Tag: home

creativity

In the pause: A magical New York City beginning

Christa Avampato

The move into New York City was a pretty magical day. As stressful as these past few months have been, there were so many incredible moments in this move when I felt everything going in the direction I needed. I had fantastic movers. The ride up was perfect without an ounce of traffic. Phineas was an angel traveler. My friends Moya and Dan helped me get the contents of my packed car into my apartment. The super, manager, and neighbors in my new building have all been lovely. Within our first 30 minutes in the neighborhood, I met Vinny, a man who lives just a few doors down who runs a doggie daycare and dog walking service out of his garden apartment. (Phin loved him immediately!) Now my internet is humming along thanks to insanely good customer service from Time Warner, and I’m getting my handful of belongings in place while I wait for the rest of my things to arrive in the next few days.

In the meantime, Phin and I are taking in the park and visiting all of our old haunts in our neighborhood. It feels good to be home.

creativity

In the pause: I’m moving back to New York City

Christa Avampato

It’s official: I’m set to move back to New York City next month. There have been so many synchronicities in this move: from my friend, Ria, telling me not to feel pressured into taking what would have been a terrible apartment because I thought that was the only option to finding my new place completely by chance with a building manager willing to show it to me via a Whatsapp video call before turning around a lease overnight. It’s on the Upper West Side, my very favorite neighborhood in the world where so much of my history lives and breathes. I’ve got many preparations to make, much to be grateful for in D.C., and much to look forward to as I return to New York. I’ll be reflecting on all of that in the coming days, weeks, and months. For now, I’m just smiling and feeling so thankful for this journey.

Phineas and I are excited to visit all of our old haunts in Central Park, and spend time with our New York friends—human, canine, and feline! Phin’s particularly looking forward to Dachtoberfest this Fall when hundreds of dachshunds from all over the New York area congregate at Washington Square Park to celebrate their breed. (More on that later.) New York, here we come!

creativity

In the pause: Gun violence on my block in D.C.

Christa Avampato

Screen Shot 2017-03-07 at 10.00.41 AMThat’s a bullet hole in the middle of a shattered window in my apartment building lobby. According to the DC Police Department, it was caused by an assault rifle, a military-grade weapon. By law, these weapons cannot be owned in D.C. by any civilian for any reason, meaning the weapon was stolen or sold illegally. The reflection in the window is the building across the street, one of the largest public housing complexes in the city, and the stage for that gun fight. The irony is not lost of me. I live in a glass house, with a clear view of the Capitol a mile away, where the divide between rich and poor across North Capitol Street is a chasm that just keeps getting wider.

Though I grew up in a rural area (there is a tractor-crossing sign across the street from the home where I grew up), I’ve lived in large cities, often in developing neighborhoods, for the majority of my life. I’m not blind to the level of crime and violence that exists in our cities. I have been robbed at knife point in a Philadelphia subway station and aggressively harassed, sometimes pushed and physically threatened, on the streets of New York and D.C. But this incident of a bullet into my apartment building is crime on a whole new level for me. It has already begun to change the patterns of my life and how I navigate my neighborhood. Constant vigilance now has a whole new meaning for me.

And here is the saddest part—I’m luckier than anyone who lives in the building reflected in my shattered widow. I can move when my lease is up. Most of the people who live in that building, many of them children, are good people. They are stuck, and their situation is about to made worse with cuts in healthcare and education. These are the very people who need to be protected and as a society, we aren’t protecting them. I’ve made a point to get to know them because I understand their situation on a personal level. My family had no money when I was growing up. I know what it means to be afraid, to struggle, to feel hopeless. It’s hard to see or find a way out, and certainly even harder when you live in a building where violence is often just a breath away.

As someone who has been down into the depths of PTSD, incidents like this cause to re-evaluate just about everything in my life. I understand the preciousness of our time. I understand it’s fleeting. I understand that it goes by too quickly. I understand that we spend too many days waiting and not enough days living up to our full potential. I don’t know where this new sense of urgency and reflection is taking me. I promise to let you know where I’m heading and what I intend to do to make this world a better, safer place for all people. I can also promise you that I will not waste this learning or be dragged down by it. I will make it my fuel.

creativity

Wonder: Ditching the couch

Christa Avampato

I’m undergoing a major design shift at my home, and Phineas is the architect. Because of his back issues, the best thing I can do to keep him safe is to eliminate furniture he could jump from. I decided to embrace this change and as I did some research I found great design and health inspiration for having a nearly furniture free living room. I remember seeing rooms like this when I went to Sarajevo and Budapest. There’s a Bohemian feel to outfitting a space with comfy giant floor pillows in gorgeous fabric. Health-wise, doing away with the couch improves posture and our entire digestive system improves posture and our entire digestive system. It also give us a feel of being grounded and rooted, promoting better sleep and reducing anxiety. So, my new sleeper sofa is going to go into my second bedroom when I buy a home and I’ll get to work creating a comfy, inviting living space that protects Phineas’s back. Another beautiful blessing.

creativity

Wonder: A walk through D.C. to clear my head

Christa Avampato

On Tuesday nights I play in a bocce league. I walk from my office in Arlington through Georgetown, past the White House, and then to downtown D.C. to the court. It’s a magical ~4 mile path.

Yesterday my brain was tired after work. I’m learning coding in addition to writing dialogue for our AI product, getting up-to-speed on the healthcare industry’s best practices, processing and pulling apart medical triage guidelines (with plenty of medical vocabulary that’s brand new to me!), and planning our product’s strategy, pricing, marketing, and testing. It’s a lot and I needed a good, long walk to clear my head.

As I wound my way through this city yesterday, I fell in love with this city a little more with every step. The architecture, colors, light, water, pattern of the streets, iconic symbols of our country, and people. All of it just dazzled me. It lifted me up out of my tired fog and into a state of supreme gratitude. Movement creates a movement.

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Wonder: NoMa rising in Washington, D.C.

Christa Avampato

20160917_101005My neighborhood is being torn down and built back up at lightning speed. Within 2 blocks of my apartment there are no less than 8 new high-rise buildings.The construction cycle is now a 24/7 operation as builders scramble to get these spaces dug out and enclosed before the winter hits. At one point there was so much construction on my block that some builders had to get night permits for demolition because they couldn’t fit anymore equipment on the street.

In 3 years, maybe even less, this neighborhood will be unrecognizable compared to today. The physical space will look different. There will be many more people and businesses to serve them. A new sense of community seems to be forming though it still has a long way to go.

People in my building are losing their minds, complaining to my management company about the noise. I lived in New York City for many years so for me this is a bit par for the course. But I’ve never seen it up close to this extent. I go out onto my small balcony and I can literally see buildings rising up out of the ground. It’s fascinating and magical. It oddly, surprisingly, feels like home to be in the midst of so much change and organized chaos. It gives me hope.

creativity

Wonder: Real estate is a long game

Christa Avampato

Buying real estate is a long game. One thing I’m learning in this house hunting process is that buying real estate, especially in a city like D.C. that is changing so rapidly, requires you to be forward-looking. And I mean way forward. The neighborhood and the home may not be perfect now; they may not even be close to perfect. I have to make some trade-offs and no matter what my budget is, it will cost more than I want it to cost.

What’s helping me is to imagine myself growing into a space as my life changes over the next few years, as I’m sure it will because doesn’t it always? The process also takes a lot of patience and faith, two things that are in short supply in an active real estate market. Whenever I feel overwhelmed by it all, I take a deep breath and remind myself that when this is all over I’ll be moving into a new place that will truly be my own.

creativity

Wonder: Looking for my first home

Christa Avampato

20160712_230714I met with a new real estate agent on Tuesday and his first comment was, “Tell me about your home. What does it look like? What does it feel like?” I hadn’t thought of that. I was so caught up in the process, in the action steps needed to find a home and close the deal, that I hadn’t really thought of look or feel of the actual space.

Though it was hard to back out of the condo deal this spring, it was the right thing to do. It was a blessing. I was compromising, and little did I know that right around the corner would be an opportunity to have a whole house and exactly what I wanted. This is the most amazing thing about life—events that seem so unfortunate at first can be made into the  very best things in our lives if only we have the courage and determination to make them so.

creativity

Wonder: Settle and root

Christa Avampato

I’ve been laying low in the evenings this week and over this weekend. After so much activity with traveling, packing, and moving, I need to take some time on my own to settle and root. In yoga, our safety, security, and feeling of home base lies in our lower chakras. They are our foundation, the seat of our intuition, and they house our sense of well-being. We need them to be strong to build upon them.

Finally I am starting to feel that sense home and security. My art is slowly filling my walls, papers are being organized and put away. Even Phin, very slowly and somewhat surely, is beginning to settle into this new space and routine. (Well, at least he’s sleeping more than 3 hours a night!)

Transitions can be tough, no matter how wonderful they are. So if like me you’re going through a lot of change right now and making plans for new beginnings, give yourself a break. You aren’t going to get everything right. I certainly don’t. You’re not perfect. I’m far from it. Let yourself have the space and time to adjust. Take it a step, a moment, a day at a time. You can’t rush roots.

creativity

Wonder: Be an explorer every day

Christa Avampato

Since moving to our new apartment, Phineas has become a morning dog. He’s up at the crack of dawn, and that means I am, too. This morning we took a long stroll / walk / run past Union Station, the Folger, the Library of Congress, and on to the Capitol. Phineas was rolling around in all the grassy areas and greeting everyone who wanted to talk to him. He had the time of his life.

It reminded me that we are constantly explorers, everywhere we go, every day. We take in what’s around us, we learn, and we make the most of it.