Yesterday was our last full day in New York and we had already ticked off everything on our to-see list apart from the Statue Of Liberty. So early in the morning, we took the Staten Island ferry and headed away from Manhattan, straight past the statue.

Manhattan looked so pretty from the ferry. When we got to Staten Island, we headed straight back to Manhattan.

We had lunch on Mulberry Street, which is where all the Italian restaurants are. We spent the rest of the afternoon in coffee shops, catching up with the family.

On the way back to Joan’s, we ran in to the Patricia Field shop which was amazing.

I got a super cute heart shaped mirror for my makeup desk.

We spent the evening chatting with Joan and hearing her amazing stories. We’re really going to miss New York!

Manhattan does breakfast very well and this morning we went to the City Girl Cafe in Soho.

New Yorkers seem to love nuts just as much as I do.

Afterwards we went to Tarina Tarantino’s shop which was very pretty and to Magnolia Bakery (which is in Sex & The City) to pick up some cupcakes. We walked around the West Village for a while and Tom decided that was the area we want to live in NY.

Tom then took my on a horse and carriage ride around Central Park, which was so pretty in the snow. We huddled under a furry blanket.

This was our horse, which was really cute.

We ate our Magnolia cupcakes and went for a walk around the park.

I love being a tourist sometimes.

There was still lots of snow in the park and melting snowmen.

Tom got a hotdog and I got a pretzel from a vendor.

We walked to the reservoir (as the ladies in Plan 9 suggested) to take in the view of the city.

We then went for Long Island Ice Tea and a bite to eat in the Firehouse on the Upper West side.

We should have known better than to order the gigantic nachos though.

We went down to the shore in the evening to watch the sun set over the Statue Of Liberty.

I took Tom to dinner at Sweetiepie, a super cute restaurant in the West Village, as his Valentine’s day present. I had mac n cheese with a pinkalicious drink and then we had absinthe & champagne cocktails for dessert.

The decor was so pretty and they had a bird cage in the corner. There was a man on a Valentine’s date with two ladies sitting in it tonight.

After dinner we went up the Empire State building which was lit pink and red for Valentine’s day.

If you paid double, you could go up to the very top and we had the place to ourself. I’ll update more later…

Yesterday we went for breakfast at Clinton Street Bakery, a place that Plan 9 had recommended as the place they aspire to be. It was pancake week there, so I had apple pancakes with walnuts and maple syrup.

I also had a maple butter pecan milkshake which was soooo good.

To burn off breakfast, we decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

It was such  a clear day and you could see for miles.

On one side of the bridge we could see the Statue Of Liberty…

and on the other, our future home – the dream clock tower penthouse. It looks sooooo pretty.

We then hoped on the subway to somewhere I’ve always wanted to go… Coney Island!

It was even weirder in the snow, as the boardwalk was completely deserted.

The fun fair doesn’t reopen until March but it was still fun to see.

I wished we could have seen Shoot The Freak, “with live human targets”.

Tom made a snow angel on the beach.

I managed to buy a Coney Island mermaid tshirt, which I can wear with my tail to Mardis Gras.

We warmed up in Nathan’s, which turned out to be quite a famous cafe.

Tom ordered more root beer than we could drink and that was only the medium size.

We headed back to Manhattan and decided to go up the Rockerfeller centre to see the view.

We were advised to go up here instead as we’d get a nice view with the Empire State Building.

You could see all the way to Coney Island on this side.

And all down Central Park to The Bronx on the other.

We stayed for an hour so we could watch the sunset.

The city lit up and looked so pretty at night.

Afterwards we went on the hunt for food in Times Square.

We found an awesome place with the tagline “we cure our own corn beef, our chicken soup cures everything else”!

While we slept, “snowmageddon” hit New York and we woke up to find the city covered in thick snow. We weren’t going to let that ruin our fun though! Paul (who’s Tom’s 2nd cousin’s husband) joined us for breakfast and shared some lunch tips.I had my first peanut butter and jelly sandwich and now I can see the appeal. Afterwards we walked up 5th Avenue from the apartment.

We went to Times Square and looked at all the lights. It’s just like a big version of Piccadilly Circus.

Then back to 5th Avenue to see the Apple store, which is a big glass cube.

Tom took me to Tiffany’s, which was so fancy and lovely.

He told me to pick out the prettiest thing in the shop…

which was a padlock necklace, which he gave me as a Valentine’s day present.

Afterwards we went for a walk around Central Park, which was so snowy and magical.

Everyone was sledging and building snowmen.

We walked around the Upper East side for a while before grabbing the subway to a diner downtown.

I had a peanut butter milkshake, which was as thick as a jar of peanut butter.

We filled ourselves up with a feast of diner food before walking down to Wall Street and having a coffee near the World Trade Centre site.

The snow’s suppose to stop by tomorrow, so we shall do lots more sight seeing then!

We’ve finally made it to New York, somewhere we’ve always wanted to visit and, after a few hours, we’re already in love with the city.

Our flight was 7 hours but we were kept entertained by our seats which had inbuilt screens with 350 movies to choose from, TV shows and games.

We slept a little on the flight but were instantly filled with energy when we arrived in Newark.

We had to catch a train in to the center of Manhattan.

We made a train buddy in Oskar, who was flying off to play at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver a few days later. He showed us one of his amazing stage outfits, which was a huge collar covered in LED lights. He gave us one of his CDs and promised to be in touch.

We arrived in to Penn Station and grabbed a yellow cab at Madison Square Garden. Although we’d never been before, everything seemed so familiar from movies and TV shows. The cab had a TV which spoke at you.

Finally we arrived at Tom’s Aunt, Joan’s house, which has this amazing view. Joan took us on a walk down the island through Soho, Little Italy and Chinatown, before making us dinner and then we crashed out for the night.

On a whim yesterday, I decided I’d have a go at sewing a Vivienne Westwood style dress. I finished it today and, as this was the first dress I’ve ever made, it went really well. It ties around the middle and has pockets at and flaps that fold around.

The design is based on an Anglomani dress but as it cost over £300, I couldn’t afford it, so I took a trip to Goldhawk Road and for £5 worth of fabric + a £3 zip + 2 days of sewing, here’s my £8 dress, just in time to wear to New York!

It goes really nicely with my Lady Dragon shoes and my new Vivienne Westwood necklace, which Tom surprised me with when I got to the airport after my trip to Tenerife.

Tom also got himself some socks and a set of offensive coasters.

My next update shall be from NYC, so in the meantime, keep yourself busy by watching the Whip It! movie, which is so awesome.

This week I’ve been super crafty. My first project was a couple of Union Jack pillows for the bed. “Someone” brought me a heap of Chanel ribbons to use and they worked really well.

I made a mermaid tail as my costume for Mardis Gras. It has a zipper up the back at the bottom, so I can unzip my feet and walk. My favourite movie when I was a kid was The Little Mermaid, so I’ve always wanted a tail and now I have one

The secret cafe at Westfield has closed down but we discovered a new little place called Ca’puccino which serves yummy Italian food.

There were floating shelves of books everywhere, which made me feel at home.

The mugs and napkins had a lined paper pattern and now I really want a set.

CO+K has been getting lots of press this week and has been in a bunch of magazines. This article was in Craft Business – they call me a well-known journalist, hehe.

There was also a little mention in MakeJewellery magazine. We’re also in the new issue of Sew Magazine, so if anyone has a copy, could you please send me a scan with the bit about us? I’d love to know what it says.

Finally, someone else has made a version of my kitty hood scarf, I’m going to have a little army soon.

Time to start packing, we leave for New York in less than 48 hours and I’m so excited. If anyone has any NY tips, please send them this way!

I’m back in London now. Tom met us at the airport which was such a nice surprise. I’m going to miss the sunshine.

I forgot to post photos of the hotel before. It was really nice and right next to the pool, which was the best bit. We would sit out on the balcony at night and watch movies on my laptop.

Someone on CO+K has already made a version of my Kitty Hood Scarf. It took me over a year to finish and they did it in just 1 week! It looks fantastic too.

Today we brunched with Lynz, Claire & Emma at Plan 9, had the cheapest round ever at the Warrington and then went for cupcakes at Hummingbird.

On the way home I spotted this shop covered in bows. I want to do the same to the Mews!

Today was amazing, we went to Monkey Park (which my Dad has named monkey farm), which turned out to be the best zoo I’ve ever been too.

We went early, so we had the whole park to ourselves and you were free to walk through the enclosures with all the animals running around you.

We were given mixed bags of food to feed them with, but you had to work out which animals liked which food.

The squirrel monkeys were the friendliest animals in the park.

They liked crawling all over us and standing on our heads.

This one loved my Dad’s iPhone and managed to take a photo.

The lemurs were my favourite, with their super fluffy tails.

There were turtles too and lots of lizards.

There were hundreds of little guinea pigs running around, you had to be careful that you didn’t step on any of the animals when you walked.

Zoos are always so much better in foreign countries because of the lack of health & safety laws.

The park also had chimpanzees, panthers and a lot of parrots. We got to cradle this one like a baby, it was so soft and light.

Today we headed up to the top of the volcano. It looked like a different planet.

You’re so high up that you’re above the clouds, which makes the roads even eerier.

We stopped for soup before the top. It was onion soup which had a fried egg and bits of bread in it.

The volcano looked like a desert but it was really cold.

There was a jogger who kept managing to overtake us every time we stopped, he must have been very fast. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel and went swimming.