Salt Water Cure

I've been longing for the sea lately. Floating in warm salt water while gazing up at a blue sky would be wonderful.  Sadly, I'm not likely to be floating in a warm sea anytime soon so I'm consoling myself by admiring these beautiful photographs by Bawk Bawk & Bree Madden instead. 
 

Cinque Terre by Bawk Bawk

To The Sea by Bree Madden

Sea Wave by Bree Madden

Sea Storm - by Bree Madden

Floating//Cinque Terre by Bawk Bawk
 

"The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears and the sea"

 

- Isak Dinesen

 





Sky Blue...

There's been a distinct lack of blue sky lately.  Here is a collection of beautiful things to brighten up any dreary day -

Firecrest Wall Birds by Anna Wiscombe

Solar Quartz Necklace by Daria

Vintage Samsonite Travel Bag from Ani & Rose

Golden Sky Pillow Cover by Elle Moss

New York

I've had a difficult few weeks and my blogging mojo has been on an extended holiday.  Meanwhile, I've been on holiday too in the form of a four-day visit to New York earlier this month.  I fell in love with New York the first time I visited in 2008 and this was my third trip back. We had a bit less time there than we'd had on the previous two occasions so I wanted to try and cram in all the things I hadn't seen before.  

The first night there we headed straight for the Top of the Rock so I could take in my favourite view.  Looking at the Empire State Building all lit up never loses it's magic for me.  People naturally want to go up the Empire State Building when they visit New York and we did that too the first time. Your view is somewhat obscured, it's very crowded and there seemed to be lots of pigeons when we went up which I found scary, quite frankly. Top of the Rock gives an uninterrupted view all the way round, it's never been that crowded any time we've visited and of course, you can see the beautiful Empire State Building. 

We visited MoMA for the first time.  Neither of us are art fanatics but it was interesting to see. The photography section was amazing and I was also delighted to see my first ever Frida Kahlo painting in the flesh (so to speak).  Munch's The Scream was being exhibited so we naturally went along to stare at it and pretend to be very arty. In reality, I thought it looked like a five-year old's crayon drawing but that's just my opinion.  The highlight of MoMA for me was the epic Mexican hot chocolate I had in the cafe. Oh yes, I'm cultured alright. 

Fulang-Chang and I by Frida Kahlo

I've always been interested in Native American history and culture so I was really excited to visit The National Museum of the American Indian in Battery Park. I was absolutely fascinated to see so many original artifacts on display including clothing, jewellery, art and traditional headdresses. I was pleasantly surprised to see Jimi Hendrix' coat of many colours on display too, to celebrate his Cherokee ancestry. 

On our second last day, we walked through The High Line park. The High Line is a public park built on an old freight line. It's elevated above street level so it lets you view part of the city from a different perspective. The park runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District and finishes on West 34th Street.  We made an all too brief stop at Chelsea Market along the way too. It's a haven for foodies but unfortunately we had no time to eat there. 

There was time to visit the Lower East Side and make a stop at McSorley's Old Ale House. They only serve light ale and dark ale so best avoid if you're looking for a Cosmopolitan. Just along the road is Toy Tokyo which has an amazing floor-to-ceiling selection of designer and vintage toys. Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately for my bank balance) they had no Blythe dolls in stock at the time of my visit. They do stock them from time-to-time though. We spent a good 45 minutes browsing round the amazing selection and the staff were really helpful and friendly.  Top travel tip - visit Toy Tokyo before any ale houses. Alcohol makes you lose your inhibitions and your financial common sense. 

McSorley's

Next door to Toy Tokyo

Nice graffiti but I wouldn't use the ATM

Search & Destroy - Lower East Side

On our last day, the sun shone and we walked around Greenwich Village before popping into A Salt & Battery for chips.  Their seasonal special was deep fried Cadbury's Creme Egg but I resisted. 

The Lowdown - 

Sleeping - We stayed at The Strand on West 37th Street. Central location, friendly staff, very clean and an amazing rooftop bar open 7 nights from 5pm-1am. What more could you ask for?

Eating - Spoiled for choice really but my favourites were The Shake Shack (best burger I've ever tasted and peanut butter milkshake to die for) and Lombardi's (amazing pizza and inexpensive).  

Drinking - McSorley's (as mentioned above), The Beauty Bar (a former beauty salon turned retro-beauty parlour bar with original hair dryers on the wall and hairdressing themed martinis. Awesome!) and Top of The Strand (amazing Empire State Building view, nice cocktails and great music).  

Until next time, New York...

The 2012 Photo Round-up

This year, I really started to get comfortable with my camera and editing photos.  I hope to take a lot more photos in 2013 some of which I will share with you here, of course.

I wanted to share my favourite photos of 2012 with you.  You can see these and more on my Flickr page if you fancy.

Just The Tip

White

Co-joined

Pink

Lucky

Just A Sprinkle

I hope you like my selection. Thank you for reading and I hope you'll join me again next year. 

The Elements

A collection of things inspired by the four elements.

Earth

Earth necklace by Balanced

Air

Gold dipped feathers via Ryan, Michelle & Ellie Mae

Fire and Water

1. sparkler experiments, 2. a twist of fate

Arrows

I've been really into arrows lately for some unknown reason. Perhaps my inner warrior is trying to burst it's way out.  Here's a small selection of lovely things I've found recently around the internet. Hope you like them.

Arrows (print) by Kate Miss

Arrows clutch bag by Red Ruby Rose

Arrow necklace by Heather Kent

Personalised custom tree slice by JumpOffThePage

Clouds

Clouds are always amazing things to photograph. They always come out so well and you can edit them in so many different ways to get various effects.  Today was a perfect day for cloud photography.

Hope you like these. You can find more of my photos on my Flickr page. 

It's a Photoswap 2012!

I'm really excited to be taking part in this year's Photoswap organised by Rhianne at For The Easily Distracted.

I've been following Rhianne's blog for about a year now but didn't feel confident enough to register for last year's Photoswap. However, I didn't hesitate to register for this year and I'm really looking forward to taking part.

The idea is that you take a roll of film or buy a disposable camera then send it to your swap buddy to be developed and they do the same (obviously, or else it wouldn't be a swap, would it?). You then get a complete surprise when your buddy's film is developed, flick through the photos while making lots of 'ooooh' and 'aaaahh' sounds then finally post the photos to your blog so that everyone else can see them.

I haven't used an analogue camera for a long time so I'm slightly nervous that I won't have the security of my delete button if I accidentally take a picture of my toes or something (I did that today, come to think of it). Still...walk on the wild side, push the boundaries, live life on the edge, that's me all over.....ahem. Life doesn't have a delete button so I don't suppose it's a big deal that a camera doesn't either.

You can still register to take part in Photoswap 2012 by clicking here and filling in your details.

Ooooh, I wonder who my swap buddy will be.........

Simple pleasures

The beginning of my week was fraught with sugar cravings. I haven't baked for ages but was delighted to discover that I had all the ingredients to whip up a batch of vanilla cupcakes. It really doesn't take long to make cupcakes and of course the fun part is deciding what colour of icing and sprinkles to have. I went for pink and blue. There's nothing better than that first bite crunchy sprinkle/soft sweet buttercream combination. And, let's be honest, a buttercream moustache would put a smile on even the grumpiest face.

I've also been trying to get out and about, experimenting with my camera a bit more.  The weather was a bit up and down last week and I had nothing exciting planned so I was kind of at a loss finding something different to photograph. Then I noticed how lovely the pink wildflowers growing on the hedge at the back of our car park looked.  I hadn't really noticed them before but decided to take some pictures and see how they turned out.  I was delighted with the result and on the days following, I kind of went on a wildflower shooting spree (with a camera not a gun, that is). No matter where you live, it's amazing how you can find beautiful things on your doorstep if you just have a look out for them. What simple things have given you pleasure this week? 

Scottish Deer Centre

My man and I had a rare weekday off together yesterday.  We decided to head to the Scottish Deer Centre near Cupar in Fife. I've been desperate to go there ever since I found out they have a wolf pack and a red fox.

It was a dull day but fortunately it stayed dry. I was delighted to discover that you can purchase a bag of deer food along with your ticket and actually hand feed some of the deer. I got to feed some beautiful and very friendly Sika & Fallow deer and watch the birds of prey demonstration where we joined at our table by a lovely Eagle Owl. The highlight of the day was the carnivore walk and talk where we got to see wolves, wildcats and foxes being fed. I found this all very exciting but unfortunately, no great pictures of the wolves to be had because they were behind two fences. I did manage to get some lovely pictures of the other animals and birds though.  There's a couple more on my Flickr page too.  Hope you like them!

York

Last week, my man and I headed to York for three days of sightseeing* and culture**.
(*drinking, **cake)

We stayed in the Guy Fawkes Inn which was amazing with loads of character and really friendly staff. As well as visiting the lovely independent shops and tea rooms I was able to indulge two of my obsessions, vikings and real ale. We visited the Jorvik Viking Centre and York Dungeon, which was most entertaining. We made it to 11 of the 30-something pubs in the city centre including The Snickleway Inn, The Golden Fleece, The Lamb and Lion Inn and The Golden Slipper.  All were really good but I think the Snickleway and Golden Fleece were my favourites.

I would highly recommend York for a mini-break visit but would avoid the tourist trap that is Betty's Tea Room and head to one of the independent coffee shops instead. Spring Espresso on Fossgate was particularly good with iced coffee and homemade cranberry white chocolate tiffin to die for.

Sadly I failed in my mission to find a Babycham deer in the antique shops but much fun was had anyway. You can see more York photos on my Flickr page.