I would also like to thank my wonderful friends Liz (@LadyBowers) and Catherine for exploring the city with me on my trips. Also Hannah for being a complete star and showing us the hidden gems of her city.

New York

Welcome to my whistle stop tour of New York. Before we start I will warn you that a week away in New York will leave your feet aching from walking, and your face aching from smiling so much!

Getting around…

It’s worth investing in a 7-Day Unlimited Ride Metro Card for $27. Bear in mind that the subway isn’t like the tube and so if you need to change lines you may find yourself going back on yourself to be able to change. It’s worth doing a bit of extra walking and seeing the city too. As the week goes on you’ll hopefully find your bearings, walk more and use the subway less.

Sightseeing…

Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty (Battery Park): Ellis Island museum is great. I’ve never got off on Liberty Island because the views are spectacular from the ferry. Now that the statue has reopened the climb to the crown if you can get tickets it might be worth it.

Broadway Show (TKTs Times Square): It wouldn’t be a trip to New York without taking in a show. Get reduced tickets from the TKTs booth in Times Square, if there’s a show you want to see it’s worth the wait.

Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Centre): In my opinion, having done both, Top of the Rock is better than the Empire State Building. The view over Central Park is fantastic. And midweek mornings are virtually queue free.

MoMA (11 W 53 St): A chance to see some of the great works of modern art in real life. Definitely a good choice for a rainy day.

Guggenheim (5^th at 89^th St): For art I prefer the MoMA, but it is worth having a wander past, and even sticking your head inside to take in the impressive architecture. Don’t forget it’s closed on a Thursday (a fact I remember thanks to Sex and the City, Carrie and co do have their uses!)

Central Park: I fell in love with New York the day I first visited Central Park. Hire bikes if you want to see as much of the park as you can, an hour will get you round the south of the park, but you’ll need a couple of hours or more to see the north of it too. Alternatively it’s just as nice having an afternoon wander around the various sights.

Grand Central Station (87 E 42nd St): The first time I walked in it took my breath away. The second time it did it again. This is a truly magnificent building so don’t miss it.

New York Public Library (5^th Ave at 42nd St): For those of you who are librarians, this is an amazing library. For those of you who are SATC fans, this is where Carrie nearly married Big. For those of you who are neither, it is another stunning building in the city.

LOVE sculpture (6th Ave): At W 55 St. 6th Avenue you’ll find the LOVE sculpture by Robert Indiana, which is a photo taking moment. (I’ve included the address as some of us spent a week hunting for the damn thing!)

Sex and the City Tour: For the fans of the show this is an absolute must. You see a lot of the city whilst enjoying SATC trivia and get a free Magnolia Bakery Cupcake too!!!

Shopping…

Times Square: My favourites are Toys R Us (I still haven’t been on the ferris wheel though!), M&Ms World (because there is something fab about M&Ms in more colours than you can imagine), Hershey’s (the outside of it is fantastic). I also loved the HUGE Virgin Megastore, but sadly it shut earlier this year. I have fond memories of being asked out for coffee by a cute guy whilst browsing CDs… only in New York!

Department Stores: Top end you have Saks and Bloomingdales. Macy’s is great once you get your bearings, but it takes time. Century 21 is fantastic if you have a clue what you are looking for, but it can be completely chaotic and overwhelming.

Apple: There are Apple stores across Manhattan which are great for checking email and using the internet (but remember to log out of Facebook!). However if you only visit one make it the flagship store on Fifth Avenue. It is a sight to behold.

For the Girls: Tiffany & Co. is a must. Meander round the floors, drooling at the gorgeous jewelry. Whether you like classic and simple, or more diamonds than you can imagine, there will be something to make your jaw drop. Victoria Secret is the other stop. Though I enjoy perusing the lingerie my favourite things are the PINK sweat bottoms, I live in mine when I’m at home, they are so comfy!

For the Labels: Head over to Greenwich Village for the various designer stores (there is also 5^th Ave, but I prefer this end of town). Here I find my favourites of Mulberry, DVF and Louboutin. I also discovered Fresh, and the best lipbalm I have ever owned.

Afternoon Tea…

Magnolia Bakery: These are the best cupcakes in the world. The original shop is in Greenwich Village, but there a couple more now including on in the Empire State Building.

Alice’s Tea Cup: Missing a good old cup of English Tea? Well this is the place to come. There is a bigger selection of tea than you could imagine, as well as the most amazing scones. They do other wonderful food too. You may have to wait an hour or so for a table, but it is worth it. Trust me.

Max Brenner: Apparently this place does more than just chocolate, but it does chocolate best. Again you may have to wait for a table, but the trip to chocolate heaven is more than compensation for the queuing.

Saks Cafe SFA (8th Floor): Get a table next to the window in their café and overlook the roof stunning gardens of the Rockefeller Plaza buildings whilst enjoying traditional afternoon tea.

Food & Drink…

Any Diner: Another New York tradition that can’t be missed. At least one breakfast trip for pancakes, and dinner visit for burgers and a shake. There are a fair few to pick from, so no excuses for missing out.

American Favourites: Dunkin’ Donuts, Tasty D-Lite etc these are the places you’ll immediately recognise but haven’t made it over the pond

Starbucks: Because mid-afternoon you will need a sit down, drink and a toilet break (not necessarily in that order) and they are perfect for all three. The only time you won’t be able to find one is when you are absolutely desperate!!!

Europa Café: You’ll find these dotted around the city and they are great for a reasonably priced delicious lunch. The sandwiches are lovely, and fresh salad is made whilst you wait.

My blog yesterday was worthwhile. Getting everything out of my head onto (virtual) paper helped me to see what is holding me back and causing this feeling of “meh” as I like to call it.

When everything came crashing down last October I realised my confidence had evaporated. But because of my determination to turn things around and get on with things I had to find a way of appearing confident again in a very short space of time. The problem is I’ve continued to appear confident, without really feeling that confident again since.

So it really is a case of being nice to myself and picking myself up. I need to spend more time giving myself a pat on the back when I achieve something. I need to not look in the mirror and tell myself about the bad things, instead focus on what is positive.

Before my holiday I had decided that at the end of it I should have a night out where I could get dressed up, look fabulous and have fun. Last night I did just that. Admittedly I started off by feeling that perhaps I should have called it off as I wasn’t as full of energy and hadn’t come as far as I had planned when I wrote ‘The Holiday’.

But I went ahead. I had a nice long shower and pampering session. I did my hair and makeup, which was so much fun. Then put on a new dress and shoes. I felt fabulous. I looked in the mirror and said to myself “You look gorgeous!” and for the first time in a long time I really felt good about myself.

The rest of the night was lovely too. There was something to celebrate, and that was getting to a point where I am starting to find my confidence again. Although I have a way to go, these two weeks have given me the jump-start I needed to work from. And so I come to the end of my holiday, back to work tomorrow. I have blogged every day… and achieved much beside!

I also found a cocktail called “Afternoon in the Woods” that has Earl Grey tea in it. Cups of tea at cocktail hour, now that is worth celebrating!

“When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things.” ~ Anon

My first major collection was badges. My favourite badge I got for my sixth birthday. It was a silver holographic badge that sparkled rainbow colours in the light with a big ‘6’ on it. I loved it. This was just the first of many things I loved that were colourful and sparkly.

Then came the Trolls. I collected them wherever I could. I had small trolls, big trolls and old trolls (one my grandma had owned for a long time). They had every different colour of hair you could imagine. I must have spent a majority of my pocket money on obtaining trolls. I loved them.

Our local library had a display cabinet you could sign up to occupy for a week. One proud week I got to display my badges and my trolls. Happy times.

I collected stickers for sticker albums. I remember Snow White and Gladiators, though I didn’t complete either. The only one I did complete was my Boyzone sticker album. Which brings me onto that collection, or rather my teen obsession.

Between the ages of eleven and fourteen I adored Boyzone. Despite early on working out that Stephen Gately was gay I still hoped he might marry me, or at least be my best friend. My walls were covered in their posters. At one stage you couldn’t see an inch of wallpaper in my room, they were even on my ceiling.  I spent every last penny on magazines they were in, and I recorded every TV appearance on video. Somewhere in my childhood bedroom there are folders of magazine cuttings and videos a friend and I spent one summer cutting together of all the stuff we had on tape. Thankfully I grew out of it an appropriate age, and even more surprisingly couldn’t care less that they are back together now.

Following that I didn’t collect anything for a while. I loved sunflowers and had lots of those, but it was never a ‘collection’ as such. I suppose I did, and still do, collect leaflets and postcards of art and exhibitions I love (I have a box full) and I have always had lots of books. But that’s because I can’t bear parting with anything I have read and enjoyed.  I suppose the books I have read are a collection, and say more about me than anything else.

Six or seven years ago Boots ran a promotion. Collect vouchers and exchange them for a stuffed toy. My housemate and I put together our vouchers and became the proud owner of our Boots Giraffe. I loved the giraffe, but I am never quite sure how it got from being that one, to how ever many I own now (I have never counted them!). I think I can probably tell people where 90% of my giraffes came from, most of them anchored to specific events and places. I find myself on a giraffe hunt wherever I go.

Finally I started to collect shoes. The first pair of shoes I loved were black strappy sandals from Topshop, bought for my May Ball at the end of GCSEs in 1999. They cost £35, which was a fortune when I was 15, but I had to have them. It is an appreciation, which grew into an obsession. These days I’d say it’s more an affection. Sadly now I’m living up north the opportunities to take my beloved heels out on the town are few and far between. I can’t bear the thought of buying any more beautiful pairs for them to sit in my wardrobe and rarely see the light of day.

There is still one man who can revive my shoe obsession. That is Christian Louboutin. I can’t describe the feeling of being in the Louboutin shop in Greenwich Village, NYC. It was amazing. It was that day I bought my Simple Pump 100 in patent black, and they bring me joy every day.

There are other things I could collect, but I try not to get sucked in. Between giraffes and shoes I have more than enough to spend my money on. If I did have a third collection it would be Doctor Who stuff. But I know if I started with that I wouldn’t stop and would bankrupt myself in the process. As a teenager I dreamed of having a room full of Disney figures and toys, mainly Pixar stuff, as well as the Little Mermaid. Maybe if I have children one day I’ll have an excuse to collect those.

I can’t help but wonder what it is in human nature that makes us collect. Having a group of things that gives us pleasure from looking at or using them, or even just thinking about them and knowing they exist.

Everything seemed fairly normal until after lunch when I traipsed around the library with the photographer trying to find students to take photos of in a library setting. The only weirdness in that is that you usually don’t spend a Monday being a prop in photos (to think I may feature in Durham University prospectus – enough to scare any potential student off!)

Settling back down to get work done there was a bright flash and a loud bang. No rain, and bizarrely still blue skies outside. But the computers died. Some restarted. Some had warning messages. One rebooted and returned with the green screen of death. And one lone computer kept showing the library screensavers… rather like the headless chicken that’s body hasn’t realised its head had disappeared.

It was all very eerie and I was sure that we were trapped in an alternate universe. I was expecting (and still am hoping a little) that David Tennant would come striding into the Library as the rain started falling upwards and the Judoon began milling about scanning the staff and students. (For those non-Doctor Who fans this is a reference to Season 3 Episode 1 ‘Smith & Jones’)

Whilst in the middle of my overactive imagination heading off to the Tardis I was sidetracked by Krista who was trying to find a new owner for a gorgeous pair of sparkly silver shoes.

In true Cinderella style others had tried them on and they’d been too big or too small. Krista is a size 6 and they had been too big for her. Despite being a 5.5 I couldn’t resist trying them on (as any true shoe lover will understand) but as I slipped them on, like Cinderella before me, they fit perfectly.

With many hours of Monday left having already had a Doctor Who and a Disney moment who knows what will happen next… is it too much to hope that I will find myself snapped up for my first publishing deal?!