I’ve just wrapped up a week of house sitting in a beautiful Swedish family’s home in NYC with an amazing labradoodle named Nelson.
It didn’t start this glamorous. Stepping off the 4 hour delayed flight from Mexico, onto the subway in the busiest city in the world felt like an absolute nightmare. I’ve concluded that NYC is not handicap-friendly, just as it is not luggage friendly. As I struggled to carry my suitcase down an endless flight of stairs and wait for trains that weren’t arriving, I bite the bullet and call a Lyft.
It’s 9pm on a friday. I finally arrive on a corner of 6th ave and Prospect Park. Walk up to the second floor as I slowly open the door to a shy dog. Nelson! He wags his tail and lets me in. We’re both somewhat intrepid of one another. I walk in to see the most Scandinavian design-inspired open concept home overlooking the park. I bring the dog for a quick walk and make some tea, tired from a long day of travel.
We quickly fall in love with one another, exchange welcomes, and I head to bed in the daughter’s room that had been prepared for me. Rince, and repeat for a week.
I spent most of my time walking Brooklyn, specifically the neighbourhood Park Slope, and relished at all the tree lined streets and quaint bistros. I never thought NY was particularly liveable for me, but after spending a week in this hood with plenty of green, I’m having a change of heart.
I manifested some pretty fun circumstances in NY. Really great little manifestations and flow situations that I’d like to share with you today! I like to share specific examples of manifestation in day-to-day life, to bring the abstract to practicality.
How my $300 hair turned into a job opportunity and money flow
I believe when you live in an abundance-focused mindset, you attract more abundance back to you. I really wanted — argubably needed — to have my hair colored and cut. God only knows after showering with Mexican water for a year, was it time to let those dead ends go.
The guy who did my hair last time, named Slade, slayyyyyyed it. He’s not cheap, but a special talent of Williamsburg who has been doing hair for like 30 years from celebrities to the common folk of NY. He’s really, really, knowledgeable and good at his job.
I was a little hesitant to make such an investment in myself. But, desire won and trust that when I looked good, I felt better, and therefore vibrate higher.
So I walk into the punk rock-themed salon to get my hair done. After 3 hours, many Led Zeplin playlists, and $300 later, my hair is auburn and healthy. I am a happy woman, albeit biting the bullet and splurging a bit. But my trust muscle is too good by now.
Out I go, onto the streets of Brooklyn. Fresh as lettuce.
I look down on my phone and receive an order for $150 on a photography print of the Canary Islands on my Etsy store. Exactly half of the cost of the haircut. It’s not until later I realize the address is in Victoria, BC which the woman in the chair next to me in the salon was from. She kept talking about Victoria, BC. Never been there, never thought about it before. This is how I knew for sure these were related experiences.
The Abundance Lesson
I’ve done a lot of work on my money mindset this year specifically. When you spend and let go, you can receive more. Money doesn’t like to be horded and stuck. You don’t need to always know how it’s going to come back in. It’s being responsible, yes, but doing things in alignment coupled with faith.
My next inspired action of the day, following a slice of celebratory Brooklyn pizza, is to head to another salon to get “the best Italian shampoo and conditioner” that Slade recommended. He’s been in the industry for 20 years and used to teach. Now he does celeberties hair. He knows his shit.
I walk into this super sleek salon in Williamsburg, quite the opposite of Hair Metal where I had just came from, to buy the $60 worth of product somewhat sheepishly. At this point I’m like, f-it, I just spend $300 on my hair I might as well spend a little more to keep it fresh. At this point I’m having the best day ever, smiling like a lunatic hugging trees around the city. The owner compliments my tattoos, specifically the campfire on my right leg.
We get to talking, and she asks me about my time in NY. I tell her it’s good so far, and she asks me what it would take to stay for the summer. I replied, a housesit and a job. She offers me a position at the front desk doing photography, social media, as well as design. A hybrid position of my skillsets. Ask and ye shall receive.
Obviously, I didn’t take the job, but this is just a signifier what happens when you align to the vibration of money. It wants to come in. This also started to happen at every restaurant I went to around the city. Check out my post about living in alignment to dive deeper on the energetics around this.
The Free Drinks, Everytime
I’m not particularly a big drinker, but I’m a fan of quality consumption. New York has so many amazing craft cocktail bars and local brews. So, I aligned to the abundance of New York’s dynamic restaurant scene. I really love going out to eat and trying new foods.
Every time I went out for a bite or drink, I got a free drink. This happened a total of 7 times, and because I began to expect it after the 2nd. Basically just for being friendly.
Life hack: Be the friendliest person in a city of people keeping to themselves. You’ll confuse people into smiling.
Later that night I met up with a friend and we had the best dining experience at Saint Maize’s. It was the first day restrictions were fully lifted, and everyone was out celebrating. There was a jazz band in the background, as golden hour was hitting the city. It gets dark an hour later here than Mexico, and it’s something I definitely enjoyed.
I tell her about my successes at restaurants thus far. And sure enough, we get a free shot of Italian desert liqueur. Just cause. The night prior it was a tequila shot because I reminded the bartender of home (his words, not mine.) He was from Guadajalara, Mexico and we practiced spanish together. Well, I practiced spanish. He eloquently spoke Spanish.
The Mysterious Water Bottle
That night on the walk home, 11pm on a Wednesday, I think to myself “I wish I brought my reusable water bottle”. 5 minutes later, on the stoop outside in plain view, is a brand new blue Miir water bottle awaiting me. Just hanging out on the stoop, tags and all. I can’t make this shit up. What can I say, the universe wants me to be hydrated.
The little things that you have less resistance to, are often the things that come through the easiest. A medium desire with no resistance is more powerful than a huge desire with a lot of resistance/limiting beliefs. If you’re new to manifesting, check out my post Demystifying Manifestation and do it with a rubber duck to start.
A Perfect Score On The English Exam
Another reason I found myself in New York is because I wanted to retake the English exam to get permanent residency in Canada, something I’ve wanted for awhile. My big dream is to own a home in Montreal someday, and stay there during the summer, while being elsewhere during the winter (ahem, Mexico).
The first step to that is PR, I feel. And you need to take a test to evaluate your proficiency in either English or French. Clearly, I chose the former.
It’s called the CELPIP exam and not actually as easy as it sounds. It’s nororiously difficult to score perfectly on the exam, all 12’s on a rank of 3 – 12, but I decided I wanted to score perfectly. I took the exam 3 years ago and got a 9, 9, 11, and 12.
This time, I went into the exam visualizing myself receiving a perfect score. I wrote it down on my scrap paper as soon as I got there. 12, 12, 12, 12. Listening, writing, speaking, reading. I took the test, with my computer glitching halfway during the speaking test saying it “could not hear me”, and had to repeat that part of the test. It threw me off a little, but nonetheless, 4 days later I received my results. Perfect 12’s across the board bringing me to the 1% percentile.
I nearly screamed in Barnes & Noble as I was standing in line to buy the book Think & Grow Rich, a classic.
The “New Friend From My Hometown” Manifestation
The last day in Brooklyn I get an intuitive nudge to check out Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
I don’t know what Im doing there, but I hop on the L train 40 minutes to this industrial neighbourhood and roam around. I find the best vintage shops of my life. I find some groovy sunglasses and have an interesting conversation with a shop owner about vintage typewriters. And fulfilling my NY writing dream on one of them. Cue one of many timelines.
I’m walking around. I see this massive german bar where many people are having a lot of fun. Everyone’s happy to be allowed back out without masks. It’s a collective relief in the city.
From outside, I see this guy sitting at the bar. Immediately my intuition was saying, go sit next to him and talk to him. I don’t know why. I mean, he was cute but that wasn’t the basis of the inspired action.
I oblige to my intuition. I’m sitting next to this dude at the bar and realize HES getting all the free drinks. I ask him if he’s some sort of drink critic. “No, just the manager.” Cool. He was very east coast punk vibe, a bit reserved but nice enough. He was probably confused why I kept talking to him.
Eventually, he asks me a question. “Where are you from?” If you don’t know, I am from the smallest podunk town in the middle of nowhere. The smallest state in America, in the woods.
I tell him he probably hasn’t heard of it. I start with Rhode Island. He almost chokes on his beer.
WHERE IN RHODE ISLAND (classic rhode island-er passionate cult classic response)
Eeeh… Charlestown you probably haven’t— NO FUCKING WAY! He nearly falls off his chair. ME TOOO!
We grew up on THE SAME STREET AS ONE ANOTHER. ON THE SAME SCHOOL BUS. However, he is 5 years older than myself so we never really connected.
Before you know it, I broke open his east coast egg shell punky exterior and I’m getting more free drinks. Many german sours. I can’t complain. We discover we were on the same bus, bus 2, and he starts reminding me of all the memories I forgot about my youth. Including the time our bus got pulled over by the elementary school bus because we were throwing paper.
Suddenly the memory of the epic paper fight came flooding back to me. The bus was covered in freaking paper. I went to school with some crazy kids.
Then we start talking about the neighbourhood dog, Sammy, and how he was a little rascal and always bolted out in front of cars. And all of the mutual friends we have in common.
I couldn’t believe the circumstance I had found myself in. In a big city, next to a slice of home. Now I knew why my intuition led me to talk to him. I turned to him and said, “I knew I had to talk to you, I just didn’t know why.”
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