Not to be confusing but five weeks ago we finished what I think could nearly be the craziest two weeks ever!
In a nutshell this is what happened…
Friday – Travelled to Washington DC in the morning and I was engaged by the evening.
The days in between that Friday and the following Wednesday were crazy. In Washington we stayed up until 3am watching Collingwood get beaten by St Kilda – then there was all the congratulatory messages/emails/phone calls. We also happened to get stuck watching a marathon of Bridezillas which I think spun Bill into a total panic! 😉
As I touched on briefly in a previous post, Wednesday was chugging along nicely until 2pm. That was when I got the call at work and found out that Bill’s position had been downsized. I got home, had a cry and then… redid our whole budget and financial plans for the next 12 months and prepared a massive to-do list for Bill to deal with on Monday. I actually think he was in shock and it was also the best time to do this to start to ‘move on’. We decided he would have the next four days as ‘Bill time’ and then Monday, our Team would get into full swing and we’d tackle this head on. The to do list consisted of things like calling Time Warner to cull our 212 number (sobs!!), cutting HBO and the DVR, working out a new food/entertainment budget and seeing where else we could trim. We also realized it would be time for a new suit for interview attire so he would focus on getting those necessities as well during this time as well.
On the Thursday it was strange leaving him at home while I went off to work but at least it meant only one lunch to make in the morning! That evening, I found out on the Oprah website about her doing a show in New York so I entered for a random drawing for tickets. On Friday we went about our same routine. But we were both emotionally and mentally drained. In one week we had gone from one of the highest highs to the lowest lows and what a test it was. Bill was able to hang out and do what he wanted and just really chill out. Although there was also one other thing hanging over our heads and that was Collingwood.
So on Saturday at 5.30am the alarm went off… Collingwood Vs Adelaide at the MCG. With 20 seconds to go, Adelaide kicked a goal and Collingwood were now behind. With that, I burst out crying. So not only did Bill lose his job, this meant that there was no way I’d be heading back to Melbourne for my whirlwind visit and to see Collingwood in a grand final. I was crying so loudly that I couldn’t hear the commentary… Collingwood had the ball and kicked a goal and… WON!!! It was 8am-ish and I was screaming and carrying on like a pork chop!! My brother rang from the ground and I could hear everyone screaming. Woooohoooo!! So the plan kicked in – get laundry done, get cooking done and start to organize everything for my now 50/50 trip to Australia the following Saturday!
On Sunday, we headed out for lunch on the Upper West Side with some friend, Jeni and Robert as a congratulations on our engagement and a commiseration for the job loss. The restaurant, Compass was fantastic. They had an eclectic menu and I got some try some new flavours – it was delicious.
We then walked right down to Columbus Circle and spent a magical time in Pottery Barn along the way. (Yes… Pottery Barn CAN be magical when you are walking around going… “In our dream apartment that is bigger than one room we could have this… and this… and this!”)
That evening, we had a final dinner with Emma and Jimmy before they headed back to Australia. At the little Italian place, Restivo that is just across the road we chatted and caught up on all their travel adventures before we bid them a farewell! Our previous dinner with them, when they first arrived in New York was before the engagement and everything… so we had a lot to catch up on.
On Sunday night I also started taking my immunity vitamins that I always take before I fly in preparation for the maybe-trip back to Melbourne. That night I just could not SLEEP and I thought it was just because of so much going on.
I left Bill on Monday morning and went off to work. At 10am my phone rang. He had been offered a job. SERIOUSLY!!!!!!! I couldn’t believe it – I screamed at my desk and everyone was super excited!! Go Bill!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 And… I think that says a lot about HIM too. Yep yep yep!! So in the glow of that news, I got some more news. It was now Tuesday night I got an email – I won tickets to OPRAH!!! So Bill had been officially unemployed only two days and we’re going to see Oprah. Oh yeah!!!
Monday night rolled around and again… I COULD NOT SLEEP. I have never ever dealt with sleeplessness before and it was driving me crazy. I couldn’t concentrate on anything and I really had so much to do – between packing for Australia, getting things ready at work in case I was in Australia, getting stuff ready here in case I was going… everything was ‘in case’ and I hate being like that. Tuesday night was exactly the same with my sleep patterns and I thought I was slowly going mad. Then I figured it out – the only thing I had changed was my vitamins and for some reason, I was taking them at night. On Wednesday night I opted not to take them and with that, I was sound asleep at my normal time.
Bill picked up our Oprah tickets at Central Park on Thursday morning. We had to be there very early Friday morning. Then Saturday morning I would have to be up at 5.30am as well for the Collingwood game and there was the chance I would be then leaving for the airport at 11am. So Thursday night was my last chance to get everything ready.
On the Friday morning, we were caught a cab up to Central Park and were there by about 6am. It was dark and we couldn’t take bags because of security issues, so I just had my ID and iPhone in my pocket with cash. We got to the end of the line and we were in a great position so we knew we’d be set for our seats. I reached down to get my phone to post a Tweet about getting to Oprah when I shrieked “OH-MY-GOD… MY PHONE IS GONE!!!” I knew straight away that it had slipped out of my pocket in the back of the cab. The iPhones are SO slippery when they are in a pocket! With that I burst out crying… poor poor Bill. Here he is, one of the few guys in the line for Oprah with me bawling my eyes out and curious eyes darting our way. As we always get a receipt from a cab, Bill called 311 straight away to report it while other people were asking me what was wrong and if I was ok. I know it sounds absolutely ridiculous crying over a phone but the iPhone is like losing a computer – I live by that thing and also… I never, ever, EVER lose anything. Well I haven’t lost anything since I left my purse on top of they payphone at Jolimont station in year 10. Seriously, if I even misplace a pen it drives me crazy. Straight away I said to Bill that we had to get back to the apartment because I *could* have left it there but also, I could get on my Mac and use the ‘Find my iPhone’ feature through my MobileMe subscription.
Within 15 minutes we were back home. There was no phone. 🙁 I got on the Macbook and there was also a new function where I could set off an alarm on the phone that would ring for two minutes and display an emergency message. The GPS was taking ages so in the meantime I set the phone to sound the alarm. Right then and there I saw the phone get switched from on to off. So I decided to set the phone to totally delete everything off the phone when it was next turned on. I looked at Bill and said “Let’s get back to Oprah!” By this time it was about 7am – we HAD to be there by 7.30am to be included in the audience. We got in another cab and walked into Central Park and my heart sank.
There would have seriously been about 8,000 people in front of us now. I was SO angry – at myself and the whole situation and I was in a foul mood. Not only had I got up at 5.30, I had stuff to finish at work, lost my iPhone and at the end was not even going to get in to see Oprah anyway. The whole thing had been a total waste of time.
We got to the ‘entrance’ of the main line when the security guard told us to ‘walk to the end’ of the line. It was fruitless – there was no way we were going to be getting in. Just then as we took a couple of steps I heard “Heyyyy! Did you find your phone?” It was the group of ladies who we were originally standing with! YAY TO OPRAH FANS! I shook my head sadly and they said “Well here… get back in line!” We were right near the front! YAY!!!
The fate that we managed to see them, that they were right where we were walking in and that they hadn’t been in yet was like the Oprah Gods were shining on us! It made my morning!! We were going to see OPRAH!!!!
Here I am at the front of the line (excuse the 5.30am hair and puffy eyes from crying!) –
We were let in to the stage area by about 8.30am and we had FANTASTIC seats! We got to see Mariah Carey perform and Oprah herself was electric… she has an amazing presence! We also had a surprise appearance by Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig. I couldn’t believe how lucky we were!!
This is how close we were to the stage –
Then, we were there for her first book club announcement and we all got a copy of the book!
It was just a great morning that went way too quickly! Despite the earlier events, we had so much fun and it made it all the more worth it!
After the show, we walked through Central Park and straight to the Apple Store where I left at 11.30am (and about 20 minutes after we walked in there) with a new phone and thanks to being a MobileMe gal… everything was back on the phone after about a minute or two! I was $300 poorer but I felt half back to normal at least!
I was back at work before I knew it where I was drained yet still had to wrap everything up JUST IN CASE Collingwood won the next morning. It was frantic and I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the day!
We all know what happened Saturday morning, so after the siren went, I changed my September flights until April next year and was now $500 poorer. Ouch!
By 10am I was all unpacked (I had to get it done quickly rather than keep looking at the bags and pondering what could have been…) and we decided to head down to Canal Street and walk the length of that and then head to Brooklyn to go to the Down Under Bakery and pick up some meat pies for dinner. The deal was, if Collingwood lost we would have meat pies and forget about the season.
So for dinner… we did just that… yummmm!
Reading back, this seems like a really condensed version of the craziness of those two weeks. Amazingly, in the two weeks following that we basically planned the whole wedding! That will be what my next post looks at… hurrah!
Thanks for reading for *this* long!
So recap (with some extra facts thrown in…)
Travelled to Washington
Got engaged
Saw the sights of Washington
Got drenched and had to get out of the soggy clothes in public
Travelled back to New York
Celebrated engagement at work one day
Bill got downsized the next day
…then he got another job
Collingwood lost
Collingwood won
Collingwood lost
Collingwood made me cry on all three occasions
Lined up for Oprah
Left the line
Lined up again for Oprah
We saw Oprah
Dealt with sleeplessness
Lost a phone
Replaced a phone
Packed for Washington
Unpacked from Washington
Packed for Australia
Unpacked from the non-trip
Wrapping up at work
…. and it goes on.