two-twenty

from the home office of nyc | joanna

The Top Ten Reasons I'm Happy to Be Back Home in New York City

10. No longer having to pretend that I'm talking to someone on my mobile phone to prevent strange men from chatting me up on the street.

9. Seeing no signs to acknowledge or ignore instructing me not to flush any paper products whatsoever -- including toilet paper -- down the toilet.

8. No more being surrounded by drunk Australians (though I do very much miss one in particular).

7. The opportunity to use crazy fast wireless whenever I want without feeling obliged to shell out a fortune on Momos or espressos at the Four Seasons Istanbul.

6. Being able to buy well-made cocktails almost anywhere that contain vodka that is not Smirnoff. Don't get me wrong, as far as domestic big-brand beer goes, Efes is top notch, but a woman's gotta switch it up from time to time.

5. Bacon. Bacon, bacon, bacon.

4. Having the chance to finally play with the loot I bought at the Grand and Egyptian Bazaars. Already overhauled the living room; will play guess-which-spice-I-bought-when-I-was-freaking-out-from-the-variety later.

3. Wearing a clean pair of jeans. The ones I brought to Istanbul/Cannakale/Gallipoli became so dirty that I have (maybe) finally broken my habit of wiping my hands on my jeans to clean or dry them.

2. Hanging out with my effing cool friends.

1. Reuniting with Atlas, beagle extraordinaire.

(Special note to Uncle Tommy: thanks for taking care of the old lady. Your fellow Taurus celebrates her ninth birthday on Wednesday and has specified that you are not obligated to buy her so much as a bone, so grateful is she for your presence while mum and dad were away).