New york, New york..

So when one of my girlfriends from home suggested celebrating our 30th birthdays with a long weekend in New York -I didn't take much convincing.

Not only would I be catching up with "the girls" but we would be doing it one of the most amazing cities in the world! And it did not disappoint.

Some of the highlights....
Day 1:
Excited reunion under the bright and iconic lights of Times square, followed by a trip to the 70th floor of the Rockefeller Centre for spectacular views of the NYC skyline..mesmerising

Day 2:
First NYC brunch and some serious catching up at Sarabeth's Bakery by Central Park, serving -up delicious buttermilk pancakes and eggs benedict and packed full of New yorkers. Then despite the freezing temperatures we rented bikes and navigated our way around the familiar sites of Central Park and swooning over the romantic bridges and walkways..

The afternoon was quickly consumed by getting completely lost in the 7 floors of Bloomingdales and reappearing about six hours later with lots of brown bags but not quite sure what we had bought or how much had been spent!!

In the evening we headed to West Village and a gorgeous restaurant called MeMe for dinner and vino which got us in the spirit for the one and only Cafe Wha. An underground dive bar with live bands covering everything..dancing the night away...

Day 3:
Morning spent visting the World Trade Centre memorial and then braving the bitter cold we took advantage of the free Statin Island Ferry (public transport for New Yorkers) to take in views of the Statue of Liberty in all her glory.

Now at risk of frostbite the only thing for it was to find a cosy little bar to hide in for the afternoon....We headed to Brooklyn and stumbled upon the coolest  bar in retro Williamsburg. We spent the afternoon sipping wine and cappuccinos and watching the eclectic mix of local clientele until it was time to head back over the Brooklyn bridge to Manhattan....

Day 4:
Our last day was spent exploring the cobbled streets of  Greenwich, browsing boutiques and escaping to the nearest cafe when we needed a seat, some warmth, glass of wine. Spotting Carrie's famous steps and Friends iconic apartment block were highlights of course!....At the end of a long day we finally put done our bags at a bustling little french restaurant for a full debrief...

 

 NYC never disappoints...

Thanks Mrs McCartney for sewing the seed of a New York reunion and to Vic,  Emily and Laura for making it so memorable love you and look forward to our next adventure...

X

LA love..

So as many of you know before I came to LA I was a little reticent, didn't quite know what to expect and how I would fit in...Moreover I had heard horror stories from friends who had passed by and were uninspired to say the least. But I have been totally charmed by this city and would now count myself as one of its biggest fans!!

I’ve been really lucky to have some fabulous friends to show me the real LA.

What is most amazing about this place is the variety. You can be eating 2 dollar tacos from a hole in the wall in the "ghetto" one minute and wining and dining in the bright lights of Hollywood the next. You can be chilling out on the tiny secluded little Mediterranean-esk El matador beach in the morning and pop into Malibu Country Mart(and celebville) to do a little retail therapy on the way home.

Or you can jump on bikes (in the middle of January-in the sunshine) and ride down the famous Venice boardwalk with its very hippy vibe where "Green doctors" give out free samples of marijuana and end up in the beautiful and hip Abbot Kinney where only the young and trendy reside sipping cappuccinos and buying expensive organic t-shirts. And if you are really lucky you can find your way to the flea market of all flea markets at the Pasadena Rose bowl where there are literally miles and miles of stalls selling their vintage wares...I don’t know why but I just never associated LA with flea markets-eh? But that’s the thing I’ve started to realise that I think LA may just have it all....

Apart from snow...real snow (of course they make their own fake snow-this is Hollywood).

              Venice beach, bikes and dogs with sunglasses

Vintage market at the Rose Bowl

Post market Macaroons at Bottega Louie Downtown LA

 

Love lots,

Looking forward to seeing all my home girls this weekend...

Kx

A white Christmas in Big Bear

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Hope you had some time to relax and soak up the joys of Christmas...
This was my first Christmas away from home in 30 years and while there is no place like home at Christmas,  Big Bear city, California was a pretty good consolation.

Big Bear city is a ski resort in the mountains about a 2 hour drive from Los Angeles, but feels like a million miles away....We had rented a lodge in the mountains with our friends Mirko and Emily and their gorgeous poodle Caesar. Our lodge was nestled far way in the mountains and snow, we arrived in the darkness and quiet to a log burning fire and glass of red wine..Bliss...

Most of the next few days were spent by the fire, playing pictionary, doing jigsaw puzzles, chatting, nibbling and sipping wine....and a Champagne fuelled trip to the hot tub at midnight on Christmas eve...

So just as you think it was all sweetness and light...there was the time when we did nearly smoke ourselves out of the house with the log fire.... and we only found out that the hot tub wasn’t that hot once we had run across the snow in our bikinis..and we woke up to find our car had slide down the hill where it was parked to the nearest ditch-oops!! But apart from that it was a pretty amazing white Christmas..

So next year..you  are up for it???

Love Kx

Fall in LA

Hi guys..sorry have not posted in ages..been really busy with thanksgiving road trips and vistors...Thanks to those who actually mentioned that they missed it!!

Don’t quite know where to start but as its December tmw ..I thought I should mention FALL in LA before its too late..
There is one word in my mind that kind of sums it up...Pumpkin

Pumpkins have been everywhere for the last few months. Pumpkin patches have sprung up everywhere where literally hundreds of pumpkins carpet the ground. There are little ones, large ones, warty ones, cute ones, smooth ones, old ones, shiny new ones..and my favourite the Cinderella pumpkin. And then there’s pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, scary Halloween pumpkins and even skinny frappuccino cappuccino pumpkin lattes...

I don’t think my American friends quite believe me when I tell them when growing up in Ireland as pumpkins were generally too expensive we would spend most of Halloween chipping away at unripe turnips. We practically had to use a hammer and chisel to carve out our soggy little awkward turnip face that had usually wilted by the time it made it to the doorstep...

Does anyone remember this or was it just a Bell thing??

Here are some of my pumpkin encounters...

 

 

 

 

 

Will try and catch up with posts...should be easier as Fall has brought the rain to Santa Monica..

Kx

Santa Monica Pier

One of my favourite spots in Santa Monica is the pier...

It’s an old-school pier with a wooden boardwalk, ferris wheel and lots of colourful stalls, buskers, and painters...

During the summer months every Thursday they have a live concert at the pier and in the autumn on you can watch movies on a massive screen while sipping vino on the beach!!

But for me the pier is most perfect for strolling along on a Friday night people watching with an ice cream or crepe..Or my latest treat a "funnel cake" which is the most delicious thing ever.. like a donut but even more sticky!!

Only wish that you were all here to share the fun and eat funnel cake...xx

My first handstand

 
California is Yoga mad...EVERYBODY does it ...Walking around Santa Monica you will find a yoga class going on pretty much every street on every hour of every day...

 So I thought I would give it try... I wasn't expecting much, had always thought Yoga was bit of a cop out from doing some real exercise. A nice thing to do on a Saturday morning before coffee maybe......or  maybe not!!

My first yoga class was a real shocker.

The leaflet had said “ mixed levels” but it seemed that I had joined the super duper advanced class. How hard can it be I thought and confidently unrolled my mat. However when the supertoned teeny weeny instructor starts, "Let's begin with down dog...now up dog...then onto warrior..and broken tree..."I knew I was in trouble...

The group seamlessly flowed into different poses and contorsions.... I followed behind, arms and legs everywhere and collapsing in heap well before everyone else. By the end of it I was exhausted, the rest of the week my muscles ached in places I didn’t even know I had muscles! I was impressed by the others who seemed soo strong, so incontrol and soo flexible!!

So that was it I was converted...
Today I did my first handstand in about 15 years....it was so much fun and a little bit liberating too....

Kx

Ps it is also a nice thing to do before coffee on a saturday morning providing you're not too sweaty!!

Dont have any photos of yoga-but we found this little guy at the zoo and he's super relaxed....

Friday night concert

Friday night at the wonderfully grand and retro Wiltern theatre, Los Angeles. Amazing venue, fabulous band....

Citizen Cope-possibly the coolest man on earth..
Favourite songs of the night:
1. Healing hands
2. Sideways
3. Bullet and A target
If you havent heard him...check it out...http://citizencope.com
Kx