New Orleans was amazing, everything was just as I thought it would be. We only had about 30 hours int he city,  but it was enough to get a feel for the place and I’m sure we’ll go back soon.

Raven was happy to have everyone on her stomping ground and seeing her again made it feel like we’d seen her only yesterday. (I love how you can see Emma in the sunglasses in this photo).

It was Mardi Gras, so we all got dressed up in our costumes. Tom was a sailor, I was a mermaid, Emma and Raven were cowgirls with oversized hats, Morgan was Captain Morgan and Amber (Raven’s sister) opted for a classy boa and mask combo.

We stared the day by watching some of the parades. Everyone was still celebrating from winning the superbowl, so we ended up with the Who Dat! song in our head, which goes along the lines of “Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints? Who dat! Who dat!“.

Everyone was throwing beads in to the crowd, so we ended up with dozens of them around our necks.

We picked the worst parade watching spot, which was out of the sunlight, so we got cold pretty quickly.

We warmed up with hot bowls of gumbo.

Gumbo is a thick soup / stew with rice. I went for the seafood one which was quite yummy.

After lunch, we went for a wander around the French Quarter, which had such pretty buildings.

Emma and Raven got acquainted with the god fearing locals.

Our next stop was Pat O’Brien’s for some Hurricane cocktails.

These were super strong but so easy to drink. Morgan and Amber tried to teach me how to tie knots with cherry stalks.

It got lovely and warm in the sun, so we stayed out in the beer garden for a while.

After a few too many Hurricanes, we headed down to Bourbon street, which was a massive street party with people throwing beads down from the balconies.

Everyone’s costumes were amazing. Next time I want to dress up as a sugar skull.

Even the animals were dressed up.

If I ever have to move to Nola, I found the perfect house on Bourbon Street. I really want a porch with a swinging chair.

Tom and I took some time out to see the rest of the city. Everyone we met was so nice.

The shoreline was really pretty.

This was exactly how I imagined New Orleans to look.

In the evening, we all went for dinner at Mother’s Diner, where Tom managed to confuse the waiter by asking for “a glass of waiter”. I had pancakes for pancake day!

Afterwards we went for a drink in a pirate bar.

After leaving New York an hour late, we took the Crescent train on our journey to New Orleans.

The journey was 30 hours long but it meant that we’d get to see a lot more of America.

We had our own little room, complete with bunk beds, seats and a toilet (you’d really have to be friends with the person you’re traveling with). You can see a tour of the room here.

It was pretty watching the sunset over Washington.

We tried to get as much WIFI as we could in stations, but it didn’t work too well.

All of our meals were provided in the dining carriage, which was all pretty for Valentine’s day. We sat with a couple from Virginia, who were keen to discuss what food we had / didn’t have in the UK. The asked “d’yall got salt and pepper over in England?” and if we drank tea.

The peanut butter pie was amazing!

Even the buildings were celebrating Valentine’s day.

When we went for breakfast the next morning, the train had been decorated for Mardi Gras. The staff were all so friendly.

The French toast was yummy and so filling.

The landscape changed so much as we hit the south.

Such pretty forests. We kept an eye out for bears and crocodiles.

Places of note included Birmingham, Alabama and Atlanta, Georgia and Tennessee. Over dinner in the evening, an old lady complemented us on how good our English was, after we told her we came from Britain and she hadn’t realized it was our native language…

We pulled in to New Orleans in the late evening.

We shared a cab with 6 other people in to the centre, which was in full swing from Mardi Gras.

This is the view from our hotel room.

And now we’re reunited with Emma and Raven! The party starts in the morning…

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!

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!

There’s a piece about CO+K in the latest Craft Business magazine.

I’ve been working super hard this week because I’m not really going to be around for the next two. The bad weather has stopped us from doing too much, though it has encouraged me to finish knitting my scarf, which now has pockets as well as a hood with cat ears. I really can’t wait until the end of the week, when I’ll be relaxing in the sun of Santa Cruz, Taco & La Laguana – frozen margaritas ahoy!

We did a best projects of 2009 list for CO+K. There were so many amazing projects last year, the site is growing so fast.

My Lady Dragon shoes arrived last week and I love them so much but I’ll have to wait until the weather improves before I can wear them out.

This weekend we hung out with Lynz & friends and met up with our old high school friend John, who’s living in London now, and catch up on the past 6 to 7 years. Also, the ladies at Plan 9 wrote us a big checklist of places to visit while we’re in New York, I can’t wait!

There’s an interview with me in the latest issue of Sew Hip magazine. There’s also my how-to for making Louis Vuitton style rabbit ears and the pattern. Check them out on the front cover too!

We got back to London to discover this amazing portairt of Emma, Tom, Me and Raven, which Raven had painted for us as a Christmas present. It’s based on this photo and she’s captured all the little details, like the necklace we gave her as her leaving present. It’s only 6 weeks until we see her in New Orleans for Mardis Gras.

Our last day in Scotland was spent in Edinburgh with my family. We went to an amazing little cafe called the Roseleaf down in Leith. It’s full of quirky little touches, such as menus binding inside copies of National Geographic and hardback books, candles in teacups and mismatched tableware.

The food was delicious too. We had waffles, pilled with caramelised bananas and sampled the applewood mac n cheese.

We’re back in London now. Last night we spent new year’s eve with friends in Ealing and woke up feeling oddly refreshed to catch a bit of the new year’s parade in town.

Selfridges has an amazing Vivienne Westwood window display.

I want it all, especially the Westwood baubles for our xmas tree.

My new year’s resolutions are to be super organized, craft lots, be proactive, think positive, jog everyday, travel more and catch up with old friends. What are your resolutions?