Girl Power

Had the pleasure of interviewing two awesome female artists in the last week. First of all was the brilliant Adele...who turned up with her little sausage dog Louis, who contributed to the interview with some comedy barking! She's so cool to interview-none of this media trained 'say what the record company want you to say' scripted answers. So refreshing after the likes of many, naming no names *cough* Duffy, Alexandra Burke *cough*, who actually only say what they're told to say. Adele is very funny and just very real and lovely! Am addicted to 'Rolling in the Deep'...

Louis the sausage dog...ruff



Next up was Claire Maguire. If you haven't heard of her yet she's tipped for 'big things' in 2011. You heard it here first! Even if i heard it from someone else....Just have a look at some of her videos to see why. She came in and sang live at 10am in the morning, which can't be easy, and has an AMAZING voice! You know someones a good singer when they sound better live! Reminds me of Tori Amos/Annie Lennox. Not a bad comparison! Cannot get her song 'The last Dance' out of my head...have a look at the video below (if you can sit through some pretty ropey filming!). I thought it was a love song, but turns out she wrote it straight after the death of Michael Jackson...nice tribute! Tis immense...have a listen...

Strictly Starstruck...

Caught up with the stars of Strictly Come Dancing backstage last week. They were all far too pretty and teeny...and tanned! Winner Kara was so lovely and giddy about her new boyfriend, and dance partner, Artem. Was very excited about meeting Patsy Kensit! Wanted to ask lots of questions about what life is like being married to rock stars....especially Liam Gallagher! But felt a little inappropriate...and Sams flirting got in the way!! She was also looooverly...and has a very sexy voice! Never seen Sam so smitten....

NYE in NYC (part 2)

So NYC wasn't all about getting upgraded on the flight (well...it was for the first day or so...and after i'd texted all my family and friends...) but here are some highlights...and where you should go if you visit!

Our first day consisted of some serious WALKING. Blisters a plenty. But you get to see sooo much that way...Fifth Avenue for shopping-amazing. All the huge designer stores (to look at from outside...) Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton etc. Plus the very impressive Trump Towers!

Of course there's the Empire state...Rockerfellar Centre, Radio City Hall to gaze up at. The skyscrapers are incredible...ended up nose to nose with a few lamp posts as a result! This combined with some serious 3ft deep puddle dodging was tough-the snow was still very much present, and became fun spotting the cars buried in 5ft mounds of powder! We pressed on through the very cool SoHo...amazing little boutique shops and bars/cafes. Where the cool kids hang! We ended the day with an incredible view where we spotted a rather famous landmark at sunset...

WOW! Took approximately 6000 photos....

Our best night out was in the Lower East Side-found a gorgeous cosy, hidden restaurant called 'Freemans'. http://freemansrestaurant.com/ Felt a bit like someones lounge, complete with a bar and stuffed animals on the wall...delicious food!

We popped into a bar nearby to try and soak up some more night life. Noticed that all bars have a cpr kit available in the bar and this is advertised. I wonder who is trained to use that kit?! Scary! We asked where was good to go locally and the barman told us 70's rock legend Patti Smith was playing at the infamous and iconic 'Bowery Ballroom'. And we managed to get tickets!! Lucky...

She was amazing and we got right to the front!!

Incredible...ended up making friends who took us to a lesbian club, brilliant!! All in a nights work in New York...

The next day was tough with a hangover but breakfast in a snow filled Central Park helped!

I love swings!

Night before New Years Eve we walked through Times Square-breathtaking all lit up! The whole time walking round, with the NYPD cop cars and Diners feels like i'm on a film set...we then stumbled across American Idol host Ryan Seacrest rehearsing on stage for New Years Eve! *CELEB SPOT*

The Big One....

New Years Eve was upon us! We decided not to head to Times Square as we were told you had to hang around for 10 hours in the cold...thats not my idea of fun. So found a rooftop bar called 230 on Fifth which over looks the Empire State building-immense! http://www.230-fifth.com/

I made some more friends as well...(note the snow in pic! And the red robes were handed out to keep us warm on the roof!!)

Happy New Year!

Photo with obligatory 2011 United States glasses and NYPD cop car....



To top the trip off, we headed to Madison Square Gardens to watch the Knicks! Yeah the Knicks rule! Even if you're not a fan of Basketball (don't think i've ever watched a proper game apart from at school....) it is sooo entertaining. Mainly because they have Time outs every 3 minutes with live entertainment on the court!

To top the whole week off, we headed to what was by far the most impressive landmark of the week for me....a restaurant called....'avoce'. A restaurant named after me?! How lovely!! Maybe not...but was still very excited by it....(how tragic). If they were to use my name surely I had to sample the culinary delights of avoce? (and pinch a menu and several matchboxes....)

Happy New Year all!

Amy
x

NYE in NYC (Part 1)

Sooo much to report from New York, New York! Will have to edit but here are the best bits from my first time in the Big Apple...

The trip started rather dramatically...we were flying the day after Boxing Day. Heathrow had only just re-opened after the Xmas snow debarcle over here. So it was with utter dis-belief when I awoke on Boxing Day to be greeted with the headline 'Severe Snow Blizzard Hits East Coast of US. All Airports Closed'. Nooooooooo! The next 2 days consisted of us glued to the News, waiting to hear our fate! JFK was due to re-open Monday night but would our flight still go?! As we drove to the airport to catch our 6pm flight (which at this point was still scheduled to leave) I was 100 per cent convinced we weren't going to New York and it would be cancelled. We then hit traffic on the M25. Really HEAVY traffic. It now looked like our flight was in fact going...but we wouldn't make it due to traffic...what a lovely does of IRONY.

We made it to Heathrow at 5PM, aarrrgh! The flight before ours had just been cancelled...not looking good. Check in told us the flight was overbooked due to all previous cancellations. 100 per cent convinced it was all off now. We were told to wait by a desk with 20 other desperate travellers to see if we could somehow still make that flight or the next. We were duly told 'a few of you will make this flight...most won't.' The flight was still going, we probably weren't. We started planning a few days away in the Cotswolds instead. Until...after all the drama and uncertainty, we heard our names called out to board the plane!!! 10 minutes before the flight was due to leave!!

So, after checking in...going through security... putting liquids (well my make up) into the little bags...we LEGGED it through departures to the plane. As we boarded I glanced down to the ticket to look at our seats. I couldn't quite believe my eyes when it said 'upgrade due to oversales'. We were upgraded to business class!!!!! After all that, our drama had paid off! We walked on...sat in our individual seats..which reclined into a bed....got served a glass of champagne and had the most amazing flight of my life!! It's fair to say it helped cure my fear of flying. And it was the first flight to leave the UK for New York...amazing. Sooo lucky! Was so comfortable that when we arrived at JFK airport (which had only just re-opened) and couldn't get off the plane for 4 hours because of snow...i didn't even care! Good morning New York....

Me in my business class blanket.....I don't want to fly economy again!! (please can someone fix lottery win for me)

The snow was pretty heavy...hope they had de-icer....