view

over the past few days, i've had a lot of time to really get settled in and relax. i've also been a little bored! i've been doing a lot of reading (harry potter at the moment) and reflecting on the past few months. that mostly started after i talked to mom the other day and we reflected on everything that has happened this summer. there have been a lot of fantastic changes. erica joined our family, i moved to new york, adolphe got an awesome opportunity and is living in my old apartment, jen moved to baltimore (even though she should be in new york!). those are just the major changes along with all of the little ones. even though so many things have changed, i feel closer than ever to my family and think of them every day. i can't wait to see mom in october!!
this is the place i do most of my thinking, meditating, and talking on the phone (it's the only place i can get cell reception!). it's the view just outside my room. this place calms me and always makes me feel at peace. i can't wait until all the leaves start changing. this view is just going to get better! i can't believe i've already been here for a month!!

the good, the bad, and the ugly

over the past few weeks, i've been told many times how lucky i am to have gotten this job. while i agree 99% of the time, this past week i've realized that it's not always sitting at the pool or going to the beach. i finally realized that this is a job and there are always things we don't want to do. for me, that came when i had to work on a saturday night...while i know i didn't have to, those of you that know me well know that i have a hard time saying 'no'. so, here i sit watching the broncos play in denver. very strange to see it on tv and not be right there! it's a very small thing and i agreed to it at the beginning of the week; but of course, all i want to do is go see a movie or go out or something! just not be at the house...i'll stop whining now. i'm so excited to get my car! i should have it by the 5th. it will make a huge difference being able to go where i want to go, when i want to go there, and not have to ask anyone to take me there!

i also wanted to say congrats to brady and libby, they were married today. i wish you the best of luck!!

vacation

i know it's been a while since i've been able to post anything, but i haven't been able to get online in forever!! thank you daddy and jason for fixing that! i just got back a few days ago from a vacation to block island with the family i'm working for. all in all, it was a great time! it really felt like we were getting away. no phones or tv. we basically just hung out at the beach for a week! i also learned what it was like to try controlling two 5-year-old girls!! luckily, playing in the ocean and all the other activities we did made them extremely tired and they went to bed fairly early. i had such a good time playing in the ocean. it was the first time i've really gone boogy-boarding and played in the waves. i keep trying to upload a picture, but it isn't working! i'll keep trying. until then, that's about all i have to say. just been hanging out, going to the pool, and playing. hope you're all doing well!

my day in the city

i had to write because i had the best day in the city yesterday. i went to the train station near my house at about 12, had a coffee and read the times, got on the train at about 12:30 and was at grand central by 1:15. just as a point of reference, grand central is at about 40 st. on the east side, times square starts at about 42 st. and goes up to about 49 st. on the west side. so, i got off at grand central and just started walking up towards a museum i wanted to go see. i started out walking on madison ave. and was going back and forth between 5th and madison (depending on the stores i saw!). i walked through rockefeller center and kept walking until i got to central park. central park starts at about 64 st. (i think) and goes up to 74 st. or so. the museum i was going to was on 70 st. so i just decided to walk the rest of the way. i could believe that i had walked 30 blocks and didn't even notice it! there's just too much to see. so i got to the museum at about 2:30. it used to be a mansion but was converted to the frick museum i don't know how long ago. it mostly has old portraits and old french paintings. it was interesting, but i must admit i like the guggenheim much better. so after i did that i was just wandering around and all of a sudden, i didn't know where i was!! i had to call jesse and ask for directions! i finally found a train station ( i was not going to walk the 30 blocks back!) and went back to grand central. from there i took the shuttle train over to times square. i was walking around there and happened to find a great street fair that was going on for about 5 blocks. it was so fun! the only thing i ended up buying there was food (which was fantastic), but they had everything. music, jewelry, paintings, pictures, clothes, you name it. i got back to the house at about 6 that evening and was exhausted! it was a great end to the day to go have some dinner and margaritas outside with jesse. luckily, the last 2 days haven't been nearly as hot! i know that was all crammed together...sorry about that!

first week as a nanny

while my experience so far has been great, there have been a few surprises i think my first big shock was the cleaning. i never realized how much of a mess and how much laundry a 5 year old could create! the second surprise was just how much energy they have, and, more importantly, how little i have. i talked with mom yesterday and was telling her how tired i've been feeling a lot of the time. i just don't feel like i have enough energy! i know a lot of it has to do with the heat and humidity, but part of it is also the amount of running around i've been doing. the heat here, by the way, has been almost unbearable! its been like 100 for the past 3 days, no breeze, and very high humidity. thankfully, tonight there was a storm and the humidity is down to a little over 30% and its only 80. tomorrow, i'm planning to go down to the city and hang out down there for the day. hopefully, i'll get to go to a couple museums and just walk around the park or something. we'll see what happens. hope you all have a great weekend!

my life as a nanny...so far

well, so far, this has been an awesome experience. i'll start with when I first got to NY and work my way from there. jesse picked me up from the airport and took me straight downtown to meet up with some friends. it was great because they were all people i've gotten to know over the past 4 years, so it was nice to see some familiar faces. the next day we got up, it was fantastic to sleep in a real bed, had some breakfast, went and played tennis for a few hours (my game improved immensely thanks to jesse's mom), and then we went to the beach. i know, it was a rough day, but it gets better! that night (saturday) jesse's father made a great meal and we all just hung out, drank some wine, and chatted for a bit. i went to bed fairly early since i had to get up and go to work the next morning. i got here at about 10:30 sunday morning and was quickly taken to the country club. i was in my usual attire: jean skirt, tank top, and my hair tied up in a pony tail. i was the only one in the entire place with any sort of denim on!! no one said anything, but i stuck out like a sore thumb. we went to the pool and swam from about 1 until 4. then it was time to have dinner at the club. again, i only had the one outfit and everyone else had brought a second one that was much nicer than the one i was wearing. i think i'll have to go out this week and buy some khaki skirts! it's been really great. next week we're going on vacation. it sounds like a lot of fun. hopefully by that time i'll have my computer and i can put some pictures up. hope everyone is doing well! miss you all.