Picture of the Week: July 23rd - 29th

I have been told that to New Yorkers "the park" means Central Park and "the city" means New York City, wherever in the world you happen to be. In which case this weekend I spent Sunday at the park enjoying a spot of sunshine and a meander. It is true that on a sunny weekend day it can get a little over crowded but that doesn't stop this place feeling like a heaven in the city. 


This week started with my favourite kind of meeting, one that happens over spiked milkshakes and bacon mac&cheese with the lovely Michelle. 

Mac&Cheese date

From there I crossed off another state...Connecticut, where I was working at a conference. This means that I can cross the state off my list of those visited. More importantly I spent the conference at one of America's largest casinos, not in Vegas however, on a Native American reserve! Apparently, as a sovereign state has it's own  laws...including legalised gambling and smoking in public areas. All a little strange if you ask me...but they decided to use the space to build a giant themed casino and arena, the Mohegan Sun! I was also lucky enough to have some great company on this trip both work colleagues and a friend from Connecticut who drove for over an hour to keep me company Wednesday evening.


Friday was Olympics time! The office closed down a little early, the beer started flowing and the Union Jack was out in force for a screening of the London 2012 Opening Ceremony. I have since heard it called a number of things, including bizarre but I loved it. I became almost emotional several times and it reminded me once again that I'm proud of my country and I'm actually kind of looking forward to calling it home again (shhhhh - don't tell anyone!).

The office was Olympics ready on Friday

Saturday was spent in Brooklyn. First in the insanely cool Bushwick - which is like Williamsburg without the expensive coffee. We drank beer, ate Roberta's famous pizza and danced in the day. Secondly in Williamsburg at Smorgasburg - a food market on the water front that I couldn't buy from because I was so full from the pizza. We also popped in to Artists & Fleas a kind of overpriced bazaar...I didn't buy, this time because I couldn't afford to.


Finally we scooted back to the city, consumed one of New York's best burgers from Corner Bistro...alongside the actor Mark Ruffalo, and finished up in Marie's Crisis (home of my favourite cross-section of piano playing, show-tune singing, homosexuals of the city).


And sunday...we went to 'the park'.


Am I 'New York' enough yet?!
  

#cabinofdreams...

If you're beginning to feel like this blog is just a selection of pictures and you're getting a little fatigued then you might want to look away now...this post is likely to be a gratuitous collection of images from several weekends ago...the weekend we spent in the #cabinofdreams. Yes the hash-tag is my own and yes, it caught on!


So mid-July, after many weeks of paying money here and there I collected my bag and jumped into one of three 7 seater cars to high-tail it upstate to America's largest state park (not national - they're different apparently). 21 of us in total headed up to the Adirondacks for a long weekend in a cabin near Lake Placid (famous mostly for a film about a giant monster who lives there). 


The cabin was a vision in wood. It couldn't have been more cabin like! But with the added bonus that it still fitted in an outdoor deck, games room, huge fire-place, bear depictions, hot tub and basketball court. Oh and a hammock big enough for 4 and a fire pit (yes I'm just getting greedy now). Don't believe me...

The deck

Living room light fitting

One of the bedrooms - sleeping 14

and:

one of the living areas - yes the piano worked

It's impossible to describe the detail that this place had, so I won't. But I will post shortly about the fun and games we had whilst there!

Picture of the Week: July 16th - 22nd

This weekend I managed to do something I've been wanting to do since the start. I visited the New York institution The Plaza. Not only did I pop my head into one of the most famous hotels in the world but I was joined by two of my favourite NYC ladies and we sat & had high tea! We also snuck ourselves into the locked up famous Grand Ballroom 

However the week was so crazy busy and full of exciting activities (including the arrival of one Miss Lomax) I thought I should also include a run down and pictures of my other activities.


On Monday I returned from here:

On Tuesday Naomi arrived in NYC having visited Vegas first. We visited my favourite Mexican on Jane Street (Mole) and enjoyed the excessively hot summer evening over a glass of wine & some Guac!


Wednesday I had the day off so Miss Lomax & myself headed first to the West Village for breakfast from Chelsea Market & a stop off on the Highline. We then walked our way north along the Hudson River Park (stopping at the Frying Pan for afternoon drinks) before getting caught in an almighty rainstorm & hot footing it into a cab to our final destination - Dinosaur BBQ. This places tastes like the best of Texas BBQ so we munched on wings & pulled pork...finally we ended up at the famous Amateur Night at the Apollo in Harlem...

Thursday I worked because I had a client event in the evening...this actually meant that I got to hold the Olympic Torch so I wasn't too disappointed! 

Closest I'll ever get to organised sports

Friday I once again had the day off so we headed first to the Spotted Pig for a famous burger, we then bummed around in downtown - from West to East, hid from the rain she brought with her from the UK, did a spot of shopping and ended up drinking the Lower East Side.  

Spotted Pig Burger & Shoestring Fries

Saturday morning Naomi left for the UK and I jumped on a bus to Long Island for a wine tasting tour. I'll try to update on that one in a separate post - but don't hate me if I'm too busy!  

Picture of the Week: July 9th - 15th

On Friday morning we drove for 5 hours till we reached the area of Lake Placid. There was 21 of us in a beautiful Cabin for 4 days. This meant a tiki party, 2 x BBQ's, a hot-tub, an epic quiz, a trip to the lake for a swim, a hike to a waterfall, 40 bottles of wine, 5 litres of vodka and a keg.  


Basically it was one hell of a long weekend...

Rockaway by baby...

I would be very comfortable describing Rockaway as 'Williamsburg on Sea'. It lies at the very bottom of Queens near JFK airport and, if it wasn't for the crazy number of cool urban New Yorkers, you could be forgiven for thinking it is much further away. Actually it's $2.25 and 1 hour away from Central Manhattan - what more could you want on another scorcher of a weekend!

I have now visited Rockaway twice...once in the early spring sunshine, and again this weekend. It's fair to say that in season it couldn't be more different...it's busy, buzzy and full of a renegade mix of hip New York young professionals (those that can't afford a summer share in Long Island and the Hamptons), urban familys and Rockaway locals. It also has the BEST sea-side munchies I've found!

So how does it now compare to our wonderful day there over the Easter Weekend?! Well...

Easter

Summer

Easter

Summer

Easter

Summer

But despite the crowds I still prefer a bit of summer...because it includes getting stuck in to some famous Rockaway Fish Tacos (apparently they're better than the Cali version)...

Boston in a day...

It seemed like a crazy idea and I still think it may have been, but Elly Lacey and I hatched the plan anyway - to take a Monday off and visit Boston!


Boston is 4hrs from New York...that's not impossible! I jumped on the 7:30am coach (Elly's was 15 minutes earlier due to some oversight my end with bookings) to Boston and off we sped to Boston. 


Arriving just before 12 we hot-footed it to Boston Common and picked up a route-map for the Boston Freedom Trail! This self-guided tour of the city takes in the major sights associated with the defeat of the British and the Independence of America. As a Brit (who is excessively attached to the American sensibility) it was fascinating to see some of the places and learn about some of the actions that led to the American victory. 


It's a beautiful place...equal parts idyllic New England clapboard and Colonialist brick (apart from the very centre - that kind of reminded me of Cardiff). We ate New England oysters, clams, some Italian and a cupcake or two! It's still a city, but it's also very suburban.

Finally, after all the walking and the learning we hot footed it over to Harvard! I'm sure my brain cells quadrupled just by wondering around the famous university buildings. 

In summary I learnt a great many things about Boston:

• It is a beautiful city that I would happily live in for many years if I could
• It is tiny and not difficult to see in a day
• It is expensive to take a cab
• Nothing says Boston like a white spire on a church

Picture of the Week: July 2nd - 8th

4th July is all about American's winning independence from us Brits. Now even though this has caused many subsequent issues  for me (i.e. it's not so easy to get a US Visa as it probably would be) I think it may have become my favourite US holiday! It's all about sunshine, fun and fireworks - what more could anyone want. I joined 20 or so other fellow Brits on Wednesday to celebrate the historical significance of Great Britain failing to hang on to its territory with a giant picnic in the continuing New York heatwave.


We sat in Maxwell Park which is at the tip top of Hoboken. It's right on the river and has beautiful views of both the fireworks and the Empire State Building (which was Red, White & Blue for the event). We got there early, bagged a prime spot and had some fun...followed by the most spectacular fireworks I've ever seen!

Picture of the Week: June 25th - July 1st

In celebration of Miss Lauren William's round the world tour we decided to decamp to Washington, D.C for the weekend. Now I was told that Washington was fairly compact and could easily be seen in a weekend - what this didn't allow for is the 100 degree heat we encountered. So we spent the weekend seeing the sights of Washington and after almost walking our feet off on the first day we switched to the Bikehire scheme - this is a genius way to get around a rather sprawling (and confusing) city!  


My general assessment for Washington was that I loved it - but I didn't love it as much as Boston.