48 hours in Manhattan

We stepped off the plane at 8:30 Friday night, and stepped right back onto the plane at 8:40 Sunday night.

48 hours in New York rivaled 50 hours in Vegas. Regardless of the fact the flight was half as long, the city was equally as exhausting.

I guess I should back up and explain that this great big, exhilarating, New York weekend was my birthday gift. Yea. You heard that right. Because I'm not spoiled or anything.

A few weeks earlier that sneaky fella of mine sent me an airline confirmation.

Having never been to the BIG CITY (yea yea - insert gasp here, I am used to it) I had no clue what to expect. Of course, everyone passed along their long lists of Must See's and Must Eat's and Must Drink's and Must Avoids, but we pretty much decided to go into it with an open agenda.

The taxi ride from LaGuardia to the W Hotel may have been the most tortuous ride of my life. Tate decided to book our hotel in Times Square so we were in a central location to everything... which was fantastic, but also terrible, because Times Square is... well terrible, as I quickly learned. The concept of traffic flow (both by foot and automobile) seems lost on everyone there.

As soon as we got checked into our room on the 36th floor, we were back out the revolving door, in search of food. Thus began our first leisurely stroll (and by leisurely I mean, block after block after block), where we stumbled upon a little Argentinian place in Chelsea (how fitting). By the time we walked in the door, I was less than pleasant, and an eleven on the hangry scale. They immediately brought me my wine and a basket of bread and all was right in the world again.

Porteno did not disappoint, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who asks. But then again, they brought us complimentary wine after our meal too so I may be biased.

Can I pause for a second and ask if there is an over-abundance of Irish in New York, or if every other bar genre just threw in the towel and added a 'Mc' in front of their name and Guinness to their tap line?

After a few drinks at one of the local Mc'watering Holes, we decided we better call it a night, and trekked back to the hotel. Saturday took us to the 9/11 Memorial, and museum (a sombering experience, but I somehow managed NOT to cry, so there's a miracle),

When we left the museum we made a pact not to spend the rest of the day dipping into depression, and proceeded to wander around the city and saw EVERY OTHER THING THERE IS TO SEE IN NEW YORK CITY. No really. I think at the end of the day we had logged like 20 some miles. Thank god, for once in my life, I heeded advice and wore practical(ish) shoes.

And then I did what any sane female would do. Dawned 4" heels for a Broadway show that night. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, no? That's what I kept telling myself as we climbed the stairs to our balcony level seats. (We saw An American in Paris )

Guess where we went after the show -- yep, another Irish pub. Shocking, huh? I told Tate we had to get drunk and find trashy New York pizza joint for a night cap (hey, you're only young once) so we did just that. Lucky for us, the one I picked had a cocaine dealer out front, so we had prime entertainment for the 14 minutes it took us to scarf down the most delicious thin crust pizza and a few bottles of water.

Sunday morning it poured, which was perfect because we wanted to do nothing but sleep. We finally managed to get up and showered shortly before checking out of the hotel at noon. Leaving our bags behind we headed back to Chelsea for brunch (Tipsy Parson -- GO! So good), wandered the High Line, hit up Chelsea Market, then were off to Central Park and the last leg of our whirlwind see-it-all-do-it-all Manhattan madness.

As late afternoon rolled around and we hopped into the taxi to head back to LGA, I closed my eyes and sank into the seat. I had achy legs, and a happy heart. It's not that I haven't traveled to a hundred cities, it was moreso who I was travelling with.

New York City wasn't what I expected it to be. I anticipated huge, bustling, high action... it was big, and it was busy... but it wasn't unmanageable. I anticipated overwhelming, but we conquered it easily. Guess that just proves you never know til you try

Interested in where else I've traveled? Check out my wander page to find out more!

not much really

Here's a pretty simple, pretty basic, pretty boring outfit for your wild Friday night. Just kidding, my Fridays are defiantly not wild especially when they consists of homework and cleaning my room whilst trying to squeeze in a few episodes of Body of Proof under my doona. 

I have been meaning to shoot this jumper for ages since I was practically living in it all Winter. These photos were taken about a month ago when I went up to Melbourne - hence Fed Square in the background. Since I was walking around all day I wore my trusty white sneakers and my trusty black jeans. 

Hopefully a new 'Currently' post will be up on Sunday as I feel like I need to update / chat to you all. Have a gorgeous weekend! 

Much love, Chelsea x

Wearing: Sneakers by Rubi, Jeans & Jumper by Jay Jays and Backpack by Sportsgirl.

the federal wool mills

Since it was quite warm today, I haven't even touched my Instagram or my blog so I am really sorry about that but it was so lovely and sunny today that I just sat outside for most of the day, skating around on my penny board (I'm not the best but hey I can turn!) and going to Spotlight to pick up some fabric - I got some denim to make a little skirt for summer and a soft fabric with a light yellow and white chevron pattern to sew some PJ shorts. I just can't believe that today was 29 degrees and tomorrow is going to be 30 for the grand final! Insane...

But enough about me rambling, let's chat about this outfit which I love love love! I first got the courage to try double denim a few Sundays ago because I had seen it a tonne of it on my Instagram feed and whilst reading other people's blogs. I had been wearing this denim jacket a lot lately so thought that it was the perfect starting point. Underneath I styled it with a shirt in a lighter wash (NOTE: The best way to style double denim is with different washes) and a pair of black skinnies. For shoes, I hadn't worn my clear jellies for a while so I cracked them out and I still love the way that they look and how comfy they are.

Any grand final day plans? I'm hopefully shooting a couple of outfits for the blog before school starts back on Monday. *insert sad face* By the way, I'm going to be at April's Blogger Meet Up on Sunday so hopefully I'll meet a few new people there and expect a blog post on it too!

Much love, Chelsea x

Wearing: Katies Denim Jacket, Pants + Shirt from Jay Jays and Jellies from Factorie

Oh hey. Again.

I think the only reason I'm back here is because I stumbled upon this girls blog, where she was telling stories about the ridiculous adventure that is known as "getting to Little Corn Island" (I know, I am bringing up Nicaragua again. Ugh, say it with me: Ugh.) And I was all "I REMEMBER THAT!" and then got disappointed that, while I remember it in my head, I never shared all those hilarious stories.

Or any story after that.

Or any of the not-so-hilarious stories, maybe the more serious stories, like the ones about when you date really poopy guys for most of your life, and then you are trying to learn how to date a not-so-poopy one and constantly teeter on the line of being psycho complements of your past? (I think us crazy chicks should at least get a nod, for being well aware of when we are toe'ing the line of crazy).

Maybe we won't dive right into those stories. It's been kind of nice not having the whole internet whispering that I'm crazy for the past 8 months.

On the flip side, I just ordered a windbreaker for part of my Halloween costume. It's going to be another great year of festivities. Can't wait to share.

Oh, and I've got a few more trips on the horizon. Like New York (for the FIRSTTIMEFFINALLY)... and oh Fiji... and London... and Paris...

Welcome back, buckle up and return your tray tables to the upright position... this is gonna be fun kiddos

postcard from kyneton

Hey there lovelies! 

I'm back with another volume in my postcard travel series. Since it was my dad's birthday, yesterday my family and I travelled up the Kyneton in the Macedon Ranges for the day. We had only been there a few times and I remembered barely anything from the town so this time we walked around the streets a bit more which was very nice and relaxing.

First stop though was Daylesford about an hour's drive away from Kyneton. We go there quite a bit but had a quick cuppa and snack at their chocolate place over there and briefly walked up and down the main street, in and out of the shops. 

When we finally arrived at Kyneton, and I did feel a tad travel sickness may I add, we went to find somewhere to have lunch. We sat down at the locally pub that was just down the street and I ordered a classic gnocchi dish with sauce and cheese. From there we just wandered around, through both the town central and residential areas. Dad, mum and my sister got something to eat from the bakery there and we ate that near their town hall / memorial site. 

After leaving Kyneton, we headed back to Daylesford and stopped to eat at a local restaurant (who's name escapes me). We ordered a few wood over pizzas and they were so tasty, some of the very best!

Not only is there this photo diary I created but I also vlogged a little bit too. I was editing this morning a video I put together and I'm crossing my fingers that that'll be up on Wednesday some time. 

Today we walked along the beach (post coming soon on that too) and tomorrow I'm going to Melbourne to expect a post and maybe even a video from then as well.

Hope you all have an amazing week and I will see you soon.

Much love, Chelsea x

Wearing: Knit from Jay Jays, H&M Jeans, Converse Chucks, Target Top and Sportsgirl Backpack.