My Sparkly, Twinkly Adventures....

This morning the girls dropped me off in Downtown Los Angeles as they were headin to work and I caught the train to Hollywood! It wasnt as I had imagined....it was all very dirty, totally run down and rather sleezy to be honest!Went to Mann's Chinese Theatre which was cool then followed the Hollywood walk of Fame to see my favourite celebrities' stars: Marilyn Monroe, Dolly Parton, Judy Garland.....Headed up to have a look at the famous Hollywood sign which wasnt half as spectacular as I had imagined!!!

I went on a tour round all the celebrity houses and famous places...dont think the tour was legit, the guy was about 80, didnt know who Jessica Simpson was after I spotted her driving and there was only 2 other people stuck in the non-aircon van on the tour with me!We did the whole Beverly Hills, Bel Air thing, also went up Melrose, Sunset Blvd...saw the hotel where pretty woman was set....loved that bit!!!!The van then broke down and we were totally stranded outside Whisky a go-go (which apparently according to the old guy was where Goldie Horn was discovered!) for about an hour!!!Eventually the girls came to pick me up and we went to this really cool burger place before dropping me at the hotel by the airport that I was going to stay at for my final night before my flight in the morning!!!This was a disaster....got a room with a door that wouldnt open and all in all I ended up being stranded without a room for 2 and half hours!!!It was a nightmare but finally 4 rooms later I got a one with all working amenities and only ended up paying a 3rd of the price for the room in the end!!!!I cant believe Im going to Japan tomorrow!!!!Im sooooooooo excited!!!!

I am so lucky to have Melissa and Katie, they have been great!!!After breakfast we went for a walk around the Venice Canals which were so beautiful, this is a side of Los Angeles I didnt really know about so It was all very new to me!The most amazing houses!We then headed up to Venice Beach where with luck it was the Venice Beach Centenary so It was a great time Id chosen to come here!!!There was drum circles, parades, market stalls, it was so much fun and the weather was incredible!!!

After Lunch we took the bus to Santa Monica where we walked the pier and did a bit of shopping! Went to this place 'Tudor House' (the place they went on the Osbournes and bought all the English chocolate!) and I bought some much missed Cadburies!!!!
This evening we ordered Italian take-out which was the most divine pasta I have ever had, got some wine and watched some trashy TV!!!!!

Oh My God....what a day!!!Paige dropped me off at Pot Authority this Morning, with my trusty backpack In tow and I headed to JFK....Goodbye New York, Hello California!Arrived at LA International to be faced with disaster....Dont have a clue where Andrea is?!?!?Her phone wont work,Havent a clue how to get hold of her!!!So had to start the search of finding somewhere to stay...a little old guy that worked at the airport called Leon arranged a hostel in Venice Beach for me and this really weird guy came to pick me up in a truck!After stopping at some plumbing supplies place I arrived at the Hostel only to be told I would be in the one up the road...this is after I had paid when he had shown me the room in the first hostel!!!!Got to this place, couldnt believe my eyes.....mouse poo, filthy, no lock on the door, couple of prostitutes hanging around outside...delightful!Turned out I was staying there alone with this bunch of shady, alcoholic, middle aged men!Not a good start.I didnt have a bed but a matress on the floor!Final straw came was when I saw a cockroach crawl across my pillow,tears galore!

Great timing, within 5 minutes Paige rang to check I had arrived safely, the whole auful story spilled out and within another 5 minutes two of her friends arrived at the door to pick me up and take me to there place where I was now welcome to stay!!!Talk about a saviour!!!!They lived in a beautiful apartment, 2 ensuite bathrooms, balcony, the lot, right on Venice Beach!!!!How lucky was I!

Here is Melissa and Katie in their apartment!

Really lovely girls, good fun and they totally looked after me!That evening they cooked some yummy mexican food for me and then took me to 'Coldstone' this fabulous ice cream place where you choose all your flavours, syrups, candy and they smoosh it all up for you!!!Gorgeous!!!! Ive heard them worship the place on the "Osbournes"! It was so cool!!!I so want my very own ice cream parlour!!! Took a stroll along the pier before heading back to watch a movie which was actually the "Incredibles" which was strangley enjoyable!

Well before I get all reflective i will start with a run down of the past week!
After the ridiculous weekend of binge drinking and spending way too much money I headed to work on monday!Monday evening I went for dinner with Paige at this little place on 'Restaurant Row', I saw the 'Ha' Comedy Club that me and Katrina had gone too last year!!!We headed up to Bryant Park where it was the opening evening of the al fresco film showings that they hold throughout the summer!Tonight it was "The Way We Were" (That film totally reminds me of Sex and The City"!) As the movie began the crowd went crazy!cheering, dancing, arms waving in the air, it was insane, I loved it!Then grabbed some Tasty-D-Lite on the way home!!!
Tuesday saw my last day at Rebecca Taylor, its been great, Ive learnt a lot and I have established that the New York Fashion industry is where Im supposed to be in life, as much as I love the underground diversity of London fashion, when I graduate I will 100% be making that big transatlantic move over to the Big Apple.Rebecca and Zac have put me in contact with the chief designer over in Tokyo for the Japan line so Im looking forward to meeting up with her when I get there! We celebrated my leaving that night by Me, Kristena and Nichla going to Little Italy for dinner followed of course by Tirimisu from Ferrera!
Now work is over Im starting to feel sad even though I have a good few days to do exciting things in the city, It was hard enough the last time around that I left but now I have met even more amazing people and Im just so attatched to both the lifestyle and industry over here.Anyway I wont dwell...In 2 weeks time I will have experienced to new places on 2 totally different continents, now that is an exciting thought!!!!So while I wont get all nostalgic I shall tell you about wednesday....Met up with Kirstena and we went to see the Chanel exhibition at the Met, which was fantastic, they had so much stuff!!!Really cool exhibit!My addiction to buying art and design books kicked in and Kristena had to restrain me in the bookshop!She reminded me that I have to carry my backpack around Asia for the next couple of months and not to be so ridiculous!So I shall be ordering it on Amazon so its at home waiting for me when I get back!Grabbed some Ice cream on Park Avenue before Kristena headed to work and I ventured to Brooklyn Bridge again!Somehow I found myself in Strand bookstore again, lucky as a huge thunderstorm errupted!!!!
Wednesday evening continued to be exciting!Went to Nichla's apartment for a while before we headed to Magnolia Bakery where we spotted Patricia Field (crazy, quirky stylist and designer!) we sat and ate our cupcakes before finally going to 'Trailer Park Lounge' which Ive wanted to go to for ages!Its a trailer trash themed bar with Elvis Memorabilia, trinkets, neon, fairylights!It was sooooooo cool, its really inspired me for an upcoming project!Its my favourite place in the world!Had an incident that night, homeless guy sprawled out in the porch so couldnt get in the apartment block, luckily sexy Tom from upstairs was coming home so he helped me in, i loved it!
Thursday I had to say farewell to my good friend Emma....we went for lunch at New Star Cafe, same place we went to the last time we said goodbye!Im going to miss her a lot!Also Ive met her daughter Pamela now and she couldnt make it to the lunch so I guess Ill have to see her next time im in New York!I hate goodbyes!Spent the day wandering around Times Square and reading Tennesse Williams in Central Park! Thursday Evening was once again another farewell, met Karen at Blockheads for our final Margaritas and Nachos and she gave me a thie cute little frizzy haired doll to wish me good luck on my travels!!!!
Friday!!!My last Day in NYC, I cant handle it, I dont want to leave!Today was one of those rubbish days spent running around, going to the Laundrymat (which was strangley full of Drag Queens today!), doing last minute shopping, trying to pack...............Tonight however was amazing...we all went out....Me, Paige,Nichla, Frank and all of his friends!we went to the Alphabet Lounge to see his mates band and then continued to bar hop and get very drunk!!!Im going to miss Frank soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much, actually Im going to miss everyone and everything but lets not get silly here...... Ill be back asap!Bring on California!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my God...I sont know where to start...this week has been crazy....
I guess I shall start at the beginning.....
So firstly, last Sunday Paige took me to The Chelsea Flea Market which was really cool, lots of vintage clothing, antique jewellery, amazing furniture....we then went to this really nice place and had a cup of their famour Cold Hot Chocolate...its actually made from melted Belgian chocolate, it was divine!Spent some time in Tompkins Square which was having some sort of film festival thing where there was free beer and food, before we had a look at the Flatiron building!
Monday I had an unbelievable suprise.....I got a phonecall whilst at work....It was Andy saying him and Louise are in New York!!!So Plans were made for that evening and I introduced them to Blockheads!was great to catch up over Tequila!
Tuesday was a corker, ended up in this ridiculous Irish bar for a few wich wasnt so great....until later that evening, I had a hell of a rendezvous. To cut the story short....me in Strawberry Shortcake pajamas....1am...cigarette...Graham Norton!Couldnt believe my eyes!
Thursday was craziness....ended up back at the Strand bookstore off Union square...come on that place has 18 miles of books, managed to get a whole Tenesse Williams Collection for $2!!!I then went to gaze at the Empire State bulding once again before heading home to get ready for the evening ahead!!!

Well the delights of the night-time expoits...Me Nichla, Andy and Louise all met up at this Tex-Mex diner which had ridiculously big margaritas....we were all drunk off one!It was just a ludicris chain of events, Andy burnt his lip on the fork, Nichla was an hour late and went into the wrong place, made the mistake of having 2 of these industrial strength cocktails....so funny! We then got into a taxi where the driver appeared to be opperating a sex line from incide his cab so this brought on fits of laughter and eventually we made it to the meatpacking district!!!Following this we walked for miles and ended up in a really nice bar called 'Lift', quiet with a few seats outside, had a few drinks then noticed we were more or less right under the Chrystler Building so the views were amazing!After hours of chatting and giggling we had to leave when they took the chairs away!

Made it home around 4.30am , so much for a quiet night and woke up the following morning with the hangover from Hell!!!Paige was quick to make me get ready for the day ahead after force-feeding me a slice of 'Rays Pizza' and we headed on the almighty ride to the 'Cloisters Museum' in Washington Heights. Was worth the trek and Im glad I managed to be prised from my bed!Its an old monastry set in Fort Tyron Park,with lovely views of the Hudson River, it was really great!Decided to get the bus back and trust me this bus went EVERYWHERE which gave me a chance to see a lot of stuff I had never seen, Im more of a Downtown girl so I finally got to see Harlem, Columbia.......

Last night was once again a chain of events....arranged to meet Nichla for dinner in Little Italy, we ended up at this amazing place called 'Il Piccolo Buffalo' on Mulberry Street which had the most amazing stone oven pizza I have ever had in my life!Andy and Louise rang so they came to meet us and we all went for Tiramisu at 'Ferrera'!!From there Paige had invited us to a party at the 'White Horse Tavern' which was a shady little establishment full of cute Frat boys! It was a good night!!!
Today was really exciting! Decided to head up the the Malcolm Shabazz African Market in Harlem which was a lot of fun, amazing jewellery, clothes, drums!Loved it!Took a stroll into Spanish Harlem which was really interesting, a lot of kind of 'Hang Out' areas decorated with dolls in the trees, toys, mannequins, all very creative!From there we were in need of sugar so headed down to Magnolia Bakery...I just love the cupcakes from there!!!!Oh yeah and saw Carrie from Sex and the Citys' house!!!All in all exciting day!