If You Don't Have Cards, Improvise!

Central Park on a Saturday is a great place to be. You can people watch until your heart's content and there's always something going on to entertain you. We saw people painting which was pretty cool (and I was highly jealous that I have no artistic ability so couldn't join them) but we were more content with drinking the very VERY strong sangria that Holly had made for us! We ate the fruit afterwards and I nearly passed out from it! Apparently it had been soaked in brandy for over a day ha! We had Peanut with us and he was loving life when he met his match in a tiny Toy Poodle. She was adorable and we couldn't believe she was actually smaller than Peanut but was three years old! We then went to check out the roller disco that was taking place in the park (lots of rather interesting characters there I can tell you). We were just about to leave when someone came up to me and went 'Jo??' and it was two guys I went to Secondary School with!! I couldn't believe it! One of them now lives in New York and the other was just visiting on his way back from 10 month's in Whistler - what are the chances! Just goes to show what a small world we live in. That evening we went over to the meat packing district to a bar called Brass Monkey's which was great. As soon as we walked in they were playing Fall Out Boy so I knew I was going to like it. Holly then suggested we play a drinking game so I thought we should play Ride the Bus! But the only problem was, we had no cards! So I suggested we make a deck out of napkins!! So that we did! We managed to lure in the rest of the people on our table into playing and managed one round before the 'cards' got soaked and we realised that they were going to be mighty tricky to shuffle.....anywho, we then played none card drinking games and they ran a lot smoother! The following day avec mild hangover, we went to see Ashley's friend Brenna for brunch then went back to her apartment which looked over Ground Zero. The view was amazing and we also taught Peanut how to swim on her roof garden. It was so funny and it's safe to say that he wasn't a fan of the water!

Start Spreading the News - I Love NYC!

I think it's safe to say that I love New York City. As soon as I got off the bus I was like 'I'm gonna love it here!'. The night I arrived my friend Ashley (who has kindly let me stay in her apartment with her adorable dog Peanut) took me on a little tour of Times Square and we ended our night at a comedy show. The following day we met up with Ashley's friend Holly and we headed over to Coney Island. The weather was glorious but so ridiculously hot. We went to the museum to see the history of the area before and after the fire there. That was followed by laying on the beach and splashing in the sea (it was freezing in there but great for cooling us down). The heavens then opened so we headed back to Manhattan and went over to Holly's apartment for a night of wine and movies. I was chuffed as I'd found a bottle of Oyster Bay that was actually cheaper than in the UK! So we polished that off nicely/quickly! The following day I went for a stroll up Lexington and just so happened to stumble across Bloomingdale's! What a stroke of luck! Central Park was just across the way so I went for a wonder and it's just beautiful there. Took some lovely shots of the park and then met up with our Aussie friend Leah for some happy hour fun! We ate some pretzel m&m's then joined Ashley at doggy playgroup! It was soooo cool and very American! There were some beautiful dogs there including a Labrador/boxer cross called Ella who was gorgeous. I love the pic I took of Ashley with curly Clancy and Peanut!!