My 21st in New York- Sex and the city, Broadway and more!

There are so many things that I want to blog about my time in New York. But first of all I have to start with my birthday! I was so incredibly lucky that my course leader planned this trip during the week of my birthday because how else would you want to spend your 21st?!

On the morning of my 21st I went with my friends Sophie, Kate and Tiff for breakfast at a cafe called Cafe del sol (I think this is the name but don't quote me on this) I had bacon, pancakes and syrup with coffee, the pancakes in New York are insanely good so this was the perfect birthday breakfast!

Okay so these weren't my pancakes but this is a much prettier picture than mine and this is literally how big the portions are in New York. Amazeballs.

After breakfast we got a cab to the meeting point for the Sex and the City tour. Of course I HAD to spend the daytime of my birthday touring all the hotspots of Carrie Bradshaw and her pals. Seriously if you're a lover of all things SATC like me you should 100% do the tour if you ever find yourself in the magical land of NYC. We met the tour guide by the Pulitzer fountain outside the Plaza hotel which is where Natasha and Big's engagement party was held.

Once you get on the coach there is a tour guide situated at the front. Our tour guide was incredibly lively and really knew her s**t on SATC, she must do this tour a billion times a day but she spoke with such enthusiasm and it really made the tour for me. Dotted around the coach are little screens in which the tour guide plays scenes from the series or the films to match the places you pass. It really helped to jog our memories on certain things we couldn't remember and it also made it all the more exciting seeing the exact spots they'd shot by. 

Places such as Tiffany and Co where Charlotte and Trey shop for her engagement ring, the Paris theatre where Carrie has her solo date and many of the other shops and restaurants they visited were generally just passed by on the coach, the scenes would be played on the screen for you to watch but you would be able to get a quick snap as the coach passed by. 

During the tour the guide fired out facts about filming, the sets, the actors etc- I learnt so many interesting things that I would have never known prior to the tour such as Carrie's front steps being in an entirely different part of New York to where they filmed the inside of her apartment. 

You also visit Aiden's bar for Cosmos! This is a really cute, quirky bar known as O'nieals but it was obviously called Scout in the series. The cosmos were so good that I had to have two even though we were only in their for a short period of time!

We also got to visit the Magnolia bakery- as soon as you walk in here the smells are so overpowering, you feel like you've gained about 10 pounds just through scent. All the cakes were freshly made there and although I was told the cupcakes were amazing, something else caught my eye and as it was my birthday I thought there is no better place to order cake from than somewhere that has starred in SATC. I ordered a caramel pecan cheesecake which was quite big for an individual portion but I wasn't to complain. It was insanely good- the only way I could describe how good it was is through the Friends episode where they are all fighting over the cheesecake.

During the stop-off for Carrie's front steps and the magnolia bakery, we also visited the Michael Kors shop on Bleecker Street- apparently they filmed in here too but I can't remember which episode. I don't usually buy myself designer things, in fact this is the first designer thing I've bought but only due to the fact that SJP had been in here and anyone on the tour got 10% discount.... so I bought myself the most beautiful glittery gold purse and now a piece of SATC will always be with me. YES I'M SAD I KNOW.

If I listed every possible place we visited I would be writing for hours but one of my favourite places we visited was the Buddakan restaurant where Carrie and Big had dinner with all their friends the evening before the wedding that never happened! I would have loved to have eaten here and if I ever go back to NYC I will for sure have to go here. The interior was incredible. It was one of the most beautiful restaurants I've ever set foot in!

Following the tour we went for an early dinner at Ruby Tuesdays and I had the steak with garlic mushrooms, sweet potato fries and green beans- some of my favourite foods altogether, what a dream! Also if you ever visit this restaurant you for sure have to get the raspberry iced tea!

My friends are also the bestest and had the waiters come and sing to me which made my day!

The evening of my birthday I was lucky enough to go to see Finding Neverland on Broadway. I have never sobbed so much through a performance, in fact I don't think I've properly cried at all at any performance before this. It was the most visually perfect piece I've seen in the theatre and the concept they created for death was just beautiful. I was in awe of their singing and especially of their choreography, it was out of this world. It was also the most perfect end to my birthday.

After the performance most of my friends went back to the hotel so I stayed out with my course leader and a couple of the lads having a glass of wine or two at an Irish bar! Although it wasn't like going on a big night out and dancing the night away I still had an amazing birthday and my friends gave me the best time. I was also sent a basket of cookies by my mom because she's the cutest human ever.

As I have so much to say about NY I'm going to do a few more posts on the places we visited, the food we ate etc. If you ever get the chance to go New York you HAVE to. It was the most magical place I've ever had the pleasure of staying.

New Years resolutions.

Happy new year you beautiful people!

I find that a lot of people say at the beginning of every year 'new year, new me'. Although I appreciate that people want to make a change in their life and use the New year as a completely clean slate, I think it sometimes makes people feel negatively about themselves. You shouldn't want to be anything other than yourself, I mean obviously if i could be Khloe K for a day I'd be like "Hell Yeah!" but in literal terms you only have one life and you have to use this fact to your own advantage, to live like theres no tomorrow because you really don't know if there will be.
A good way to look at your new years resolutions is to set goals and think of ways to improve or progress. It's a more positive way of thinking and drags you away from looking at yourself in a negative light.
For example- if you want to lose weight, don't say "I'm so fat" or "I feel disgusting" instead set a goal to fit in an extra workout a week or to sign yourself up to a gym, to only get a takeaway once a fortnight instead of weekly etc. These goals will help you to achieve what you want without feeling terrible about yourself and ruining your self-confidence. If you do this for all of your goals, you won't be concentrating on the lack of something in your life but instead you will feel more driven to achieve something.

My goals for 2016 are:
1. To do a charity run
2. To write another play
3. To find a new home for me and Anthy! Yay house things!!
4. Stop saying mean things about myself
5. To find some more 'me time'- I always want a massage and theres nothing stopping me finding a cheap deal and booking one but I always find excuses to not allow myself time to relax
6. To care less about what others think- although this sounds mean, everyone that knows me knows I have a big heart and that I love all my family and friends way more than I love myself, I'm also incredibly sensitive and I shoot myself in the foot a lot with this because I always worry that if i do or say something that someone else will have something nasty to say about it and that's put me in a really negative state of mind which I'm determined to get out of this year!

I hope this has inspired you all to make positive goals for yourself to make this year better for YOU. Love yourself first people, it's actually not selfish at all!

Wishing you all the love, luck and happiness in the world for 2016.
Han, xo