New York, New York! :D

Hello blog readers, and people who receive these blogs by email! *waves*

As you know, I just got back from a modelling trip in New York, which was on my bucketlist of "modelling things I want to do at some point", so I treated myself to Business Class flights and felt terribly glamorous sipping champagne and re-reading Valley of the Dolls on the way over.

I totally had this song stuck in my head:

The glamour mist evaporated rapidly when I arrived at the address of my guesthouse and found it was actually a block of flats. I scoured the road and found another address of the same number (!) that was a Starbucks o.O

I borrowed the Starbucks wifi to double-check wtf was going on and discovered that there is more than one 15th Street in New York and that I'd actually booked a place in Brooklyn, not Manhattan >.< Derp. When I finally got to my actual neighbourhood it was after dark and the street I was on was like liquor store/ liquor store/ boarded up shop with graffiti/ liquor store/ depressing ghetto housing with bars on all the windows/ liquor store. Shiiit. I was so tired that I kind of didn't care though. I just checked in, washed my face and fell asleep with all my clothes on!

After 12 hours' sleep, I caught the free ferry to Staten Island. Seeing the Statue of Liberty float past was a trip. I've only spotted her in the distance from the Empire State Building before and didn't realise how bright glowing green she is.

The area of Staten Island I went to looked like a movie set- big wide streets lined with unique detached houses, all two or three storeys plus basement, seemingly made of planks of painted wood layered over each other like upside-down pine cones. I was really glad to be shooting in a home studio so I could see inside one of them. It was old and massive and slightly reminded me of Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman's family home in Practical Magic, complete with fluffy cats everywhere, and a spooky basement.

 The Practical Magic house

After a vintage 1930s shoot, shot with the photographer's own vintage fox fur stole (complete with heads and PAWS!), I got the ferry back to Manhattan.

I was a bit concerned about finding healthy places to eat in New York as I didn't remember there being many a few years ago, but now Manhattan seems awash with with vegan/ organic/ generally detox-friendly places! I went to a place called Natural Flavors and had them make me a giant kale salad with about a dozen added raw and cooked veggies, drizzled in lemon juice and olive oil.

I really liked this picture hanging on the wall of the restaurant and made it my phone's wallpaper:

As you can probably guess, most of my morning's earnings went straight back into the American economy in the afternoon. I love to shop local designers when I travel, and treated myself to a huge new Betsey Johnson suitcase, which is completely covered in a purple rose and skull print, trimmed with black patent leather and and lined with hot pink leopard print, for 1/2 price at Century 21 :D My NY shopping tactic is to browse in Bloomingdale's but actually buy stuff in Century 21! I also got a pair of CK sunglasses with orangey-yellow frames that reminded me of Fruit Salad sweets and kind of match my hair for $20, down from $68 :)

The Manhattan skyline from the Brooklyn Bridge, in the rain

I started to feel a little tired and dissociated but decided to make the historic walk over the Brooklyn Bridge in the rain anyway, dragging my new purple suitcase behind me. A camp, skinny black dude with a bouncy walk ecstatically complimented me on my "Brooklyn style"- my giant 70s faux silverfox coat, the neon purple suitcase on wheels, the orange sunglasses in the rain, the bright copper hair. Didn't have the heart to tell him I'm British and naturally tacky.

I was once again too tired for dinner by the time I got back to the guesthouse, so just wiped off my makeup and fell asleep by 7.30pm.