Fall in the city

This fall has been an amazing one. I went upstate and saw my Mom and StepDave for a long weekend. I was able to go to the farmers market, apple picking, and see the beautiful colors. Also, my brother Levi got married! It was the perfect time of year to go home to the mountains and see the fall colors in Park City. I love coming home to Utah. I was able to meet my nephew Sam for the first time! Also, in the city I have been able to take some amazing dance classes, catch up with some old friends, and cousins, go on some hikes and bike rides with my boyfriend, pick out some pumpkins to carve for the holiday, go to concerts, and tell the kids I nanny to jump in some leaves. Also, I helped teach Jack (the 5 year old I nanny) how to ride a bike without training wheels! 

Life has been so good. 

and then 

Hurricane Sandy

I have never seen such destruction in all of my life. It is unbelievable to live in an area in a state of emergency. I was lucky enough to go to sleep Monday night and wake up Tuesday with no damage to my apartment and the power still working! I immediately went outside to assess the damage to the street and to check on my car and felt lucky once again to see my car untouched. Across the street a huge piece of metal was hanging off a warehouse that could have easily been pulled off. There was also metal wrapped around a neighboring car's tire from who knows where. There was a bus sign in the middle of the street, an entire awning was ripped off of my neighbors house and no where to be seen and a HUGE tree down blocking the street just one block away. 

After about 2 days inside Zach and I biked into downtown Long Island City to see the damage by the East River. They got it worse than where we are located in LIC, but it appeared that most of the area had power. The feeling in the area was different, it was as if no one was in a hurry. Think about NYC with everyone having no where to go and no time to be there. It was bizarre. 

The family I nanny for lost power and only got it back on today (4 days without). I went to work yesterday, but since the subways are still down I had to drive. Zach has been lucky enough to get work at the sister restaurant of the one he usually works at. Since his restaurant is near Union Square they have been closed all week. He's been able to keep his hours as much as possible working at this other restaurant, which is great! The restaurants have been super busy since everyone has cabin fever and sick of being inside. Anyway, once I pulled into the neighborhood I nanny at I was reminded again how bad this storm really was. It seemed like there was a tree down on every corner! There were electrical wires down everywhere and the streets were covered in leaves and branches. I took the kids out to an indoor playground that was open and noticed extremely long lines at all the gas stations. I guess there is a gas shortage now, which is turning the patiently waiting game into panic. It was the weirdest feeling to drive around and see trees down everywhere and people in a state of chaos. I loved seeing the kids again though and they thought it was so fun that they didn't have school. We had a good day wearing lots of layers and playing tag to stay warm.

We are still trying to go along with life as "normal" but with no subways it makes it a little different. I have biked to Manhattan a couple of times now to get to dance, etc, and still feel SO blessed that my life is still so regular and routine after such a disaster. The dangling crane that got so much attention in the media is still up and the street is still closed (pic below). I am looking into volunteering tomorrow since there is still so much to be done. It's unbelievable and I know I will never forget this. My heart goes out to everyone in the area.

Summer life

My summer has fallen into a routine. Monday-Thursday and sometimes Friday for four hours I nanny. I take the subway from Queens to Grand Central, then hop on the Metro-North Railroad to Bronxville. To sum up Bronxville it's the millionaire's suburbia. It was actually recently featured on "The Real Housewives of New York City," fancy I know. Nannying consists of hanging out with an amazing two year old girl all day since her brother gets picked up for summer camp every morning around 9. We have music class, dance parties, and go to the park. It's so nice to get out of the city everyday and play in a house with a front and back yard and have access to a car. I didn't realize how much I miss driving.  I have a lot of freedom nannying and it's so nice. I hear horror stories from friends nannying in Long Island and the Upper East Side. I love my family and feel so lucky to have found them.

When I am not nannying I'm either trying to get through my online spanish class or I'm at the beach. I never thought of NYC and the beach, but I went last week and it is SO easy to get to. Its just a short trip on the Long Island Rail Road and you arrive in Long Beach, which is white sand and warm water. It was amazing. I look forward to my Saturdays very much.

Last night at 125th st station

So I've heard that rats sometimes make it up to the subway platform where people stand but I have meet witnessed it for myself, until last night. I've made a sport out of looking for the rodents down on the tracks and I always try to think about how big they really are and would be if I were to be holding it. They are big. So last night I was leaving the Bronx and got to the Bronx hub for the subway (125th st) and was waiting to catch the express into manhattan and well... A EFFING HUGE rat started trotting along side me on the freakin platform! I had a 6 minute wait for the next train and survived but still felt like something was crawling on my leg all night long. Mom, be VERY happy you were not around. It didn't help being the only white chick in the station at the time I was such a wuss. Seriously though.. Welcome to the Bronx.


- Posted on the go from my iPhone

Graduation!

This last week I graduated from SUNY Cortland! It was a fabulous day really. The weather was perfect, I found some friends from Block 1 of my education classes to sit with, had amazing sushi with Dad, and a relaxing night at home with Mom and Step Dave. Also, Mom got me the dress of my dreams and it was perfect!

Also, graduation weekend was Dad's FIRST time coming to NYC! He's embarrassed when I tell people that so shhh. It was incredible! He flew in early and I met him at Penn Station. We went back to the Bronx to drop off his luggage, grab a bite to eat at a diner and then headed into Manhattan. We were able to go to Grand Central Station, the apple store there, the Empire State Building, grab a bite of pizza on the street, visit my first placement PS 19, visit wall street, see the charging bull, the ferry to the statue of liberty, the 9/11 memorial, have dinner at the seinfield restaurant, walk around columbia campus, see the LDS NYC temple, walk around Lincoln Center, sneak into the 2nd half of an opera, and grab some hot chocolate in Times Square! That was just the first day! The second day we went to the apple store on 5th Ave, Rockefeller Center, met the man I'm nannying for this summer, and visited my 2nd placement at PS 212. It was a very busy weekend to say the least.

We took a train upstate for graduation and came back down the day after. We were able to walk through central park and the met before driving to Tyler and Kim's for dinner before Dad had to catch his flight. I think I got him there 35 minute before take off. We literally used every minute to its fullest!

I packed up most of my things in the Bronx the day after Dad left and headed back upstate to drop it all off at Moms. I was able to spend a couple of days there organizing my room, deciding what to keep and what to throw out. Its weird, after graduating I actually feel different. Birthdays come and go and I never really feel different, but after walking I actually FEEL older and more accomplished.

As for now I will start nannying this next week while I look for an apartment in Manhattan. I can't wait to spend my summer and next year in the city! It's starting to feel like home and I'm sad when I'm not here.