Last Sunday, I played apartment hallway baseball with NeighborKid. I had a minor hangover and was wearing the boot. Truthfully I just wanted to go back to bed with a pillow over my face.

But she was so happy to play that I kept pitching and she kept hitting.

After all, I’m moving soon so I won’t have many more moments like these.

When I moved into this apartment, NeighborKid was two and a half years old. More baby-like than kid often. She had a sometimes challenging personality (her parents would agree!). But now, she’s fun and silly and I’ll miss her.

Fortunately the new apartment is giving me lots of reasons to be excited:

I’m going to live with an awesome friend, K, my first roommate in ages. Added bonus? K loves to cook.

Our new place has a washer and dryer in-unit. This is a big deal in NYC.

I’ll be saving nearly $700 per month in rent alone.

The new building has an enormous roof deck with 360 degree views. Will I use it much? Probably not as I’m indoorsy, but I’m glad it’s there.

A quieter bedroom. My current apartment faces a noisy street. There’s a good amount of honking and such plus a ringing bell from the nearby emergency service station (it rings every time the garage doors open or close, which is often). I usually sleep right through it but my new bedroom faces a quiet little street.

A less sunny bedroom. My entire apartment faces south. While sunlight is great in theory, it means I have to run the air conditioning a lot all summer, and put a pillow over my face when I want to sleep late. (you would think that I would have bought a sleep mask by now, right?)