We had 12 nights in NYC, which is a really long time for the city, so we looked at taking a couple of day trips to break up our trip and go and see some of Connecticut, a state I've always wanted to explore. In fact, if our baby didn't hate the car so much, we would have taken a bit of a road trip through the state - which is meant to be really gorgeous at this time of year in particular. I'd short listed a few places that we really wanted to visit {namely Kingston, Cold Spring, New Haven, Tarrytown or Westport} they tended to either be on the Hudson river or on the coastline north of NYC and crucially, they had to be accessible by train. In the end, Greenwich seemed like the best {and closest} option and it turned out to be my very favourite day of the trip. 

- side note, a couple of years back we took the train the other way down to Princeton, New Jersey and it was AMAZING , that classic small town america - see this post. 

We just got back from NYC and it was one of the best trips ever? I think because since being a new mama, everything feels like the greatest treat when it goes well now? So having time in one of my favourite cities in the world to just wander and eat at my favourite places just felt like a dream. Especially having Ben around for it all, it might be parenting in another place but it sure beats parenting at home! I've shared some tips for how we dealt with the jet lag/city with a young baby below along with some favourite photos of our trip.

P.S. don't miss this halloween post from the trip, it was a huge part of us visiting.

You know when things get a little crazy, just life/work wise and just in general if you've had a bit of a blah time for various reasons? But then you have a weekend that can change everything?! Yep. That. Last weekend restored all. And so I wanted to share some photos of our sunny Saturday in Bushy Park, the first day that it felt properly cold, seeing the stags, having a lunch date in Five Guys and then an afternoon on the sofa finishing Informer {aka the best series we've watched in a long long time}. And then on Sunday, taking our parents up to Columbia Road Flower Market before a roast at Shoreditch House. Watching the sunset over the skyline of our favourite city in the world. London. And just feeling really, really happy. THAT. <3 

new shoes online here. SO comfy

Hello November! And wow, wasn't that October beautiful? I think I've mentioned before how I kind of miss writing my weekly updates and weekend posts on here but with Instagram stories these days, I share most photos and updates on there. As they're pretty temporary I like to still document the month's musings on the blog so a few more photos from October below before I clear my ever-growing camera roll. If you'd like to see...

Last week, Claire Graham {you might remember her coming to shoot our house this summer for her lifestyle blog Coco Lane? Which you can see here}, followed Ben & I around some of our favourite North London spots for a sunny morning, and snapped away. The idea was that she'd create a little lifestyle feature for Coco Lane and we'd have some photos of us doing what we do best, wandering around our favourite city in our favourite season. It was a really fun day with her and I'd love to share the photos below, if you'd like to see? 

I adore Claire's photographic style, her eye for detail, her camera and editing work, her natural vibe that made us forget at times she had a camera. We joked that it felt like an engagement shoot all over again! We started at Panzer's deli, which makes us feel like we've gone to New York for a couple of hours and is full of pumpkins at this time of year then walked through St John's Wood across to Primrose Hill. This area of London will always feel special to us, as we spent a few years living in Maida Vale so these areas are our old haunts and somewhere we constantly return to throughout the seasons for a weekend wander. Like a selection of villages in the big city, with views out from Primrose Hill. I really love the way that she's captured us, we haven't had any photos together for ages, and the small things like our feet in the leaves, or me taking a photo for Instagram. I can't recommend Claire Graham more if you're looking for a photographer. <3

Last week I took a trip to visit the lovely Liz at Blue Sky Flowers to make an autumn wreath together. She didn't invite me there so that I'd write a blog post on it, I just wanted to put this post together to remind myself how easy it is to make one again next time and to have the photos to look back on. I hope you'll find it useful too or perhaps gain some inspiration to create something for your own front door. Wreaths are normally just for Christmas but there's something so lovely about celebrating the seasons and creating one year round too.

After our stay in Princeton and day in Marblehead we drove into Boston to drop the car off {cars and the city don't really mix} for three nights in the capital of New England. I didn't really know what to expect with Boston, everybody who had been told me that I'd love it even more than New York. It's famed for being really walkable, having lots of history and surrounded by water. After visiting myself, I realised that you can't compare the two {Boston and NYC}. And in fact I read this which rings very true;

' Don't compare Boston to New York City, at least not unfavourably. Bostonians spend considerable energy trying to prove their city is not inferior to Manhattan whether in national influence, cultural offerings or American League baseball franchises. The truth is that Boston is not at all like New York and that's a good thing. The largest city in New England is compact, clean and easily navigable. Boston is best appreciated as a small city with a hyper-eduated populace, an astonishing number of Dunkin' Donuts and an artistic and historical importance far surpassing its relative size'.

Happy Halloween! Are you having a spooky kind of day? I wanted to jump on and share some photos from our favourite place on our recent trip to New England - Marblehead. {I find that you're either a lover of other people's travel photos or you'll get bored after the first couple... so click below only if you'd like to see}

If I was starting this in chronological order I should really be telling you all about our five days in New York that came before this trip to Princeton, New Jersey. But I have about six hundred photos that I've narrowed New York down to so far and so starting with these lower key couple of days first seemed preferable. {A NYC full city guide will be coming soon though}. We planned this trip last October when my husband & I had airmiles to use up and New York is one of the places that they are easiest to book seats with, there being multiple flights per day there. Which was lucky for me as it's one of my favourite cities in the world. So we decided to fly in & out of there {more on that in the NYC post} but as we'd visited a few times before, wanted to add something different on to it this time. More small town America {in particular for all things Fall and Halloween!} so our first stop was Princeton, an ivy league university town just an easy train ride out of the city where we could then pick up a car for heading North. Technically New Jersey, south of NYC, probably doesn't count as New England as much as say Vermont or Maine would do further North? But to us it felt just like it and we really hit the jackpot on planning this 2 night stop, it was probably our very favourite part of the trip. Small town America really is magical, especially after we'd spent five days gallivanting and walking our socks off around the hectic city that never sleeps! So; a travelogue of our stay below if you'd like to see. Including the most amazing pumpkin farm!