I D I

Days one and two.

Day One:
So the team and I travelled to JWT, a worldwide advertising agency that has acquired over five floors of a single New York skyscraper to house their thousand man staff. To be whole heartedly honest, it sparked my desire to stay in the Advertising industry due to the warehouse-like workspace and the abundance of colour and art that decorated the floors, walls, ceilings and everything else in between.

With that said, it was hard to put into perspective why people would openly say they love working from 9am - 11pm and then again on weekends. That sort of industry is not for me when I am hardly interested in the content I’m working with. On that note, it would be beyond amazing to work on accounts like Macy’s and Unilever. Anyways, I think perhaps being so young, it will benefit me taking the leap into fashion at this stage, rather than later down the track.

The Knicks, what can I say.. They were as terrible as their reputation states. Leading by the third quarter, they’re the New York comparison to the Dockers back home - losing their shit in the last! Madison Square Gardens on the other hand was better than expected. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if it were a Lakers or Bulls home game. Melissa Joan Heart was in the front row which was pretty epic too oh, and some Italian guy asked me to marry him, very romantic.

Had some serious, classic American food ie. Southern comfort food. Hideously unhealthy but pretty darn tasty. Gotta admit that it would’ve been great to have a healthy green salad instead of a batch of deep fried shrimp, cheddar covered hot chips and BBQ chicken wings to pair with my Stewart’s root beer but hey, you can’t have em all. 

I paid Bryan US$10 to eat a whole baby pickled chilli and that didn’t go down too well I don’t think!! Nor did the fashion advice but hey, I am one of improvement!! Bought a jacket, a dress, a hat, some flats and a tunic - all very cool.

Day Two:
So today was great, raining but great! We went to Google for a massive tour and lunch. The best thing about it is that Google has over 2,000 staff in not just one, but TWO buildings, one of which is the second largest building in NY as well as occupying nine floors of this particular one. There are probably no words to describe how awesome the entire place was but believe me, it was one of the coolest offices I have ever been to.

Caragh and I continued our stalking of the Michael Kors section in Macy’s, deciding which bag - if any - we are going to purchase come Saturday. I think we’re getting the same bag as each other which will be rather funny if we both go out together one night! I gave in and bought myself a silver, white faced Michael Kors watch - gorgeous. Its very plain but that’s what I wanted this time after having a three rowed diamond Ecko for years.

We then headed to GroupM and we sat down with the CEO who proceeded to talk to us about how amazing the Media world is. All the time my mother was obviously staring at me with laser eyes stating “told you so”. Duly noted that yes perhaps its an amazing industry to work in but heck, my fashion job is even better! He found it rather funny that I had just left media after he had been rambling on about how amazing it actually is. He did say that the first few years can be “soul destroying” and I’m glad he said that in front of my Mum.

The girls and I then headed up 51st after getting Tasty Delight and stopped off at Saks where Jess got accosted by some perfume selling theatre director and forgot she had shoved her toasty, NY style pretzel in her shopping bag. Classic, golden even!

We then spotted the Rockafeller ice rink and after a few freezing cold shots, went marching back up 49th to our home away from home. Sunday has been marked as tourist day so hopefully I will be able to take some photos etc. I bought something gangsta for my SA’an and I and a rad shirt for Cam. 

Its getting late and Caragh looks bored so I shall bid the Northern hemisphere good evening and the Southern a lovely lunch.

xA 

New York, New York.

Its 12 degrees and I am currently sitting in the warmest hotel room I think I’ve ever been in! I’m staying in a two bed suite with Caragh and Jess at the Radisson in…. NEW YORK CITY!!!! You may or may not be aware that I will be indeed spending the next seven days in this magical, non-stop, sky scraping city.

I would love to say that I am truly missing home and the people that I care most about but really, I am enjoying this trip more than I thought I would. Honestly, I am a little grumpy and seem to have a shorter fuse than normal but really, I can turn that attitude around. I miss my SA’an but I know he wants me to have a good time so I’m granting his wishes!

In terms of things going wrong, I lost my camera in Sydney airport. Of all places I could’ve lost it, I happened to do so in the one place that is the ending to most people’s losing capabilities! Anyway, I find the positive in it that I am able to buy a better camera and the only things I have lost are the memories of Sydney - a place I have been to a number of times.

The best thing about it is that we’re such a tight group, three girls and two boys, that we are taking photos of each other and everything we want to capture. Caragh is letting me go snap happy at times with her camera and Mum is going to give me her camera to handle because she seems to have an inapt sense of how to actually work one!

Wireless is free in the room so I’m busting this blog out on Caragh’s Mac which is probably annoying to her, waiting to use her OWN computer… I’m also texting the SA’an whilst blogging which is sort of making me miss him more but I know I won’t be able to wipe the smile off my face when I actually get to see him - one of those precious moments :-)

I’ve decided on short hair today so maybe I won’t get the staring looks like I have something on my face like last night. OH, but last night, we went to Grand Central station and Times Square…. Amazing. Hopefully we make it to Bloomingdales and Macy’s today so I can suss out the 21st birthday dress situation.

Anyways, I have the SA’an’s first present in hand but something tells me I won’t be allowed to bring it back through customs on Australia!

Its cold, windy, grey and noisy. The men dress better than the women and I think we are confusing the New York community with our Aussie twang.

xA