A Visit from the Home Land...

Meeting new people is one of the best parts of living in a city like New York. It requires very little effort and there is always someone new who is happy to talk to you (the Brit accent helps admittedly).

Since moving to New York I’ve met some amazing people and some friends that I hope to keep for a long time back in the UK, but it has to be said, there is nothing like those friends who know you well enough to tell you that you’re acting like a 4 year old or that you smell because you forgot to put on deodorant or that it’s time you got laid because you’ve started spooning your pillow in your sleep. Now I’m not saying I’ve had all these comments from friends...but I know they would tell me if I needed to know these things.

So imagine my joy when I had 6 friends from back in blightly visit for the New Year break. Back in NY and on a come down from an amazing Christmas they were exactly the antidote I needed to renew my post-Christmas glow!

I won’t provide a rundown of everything we did, it wouldn’t be interesting for anyone but me. I will, however, provide a photo summary of each day. Top 5 photos from each of the 4 days...get ready for it:

Day 1: Saturday December 31^st, Mid-town & New Year’s Eve

Saks 5th Avenue

Outside the Empire State - it rained! 

Grand Central

Enjoying a cocktail in the Campbell Apartment

The full collection on NYE!

  

Day 2: Sunday January 1^st, West Village (with a little LES thrown in)

The Standard Bar and Grill

3pm hangover brunch @ The Standard

Walking the highline

Beauty & Essex

Little bar serving free pink fizz in the ladies bathroom - I LOVE NY!

Day 3: Monday January 2^nd, Central Park & Shopping

Central Park - yes in Jan

Taking over the Alice in Wonderland sculpture 

a visit to Shake Shack

In the windows of Bloomingdales

The view we had whilst drinking and dancing

Day 4: Tuesday January 3rd, Everything left

Walking the West Village

Times Square

And that is all...

XOXO

My (verging on stalkerish) Girl Crush...

This isn’t a fashion blog because I’m not actually very good at fashion, not the really cool stuff anyway!

However my girl crush on Miranda Kerr and her incredible sense of style is knowing no bounds of late so I wanted to share with you the three outfits that I will be attempting to steal (in a decidedly less attractive and pulled together way)!

Based on the fact that I can’t see any reasoning behind creating my own style when she does it so much better I will be spending my wages over the next few months on the following:

• Black shorts
• Black ankle boots
• A boyfriend blazer
• Several loose fitting t-shirts
• Some serious tan assisting products
• Oh and some Uber-cool  Raybans (probably the $6 ones from a street stall though)

XOXO

Another Blog...

Firstly a shout out to all my friends who actually keep their blogs up to date...your're probably more likely to find updates on me from there than on this blog. You can find them all down the right hand side of this blog!

I have decided that whilst I love treating this blog like it's a chat with my friends back home I'm missing any number of vitial things that I'm actually dooing/seeing/enjoying in New York.

I have now developed the ultimate New York Bucket List and every time I cross something off this excessively long list you will be able to read about it there...although feel free to check back at this location for the touchy feely stuff:
 
Let me know if there is anything you feel is missing...
http://nybucketlist.blogspot.com/

I Don't Speak French, so I let the funky music do the talking...‏

Okay fine, yes the title was borrowed from a shockingly bad Girl’s Aloud song...but it seems to fit so tough, it’s staying.

Having never really been fussed about France before, despite its near proximity, I have recently found myself a little bit of a convert. I’m drinking French wine,  hitting New York’s French bistros and learning all sorts of French things all of a sudden.

Actually what has happened is I met a boy. He’s a nice one at that, well he is so far.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not about to hop back over the Atlantic, move to Paris and start to learn a crazy new language (what would be the point, he lives here), but the accent is so divine I can’t stop listening to him and yet often don’t hear a thing he’s said.

We’ve managed a couple of dates so far and, to my knowledge, I‘ve kept very cool about the whole thing. I must say though, he is dark , a little bit intense and wears Hermes aftershave.

So I’m obviously now thinking what every girl would be...drive me to Vegas!

XOXO

An Extra day off...hanging out at an All American Diner‏

“Only an idiot would go back to work on a bank holiday”...hello, my name is idiot!

So Wednesday December 28^th was assigned by my lovely place of work as a privilege holiday...the whole office had an extra day off...particularly generous when you consider that Christmas fell on a Sunday this year so we essentially got December 24^th -29^th to laze
around. My problem is that I completely forgot this fact and so...after waking up late & rushing myself into the office I discovered my mistake and was stuck with a whole day off and nothing planned, bliss!

Given that I was already in the city I headed from the East Side location of my office to the other side of the island, via Starbucks, to hang with a friend in her Upper West apartment. After a chai latte and two shows on E! Which basically just talked about hot women in Hollywood...and made me really panic about my dress for New Year’s Eve I realised that she was ready to get on with her day and I still had formed no plan.

After my lovely host decided it was time to leave I figured it wasn’t raining and I was already way up at 56^th & 9^th...time to hit up Central Park. It turns out the park is not nearly as pretty in winter. I stuck with it for a couple of hours...actually enjoying the chill in the air until hunger hit. After almost stopping in Le Pain for a hot chocolate, I bulked at both the prices and how busy it was and decided to Google a diner (ah the wonders of modern technology)...brilliant!

After walking around the Beautiful NY Natural History Museum I headed North  

I happily found the Amsterdam Diner (Amsterdam Avenue, btwn 81^st & 82^nd), just round the corner from the NHM.

I settled in a stool at the counter, read my The New Yorker and indulged in a bottomless cup of coffee. I think there is a reason that the diners still in New York have lasted through years of gastro-snobbery...they’re just so damn good. This is the 4^th diner I have been to in the city and so far each one has been perfect in terms of the food served and the price. I had poached eggs, home fries, toast and jam with a coffee and even with Tax & Tip I only forked out $10. If you’re ever in the area visiting the museum then this place is a must visit!: 

XOXO