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...

It's Halloween tomorrow {!!} and it's suddenly just crept up on me. If you know anything at all about me, I'm sure you know what a huge pumpkin lover I am. In fact, just a huge halloween lover in general. Spooky houses, fun costumes, pumpkins and pumpkin spice everything please. I'm slow in blog writing this October {have probably spent too much time on Instagram instead...} so please forgive me, but I wanted to get these photos up before this month of the pumpkin ends.

Oh New York. I've been holding off on writing this last part of our New England trip {see the rest of our trip to Princeton here, Marblehead here and Boston here} because I just didn't know where to start. New York is my very favourite city in the world and there is just so much to cover!

I was kind of wondering how I would do it justice too, that concrete jungle where dreams are made of. Home to so many of our favourite movies, restaurants, shops. The vibe and the energy. The Pumpkin flavoured everything. The New Yorkers. I love it all. So in the end I've decided to group it into details of our favourite places to visit there with photos from this recent trip {I'm very lucky in that this was my 5th trip there so this time around we didn't really do anything too touristy and instead focused on exploring some new parts of the city and felt like a true New Yorker rather than caught up in the tourist trap of Times Square {we didn't even step foot there this time around!}}. I've written about our favourite food places in this post online here and I'll give you a quick city guide at the end of tomorrow's part 2 if it's your very first visit.

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! 

Oops I wanted to get more blogged this week but I've been off and have hardly been home! It's been a nice break compared to feeling chained to my laptop, especially at this time of year when there is so much going on. Halloween, autumn leaves, crisp days and this weekend - Bonfire night! What a week, heart eye emoji! We're actually off to Scotland for a few days tomorrow so today is my Friday, hence why I'm writing this a little earlier than usual. My week in photos below.. 

Whatever the occasion, and season, I love to add a few little bits around the house to reflect the time of year. Whether it's hearts and pink accents for Valentine's Day or cute bunny rabbits for Easter, it's fun to change things up for a couple of weeks. This week of course is Halloween so the house is full of pumpkins, munchkins, gourds and squashes as well as some yummy ghoulish inspired treats {no tricks around here!}. I don't go mad on spider webs or skeletons hanging in the window, although I probably will do when we have children, but I find the pumpkins are more than enough to get into the spirit of it all. It's almost time to carve them, post to follow on that. But for now, a few photos of halloween {and autumn} around our home. 

Halloween is this coming Saturday and this year feels like the UK is embracing/celebrating it more than ever. You may have noticed that I'm a bit crazy for pumpkins so last Thursday afternoon, after hearing about a local farm shop that has gone mad for them this year, we had to go and visit! I'm a big fan of celebrating the seasons {or read that as big kid} so this was pumpkin heaven! 

As I said in today's Bonfire post, this is such a great time of year. Christmas is just around the corner, it's Halloween today and Bonfire night on Wednesday. Autumn is in full swing with crunchy leaves everywhere yet it's still mild and we've had some gorgeous sunshine this week. Hope you've had a Pumpkin filled week! I love decorating my kitchen seasonally and it's been filled with orange lately, most of which we've grown at the allotment. I decided not to carve scary faces this year and instead created some girly stars, hearts and drilled flowers. I'm off to a friend's halloween party tonight, we're going all out with a prize for the best dress up outfit {I've got a skeleton dress but need to do some crazy make up and hair to go with it} and a prize for the best pumpkin so today will be spent baking lots of spooky cakes to take to the party later. 

This week's photos are mainly of pumpkins, with a few autumn leaves thrown in:

Happy Halloween! {Halloween themed post coming later today} How amazing is this time of year? Halloween and Bonfire Night are within a week of each other. I love both celebrations and can't wait to bake this gingerbread tray bake this weekend ready for Bonfire Night on Wednesday. It's an annual tradition, I think this will be my fourth year making it and such a nice recipe. Then on the 5th November, wrapping up in gloves and scarves we'll go to watch the fireworks and have sparklers in front of the bonfire. The dark evenings are still a novelty at the moment to cosy up and we all know what's just around the corner.. {*whispers* Christmas!} I thought I'd do this post early in case anyone wants to do some baking this weekend before it's past Bonfire Night although to be honest this yummy gingerbread cake will be perfect right up until Christmas.

The Primrose Bakery is my favourite cupcake shop in London, I've been there for Valentine's Days, had Birthday cupcakes from there and always love their seasonal displays. This post is a bit of a throwback to a last year at Halloween when Ben and I had an autumnal afternoon wandering around Primrose Hill. Have you been? It's one of my favourite places in London with views of the city ahead of you but with a more village feel about it.

I love Kew Gardens and always try to go around once a year, usually in the summer. But last October, to celebrate halloween and as part of the IncrEdibles festival, Kew was filled with pumpkins. I love Autumn and all things halloween so one Saturday morning, Ben and I headed to Kew for a wander and ogle at the pumpkin displays.