saying goodbye...

In just two days I will say goodbye to the past two years of my life and three wonderful little kids who's first and last names start with M. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. We've spent this past week and last week in Mexico and I have really enjoyed playing with them in the pool, ditching waves on the beach, making pinatas, playing in the sand and just being us. On each trip because there are usually not enough rooms to have our own I get to snuggle with Madeline (sleeping with kids isn't so much getting sleep) but hey, you must enjoy it before they get to big and they wont let you anymore. Yesterday Marshall was playing with pots and pans in the kitchen. He pretended to make me some soup and gave me a make believe spoonful and said, "Here, I love you Holly". It's those moments that make this job TOTALLY worth it and although sometimes I have put in 90 hours a week and have given up a "normal" social life for basically 24 months, it has been totally worth it. Watching them grow and develop and traveling the world with them and acheieving my own goals to be debt free and move to another continent have made every second with the Mandells worth the journey. Now it is time to move on to a new one, which I know will be equally rewarding. The next few pics are of our last week in Mexico. I don't really post pics of the kids I nanny cause my blog isn't private and I just want them to be safe, but here are some glimpses of our last week in Mexico, our last week together. Feeling VERY bittersweet about that!

los cabos, and a little congrats!

Hola! Here's my little online post card of sorts from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It's my last week as the Mandell's nanny and we are here enjoying the ocean waves (they're giantic as Madeline says) and eating guacamole. Mmmm, Guacamole! I have included my favorite recipe for this delectible dip for you to enjoy til I post more pics of this beautiful place.

GUACAMOLE
Ingredients:
4 Hass avocadoes
3 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
8 dashes hot pepper sauce
1/2 cup red onion, small dice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
1 medium tomato, seeded and small dice

Directions:
1Pit avocados and remove flesh out of shells into a bowl. Add lemon juice, hot sauce, onion, garlic, salt and pepper and toss well.
2Slice through mixture with a sharp knife until finely diced. Add tomatoes.
3Mix well and taste for seasoning

Serve with fresh tortilla chips.

Oh oh oh...and...

Congradualations!!!

to my brother Steve and his wife Melanie who becomes parents to a little girl today. They are still in labor so I will wait to announce the name, etc...but I am so excited for them. They are going to be such wonderful parents and I can't wait to hold that little baby girl in five days when I return to Salt Lake. Love you guys!

As an interesting little side note...I wasn't as hooked on my book during nap time today and so I started blog surfing and found this fun little morsel. It tells how many people have my same name in the US. Kinda fun! Just click on it and you can find out about your own! Ah, life's little simple pleasures.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 491 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

central park

So for my last New York day for a while I decided to spend it in Central Park, a little excercise and a nice Saturday in the Park was bliss. I went with Jess and we had a great time just catching up, watching street performers and enjoying the scenery. It seriously was a perfect day!

Jess enjoying fresh lemonaide, SO good from the Boathouse on this perfect glorious day!

Is this not the cutest thing ever? I love seeing old couples like this, he's just content while she lays on his lap and he holds her hand, so cute!!! Think he saw me snapping the photo though!








These "Afrobats" were awesome. Three Hundred people gathered in the park to watch them including Jess and I.

One problem, the NYPD destroyed their whole show right in the middle of it because they were using a radio? Rediculous!






I LOVE this about New York! Check out this guy's Hammer Pants. Haven't seen those since 1994. So Awesome!



I am going to miss being on the East Coast with Jess. She's amazin'!

pure gold

So you all have been watching the Olypics right? Seriously, Michael Phelps is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I don't care who ya are, this guy deserves to eat 13,000 calories per day! Just watched him get his 7th...SEVENTH, Gold Medal. Only one more race tomarrow and he'll have his eighth...well, we have to beat out Australia in the relay but this is going to be a proud moment! Go USA and GO Mike! WE LOVE YOU! The Olympics Rock! Seriously can't get enough!

sending out an s.o.s

Help me my friends, just what am I supposed to read now? So I finished Breaking Dawn last night, so fantastic by the way. I am going to miss those vampires, especially the E-bomb/Man of every womans dream/Edward Cullen. Can't wait for the Twilight movie priemer but anyways...

...now I have a serious problem. I need a new book that is as good if not better than this one, atleast as exciting? Please Please Please comment if you have any suggestions for what I should read next.

One friend suggested the Jane Austin books, but I have vowed not to read them til I am hitched cause if I do, my expectations for men will become unachievable and I will live in a dream world (maybe I am already there, who knows)

Can't wait to see what you suggest...please be quick...I have a vacay to Mexico coming up and need something mega good to read on the beach!

black and white, go rams!

This is my Senior yearbook photo from ten years ago...


Holy Cow! I can't believe it's my 10 YEAR Highschool Reunion tomarrow!! What the... How did I get so old? Although I sadly can't attend the event, I have been thinking about some of the things that have happened since highschool, hoping that I have atleast accomplished something since then. So I thought I would make a list of ten things I have done in the past ten years (more for me than the reader, I'm not trying to give you a resume here) and then ten things that I would like to accomplish in the next decade-sort of like a ten year Bucket List. Then in the comments box, I would love to hear about your dreams in the next ten years!

in the last 10...
1. Lived in New York, Connecticut, and South Africa
2. Traveled to 24 countries
3. Was a chef at an International Summer Camp
4. Graduated from the University of Utah
5. Taught Cooking Classes to Kids
6. Ran my first Marathon
7. Rode Elephants
8. Owned a non-profit for kids around the world
9. Was a nanny for 5 families, 12 amazing kids whom I will be attached to for life
10. Learned how to use e-mail, facebook, blogs, word, myspace, etc. (when I was in highschool there wasn't e-mail yet...remember dial up, aol etc?-PLEH!!)

In the next 10 (not in order or priority)...
1. Travel to atleast 10 more countries
2. Learn to play guitar (like REALLY learn it)
3. Go to Culinary School
4. Do more with Non-Profit/Humanitarian work
5. Become a Personal Chef and teach more Cooking Classes
6. Get Married/Have a Family of my own (this one is SO not in my control people, are you allowed to set this one as a goal?, start prayin for me k)
7. Run more Marathons
8. Buy a Home and make it cute!
9. Become a much more elegant, graceful, spiritual, charitable, person.
10. Read atleast 12 books a year, every year for the next ten!

By the way, I love Highland High School and I hope everyone who attends the reunion has a stellar time! GO RAMS!

thankyou, gracias, merci, danke, ke a leboha haholo...

to my bff Camille. She surprised me with one hour of bliss (aka full body massage) at a spa here in Greenwich for my Birthday. I partook of that said massage today and it literally feels like my rubber band body was transformed into perfect harmony. I feel great! Camille is so amazing and just one more reason why my life is awesome. Love you dearly friend! So so So lucky to know you!

*Stay tuned by the way, cause Camille is in the process of recording an album and the second it comes out I will post details. Can't wait, she's SO talented!

love love loved it!

Alright Ladies...if you haven't already, you most definatly need to grab your best gal pals and make your way to the cinema for "Mama Mia". If you are like me and you appreciate the music of ABBA and don't mind viewing the bliss of the Mediterranian coast and Greek Islands (who does mind I mean really?), then definatly definatly go see this! I went last night with my friends Allie and Hayley and you better believe we were dancing and singing along in the movie theater. Fun Times!

one month

from today I will be leaving Connecticut. I can't believe it! It's been awesome living here in Greenwich (pic of town to your left) although I can't quite say I could ever call this town "home". Saying goodbye to my adorable Maxwell, Madeline and Marshall is going to be tough, but I am so delighted about what is ahead of me in South Africa. Tonight I curled up with the kids and we watched High School Musical (love it) and ate chinese food. My fortune cookie read, "A wise person cares not for what he can't have but for what he can" I think it is easy to fall into that trap of not embracing the awesomeness of your life because you are worried about the future (which you don't know) or what you don't have in it. Even if this post is only for me, I shall follow the advice of this fortune and do my best to take in all that life has to offer right now and the people that are in my life everyday. I would be foolish not to take advantage of seeing life through the eyes of sweet Marshall, who is seriously proof that heaven exists. He's not even mine, but children teach me so much and I can't ever imagine not being around them. To counteract my previous, very sarcastic "no seriously, i'm awesome" post I just want to say how much I have been blessed by doing what I do for a living. I know I will be equally blessed by the children at the orphanage in South Africa or teaching cooking classes to kids in Johannesburg. I am a really super lucky girl and I seriously, pretty much have the most awesome life ever! I don't take for granted all the wonderful children I have been blessed to work with or the opportunities to travel the world. I am fortunate in so many more ways than I deserve. And, now I am going to end this post before I start boring you by just listing them out. Oooooh, and speaking of which, "Breaking Dawn" is totally good so far. I have only had it a few hours and am almost half way through. Edward has captivated me once again! Have a great weekend!