Friday 30 November 2012

movember moustache madness

Thirty days ago, Iain and ten of his work colleagues decided to attempt to grow moustaches throughout the month of November or Movember as it's now commonly called. Movember is all about raising awareness of men's health issues and in particular testicular and prostate cancers. You can find out more about it from the official website (http://uk.movember.com/about/).

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Iain and I actually work at the same business and this year, they registered as a team to help encourage and MOtivate each other, by posting regular updates and gathering donations from family, friends and anyone else who was willing!

I acted as Iain's "official" photographer throughout Movember and as you can see from the following images, they were all taken with my mobile phone and often in pretty poor lighting but never-the-less, they show the progression from sexy stubble, to furry monster, all in the space of 30 days.

Day 3

 Day 6
 
Day 11

Day 21

Day 30

Now he and his colleagues have done an AMAZING job and between them they've raised over £1000 for the the Movember charities!!! I'm so proud of him and the rest of the guys in the team. Spectacular efforts and lots of laughs all round.

But, I'm going to be soooooo glad tomorrow morning, when he finally shaves the darn thing off!


 


Friday 16 November 2012

NYC captured

Since returning from New York, not surprisingly a lot of my layouts have featured images from my trip. If you've been reading my "adventures of a New York wanderer" posts, you'll have already seen the photos but here are some of them again, this time incorporated into my digi-scrapbooking pages (all the images are linked through to my Flickr gallery where you'll find full credits for each LO) ...















Sunday 11 November 2012

adventures of a New York wanderer | day 5

Our last day in New York started much like every other, with a filling breakfast! Our flight back to the UK wasn't due to depart until 9pm and our transfer from the hotel to JFK airport wasn't due to arrive until around 4pm. So what were we to do until then? Why, more sightseeing of course!

We packed our cases and checked out of the hotel, but thankfully they offered a left luggage service and for the princely sum of just $2, we had somewhere safe and secure to leave our suitcases.

We didn't want to walk too far, so we checked our map to see what landmarks were within a 10-15 block radius and Grand Central Station and Rockefeller Centre came up trumps. I'd heard that Grand Central was an impressive sight, but nothing prepared me for the opulence and splendour that greeted us ...



My photos really don't do it justice, it is simply magnificent. It's the most ornate train station I've ever seen (though St Pancras station in London comes a close second!) ...



We almost walked straight past the Chrysler Building, which really isn't that impressive at ground level (just my opinion!), it's beauty is all up top ...



We grabbed a cuppa tea before strolling along Lexington Avenue and over to St Patrick's Cathedral. Sadly, the exterior of the cathedral was completely under scaffold, so I didn't get any photos. After a quick look round the interior, we popped across the street to Saks Fifth Avenue, one of the city's classic shopping experiences!

A short stroll down West 49th Street and we arrived at Rockefeller Centre ...




The NBC Studios are located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza and it was here that we caught a glimpse of two stars of the small screen, Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan. They were filming (presumably an episode of 30 Rock) right there by the NBC Studio entrance of the GE Building!!!

For the most part, we had decided we'd try and eat local cuisine (i.e. not from a franchised fast food chain) but on this one occasion, we did treat ourselves to a McDonald's milkshake with added whipped cream and a cherry on the top too! Chocolate for Hazel ...



Strawberry for me ...



All too soon, it was time to head back to the hotel to await the arrival of our airport transport, but there was still enough time for Hazel to pose with one of the giant pumpkins ...


This was the exterior of our hotel, The Edison ...


I LOVED every second of my time in New York and it has strengthened my determination to return again; one day! But until that day arrives, I'll just have to be content with browsing through my photos and reminiscing with Hazel ... "do you remember, when we were in New York ...?"


Things ticked off my "must see / do / eat" list today were:
  • meeting under the clock in Grand Central Station
  • shopping in Saks Fifth Avenue
  • watching the sunrise at 35,000ft as we returned to the UK

Sunday 4 November 2012

adventures of a New York wanderer | day 4

Another hearty breakfast (this time of bacon and eggs for both of us) and then we headed out on a stroll down to an area of the city known as Hell's Kitchen. Sounds charming, doesn't it? In actual fact, the reason we wanted to go there was because on every Saturday and Sunday, they hold a flea market on West 39th Street. They close off the whole street between 9th and 10th Avenues and lots of individual traders set up there stalls, full of all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff ...


Having perused the wares, we headed back up to 8th Avenue, where we hopped on a tour bus that would take us on the Uptown loop and through Harlem. Downtown and Midtown Manhattan are pretty flat, which is one reason why walking round the city is so easy, and it's not until you head north of Central Park that you realise that it's actually quite hilly! This shot reminds me of car chases you see in the movies ...


The beautiful architecture of Riverside Church ...


After an hour or so on the bus, we got off at the north east corner of Central Park and decided to spend time exploring the glorious scenery of the park. We entered at the more formal part called the Conservatory Gardens, with it's beautiful manicured lawns and neatly cropped box hedges ...


Then onto the more natural woodland areas where all the trees were in their glorious autumn colours ...





I guess we'd been walking for an hour or so when we found The Reservoir, a magnificent artificial lake right in the heart of NYC ...


Someone had told us to make sure we visited Central Park at the weekend, so we could get a real sense of how New Yorkers use it and having seen football matches, baseball games and lots of frisbee throwing activities, I guess we saw it at it's best!

We went back to our hotel for a quick break, then we headed out to pick up the Downtown loop tour bus to Midtown. As we walked over to the bus stop, we came across a HUGE street market taking place right next door on 7th Avenue. We couldn't believe we'd almost missed it! There were lots of food stalls selling tempting morsels; empanadas, gyros, kebabs, hotdogs, burgers, spring rolls and chicken satay with peanut sauce to name just a few. We treated ourselves to a few tasty snacks as we browsed the stalls selling anything and everything!

As the afternoon wore on, the cloud began to roll in and we started to think we may have to postpone the next part of our day's activities. We quickly hopped back onto the Downtown loop bus and disembarked at the stop for the Empire State Building.

Now, a word of advice for anyone planning on going up the Empire State Building ... do not, I repeat, do not get sucked in to believing all the rubbish spouted by the City Sightseeing Cruises guys (wearing bright blue jackets) that trawl around the entrance to the building. They'll tell you all kinds of crap about needing a ticket before you go in or fast tracking you past the queues etc if you buy your ticket from them ... you could end up paying $14 more than you need to!!!

Hazel and I learnt this lesson the hard way. By the time we got there it was already after 4pm and one of the guys in blue stopped us as we walked towards the building entrance. He said that the queues inside were long and there'd be 3 different queues before we could go up, but that for just $39 we'd only have to queue once (for the lift / elevator) and that we'd also get a bonus 90 minute cruise to see the city skyline from the water thrown into the package. Sounded good in principle, so we bought our tickets from him.

We did have to queue to go through security (you have to go through a metal detector scanner, like at the airport) but this was pretty quick. We then had to queue again briefly for the 1st and 2nd lifts. Yes, there are 2 different lifts to get you up to the 86th floor, but once up there the views are simple breathtaking!

To the west, looking over the Hudson River ...


To the south, looking towards One World Trade Centre ...


To the south east, looking towards the BMW (Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg) bridges ...


To the north east, looking over the east river and with the Chrysler Building in the left foreground ...


To the north, with Central Park and The Reservoir peeking between the high-rise buildings ...


Hazel and me on the 86th floor ...


It was only when we came down and were exiting the building, that we saw the price we could've paid to go up ... just $25!!! We were both a little miffed about being mis-lead but what can you do? Lesson learnt people, lesson learnt. I guess the extra $14 could be justified on the cruise, but in reality, the time and location of the departure point made it a pain to get to, so we didn't take the cruise.Instead we hopped on the last Downtown loop bus that would take us back to Time Square via the whole Downtown areas again!

We decided not to go out for dinner. Instead, we opted for a lazy night in our hotel room. We bought crisps, biscuits and cake and crashed out watching a movie on TV. It was a relaxing way to spend our last evening in NYC.

Things ticked off my "must see / do/ eat" list today were:
  • delishious crispy bacon for breakfast
  • seeing the fabulous autumn colours in Central Park
  • taking in the breathtaking views from the Empire State Building