In order to be able to afford a big weekend for Thanksgiving (this upcoming weekend), Sarah, Steph and I decided that the weekend just come we would have a "nothing" weekend where we tried to do/spend as little as possible. Friday night after I finished work, I was officially on holidays =) We had no plans for that night, but Saturday Kate and Christina came over to watch some movies at my place, as my hosties were out of town. Kate and I got pizza for dinner and then Sarah, Steph and I went to see the new Twilight movie. It was quite good but not the huge hype that everyone goes on about!
Sunday afternoon Sarah Steph and I had lunch at my place, then went shopping for a bit before we met all t he other girls (Alissa, Alice, Jade, Christina, Emily, Dani, Emma nad the new girl Olivia) for dinner at Applebees. After dinner those girls went to see Twilight, we continued shopping and then had a nice and easy night!
19 days till my birthday
31 days till Christmas
40 days till my big holiday
YAY
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
We went everywhere man...
So after the kind of low key/hurt back weekend (lol), Sarah, Steph & I had another big Sunday in my favourite city =) We started off in the village with Magnolia Cupcakes and a walk around the neighbourhood. The girls wanted gumboots from Marc Jacobs but there were none left so we walked over to Washington Square Park stopping at the famous Grey's Papaya Hotdogs on the way for lunch. After we took a few photos in the park, listening to some music and saw a few NYU buildings; we caught a cab over to Chinatown. We elbowed our way thru the crazy crowds looking for bargains - perfumes, scarves, jewellery, last minute souvinears. When we grew tired of Chinatown we took another cab back uptown to 5th avenue. All 3 of us had seen Tiffany & Co but today we took the chance to walk in Audrey Hepburn shoe's and explored the inside. It is 5 floors of jewellery and lovely pretty things! I would love to get a charm from their before I go, and while $100ish per charm isn't too much for jewellery, esp Tiffany but being on an aupoor wage isn't so easy hehe! But if I don't get one now, I can always buy it later.
We also went to a few other stores - the NBA store for the girls to get jerseys and the Disney store for me to get a sweatshirt =) Instead of I heart NY, its I mickey ears NY hehe. its so cute! I love it!
Then we named them and got little bear birth certificates! Mine bear is Gotham, Steph's is Chocolate and Sarah's is Winston! Definitly a special afternoon =)
Our last stop was dinner in Little India - mmm butterchicken yum yum.
We also went to a few other stores - the NBA store for the girls to get jerseys and the Disney store for me to get a sweatshirt =) Instead of I heart NY, its I mickey ears NY hehe. its so cute! I love it!
Then we named them and got little bear birth certificates! Mine bear is Gotham, Steph's is Chocolate and Sarah's is Winston! Definitly a special afternoon =)
Our last stop was dinner in Little India - mmm butterchicken yum yum.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
She'll be coming round 5th ave when she comes...yeehaw
The day after Halloween, Sarah, Steph and I went for a horse and carriage ride in the city. The park was closed because of the Marathon, so we went down 5th instead, but it was still lots of fun and definitly one of those 'NEw York moments' you have to do!
Then we had lunch at the Australian, shopped on 5th, then went back to White Plains for lunch at OUtback Steakhouse. Definitly an aussie new york day!
The following weekend I hurt my back, so didn't do much, just went shoppin on Saturday in Conneticut with Christina, Dani, Em and Alice.
Then we had lunch at the Australian, shopped on 5th, then went back to White Plains for lunch at OUtback Steakhouse. Definitly an aussie new york day!
The following weekend I hurt my back, so didn't do much, just went shoppin on Saturday in Conneticut with Christina, Dani, Em and Alice.
Double double toil and trouble
Halloween was fantastic! I was so excited in the lead up to experience my first Halloween, and all the kids were in disbelief that we didn't celebrate this back home!
The day before Halloween, I went with my host mom to watch the kids at their school parade. Each grade marched out in costume, and I would say about 50% had store bought and 50% home made. There were a dozen 'Dorothys' and what seemed like an infinity of superheros and starwars characters; but also some really unique costumes like an i-pod, a cupcake, dice. My favourite though was a girl dressed in purple, with a painted purple face, who was carrying a clear umbrella with purple streamers hanging from it. She was a jellyfish and she looked amazing! My kids kept changing their minds right up until the night before. My youngest boy, 5, went as a ninja. My oldest boy, 9 went as a gangster and my girl, 9, went as a crazed jungle woman. She looked the best! I leant her my leopard print dress and then we painted her face brown and green so it looked dirty and then teased her hair to the maximum and put leaves and twigs in it. After the parade, each class hads a party and I went between the twin's classrooms looking at their projects, meeting their teachers and friends. It was really interesting and lots of fun.
The night before, my host parents went to a halloween party so I told the kids we would have our own party, just the four of us. We carved pumpkins (well they just drew the faces, I carved them out) which was messy and fun and tiring all at once. Then we got some of the halloween candy they recieved in class and made halloween cupcakes. We danced to spooky music, ate party food and scared each other. It was a long night and we had so much fun.
The afternoon of Halloween I helped the kids get dressed. My oldest boy was now being a zombie soccor player and the youngest a zombie astronaught (?!?!) and my girl was still a jungle woman. We put fake cobwebs all over the already set up Halloween directions on the porch; then lit up our pumpkins. We started by going to a haunted house on our street, set up by one of my kid's friends. Then we all went trick or treating together, knocking on each house and seeing if the people inside were dressed up, and what kind of pumpkins they had carved. There wasn't just faces I saw other things carved like words or objects. I had a blast and it was really special to spend it with my host family.
After trick or treating, me, Emily, Christina and Danyale went into the city. We were suppose to watch the parade in the village but it was raining so instead we went to 'The Australian' bar and had a drink, danced for a bit, then came home.
It was a great night but I'm glad we don't have this holiday back home!
The day before Halloween, I went with my host mom to watch the kids at their school parade. Each grade marched out in costume, and I would say about 50% had store bought and 50% home made. There were a dozen 'Dorothys' and what seemed like an infinity of superheros and starwars characters; but also some really unique costumes like an i-pod, a cupcake, dice. My favourite though was a girl dressed in purple, with a painted purple face, who was carrying a clear umbrella with purple streamers hanging from it. She was a jellyfish and she looked amazing! My kids kept changing their minds right up until the night before. My youngest boy, 5, went as a ninja. My oldest boy, 9 went as a gangster and my girl, 9, went as a crazed jungle woman. She looked the best! I leant her my leopard print dress and then we painted her face brown and green so it looked dirty and then teased her hair to the maximum and put leaves and twigs in it. After the parade, each class hads a party and I went between the twin's classrooms looking at their projects, meeting their teachers and friends. It was really interesting and lots of fun.
The night before, my host parents went to a halloween party so I told the kids we would have our own party, just the four of us. We carved pumpkins (well they just drew the faces, I carved them out) which was messy and fun and tiring all at once. Then we got some of the halloween candy they recieved in class and made halloween cupcakes. We danced to spooky music, ate party food and scared each other. It was a long night and we had so much fun.
The afternoon of Halloween I helped the kids get dressed. My oldest boy was now being a zombie soccor player and the youngest a zombie astronaught (?!?!) and my girl was still a jungle woman. We put fake cobwebs all over the already set up Halloween directions on the porch; then lit up our pumpkins. We started by going to a haunted house on our street, set up by one of my kid's friends. Then we all went trick or treating together, knocking on each house and seeing if the people inside were dressed up, and what kind of pumpkins they had carved. There wasn't just faces I saw other things carved like words or objects. I had a blast and it was really special to spend it with my host family.
After trick or treating, me, Emily, Christina and Danyale went into the city. We were suppose to watch the parade in the village but it was raining so instead we went to 'The Australian' bar and had a drink, danced for a bit, then came home.
It was a great night but I'm glad we don't have this holiday back home!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Silverbay (again)
Friday afternoon at about 1pm, Sarah picked me up and we headed to Steph's house where our rental car was waiting for us. Kate (from New Zealand, who I met at the training school in Jan) joined us and the 4 of us headed off on a 4-5ish hour drive to the Adirondacks in upstate New York. We packed plenty of snacks and had a dozen C.Ds to keep us perky and dancing. We left Westchester at about 3pm and arrived at Silverbay at about 8.30, after having a few stops and hitting a bit of traffic. We signed ourselves in, picked our classes, and met up with the other group of Aussies (Alissa, Alice, Emma and Christina) who had picked up Nicolette on their way. Nicolette was a girl I flew over with who I haven't seen since the training school. Another girl I haven't seen since flying over with, was Georgie from Maine. Allysha from Boston was there too but I have seen her a couple of times since Jan.
Sarah & Steph shared a room with an adjoining door to Kate & my room. We were in a different building to everyone else, further away from the main classroom/dining area but with a slightly higher and nicer view of Lake George. After we unpacked our bags, Kate went to bed and the rest of us had a few drinks and played a couple of games. We had a late night, about 1 or 2am I think, and then of course, an early morning - breakfast at 8am.
First class of the day was Creative Story Telling where we got up and did a skit about Obama's extra long toenails (random...) followed by Unique Mind Games. I took that one last Silverbay but that was the only class left when I signed up. After lunch we had a 3 hour class and Sarah, Steph & I chose scrapbooking. It was so much fun we did lots of halloween and fall themed pages and I may or may not have snuck out a few blank scrapbooking pages for later use =) After class we had some free time so us 3 migrated back to our room and played starburst poker and had more then a few giggling fits!
Dinner followed free time then the famous Silverbay pantomime. They do the same pantomime everytime and get aupairs from the audience to play every part from the berry bushes to the table to the cat to the hero and villain. All the aussies got a part - Sarah was the cat, Christina dog, Alissa horse, Kate & Alice door, Allysha chair, Georgie table, Steph collected cards, me music director and Nicolette a bird. The same staff member, Schyler, reads the script everytime but this time the other staff members had changed it on him and put dirty scenarios and swear words and innuendo thru the script. It was really funny to see his reaction and hilarious seeing the aussies in the play. When that finished, aupairs took turns going to see a haunted house the staff had set up. While the aussies waited for there turn, we had some giggle sessions, taking crazy photos and running around like crazy as always!
When it was our turn to go through the haunted house we all picked "scared buddies" (mine was Christina) and boy, did the staff do an awesome job of scaring us!! They had doors banging, lights going on and off, pitch black corridors, people grabbing you and screaming and scaring you. I was laughing, crying and screaming the whole way through!
The halloween disco was right after the haunted house and about half of the aupairs dressed up the other half didn't. Alissa & Alice dressed as bees, Sarah was a witch, Steph pink evil fairy, Christina a pirate and I went as Strawberry Shortcake =) It was lots of fun dancing around in costume and interesting to see what everyone else dressed as.
We had an early night prepared for another early morning. I did an optical illusion and music class before lunch, then we packed up and hit the road again. We took our time heading back, taking a few stops and eventually arrived in Westchester around 6pm in time for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.
It was such an awesome weekend, I loved seeing the fall foliage. I never could imagine a leaf could be so vibrantly yellow or that there were so many shades of red and orange. I had so much fun with Sarah and Steph and its sinking in that I will be leaving them and New York in 10 weeks and its a very sad thought.
Sarah & Steph shared a room with an adjoining door to Kate & my room. We were in a different building to everyone else, further away from the main classroom/dining area but with a slightly higher and nicer view of Lake George. After we unpacked our bags, Kate went to bed and the rest of us had a few drinks and played a couple of games. We had a late night, about 1 or 2am I think, and then of course, an early morning - breakfast at 8am.
First class of the day was Creative Story Telling where we got up and did a skit about Obama's extra long toenails (random...) followed by Unique Mind Games. I took that one last Silverbay but that was the only class left when I signed up. After lunch we had a 3 hour class and Sarah, Steph & I chose scrapbooking. It was so much fun we did lots of halloween and fall themed pages and I may or may not have snuck out a few blank scrapbooking pages for later use =) After class we had some free time so us 3 migrated back to our room and played starburst poker and had more then a few giggling fits!
Dinner followed free time then the famous Silverbay pantomime. They do the same pantomime everytime and get aupairs from the audience to play every part from the berry bushes to the table to the cat to the hero and villain. All the aussies got a part - Sarah was the cat, Christina dog, Alissa horse, Kate & Alice door, Allysha chair, Georgie table, Steph collected cards, me music director and Nicolette a bird. The same staff member, Schyler, reads the script everytime but this time the other staff members had changed it on him and put dirty scenarios and swear words and innuendo thru the script. It was really funny to see his reaction and hilarious seeing the aussies in the play. When that finished, aupairs took turns going to see a haunted house the staff had set up. While the aussies waited for there turn, we had some giggle sessions, taking crazy photos and running around like crazy as always!
When it was our turn to go through the haunted house we all picked "scared buddies" (mine was Christina) and boy, did the staff do an awesome job of scaring us!! They had doors banging, lights going on and off, pitch black corridors, people grabbing you and screaming and scaring you. I was laughing, crying and screaming the whole way through!
The halloween disco was right after the haunted house and about half of the aupairs dressed up the other half didn't. Alissa & Alice dressed as bees, Sarah was a witch, Steph pink evil fairy, Christina a pirate and I went as Strawberry Shortcake =) It was lots of fun dancing around in costume and interesting to see what everyone else dressed as.
We had an early night prepared for another early morning. I did an optical illusion and music class before lunch, then we packed up and hit the road again. We took our time heading back, taking a few stops and eventually arrived in Westchester around 6pm in time for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.
It was such an awesome weekend, I loved seeing the fall foliage. I never could imagine a leaf could be so vibrantly yellow or that there were so many shades of red and orange. I had so much fun with Sarah and Steph and its sinking in that I will be leaving them and New York in 10 weeks and its a very sad thought.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
(Aussie) Girls just wanna have fun
For the first time in a few months, all of the Aussie girls got together last Friday night. Alice and Alissa (from Lismore, who are leaving in Dec), Sarah & Steph (from central coast, steph is extending, Sarah leaves the country when I do), Emily, Jade, Christina (who all arrived together about 3 months ago) and Emma (who I flew over with).
We met at Alissa's and ate a naughty amount of junk food, played a few games, and chatted. Then Christina, Emily, Emma, Alice & I stayed the night, hitting our pillows at about 3.30am!
The next day we lounged around in our PJs having a relaxing day making friendship bracelets, watching youtube and gossiping.
Sunday we all (minus Sarah + Steph) went to the Palisades which is the 2nd biggest mall in America and about 20/30 minutes from my place. We went from shop to shop and I managed not to spend anything! Then we met Sarah & Steph at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner.
Was such a fun weekend, spending it with the girls. Silverbay this weekend, can't wait!
We met at Alissa's and ate a naughty amount of junk food, played a few games, and chatted. Then Christina, Emily, Emma, Alice & I stayed the night, hitting our pillows at about 3.30am!
The next day we lounged around in our PJs having a relaxing day making friendship bracelets, watching youtube and gossiping.
Sunday we all (minus Sarah + Steph) went to the Palisades which is the 2nd biggest mall in America and about 20/30 minutes from my place. We went from shop to shop and I managed not to spend anything! Then we met Sarah & Steph at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner.
Was such a fun weekend, spending it with the girls. Silverbay this weekend, can't wait!
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