Pt 1. NEW YORK

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

After much deliberating, i decided to take March off and go to SXSW in Texas with the band! I realised back in Jan what a big deal being invited was, and with LP's insistance, realised it would be silly for me to pass (can't believe I even thought I would!)

SXSW was reason I went to the States, but luckily we were able to slot in a couple of weeks in other cities... the schedule was insane (I was sick twice?) and tension between band members was, at times, a lil trying! Still- I had the best time ever! Today was my first day back at work, and I found myself thinking 'my life was so cool last week.. now I'm ...... here!?' (ie the office!)

I was repeating the same details of my trip over and over and over to co-workers... i felt like a broken record! :)

So we arrived the week after "february fury" ended.... the much publicised and completely crazy blizzards that hit New York late Feb. A few days before our arrival, snow was knee deep! We lucked in on beautiful blue days (mind you the temp remained very low!)

This was the first time I'd seen snow.. bizarre I know! To be excited about seeing the following probably shows how much I've always favoured your tropical holiday destinations!....

I stayed with my good friend, Georgie, on the Upper East Side who is over there working in PR.

We kicked off with a gig at the West Village at a venue called Don Hills... quite a famous one apparently? Here we are belting out a tune...

We then all danced to indie pop hits for the rest of the night.

When I saw Little Scott the following Day, i was horrified to see that I had been on the dance floor with my dress tucked into the front of my tights! if that is not the female nightmare, then I don't know what is! The worst bit is, i was keeping my tights up with some undies over the top. So, I was kind of relieved when Scott lost his camera the next day... self centerd i know!

The Saturday night we headed off to Philly... probably my fav show of the tour! (I will post this seperately). We visited another high school friend, Tom, in the lower East.. which I thought was incredible! SO NEW YORK! Here I am waiting for georgie outside tom's...


On Sunday Georgie and I headed to the Brooklyn Flea Markets - The setting was incredible...

Not much to buy, but I did think that these Harlequin shoes were worth a pic..

Overrated Lobster Sandwich.. $15 + Tax from the basement. Look how tiny it is!



Then on the third we did a venue called Bruar Falls in Brooklyn. It clashed with Oscar night, and the turnout was pretty miserable! (apparently everyone does Oscar parties on Oscar night) OR perhaps we'd exhausted our NY "fan base"!? hehe.

Band 'benefits' at Bruar Falls...

We ended up having a huge night, which included doing a few more Brooklyn Bars that night...

One of the bars was awesome and had a bonfire out the back... we visited it a couple more times during our stay. This particular night a Russian lesbian fell face first into the fire, and then had a crack! haha, BIZARRE! Here's a terrible photo..

TRULY TERRIBLE, but the scene of much fun.

We ended up so drunk, that we ate here.. seriously, i kid you not.

White Castle!

And a hairdresser with my namesake en route to Brooklyn abode..


Buying booze at the bottle shop... this security camera vision of scott cracked me up.. moments earlier he was standing in such a way that he appeared to be having 'relations' with the shelf! haha.



Where we chowed down on White Castle and Chips...
I made some horrendous videos this night.. Im so pissed that I'm rather incomprehensible.. having that kind of record of your intoxicated personality is pretty hard to take in sobriety!
'geez, i talk a lot of crap eh?'

We spent our hangovers doing it all over again... kicking off the day in Williamsburg.. no doubt the coolest part of NY !!
Eating the best pizza i may have ever had... it was enormous, deceptively healthy (the fresh tomato!), and hit the hangover spot like no other junk food I have ever experienced!

We shopped all day. Of course the boys could not control their record shopping, and Im particularly fond of this purchase Hugh made because of the awesome cover...

Crazy Cakes....

Random moment on the river.. busload of Jewish Orthodox kids swarming around us for about 3 minutes, then running back to their school bus!?


Then how coul we not slip into Boozing all afternoon and into the night..

And then we went to eat the most amazing Hamburgers I have EVER had in my life... my god. As unspectacular as this photo looks, and as unappealing as a 'broiled burger' might sound.. it was a breathtaking burger experience!


The Living End happened to be sitting on the next table to us..

I think the following day we did a trip to MOMA, but to be honest the timeline gets a bit hazy from here!..

We made it to Carrie Bradshaw's House! You have to leave a donation to animal welfare to take a photo outside.
Something cool Georgie and I did, that I am so Proud of, was go to the Seinfeld Diner on 112th St for Breakfast!

Sure, the breakfast was shudder-worthy, but it's the Seinfeld Diner... I had to buy LP's both a shirt and a magnet!

Our waiter was most perculiar.. very strange manner (and unfortunately i think he'd been in some sort of fire, as his skin seemed to be al grafted?)

'Wait til this photo goes on Facebook!'

"mine too!"

But seriously.. I ate this!


I decided Anthropologie was my favourite shop, and fell in love with this patchwork dress.
I knew it looked bad on me, due to the weird squat boobie bit, but still wanted a memento from the changeroom!


On that note, I am so jetlagged I need to go to bed before I'm finished my New York experience, oh well.. next time!

A lack of shopping activity in the USA.

I am sad to say that I didn't take advantage of shopping in the States. I can't say that I necessarily had the time, and being with hardcore vintage lovers meant that Vintage was the flavour of the trip! So my purchases were few and far between- I have surprised myself!

I planned to buy these Opening Ceremony boots when I returned to New York at the end of the trip, but damnit i ran out of time.

I wish I owned the whole range of these Opening Ceremony shoes...

I found this Marc Jacobs dress at a Vintage store in Brooklyn for $15.

Vintage dress $15

Brooklyn Vintage stores.. incredible.

I walked into the much hyped Beacon's Closet, saying I want a green floral dress... low and behold, there's a gorgeous green floral dress!

The floral print is stunning (in my floral obsessed opinion!)

From the same store, this cute little top. I only noticed afterwards that it wasn't hemmed! (someone had cut the bottom off with scissors - it's a project!)

When we got to Texas, Vintage turned pretty serious. With Kate in tow, we visited every vintage store on South Congress, lower first, and Guadalupe!

Contemplating purchases..

So cute..

This dress was a flippant purchase (namely because it's green AND has candy striped sleeves!)


It is possibly half a size too small in the bust... it's a lil on thew squashy side! I wore it out to BBQ the following day... HUGE mistake, i could barely breathe!

Here I am about to become damaged by Texas' favourite food, the BBQ.... (meat is smoked for 12 hours in a beef pit)

dress in the process of bursting!

Hello Hello you fatty pork rib!


I am now officially obsessed with Cowboy boots. I bought two vintage pairs whilst I was there- i had originally planned to get an awesome custom pair, but I just didn't see anything that grabbed / inspired me! Vintage boots were absolutely everywhere, on every man woman and child in Austin!

my first pair..

And then I bought this red pair (on the left) at Buffalo Exchange. Irene splashed out on this Frye pair on the right..


My fav purchase of all was a Marc Jacobs dress from Century 21 in New York. I don't have a photo of it, apart from this one! I got the blister from hell, and was forced to wear socks all over town- the blisters were just too painful!! Isn't that insane.


I've decided to ditch my Aesop skin routine, and go a bit New York... Im introducing more Kiehls... please let it stop me looking so old and gross!

Finally I've just given myself this treatment I bought in NY... it scared the hell out of me! It's a full chemical thing... gloves, timer, paranoia about the formula touching my skin! I am letting my hair dry natural, so not sure how it's gone yet..

I'm Home

I'm back in the country!

South by Southwest is over. It's probably going to take me a few days to get un-jetlagged, and come to terms with going back to work. Here is how I feel like I've spent the last 3 1/2 weeks...

We ended up in New York, Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland and AUSTIN TEXAS!!! woowoo. Exhasting, fun, infuriating and a blast!

Ill update as soon as I've had a chance to write out all my notes on the trip... it feels like I've been away for ever!!!