I needed to talk about how my health regime is going and I was all poised to write an update last week but then a disaster happened! I made this great salad for lunch full of all the great summer vegetables, ( including olives hold that thought) Doc Ash you would be so proud of me. I happily sat down at lunchtime to munch away when crack I heard this awful noise like I had almost shattered a glass vase onto a marble floor,knowing what I know now I wish in fact I had. Interestingly nothing else happened until 8pm. I sat down for dinner with my husband when I felt this awful solid lump in my mouth (sorry for the graphics, please do not make a vision of this bit) which turned out to be my filling. Yikes, how I got through the next 12 hours I have no idea, except that I became the mad woman of twitter, I tweeted away with anyone and everyone still awake to find a dentist in Manhattan. Everyone knows right ? that I am a foreigner in New York, without a doctor or a dentist so what I was going to do was find one. Who needs google when we have twitter?

Funnily enough it worked and now someone that had been following me, @tishacakes became my saviour, she sent me a tweet advising there is a dentist of all dentists called @Sinkinfeeling well I tweeted and I tweeted this guy and guess what the next morning his office called me and told me to come right over! by the time I got there I was  a nervous wreck and 8lbs lighter as no food had passed my lips what ever else was going to happen that day this was probably the best bit. So after taking x rays he informed me that unfortunately the tooth had snapped clean in half and was loose, it had to come out! NOOOOOoooooooo I was now having to be strapped to the chair (clearly not really) I was palpitating and thinking what excuse I could make up not to have to come back the following week, the world might end, I need to stock the dishwasher, the dog cannot stay home alone, I mean he doesn’t know that we actually do not have a dog right?

So the weekend came and went and the dentist Michael Sinkin called me three times to check I was OK, do you believe that? in the UK my father had major brain surgery and the doctor told us he was going on holiday the next day and surely my dad wasn’t going to be alive when he got back but that is life! sorry to use that comparison my dad actually eight years later is in fact still alive, but you get the gist here. Doctor Sinkin if you ever read this know that I will send anyone to you who has a tooth ache, you not only treated me but you actually cared about me as a human being not someone who wrote a cheque.

Needless to say I did go back on Monday for the tooth extraction and a crown, this was not the best experience of my life as I have the worst fear of dentists as I mentioned earlier.However I was watching the world cup on the TV and Doc talked me through the whole procedure as he carried it out, too much information for me but no pain at all. At 3.30pm I left the surgery numb and dribbling, not a pretty sight but the best is yet to come. I was invited to a premier of RED LIGHT, yes you got it a red carpet event, of all the days by my good friend Rachael Ann of Red Rover Style. I got home, showered changed into my lovely LBD and even brought the naughty shoes out of their box Michael Kors you are forgiven and off I went. Flash lights everywhere and I had this awful vision that I was dribbling and talking like a nutcase with a droopy mouth. As I got to the Red Carpet photographs, I told this very rude person who told me she just had to go before me as she was melting and it would not do for her to not look her best! excuse me ‘Do you know who I am’? I had a real flash back of the ‘Shorty Awards‘ I am really not a diva, no really I am not but did this twiglet not know that I just had major tooth surgery and that I too was melting. Clearly not as she pushed me out of the way again. I am not one to name names, but just know that I do not like rude blond models! if I had been feeling myself I may have overlooked this but not on this day Humpf!

Anne with Red Rover Style

Photograph courtesy of Arthur from arthur@nyarthur.com

A little information on what the film is about in the words of Wikipedia as I could never have written this down, it was the hardest movie I have ever watched and I know that if you take nothing from my blog then please try  to find a way to give your time to help this cause, if you do then I will have achieved something.

The Redlight Children Campaign was inspired by Guy Jacobson’s personal experiences backpacking in Cambodia in 2002. While traveling in Phnom Penh, a group of young girls, some only five years old, began to aggressively solicit him for prostitution. Although he refused several times, they revealed to him that they would be beaten by the brothel owners if they returned empty-handed. After Jacobson gave them some money and left, he was motivated to create Redlight Children.

Shortly thereafter, Jacobson decided to utilize mass media as a vehicle for social change through his film production company, Priority Films. He teamed up with Israeli actress Adi Ezroni to create the first phase of the Redlight Children Campaign, the K11 Project. They went undercover in Cambodian brothels using espionage equipment and secret cameras to research the plight of child trafficking victims.

At one point, the International Criminal Police Organization contacted Jacobson to warn him to flee the country because the Chinese, Vietnamese, and Cambodian mafia had hits taken out on his life. Jacobson, Ezroni, and their team of filmmakers were also blackmailed and extorted for money, one of the producers was held hostage for two weeks when the rest of the team had left, and they had to hire bodyguards to protect themselves and their research.

Jacobson’s and Ezroni’s work on the ground level provided the education and foundation for them to address the issue on a larger scale. After they established RedLight Children, they created a comprehensive legal manifesto of action items to decrease the demand of child sexual exploitation with the aid of a team of international lawyers.

Jacobson and Ezroni have also been honored as Global Heroes by Condoleezza Rice in the Trafficking in Persons Report 2008.

Guy Jacobson

Please go and see the movie, it is imperative that the world knows what is going on, only with people like us talking about it will this stop.

So I want to end this blog post on a lighter note and I want to say that I am now on the road to recovery from my tooth surgery and that is all thanks to Doc Sinkin. I am back on the straight and narrow with my journey to health thanks to Richard Ash MD and I am sure that I have lost some weight not sure how much as I have not been on the scales that is being saved for next week.

It is really amazing that I have met two really awesome people in New York and found them via Twitter, God Bless Twitter. What is really scary is that they are both Doctors. Dr Sinkin and Dr Richard Ash MD you are really very caring special people and I want you to know this would not have happened in the UK I would just have been another number in their Bank paying in book.

How I Did It

Anne Agoren, owner of UK / NYC based izzi Bag, shows how to build a brand over Twitter. Lauren Parker finds that life is indeed tweet.

Tweeting her way to success here’s a story a little bird told us:

izzi bag on Twitter

Out of the 17 million users on Twitter, 250,000 were nominated for the Shorty Awards—an international “Oscars” for those who live their life out loud on Twitter in 140- character blurbs. Of those 250,000 nominated, a year-old,  little-known English handbag company named izzi Bag made it to the top six in the “Brands” category—the only fashion brand nominated. izzi was up against brands like Whole Foods and ultimately lost to Sesame Street. Heard of them? Here, izzi Bag owner/designer Anne Agoren—who wisely moonlights as a social media strategist—tells Accessories her David and Goliath tale.

‘Are you listening? Because your competitors are. You need to join the conversation— because it’s going on with or without you.”

@accessoriesmag: So how did you get into the top six? Do you have 86,000 followers like Sesame Street? Or 4.7  million followers like Ashton Kutcher?

@izzibag: I have 2,000 followers and was nominated by one of them. You aren’t allowed to nominate yourself.  Actually, I did lose some points after showing someone via Twitter how to nominate me since he was having trouble and asked for help.

AM: You only have 2,000 followers?

AA: That’s one of the biggest misnomers for brand promotion. More is not better. It’s  about quality, not quantity. I have 2,000 of the right followers. They spread my word to their followers. There are lots of sites where you can buy 50,000 followers but they’re not relevant to your brand. Don’t do it. You’ll start getting spam and your important—and legitimate—followers will stop following you. Protect your brand reputation.

AM: How do you get started using Twitter?

AA: My techie husband pushed me into it to help build my budding brand. I was so resistant to Twitter—saying I didn’t understand it, that I didn’t have enough time, and so on. Now I’m a Twitter addict. I use it to promote my blog (blog.izzibag.com), to talk about things that are happening to me, and to strategically promote the brand. I realized the power of Twitter early on—I ran a Twitter competition where the first 10 people who went to one of my retailers on Bond Street got a $40 keychain. Suddenly, a rush of people went to that store. It was apparent it was working.

AM: Did you launch your brand and tweet about it simultaneously?

AA: I launched izzi Bag with no customers, no retailers, no e-tailers. So I used Twitter and the blog to find those small stores that I wouldn’t even know about. The goal was to get retailers talking about us. To build that buzz.

AM: Do you think that too many brands don’t take Twitter seriously enough?

AA: You need to join the conversation—because it’s going on without you. The most important thing I say to companies is  ‘Are you listening?’ Because if you’re not, your competitors are. On Twitter, you can read every tweet that mentions your brand—good and bad—and respond if you want. It’s important to join the conversation.

Bag Lady -Anne of izzi bag

AM: What do you tweet about?

AA: I come here a lot so I write about my life as an English person in New York. I write about the journey of building izzi  Bag. Yes I’m a brand but I’m also human. People want to relate to you. It makes them want to buy your product.

AM: Do you use Twitter to show your bags?
AA: I use Twitpic to upload images, but often I link a Twitter entry to my blog so people can see more there. There are so many tools that are all free, from Twitpic to Tweetdeck, which helps you manage Twitter better.

AM: Do you tweet all day?

AA: No, but my followers are passionate! When I slow down, they start with the ‘Where’s izzi Bag?’ ‘Did something happen to izzi Bag?’ They miss me! I’d say 60% of my tweets are relevant to my brand. The rest are relevant to other people — recommendations of things to check out, or I pass along information I read on Twitter.

AM: Ah, so you’re a re-tweeter?
AA: In many cases, yes. You can retweet (i.e. RT) something that one of your followers post. It’s good will and keeps the conversation going.

AM: Did building buzz on Twitter in the U.S. and UK give you immediate international cred?

AA: I was able to simultaneously connect with retailers worldwide—all for free, and all with the power of social media.

AM: Has Twitter gotten you free publicity?

AA: The Australian news show equivalent of “60 Minutes” found me on Twitter. They sent a crew to New York and filmed me for a day-long documentary. Later, they flew the reporters back to New York to get additional footage because they wanted to extend the segment! That publicity didn’t cost me one cent. And although it aired in Australia, I was able to post it on my blog and tweet about it, and still get local (and worldwide) exposure. Again, for free. Take a look at the video SundayNight Live.

AM: How does a brand prevent a tweeter from posing as them and saying something bad?
AA: It’s important to control the conversation. You can be verified by Twitter (celebrities do it), and you’ll get a blue check next to your brand’s name/avatar. That way the Twitter community knows it’s authentically you.

AM: But it must be a little bit tempting to bash your competition on Twitter…

AA: Never do that! If you report another company for spam, for example, the Twitter police will shut them down while they investigate, so you really must follow business ethics. I will unfollow people if they don’t “keep it clean.” That’s my one rule.

AM: What about companies who say they don’t have time to tweet? Or skimp on the resources to hire someone who can?

AA: Social media should not replace your existing business structure, but it must be integrated with what you have in place. Just as a brand has a PR, branding and advertising budget, it must have a social media budget.

AM: What if the company owner, or designer doesn’t want to tweet personally?
AA: The person doing the tweeting or blogging must have a passion and understanding of the brand and its objective. They should write in the “voice” of the brand.

AM: What are some great Twitter branding anectodes?
AA: There were some people in the Empire State building tweeting that it was so hot and they wished they had ice cream, but they were too busy to run out and get some. An ice cream truck picked up the conversation on Twitter and sent over a truck to give them free ice cream! The story got picked up on the international news. You can’t buy that sort of publicity!

AM: So what were the Shorty Awards like?

Shorty Awards Diva Fit - No Sesame Street Here !

AA: First of all, I pulled a Diva moment and while walking the Red Carpet I refused to be photographed with some of the puppets from Sesame Street. Then they beat me!

June 2010 - Accessories Magazine

Now I was really naughty and went and did a bad thing! yes you know I bought another pair of shoes. Well my only excuse is that they were and are Michael Kors, so am I forgiven? And  I should point out they were in the ‘Friends and Family’ Sale in Lord & Taylor. (For those in the UK this means a sale where they give 25% off, we can learn a thing or two from these Americans) Anyway I digress, but I got them reduced from $150 (£100) to only $56 (£35) by the time I gave all the discount coupons in. So now am I forgiven for buying them?

On the very next day I was like a kid in a candy shop and I opened the box with my new shoes in it and was oooo and ahhh shall I or shall I not wear them today? Yes I will oooopss ! this was the wrong thing to think as it proves. So I dance into the elevator (Lift for those Brits reading this) and as I totter into the street the concierge said ‘Miss Anne you really should be wearing sneakers to work!) What does he know I snorted to myself as I walked merrily down the street?

BIG MISTAKE HUGE ! I ignored the concierge and guess what? yes you got it tumbled straight over the sidewalk (Pavement) and onto my face I went down like a stack of dominos. I was in so much pain I couldn’t get up, my laptop was strolling across the road, together with my lippie and my keys. I was not a happy bunny as this stage. A very kind young man (if you are reading this please do not contact me as I am really embarrassed, but thank you for picking me up) anyway the very nice young man picked me up and then proceeded to collect all my worldly goods which are now strewn across half of Broadway. I of course was too proud to change my shoes even now can you believe that?  I then just continued to walk to my office, well when I say walked of course I was actually now almost crawling.

The damage to my new shoes is awful they are all torn at the front and the sides and the damage to my knees, well that is for all to see below.

Into the Naughty Box the Shoes have gone!

The picture above actually does not really show the damage to my pride, thank the lord. I cannot tell you what my knee and ankle felt like for the first few days, I certainly could not have taken this picture, as I could not get my shoes on!. The shoes have now been sent to the Naughty Box and there they will stay until I have actually paid off my credit card. I am now writing a letter to Mr Bloomberg (Mayor of New York City) to complain about the sate of his sidewalks! (Clearly it is his fault and not the wearer of the shoes, that being me, or actually the owner of the shoes, at this point that would be VISA for falling over!)

Dear Mr Bloomberg……

Where should I start with this one? It was a beautiful day in NYC and izzi and I decided to go for a walk to the Meat Packing district and have some lunch. So out we stepped into the sunshine and found that there was a mini TAJ MAHAL right in the middle of Madison Avenue.

Taj Mahal on Madison

The total Avenue was closed off and was a flood of Orange, there was music and laughter and everyone looked as though they were having a great time. As we approached 23rd Street there was an Aroma as only the Punjabi’s know how to create.

Believe me it tasted as good as it Smelt.

I was totally amazed that all the food had been donated and was given away, nothing was charged for and no donations were asked for. Not only were they giving Punjabi food, but Apples, Bananas, Water and t-shirts.They had closed off one of the streets and it was like the Queen’s Jubilee or should I say Ghandi’s Jubilee !

Queen's Jubilee or should I say Ghandi's jubilee

We had a lovely day, tasting all the delicious food and listening to the ‘Band’ at the bottom of 23rd Street. I think it must have been the only day that Shake Shack  had competition.

I was astounded to see just how much St Patrick’s Day means to the Irish in New York, forgive my ignorance, but it was amazing there were street parades and every bar in town was Green to the point of overkill!! But it was electric to see and really an emotional time, I felt really honored to be in the city and I have to say this picture below was the best thing I saw and was the icing on the cake (Excuse the Pun)

Empire State Building on St Patricks Day

And so where has izzi bag been in the last few weeks, it has been an amazing ride and adventure which I shall remember for the rest of my life. I have met some amazing people. I have been very priviliaged to become a member of the Accessories Council they have been an inspiration to me and helped in so many ways. Karen and Deborah have hooked me up with QVC and we are now in discussions about izzi bags being shown on their channel which will be fantastic.

Of course as you all know my life revolves around food and my poor husband the Gorg izzi has to endure so many things. Feel sorry for him, as he is the world’s most awesome chef, I could never match him but I try. So here it is folks the one and only Anne’s famous Korma.

izzi eating or enduring Anne's Korma

and because I can see he was actually hiding the curry I thought of showing you what it really looked like, if I say so myself I think it looked passable more so than some of the curries I have ever eaten from the grubby Taj in SOHO, London.

Anne's Korma yummie dooo

Well London we are here for Easter and catching up with our family and seeing my son and his girlfriend’s scan of my grandchild, which is going to be so exciting. I am also so looking forward to seeing the first glimpse of the Sunday Night program that we taped two weeks ago. Seems like forever ago now but it will be such fun to see the finished article and let’s hope those camera men made me look thin and 10 years younger!! Send them to the Tower and Oft with their head’s if not.

I actually did a presentation to a board of directors as well about the necessity of social media in their business which was quite daunting but such great fun and am looking forward to the next one on the 13th April. If you are in New York and would like to attend please just let me know.

Well I think the izzi crew are packing for the trip back to Greenwich Village UK rather than New York so keep abreast of future adventures here at izzi Ville.

Before I go did I mention the new iPAD carry case that we have coming out, umm maybe I forgot that bit!

This past week has been all go for me, I spent two days filming the Sunday Night program for Australian TV (Channel Seven) which I think is being aired this weekend, so excited. Izzi took lots of pictures of the filming, here is one of me having make up put on at Henri Bendel’s with a lady called Anne Claire , which is so bizarre as that is my name.

Make up in Henri Bendel's before opening

It was a great experience to be in Henri Bendel’s before opeing time. The poor security man had to open and close the door quite a few times before we got the right shot. Oh listen to me I sound like a total pro, as if I knew what we were looking for. Here is a shot of Mark the camera Man and I whilst he is telling me for the 100th time which way to walk in, obviously I didn’t get it the first 99 times, or maybe I just wanted to feel like a film star, I leave you to decide.

Mark the Man

Well then we stopped for a break and a dry out I had made Croissants for breakfast, Ok Ok I know they do not look to large, but they were mini ones and I am  not totally sure what happened, think they were a total failure although noone said so I just got the feeling.

Breakfast home made croissants!

After the filming was over we came back home and stayed inside the rest of the day, it was wild outside. We went to see the Hurt Locker later on in the evening and this was a really emotional film as it is a bit too real. If you did not go and see it yet, GO ! I can understand why it won so many Oscar’s but I have to say in all fairness I would definately pay to see AVATAR again.

So Sunday was taken up in the rain with going to the Big Antique Fair (Umm well the title is debatable) as I have to say Antiques as we British know have to be more than 100 years old not from last week. But we had a great time with two lovely friends Ricky and William. Well after the Newtiques Fair we went to China Town and had the worst Chinese food I have eaten since errr the last time. But all was forgiven when we went to the Italian Deli for New York Cheese Cake and Hot Chocolate. We laughed all day and that was the main thing. Except for the bit when Ricky was looking at a 4 carat diamond ring for $3600 and when I put my coat on the Vendor’s counter he threw  a strop and told me to get my coat off the glass as other customers would not be able to see his wares! Yeah right as if there were people queueing to buy diamond rings at an Newtique Fair, but  I took my Jean Paul Gautier coat right off his glass counter and walked off leaving him totally fish mouthed., dragging Ricky behind me. My husband then followed along with William telling him shame that he was so rude as we were really interested! (NOT)

So this morning having realised that my sons had not called their mother to Wish her Happy Mother’s Day yesterday, did I mention that earlier, no probably not as it was a bit of a sore point yesterday! (The eldest one not included in that) Anyway let’s move on, my lovely husband got up early and made me a Pizza for breakfast!? I know please do not ask the reasoning just be grateful he made me breakfast !

Pizza For Breakfast anyone?

So what is there left to say about the weekend after that? Not a lot so I won’t

Have a great week and more adventures to come this week without a doubt.

Well here we are in Manhattan and still enjoying the city, it has been an odd few days, izzi got sick with the Man Flu and so apart from going to the store to get water and stuff we have really hung around the hotel. The weekend was not great weather and so it was probably for the best. We ventured out on Bank Holiday Monday and went to the Brooklyn Diner for a bite to eat, I say this with tongue in cheek, check out the size of this dog!

Biggest Dog Ever Seen

I tell you not even our izzi could eat it all! not that anyone was suprised. Of course avoiding the carbs, I stuck to the chicken wings which were lovely and spicey, but I did have a tiny bite of the dog. I have officially discovered Manhattan’s deary me someone should issue a health warning on everyone of them, phew weee they are so strong they knock your sox off. Just to make you jealous I even took a picture of one and I swear to god people gave me such looks in the restaurant for taking snaps of a drink, obviously thought I was a wino or whackey, they were right on both counts.

Manhattan too good

Well the good news is I found a short term apartment, which is better than staying in a hotel for lots of reasons, mainly because I can do my own washing and cooking. I know, I know you are thinking I am mad but to be honest I get fed up of eating out and it really isn’t great on  the waist line. So Friday will see us moving again, but at least we can settle there for a short while and hope that the plans will all go well with our visa’s. Going back to the drinking which let’s face it is a great passtime where ever you live in the world izzi could not decide which drink to have a Midnight Manhattan or a Crazy Mojitos so he had both.

Ok well the days have moved on and I realised yesterday I was not feeling too good. I went to meet with a lovely lady called Lisa and had a nice chat and a drink in the Trump Tower Bar, then went on to a party at the W Hotel with Yuliz, but unfortunately the cold was setting in quick and I had to make my excuses and leave for my bed. Today is passing quite quickly and unfortunately I had to cancel lunch with Sue as I have full blown Miserable Girl Flu that is the same as normal flu just makes me more miserable. Am hoping tomorrow will see me back up and running on full steam. I am so looking forward to Friday and the Rising Stars Luncheon when I hope to be looking my best. Keep your fingers crossed for me please….do not want to be letting the side down.

So here we are the first day in New York, Hubby is feeling poorly with man flu and we are staying in the Hudson Hotel, which is lovely a bit freaky, if I am allowed to say so. I mean in the breakfast room they have a tree trunk and wooden chair backs imbedded into the trunk! So after a scrummy no carb breakfast we are off out to look at some apartments for rent. We walked 35 blocks and 6 avenues and could not find where we should be. Now I turn to the OH and ask what was the exact address again and get the reply I really did not want ‘I can’t remember’ Nooooo I am not best pleased but I look at him and know that he is 1) not feeling great and 2) a man. I know you are thinking I should have written it down myself but I didn’t. So I just walk into the dentist on 33rd Street, random I know but hey I am British and ask them to look up the apartment building. If I was in London and did that what do you think they would have done? Yeah right look at me as though I am mad and ignore me, but not in New York the girl found the address for me, pointed me in the direction and wished me well. God Bless America.

So we plod over to the apartment block and take a look around, ummm well I have to say I am not going to be renting in this block and let’s leave it at that. Back to the drawing board batman. I then took hubby for a bowl of warming soup; I asked the concierge of the said rental apartment to recommend a good soup kitchen and his jaw hit the floor. Hubby tried to explain that soup kitchen’s in the US do not have the same purpose as a soup kitchen in London, oh dear faux paux. Well we found the salad and soup cafe! But I was amazed that New Yorkers will spend $8 on a salad, why do they not make them at home? Hubby tried to tell me this is New York Anne, everyone eats out. I have to say the salad was great and I had the most amazing dressing of Thai Peanut. I made a mental note to myself to find a cook book with great salad dressing in. Hubby had the thickest soup I have ever seen; in fact I would say it was more Mud than Vegetable soup, but he enjoyed it. On our way back to the hotel, we  again walked 35 blocks and too many Avenues than I care to remember, when someone shouted out of their car window and asked me for directions! I shouted back sorry I am from London sorry I have no idea, but what a feeling, people think I am a local already. Anne is officially a New Yorker!

Back to the hotel, hubby took a nap, whilst I took four hours to twitter and then have a bath, wash hair and get glammed up ready for the birthday party we were invited to. We firstly went off to Hillstones, which was called Houston’s last time I was here for the best Ribs ever, they just fell off the bones. I had my first Manhattan drink, big mistake, on the first sip I knew it was the kind of drink that was going to be one, two, hit the floor and guess what? Yep you got it one, two and slid down to the floor, I think the two glasses of red wine did not help though, ouch! Hubby had Jack Daniels and Coke followed by the wine on top of Night Nurse! I am not sure if he hit the floor before or after me. Obviously I did not actually hit the floor but the head was going to feel like it in th emorning this I know. Izzi had the thickest Fillet ever, in fact I am questioning where Hillstones found this cow, cos it sure was a large one. The steak melted, really melted like butter in your mouth and was cooked to perfection.

Hubby’s friend, whose birthday it was brought some really cool friends and they made me laugh from the moment I sat down at the table until the moment I slide to the floor, only joking but I sure do not remember getting into bed, so I guess a great night was had by all and I know that I am feeling at home already. Welcome to New York Anne !

Well the day started as all others very early! with me running around thinking we forgot something and hubby as usual sitting on his computer drinking tea and generally not having a care in the world. Well by 11am we had managed to get ourselves to Heathrow terminal 5 and God alone knows how we got there with 6 suitcases! Check in was a complete doddle, no hassle whisked thru, see the pictures below to understand why I mention that point. Six suitcases and not a word was said, thank you very much BA.  Although one point annoyed me was that I could not take my handbag on board why was that?  I was really cross do they not know that I am izzi bag I want to show everyone in the airport what they are missing. I was told that you can only take one piece on board after the problems on Xmas day. I have to say I at that point I shut up, point taken and let’s face it I want to be safe. I spent the next hour wandering around Heathrow looking for some nice perfume, hubby was looking for scotch! no suprise there then. although to be fair he bought it as a present for a great friend. So off to the gate we go and the security there was unbelievable, we had to empty everything out of our carry on bag. Even coats were scanned again, I was glad at this point there was no embarrassing lady things in my bag. To be honest I was not bothered at all because let us face it, who wants to go on an airplane that is unsafe? not me! So the long and the short of it is that we took off 1 and half hours late. Glad I had stopped for some soup at Pret- a-manger. So we had nice seats together, just the two of us, noone having to climb over me to go to the loo thank you God! I know you are wondering how was the food? well let me tell you it was horrid and because I do not eat carbs I asked for some fruit, easy request wasn’t it? well it took four hours, yes four hours to come and I was told to not ask again! I nearly slapped the rude stewardess. I paid alot of money for my seat and was told basically to shut up, hubby was hysterically laughing that the stewardess had managed to shut me up. What made me laugh the most was that the Chief waiter ( I would not normally say that but I was a bit annoyed by now)  on board, kept saying thank you for travelling with BA, what was that all about when they could not even give me some fruit?

Anyway we arrived late into JFK, but it was ok and when we arrived at immigration the man was so polite - take note BA - even though he asked a million questions and of course I gave him chapter and verse about the shoes I was looking for. I was supprised that he had no idea where I would find the new Tory Burch snow boots, I mean that should be on his list of things to advise shouldn’t it? We then took the luggage which was waiting politely for us on the belt and headed downtown in a taxi. I squeezed Izzi’s hand so tightly that he said the blood flow had stopped. I squealed so much in the taxi I think even the driver was getting nervous. I was so excited to be here in this wonderful city. When we arrived at the hotel on 58th the Hudson I was amazed that the porter told me to leave the luggage on the sidewalk and he would take care of it. What did he mean leave it on the sidewalk, this is New York Man, like London where if you drop a tissue there is someone looking to see what was in it in case you dropped a fiver. Anyway it arrived in our suite all in tact so I guess he knew what he was talking about and who was I to argue? The room well that is another matter. It is really large and all wooden pannelled and lovely except… and you knew this was coming didn’t you, there is no tea making facility, what exactly is that I ask you, I am English and I always have to drink tea, it’s like an English thing, we all drink tea and more of it when we are overseas, there is also no mini bar because they told me that if you want a drink you pick up the phone. Oh well excuse me at 18% tip plus $5 for delivery I was not likely to be doing that too often. The reason I asked about the minibar is because I wanted to empty it, no not drink it all I mean empty it and replace with things I bought in CVS. I am not going to pay $8 for a bottle of water from the hotel. The bed is like a queen size and I know now that izzi is going to spend the whole night on my side. Oh but that’s nice, cuddled up in New York and a big adventure ahead. I just can’t wait and you know what? I am the luckiest girl alive, here in New York with the man I love more than life itself. Ok I have to go now as I am falling asleep and so tired. I know how lucky I am to be alive, healthy and let us not forget those who are not.

Good night everyone and tune in tomorrow for my update of my adventure in New York.

Pink Suitcases to Match the coat

izzi trying to convince BA to check all the luggage in

Just to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from izzi bag, a little piccie of two of my crew and me!

izzi bag Christmas Party