New York, New York

Can you guess already that I love holidays!? This was my final (probably) holiday of the year and the first with mum, dad and Adrian and Nathan came along too!

We were heading across the pond to the home of Yankees, bagels, NYPD and cawfee! You guessed it folks, the one and only Big Apple; NEW YORK CITY 🇺🇸🗽🍎

After an early wake up call (it's only acceptable to be awake at this time for holiday or getting in from a particularly spectacular night out) we arrived at the airport which coincided with my oldest best friend heading out to Detroit as an air hostess for Virgin Atlantic! Proud moment!

We had minor delays due to having to change planes to which Virgin gave every passenger a £5 food/drink voucher for our troubles - great service!

It was a great flight, with pretty good food and films and before we knew it we had arrived! It was early afternoon by the time we arrived in the city and our shuttle bus dropped us at Grand Central, not a bad first stop for the holiday.

Please note the weather was obscenely hot and sweaty so it was high time we headed to our apartment to freshen up up and get exploring. Mum had booked a great apartment located in the Upper East Side, being a huge Gossip Girl fan (if you know, you know) this was my little slice of heaven and to put the cherry on top of the cake we were just a few blocks from the beautiful Central Park and by the time we left the apartment we managed to catch an amazing sunset by the lake inside. 

Now this is where my blog deleted itself, and I just cannot bring myself to rewrite the whole thing, so I'm just going to caption everything.

First stop on our first official day - Times Square for a family selfie.

We picked up bikes from Pier 71 and cycled along the dedicated cycle path on the West coast of Manhattan towards Brooklyn Bridge.

We headed over Manhattan Bridge and into Broolyn to Dumbo for a spot of lunch and we came across a cute little food market and I indulged in skin-on fries with truffle and lemon aioli and with a view like this... This is what dreams are made of.

We saw 3 seperate weddings in the prime spot for photos so we took advantage too.

Look at this amazing view of Manhattan and we were so lucky with the amazing weather.

Before cycling over Broolyn Bridge back into Manhattan.

We stopped by the city and had a quick look at the 9/11 memorial, but it was only quick stop as we had plans to head back and spend more time there another day.

On the way back to Pier 71 we stopped for a quick drink with a fantastic view of Jersey. 

Day 2; I kick started the day with a Central Park run and I was spoilt with an amazing lake to run around. And as I#m sure you can imagine by this point all these beautiful views are going to my head.

Adrian, Nathan and I headed off early to find a breakfast stop in the Park, whilst mum had to answer some emails quickly.

We stopped at The Boathouse Cafe, where we treated ourselves to pancakes and fruit salads and it was cheap as chips and exactly what we were looking for.

We later took a pit stop at The Flat Iron, can you imagine being in one of those corner rooms? 

That evening we went back to the apartment to freshen up before going to the Rockafellar, a.k.a Top of The Rock to indulge in a sunset view of the city and it was pretty spectacular.

For dinner we consulted my trusty Lonely Planet and found a dinner spot a few blocks away and it was great. Full of locals and great food - Charlie's (can't find a link to the restaurant).

Another day meant another morning run around the lake in Central Park and doing a bit more exploring to make it a decent 7km run.

Before heading off to the US Open near Queens - ticking off one of mum's tennis bucket list items.

It was a real scorcher and we hoped for any bit of shade we could lay our hands on.

Mum was in her element and she managed to lay her hands on some evening tickets to see Andy Murray and Adrian and Dad also stayed on but Nath and I just watched some play on the outdoor courts before before making our way back.

We headed back to Pier 71 on the West side to take a boat tour around Manhattan. We picked up lunch beforehand and over-indulged on the salad bar, failing to realise it was priced on weight versus size of container. Only a measly $17, it was great but safe to say I won't make that mistake again.

We got to see the pretty lady, The Statue of Liberty in all her glory.

Manhattan from the Hudson River.

This giant C, started back in the day by Colombia University rowers, where their initiation was to paint this and each year it has to be topped up by Freshers.

Nathan being all candid.

Me being all candid.

Arriving back with a great view, I can't remember the name of this building but it was awesome.

Where the boat stopped off, we were ideally located close to the start of The High Line. Which is an old rail track that has been developed into a walk way between buildings and has loads of plants, flowers and seating areas to watch the world go by.

After a quick freshen up that evening, we headed for dinner at Ellen's Stardust Diner as recommended by Tash and Eden. A totally different experience and great before going to see a Broadway musical. To explain a little, all the waitresses and waitors are trained in performing arts and have either being on Broadway or aspire to. As well as delivering your food with a smile, you also get treated to singing and Mum got a song from Greese sung to her.

That evening we went to see On Your Feet. A musical about Gloria Estefan and despite the fact the audience wasn't full it was fantastic, so go and see it! I haven't been to a show yet in my lifetime that I haven't loved. There were plenty of songs I recognised and we even had a bit of a dance at the end.

Afterwards Mum, Dad and Adrian headed back and Nath and I went back to Times Square to experience it at night. We sat on these steps where we had a great view of everything, it was a great spot for people watching.

The next day was the first day we woke up where it wasn't sweltering outside and it was overcast. We spent the morning at the 9/11 memorial area, the family heading to the museum and Nath and I visiting the Tribute Centre for a walking tour and afterwards a talk from a survivor. It was fascinating and I learnt so much as I hadn't really understood the actual turn of events and it also makes you sit back and appreciate your life and everyone in it. If you are in NYC I would really recommend visiting.

We walked uptown, browsing China Town and then seeking cover from the rain in Little Italy, where we had a cracking Italian lunch feast.

5th Avenue was our next stop, where there was plenty of window browsing as we daren't set foot in a store because there probably wasn't even price tags. We did however stop in Macy's.

Nathan had his flight home early the next morning as he had a friend's wedding to attend. Mum, Dad, Adrian and I went back to our favourite spot, Central Park for breakfast, stopping to get a picture of Alice in Wonderland fountain on the way.

We had breakfast at Kurb Boathouse (Le Pain Quotidien); waffles, fruit and green smoothies. 

We spent the day exploring some more, Mum, Dad and Adrian went to the Intrepid Museum. And I enjoyed views of Jersey and had a snooze. We cycled Central Park in the afternoon all the way up to Harlem. My phone died which explains my lack of photos.

Following Instagram recommendations that evening we glammed up and headed to Le Bain at The Standard located at the end of The High Line within the Chelsea/Meat Packing district and we were treated to a view that looked like this.

Can you spot the Empire State Building?

Have you seen better sunset views? This was the jacuzzi inside.

A great final evening as a family to end a fantastic holiday to New York.

Before finding somewhere to eat, we happened to visit the Samsung store, which was an experiential store where we took a selfie and it collated together all photos taken on that phone to make up the picture of us and here's out portrait.

For dinner we had Mexican and it was great. 

Mum and Dad had an early morning flight to Nashville so they left us at the crack of early. Adrian and I started the day with our final run of Central Park and we ended up getting lost but we did get this picture.

After dropping off our luggage at a dodgy luggage store 10mins walk from Grand Central as we had to vacate our apartment at 10am. We made our way to Union Square food market downtown where I have never seen as many tomatoes.

And you'd definitely only see this in America.

After lunch at Wholefoods we made our way to the airport for our flight home, where might I add we did get upgraded to Premium Economy.

New York was so much better than I expected and I think I will be making a return in the next few years to experience it all again in winter time.

Next stop; Berlin for Christmas Markets.

Xoxo

My October Picks; Shiny Shoes, Lipsticks, Running, Chops & Halloween!

How quickly has October come around? Last thing I remember was waking up on 1st January slightly hungover, craving fruit juice and fresh air and making myself lots of promises for the year ahead. Fast forward 9 months and we're here. Have I achieved everything I set out to? Let's talk about that in December shall we? I still have 3 months ok!

Let's talk about October and all the autumnal excitement that it brings! For once I'm excited about autumn arriving, I feel like I've been spoilt with summer this year, plenty of holidays and fun, so much so I'm ready for thick knits, woolly hats, hot chocolates-a-plenty and multi-coloured leaves! I mean don't get me wrong, I would also be more than happy to head down under to have summer all again, but my time will come.

Anyway so here's what I'm feeling this October!

These shoes (LOVE) - at the beginning of summer I treated myself to some new converse which are metallic silver snakeskin and they sound awful but they are awesome, but I'm ready for something new. Last week I went to a DAWN (digital advertising women's network) Event and one of the key speakers, a woman called Ali Hanan and she was wearing the below shoes. She paired them with slack, black trousers and a black top and it looked great. Especially as the night's draw in, the weather gets more miserable and cold, these are the perfect bit of sparkle in your life.

Superga Rose Gold Flatforms £65

This lipstick (LOVE)! So those of you that know me know I'm not a huge make up expert and I'm not a massive fan of lipstick, however after trying out a few of my friend's collections I asked for Mac Taupe Matt lipstick for my birthday last year and have pretty much worn it every social occasion since. So in New York I decided I needed to add to my lipstick collection. I didn't stray too far out the box, the colour I went for is very similar to Taupe but perhaps a bit lighter with an element of pink in it. Now for me personally, these aren't cheap but my last one has been going a year and there is plenty more to give, so it's ok! Here it is...

Mac Velvet Teddy Matt Lipstick £15

And I got a liner to go with it, following an excellent sales assistant guiding me in the right (or wrong) direction. I have yet to try this out, but this weekend is fast approaching so it will be given a test run soon.

Mac Spice Lip Liner £13

This next pick will come as no surprise given some of my previous posts but...

Running

This is probably one of my favourite times  of the year to run, the outdoor temperature isn't as sticky and warm so I sweat less which means I don't have to wash my hair as often and Autumn is just so pretty outside, especially in the parks. Talking of parks, I'm running the Royal Parks Half Marathon with work in October so I get to experience some of the greatest parks in the world. Let's not talk about how my training is going, moving on.

So this one is a little unusual, but for me (no judging please) this happens around once a year and I dread it but I always think I'm looking forward to it.

A hefty, healthy haircut.

A year of straightener, hair dryer, bobble, sun and sea damage means my hair is long but completely gross and the majority of the longness is dead. So I'm going for the chop, it will need an inch or two, but I'm going to keep telling myself it will look great and maybe that will convince me.

Before I bore you all this is my final October pick and I've saved the best until last...

Halloween!

I love Halloween! I actually (not kidding) cried one year because there were no Halloween plans and I couldn't believe I wouldn't get to dress up. After dressing up every single Wednesday for 3 years at university as I was part of a sport's team it's the one opportunity in the whole year I get, so when I don't get this opportunity.. Well I think you can understand my sadness. Anyway so this year, a friend of mine has planned her birthday for that weekend and sent out the Facebook invite, she hasn't mentioned Halloween or dressing up and I'm hoping this is merely because she hasn't put two and two together. Safe to say I'll be letting her know shortly. I have a few ideas of costumes and I need the opportunity to get creative so she better not let me down. 

Bring on October...

Xoxo

Ps. I wrote all about New York, finished it and added in links and then it deleted, so once I can bring myself to re-write it you will see it. 

Ibiza | Babes, Yachts & Tapas

Hellllllooo IBIZAAA!! ☀️☀️

The long awaited girls trip was finally here. You maybe reading this and thinking, you've had more than enough girls trips how is this long awaited! Basically the uni girls and I had wanted to go to Ibiza since we pretty much first met at uni, 2015 was the first time we thought we could have enough money to enjoy the worldwide recognised party island, but unfortunately life came first and none of us had the time to organise or money to enjoy! But we were dedicated to making sure 2016 was our year!

We booked the flights early this year for a bargain price but our organisation wasn't as in tune for booking accommodation as we only managed to sort this out a few weeks before we departed and due to most of us going on copious holidays throughout the year our holiday spending fund was lacking. But there was no turning back, we were going, finally to Ibiza....

We arrived at midnight with a plane full of girls applying a face full of make up ready for their first night. We looked at them in horror, were they serious!? We'd just endured a full day of work, there was no chance in hell we were hitting in infamous strip or any drinking establishment for that matter. We were going straight to bed, we've changed! Were we too past it for Ibiza? No, clearly we were just too sensible 😒

After a well-earned sleep, we woke up around 11am thanks to our black out blinds! We ripped open the shutters and were treated to bright blue skies and a hint of the marina. 

We quickly packed our beach bags desperate to work on our last chance tan before summer came to an end and headed out for an explore and breakfast.

This was the lane next to our Air BnB apartment! We were located within Dalt Villa, kind of within the grounds of the castle in the Old Town area of Ibiza.

We spotted a great place to refuel with great seating and an even better view of the marina! We stuck to tradition following all of our trips to Spanish towns and started the holiday with tomato tostadas, orange juice and a cafe con leche.

Definitely time for the beach, we walked through the town and made our way to Playa d'en Bossa - a popular beach away from San Antonio but still full of party-goers! It was perfect, until we got approached by our first club promoter. The first of many might I add. A real pain in the arse.

After a lunch of salad (budget and healthy) - body prep for Harriet's wedding - we decided to make our way back to get a froyo ready to head somewhere for a few drinks before dinner and to hopefully we a sunset. We got a boat back (€3) which took us into the marina of the Old Town.

After gaining a full-time obsession for Llallao (frozen yoghurt) and passing it on route back to the apartment we could hardly resist! Obviously I topped mine with dulce de leche, crumbled Oreo and Smarties! Not my healthiest decision but definitely the right one!

After a quick shower and change into clothes that would make up look the most tanned we headed out in search for tapas. Look at the beautiful-ness we were dealing with!

We found a cute little tapas bar on the marina. Great spot for people watching and watching the sun go down! Plus we had the most amazing waiter who happened to have a very Northern British accent but was actually fully Spanish having been brought up in Tenerife, he just had a load of Northern friends.

After dinner we went on to ogle the super yachts that seemed to shotgun the front row at the marina, before being invited onto one of them. We were told to come back later for a private party! Now this did ring alarm bells, but how often do you get to experience a super yacht? And safety in numbers right! 

Whilst we waited we headed to a leafy Spanish lounge bar for a couple of mojitos and mint sheesha.

This was our evening's party boat... Amazing!! To be honest it was a rather strange scene, we had to leave our mobiles and ID at the 'reception' but we were given free drinks all night. In the end we realised it sounded to good to be true so we didn't stick around for fear that they may take us to Bermuda or somewhere we didn't plan to be heading! Also please note there were hundreds of other people on the boat so it wasn't too odd!

The next day we were up bright and early and we awoke to skies that were ridiculously blue but I think the below pictures shows how beautiful Ibiza is.

We spent the day at a different beach which was slightly closer called Figuertas. The actually beach seemed slightly dirty and there were a few unruly characters, so we didn't stick around too long instead heading for a long lunch in the shade as we enjoyed some protection away from the sun. 

That evening we headed across the Island to Cotton Beach Club in Cala Tarida with more than enough time to experience the sunsets Ibiza had to offer. 

Safe to say we were not left disappointed, plus the sushi was incredible as was the wine. 

We were up early the following day to head across by ferry to Formentura. I don't think I'm going to write anything, the pictures speak for themself. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful...

After our perfectly timed sunset ferry home we got ready for dinner where we planned to eat even more tapas. You can never get enough. I think I have eaten my body weight in tapas this year. Had to use the filter!

We made an excellent choice to head over to a completely different beach and it was well worth the hike and sweat to get there. Talamanca Beach was small and very Spanish and the surroundings were beautiful.

We had a lovely day at the beach with plenty of swimming and lunch at a beach restaurant and ate the most amazing goats cheese salad. Before heading back to get ready for Ushuaia where Aviici was performing, but not before a few selfies. 

It was soooo so so good! The atmosphere was ridiculous and we had an amazing night! If you're ever in Ibiza, make sure you book tickets to Ushuaia and have the best night ever.

After a another day at Talamanca Beach (luckily it had luggage storage for our suitcases) it was time for our final stop - Experimental Beach, only 5 miles from the airport but with incredible views and the most insane sunset!

I think it's clear to see our last evening in magical Ibiza was pretty special! We then headed on our way to the airport for 1am and managed to bag some seats for a few hours kip as our flight was at 4am and we all had to work the next day!

Until next time Ibiza - next stop; New York xoxo