20 Moments in time

I don't always carry my "big" camera around with me. It's one of my favourite things, but there are times when I don't want to look like a tourist, prefer to wear a statement necklace rather than a camera strap or can't fit it into my bag which yesterday was a pretty gold clutch. Thankfully, there's iPhones* and Instagram to help satisfy my photographic cravings when my fingers itch for my big camera, but have to settle for something smaller to capture the moment. Here's my collection of happiness inducing (camera-less) moments of loveliness from the last couple of weeks:

Celebrating our wonderful friends' marriage in a beautifully intimate and emotional ceremony (followed by a night full of fun dancing); Spring sunshine out in full force in the West Village; Bright colours and blossoms in Washington Square Park and Soho to combat cold grey skies 

Picking up fresh fish at Chelsea markets for dinner; shoe love at Jimmy Choo on Bleecker; moody skies in Chicago; glorious scents at Diptyque; the view from the plane en route from Chicago to NYC; the first time we found Prodigy Coffee and felt like we'd come home

Let me know if you're on Instagram - I would love to follow you to see your daily moments of fun and smiles. If you'd like to follow me, I'm @hopeinhighheels (of course!) or to have a look online, go here.

From New York, with love xox

* I'm a recent convert which is shocking, I know!

39 Just Chillin'

Ever since I came back from Australia two months ago, lovely husband C. and I have made an effort to travel somewhere new every few weeks - we've been to Poughkeepsie, Philly, Boston and now Long Branch on the Jersey Shore. We want to make sure we get to experience as many things we can for as long as we're here. Truly, the temptation is to stay in NYC every weekend because there's always so much new and fun stuff happening that it never gets boring, so it's hard to leave. This weekend though, we headed to the Jersey Shore and spent time walking along the beach, taking in the sunshine and sitting on the boardwalk just talking.

 
These weekends are good for the soul - it's always fun disconnecting from the outside world, exploring and experiencing something new together (like a root beer float!).

In between our many laughs with and at each other, we talked a lot about how lucky we were to live in New York* and feel like we have our dreams at our fingertips and the rest of our lives ahead of us, to adventure together.

I hope you had a lovely weekend, filled with sunshine and fun times!

From New York, with love xox

* Only for now, Mum! 

34 Union Square Greenmarket

I don't know about you, but I eat a lot of comfort food during the winter - pasta, risotto, the occasional pizza - it's like I'm trying to warm up from the inside with the heaviest, most filling foods I can find. And oh, it's wonderful... until spring, when I joyfully make the transition to beautiful fresh salads and lovely fruits and fill every room in my apartment with bunches of happy, colourful flowers. As the weather has changed, lovely husband C. and I have started heading to the Union Square Greenmarket every weekend to pick up a few of our favourite things.

 

I hope you're having a wonderful week so far - I'm looking forward to spending this weekend at the Jersey Shore, relaxing and walking on the beach while it's warm and not (too) overcrowded. What are you looking forward to? 

From New York, with love xox

23 Why New York rocks

Every so often, I have moments when I feel like I need to pinch myself to make sure that I'm not dreaming my life in NYC. One of the best parts about living here are the things that happen when you least expect them. You don't necessarily have to be looking for fun but if you're open to it (and who isn't!?), then it definitely finds you.

On Saturday night, lovely husband C. and I went to 'Sleep No More' which is unlike any other play I've ever seen. It's set inside an old hotel and is spread across 5 levels. Everyone (but the actors) wears masks and freely wanders the levels into and out of too many spaces to count, made to look like the inside of a mansion, an infirmary, a graveyard and an old country bar complete with dirt on the ground or a candy store to name a few. You can follow the characters as they move through the play and dip into and out of the stories as you find them. It was mindblowing.

We finally found an amazing place for coffee - Prodigy Coffee in the West Village - a 3 minute walk away from our apartment. One of the best things about it is the bench outside, where you can sit in the sunshine and watch the world go past while you sip on a creamy latte. It also turns out you can have a conversation on said bench with a wonderfully friendly, down-to-earth and lovely movie producer about how he selects movies, how social media is changing the world and how coffee snobbery is totally justified. Lovely husband C. and I both walked away with wide smiles.

Of course, there's also the smaller moments - like walking along 23rd St this afternoon and stumbling across a whole litter of cute labrador puppies (with their owners) or seeing Julianne Moore filming a scene for a new movie. Whatever it is, it's always guaranteed to be a sidetrack to something fun!

From New York, with love xox

36 Spring is in the air

Australia looks pretty much the same all year around... blue skies, sunshine and green leaved trees*. The only way you can tell summer from winter is by the grass - it's a deep green in the winter and turns a golden yellow (just a little dehydrated... from all the sunshine) in summer. Not so in New York. One of the things I've really loved about our last year here is the very definite seasonal transitions. In autumn, all the trees turn into a riot of colour and then shed their leaves while in winter, it looks like there will never be a living plant in the city again. Come the first hint of sunshine, the trees blossom into a profusion of pink and white flowers, planter boxes across the city are filled with tulips in every imaginable shade and daffodils smile prettily from grocers' stalls.

- All shots of, or taken from the Highline in Chelsea -

This was the first weekend we didn't need to wear coats outside and we took full advantage of it - we wandered the High Line twice and went for long walks across and up The City. Spring brings with it such a sense of hope and the city almost sighs as it relaxes in the sunshine. I hope you had a lovely weekend wherever you were and whatever you were doing!

From New York, with love xox 

* It's definitely not hard to live there!

40 One Year

Today exactly one year ago, lovely husband C. and I arrived in NYC with five suitcases, a big sense of adventure and a tiny little bit of trepidation about moving to a city we hadn't visited before. The year has absolutely flown by in a wonderful blur of travel, discovery and fun times* - every so often I still have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming this whole experience. I've loved photographing and writing about our time here and had a laugh yesterday reminiscing about some of our more memorable moments...

Finding and falling in love with our own little piece of air in the West Village, a tiny apartment up four flights of stairs with exposed brick walls and a view of the Empire State Building over the treetops.

Our first big NYC night out, which started with a swanky dinner at Gramercy Tavern and ended at dawn in a private members club in Tribeca.

Discovering the two sides of Brooklyn in one morning walk, from the birds chirping, sun shining, family side to the we're-not-in-Kansas-anymore-Toto side, all within three kilometres.

Wonderful days spent discovering the West Village, from funky cafes to tiny bookstores to soaking up sunshine whilst listening to performers in Washington Square Park.

Celebrating my milestone birthday, kicking off with rooftop drinks and finishing up with charades in an underground bar in the Village.

Singing at the top of my lungs and dancing in the rain on a balmy night while laser lights and light sticks lit up the sky at a Black Eyed Peas Charity Concert in Central Park.

Pinpointing the exact accessory I need to make me a real New Yorker (which I still don't have...).

I feel so lucky to be here and I can't wait for some of the fun things we have planned this year... a Madonna concert, trips to Montauk, Charleston, Nashville and hopefully (fingers crossed) a jaunt over to Europe.

Thank you lovely readers, for your wonderful comments and your inspiring blogs - it's been so much fun sharing our journey with you so far, I hope you've enjoyed reading HIHH as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

From New York, with love xox

* With a lot of hard work thrown in for good measure