Annnnd its leaving week!

Wooo! On the Monday morning, I had an epic walk round the corner to the Kilburn Post office thing cos I had to pick up an amazon parcel I'd slept through the delivery of on Friday haha. I had to get it then cos it had Christmas presents in it for the family I was still with and I was leaving the next night!

After that, I headed up to the new family for my first day there. I got shown round the house and stuff, and then the 2yr old and I and the other Nanny/housekeeper person went down to this playgroup thing in Parliament Hill for an hour or so. It was nice to have the other chick with me as she could tell me about how the family work and how they do things, it was nice to get that from someone on the outside, as it were. After we got home, and put Stephanie to bed, I chatted with the mum and we sorted a few things out which was good. We went to pick up the 4 yr old from school and went to swimming, before taking them home for dinner and then I left to go home and finish packing! I had taken a few boxes and bags up with me so that was a good start. Ive somehow managed to accumulate 4 boxes worth of stuff since Ive been in London, whoops!!

The Tuesday I had off, which was just as well!! I had so much packing to do, friends to catch up with, all the kinda fun stuff that you need do do when moving houses/changing jobs and packing to go away for a month all at the same time haha. Tuesday night I caught the bus up to the new place with boxes and a couple of bags (and when I got there and saw the girls, they gave me a night time concert of Do-Re-Mi...perfect!) And then went back to the old place for dinner, before cabbing it back to the new place with my suitcase and a few heavy boxes. It took me a while to get there though cos the taxi driver was real suss about putting anything on the carseats in case it scratched it....*shakes head*

Wednesday, I had my first full day at their house. We went to ball games in the morning with the 2 yr old, and then the 4 yr old finishes school at 12.30 on a Wednesday, so we had to go and pick her up. When we got home, we chilled out and played and did all kinds of fun things. We ended up having to go to their friends house up the road a bit for a little Christmas do, which meant lots of cake, chocolate, mulled wine, and they even got me a present! It was super sweet of them.

After that, I left them and went to meet up with Jen in the city to look at Oxford St Lights and go to Winter Wonderland. It was pretty cool. And massive! I wasn't expecting it to be so huge! We wandered through there for ages, looking at all the rides (which we were not going to go on), playing sideshows to try and win giant Minion toys (failing) and eventually figured out that the best thing for us to do was to just go and drink some mulled wine and watch the ice skaters. There were a whole heap of stalls there too, they were pretty cool to look at. My favourite one was the fake snow that you would pour into your hand in dry form and then pour warm water into your hand and it would expand and form awesome snow. Super fun!! There were a whole bunch of rides, but naturally the only one Jen and I went on was the enclosed Ferris wheel. We went to go on, and you get your photo taken first. Obviously Jen and I primped and preened ourselves in front of the camera, and the guy thought we were super cool (he's onto the right idea) and so he told us to skip the queue and go in the VIP entrance and go straight on. Awesomeness. 

Arty shot...right?

First lot of chestnuts....yum!

After we went on the Ferris wheel, we headed down Oxford St for a bit and looked at the lights on places like Selfridges, which was pretty cool. I need to get those pis off my camera...so they are still to come. We also went down to Piccadilly Circus to look at the statue they had turned into a snow globe. Super cool!

Is it still skiing if its on Playdoh?

Piccadilly Snowglobe

Thursday was an early morning start. I was due at Marble Arch in town at 8am for another promo gig. We were "Rent aCrowd". A new store was opening up  we had to go and be a crowd to cheer when  big present opened up and sime taxi's drove out. It was bloody freezing! But it was kinda cool, there was fake foam snow and an awesome Christmas choir singing carols and it felt very christmassy. 

Once that was done and dusted, I shopped my way to Leicester Square (its an awesome thing to do haha) and went to see The Butler movie. Its a very good movie, well done, and a really good story. I recommend seeing it! After the movie, I went to meet up with Tess and we went to do more shopping around Kings Cross before heading back to Westminster and wandering along South Bank towards the ITV studios for Graham Norton!

I'd won tickets a few weeks back, and so Jen Ingrid, Tess and I went. It was a pretty awesome experience. We waited for about 2 hours before the show started, outside, in the cold. Lucky they had shelter though so we didn't get to wet! We got the wristbands, and were told that we would be very lucky to get in because there was a massive guestlist (friends and family etc) going that night. But we were reasonably close to the start of the line, so we decided to wait it out and see if we could get in....and we did, yay!!

Our seats were right up in the back corner, and quite a way away from the action, but we still got to see the stuff happening. It was an awesome lineup of guests too! Daniel Radcliffe, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Mary Berry (from Great British Bakeoff) and the musical guest was Cliff Richard. And of course Graham was there too. We had fun watching the taping, and then went out for dinner afterwards which was nice, because I letf the next day for Aussie, so it was nice to hang out with them.

Friday morning, I was on again with the family, and I went with the 2yr old to her little dance class that she goes too, it was so cute seeing a whole bunch of 2yr olds trying to dance hahaha. After we got home, and she went for a nap, I had the afternoon off which was cool, because I was "on" that night during the flight etc.

So I went into town to meet Oli and we went to the Disney Cafe at Harrods. It was ace. There was Mickey everywhere and it was totally awesome. The food was expensive (I mean, what more can one expect from Harrods??) but it was fun, and well worth going too. After lunch, we did some gift shopping for the family that I was going to be having christmas with, so I spent too much money haha.

Home again to finish packing and shower and get the girls ready for flying and everything fun like that. It took us a while, but eventually we all piled into the car and whisked off to Heathrow!

Weekend before I left!

So I had to get up super early on the Saturday, cos I was due at Twickenham by 11am to work for the Barbarians game. Little did I know how little (aka NONE) of the game I would see! I was stuck outside the gate, from 11-5.30, in the freezing cold, listening to the cheers coming from inside the stadium. Torture! I was serving beers, and you couldnt even double cup them cos the way they know how many you sold (therefore you hand over the right amount of cash at the end) is by the amount of cups you have left. The guy I was working with was super surprised at the amount of "knowledgeable banter" I was having with patrons prior to the game. I'm so rugby knowledgeable hahaha.....

I was meant to go out that niht, but I was still like an ice block when I got home, so I literally just jumped in for a nice, hot show, and the  snuggled down in my bed to watch, yep, X Factor.

Sunday, I went into town to catch up with Tessa, my friend who had just arrived from home. She brought me lots of yummy chocolate and biscuts and all that good stuff....mmmmm. We went out for quite a resonably priced brunch in Regent Street, before going shopping so I could get my tablet! It took a bit of walking, but we eventually ended up with one I was happy with (although over here now they are a lot cheaper, damn!). We then went out to Camden market so I could get a few more presents and bits and bobs to bring with me. So that was reasonably successful which was good.

Man, the packing thing was a mission though. I had to pack all my room up, while also trying to pack to bring things over here and decide what I wanted to unpack while I was still in London and what not. Mission I tell ya!

Its the weekend!...and the week following....

Oh god, so behind, but here we go!

That Saturday,  Ingrid, Jalae and I met up to discuss the events of the previous weekened. Ahhh so many good times.

Then I had to go and meet the family (the aussie family) and hung out there for a little bit. We crafted and read stories and  had a whale of a time! Hahahha.

After that I had a bit more christmas shopping to do so went into town to Harrods and stuff, got bits and bobs, and finished my christmas shopping! Super early! Went home and got fish and chips....omnomnom. it was a brilliantly successful day and X Factor topped it all off!

Sunday, Edward, my cousin, popped round. He was in town for work. I was a very good British host and gave him a cup of tea and a tour before we went to the pub for a roast. It was gooooooooood. I gave him most of my christmas presents to take home too, so that was quite a decent postal saving for me!

That afternoon, Jalae popped round and we watched the ABs v Ireland game, and had a great time stuffing our faces with lollies and chips and coke znd yummyness. This all came out at the end when the game got so intense and I couldnt stop shaking!! oh god, what an epic game!!

Monday was the first day I had working at other places, and to start off I was working at Lords Cricket Ground - very exciting. It wasnt much, just a lunch, but I was thee from 11-5 and had to remember a lot about how to serve tables, I havent done that for quite a long time!! It was for some cricket club lunch thing, wasnt overly exciting. But they have a staff canteen there where we got served a hot lunch for £2 so that was quite good. After finishing up and going home via the library, I was exhausted! But..... I had to get up at 5am on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning and afernoon, Wednesday morning, Thursday morning and afternoon and Friday morning I was working for the promo company I work for, doing some promo for Asda, a supermarket. They are just starting a new click and collect service so people could pick up their groceries from the tube stations. So we were there for the rush hour crowds.....joy. it actcually was pretty fun and the people I was doing it with were awesome, it was neat to be able ti hang out with some people my own age. We had lots of laughs and a generally awesome time, apart from the bitter cold!!

In between on Tuesday, I went back to the Aussie family for a bit of hang out tjme and we booked my tickets to come to Australia! I got the last seat avialable on the flights, so lucky we booked them then!

On Wednesday, after the early morning shift, I literally went home to bed! After napping, and library-ing and getting a haircut (I couldnt have long, shaggy winter hair for Austalia!) I had my last ballet lesson. Ive really enjoyed doing the ballet, and have signed up to do it again, as well as a jazz class, next year. Should be fun!

Thursday in between, well, I pretty sure I just went home and slept again haha. I was exhausted!

Friday afterwards,  I went to Camden town to get some stuff, but cos I was so early, the markets werent opened yet, so I went back home to bed haha. I slept for a bit, but then I got up and did some packing. I had to pick Jake up from school with a friend for a playdate, so that was fun. It was a pretty cute playdate and we had a lot of fun mucking round. 

Once the parents were home, I went out to Brent Cross to go out to the craft shop so I could finish my scrapbook before I came home. I spend far too much money there, but its a good store with lots of fun stuff!

Better get off now and do some real stuff.....

Ha!

Dead beat

So after Saturday nights epicness, and not getting home till about 5am, I woke up Sunday with pretty much no voice...sexy!

I kinda just bummed around the house all day. Jalae and I went out to Brent Cross for a bit to get some bits and pieces, but it was so chillaxed and casual. It was good. Just what we needed!!

Monday, I was going on a school trip with Jake to the Museum of London. I was quite excited to see how this would work, and how they would do the whole museum experience for 5 year olds.

After it taking us like 45 minutes to get there, we only ended up with 20 minutes in the gallery, and the kids had 4 worksheets to complete about the topic - The Great Fire of London. I had no background knowledge about the topic at all, and so I was just letting the kids do their own thing. I decided that we should start with the back sheet so that we wouldn't all be crowding around the same things at once, and that turned out to be a film about the fire - which was a great intro for me, and reinforced it in the kids minds. But that was the only thing we had time to do. We didn't even get to look around the gallery much more.

After that, we went up to a classroom, where the kids sat down and watched a lady talking about the great fire. She was good, and got more interactive as the "show" went on, but again, there was no new information presented and the kids just got the same old story. I didn't get the idea of going, but maybe the kids got something out of it? I think there would be a whole lot of other, funner, stuff to do with the kids that would get the same info across, but hey, maybe thats just me?

I was still feeling quite rotten on Monday, just tiredness. So after the trip, I went home and had a nice Butter Chicken from Waitrose to warm up and chill out for a bit.

Tuesday, I had my token gym day which was good. Good to strech out those muscles again after not having been a whole lot the week before. Still felt rotten though.....

Wednesday, I had an interview with another family out in North Kensington. It was for a family with 7 month old twins and a 3 year old. It was interesting to see how another family works and how the dynamics worked etc. It gave me a good idea of what kind of family I would like to work with and not work with. I then went back into Oxford St quickly and picked up some more stuff from Forever 21, before heading home because while I was walking there was a massive hailstorm and my boots have started leaking, so I had very cold toes!

Thursday, after my gym class, I went up to my mates place in Hampstead. She is a nanny also, but was off sick with a chest infection so I went to keep her company. She has 2 new kittens, who are just adorable!! I had a great play with them, it was so much fun!!

Friday was the day that I had to sit down with Emma and talk about if the last 2 weeks had changed me or not. I thought I had done a pretty good job with Jake, we had fun, done some cool after school things together and been getting on really well, but Emma said it wasn't working for them. So she gave me 2 weeks to pretty much find another job and move out. Which was quite gracious really, she didn't need to do that at all, but it was great that she did, becasue I didn't really have anywhere else I could go.

After the gym and all that fun, I picked up Jake from school. We went to the Tiger store, which is pretty much just a fancy $2 shop, and picked up a whole bunch of baubles and pretty things to decorate some christmas decorations. He thought that was pretty cool, and we spent the afternoon decorating them, and listening to christmas carols. We had a great time, and its going to be things like that that I miss about this family.

My time at the library computer is almost up, so I'll have to try and update this later this week, we will see how we go! I might even just do it on the plane to Australia!

WOOO!!1