{TAKE ME TO PARIS//MERCI BEAUCOUP}

I love Paris. Everything about it, from the Eiffel Tower, to the food (admittedly only some of it - snails? No thank you), to the beautiful language and their way of life. Having just finished a course of french lessons and working in a French interior shop also, I am constantly yearning for Paris in one way or another, being surrounded by it on a regular basis. Despite trying to suppress my feelings towards the beautiful city because I know I won’t be visiting it any time soon, the discovery of this video really hasn’t helped my chances. Everything about it is gorgeous, I love the shots from all around the city, the well thought out storyline, the overlay of the typography and the vintage style filter. Therefore I give up, it was never going to work anyway, take me to Paris! 

{PINTEREST-ED?}

I admit it, I have fallen head over heels for Pinterest. I just love it, it’s the best form of procrastination I have found to date and somehow I still feel like I’m doing something productive when I go on it. Pinterest is basically an online pinboard where you can collect lots of images of inspiration, whatever the topic and you can ‘pin’ them to you individual boards, creating a mood board. You can follow other people and because everyone is effectively doing the same thing, images circulate the whole website so you’ll constantly find something new that you like. It’s a really great source of inspiration for your own work too, it stops you from collecting the standard images from Google and actually provides you with some really lovely images that you can get some really cool ideas from. I have recently converted a couple of friends to it and now they can’t stay away, and I think the real reason why it reels people in so much is that it’s a really simple yet effective concept, that allows you to have all the lovely ideas and images you’ve found along the way to be in one place on a really clean and well thought out interface. If you fancy, feel free to check out my boards and below are a few of my favourite finds on Pinterest so far. www.pinterest.com

{THE BIG SURPRISE//NEW YORK CITY}

Finally the day arrived where we could reveal the big birthday surprise to Rosie - YOU'RE GOING TO NEW YORK! Man, oh man, was it the hardest secret ever to keep. For someone like myself, not known for being the world's best secret keeper, this was quite the feat knowing for a year that we were going to the one of the best places in the world and having to keep it quiet this whole time! We went all the way to the airport without her knowing, and finally we were able to let the secret out and celebrate! We made our way through to terminal five, the one terminal that you'd be more than happy to be stuck in, had a little browse and headed to Giraffe for breakfast. I'd never been to Giraffe before but it is such a cool mexican restaurant. We tucked into some delicious breakfasts, Mum and Rosie opting for the Mexican one and myself going for the good old classic full English. The other thing I loved about this place was the fact you get a little giraffe cocktail stirrer in your drink too, although some of that fascination might be down to the fact I was a bit giddy about going to New York! When the time came, we boarded our plane and settled down to eight hours of pure film watching, which I'm not going to complain about! I ended up watching Friends with Kids, The Lorax, The Hunger Games and a bit of Wanderlust and by the end of all that we were in New York, hurrah!

We then came out the other side, bought our first of many Starbucks of the trip and taxied our way to the hotel. The hotel we were staying in was The Park Lane Hotel right by Central Park which was amazing and such a handy spot as 5th Avenue was only round the corner. It was a lovely hotel with a classic American style to it and after dropping off our bags, we didn't want to waste one sightseeing minute so we headed off down 5th Avenue for a browse. Although the jet lag quickly caught up on us so we headed into TGI's for a well deserved big bite of American food. I had a delicious burger with chips that just hit the spot and a bottomless cup of still lemonade that was just what the doctor ordered. We then toddled our way back to the hotel to sleep ready for an exciting and busy morning the next day.

The next morning, we woke up bright and early to get a head start on the day and get up the Empire State Building before all the crowds arrive. But first, breakfast! The breakfast was held in a really grand room with a big window that looked out across to Central Park, with lots of comfy seating areas. We had lots of delicious hot chocolate and then we tucked into all that the breakfast buffet had to offer. They had the biggest, fluffiest bagels with butter patties, assorted danish pastries and fruit among other things but to be honest, after a bagel and a pastry we were all pretty stuffed! After breakfast we headed off to the Empire State Building and made our way up and out onto the observatory to look at the 360 degree breathtaking views. New York is incredible, but this view made it even more so. Although some see it as a concrete jungle, there are some truly beautiful buildings there, the Empire State Building being one of them. We bought ourselves the mandatory tourist shirts from the gift shop and headed back down ready to begin SHOPPING. Which ultimately, was one of the things I was most excited about in New York if I'm honest! I got a couple of blouses and a pair of shorts in Forever 21 which I have been wearing constantly since and then we set off on our trek in the search of Victoria Secrets and it's Pink store. After what was nothing short of a pilgrimage, we finally found it and spent a fair amount of time getting lots of lovely comfy things from the Pink section and some delicious smelling Victoria Secrets body sprays.

We then found our way to Broadway and had a stroll down their amazing street markets, getting a whiff of the tasty smelling street food which eventually we had to succumb to! We treated ourselves to burritos and ice cold fresh still lemonade and perched on the sidewalk and it was absolutely delicious and a lovely way to spend our lunch, taking in the buzzing New York atmosphere.

After that, we visited my ultimate favourite bit of New York - Central Park. In such a busy and full city, I was surprised to find that Central Park had the nicest community vibe to it. Such a lovely park, with people playing games, football, baseball, big groups of friends gathering together to enjoy the summer sun. We walked past a fountain and there was music playing with couples ballroom dancing along to it and others watched on. Truly beautiful and mesmerising, I could never see this sort of thing happening in London. The park was huge and it clearly provided respite for those who wanted to get away from the buildings and into the fresh summer air.

By the end of all that we were truly knackered and so after a failed attempt at searching for a 'hidden' burger restaurant we settled on The Brooklyn Diner. But in no way were we compromising as this place was amazing! It looked like a proper diner on the outside but the food and atmosphere inside were second to none. It had a really buzzy yet chilled vibe and all the seating areas were booths which was cool. I ordered the cheeseburger which is ''New York's Best Cheeseburger'' according to the New York Time, which had acclaimed many of their other delicious dishes, my sister went for the mac and cheese and Mum went for the cheeseburger too. No doubt about it, it was the best burger I have ever had and I have eaten a lot of burgers! It was literally melt in the mouth delicious, I just wanted it to last forever and the chips were amazing too! Such a appropriate way to end such a knackering day, giving us a chance to sit back and relax in a truly lovely atmosphere. Along the sides of the booths they have plaques with names of celebrities that frequently visit the diner, Sarah Jessica Parker being one of them and I read somewhere that Paul McCartney goes there for breakfast most days which is pretty cool! We then strolled back to our hotel and hit the hay ready for the next day of excitement bike riding round Central Park and visiting Soho.

The next morning was a little more chilled than the previous one, we grabbed some breakfast and headed out on our way to Soho by subway. Once we had worked out the conundrum that was the Subway with it's confusing ticket system and boiling hot atmosphere we finally we made it out the other side, right outside a Pink store which, quelle surprise we had to go in. I found that the people in Soho were so much friendlier than Central, one shop assistant being delighted to be talking to someone who was British which was funny. We popped into the Anthropologie there which was lovely and my sister and I bought these little five year journals where every day you have to answer a question and over the five years you're writing it you can look back and see how much your answers have changed. There was also a great indoor market called Chelsea Market with all sorts of shops that we walked through and we also walked along the skyline garden which was really beautiful in the summer sun, taking in the atmosphere. I loved Soho because I felt it showed me how a true New Yorker lived, rather than the tourist spots like 5th Avenue which was great but a bit busy. We popped into The New York Burger Co. for lunch which was delicious and we had a couple of mini burgers with chips, getting a little bite of all the different flavours they had to offer, and they offered the hugest choice of sauces ever too!

{BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS//THE BIG 21ST AND 50TH/THE PARTY}

To round off the end of the big celebration week, we had organised an Afternoon Tea Party with all our family and Rosie's friends to celebrate both the big birthdays. A fair amount of preparation had gone into the party, metre upon metre of bunting had been bought, cakes had been made and decorated,  antique cups and saucers had been collected and invites had been sent and finally the day had arrived. Copious amounts of Pimm's were drunk out of jam jars filled with fruit topped with a stripy paper straw and the cakes and sandwiches were wolfed down within minutes! It was a lovely day of celebrations that ended in a fun night out with a couple of my friends along with lots of Rosie's friends too. Yet little did Rosie know, there were more birthday celebrations to come....

Despite our hope it could be a tea party outside, the awful English Summer inevitably meant that it had to be inside. We filled a table with all the delicious treats that had been made, I was nominated decorator, so I decorated the everywhere with candles and bunting and decorated a few cupcakes too with hearts and flags!

Copious amounts of Pimm's were drunk out of jam jars filled with fruit topped with a stripy paper straw and the cakes and sandwiches were wolfed down within minutes! It was a lovely day of celebrations that ended in a fun night out with a couple of my friends along with lots of Rosie's friends too. Yet little did Rosie know, there were more birthday celebrations to come....

{BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS//THE BIG 21ST AND 50TH/ROSIE'S BIRTHDAY}

After a quick sleep, I was awake once again bright and early for present opening time take two alongside a very excitable, newly turned 21 big sister ready for an exciting day ahead. The lucky thing was given a number of a-mazing presents, including a gorgeous Michael Kors watch from her favourite sister and the nicest Mulberry bag ever which she'd been eyeing up for a very long time! Pimped out with all her new gifts with a massive 'luckiest girl in the world right now' grin plastered across her face, we made our way up to London once again to enjoy more of the many wonderful things it has to offer! After a little browse around Bond Street and Oxford Street we made our way to Covent Garden to indulge in a little afternoon treat at Laduree, the French Patisserie. We'd been craving their Macaroons for quite some time now and we thought that a birthday celebration was the perfect occasion to give the little pieces of heaven a try. We also ordered a Hot Chocolate each too which were insane, it was literally liquid chocolate which was amazing and it all came in the prettiest tea set. We picked a little selection of Macaroons between us, Pistachio, raspberry, Vanilla and Strawberry marshmallow which were divine. They just melted in your mouth they were so good, but you had to take tiny bites just to make them last longer! The other great thing about Laduree is if you sit outside, it's a prime viewing spot for the Covent Garden entertainment so we watched some funny men make members of the general public run around in tutus which was pretty entertaining to see!

After we had perfectly filled ourselves up on that nice little treat, we made our way to the Westfield in Stratford to do more shopping. The shopping centre has only recently opened and it was all put in place for the upcoming olympics so that place was phenomenal, filled with every shop you could think of and row upon rows of delicious places to eat. After a good browse around the shop, our appetite was back and so we headed to Yo! Sushi. I had never been to Yo! Sushi before, so it was a real experience and I'd been wanting to go for quite a while too! We were sat at the bar in front of the conveyor belt of food, it was so cool to see the food right in front of you and be able to try out lots of new things. Ages ago, I was pretty dubious about Sushi as the only thing I associated with it was raw fish like octopus, which personally, I am not a fan of! But I have gotten more and more into sushi and there's a lot more to it than that, vegetables, salmon, sesame seeds all combined to make lots of yummy goodness! You were also able to order noodles too and despite things being small, they all culminated in leaving you satisfyingly stuffed.

After our busy day out and about, we then headed home to have another delicious meal with our family at the nearby pub,  The Mark Cross Inn where we visit every year for birthday dinners because their Fish and Chips and Burgers are just the best! It was a lovely end to a busy couple of days but the celebrations don't end there as there is still the party yet to come!

{BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS//THE BIG 21ST AND 50TH/MUM'S BIRTHDAY}

 So the week has finally arrived where all birthday celebrations can commence! I've been waiting and preparing for this week for so long as not only is it one big birthday in the family, but two! Coincidentally my sister was born exactly a day after my Mum's birthday, the 11th and 12th of July which has lead to a big month of birthday celebrations every year, but this year was an especially big one!

So the celebrations began on the Wednesday, my Mum's birthday, bright and early to open lots of lovely presents including a gorgeous green Roberts radio which is actually making me pretty green with envy myself! My sister and I decided to treat her to a lovely memorable birthday day out and so I made a little ticket to slip into her card to tell her what her day will entail and as a nice little keepsake to remember the day. We hopped on the train to London nice and early to make the most of the day and swiftly made our way to the lovely Kew Gardens! We had never visited Kew as a place anyway, and it had such a quaint little village feel to it, we will definitely be returning another day just for a little meander. Once inside Kew Gardens, we grabbed a map and navigated ourselves round, looking in all the amazing victorian greenhouses that had been there so many years, filled with incredible plants you would struggle to see anywhere else in England. They everything from desert plants, to trees found in the tropics. My favourite would have to be the pretty little observatory that had a big pond in the middle, with huge lily pads that lay upon it, and different waterlilies that came out at different times of night and day. After having a good look round, we found our way to the gift shop, which was always inevitable and headed on our way to a well earned afternoon tea. 

After much searching, myself and my sister had managed to find an hotel that served afternoon tea where we felt that it wasn't too ridiculously priced yet felt special, with good service and good reviews. We had found some reviews at places such as the Ritz people had felt pressured to leave after about an hour and half and we felt at £60 per person, that was not really the experience we were hoping for. That's when we stumbled across The Chesterfield Hotel in Mayfair on a Daily Telegraph review article and after researching a little more we felt this fitted the bill just right. 

Once we arrived at the hotel we were quickly seated and a lovely waiter came to ask us what teas we would like to order. I don't usually like tea, but I tried out a Peach Oolong Tea which turned out to be really nice actually! My sister hands down had the coolest tea though, it was a flower infused green tea where they had taken the bud of a flower and stitch it together so that when it was placed in hot water it would open up to form a pretty little flower!

Swiftly after, our three tier afternoon tea came out with a delicious selection of sandwiches, cakes and scones. All the sandwiches tasted amazing, there was egg mayo on a basil bread, salmon and cream cheese, ham and mustard, cucumber and my ultimate favourite, chicken mayo on a bread that had been encrusted round the edges with chopped almonds, absolutely delicious. After a fair few repeats of that course from the astounded waiter who couldn't believe we could eat so much we then moved onto the cakes. There was an absolute array of cakes, including eclairs, cherry cupcakes, cheesecake and the best in my opinion, a strawberry tart. I literally can't begin to explain how amazing the tart was, everything was to fresh and made to an absolute T to culminate in making something that was literally melt in the mouth amazing. After numerous cakes we then had the scones with jam and clotted cream which were divine. The staff were amazingly attentive and were more than happy to keep topping up our plates until we were just about ready to roll out the door. Almost. I had mentioned to them that it was two big birthdays and so at the end of the meal the waiters came out with candle lit cupcakes for both my Mum and my Sister with Happy Birthday prettily written around the edge of the plate, singing happy birthday. It was a lovely special moment and really topped off a really great day. Obviously before we left, my sister and I had to raid the pick and mix table for some tasty treats for on the way home, you know, just in case we got hungry again...

I had mentioned to them that it was two big birthdays and so at the end of the meal the waiters came out with candle lit cupcakes for both my Mum and my Sister with Happy Birthday prettily written around the edge of the plate, singing happy birthday. It was a lovely special moment and really topped off a really great day. Obviously before we left, my sister and I had to raid the pick and mix table for some tasty treats for on the way home, you know, just in case we got hungry again...