NEW YORK - GREENWICH VILLAGE

After my successful stint of de-cluttering Fiona and Bob's apartment (alright, we're not quite finished but we're getting there), I have moved on to help a friend of theirs. She lives in a big three bedroom apartment in Tribeca. I walk three blocks to the subway, get on the number 1 train downtown and if I get in the second to last carriage then I come out right on the corner of her street. The building her apartment is in was a warehouse so it has wonderfully high ceilings (with multiple arches) and fantastic windows. There are tons of cupboards including two large store rooms.

So lots of sorting and de-cluttering to keep me out of trouble.

Because we all know how much trouble I usually get into.

NEW YORK - GREENWICH VILLAGE

On Saturday I had a great day catching up with my friend Jaime that I have known for about 15 years. We met doing theatre and on the weekend we realised that after all the years we have known each other and the shows that we have both been involved in, that we have never actually performed together in a show. We've done fundraisers and Christmas Carols and even sung at another friends wedding but have never done a show together.

Weird.

Apart from hours spent talking (we think it's about six years since we last saw each other), catching up on each others lives and theatre gossip we managed to find time to go out for lunch, do a bit of shopping, see Mama Mia (half price tickets of course) and then grab some dinner.

I think it's been awhile since I've talked that much.

Well. Maybe not actually.

NEW YORK - GREENWICH VILLAGE

Monday was Martin Luther King day so Kiki had the day off school. So did our friend Sybil (aka Ruthie) so she caught the train into New York and met us for lunch. We went to a place called Burgers and Cupcakes which seems to me an odd combination for a restaurant.

But still.

We went. We ate. We had a good time.

NEW YORK - GREENWICH VILLAGE

We're well into January and I know that I have been mega slack (as Belle rightly pointed out) on my blog. Because I'm staying here for most of the rest of my time and because I am staying with friends, life tends to take on a normal kind of routine and there isn't something to blog about every single day (although I'm sure I could crap on about nothing each day if I really tried).

So what have I been doing?

Sleeping in.

Often because we stay up late talking or watching t.v. but also because Fiona does it everyday anyway. Bob gets Kiki ready for school and drops her off on his way to work - any jealous wives out there reading this? Because he also does all the bedtime stuff too. She's a mega Daddy's girl so it really works out well for everyone.

We joined the YMCA and have been swimming and running on the treadmill - they also have a running track which is really cool. In fact since we joined eight days ago I have been running three times and swimming twice as well as to yoga twice (not at the Y though). So the "get back into shape before I come home" plan is in action. Now if only I could moderate what I eat a bit better then maybe the "lose a few kilos before I come home" plan would happen too.

This time in New York I am staying with Fiona and Bob for nearly six weeks, which is so great of them considering there is three in their family and they have a one and a half bedroom apartment. But it seems to work surprisingly well.

Or maybe that's just my point of view and they will breathe a huge sigh of relief when I leave and they get some space back.

Anyway in return for their generosity I am helping out as much as I can with things like dishes, errands, picking Kiki up from school and babysitting. Fiona and I are also doing a huge "spring type" clean out of the apartment. I am very good at minimising and sorting and it's not really her strong point. We have lists (I love lists) of all the things that need to be done and we are working our way through them. Very satisfying actually.

I'm also finishing their entry foyer which Fiona started ages ago and never got around to finishing. It's painting and cutting and pasting amazing sepia photos of African animals onto the two end walls to create a kind of wallpaper collage. Sounds a bit blah, I know but it looks amazing. I'm also helping track their spending for a month - something that the bookkeeper wanted them to do a few years ago but never quite happened.

So essentially I'm helping her sort out stuff in her life (in an organisational kind of way) and she's going to sort out mine (in a completely different way).

Fair swap.

So really a boring post actually.

Don't you wish I'd just left it alone?

NEW YORK - GREENWICH VILLAGE

I realise I've been a bit quiet on the old blog for the last week or so, so here's an update. Mum and Mrs. Winrow left to fly off to Las Vegas and I am back in Greenwich Village with Fiona, Bob, Kiki and Coraline the kitten (Squeaky the cat having gone to a 'better place' while I have been off traipsing around the rest of the country).

Actually for four days it was just Coraline and I as the others went to Miami for a holiday (and to look at a boat that Bob has been doing the fit out for). So while I was here in the cold and snow (no complaints - I love it), they were hanging out at the pool in the Florida sunshine. Well Bob was working but the girls were relaxing.

Anyway Coraline and I hung out together and had a great time, sleeping in (her not so much - she would wake me up in the morning by sitting right up close to my face and putting her paw gently on my shoulder - awwwww) and watching the 200 or more channels on cable (some which seem to air complete crap).

After dropping off my suitcase I walked the two blocks to the grocery store and came back ready to make soup. I'd wanted to make pumpkin soup but you can't get pumpkins all year round here like you can at home (I think it's a weather issue) unless it's out of a can (whoever heard of canned pumpkin? Well somebody, I guess but certainly not me). So I settled for vegetable soup.

The next day I planned to go to K-Mart to buy some more knitting needles (have got right into knitting since visiting Karen and Trev) so I looked it up on the internet and set out. Not very cleverly, I had not bought my hat with me and it was cooooooold. And windy which made it feel even colder. I walked and walked but couldn't find K-Mart (Fiona later told me that the address they gave on the website was wrong) and at some point my ears got so cold that they went numb. It's the weirdest sensation to try and grab hold of your ears and not be able to feel them. Well my hands could feel them but my ears couldn't feel my hands if you know what I mean. Kind of like when you sleep on your arm and it goes numb and then you roll over and .................. well you know what I'm talking about.

So I made my way (as fast as possible) to Starbucks for a (you guessed it) caramel latte. A grande size this time. I managed to thaw out while standing in line.

The next two days after that I didn't leave the apartment (Fiona thought I wouldn't leave the whole time). Not because I didn't want to but because the carpenter came to do some work on the bathroom (long story about pipes leaking) and I felt a bit weird about going out and leaving him in the apartment. Actually I wasn't all that sure about letting him in in the first place. All I could think of was Fiona coming back and saying "You let a complete stranger into the apartment? What were you thinking?" I did try to call both her and Bob when he turned up but neither of them answered and I figured that the doorman had let him up in the first place so it must have been okay.

Luckily it was. But it put a halt to my going outside. Which was okay because Coraline and I got to watch a lot of episodes of 'Clean House". In fact on New Years Eve I think we started at about 5pm and were still watching it when Fiona, Bob and Kiki got back from Miami at nearly 11pm.

So what did I do for New Years Eve in New York City? Nothing much at all. I know that sounds really lame, here I am in one the busiest and most exciting places in the world and I do nothing! Well I could have gone to Times Square but I would have been on my own, it was freezing cold, people started getting there at about 3pm and there were no public toilets being set up. Which, if you can hold off going to the bathroom for nearly ten hours is fine.......................

So I did what I actually enjoy doing. Saw in the New Year in the comfort of home. Well their home, not mine. But a home nonetheless.