Its beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!!!

Camilla and Craig arrived last wednesday night and we have had a JAM PACKED 5 days since! We have been shopping, seen a Knicks Game (photo attached below), seen a few restaurants and bars, been to the Museum of Natural History, saw the Rockefeller Christmas Tree and saw the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes!!!! We have had a FANTASTIC TIME!

But most importantly we spent a day looking for and decorating the perfect (compact) Christmas tree. We found the one we liked on the Lower East Side and to decorate the tree I bought 300 lights and a collection of Red and White/silver decorations. (I have attached a photo of the tree on Christmas Eve, above) I also made everyone select a personal decoration for the tree. Mum had a silver wine goblet, and Camilla had a pink sparkley ball, but it was craig's decoration that most impressed. A ceramic fireplace with 4 stockings with our names and "NYC 2006". (I've attached a photo of his decoration below)

Christmas Day we woke up around ten and opened presents whilst drinking Bloody Marys. We then headed off to Central Park to go Ice Skating (which despite the rain was fun and I DIDN'T fall over) After which we spent the afternoon at a local bar playing pool, before retiring to the apartment for a mammoth Turkey Christmas Dinner. Once dinner was completed we all crashed EXHAUSTED!!!

WHAT A FANTASTIC DAY!

Camilla has now left to continue her adventure to India for New Years, and I'm back at work.

Now to plan New Years Eve!!!

Christmaka Preparations.

Camilla, Mum and Craig are coming over for Christmaka in New York. Unfortunately it doesn't look like I'll be able to produce a white Christmas but I thought I could at least make the apartment as 'festive' as possible! In anticipation of this, before Caitlin left we painted a Christmas themed Oil Painting for my chimney. Well more Christmas coloured than Christmas themed. Its now hung and looks FANTASTIC!

Mum arrived last week and its been great to hang out with her. In typical mum style she is known by name at a number of Bars on the Lower East Side. She has also made friends with the composer who live in the apartment below mine, and has now had a piano lesson with him (first in 30 years!).

In preparation for Christmas we have hung the stockings on the chimney. And been shopping for the perfect Christmas decorations. In the Union Square Markets mum and I found two wreaths, One made from Rosemary and Thyme which smells incredible and is perfect in the kitchen, and another more traditional arrangement. (which you can see at the top of the photo) We added to that a Garland (a rope made from pine) made from Princess Pine, laurel, and White Pine to hang around the chimney. AND WA LA!!! I now have a very Christmasy Apartment!

Camilla and Craig arrive tonight, which is exciting. Tomorrow I'm dragging them to the markets to pick a Christmas tree and decorations! I can't wait for Christmas, I love this time of year! All my preparations are in place, now to sit back and enjoy.

I hope everyone has a MAGICAL CHRISTMAS and FUN FILLED NEW YEAR!

VEGAS LIONS BABY!!

This is a photo of Caitlin and myself inside the MGM Grand Casino in Vegas. We're standing underneath the lion enclosure and you can see two lions above us. Cool huh!

Thanksgiving Long Weekend.

Last weekend was FANTASTIC!!! Thanksgiving falls on a Thursday, and the Friday is also a holiday seemingly for no particular reason other than because there are sales. So we had a great 4 day weekend.

Thanksgiving was rainy and cold. So I spent the day sleeping in and watching TV whilst eating cheeses and drinking beer. For Thanksgiving dinner Caitlin and I got all frocked up and went to the Central Park Boathouse. I have attached two photos of the Boathouse here. The one at night is more like what it was like when we were there, just a little more rainy. I loved the whole 'old school'/establishment' feel to it. The restaurant was packed, but I didn't mind. Our booking was a little early anyway and they had a nice bar where we got a bit of time to sit back and enjoy the surrounds. I also loved that I got to have a traditional Turkey Thanksgiving dinner for my first Thanksgiving.

Friday night we headed off to see the Knicks vs the Chicago Bulls at Madison Square Garden!!! Man I love watching the Knicks, it is just such an incredible spectacle. From the Hotdogs and beer, to the Kicks City Dancer, to the Knicks City Kids, to the dogs catching frisbies, to the game its self. Unfortunately on this occasion the Knicks were flogged in the first half. In the second they made a bit of a come back but it wasn't enough and they lost. Still it was a fabulous night!

Then Sunday we saw the New York Ballet perform the Nut Cracker. It was oooooh kay. I'm not a ballet officianado but i've seen better. So far the Chinese Ballet was by far the best I have seen. This was a little dull and uninspired and to quote caitlin "they sound like elephants!". But still, it was a fantastic opportunity to see the New York Ballet.

So all in all it was a pretty amazing weekend!! This week coming Caitlin heads back to Sydney its been nice to have her here and to get out and about. After that mum arrives for christmaka! My first Christmas in New York... .I'm SOO looking forward to it... now all I need is the snow!

Weekend in VEGAS!!!!!!!!

Last week Caitlin arrived for a bit of a vacation and we headed of to Las Vegas for a bit of a mini holiday. We flew out straight after work on friday and back Sunday night.

The weekend was great, we stayed at the Ancient Egyptian themed Casino, The Luxor. It was nice, not as exciting as the others but the standard is very high and to be honest we didn't spend much time there anyway. For me the highlight of the trip was definitely 'KA' a martial arts Cirque du Soleil show. IT WAS FANTASTIC. It was the mythical story of two lost princes. The show encompassed the whole auditorium, and the stage spun and stood on end forcing the performers to fall hang from the walls. My description is probably not doing it justice but suffice to say it was AAAAAAMAZING!!

This is a shot of a battle scene where the stage is standing on end to give the audience a birds eye view of the action!! SOO COOL!

Most of the weekend was spend walking the strip checking out the casinos and having a few drinks and a small amount of gambling.

Low light was definitely the Magic Show. I'm sure it would be great fun for families, but I never got into it unfortunately.

Finally we flew back to New York, arriving at 7am on Monday morning. Just enough time for me to go back to my apartment and clean myself up and head into work.... exhausted.

The verdict? I enjoyed my weekend and loved KA. But I think when I go back it will be for a little longer and with a few mates with the intention of getting into some shenanigans!!

Halloween Photos

In the lead up to Halloween I travelled up to see Phoebe and spend the day carving Pumpkins and putting up Halloween decorations. Being my first US Halloween I had a blast! This photo is of Sal, the girls, and I carving our pumpkins. It was all very serious!!! Phoebe managed to escape the photo by being photographer.

And below is a photo of my finished product. (unfortunately in my little studio it only lasted a week)

A week in Brighton and a draw in Cardiff

Well last week I was lucky enough to have work fly me to Brighton UK for three days of meetings. The flight over produced one of the supprises of the trip, the captain of the American Airlines flight I few from JFK to Heathrow sung to the passengers just before take off!! It was a really fun way to start the flight. I stayed at the Hotel Du Vin which was nice. It had a flash bar and restaurant, and the rooms had fantastic bathrooms. They had old free standing ceramic bath tubs. The work week produced a few intangible results. I got time with my new boss, which I really needed. I've been struggling to understand his management style, which has resulted in a few heated discussions. I think I have a better handle on how he operates, and how his other employees work with him. Brighton was nice, I liked the old 'Lanes' area of town, and if it wasn't for the freezing weather it would be a nice summary place to live.

It was mum's birthday on the 3rd and I managed to call her from my mobile phone. There was a huge delay on the phone but I loved talking to her. Although it was only for a few minutes it made me really miss her, and wish that I was able to talk to them more often.

On the Friday after work I traveled back to London to visit Caitlin's sister Sam. I had a few drinks and an Italian dinner with her and her friends. It was a nice relief to have a relaxing evening without work colleagues. The following Saturday I traveled my train to Cardiff to watch the Wallabies vs Wales Rugby Match. Although I was initially apprehensive about the loneliness of traveling alone, I didn't mind it. The game was FANTASTIC, it was fast competitive and exciting, and fairly ended in a draw. I then caught the train back to London and the following morning few back to New York (this time without my singing pilot).

What a nice week.

Armed & Innocent

I've been in New York now for 3 months and this was the second event Refugee International and Advance Event I have attended. This one was titled 'Armed and Innocent'. We heard from Ishmael Beah, a guy who is about my age and originally from Sierra Leone and who was used as a child soldier. He spoke of the effect of being a child and being forced to kill and being drugged with cocaine, gun powder, and speed, to stay awake and fight for longer. He spoke about the effect that killing had on his outlook on the world. He then spoke about being taken away by UNICEF and placed in a rehabilitation camp where not only did he have to rehabilitate from the drugs, but he had to learn to deal with the horror that he had been involved in. He then spoke about how he had been brought to New York to be schooled at the United Nations School. He spoke about how he enjoyed creative writing and now has a B.A in Political Science. This event made me feel insignificant, I find it incredibly difficult to comprehend what he went through. I took away from this event a strong desire to do something more to help. I hope now that I use that motivation do do something helpful.

Anyway he is having a book published in Feb 2007 about what he went through ... Check it out.

The night finished with a couple of quiet drinks with Phoebe, Sal, and a few of the Refugees International people.

A nice night, that gave me a new perspective.