly – and massively cost-ineffective. So I decided to figure out Plan B: finding decent juice in Vegas.

Yes, I have a juicer (and a Vitamixer, actually). Yes, I am too lazy to make my own concoctions. I’m sure there will be one of those rare lazy Saturday mornings when I have nothing to do and think: hey, let me cut up all the veggies and make my own juice and then clean everything.

Doubtful.

So I started the hunt for my Green Love replacement.

I tried a place called Greens and Proteins first. It was a really cute health-oriented store with lots of delicious food but not quite the hard-core juices I was looking for. Think more Smoothie King, less crunchy health food store.

Next up was Go Raw. This place was amazing. E3Live by the shot for only $3? Check! Really amazing all-veggie drinks that hit the spot like my favorite back home? Check!

20 minute drive to either of their locations? CHECK.

So I decided that while Go RAw would be my go-to when I was running especially early to work (AKA never) I needed to find something closer and more convenient.

Enter Whole Foods.

I tried the one Organic all-green drink I could find – they had Blue Print on the shelf too but I find these WAY too sugary – and hoped for the best.

It wasn’t the best thing on earth but it gives me that much-needed morning boost; I gave up coffee years ago so this is all I’m working with.

Plus, it’s on my drive to work and $5 cheaper than my Green Love. And I also picked up a jar of frozen E3Live at Go Raw…it’s not perfect, but it’s my new routine. And it works.

my first housewarming present! Love.

Hopefully I can keep it alive…

One of my favorite – and least favorite – things about moving is buying a ton of new stuff. And because I seem to move so damn often, I tend to buy the less expensive furniture from places like Ikea and Target…you know, the kind that comes in a flat box and you have to BUILD it.

Thankfully, I absolutely love the assembly process. I get really intensely focused and obsessed with finishing the project. I get giddy following the photo instructions and am elated when I’m only left with 1 or 2 extra screws or bolts at the end.

Since I’m in the middle of yet another move, and my apartment needs a TON of furniture, I took my 100th trip to Target after work last night to get a cabinet for socks and underwear. Then, I told myself I couldn’t leave the apartment until it was done. Less than two hours later, #IKEAFridays (as my friend Nick from work dubbed my post-work build session) was over and I was ready for the real party…I felt slightly drained yet accomplished and now my undergarments now have a home…

Progress.

One of the things I have always struggled with, basically since high school and perhaps earlier, is my inability to stay home, alone. I dont know what it is – my therapist says it’s anxiety, avoidance and denial. I’m sure she’s onto something.

Whatever the cause, while living in NYC I found it completely impossible to spend a night at home, even on those rare occasions when I truly had intentions of doing just that.

Inevitably, a friend would text, asking where I was. (Not asking IF I was out, but WHERE – my friends know me very well). And after a brief resistance (“I’m so tired, I think I’m going to lay low tonight”), I would find myself pulling my hells and skinny jeans out of the closet, promising to meet said friend for “like an hour.” Next thing I know, it’s 2 am and I’m at The Spotted Pig, Bounce or Toy. Naturally.

And there were many other nights when I just spent hours strolling aimlessly around the West Village and Tribeca, with no destination, simply enjoying passing other like-minded Manhattanites also out enjoying the fresh air and incomparably energy. Even if I was out taking a midnight walk by myself, I never felt alone.

And this is what I loved,and will always love, the most about NYC. There was always something going on, someone to go do it with and some of my most fun nights out happened on those same evenings when I had promised myself that I would just stay home, take a bath and read. But even on those nights when I wandered around solo, being surrounded by millions of other people at any given time was all I needed.

What I love most about Las Vegas, so far, is that – even though I don’t know a fraction of the people I know in NYC – it has the same energy. Earlier this week, after a long day in the office and no evening plans, I found myself sitting in my apartment, starting to panic about how I was going to fill the next 5 pre-bedtime hours. Of course, I know a handful of people and am making friends here in my new hometown but I still don’t have an endless list of people to text or call on a whim to meet up with, like I did in NYC.

Alone in my dark, empty apartment – I still have no furniture or lighting – I started feeling lonely and slightly homesick.

But instead of falling into am inescapable K-hole, I laced up my sneakers and walked to the Strip. There I was, walking amongst hundreds of strangers. And while I didn’t know a single one of them, and didn’t have a single conversation, suddenly I didn’t feel so alone.

The New York Post costs $.25 more than the New York Times.

GANGSTER.

This past weekend, I flew to NYC to finalize my big move to Las Vegas. I was in town for a wedding but also to cart my two mini-dachshunds, Cody and Riley, back with me to Sin City. Having lived with them for the past 10 years, my spacious apartment with absolutely ZERO furniture seemed even emptier without them.

So I recruited my mom and we schlepped them across the country. They have flown a few times – when I moved to Florida and back – and it’s most definitely one of my least favorite things to deal with. Theirs too, I presume.

Stuffed into separate Sherpa bags, we cabbed it to JFK – I was told to arrive 2 hours early since I was traveling with pets – and then sat in the terminal for over 90 minutes. The dogs were restless and yappy. So I slipped them each half of a sleeping pill that my vet had given to me “just in case.”

Soon, hilarity ensued.

The dogs couldn’t keep their eyes open or their heads held up. Their eyes were watering and they looked dazed and confused. I couldn’t stop laughing.

Thankfully, they stayed curled up and passed out for the entire 4 + hour flight, arousing only when we landed and the cabin lights came on, jarring them back to reality. When I opened their travel bags so they could get out and walk around, they stayed put.

Lesson: sleeping pills for dogs are awesome.

Back at the apartment, they ran around like crazy people, darting from room to room. We went downstairs to check out the building’s dog park – yes, my building has 2 private dog runs – and I felt calm and much more settled.

My move was complete. And with Cody and Riley running around my new aprtment, so was I.

In an effort to adjust to my new life here, I’ve decided to highlight all of the awesome things about my newly adopted hometown.

Today’s installment is presented by the amazingly awesome Earl Grey Iced Tea Latte (skim, of course) from Coffee bean & Tea Leaf, which is RIGHT ACROSS THE STEET from my office. And has a drive-thru window. I’m a die-hard New Yorker so I refuse to use that, but I can’t lie…this drink puts anything on the menu at Grey Dog to shame.

And yes, I know there are CB’s in NYC. But they are, like, everywhere in Vegas.