A really really really really long weekend

Man, I'm knackered*! I don't feel like I had a rest at all this weekend. Poor Trev too - he's had the 3rd weekend in a row where he's had to work. On the positive side, I didn't do a stitch of work all weekend, on the negative - I FLIPPING HATE MOVING. Especially when it's 95 degrees outside.

This is our 3rd move since March - and we still have one more to go to get into the condo. I feel like I've been a traveller for 6 months! So the apartment we've moved into is OK, modern and has some luxuries that I've definitely missed - ie. 2 toilets and laundry inside the apartment. We took it with the agreement we'd keep it tidy as it's on the market.

Issues with this weekend:
- the realtors are supposed to give us at least 30 mins notice before turning up. sunday afternoon they did no such thing and kept intruding. On one of the visits Trev was asleep and I was in the bathroom.
- Sleeping arrangement...more on that below.

Moving of itself wasn't too bad - we really don't have too much stuff and we were done packing in a couple of hours. It was about 3 trolleys of stuff to the car...drive the car a mile, unpack. We then had to unpack immediately as we didn't know if the realtors would come over. So I unpacked while Trev went and got the final load. Although I'd rather have been sipping cocktails on a veranda, it wasn't too bad.

Now, the only sticking point was that this apartment didn't have a bed. No problem thought I - I went on craigslist.com and found one for $75 that was a couple of years old. So, we called UHaul who didn't have a van until 4.30pm Sunday afternoon. Still positive, we turned up at UHaul about 4pm....and that's when it all went ass over apex. After standing in line for 30 minutes where we'd witnessed several loud bustups we just decided that it didn't matter how cheap the bed was, we couldn't be bothered to get it. We figured that the next best thing was to meander down to IKEA and pick up a new one - the added bonus being I could eat meatballs in the cafeteria!!

Given we didn't exactly know where we were going (we just knew it was by the airport), we found it pretty OK. After much discussion we realized we didn't need another bed (we have a king and queen already) and it seemed a complete waste of money. We found some chairs which have cool covers and have mattresses - we figure that given our lack of space these would be a pretty cool addition to the new condo. While we're standing testing out all the different mattresses the worst thing happens.....THE CAFETERIA SHUTS. Can you believe that? Annoying or what? Anyhow, we're now $300 worse off but have OK chairs that we can put to good use. Have to say, having slept on them last night, they'll take getting used to - but much better than an airbed. Bad thing - I got my hand caught in the springy thing....so have huge bruises...dont' think anything's broken though as I'm typing this with minimal pain.

I'm glad it's all over and done with. The condo doesn't look like it'll be ready in a month, so we may end up extending the lease in September. Will know more tomorrow.

* for those of you who don't know what "knackered" is - it's flipping tired. From the term "knacker's yard" where old horses went when they were too old to work in the 19th century.

Memories of Iowa

Two things happened last night:

1) Arranged to go for a beer with some friends from work
2) Second celebrity siting

So, on our way to the bar, Mary Ann and I were walking a few blocks to Daltons. Pretty good bar, similar to the Cedar Brew Company in Cedar Rapids and we were meeting Sarah, Heather and Trevor and a few others.

On our way, we walked past Alan Rickman (Robin Hood Men in Tights, Dogma etc). He looked like a nutty professor with sandy/grey hair....nothing like his usual dark look. Pretty cool though. I'm keeping a running list....I guess that's what you do when you get to NYC!!

At the bar, had a couple of drinks then started on some shots. So, Penny - I introduced the crowd to Surfers on Acid. Even better, when I started explaining to a barman how to make it I got the "I know what it is....". They went down well, so after a few of those Trev and i ended up on the way home. Got some fond memories of Fridays in Muddy Waters....was pretty cool. Food wasn't too bad....but I pined for the fun Friday nights in IA.

We're moving again this weekend to our 3rd temporary apartment. Hopefully this will be the final temporary move. Shouldn't take too long although we have to go and pick up a bed in Princeton. Craigslist is a lifesaver....for $75 I've got a king bed that's a few years old, seemed cheaper and easier than trying to get our bed out of storage. This is all I need as the weather will be so hot....yippee!

Have a good weekend!

The difference a decade makes....

Age 29 - spent most of the day in the ER with Rachel who had a fly in her ear. Dinner nothing special as we'd been at the hospital
Age 39 - had a beautiful lunch, hung out, got a massage, few cocktails, dinner.

Flipping marvelous! Here's to the big b'day next year! All I can promise is that it'll be on a beach at Heron Island:):) Yee hah

Questions questions...

1. What is your full name now? Philippa Claire Lovegrove
2. What colour pants/trousers are you wearing??? Black
3. What are you listening to right now? Katie Melua
4. Where were you last night? Bar 41 for a drink with Heather, then home alone
5. What was the last thing you ate? New Zealand lamb chops, green beans, gravy...yum!
6. Do you wish on stars ? not usually, although interested
7. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be? blue
8. How is the weather right now? Hot - about 85 F
9. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Trev
10. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes (I wouldn't reply otherwise!!)
11. How old are you today?? 38 years, 364 days
12. Favorite drink? tanqueray and tonic
13.Hair colour? Triple highlighted - brown, blond, red...love it!
15.What was the last movie you watched? Pirates of the Carribean - Dead Man's Chest
16. Favourite day of the year: any day where I'm home, doing nothing, with Trev. Massage is booked - perfect!
17. What was your favourite toy as a child?? my teddy bear (still have it)
18. Summer or winter? summer, as long as airconditioning is near!
19. Hugs or kisses?? definitely both
20. Chocolate or Vanilla?? chocolate
21. Do you want your friends to answer you back? of course!
22. Who is most likely to respond- penny
23. Who is least likely to respond? debbie
24. Living arrangements? been in transit for 6 months, moving this coming weekend to 3rd temp apartment. Condo in Hoboken, NJ by end Aug
25. When was the last time you cried? Can't remember
26. Favorite TV show? House
27. Happy in life?? For the most part, glad I moved to NY but would like a better work/home balance
28. What are you afraid of ? spiders
29. Plain, buttered or salted popcorn? None....give me chocolate instead
30. Favorite car? Pontiac GTO
31. Favorite Flower? daisy or sunflower
32. Number of keys on your key ring? 2
33. How many years at your current job? Current company 3 years, current job 5 months
34. Favorite day of the week? Friday
35 How many cities have you lived in? 2
36. Do you make friends easily? Social friends, generally. Close friends, takes longer
37. How many people will you be sending this to? half a dozen or so

Music for Commuting

I'd like some feedback. I'm getting more picky about the music I'm listening to while commuting. It has to be upbeat, and something I can walk fast to -for the morning and when I'm walking to the train station on the way home. Once I'm on the train I like things quieter.

My listening list....

Morning's
Beautiful South - Superbi (new album, favourite band, what more can I say)
Ordinary Boys - Brassbound (SKA like music...The Specials/Madness combination)
Artic Monkeys - Whatever People Say That's What I'm Not (new British band...pretty good)
Bacardi Blast 2005 - very good to walk to
Mission Impossible 2 soundtrack - again, very good to walk to
Ace of Base - 1994 album; love it...not quite sure why

Afternoon's
Katie Melua - any album, sure to put you to sleep
Chris Botti - trumpeter, very mellow jazz
Sting - Brand New Day and Sacred Love (find both these albums very calming)
Beautiful South - what can I say? favourite band, is applicable any time


so, I've been listening to these on and off for weeks. any suggestions?

An achievement leads to ...

.....sometimes I wonder!!!! The joys of management....gotta love it.

I pay my team their bonus for each quarter of the year. In Friday's paycheck, it's the Q2 bonus. I had lots of feedback when I arrived that they never received a written breakdown of their bonus before - and i could back this up with the number of questions I got in Q1. So I decided that I would give everyone their breakdown - the idea being that I'd avoid 95% of all questions. I had sooooooo many of them last quarter I figured this would be a great idea.

Of course, with 60 people in my team I wanted to avoid writing 60 emails with the breakdown. I decided that I would use the mailmerge function in MS Word. Now, I used to use it years ago so I understood the principles of mailmerge. It just took a little while to get it working. By a little while, I mean at least 6 hours at the weekend and about 3 last night. I had issues with stupid stuff....like in Excel it'd show a % and in word it would translate to 1.15. Not a huge deal, but not perfect! By 10pm last night I had it all figured out. You have to create a text-only Excel sheet, make sure ALL the data is correct and then save it. You can then do the mailmerge in Word brilliantly.

Worked great, I got all but one out the door - and have received brilliant feedback. So, I know it was worth the effort.

So here's the peculiar piece. A guy in my team joins on May 8th - that means he's due 8 weeks worth of bonus out of the quarter's 13 weeks. Make sense? It did to me. So, I was on the floor laughing my ass off when he wanted to know why he didn't get a full quarter's bonus. Is it me, or is he plain stupid? I think the latter.

Luckily, I have a sense of humor!

How open minded are you?

You Are 60% Open Minded

You are a very open minded person, but you're also well grounded. Tolerant and flexible, you appreciate most lifestyles and viewpoints. But you also know where you stand firm, and you can draw that line. You're open to considering every possibility - but in the end, you stand true to yourself.

How Open Minded Are You?

What a beautiful sunset

This sunset inspired me to get our camera out. This is the view from our current apartment - Manhattan is in the background. Enjoy!

At last - somewhere to live for August

Thank goodness for craigslist.com - it's a lifesaver. I was very dubious when I first got to NY about it as I'd never heard of it. I found our first apartment through it, our second, and now our third:) I'm now a convert - it's like ebay, but local.

There was an ad for a short term lease in Hoboken, where we'll be living once the condo is ready. When she called yesterday, it sounded like a match made in heaven. She's selling her condo, and it'll take at least a couple of months to close. We don't have too much stuff with us as it's storage so this is perfect. The only request is that it's always ready for a realtor to take around potential buyers. Given we're not there most of the time, that's not a problem at all.

The best thing is that it's an extendable lease - so if the builder isn't ready again, we can at least extend.

All I have to do is find a bed (as there isn't one), and a TV (coz i won't survive without it). LOL

Yeeeeeha!

Got my hair cut!

It's been so hot, and it's been a few months since I got my hair cut that I decided a change was in order. I've let my hair grow since Christmas and it was a long way down my back - since I got my new stylist in March it's been blond, brown, long bangs (fringe to the UK readers), short bangs etc etc.

So....we went with blond and red highlights, along with the brown - colour looks great. For the cut, I had my stylist cut off about 4 inches. It's shoulder length again. I can still pin it up easily, but it feels so light. I still have to keep a dryer at work, because i walk 10 blocks (at least), I always end up looking like a gypsy. I'm hoping having it a bit shorter will make a difference.

That said, it feels so weird to have it this short that I'm not sure I like it yet. Tomorrow is when I dry it myself for the first time. Time will tell.

At least my hair grows quickly, it'll be long again by September!

Overall, I think it's a good move.

Legwarmers

Yep, it's official! I feel like I'm in 1984. I saw someone wearing a short denim skirt...and a pair of barbie pink legwarmers! Who new they'd come back "in". I still have an original pair from way back when.

I am feeling my age today.

What your soul really looks like

What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are a warm hearted and open minded person. It's easy for you to forgive and forget. You are not a very grounded person. You prefer dreams to reality. For you, it's all about possibilities. You see yourself with pretty objective eyes. How you view yourself is almost exactly how other people view you. Your near future is calm, relaxing, and pretty much what you want. And it's something you've been anticipating for a while now. For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust.

Inside the Room of Your Soul

Weird ad

Ok, so I'll tell you what I saw when I was traveling back on the subway tonight. I know it was a clever ad - and I'm going to look for it tomorrow!

I was sitting on the train on the way home, and I thought I saw a reflection in the window....I looked some more and still thought it was weird. I almost think I imagined it....so as I looked out the window between stations I saw a moving car, outside, words - it was for a new Lexus car. I can't describe it any other way. I decided it wasn't my imagination as I checked several times. I decided it was a funky advertising ploy.

So, watch this space for me to tell you if I see it again.

What pattern is your brain?

Your Brain's Pattern

Structured and organized, you have a knack for thinking clearly. You are very logical - and you don't let your thoughts get polluted with emotions. And while your thoughts are pretty serious, they're anything from boring. It's minds like yours that have built the great cities of the world!

What Pattern Is Your Brain?

How do you communicate?

You Communicate With Your Ears

You love conversations, both as a listener and a talker. What people say is important to you, and you're often most affected by words, not actions. You love to hear complements from others. And when you're upset, you often talk to yourself. Music is very important to you. It's difficult to find you without your iPod.

How Do You Communicate?

What is your life path number?

Your Life Path Number is 11

Your purpose in life is to inspire others Your amazing energy draws people to you, and you give them great insight in return. You hold a great amount of power over others, without even trying. You have the makings of an inventor, artist, religious leader, or prophet. In love, you are sensitive and passionate. You connect with your partner on a very deep level. You have great abilities, but you are often way too critical of yourself. You don't fit in - and instead of celebrating your differences, you dwell on them. You have high expectations of yourself. But sometimes you set them too high and don't achieve anything.

What Is Your Life Path Number?

Update on boyshorts

I can now honestly say that after my last post re boyshorts, having worn a pair for a day they are the most uncomfortable, unsexy pair of knickers I've worn in 20 years. It feels like they're around the back of your thighs. I've decided that it must be how blokes feel when they where boxers!

Mum - think Gran's undies

I mean......we are talking HUGE!

My turn to sound off about work!

So, Penny - it was your turn last week.....this week it's mine. I feel like I'm in the middle of a5th grade playground. Grab a coffee, tea, chocolate, gin and tonic...and listen to me get this off my chest. I'm going to call them Jack and Jill. Remember, this will be an essay:)

Jack: is a senior specialist of both a product and financial market. He run classes, makes our heavy users love their products. He's originally from mainland Europe, spent a year in Canada and transferred into my team last February (before I arrived). I didn't really have that much to do with him as he was generally at clients, I received no complaints although I did find it strange he never, ever struck up a conversation with me as his manager.

Jill: is a team lead on the same account. I didn't want to promote her to that position when I interviewed her but was told that it was good for the team, the account liked her etc etc etc. As I didn't have much say in the matter she found herself in the position. While she talked occasionally, she isolated herself as she spends a lot of time on an account that is underresourced and where she's the only trainer. She chose to fill her vacancy 3 months after it occurred by waiting for an internal transferree.

So, here's the thing. Last Friday was a chance for me to go to the client and visit the site. I've spent a bit of time with both Jack and Jill, but not a huge amount. Jill always seemed to be a good trainer, but not someone who could lead a team - my gut of not promoting her has certainly held true so far. I'm at the client site, met a couple of managers who gave me some very very direct feedback about my Company and it wasn't particularly good. Most of it doesn't matter for this, but one piece does. One of the clients mentioned that Jack had not completed a task that was clearly his responsibility. I was extremely displeased and felt that I was blindsided. On the train on the way home, I emailed the account manager with a "you're losing us business" email. I then immediately forwarded to Jack and Jill indicating I wanted to talk to them about it.

1) I had a one to one with Jack tonight. he thought I was going to fire him! Oh good grief....
2) The incident I refer to is something that happened 6 weeks ago. What I didn't know was that Jack and Jill had not even spoken since then.
3) Jack thinks that he's completely in the clear, totally professional and it's all Jill's fault
4) Jill thinks she's completely in the clear, totally professional and it's all Jack's fault
5) They have both declared they refuse to work together
6) The account manager has decreed she doesn't want to lose any resource at all
7) the account manager wants to stick them in a room on Friday and hash it out
8) I don't think that's actually possible. However when I suggested getting HR in the room as a mediator jack said he'd hire a lawyer as her emails he considers slanderous.

I've spent several hours with each of them and not really sure whether there's an answer. i think Jill is getting a bummish deal (but not totally in the clear), Jack needs to lighten up and not be so serious.

In addition while talking with Jack it appears he has a big chip on the shoulder regarding his transfer from Canada didn't go quite as smoothly and he's ticked at my company for not paying for the relocation etc. He's also mad about his visa etc. as he's still paying Canadian taxes. He also wants a green card but never mentioned it me.

I suspect he's mad aththe company in general and taking it out on Jill. Jill's at fault because she's relying on email and not building relationships.

Jill has said that she's thought about quitting as that's what her husband says. She's also considering giving up her position.

Part of me wants to smack them together - they need to find a way to work together. My gut tells me this is beyond redemption. I mean seriously....

My freaking brain is fried!

BTW 0- this is the very very abbreviated version!

Boyshorts

Ok, c'mon! So, I'm on undie patrol so hit the Victoria Secret's website. I wanted not only "cute" undies but functional for walking my ass around a very hot and humid New York.

So I ordered the usual lacy numbers, but then saw "boyshorts"....they were cotton, nice colours etc etc. Looked cute.

I have never been so disappointed. They arrived yesterday. To be clear....BOYSHORTS is the 21st century term for "freaking huge knickers"

ouch!!!!

What does your birthdate mean?

Your Birthdate: July 26

You lucked out the the skills to succeed in almost any arena. Put you in almost any business or classroom, and you'll rise to the top. You're driven and intense, but you also know when to kick back and cooperate. Your ability to adapt to almost any situation is part of what's going to make you a success. Your strength: Your attention to detail Your weakness: You can be a little too proud of your successes Your power color: Turquoise Your power symbol: Arrow pointing up Your power month: August

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

How gross are you?

You Are 36% Gross

You're a tad gross, but generally you're a clean, hygienic person. No one can be perfectly clean all the time, and it's better to be human than a neat freak.

How Gross Are You?

What do people envy about you?

People Envy Your Energy

You've got the drive and determination to keep your life in order, and you are on track to be a huge success. People tend to envy all you've got in life, but they don't understand the work that goes behind it!

What Do People Envy About You?

Missing Trev

I spent 6 hours at work today to get caught up. I can't profess I'm done with everything, but I've at least got some big stuff done that I wanted to. It'll make me feel better on Monday. Times Square on Saturdays is still busy:)

I blew off Heather and Bruce for dinner as all I really wanted to do was go home. When I got here....it just wasn't the same without Trev. As he's in Arizona working all day it's not like I can talk to him until later tonight. John called again to go out with his friends....but they don't go out until 10pm....that's just too late, I really can't be bothered when it's that late.

Feeling a little down... I know it'll pass soon enough. I miss Trev. I'm glad that I still feel this way although I'd rather he was home.

Tomorrow will be a day of chores and then I'll be totally caught up. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow......

Anyhow, to cure the boredom I've been scouring the net for blog quizzes.....so you'll find some following:)

Weird ass on the train...

I meant to mention in my diatribe earlier about a weird on the train this morning. I'm sitting, listening to music as usual. I happen to be sitting in an end seat near the door. So, there's this guy standing by the door, right next to me listening to his own music.

I think nothing of it until I start to realize he's actually moving a bit more than you would normally if you stand.... then I realize that he's actually dancing to whatever he's listening to. Now, it definitely wasn't groovy music. Given the dancing he was doing it was almost like he thought he had a woman with him. It was blinking hilarious.

It was worse when we were stopped in stations....coz then he'd start to do turns and stuff. Hahahahahahah

all I can say is that my description is really crap. But I was almost laughing out loud it was so funny!

Only in New York....

My week in NYC

Get a drink....this is a long one!

We'll start after the power outage. Stayed at Heather's everything was fine and dandy. Saw my first celebrity in New York. I'm sitting at the Blue Fin restaurant having a one to one with one of my managers, and I'm looking at this guy walking by....looked very familiar. By the time he was gone i figured it out - it was Stephen King the author. That was kinda cool.

Thursday night was a leaving do where I'd planned on having a couple of G&Ts and then go home. Didn't quite work out that way. I ended up having a few, staying til past midnight. Shared a cab to Penn Station (10 blocks), had to walk a block to get to my train. So picture this - it's 90 degrees, 1am, humid, high heels, PC bag and I'm walking around 34th St and Broadway and i cannot find a single entrance to my train station that's open. After wandering around for about 10 mins getting more and more stressed (I think when you're over 30 your brain is still sensible) I find a policeman who points me to an entrance that's 2 blocks away on 32nd and 6th. Hmmmmmmmm - was relieved and angry at the same time.

That evening I found a couple of guys that I worked with in St Louis - only to find they'd moved to NYC. Was pretty cool catching up.

See here's where the problem lies - i get home at 1.30am, I have to be up at 6am to get to Stamford for a client visit. That's OK, we can survive on little sleep. So, remember back to the previous evening with the power cut and staying at Heather's? Well, all my stuff (toothbrush, makeup, hairdryer, hairbrush etc) was at work because I didn't take it with me when I went for a beer.

So, mildly hungover and very sleep deprived (to say I looked like crap doesn't come close!! The pain of being over 30 I guess!) I had to get up at 6am to get to work, to make myself really really beautiful for my client and had to be at Grand Central by 8.15am.

That said, I had a fantastic trip with my client in Stamford. Lots of issues and stupid stuff to deal with but really enjoyed doing that part of my job. It still feels kinda weird that I'm a senior person.... i guess I'll get used to it.

Meant to say - Trev's in Arizona for work until the 23rd so he's not really in the picture right now - other than a couple of phone calls a day.

Then Friday night, John N was in town so was out with him. The thing with John is that he goes out at 10pm....kills me every time! So, the plan was to go home, sleep and go out late. Never quite made it as I got back late from Stamford so decided to stay in town. Stayed at work til 9 then got a cab to Greenwich Village and went out with John. First time in my life, flagged down a cab and while some tourists thought it was theirs, I actually jumped in the cab and shut the door. I did get it first, they just didn't see me. I fit into NY pretty well, right?

Didn't get home too late though (1am). I'm supposed to be meeting him late tonight too - but not sure if we'll make that!!

Am at work now getting caught up...the plan is to get a massage, pedicure and whatever sometime in the week.

so, off to work................

Gotta love Thursdays

I love Thursdays at work. It's Sushi day. The cafeteria bring in a sushi chef who makes whatever you want to order. All for about $10. 4 salmon, 4 tuna, box of edamame and a bottle of Fuze. $10. Can't beat it.

To top off the day

I work late, I get my stuff done, I get home only to find the power has been out all day. Now, to be fair Trev had told me the power had gone out and that's why I'd elected to stay at work and finish some stuff off. However, I was NOT expecting there to be no power at 9pm at night.

It was weird as the elevators worked, the lights in the hallways were on - I thought it was just me. I toddled down to the doorman and but no, my floor's power had yet to be restored. Luckily I'd mentioned it to my friend Heather who'd offered me a bed at her plan (back in Manhattan) if I needed it.

The poor doorman was dealing with some very frustrated people - I decided to go and stay with Heather. In the mean time I managed to pick up the car keys, not the apartment keys and locked myself out. Luckily the guys like me so they let me right in.

I get my stuff, I leave for the train station again, I had to wait 15 mins for the train, something I'm not used to. It's also very very humid and hot so I look like some menopausal woman (that's right I'm that already....but that's not the point!!). I get on the train...and then I remember I have absolutely zero dollars on me to get a cab from Penn Station. have you ever tried finding a freaking ATM at 10pm at night in Manhattan. Talk about nearly losing it..... found it, got the cab, got to Heather's. Fell asleep almost immediately so feel better now.

Now I'm at work this morning - managed to pick up a pair of black capris rather than regular pants. I know it's summer but I'm not usually this casual at work. funny as I have to do 4 interviews today. LOL

OK, now to use that hairdryer that I'm leaving at work......

You know you're working too long when...

...they turn the flipping lights off and I'm stuck in the dark! I guess I should leave. the plan for this evening was to catch up, build plans, get data for my teams etc. Totally missed that one. I can't decide whether to keep going or just go home and sleep. I think for my sanity I'll spend a day this weekend catching up and then hopefully take some early days off. I have 4 weeks of vacation to take before the end of the year - maybe I should take some now:)

Flipping tourists

Ok, so I have to sound off about people. I am fed up to the hind teeth of getting in the groove of walking around New York - head down, bag at my side, music blaring in my headphones on my way to somewhere (work, home, restaurant, bar, shop...whatever).

And then you get it. Some idiot who's walking fast and then abruptly stops, right in the middle of the pathway to gaze at the skyline, take a photo, chat, light a cigarette (that one really really annoys me). Or comes out of a shop walking fast and runs into you and then looks at you like YOU did something wrong. Or there's a family, all walking in a horizontal line taking up the whole flipping path so no-one can get through. Or a family standing in a huddle in the middle of the path. Or a dude trying to sell boat rides, comedy show, bus trip - do I look like I'm on holiday? In my suit, with a briefcase do I really really look like I give a crap about it? Why don't you go and do that to someone in shorts with a camera?

It gets my goat every blinking day. So I play the music louder, get a good beat, get me walking, think happy thoughts (or more like do a mental to-do list). I'm getting great at avoiding this stuff.

Alright, alright I hear you say "you wanted to move there, get over it"....all I'm saying is that rather than getting mad about stupid dumb drivers it's now actual people.

Fond memories

So, I'm on my walk to work (as I do every morning) trekking down Broadway between 33rd and 42nd. There's a shop that always looks like I'd like to go in it, but in the morning it's always shut and in the evening I really can't be bothered.

This morning as I walked past....in the window was a vase with honesty in it. A huge smile crossed my face as I fondly remembered my grandma:) How cute was that? Not that I don't think of her often but generally that's a deliberate act. I realized I hadn't really seen any honesty since she'd been in her last flat (apartment).

For those that don't know what honesty is - It's a plant/flower. it takes 2 years to grow. First year you get floweres, second year you get crispy silvery circles that looks like paper.

That made my day....

Do you think it's deliberate...?

Trev has been home since last Friday, we're making the most of it as he leaves on Wednesday for almost 2 weeks away at a work shindig in Arizona. So, when I got home last night to find he'd done laundry I was pleasantly surprised......until I found he'd washed it, dried it, dumped it in a hamper....and left it there. About 9pm he said "if you fancy putting the laundry away, it's on the bed". Hmmmph - of course for him he has gym shorts and undies. that's not too bad as who cares if it's crinkled. My stuff - work tops, pants, nice t-shirts. All a crumpled mess.

I know I sound like I don't appreciate it....but now I have to spend 20 mins ironing. It could have all been avoided. Maybe I should just rewash everything when he leaves:) Now, there's an idea.

Still deliberating how to spend the reward money. Another flat panel TV or a few days in Bermuda. Can't decide. Maybe I'll just upgrade my digital camera........................

I don't flipping believe it....

...well, actually I do. We went and visited the condo to see if it was really going to be ready for the end of July. Like crap it is.

Apart from the fact that the floors need finishing, the worktop need to be fitted, the painting finalized, shower fittings fitted etc etc the major thing for me is that the ELEVATOR IS NOT IN AND WORKING. Big flipping deal.

So now, we're in a position where we have to be out of our apartment by the 31st and nowhere else to stay. Trev's away for the next 2 weeks so it's down to me to find somewhere to stay temporarily. Like I ever have time.....

I guess this may be the time we'll be using up Hilton points big time.

Talk of points.....using our Amex points we're both now proud owners of the new QC3 Bose headphones. Blinking amazing. Our old ones just died - they were about 8 years sold so I guess they did OK, even though we still considered them both new. Hahahahahah. My commute is so much better now as I can concentrate on the music and not listen to the coughing and spluttering on the subway.

The other thing I did this weekend was buy a hairdryer.....for work. I'm and totally fed up of fixing my hair and by the time I get to work look like a complete wreck. I decided the best remedy was to invest $15 and a hairbrush (of which I have many) and fix my hair in the bathroom each morning. Worked like a charm this morning.

I'm feeling like a total commuter - hairdryer at work, buy lunch EVERY day, several shoes under my desk and the big one....I walk to work in comfy shoes:)

hahahahahah

To IPOD or not to IPOD

Up until now I've not even considered an IPOD as a "must have" gadget. I have to say though that the more that I'm commuting and listening to music all the time, the more I find I'm drawn to the cute little buggers. It's only now that my 1GB MP3 player doesn't seem enough - it seems too much like hard work to change my music each week. On average I get through 2 albums a day - one on the way to work, one on the way back. I'm also finding that it depends what my mood is as to what I want to listen to. That means I need more choice of what to listen to. Doesn't it sound like I'm writing my own justification?

I guess it's not too difficult to move music once a week....I just don't know what I want to listen to. Have to say though, if they had a 60GB NANO it'd be a slam dunk and I'd buy one immediately!

A few other things to go on my list of what to spend my reward on
- SLR digital camera
- Upgrade my current digital camera
- IPOD


Still haven't decided...have a year to make my mind up. Yeah!

Ipswich Town - Who'd have thought?

Trev and I took a trip to Hoboken to see the condo and take a good assessment on whether it's going to be ready in time.....my gut tells me know, but we wanted to see. That was a waste of time as it was all locked up. We'll go back on the weekend as there's an open house. Hopefully everything's in place and it should be fine.....keeping my fingers crossed.

So on our way back we stopped in at a bar for a beer/gin and tonic (it was hot, and an afternoon right before the 4th July day off) and was hoping that this Mulligans was the same as the Mulligans around the corner from where we lived in Manhattan. The service was as obnoxious as the other, the drinks came in the same weird-ass glasses (for the UK readers...think Shell freebies from the 80s!!) but they don't serve food. Bummer - coz at the other one they did a really good bangers and mash! Oh well, we'll have to take a trip.

Anyway, I digress. So, we're sitting at the bar and i'm look at the "ornaments"....what do I find? A beer bottle with a drawing on it of the Ipswich Town emblem! It was pretty accurate too! Can you believe that? It was right next to Chelsea and Leyton Orient. Weird choices.......... when I looked around I also found an Ipswich Town scarf pinned to the wall!!

Who'd have thought?

BTW - Happy July 4th!!

Choices choices choices

I need some help. I have nearly $2k to spend as a result of a reward. Part of me says "be sensible", the other side of me says "do what you want". Help me decide.....this is my shortlist so far:

- 4 days in Bermuda with Trevor
- 37 flat panel HDTV for the bedroom
- put towards closing costs on the condo
- pay off some credit card debt (we don't have too much....but it would be the SENSIBLE thing to do)
- buy new clothes for work (you know, suits, posh shoes etc)

Do you have suggestions? I think the top 2 are the favourties so far.....

Quiet weekend

After the focus of watching the footie and seeing England lose to penalities in the World Cup we had a very quiet weekend. Went out to dinner with friends (Heather and Bruce) to a restaurant called Gobo in Greenwich Village which was great - it's primarily Vegan food but it's always soooo good. Did not a lot of anything else other than cook a huge roast dinner.

Yorkshire puddings are amazing. I've decided that it's the new tins I bought in Target as my others were in storage - I definitely don't think it's anything I'm doing in the preparation and cooking. For a start I'm using a metal mixing dish....and I was always told never to use metal - doesn't seem to be an issue right now. They are incredible. Big and fluffy and gorgeous! Certainly makes us happy - that's for sure. hahahahahah.

We're still planning for moving into the condo for the end of July so here's hoping we'll be able to do that on time. If not, we'll be in a hotel for a while. Don't really want to do that so we'll see....

On this very very quiet day at work I'm going to get on with stuff I've been meaning to do for weeks....like expenses etc. Byeeeeeee