My laugh isn't that funny...

I was strolling down the street with my partner in crime, Eloise. We had just finished a lazy Saturday night in with Pizza and wine, and felt the need to head up the street to buy some cupcakes for dessert.

I got Vanilla with French Vanilla icing, and Eloise got Banana with French Vanilla icing. So yum!

After a lovely end to our lazy night in, things turned. As we were walking home, a group of teens put me and my big mouth in their place.

Eloise had said something that was obviously hilarious, and in my loud mouth way, I laughed so hard that an awful shriek came out. We both looked at each other knowing it was a tragic laugh, but really, this is a common occurrence with me, and we thought nothing of it.

Until....Seconds later, the group of 5 minors in front of us let out a sarcastic laugh in response. Eloise looked at me thinking no way! But indeed, a group of 14 or 15 yr olds had just mocked my laugh walking the streets at 10pm on a Saturday night.

Eloise in all her wit, turned to me and said "well I guess you shouldn't laugh anymore Laura".

With that, one of the girls ahead responded, "I guess not!"

I stopped in my tracks, not knowing how to take it all in. I had just been made fun of by a bunch of kids.

And then came the icing on cake...

"Some people just don't belong in America."

Eloise and I could not compose ourselves. The laughing continued ten fold!

To all you little brats...I DO BELONG IN AMERICA!

And the point of an umbrella in NYC is...

I can handle a heat wave, and I can handle record snow fall. But what I cannot handle, is a rainy day in NYC. After the last three days of heavy rain (backed up with some crazy, crazy wind), I found myself asking "why do I bother with my umbrella at all?"

As everyone files off the train at Canal Street, all that is visible is a flurry of hands reaching into handbags and briefcases, pulling out umbrellas of all sorts. Commuter's then pop their head above ground, and up go the umbrella's.

Most people's stomach's would be churning with worry at this point, but I was feeling good about the strength and positioning of my umbrella. You learn very quickly that strength and positioning is what it's all about. You have to hold it out in front of you, blocking any line of sight, in an attempt to get through the insanity of the wind smacking you face first. I felt like somebody had hit slow-mode on the TV, and as I looked around, even the strongest specimens were struggling to walk against THIS wind.

It is only three blocks to work, and I was armed with my $12 hot pink umbrella from Duane Reade; guaranteed to never fly inside out. How wrong this guarantee was.

The wind was enough to piss off anyone. But as I watched one umbrella after the next, flip inside out, I couldn't help but laugh to myself under my trust worthy shelter. Every where I looked, people were battling with umbrella's while getting absolutely drenched!

People do one of two things when they are caught like this; fight to the death with their dead umbrella, or smash it up against the trash can in frustration, that it not only let them down, attempting to fulfill its only purpose in life (to keep people dry), but it also just humiliated the crap out of them.

On the third day of witnessing the same thing over and over, I got to thinking about the purpose of umbrella's in this crazy city. Even with my lifetime guarantee to never flip inside out, my umbrella did just that! The wind was so extreme that I couldn't close it, or flip it back again, and there I was, walking through the streets of Soho, fighting like an idiot with my hot pink, inside out umbrella.

The point of an umbrella in NYC is....nothing at all! Keep it at home where it will be safe!

Razo finally sees SNOW!!!

When Razo visited me for 5 days last month, there was only one thing she wanted to see.

I know what you're all thinking, and it came as a complete shock to me too. It was not her biggest, most favorite sister in the entire world; but in fact it was snow that she had come to NY to see! She had dreamt of snow angles, snow men and snow ball fights for months leading up to her trip, and I had stupidly promised her that she would 100% see snow.

Life's a bitch sometimes, and of course, as chance would have it, the first bit of snow fell from the sky half an hour after her plane rolled along the runway flying out of JFK. I felt horrible. Especially knowing she would be spending the next two months in Texas, with next to no chance of seeing snow.

We both had one hope left. She was flying back to Australia via New York at the end of January, and our fingers and toes were crossed for some snow fall. She had never seen snow, and with a 3 hour stop over, I thought there would be ample time to enjoy a snow ball fight or three at the airport.

The night before she came back to New York, the city experienced its third blizzard for the month of January. Record breaking snow fall. I was so excited for Rachel to see snow! But at the same time, freaking out that the blizzard would stop all flights from entering New York at all.

The entire day was a mess! Her flight out of Texas was delayed by 3 hours, meaning that she would miss her connection to Sydney. I got hopeful that she would need to spend the night in the city by default. But no, at the last minute, her connection to Sydney got delayed by 3 hours also. Next disaster was the Air Train being down, and me arriving late to pick the poor unaccompanied minor up. In my frazzled state I somehow found her. We had to change terminals, and with the Air Train barely running, it took us nearly an hour to change to the next terminal. It was freak out central, and I was getting worried that she still may miss her flight!

As we exited the Air Train, and were sprinting to the terminal to check in, we came to an outdoor crossing. Rachel, with her arms full of bags, and her clarinet, threw everything to the ground, and dove head first into the mountains of snow at her feet. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. She was wearing paper thin leggings and trainers, and became was wet right through in a matter of seconds, but she didn't care one bit!

With time running out, I gathered her bags and told her to hustle. "I know it's snow, but you are about to miss your flight!"

As we approached the check-in counter, there was no one left in the line. "Are you both checking in?" "No just Rachel is, and she's an unaccompanied minor." "Ok, let me check her bags in, and then she doesn't need to be back here until twenty minutes before departure."

Rachel's eyes widened like a kid on Christmas morning. It was an hour and a half until departure, which meant a full hour of snow angels, snow men and snow ball fights!

In true Rachel style though, it turned into a full hour of snow ball fights smack bang in my face, and one VERY wet bottom!

Snow Day!!!

The day after Christmas is when it all went down!

So much snow, I didn't know what to do. I had been at work all day & got to experienced a little snow fall on the way to work that morning. But nothing that would prepare me for what I walked out to at the end of the night!

I ran out to Bloomingdale's on my break to buy some Hunter rain boots. You can't survive snow like this, and stay on two feet without Hunter rain boots!

I walked outside, and turned to my co-worker. The smile beaming out of me was priceless (I can only imagine. Like a kid in a candy store).

I trudged in the snow all the way to the station, while my co-worker cussed and screamed at the snow. How inconsiderate it was being! His remarks were priceless.

Of course the next day was 'snow day!' It was absolutely amazing. I got to stay in bed & watch the snow fall outside my window. Unfortunately for me, most people were still out of town, and my snowball fight was solo. But that didn't bother me one bit.

I had been warned that I would go hungry that night, and noone would be able to go out for food. I freaked out, because my kitchen contained hot chocolate, and Vegemite! That's it!

Luckily, the trusty 24hr diner was doing deliveries. I felt so horrid even calling about food, but it was either that, or a squeezy tube of Vegemite straight in to my mouth!

I loved everything about the snow. The flurries, the blizzard, snow day! What more than a hell of a lot of snow to put a smile on your face?

Rest assured fellow Aussies; I have been informed that I am NOT yet a true New Yorker...because I love the snow way too much!!!

Christmas in NYC

My Christmas mornings usually consist of walking down the stairs to the living room, single file, youngest to oldest, while Dad stands at the bottom of the stairs recording every sleepy moment! The day then turns to an excess of opening up presents, followed by a big breakfast, an even bigger lunch with all of the family, left overs and desserts for dinner, and way too much sleeping in between meals.

This year was very different.

I woke up at around midday, rolled over in my bed and went back to sleep. Not before hopping out of bed to turn on the christmas tree lights of course. Most of my friends were out of the city for Christmas, and my only plans for the day weren't until later that night.

I woke again about an hour later, very hungry, and without any idea of where to eat. I decided on Fairway Cafe, the amazing Steak restaurant in the grocery store I have written about once before. I ordered a steak sandwich and a Mimosa...or three.

I didn't have any presents to open. I had opened up Matt's present a couple of days before, when he left to go home to Seattle. And the rest of my presents were in the post.

I walked the streets, and viewed the city in a very different way on Christmas day. It was amazing to see how many people don't celebrate Christmas in New York. Truly amazing!

I met my friend Kyra at around 6pm for our dinner reservation. Our booking was at 7pm, so we sat at the bar and polished off a beautiful bottle of champagne first. We were both dressed in our Christmas best. Our dinner was amazing, as was the bottle of wine that complemented it.

We had planned on going Ice Skating at Rockefeller Center, and when we looked at the time and noticed we had enjoyed our Christmas feast so much that it was already 10.30pm, we realized that we may not make it in time.

We exited quickly, and made our way to Rockefeller pronto, only to find a huge line-up. We were told that by the time we reached the front of the line we would be lucky to get half an hour of skating in. But, it was part of our first Christmas in NYC & neither of us cared if we had 2 hrs of skating or 20 mins.

As it turned out, we got 20 mins in. But WOW was it an amazing 20 mins. We had an absolute fantastic end to the night & although I only saw one familiar face the entire Christmas day, it was a Christmas I will remember forever.

The first, but certainly not the last Christmas, I will spend in NYC!