Damn, I’ve been so busy with work that I haven’t even had time to dream about New York, although it’s less than a week away! 

Until this weekend: I’ve been helping Alanmies and my brother to fill in the required information for the authorities. I’ve discussed with my mom and my godmother how not to take too much clothes to go, and tried to decide whether to book a table for the first night or not. There seems to be a good variety of gastropubs around our apartment, but then again, we are seven persons. Quite a bunch! 


But I made one important booking last week. On Monday I was more than happy to leave my desk and skip bodypump class when my friend Norppa asked if I had time to join her for sushi. Thanks to her job, she visits NYC frequently, and after finishing our Alaska rolls we realised that she will be there for a couple of days on the same week as we are. I may have felt a bit guilty about skipping the exercise, but regardless of the reason – now I have a date. A jogging date. With Norppa. From Downtown to Brooklyn Bridge and back. I can hardly wait!

(Photo from Norppa’s blog.)

Funnily, on Tuesday evening I realized that I have this (see below) picture collage as a part of my self-made treasury map for 2020, hanging inside my closet door. (The idea is to collect photos of your goals and dreams on to one page, which you see every day.) It obviously works! 



And maybe all this planning is finally paying off. Today, instead of feeling work-related stress, I woke up with that long-awaited butterfly feeling in my stomach: next Sunday, I’ll open my eyes in East Village, NYC, ready to explore the city. I posted that to Facebook, and later in the afternoon Wes (who someone might remember from my blog post from 2009) asked if it’s for real and if we should have drinks. How great! The nights at Pieces back on that bff trip are still among the best nights in NYC. So I hope we get to meet the guys again. 

Six nights, five working days and a trip to Stockholm to do. Then we’re off. (Yay!!)