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?