2 Years On...

It was to years ago tomorrow that I left America and came back to London. Re-reading this blog is now bitter sweet. I miss that year more than words can describe.

I love my life in the UK and I now have a great job which, whilst not well paid, is exactly what I hoped to be doing.

However my year in New York stays with me and will continue to do so. It was the best year of my life and I will continue to be the best decision I ever made. I will always be grateful to Mountbatten for giving me that year.

If you are interested in following my new adventures then I have a new blog: http://adventurerandlondoner.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Eventually I will begin to update it!

Last weekend in New York City...

How did I spend my last weekend in New York? 

Open Bar in Lower East Side, Brunch at Pranna (which included 2 hours of unlimited alcohol and where dancing in the day on tables is positively encouraged), a walk through Madison Square Park, a spot of shopping, dinner at Tortaria (insanely good mexican cantina), an evening walk on the Highline followed by a night-time walk along the Hoboken waterfront, another brunch (minus the booze) at The Standard, a ramble around Central Park and finally free tickets to Shakespeare in the Park, an outdoor theatre in the middle of the Park showing Into the Woods.

Please don't make me leave!

The cabin continued...

I was going to write a big long post about all the cabin adventures but instead Miss Katy Hanby created this wonderful video which kind of sums up all the love and fun from the whole weekend!

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...