52.

hey!
first of all - last night when i got home from starbucks (which by the way, there is a new au pair, and its a guy, and he is smokin hot - nothing like a bit of eye candy for the monthly meetings) i checked my au pair account online and my flights have been booked!
i leave hartford at 2pm on thursday the 19th of april, fly to chicago with an hour lay over, fly to LA with a three hour layover and then fly to sydney.
a total of 22 hours flying time and i will be home at 6:10am on saturday the 21st of april!
anyway - this morning started out normal - kids went to school, i did the washing and sweeping, went to the gym for a couple of hours, came home and washed my filthy hair, and then harrison got home.
at 11:30am. this is because it was a forecasted snow storm so the kids had an early dismissal.
and then the other three were home at 12pm.
we all had lunch, did homework, played monopoly, played nerf wars, watched tv, i read my book, got a head ache, made dinner and now i am finished and soooo tired. i only got about six hours sleep last night and then no nanna nap today, oh its a hard life ;)
going to make a cuppa, watch one tree hill and go to bed.
goodnight xo

53.

hey!
well i did nothing all morning and then at 12:30, i dropped books off at the library and then met lauren at friendlys for a three hour lunch - that is how long it took for her to tell me all about ireland and for me to tell her all about NYC.
came home and the kids got home, we did homework and then played an epic game of nerf war.
i made dinner, we played legos, got the kids ready for bed, and now i am finished.
and harrison came into my room and looked at the polaroid picture of me and the abercrombie model and asked if it was my boyfriend. ha! i said yes ;)
off to starbucks now, to be social and everything.
goodnight xo

54.

hey!
well i got up at 7:20, still half asleep, got the kids off the school and then went straight back to bed.. until 1:30pm.
it was beautiful.
but then once i woke up, had lunch and showered, i had to do three loads of clothes, one of sheets and one of towels, sweep and vaccum, clean bathrooms, unpack the dishwasher, tidy everything, the kids got home and i made tomorrows lunches, helped with homework, re-made beds, put clean towels out, made pork and mash for dinner, cleaned up the kitchen and now i am getting ready for my au pair meeting.
a very non stop afternoon.
now i am off to pick up harrison from tae kwon do, go to my au pair meeting and then home to bed - because i obviously need more sleep now.
goodnight! xo

56 & 55.

hellloooooooooo!
so i am going to cheat and just put my whole fabulous weekend in new york city in one post - starting friday night (after i posted) until now. prepare yourselves, it was a fairly hectic weekend!

friday night - it was about 6:50pm when mickayla picked me up from laurens house and then her host mum dropped us at robyns mansion because originally the plan was that we would all leave from robyns and her host mum would take us to the bus station... well that didn't work out too well and we ended up getting a cab. so the cabbie is late by about half an hour so of course we dont get to hartforf until 8:15pm, fifteen minutes after he bus left, just dandy.
oh and the next bus wasn't until 10. so we sat. and we waited.
pretty uneventful bus trip, got to NYC at about 1am, hailed a cab, got to our hotel which was fancccyyyy. so we checked in, walked up three flights of stairs! to our room (which looked just like the pictures on the internet) dumped our things, the girls went to get some water and things from the convienince store while i facetimed mum to let her know i was safe and sound, so by the time we went to bed it was around 3am.

just before dawn - so we are all fast asleep when about three fire trucks go roaring down our street with the sirens going which woke us all but mickayla who i was in a bed with, sat straight up from her laying position and was yelling "conner! conner!" (who is her two year old host kid) and pretty much climbing over me with her arm stretched out to nothing. so i am like its okay its okay you're just dreaming, and jess is like who the f*** is conner?! and so i was like um she doesn't know where she is, cause she was still freaking out and i thought she must have been asleep, but turns out she was dreaming about conner and thats how it all happened. and in the morning i thought i had dreamt it, but i didn't, and it was the funniest thing i have ever seen in the middle of the night.

saturday - we woke up at 7am, couldnt get back to sleep so we decided to get up and shower and get ready to go exploring. first stop, starbucks which was next door, chilled there for a bit then caught the subway to the top of the upper west side to meet up with one of robyns aussie friends from training school who lives in san fran, to have brunch. it was this cute little cafe called 'indian road cafe' and i got eggs benadict which was the first time in 11 months, although they weren't that great - the coffee shop in australia'a are wayyy better.
we left there and caught the subway over to the bronx, then got a cab the rest of the way to the zoo. and almost died doing it because our cab driver was about 2cm away from smashing into the back of the can inf ront of us. which was crap. taronga is heaps better. it was $16 to get in, and it was cold, and we couldn't see the turtles, lions, tigers, monkeys, there was no rhino, or elephant, or giraffe and the only animals we did see was a leapord which was pretty much crying (it sounded like a kitten looking for its mum). the highlight of the zoo was the photo booth which was hilarious. and then of course it started to snow! yeah, snow.. and it wasn't forcasted so we were not prepared at all. decided to leave the craptastic zoo and get the subway back to times square. went to sephora (a huge beauty shop) and i brought a new concealer which is just beautiful - it covers everything! and a double ended foundation and concealer brush, which ladys reading this - if you do not own a foundation or concealer brush do yourself a favour and buy one. best invention ever. it puts on your makeup 100 times better and it actually lasts longer on your face. a bit expensive but worth every cent. best buy ever.
then to forever 21, where i got a ring, braclets, necklace and headband.
left there and got stopped by a guy asking if we liked stand up comedy, so we (mickayla and i, robyn and jess were at maccas peeing) tried to brush him off because there are so many of the same guys doing the exact same thing in times square but in the end we got four tickets for $60 for the 8pm show on broadway.
went to a bar and grill on "resteraunt avenue" for lunch/dinner - linner? dunch?
got the subway back to the motel - hung out for an hour while jess skyped with her new host family (she is in rematch) and then we got the subway back downtown for the show.
it was absolutely hilarious! there were six comedians, it went for an hour and a half and they didnt check ID's (it was a two drink minimum for the show anyway) so we got to drink as well.
it finished and we got back on the subway, again, to the motel to shower, makeup, hair, dressed, pre drink, before we went out. b the time we got on the subway down to soho it was midnight - but still as busy as ever, in the city that never sleeps. got to webster hall (a 19+ nightclub) which has five storys of dance floors, all different styles of music..
so we partied hard until 4:30am, decided to get a cab home because we were in no state to figure out the subway system. went to maccas, got a feed, went back to the room - drank a little more and then passed out around 6:30am.

sunday - woke up with a massive hangover at 9:30am, quickly showered, packed our stuff up and went to get coffee before walking three blocks to central park - which was cool but also because its winter everything looks dead and it isnt as wonderful as the movies.
then we went on the subway to the brroklyn bridge. got breakfast/lunch/dinner at the best indian place ever. the lamb korma was delicious! then we walked to the middle of the brooklyn bridge took photos then walked back..
got back on the subway and met julia, who had been in NYC with her parents all weekend, on 5th avenue (where all the deisgner brand stores are, and so naturally all the rich people hang out.
and we went to the abercrombie and fitch store and got a photo with the absolutely smokin hot guy without his shirt on. we also got a polaroid picture too so it went straight on the pin board when i got home so i can look at his sexinesss every single day.
went to buy an 'i love NY' t-shirt, went to starbucks to rest our sore feet before getting on my last subway ride ever in NYC back to the station where the buses are.
we caught the 6pm bus home, slept some of the way, talked to chloe on the phone and got back to hartford at about 8:40pm.
julia dropped me home, i have unpacked, showered eaten some toast, and because i am just so dedicated, even though i have had a total of seven hours sleep since waking up on friday morning, i wrote my enormous blog anyway.. lucky i love you all.
now i am going to sleep. and then the plan is to send the kids to school and sleep some more.
goodnight! xo

57.

hey!
well it snowed last night. and i had no idea. i got a text from karen at 6:40am telling me the kids had a 90 minute delay for school and to drive carefully home. so i look out the window and everything is covered in snow. so i got up early because i knew i would have to drive really slowly home.
fed the dog, got all my things together because last night was my last night there, and went outside to battle the snow.
it wasn't snowing this morning but i only had my suede boots (not snow appropriate what so ever) and i had to use my arm to get the foot of snow off the car.
finally got home and the kids and i just chilled all morning until they went to school at 9:45.
i did the washing, cleaned the floors, tidyed their bedrooms, and then started to pack for NYC.
boy oh boy.. i hate my wardrobe. i could not find anything i wanted to wear. but eventually - after i tried on three hundred different outfits and made huge piles of clothes on my floor i found "the ones".
packed, had a nanna nap, kids came home, and went straight to the tv.
oh and i downloaded some new songs. i have a favourite boy band- yes, boyband. they are called 'the wanted'. and dayyyuuummmm they are mighty fine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ggzxInyzVE&ob=av2e&noredirect=1 - watch it.
well i am going to NYC in two hours - will let you know how amazing it is!
goodnight xo

58.

hey australia..
well to start with, last night i realised that BOTH my ipod and phone had died (my chargers are at home), which means i would have no alarm to wake me up. so i found laurens phone and turned it on, set the alarm on it, but then realised it was going to die as well.. and do you think i could find her charger? of course i couldn't.
so at 11:20pm i had to call karen at home (which i had to find our number in the white pages online because i dont know the number without my phone) and get her to call me at 7am so i would be home in time to get the kids ready for school.
after that little drama i was up on time, stopped to get milk, in my pjs which no one cared about again..
kids went to school - i did rachel's hair in an old style bun because she was doing a speech as a jane addams today, then i went to spin class, which was a whole lot more deathly then usual. we had to put all the resistance on the bike, stand up and pedal, for the whole length of the song 'sweet child of mine'. does anyone know how long that god awful song goes for? seven freakin minutes.. seven! i could have died.
so i finished (without dying, phew) and went home to shower and nap..
i am a master napper. i can nap anywhere, anytime.. i think of it as a pretty awesome quality.
kids got home, two of them went to the library with their dad so i had an extremely easy arvo with the other two.
got homework done, played some games, made some dinner, got matty ready for scouts and then finished.
came hoem to laurens and skyped with stevie for two hours. watched greys anatomy and now ready for jersey shore.
goodnight xo
p.s thankyou to stephanie peters for my lovely birthday present!

59.

hello!
wow, into the fiftys already. i will be home in no time.
this morning the kids went to school and i went back to bed.
because i got to laurens so late last night, and my fantastic book sucked me in to a good hour or so's worth of reading i didnt sleep untila lmost midnight, so i napped until 11.
got up and re made rachel and garretts beds with clean sheets, broke a freakin nail while doing it! not happy jan, not happy at all.
went to the gym for two hours - while i was there and on the treadmill i happened to glance up from my tv screen.. in the gym they have these little things on the wall that you pull out wet disinfecting wipes out of to wipe down the equipment after you use it. so anyway there is one about five metres in front of me and there is this guy trying to pull a wipe out but there is only about 5cm of the wipe hanging out of the bottom and because it is wet it must have been slippery, and the box must have been jammed because this big muscley guy is trying with all his might to get a wipe out. and he would stop trying, wipe his hands on his pants and then try again, and his face was strained and everything and i was cracking up laughing but had to pretend it was at the tv although i do think he knew it was at him. it was the funniest thing i have ever seen.
came home, showered, read more book..
kids came home, we did homework, rach and i practised her speech for tomorrow, played mastermind with harrison, made dinner and then finished.
now i am home ready for one tree hill and very excited to finish my book.
goodnight xo