Happy New Year!

Hi All,

So I'm now back in the swing of things for 2012.  Mum has sadly left the big apple and is back in warm Melbourne, and let's just say from a work perspective, it doesn't feel like there was a break at all!

So, since writing last time (excluding my brush of fame photo blog), mum and I managed to do a heap of things.  We went on a movie tour around NYC, we went to the top of the empire state building, mum went off to Amish Country in Philadelphia and visited the nation's capital Washington DC, we explored Central Park, and most importantly, avoided ice skating at every cost....  We did the market circuit (hell's kitchen, chelsea market and union square) and found someone who sells meat pies - though he was a pom disguising himself as an Aussie, we walked the Brooklyn Bridge on a balmy 17 degree celcius day, went to a broadway show, visited FAO Schwarz and we enjoyed Jazz and Blues in Greenwich Village.  For an old lady, she kept up pretty well! (Don't worry, mum, you're not that old;)  ).  She's already planning the next trip here!  Here's a selection of my fave pics from the trip.

Mum and me out the front of the Cosby Show house

Mum and I out front of the fire station from Ghostbusters.

The soup kitchen that inspired Seinfeld's Soup Nazi

 Mum & I at the top of the Empire State Building

 Mum at Central Park

 A 25,000(!!!!!!) Barbie Fusball Table at FAO Schwarz

 Mum and the Chipmunks at Build a Bear Workshop

A statue of Rocky in Philadelphia

We celebrated bringing in the new year on a booze cruise - I have realised there is no class on these things, no matter where in the world you are.  When we arrived there was such a mammoth queue, we had some concerns as to whether the boat would stay afloat with that many people.  It was good fun though and such a great way to see the statue of liberty lit up at night.   We had a bit of a boogie and it was rather funny that each time the boat rocked the entire crowd of dancers swayed from one end of the boat to the other.   I must say though the fire works were a bit of a fizzle - I liken the quality of the display to that at the Shepparton show grounds, and that's being generous.  You would think there would be more than one firework launch place in a place like NYC. 

I made some new friends on the booze cruise, thanks to faithful ugg boots as my discussion point (she was wearing them, not me...).  So, this lovely couple I met, she is a broadway star and an extremely funny one at that, and he is a musician, and not just any musician... the lead singer of Spin Doctors who sings one of my (and my sister's) favourite songs of all times, Two Princes.... and he's good mates with the lead singer of one of my other favourite bands of all times, Dave Gleeson from Screaming Jets.  So funny, the song Two Princes takes me back to my youth and singing the song over and over again as I was walking down the street the first time I ever got drunk.  So, they were so lovely they invited me to brunch on new year's day (brunch at 2.30 in the afternoon!) at their apartment with all the rest of the broadway crew.  It was very surreal, but a lot of fun. 

So this weekend has been super cold, but still no snow!  It was minus 17 celcius yesterday with the wind chill.  The closest to snow has been the slightest of a 'flurry' where you can see little flurries of ice in the air, but they don't eventuate to anything on the ground.  There has been a couple of days though where the water on the ground freezes. 

It was the NY Giants big match against the Greenbay Packers (reigning 2011 Superbowl champions) yesterday, and the Giants went in as the underdog and won 20 to 37.  I educated myself on the game with the NFL website and discovered it is somewhat similiar to Rugby League.  I enjoyed the game with some colleagues from work yesterday.  So, next week the Giants are up against the San Francisco 49ers and if they win that, then they make the Superbowl.  I think that will be huge for the city and I might even jump on the bandwagon and get myself a shirt.   This has been my distraction as I have had to study for my exam which is on Wednesday so I have been couped up in my apartments studying away all weekend...boring! 

Good timing for my exam, today is a public holiday for Martin Luther King day.  There are a couple of funny thing about the US and public holidays... First thing, Christmas is the only religious holiday that is recognised as the country is 'non-denominational' and does not want to acknowledge one religion over the over.  The second thing is that Companies don't need to recognise all public holidays.  Basically Companies are required to give a certain number per year to employees, but they can set up the public holiday schedule like they want - so at PMI they use the days to beef up other public holidays like Thanksgiving.  Instead of only having the Thursday off, PMI gives you the Friday and the Monday as well.  Sounds nice and flexible, but it's hard for dual working families to play.  A lady I work with obviously had the day off, but her husband had to work and her kids had to go to school.  Very strange in my books. 
In two weeks time, I'm back in Miami, which will be lovely for another chance to defrost.  Then I'm moving into my new house!  I'm looking forward to moving off the island - it's a great city, but it's almost impossible to try and relax.  I went over to NJ with mum to show her the house and the first thing you notice is the quiet, it was so lovely.  But hey, it's been awesome to have the opportunity to live in Manhattan for a few months.

 But now, some of the most exciting news of all - I found Vegemite!!!!  Yay, who cares that it costs $9 for a small jar.  But you know the most annoying thing of all?  It's in the supermarket that I've shopped at before but I couldn't find it because it's in the bloody English section... that's just insulting. I've eaten so much Vegemite in the past 24 hours that there is a very strong chance that I will be forever preserved with all of the salt in my system!
Well, that's me signing off for another week.  Keep in touch!
Z.... Mush... Michele