New traditions

Your happiness is not really determined by what happens to you, but about how you respond to what happens to you. My glamourous entrepreneur friend tells me so, and she is one of the wisest people I know.

So having been wrenched from paradise, aka Malibu, we can either bemoan the absence of the sound of crashing waves outside our window and the almost-always perfect weather... or celebrate living in one of the most exciting cities in the world within a stone's throw of a dozen incredible places to eat and drink. We could miss the spacious two bed flat with all that room for all our crap, or make the most of the zen experience of living in a Rabbit Hutch.

It's all about adapting, and finding some new traditions to replace the old ones.

For grocery shopping, instead of driving to Ralph's and treating ourselves to a Malibu FroYo, we walk to Chelsea Market and reward ourselves with a fancy gelato. Instead of a late night scotch on the balcony, we stop by our new local for a night cap. And the drive up to Malibu Seafood for a quick tuna burger has been replaced with a saunter down 9th Avenue for a slice of Gotham Pizza.

Some of the other adjustments we are making, and happily so, include replacing our balcony overlooking the beach with a rooftop deck with wicked views of the Hudson River and Midtown.

From one nice deck...

...to another. I know, life's tough eh?

I've replaced my contemplative constitutional walk along the beach with a stroll along the High Line and through the West Village. Instead of running on the track at the pampered Pepperdine campus, I make like a New Yorker and run by the river. I still get to look at water and rocks, just different ones.

My old walking route.

My new waterside view. I think these ghost piers are really cool, and looking at them is almost as calming as gazing out at the Pacific. Almost.

The closest I now get to a beach.

But who needs a beach to stroll along when you have the High Line?

Yeah, it turns out that 'what happened to us' in the move to NY ain't all that bad...