New York & the Week of September 11th

It was exactly 12 months ago that I was in New York, enjoying some beautiful late summer weather with both old friends and new. Isn't it crazy how fast time flies!?

And of course as everybody knows, the end of this week marks 10 years since the September 11th tragedy, so I decided to post/re-post some photos from our 4 days in the Big Apple.

Italian Tale

I just realised it's nearly been six months since we left Canada and headed off towards the lights and delights of Europe. Jeepers time flies!

One of my all time highlights was hiring a scooter in Sorrento and driving along the coast through Positano and finishing with an afternoon in the sun in Amalfi. Yeah, you know the bit in 'Under the Tuscan Sun' where Francesca goes looking for a replacement part for her chandelier and ends up in Positano with Marcello? That's what I'm talkin' about. The stuff of dreams. And I went there. Literally, with my hair blowing in the wind behind me on the back of a scooter, in the Italian sun. Ahhhh... !

Now for the cheese - my home-made vid of our scooter ride. Yes, some of you have probably seen this before, but oh it's good to reminisce isnt' it?

*Sorry just to be a real pain you need to be logged into facebook to watch this vid!

I'm Baaaa-aacck!

Wow what a way to finish off blogging about my trip around the world with a fizzle! Sorry everyone. World's most consistent blogger? FAIL.

But in bigger news - after 2 years of gallivanting around the world I'm HOME, like, New Zealand home! Which makes me very excited because it means getting my mits stuck into my boxes of 'creative goodies' in our storage unit. It means eventually having a steady income for the first time in a year so that I can go and buy MORE creative goodies.
It means that just maybe I can start to turn this blog into what I think I always intended it to be - a little more about me and my creations and a little less about the randomness in my life. OK who am I kidding, it will absolutely still be about the randomness, but perhaps a little more balanced.

It's gonna take me a little while to get on my feet and get some sort of order and regular blogging going on around here, but I'm looking forward to what's on the horizon!

Plus I'm really enjoying just being with my family and friends again and sinking back into the Wellington pace of things. Oh and making my way through the 3000+ unread entries on my google reader. Aggghh!

Bear with me peeps, things should get good around here, just wait and see...

Is It Really Bad...

Is it really bad that I kinda can't stand the thought of taking another single photo of an 'architectural marvel' or 'historical monument' or 'priceless sculpture'? So much so that I just end up doing this whenever the camera comes out in that direction?

Does that make me a naughty, disinterested designer? Would my old interior architecture lecturers hang their heads in dismay?

Oh Woops... Catch Up

Oh geez, everything's going by so fast!

It's involved a bit of this...

Some of this...

And then lots of this!

Mmmmm gelato.... soooo goooooood.....

Home in ten days! Exciting!
Then it's back to the real world, the design world, and maybe some serious blogging... or maybe not. We'll see.

The Red Door Gallery

I found a little store on Victoria Street in Edinburgh, that made my heart go 'weeeeeeee!'. It's called The Red Door Gallery and it is filled to the brim with all sorts of lovely homewares, artwork and other design nick nacks and goodies. See their blog here!

I Heart Edinburgh

Well the city that has stolen my heart so far would have to be Edinburgh. I couldn't get enough of the friendly little city, it's gorgous old buildings, quirky alleys and secret passageways, and some really good pubs!

We met up with some high school friends for three days of fun in Scotland before heading to Dublin. Here are a couple of highlights, including a road trip into the countryside, a comedy night, a big night on the turps, and a walking tour...

New York, New York

I am writing this on a full stomach of scrumptious Pad Thai, after a full on four days of New York fever.

We have squeezed in as many things as we could possibly squeeze, like walking the Brooklyn Bridge at 3 in the morning, standing atop the Rockerfeller Centre, enjoying live jazz at the Fat Cat basement bar in Manhattan, learning to play shuffle-board, strolling central park, relaxing at Coney Island, marvelling at Times Square, doing laundry like the locals in Brooklyn, riding in the yellow taxis, navigating the subways and so much more.

I'm pooped, but no rest for the wicked! Let's see what Europe has to offer...

Los Angeles

Today we flew into Los Angeles, and decided to be tourists and hire a car to cruise the touristy spots.
We headed straight for Hollywood, then through Beverley Hills, and finished the day at Santa Monica pier.

It's not really my kind of city - it's grungy, it's dirty, it's run down and smoggy, but it is certainly an eye-opener!

Driving down Rodeo Drive, we rubbed bumpers with the latest Porsche, Mercedes and Audis, and you can see consumerism is alive and well in these parts considering the Versace, Jimmy Choo and Tiffany stores are still doing business! The 'beautiful people' are beautiful, the 'plastic people' look awfully plastic, and then there are all the cliched characters at the other end of the spectrum too, but you can see how this diverse range of people make the city what it is, even if it is all very superficial feeling.

Santa Monica Pier was tired and run down, but kinda fun all the same. I loved the buskers and pier entertainers performing weird and random things. There were parrots and maccaws, jugglers, hooler-hoopers, mimes, contortionists and acrobats. It was a good wander for the afternoon.

Next up we're off to New York, hoping that hurricane Earl isn't going to create problems for our flights!

She's Got A Ticket To Ride