"My legs, my legs, I can't feel my legs"

Well, what a huge week - a roller coaster of a week at that, but at least my ride has come to a halt for this week!  It's been busy, so it's a long post this week, but I have added more photos this time as promised.  I hope you enjoy.

Let's start with the working week, which was only three days because of Thanksgiving.  Well,  I experienced my first soggy walk and let's just say gumboots (known here as rubber boots) are an essential item.  I had to walk all the way home in the rain on Tuesday night with no umbrella as my one was on its way to NY in my air shipment.  That was not so fun.  A lady from the office took me to a traditional diner, where as you arrive they place a big bowl of gherkins in front of you... there was seriously about 10 gherkins in there, just fresh, unpeeled and ready to be munched.... along with a bowl of coleslaw (a little random in my view, but quite common here).  Not surprisingly, I passed on the gherkins.  I ordered a boring chicken sanga, but check out the pastrami sandwiches, apparently a very famous dish in most diners... 

After Miami, I've started knuckling down at work and I think it's going to be hectic until the end of the year.  I will be travelling to Madrid for a week then I'll be off to Brazil and Argentina, just in time to arrive home on Christmas Eve to get ready for Mum on Christmas Day! What a December...

So, something I've learnt about myself... I'm a cable junkie!  I didn't have foxtel at home, but here you have no choice.  Anyway, my number one cable thing is the movies, which is not so shameful, but after movies then there's trash tv and I'm not talking soaps, sitcoms or anything like that, I'm talking reality trash... Kardashians, Kendra, Baseballers wives...if it's trash, I'm watching it - I feel like I need to go to an AA equivalent for my addiction.  So, you can imagine my anguish and dispair... no, I'm not being a drama queen... when I came home Wednesday night and my cable wasn't working.  30 minutes later, the internet stopped working too (reminder, Thanksgiving was on Thursday so now I'm thinking that I've got no TV and no internet for 4 days!!!!!)  I had to calm myself with a brown paper bag, and then when I got myself together (after trying to reset the systems about 15 times), I went down to the doorman and asked whether there was an issue in the building... bad news, it has nothing to do with the building, the internet and cable is controlled by the owners of the apartment... then some good news, a representative from my apartment owner company was in the building... then bad news, my cable wasn't working because the apartment company had not paid the bill... more bad news, the guy couldn't get onto the customer service lady who had a company credit card...even more bad news, the radio station is playing 5 songs on a loop... finally good news, they paid my bill (9.30pm now)... great news, the internet starts working... devastating news, the cable is still not working!  Luckily, my air shipment arrived on Wednesday (good news), so I could at least keep myself occupied for that night at least unpacking my boxes.  Anyway, so Thursday the cable is still not working, oh yeah and I forgot to say, no cable = no tv here!, so Thursday arvo, after Macy's Parade (I'll get to that after), as I was getting no response from my apartment company (grrrrr....) I rang the cable company myself.  Anyway, 5 minutes later and phew, there was a picture on my tele!  And not just any picture, Ghostbusters!  I don't think I've watched that movie since the 80's and what a great NY movie!  Anyway, enough about my cable addiction, the rest of the weekend has been ace....

So, as I mentioned I went to Macy's parade.  It was sooo cool.  The balloons were giant - here  are a selection of some of my favourites....

And one that was just plain freaky (sorry he's sideways)....

Anyway, there were so many people there!  Here's a video (Ebonie, I thought you'd like this - listen closely to the song!)

You can't hear the song so well, but it was "Hey Baby, I want to know, if you'll be my girl" (don't know the proper title) being played by a big band.  I thought it also gives you a sense of the masses and masses of people there. 

I'm also pleased to say I saw another celebrity, that's two in two weeks - one for the oldies

... and for the youngies, it's Neil Diamond!

So that along with doing my washing and Ghostbusters was my thanksgiving day!  Oh yeah, and I forgot to say, the elevators broke down in the apartment building that day so I had to walk up and down the eight floors (nine when including the basement for washing) about five times....

So then it was Black Friday.  So, I was thinking the name of the day originated from a terrible event or something in America's history, but no, it's all about consumerism... let's refer to Wikipedia on the subject.

"the term began in 1966 in Philadelphia as a way to begin the Christmas shopping season and to describe the success of the retailers because they are no longer in the red but now in the “black”. It also explained the heavy traffic and pedestrian foot traffic on the streets"

So, there's some US history for you.  Anyway, my Black Friday was quite eventful.  Firstly I went to the best toystore in the world to find a present for my nephew Jack.  FAO Schwarz is one of the best places on earth - think of the toy store from the movie Big (Tom Hanks) with the giant piano on the floor.  This place was two floors full of every toy possible, with people demonstrating how they work, a special lego world, and a giant lolly section... so cool.

So, after the greatest toy store on earth I went across the road to Central Park again, because I remembered there was Strawberry Fields there - the memorial garden for John Lennon.  It was a nice little garden with people just sitting around reflecting.  There was also a busker there playing Beatles songs, so it was good to see.

Then I encountered the shop keeper from hell... I decided to brave one store with a big sale on it and tried on a few dresses.  The shop lady gave me a pair of shoes to try on with the outfits.  After trying them on and being harassed by said shop lady, I decided not to buy anything.  Then said shop lady turns into psycho.  It goes something like this  "what about the shoes?  You have to get the shoes, they're so in fashion now.... all the big designers are designing shoes like this at the moment, they're like $100 off, so you have to buy them... I mean look at the label on the bottom, they're made in Italy, so you know, they are sooo good... look let me ring them up for you (drags me over to the shop counter), they're only $325 with tax, I mean what a steal" etc. etc. I think you get the picture.... Anyway, I said, no, I would rather not, and then left the store.  As I leave I see her bagging me out to the other assistance waving the shoes around.  Mental note, do not go into that store again...

So Friday night was supposed to be murder mystery night, but it got cancelled because of not enough interest... so, I went to dinner with Teena and her husband Matt (Aussie lady from work)  at a place in downtown.  So, we enjoyed a beautiful meal and then a jazz band was setting up... how lovely.... so the jazz band kicks off, it was really classy, old school style jazz with old style microphone..

... and then came the dancers.  And, not just any dancers, burlesque dancers.  Let's just say I am somewhat naive in the world and thought burlesque was more a certain style of dancing as opposed to nearly being a full strip show!  Well, anyway, it was a bit of fun (photos would not be appropriate for public consumption!).

Come Saturday morning, and it was time for ice skating.  Not far from where I'm staying is an ice skating rink that is free.  The one and only time I ever went ice skating was for my 10th birthday!  So, I'm a little nervous, but thought at least I've been roller skating a few times in the past few years (thanks to the little ones in my life) and I'm not too bad at that, so hey, this should be okay.  Anyway, so I get on the ice and off I went.  I stayed out there for over an hour and didn't fall over once - well done me.  I can't say the same for the other hundreds on the ice - the art of skating was being able to avoid the carnage that was happening in front of you - it was a hoot.  Here's a picture - sorry it's a bit blurry, but I was going so fast that it was hard to capture in good quality (he, he, he!)

I went off to the movies again solo last night to see A Week With Marilyn - it was a nice way to spend the night and I think with the list of movies coming out, it is going to be a regular Saturday night thing.

This morning I ventured out to the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market.  It was a fair hike, but what a find!  They have an assortment of vintage jewellry, clothes, jackets and all sorts of stuff.  It was really cool and really cheap.  Definitely a place to go back to.  I then ventured to another market in Chelsea, not as good though as Hell's Kitchen.  I was out and about walking for around 3 1/2 hours!

So in the title of this I said that I can't feel my legs, well I wish that was true.... on the contrary my legs are very mad with me at the moment!  I have blisters on my feet, and super sore legs and hips from walking up and down the stairs on Thursday, walking to central park on Friday, ice skating on Saturday (which also gave me ankle bruises!) and walking all over the city this morning.  I have worked it out that I have done the equivelant to nearly 30 miles walking since Thursday!!

So, now I'm exhausted!  All I am going to do for the rest of the day is sit here typing my blog and watch re-runs of Kourtney and Kim Take New York (back to back marathon) in preparation for the season premiere of the next series tonight! 

Anyway, this is me signing off for another week.  Keep in touch.

Michele

I'm in Miami B#!@h!

Hi All,
Well I arrived back last night from Miami - the city of glamour, crystal blue water, partying and a whole lot of plastic (in both wallets and you know where!).  What you see on the movies/tv is what you get (minus the 'orange hue' that you see on CSI Miami).  I arrived Sunday afternoon to my room not being ready, so I plonked myself outside to enjoy the Miami heat and catch up on emails.  Going on outside was the hotel's weekly pool party - plenty of sun, pool, booze and loud 90s club music.... oh yeah, and butie..I learnt through a magazine advertsing underwear that gives you a butie that's how it's supposed to be spelt as opposed to bootie... anyway, where was I?  Oh yeah, hotel pool party... anyway, I spent the afternoon people watching (and sadly working at the same time), strategically positioning myself away from the plastic, oh I mean action, but with a good view of what was going on.  Let's just say this butie does not belong with the Miami butie!

Anyway, then I went to my room and was introduced to Kiki who I was sharing a room with - she was a little freaky at the start, but after a few days we learnt to like each other!




So, I didn't go to Miami to just sit by the pool and hang out with Kiki, I was there to work... it was great to meet the team and to get down to business (I'm going to keep the work stuff minimal on my blog, but for those of you that are interested in what I'm doing from a work perspective, just send me an email).

Just to add to the Miami glamour, Dita Von Teese was holding a launch party at our hotel for Cointreau.  Funny, they must've forgotten to slip me my invitation.  The party was full of more glamorous Miami butie - huge high heels and tiny dresses.. well, from the outside that's what it looked like.  Dita on the other hand was tiny and petite and wearing this amazing full length dress - she has a face like a porclein doll.  Sadly enough, I couldn't build up the courage to get a photo with her, but I make it my aim whilst in the world of celebrities to try and spot a celebrity each month and to get a photo with them - I've put it in words now, there's no going back.

Well, got back into NY last night and took myself off to the movies and watched Twilight - OMG... so good!  Happy to say the movie experience is very similar to Australia, so I managed this one with relatively little issue.  Today I spent a lovely morning walking around Central Park.  It is autumn now (or in my yankee accent 'fall') going into winter so the colours were amazing.  The park was so full of activity -  there was a fun run, the ice skating rink now has ice in it and lots of tourists and locals enjoying the sites.  The park is amazing, beyond the skating rink, there's also a huge lake, baseball parks, restaurants, special gardens and walks.  I've only seen a small portion of the park, so I know there's so much more to explore there.  I ended up walking for about 2 hours - I only planned to walk for 1.  I might say it was only because I was enjoying myself so much, which is 1/2 true, but I also got myself a little bit lost!  Anyway, I managed to navigate myself back home.  It was another beautiful day - 17 degrees, but back down to 11 tomorrow. 

Also went and did a proper shop today.  It's great, the supermarket deliver free to your apartment.  I'm still not used to the food though - food shopping is really hard and trying to find things is a challenge... I was looking for beef stock, couldn't find it so asked the supermarket guy for help.  He just looked at me like I was crazy - anyway, I eventually found it on my own...seems that it's called broth over here...  Also seems the yanks are struggling with accent.  Everytime I have to spell my name, I go, Zed, I, E... and I get a funny look.  So I start again, and say Zeeeeee, I, E... more funny looks.  I look down at the sheet of paper and they are putting A instead of E ;)  I'm not going to change my accent though - my uncle Mick managed to keep an aussie accent for 5 years in London, so I can do this same in 2 years in the US!

I got the fright of my life this afternoon when this excrutiatingly (not sure if that's a word, but oh well...) loud buzz went off in my apartment and I couldn't find where it was coming from.  I opened the door, noone was there, so it wasn't my door bell (I don't think I actually have one), I picked up the phone, but there was noone there, and then the buzz went off again.... I hunted the sound to my kitchen and found another phone (separate line to my telephone) which is my line to the doorman of the building.  The nice man on the other end was kindly letting me know the shopping delivery man was on his way up... anyway, I think there's going to be a lot of 'firsts' like these for a while. 

So, this week is now only a 3 day working week - it's thanksgiving on Thursday and Black Friday on Friday (obviously!).  Apparently the sales on Friday are extraordinary, they open the stores from midnight Thursday and there are lines and lines of people.  If I'm not doing anything... what am I saying, of course I'm not doing anything... I might have to see if I can bag myself a bargain!   In saying that, I've made a friend with an Australian lady from work, who lives here with her family. They've invited me to the Macy's Thanksgiving parade on Thursday - this is the one with the giant balloons;  and also to a murder mystery night on Friday.   Should be a hoot - it's a dress up, so right up my alley...  not sure who my character is yet though - let's just say the suspense is killing me... get it, suspense... killing....? ;) (I think I'm funny!)  I'll be sure to take plenty of snaps - I've been slack lately but promise to do better in this area!

Well, that's the bogan signing off for another week.

Ciao,
Michele

I've Arrived!

Hi All...  Well firstly welcome to my blog.  I have now been in the big apple for 24 hours and have moved into my temporary apartment.  It is what would be described as 'very cosy' by a real estate agent, but on the bright side, at least there won't be much for me to clean.  In saying that, the stove and oven are huge, so mum, there'll be a big turkey cooking for Christmas for you!  My apartment is on the 8th floor, so there's a bit of noise from the street.  I have to get used to the regular sound of police sirens - my first reaction is to look at the tv, but then I realise it's outside my window!  I also now have the privlege of cable tv.  Coming from a non-foxtel household I have found that I prefer to not have so many choices.  There's over 100 channels.  Enjoying the Notebook tonight for about the 25th time ;)
It was pretty chilly today - in the low 50s, which I think equates to about 11 degrees.  I have learnt the weather is good when it's between 60 & 100... below 60 and it's freezing, above 100 and it's sweltering.  Having had my first shock of cold, I ventured out tonight and bought myself a beautiful winter coat - it's Veteran's Day (apparently good for sales), so I managed to get one for 50% off (and yes Brett, it was a real sale)!   There was an entire floor of the darn things to choose from, but I managed to find one that was very stylish, but not too OTT (..that's Over The Top for you old timers).
This city is so set up for convenience - apparently every food outlet, restaurant, cafe etc. etc. (excluding restaurants with famous chefs) will deliver to your door.  However, after some pretty ordinary Subway last night, I was intent on finding something a little bit more nutritional.  I found a beautiful fresh market at Grand Central Station today and there were so many foods available that you just need to bring home and warm up - so cooking seems like an unnecessary option here!  However, given that my aim is to not end up the size of the house, I managed to find some beautiful fresh pasta and cooked up my first NYC home made meal... good on me!
Well, tomorrow is a day of exploration and familiarisation.  I have booked in for a haircut (hopefully I don't need to take out another mortgage to pay for it), and then I am on the hunt for a supermarket (I hear they're all hidden underground), and then for a stroll around Central Park.  At least with having such a 'cosy' apartment, it's forcing me to get out and about and with no car, walking is the best option.  Fingers crossed, the Australian winter kgs come right off... in saying that I had to fill out a form today for the gym at work and had to put down my weight in pounds... seeing 'that' number (triple figures!) would give anyone the motivation to drop weight.   On Sunday I'm off to Miami so I'll write again upon my return.
So, this is the bogan in the city signing off from her first blog...
Ciao!  Michele