"Where d'ya get that from?" ... "Oh, this? Only New York." ;)

Shower. Check.

Brush Teeth. Check.

Make Up. Check.

Perfume. Check.

Wearing at least 1 item from New York. Check!

Officially ready to go out, wearing my Victoria Secret Panties, Topshop NY Dress and Aldo Heels :)

i'll write again soon,

The New York Effect.

I've just landed back in Heathrow and although it's good to know my luggage is safe and that I haven't lost all my new purchases I wish I was back in the Big Apple!

Life just seems so much brighter out there! - I call it The New York Effect..

Ohh, well back to reality..

Hello England. and Hello 4hour coach trip back to Nottingham...

oh well, party when I get back becausee..

It's my BIRTHDAY tomorrow.. eeeeeeek!

write soon,

Making the most of the last few hours...

I had to pack my suitcase this morning and check out of the hotel! We are allowed to leave our luggage in a holding room so we can do some last minute shopping (oh and research!!)

We get back on 5th Avenue to do Sachs, Bergdorf Goodman, Lindt, Urban Outfitters and Henry Bendel

(and redo, Victoria Secret and Forever 21.. yes for the last time!!) Ooh, and get the most needed item on the shopping list..; an I heart NY top!

We didn't really find that the department stores were than inspirational as some of the flagship stores for the labels they stocked, i.e. Prada.

Then back to T.G.I. Friday to fill up before heading to the airport, and I ordered a very scrummy Jack Daniels Glazed Chicken Burger with spicy onion rings!! I was stuffed to the absolute brim, hehe..

Walking past Aldo shoe shop on the way back to the hotel I spotted a pair of gorgeous shoes in the sale and quickly decided to purchase, $59 well spent! How I will fit them in my already packed suitcase didn't really come into my thought process?! But I manage, no need to panic ;)

Airport bound now, I'll get back to you when I'm in the UK... (a tear falls from my cheek)

Purchases = 1 New York T-Shirt

                   1 pair of heels from Aldo

                   Dinner

Total Spend = $89

Spoilt Rotten, hehe

My last full day in The Big Apple! :(

Time to make some of the purchases that I've been looking at, so where better to start than Victoria Secret. I was there bright and early waiting for the doors to open in the morning, get the most of this experience. The service was exceptional, there was staff measuring you downstairs to make sure you picked up the right bra and then I was directed to the fitting rooms where a team of trained bra fitters helped me make sure the bra was the perfect fit and choice for me. I even got a card which was addressed to me with my size and all the styles that I liked to help me when I was back on the sales floor! My final choice; a purple giraffe print, Miraculous Push-Up Bra and matching 'panties.'

Later, I met up with my Uncle who has decided to buy me my present for my birthday in New York. So we went back to Soho, my cousins recommended this as the best place in NYC to shop. So we did shops like Rag and Bone, Urban Outfitters, Ted Baker, a weird shop that sold stuffed animals, skeletons and sweets with bugs/insects inside. eerrrrrr?! Then for a break into a cute choclate shop for a white hot choclate with lemon and lavender. Lush. Lush. Lushhh! The shop sold all sorts of flavoured choclate, most famously bacon. Yes, bacon flavoured choclate! I didn't dare try it...

We headed over to Greenwich Village for dinner and popped into Ralph Lauren, Accessorize and Reiss where my Uncle purchased a gorgeous royal blue sleeveless blouse and a studded grey vest for me. Also Magnolia Bakery which features in the series Sex and the City, I bought a Red Velvet Cupcake, D I V I N E!! We had a hearty Italian for dinner, Minestrone soup and Lasagne, mmmm :)

Thanks Uncle Jeremy for a lovely day :)

back to pack my suitcase,

write back tomorrow

 

Purchases = Victoria Secret Matching bra and 'panties'

Total Spend = $72

OMG. I'm in Times Square!

Can't believe this is my third day in New York already! It's gone so fast!! Today, it's snowing.. heavy and fast!! Today, we definitely needed an American Breakfast to fill us up and keep us warm. Soo what better to have than Pancakes and Maple Syrup!! mmm..  The snow is a big shame because today I'm went to Times Square and now the photo's won't be as good.. boo hoo...

Through all the snow, Times Square still lives up to what I expected, the lights still shine bright and it's still bustling full of people.

I take note that this is where Hard Rock Cafe is and that I will be eating later!! We went to Forever 21 here, their Times Square store is huge and has fabulous in store visual merchandising, at the bottom of the escalators there is a real yellow cab with manikins all around it, I think it really creates the right image for them.

We also visited the M&M World, this was truly amazing! I've never seen so many M&M's in my life! I couldn't believe you could sell so much merchandise to do with M&M's; Monopoly, Puzzles, Jewellery, Clothing, Golf balls.. the list goes on. We also visited Toys'r'us, this is a massive store and it really epitomises the scale of retail space in New York as they are able to put a real ferris wheel inside. They have floors and floors of goods and are able to market it exceptionally, for example, a life size barbie house to display all the dolls.

Times Square is literally phenomenal, I love it! I spent all day here taking in the sights! So to finish it off, it was time for HARD ROCK CAFE!

We shared Cheesy Nachos and then I had Fajitas for my main, with a Mango Berry Cocktail! It was all so tasty, then we were given some free cookies (which were excellent!) We even got to keep the glasses our cocktails came in!

Get back t'ya tomorrow,

Purchases = 2 x rings, earrings and heels from Forever 21

                   dinner

Total Spend = $83

Take a womble down Broadway with me...

We started the day by walking to the Fashion Institute of Technology where we will have a chance to do an exchange for a semester next term. We visted two exhibitions; Japan Fashion Now and His & Hers. They were both very interesting, but the modern Japanese Clothes were amazing, it was great to see them exhibited so well.

Once finished at FIT we walked to Broadway, then to Soho, Noho and then down to China Town. On the way we visited Anthropologie, So Good Jewellery Store, All Saints, Topshop, Zara, plenty of shoe shops, Victoria Secret (again) and Forever 21 (again)!!

Reaching China Town was like being back in the middle of Hong Kong markets! Lit up with lots of bright lights, Chinese writting everywhere, little stores stuffed to the brim with fake Louis', fake Chanel sunglasses and Gucci purses!! Although China Town didn't give us much of an appetite as most of the restaurants had dead birds hanging in the window. eurghhhhh.

 

So we walked back to Soho and found a trendy little restaurant! We were treated with great service, when asking the waiter what he recommended, he told us the Spagetti Bolognese was excellent and described it to us as pasta with a meat and tomatoe sauce... (did he only thing Spag Bol existed in USA!?) well we found this very funny, but I ignored his advice and went for a burger with fries and a cajun sauce.. yummmyyyyy!

p.s. I took a picture of this van, just 'coz it looked cool. You can see why ...

i'll give you the latest tomorrow,

Purchases   = 1 Dress from Topshop
                     1 Top from Topshop
                     1 Purse from Zara
                     Dinner
Total Spend = $64

5th January means 5th Avenue.

It's surprisingly easy to navigate with the system of Avenues and Streets, so hopefully, fingerscrossed, (touch wood) won't get lost!!

Today I was also (almost) completely determined not to spend anything, just because I want to take everything in first! .... we'll see.....

The first shop we visited was Banana Republic. Our first thoughts were that this was a huge store and was incredibly spaced out and easy to shop; for everything was easy to find. We were only to find out this was going to be the norm for retail in New York. We also loved Hollister, in fact (personally) I don't like Hollister, but this store changed my mind! The sales advisors, sorry Models were incredibly helpful, however I couldn't bear to look at them for they looked too fit to be true, i feared I'd turn green with jealousy! The dark atmosphere is part of their brand style for their stores, but the outside was a TV screen with a live stream from a California Beach with surfers enjoying the waves.

Anyway, other stores I visited later that day were.. Bloomingdales, Victoria Secret, Forever 21 and The Apple Store.

After being so, so, soo tired we decided to stop early and have a proper dinner. Time for TGI Friday!

The portions were huge, no wonder the Americans are known for being overweight. I decided to go for a refreshing Caeser Salad. mmm.

Write back tomorrow,

Purchases    = 2 pairs of Victoria Secret "panties"
                  
Total Spend = $41
                 
                           

Finally; my arrival ♥

New York City, what can I say?

You live up to all my hopes, expectations and dreams!! Everything about you in perfect.

The mass of heavy, crazeds traffic with the yellow cabs swerving in and out of lanes, then you have at the opposite end of the scale, the massive trucks that are twice the size of any British lorry. It's just like all the films, the road rage bringing the sounds of car horns from all directions! Something I didn't expect to be so real was the Yellow School buses, I had thought it was a mere fabrication of reality and they wern't (ALL) yellow!

USA has scale and I love it!

Right, so time to freshen up from the (ridiculously) long and tiring flight so I can get out the hotel room and SHOP SHOP SHOP!

Write back later,

Nearly there!!

16 (and a half) hours til take off..

Right just been into town to get a few little bits ticked off my to - do list.

• Mini Deodrant. Check
• Mini Dry Shampoo. Check
• Mini Notebook. Check

The market really is huge for these miniture travel size products, us girls do love to keep fresh and looking GORGE whilst travelling! In Boots there is a seperate section for these minitures.
• and most importantly DOLLARS!

They look so cool and more importantly, it now means I'm even closer to going!!

I have also manage to pack! 5 outfits, lingerie, hairdryer and straightners, toileteries and make-up. (also xmas prezzies for the family that live in NY)! Which should mean..... plenty of room for the shopping to take back to the UK. This could be dangerous. Oooh so dangerous.

I also managed to check the weather forecast for our stay in the City that never sleeps. It should be dry and crisp. Until Friday! Light snow showers, hope these arn't going to be as heavy as the recent snow flurries in New York! I haaattteee SNOW!

Tataa for now. I now have to recount the hours til TAKE OFF!

i'll write back when I land, :)

Just under 24hrs til take off!!

After christmas, it got a bit hectic at my house leaving me just wanting to get to New York so I could get away from it all. It started with a horrendously bad cough.. then a broken washing machine (which left me travelling back and fourth from laundrettes, ILL) and then finally to top it all off. My area got cut off from water, so I then had to go on the hunt for some bottled water. 3 Days later.. it's back!

So sorry blog, I hope you accept my excuses!! I will get back to you now :)

After christmas I had several New York inspired gifts from my Mum since she knew how excited I was!

A pair of socks patterened with the American Flag and the DKNY, Be Delicious perfume. The perfume has an interesting packaging with words all associated with New York. Manhattan, Broadway, Soho, The Big Apple, Upper East Side, Times Square, Brooklyn Bridge etc etcc! These are all so well documented in the media, so well infact, we all feel we know New York already. Now I want to get personal with this famous city.

Right, as I'm less than 24hours til take-off I better get started on the packing!! eeeeek!

chat later,