Playtime in New York

So.... my time in New York has come to an end for now....

Between Christmas and now I did have a little bit of time to play though in New York.

Tim came out for the Martin Luther King long weekend which was awesome. Here's some of what we got up too...

Hung out in a very frozen Central Park...

Ate some yummy vietnamese food at OBao in New York...

Hung out in Bryant Park drinking Champagne watching the ice skating....

Wandered past the Rockefeller Centre....

And went to a Rangers Ice Hockey game and the magnificent Madison Square Garden...

I also went to a new exercise class that they do at the gym I went to in New  York called Glee Club! You dance... and you sing.... We learnt the dance moves to Thriller. I'm sure that will come in handy one day.
It was pretty fun. It was pretty much exactly like the show, some nightmare broadway/diva types, some flamboyant guys and a few more round but super keen ladies (i.e. me). This is the video of the class...
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4385954/glee-club-workout?r_src=ramp

Also my lovely team while in New York threw me a wicked leaving party. I was presented with this spangly tiara, we ate lots of yummy Italian food and then proceeded to ride a mechanical bull.... I still have the bruise to prove it and it's been a week! A great send off.


And last but not least I've been meaning to get a picture of this for ages.... we my new found paparazzi skills this is what I mostly look like now...

Ooooh the weather outside is frightful.... But the fire is sooo delightful

(A slightly delayed post...)

So Wow, December has come and almost gone.... amongst a sea of Christmas Parties, Work and Flying.

I wanted to say...


Happy Christmas and Have a Wonderful New Year!


Literally I have been at a party of some kind (at least one) every weekend so far in December. Which for generally unsociable me, is quite the feat. It's definitely been fun though. Two TW christmas parties, one in Chicago and one in New York, the DRW party with Tim, and a few house parties and a birthday thrown in for good measure.

This is Tim and I's tree in our apartment in Chicago. There's been lots of snow there but I've mostly been in NY, where we haven't had any big snowfalls yet. That's fine with me, keep the snow on the mountains!

I'm currently sat at O'Hare airport in Chicago waiting to meet Tim and we are about the fly out the the UK tonight. Can't wait. Thankfully it seems that the snow and travel madness in the UK has somewhat subsided and so far (touch wood) our flight looks to be on time and leaving!

Tim came to visit New York last weekend, so we had fun soaking up NYC at Christmas. We were stupid enough to try to go skating at the Rockefeller plaza.... unfortunately thousands and thousands of people had the same idea. Couldn't even get close enough to see the rink let alone skate on it! Thankfully we headed to Bryant park instead and found the outside bar that was serving spiked hot drinks to sip on in rocking chairs under heat lamps. Awesome. The next day we also discovered the Food Hall inside The Plaza. Lots of good grub.

These are some pics from both the New York and the Chicago Holiday parties

Where is Anne now?!

Since my Canada vacation my new project has me in New York City!

I'm consulting for a small investment bank here. I have finally become a "real" ThoughtWorker, constantly flying!

Although I must say I don't have it too bad.... ;-) I have a lovely little corporate apartment on E 63rd St, and I'm hoarding airmiles for some emergency ski trip at some stage! And hey, New York  on expenses, Hoorah! Below are some pictures of my apartment:

My life is mostly now, fly from Chicago to La Guardia on Sunday night, work 10 -12 hours each day, attempt to go to the gym (normally fail if I'm honest!), and fly back on Thursday night. It's nice to be home for an extra day and normally I head into the Chicago office to say hello.

My new team are lovely, it's a bit of a boisterous banking environment, so of course I fit right in! And I'm back doing .Net with a tiny bit of Ruby thrown in which is a nice change. Not to mention the fact that I really knew nothing about banking.... Yay for new things.

The other great thing is that I can fly people out to visit me if I want to stay the weekend. So right when I started Danielle and I had a girly weekend here, which was awesome fun, and then Tim came out last weekend, great to have him here. And here are some pics from Danielle's visit.

Today in New York...

Funny things from today in NYC ....

• Saw my first NYC drag queens! In awesome flouresecent tutus walking down Park Avenue.
• Ventured into the Abercrombie & Fitch store on 5th Avenue to be greeted by topless guy A&F models. Seriously... who employees models as shop assistants?!
• While creating my login credentials at my new client site the dev manager, as he didn't know my middle initial just used the first letter of my last name instead. I am no longer AJS I am ASS. The jokes just write themselves. Goes without saying that my new team love my new name...

When I get a chance I will make some posts about my time in the UK, Canada, the end of my old project and as you may have gathered how I am now working in NYC!

My Birthday in New York

I spent my 24th Birthday in New York this year. In the company of the lovely Tim.

We had an absolutely brilliant time. We met each other at Newark airport. I flew in from Calgary and Tim from Chicago on the Thursday evening.


Tim had organised a lovely hotel just off Broadway and between Times Square and Central Park. The whole thing was utterly serial and completely met my expectations. At times I felt like I was walking around a movie set haven seen most of the sights a thousand times on the TV. Amazing.

It was lovely and warm in NYC, and we spent my actual birthday having a great picnic in Central Park. We wandered around for hours and only covered a tiny part of the park! We also headed to the Central Park Zoo. Unfortunatly didn't bump into any of the animals from the Madagascar movie. But then I guess thats because they're still there...

We then walked down 5th Ave, where I drooled at the shops. Headed to the Rockefellor Centre and up to the Top of The Rock. Amazing views. Then out for a nice dinner.

The Next day saw us visiting Grand Central Station, the New York Public Library and then heading to a Broadway Show. We went to see Avenue Q. Highly recommend everyone to go and see. Hilarious. Followed by dinner at a lovely Seafood resturant where I had the obligatory Cosmopolitan cocktail, and then a nice walk up around the area.

We headed to more of the southern Manahatten areas on the Sunday. Took a trip out to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty, quite an overwhelming thing to see that close up, and then Ellis Island. Provided some amazing views of Manhatten and the Hudson River. We then walked up towards ground zero. Very eerie area, we wanted to walk round it to just gage the sheer scale of what was left behind, not somewhere you want to linger though, very sad. Then onto to Wall St and the City Hall and along the Brooklyn Bridge

Then came the incredible Megu. An upmarket sushi resturant that my Lonely Planet had suggested. Quite an amazing experience. Incredible atmosphere and insides, and the sushi was pretty amazing.... probably shouldn't of ordered the wine size bottle of Sake for the two of us though!

On Monday we attempted to head home. Spent a LONG time in Newark airport as our flight to Chicago had been cancelled. 5 hours later I was on my way home to Calgary via Toronto and Tim caught the second flight out that left for Chicago.

A weekend I will remember forever.