The Soapiness of Nannyhood!!!

Okay well I totally had my mind blown today...but first: I must tell you all about my SUPERness last friday!!

So far in this blog we've talked about my journey to get to NY, some of the fun things I've done here and getting used to my nanny family but NOW we get into the real stuff!! Last friday was such a crazy busy day in my nanny world! Now that Diva has started school (some half days, some full days) our world is a little bit of this, a little bit of that! Friday was full of taking her to school, taking Princess to a preschool ice cream social to meet her teachers, waiting for the dishwasher delivery man, picking up Diva in my car since MB had princess in theirs..and then when we finally all got home and had lunch then their Nana showed up for some togetherness time for a few hours! There was nothing on that day that let us have our routine and schedule but hey, that just happens sometimes right?!

In the late afternoon that day MB told me about a "Welcome back to school" BBQ that Diva's school was putting on and asked if I wanted to take the girls and of course I accepted because I love adventures!!

OH MY GOSH..WHAT AN ADVENTURE IT WAS!!!! At the exact time that we got out of the car for the BBQ to begin..NY decided it was a great for a thunder and rain storm!!! The girls were freaking out! lol! So for the next 2 1/2 hours I was wrangling two goofy girls, three dinner plates, six muddy shoes, 25 minutes in an ice cream truck line, 30 minutes in the rain waiting for the jump house and 100s of people we didn't know, probably judging the crazy nanny with two messy girls! lol!
Needless to say, when we finally got home and everyone was drenched, coated in melted ice cream and exhausted...I was ready for my friday night to do nothing! LOL!! Oh how I love my hectic life!

NOW to the good stufff!!! So most of you know about the fabulous Nanny M that I was introduced to on my first week of work! Our employers work together and have been friends for a while and naturally they had to fix up their nannies to be friends too! I've been incredibly grateful to that because she is a DOLL!!! She's in her 50s and has grown kids of her own and been nannying FOREVER! The first time we had a playdate she was telling me some local parks to go to, about her church that she wants me to go to, what areas here to avoid..etc.. I felt like I learned a lot from her, well that was NOTHING compared to what she taught me today!!

See, over the last few weeks I've been taking the girls to a variety of different parks, usually two parks a day..and sometimes we run into the same Nanny/Kid combos day after day. The kids play together sometimes and sometimes they dont but the Nannies always seem to talk to each other and it feels like everyone knows everyone else!

You all pretty much know ME, and know that I am NOT shy! LOL! I will pretty much talk to anyone and by the end of 10 minutes they will know my whole life story (even when I was little)..So that's how it usually goes..but I haven't been able to crack these Nannies! Now, you know that I'm not racist at ALL.. actually I'm the furthest from it, but after a while of me trying to connect with these ladies and them just not investing in my at ALL, I mean we're talking about fake smiles and walking away while I am talking to them about kids, our activities, etc.. WALKING AWAY!!! Anyway, It came to my mind that maybe they weren't talking to me because I was the only White girl there?? WELL, Nanny M has explained to me what was going on.

I guess these groups of Nannies avoid other Moms at the playgrounds at all cost, and since I am new to the scene Nanny M thinks that the other Nannies thought I was the mom!! THAT made me laugh sooo hard! Me?.. The mom?? Okay!

So I asked her what the big deal about the moms were? I mean, the whole three years I was in Phoenix and had kids with me all my friends except one other nanny my friends were the stay at home moms! I would host toddler parties and I was the only non-mom there! LOL! Well, apparently it's different here!

She explained that this big group of Older, African, Jamaican, Asian and Hispanic Nannies that all hangout together at the parks have been burned by Other Moms, nosing into their business and then going to their employers with stories they hear at the playground and some nannies that they've had in their homes for YEARS have actually gotten fired! DOESN'T THIS SOUND JUST LIKE THE HELP!!! LOL!! It absolutely kills me!!

Some Nannies had been complaining about their jobs, or not watching the kids, or being on their phones too much, or talking not so nice to the kids, (ALL NOT GOOD NANNY TRAITS) Have been ratted on by Secret Agent Spy Moms! lol!!

Soooo Nanny M said that she would let them all know that I'm good people, but that just raises a question in my head.. DO I EVEN WANT THEM AROUND ME???

If someone is going to be that protective and judgmental of new people, Do I even want to put up with their pettiness?? Whatever happened to being polite and saying "Hi! How's it goin today? What have you guys been up to?" to no matter WHO they are!! Geesh! LOL!

So I'm eager to see what happens next time I am seen with Nanny M (who I guess is one of the Veterans and everyone loves her)!!

I just thought that had to be shared because WHO KNEW there would be so many little secrets and cliques in a playground by the CAREGIVERS!!! LOL!!!

Until Next time....BE NICE TO PEOPLE!! :)

Summer Kay takes on Times Square!

Another weekend....Another adventure of course!

So this weekend I decided that I would take on the Big Apple once again and see Times Square this time, and that's just what I did!

I got out the door at a pretty decent time for it being my lazy Sunday! I went to the train station close to our house and caught the train to Grand Central Station! Boy oh boy, I don't think I will ever want to drive into the city again after experiencing the easy and relaxing way of the train!

When I got to Grand Central, I walked outside and played a little guessing game of which way to walk...turns out, I was right! LOL! I found Rockefellar Center and where they tape The Today Show! They are building a stage outside of the RC right now because on wednesday there is a football game thing where they are having a concert outside! (Don't you love all the random info I get when I eavesdrop.)

Anyway, So I made my way to the NBC studio building in the Rockefellar Center and decided to do a studio tour!! I couldn't believe how cheap they were! THAT was awesome! The only thing that was a bummer was the fact they didn't allow cameras at all..BUT they did take a picture of each one of us sitting in Brian Williams' news chair..so of course I bought that! LOL!

They took us to the set of The Dr. Oz Show! That was neat, the stage was getting set up for me to start taping his new season and the way the chairs are arranged is pretty cool because of the camera angle it makes it look like on TV that people are all around him..Not true! The tricks of hollywood! LOL! Next they took us to the studio of The Late Night with Jimmy Fallon! WOW, I loved this part!! They showed us all the parts of the set that Jimmy had made with recycled things.. like his seats in the audience for instance, they are old Radio City Music Hall seats that have been cleaned!  His gold shamrock on the center of the stage to mark where he gives his nightly monologue is the same place that Johnny Carson had his Silver Star to mark his spot.. and the cool thing is Johnny Carson is Jimmy's Idol, so he literally walks in the footsteps of his Idol everynight! Cool to be Jimmy, right?! LOL!!
Next the took us to the set of Saturday Night Live! The largest studio in the building of course! We got to see the main stage where the host comes out, the musical host stage and the semi permanent ones they use for the bigger skits.. Also, I found out that during the live broadcast of the show each set only takes 90 seconds to tear down when they are done with that segment!! Crazy right?!?!

After the tour was over I had a voucher for the "Top of the Rock" To go to the very top of the Rockefellar Center and see the city! It was AWESOME!!! The elevator to go up was cool in itself because we went up 70 floors in 37 seconds!! The top of the elevator turned into a movie screen and you could see up rushing to the top, while all the lights turned off and music blasted! LOL! Being at the top with all the buildings right there at eye level was amazing! I LOVE Heights tho, so I was right in the element! I took a self portrait of me with the city behind me and then I finally asked a nice lady to take a picture of me! :)

After that I realized that I had been so excited about the city that I hadn't eaten anything yet so I found a cute little cafe and had lunch and a coffee while I planned my next stop! It was finally time to see Times Square!

As I was walking trying to find the big billboards I saw this HUGE group of people gathering in the middle of the street and all of a sudden I turned the corner and there were like 6 blocks of white texts set up and little did I know, but I had stumbled upon "HAPPY  BRAZIL DAY!" lol! Everyone was wearing Neon colors, brazil flags as clothes and some were wearing very little clothes at all! There was a stage at the end of the block so of course I followed the mob of people and started dancing in the street with them! :) I was bummed because I had JUST eaten and then there was all this fair type food with the street celebration!

I spent around a half hour watching people go wild in celebration of Brazil, even a guy with a HUGE snack around his shoulders dancing with people.. (Stay away from me, Sir!) When I felt like I had spent enough time with them I continued my walk to Times Square and man oh man was I speechless when I arrived at my destination!

It was EXACTLY what it looks like in the movies! People EVERYWHERE!! I got pictures of all the billboards, the buildings, the people and even some street performers and then my camera died, RIGHT before I finally saw the Naked Cowboy!! HOW sad do you think I was! LOL! I have decided that he is my first stop next time!

I spent around an hour in the square just watching people and walking up and down the stores and shops and I can honestly say it was like a dream I have had since I was a little girl seeing it for the first time in a movie...had come true!

I tried to find a spot in a few coffee shops to plug in my phone to charge it so I could go back out there and take pics, but after finding nothing but a couple cups of coffee (the starbucks' and other coffee places were too crowded with people for me to plug in) I decided to just go back to Grand Central and catch the train home!

My mom and I always joke around that I'm the Big City Girl of the family.. well, I think yesterday proved that to be true!!

SUMMER KAY BIG CITY GIRL! :)

Who knows what my next adventure will be, but I'm thinking Lady Liberty is calling my name! :)

First Solo Adventure...Accomplished!

So this weekend has been all about relaxing and getting my energy level back up to rock this next week with Princess and Diva! I started to get a cold last week and I think my body was pretty much worn down from the last month of my life, I needed a weekend for ME to get back to my crazy self!

Yesterday I slept in, hung out in my room for a while and just enjoyed not having any obligations since I had worked 14 days without a day off..this felt amazing! I lazed around for a while and then decided I would go find a movie theater so I ended up going to a small city near us. I found a big city center there with a huge building with a Movie Theater, Target, Barnes & Noble and a bunch of places like that.. THIS makes me happy because those three places can entertain me for hours! LOL!

After being kind of busy yesterday I decided that I would just hangout here today.. UM.. that happened until about 12pm and then I randomly decide, WHY NOT.. Lets go to NYC!

I knew it would be easier to just take the train into the city from where I live, but I decided to get the real first experience that I would drive! I found a parking garage near where I wanted to be, we won't even discuss how expensive it was! LOL! 

I got out of the car, looked up and I was instantly amazed! These buildings were HUGE!! All I had to go on was what I have seen in the movies and tv shows...and man oh man, they didn't do these building justice at all!!

People, Cars, Taxi, and more people.. were everywhere!!! After I realized that my GPS was in the car, I decide to just start walking, I'd eventually find it right?! So that's what I did!

I wanted to go to the World Trade Center Memorial, so I set up to find it..little did I know there was a huge process to get to go into the actual Memorial. I could see the Building but couldn't figure out how to do to the entrance of ground zero, so I figure the best person to ask is the nearest hotdog vendor! LOL! I was sooo right! I asked him and he started laughing at me...making me laugh too! He said "Turn around and look UP! There it is.. THAT is what you are walking towards!" He starts telling me which streets to turn down and to watch out for the crazy people when I get into the lines..then he adds "Ya wanna take a dog with you for the walk?" LOL! Uh.. No thank you kind Sir! :)

The weirdest thing was walking up to the line for the entrance is the WEIRDEST feeling..The city is soo loud and buzzing with energy and sounds, and then you get to ground zero and it's completely silent and eery..It was completely crazy.. I get to the lines for the entrance and soon find out I have to walk five more blocks to the 9/11 memorial preview site to get a Visitor's pass first..I walk up to get that and they say my ticket won't be ready until 5:30pm....oh damn! It was only 2:45, so that dashed my plans to actually go INTO the memorial.. but I just figured I'd do it next time..

So I found the visitor's center and went through all the videos, pictures hanging out on display of people, firemen's hats, and even saw some recovered wallets, wedding rings and drivers licenses..it was incredibly sad..

I keep walking and across the street I found St. Paul's Chapel.. the outside of it looks like an old cemetery and when I say OLD.. I mean, there is no names or dates on these tombstones and all the trees infront of the chapel have little white ribbons of hope tied onto each of the branches.. I guess when the families of the missing people on 9/11 didn't know what to do when their loved ones were missing, a bunch of them came to the chapel to pray, leave pictures and to find hope that they'd find them.. After the searches were called off and the people were announced dead, they started an altar of memories inside the chapel and also people started leaving letters, stories and things that reminded them of their loved ones in collections on the walls of the chapel..

Not being able to go into the actual memorial, the Chapel was incredible.. I sat on one of the chairs they had for pews and just felt the energy in there while probably close to 100 walked around looking at everything they had on display!

After I got done at the chapel, I walked along the water and was able to spot the Statue of Liberty! I was on the phone with my mom and all of a sudden I started squealing "oh my gosh! I see Lady Liberty!!!" lol! My mom was totally jealous!

I sat and watched the jet skis, boats and yachts go around in the water for a little bit before starting to head back to my car! I guess I didn't realize how long I had been walking because when I started back to my car I had a ways to go..but guess what, they have these amazing things called TAXIS going back you ever 1.5 seconds, so I hailed a cab to get back to my parking garage! LOL! Hey...I got tired!

So my last minute choice to go to the city ended up being an amazing adventure for a beautiful Sunday afternoon!!

I'm sure it will be more fun once I meet people to do things with, but I feel blessed that I'm completely comfortable with exploring on my own!!

I'm thinking next weekend will be Times Square!!

Seashells and Smiles :)

Whew!! THAT was quite a week we just had! I feel like I had no idea what to expect when I left that Saturday morning, little did I know...I REALLY had no idea what would happen!

Let me start off by saying I LOVE MY EMPLOYERS! I know that it takes a while to get to know eachother and in this setting where I already live with them, it's tricky sometimes but in short I really enjoy being around them on a regular basis and am completely excited for this next year of our lives!

So we got to Cape Cod on Saturday afternoon and were met by their extended family. There were 11 of us sharing this rental house for the week and we just hit the ground running! It was all very surreal. It was like, Hi Summer, nice to meet you...okay take care of my children, thanks! :)

No, the childcare part wasn't too bad at all. I actually had a melt down on the first full day there and ended up crying in front of the Grandma and my MB. I was frustrated because as a Nanny going on vacation with your employers it's always very tricky. You both need to sit down and dictate what the expectation of you will be during the stay. What you need to do, what hours you will be working..etc. But we had none of that. I think our situation is just so different because every single transition you could ever have with your employer...we had it ALL at the same time RIGHT when I started! lol! So because we didn't really know eachother yet, I was afraid they would think I was a slacker if I weren't following the kids around the house all day and they were afraid that I was feeling taken advantage of because of the other kids there...so once we actually sat down and had some much needed communication take place, it ended up being a really GREAT week!!!!

I saw things and did things that I've only imagined in my head and seen on movies! We spent days on the beach of the Atlantic ocean, helping the kids collect shells (including LOTS of horseshoe crabs which I had never seen before!) We actually went swimming in the ocean and then played in the sand for hours! We took a nature walk one morning and ended up in this little village with shops and restaurants and the kids randomly played mini golf, it was adorable! I LOVE cute little places like that and it reminded me of when I was little and we went to Seaside, OR or Longbeach, Wa BUT .. the people wore way different clothing and drove different cars! LOL! It really made me laugh that the people are so stereotypical in how they dress. Khakis, dress shirts, with a sweater tied around their shoulders with penny loafers.. CRACKED me up!!! Don't get me wrong, it's nice and all but I'm used to seeing guys in either shorts and a t-shirt, or wranglers and a flannel! It's just a little different!

So our time on the Cape was pretty awesome! We didn't get to sight see or do many activities because that's not what this trip was about. It was their family getting to spent a bunch of time together and relax as much as possible because of their hectic lives at home all year round! I believe that goal was accomplished, and I'm really excited that I feel like I know them alot better now than if I had just moved in and started our normal routine right off the bat. Plus, Princess, Diva and I know eachother a lot more now! :)

Oh.. before I end the CAPE part of this blog, I have to add that we were there when Taylor Swift picked out her compound next door to the Kennedy's and I'm extremely offended that I wasn't personally invited to her house warming party! lol.. Afterall, I DID have my first glass of Dom Perignon! :)

So after we left that Vacation we headed to the Berkshires for a couple days! That drive was sooo pretty! Of course I spent the little over 2 hours blasting my music and singing at the top of my lungs because that is my way of letting out all the energy I don't get to let out when I never have any alone time! Give me a car, my ipod and a couple hundred miles and I am good to go!!!

When we drive into the Berkshires, I totally had a fangirl moment because it was EXACTLY how the movies make it seem! A cute little village town, mountains of green everywhere and people with a perma grin walking out of HUGE houses, waving to their neighbors passing by! It was awesome!!

So we went there for a day to stay with My employer's Parents because our floors were being stained in the new house and we couldn't go home yet because it was still stinky! Nice place to HAVE to be in for a couple days! lol!

The house we stayed in was built in 1815 and it was incredible! The floors creaked, the doors squeaked and it still had most of the original features!!! I'm not gonna lie tho, at night when everyone was in bed...I totally heard voices talking outside my window, I'm pretty sure it was some old spirits or something! lol! Anyway, we had fun those two days. We went to the library in town, walked the flea market where Diva got a tye dyed dress that she's now in love with, and ate at a few of the restaurants in the little village of shops! Needless to say, I won't be upset when we go visit their family there again soon! :)

When we finally got home on tuesday night, I was BEAT! It has been such a crazy week and a half and I'm sure this is nothing compared to what I will experience in this next year, but for me this was a great way to make my entrance into this city!!

Since we've been back the girls and I have been busy finding new parks near and far from where we live! We explored the New York Botanical Gardens yesterday and today we spent most of the day at the Aquarium in Norwalk, CT!!

I get excited everytime I get to drive them places and even more excited when the day is done and I can blast my music on a little joy ride exploring my new place of residence!

I have yet to go into THE CITY, but with some friends that I know here it's bound to happen soon!!

It's time for me to take some more cough syrup and head to dreamland now, But I hope some of my Vacation adventures entertained you all!!

Until next time!

New York...New Beginnings!!

Hello my friends!!!!

It's been soooo long since I've blogged but this is the start of a new habit! I've just moved across the country from Phoenix to New York for a new nanny job! Since I'm now on a different time zone than most of my family back home and a lot of my friends around the country, I've decided that keeping a regular blog will be easier than trying to catch up with people on the phone. I also feel bad for the people that have me on their facebook timeline and don't really give a crap about my daily happenings, so this is where SoapNannyConfessions comes in. If you want to know about what's going on in my CRAZY life..then follow me here!! 

I know it's been a week now since I've been here and most of you have kept up on my travels via facebook but I just want to tell about how AWESOME my trip out here was! 

The road trip to my future!!....was AMAZING!!! I had such a great experience on my way here! I started on a saturday morning and had planned on stopping in New Mexico for the night at my friend Zou's friend's house.. I thought it was super nice that she was allowing me to crash with her when I hadn't even met her yet. Well, I ended up leaving too early because I was excited and I got to New Mexico by 1pm and if you know me at ALL, you'll know that I thought that would be a complete waste of a day to stop that early... so I just kept going! 
My destination the next day was my best friend Sara Mae's house in Keota, Oklahoma so I just decided that after 7 1/2 hours of driving that adding another 9 1/2 was nothing! LOL! I ended up getting there at 12:30am, but we didn't care.. it meant that we got an extra day together!

So I spent the next few days with some of my favorite people, going to Sara's church, shopping with her sister for school clothes, having the great pecan pie that her Gammy makes me everytime I go there, spending time with her niece and nephews and bugging the crap out of her with my obsession with the Olympics! loL! I had a great time and almost bawled my eyes out when I had to leave...but Idianapolis was next!

My friend from High school, Erica and her sweet little family had invited me to stay with them for two nights! I had sooo much fun! It had been almost three years since I had seem them and I hadn't met their newest baby girl yet either! Erica and I stayed up way too late the first night just catching up with eachother, talking family, friends, god and the craziness of our adult lives! The next morning I went to her school where she teaches and helped her get her classroom set up and I had a blast with that! lol! I met some of her teacher friends and they thought I was crazy, of course.. with all my stories of being a nanny, moving cross country and the soap opera event stuff mixed it, I bet I was the talk of the faculty break room for a few days! LOL!

The next day I set off to Philadelphia where I stayed with my Nanny friends Sue and Charlotte! Oh goodness, how I love them! They made me feel right at home and listened to my little freak outs I was having, knowing that was the last leg of my race and I would be going to my new home the next morning!
I had done EXTREMELY well being in denial that my world was changing and I couldn't run from it any longer!

So the day came and after fighting with the New Jersey turnpike and toll booths I had finally arrived in Scarsdale, NY .. at my new live-in family's house!
The girls greeted me at the door and the DB (Dad Boss) helped me unload my extremely packed car! Since they had only moved into the new house a few days before that, my room actually became the only room in the house completely unpacked! :)

So after an afternoon of unpacking, calling my parents and letting them know I had made it, and going to our first dinner as a family... I was pretty excited to start my first week as Princess and Diva's nanny!!!

So right now, it's friday night and I've lived here and work here for five days.. I'm as excited NOW as I was that first night.. They have proved to be awesome people and I believe this will be an amazing chapter to add to my life!

Just to clarify a few things for everyone... I will not be releasing the families real names, jobs or anything personal...This is just an outlet for me to let my friends and family (and anyone else out there) know what's going on in my life! So to protect everyone involved I will be changing names! 

The girls are Diva (5yrs old) and Princess (2yrs old).. DB (Dad boss) MB (Mom Boss) 
Just know from here on out in the Nanny side of things, the names aren't real! :)

Well, at some point I will write about my first week in detail and explain how exciting it is to be working in such a different culture or place than I ever have before.. but for now I must go to bed!

We leave at 8am for Vacation in Cape Cod tomorrow morning and I'm sure that in itself will be it's own blog when we return next weekend!!

Until then... Treat your caregivers like Gold! :)

Love Ya!!

Summer Kay the Soap Nanny!

Let's try this out...

So this is my first post and I'm just trying to figure all of this out, but today seemed like a great day to make it happen! Thank you to my Sara Mae for helping me out!