Introducing Brooke

This is Brooke, my new roommate.

She is beautiful! She also happens to be my sister! She moved out to New York to do ballet at JKO!

Brooke dancing (look at her leg! wow!)

Brooke likes to take stunning pictures of herself on my laptop

Brookie and I!

Some perks to living with Brooke are:

1. impromptu dance parties on our rooftop

2. she "gets it"

3. not weird if we cuddle while watching a t.v. show in my bed

4. she is so hilarious!! We are always finding new things that can make each other laugh.

5. its nice having someone to tell all my awesome stories to at the end of the day and she usually has quite a few herself

6. When my niece calls on FaceTime I don't have to sing and dance all by myself to entertain her - lessening the embarrassing side effects of doing said things in front of roommates

downsides:

1. we both hate cockroaches (refer to previous post about Cocky the cockroach)

2. we are both messy (our room is frequently a disaster)

3. and of course we know how to push each other's buttons

I'm so happy that Brooke is here and we can experience this East Coast adventure together!

The Cockroach Chronicles

This last week I have been battling a cockroach me and Brooke dubbed "Cocky". For those of you not familiar to cockroaches you need to know that they are the grossest bug imaginable and virtually indestruable. Cocky has moved into my bedroom this last week. Cocky is huge and thinks he is the best thing to happen to New York City.

This is Cocky - the yellow things are his very sharp teeth

He found his way through our door that we keep open at night. After the first sighting I felt bad for the guy. I really did. I thought "oh perhaps he wants to go back outside but cannot find his way." This was a false assumption. He loves spending his time terrifying me. He will never move out of our room alive. Every Night right as I am crossing from my bathroom to my bed he scurries out and viciously tries to eat my legs or so I imagine that is what he would do if he got the chance. Everynight for the past week he has been scurrying around making it impossible for me to go to sleep until the middle of the night. I know that he is just waiting for the moment when I go to sleep so he can crawl into my bed and eat me. So I did a little research about roaches so I could get to know the enemy a little better. Cockroaches can live 2 months without food and one without water... (Not a good sign I was hoping for a starvation death). They have immunities to most pesticides, they can live without their head, and they can bite causing gross infections! SOO with that in mind I now sleep with a bottle of chlorox and hairspray next to my bed. It doesn't kill him but it irritates him enough so that he goes back into hiding for a couple hours. Long term I'm thinking I need to set a trap but it can't just be an ordinary trap because this is no ordinary cockroach. So I am planning and plotting and plotting and planning for the day of my revenge.

This is the size of Cocky. He is Huge!

End of summer update

I haven't been doing a good job of blogging so far, but now that I have a computer and wireless internet I think it will be a lot easier! I have more to tell about my sister moving her and my mom coming in town but for now I'll start with the end of summer.

I picked up the boys everyday for a week from the natural history museum. Everyday we would spend a little time exploring the museum. I learned a ton about space, the oceans, and african animals! It was the perfect thing for me because of my extreme (borderline obsessive?) love of animals! Although I do prefer to see them alive. I like to think that these animals in the museum lived a happy long life and then died of natural causes in there natural environment and then were picked up by kindly souls who stuffed them and put them on displays to teach people about the environment. Wishful thinking ... I know.

(Fierce Tiger and the boys I nanny for as we are walking home)

2. I went to Martha's Vineyard with the family I nanny for. It was such a great vacation! Martha's vineyard has got to be one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Our house was perched on a hill with a lake in front of it and views of the ocean! I loved every moment of it! We spent most of our time at the beach and exploring the island. We even watched the sunset from the lighthouse that was on the cliffs. It might have been the most amazing sunset I've ever seen! At about 11 o'clock the night before we were leaving in the morning we found out that our flight was canceled because a hurricane was coming! This was a scary since we were on a small island and it was supposed to be a big hurricane. So in the morning we got on a ferry and got off the island. Then we drove back to New York where the hurricane hit. Luckily the hurricane didn't hit as bad as they thought. Especially where I was living but the family I nanny for was nice enough to let me stay with them till the storm blew over.

lovely beach!

walking to our private beach haha

Cruising around in the mini-convertable

the me and the girl's favorite activity

Parker and Izzy showing their sand creation!

On the ferry back to the mainland

7/29

The babies taking a nap in Washington sq. park. (Someone please tell me how the whole picture thing works?! Very frustrating)



New York is a fantastic place and I've become a legitimate New Yorker. How I know is that now tourists ask ME for directions, AND I can actually tell them where to go and how to get there. It is amazing! I never thought it would come to this. I also spend most of my subway time reading or playing on my phone and apparently so does every other New Yorker so I fit right in!







BIG NEWS: I got another job in addition to the one I had before. I babysit two year old twins from 1-4 , Monday through Friday. It has really added to my business here in New York. Almost everyday I take these curly haired beauties to Washington Sq. park where we people watch, nap, chase squirrels and pigeons, and go to the baby playground. We even take an occasional dip in the fountain!!



OTHER NEWS: For my regular job I nanny for twin ten year old boys that live on the Upper West Side. They are ten and hilarious. Some of my favorite quotes from Parker this week were at the Lake house. (Parker speaking to Harrison his brother while fishing on the dock. Harrison just tried to catch a fish, missed, then fish swarmed around Harrison) "It's like they're mocking you!"

Also while fishing they had clam meat on the dock for bait and their family is Jewish. Their dog runs up to the meat grabs a piece and takes it down. Parker: "Hallie (the dog) NO!!! Your a kosher dog!!!"

I enjoy spending my evenings with these boys and there is rarely a dull moment. Especially when their step-sisters (ages 9 and 10) are here. The other night ALL 4 of them wanted to paint my finger and toenails and took turns designing and painting them. They turned out to be a masterpiece!

I recently moved into a new apartment on the Upper West Side. (My last one was in Harlem). It is really amazing and even has a roof terrace! I love it! The only downside is having to go up five flights of stairs to get up to the top. By the end of my daily climb I'm ready to go to bed!


UNIQUE UPDATE: I find I have been making less animal noises (although still some just not as many) and singing more. Which may in fact be worse! Every song I learn I teach to my kids who usually learn it after me singing it one time! They are geniuses! Also speaking of weird, those of you who know me best know my absolute hatred of clipping nails... some people do it in the grossest places such as next to me on the subway! I also previously was living with someone who clipped them twice a day! Overkill!!!!! Anyways ... Rant over.
I miss my friends and family so much and I wish they could all come visit- and soon!

Settling In

This is my first time writing in New York only because I don't have a computer and so I am here in the the public library plinking out my first couple weeks. First I need to go over things I love and hate about the big Apple. (DISCLAIMER: I wrote this at the beginning of July but forgot to post it so this is a little bit outdated)





Love


1. There is always something new to do. Things are constantly going on. There is no way for you to be bored here.


2. The views are fantastic. I recently went up to the rooftop of Johnson & Johnson to watch the fireworks on the Hudson and I almost died and went to heaven.


3. They have parks everywhere! Central park is amazing and endless but they also have a park along the Hudson that is great and has a beautiful view of the river. Riverside Park is probably my favorite because the views of Jersey and the Hudson are fantastic.


4. Most people here are so friendly! Everyone I've met so far has been extremely friendly and very helpful.





Hate


1. It smells like trash a lot of the time in a lot of places.


2. It is very dirty. I need to buy handsanitizer.





All in all I love New York! (now I understand the t-shirt). I miss my family and friends but I like living here.

New! (York)

I am definitely new to this idea of blogging but I kind of have always wanted one and I feel like this is the perfect time to start since I am moving to New York!

Since I am leaving for New York in the Morning I actually don't have anything to say about it yet. Except that I am very excited and that I am going to miss my friends and family in Utah SO SO SO much!

I've been busy running around trying to fit in all the fun Summer things before I leave. Here is a summary of just one!

Me and Kara have wanted to swim in the Great Salt Lake since forever. We knew that we needed to act fast because I was leaving and then it would be put off until another summer.. So we went! And despite all the warnings we had a fantastic time. Seriously!! Yes the things people said were true; bugs attack and there is a slight stench. We found that on Antelope Island it didn't smell and the closer you got to the water the less the bugs attacked!

jumping for joy!

Me and Kara. I'm going to miss this girl!

The Salt Lake was surprisingly cold but after a couple of fake out we both went in. After the initial shock wore off I discovered all the new ways I could float. My favorite was lounging in the water so effortlessly and still having my head above the water.

I also spent my last days in Utah (for awhile) going to the pool, hitting up my favorite places to eat, (J-dawgs - I'm obsessed, Cafe Rio) and spending time with the friends. I went on a amazing hike up to Stewart Falls that included climbing Glaciers and exploring the snow left from avalanches and had a fun family party that included my favorite walk to the poppies. I also got the chance to spend more time with my favorite little niece Ruby and teach her a thing or two about swimming. Utah has been good to me and it will be missed!