OOTD | My take on a transitional wardrobe

Jacket - Zara (similar here, and here) | Dress - Topshop Boutique (in-store, similar here) | Boots - ASOS

So, by no means is it warm enough yet to start buying all the beautiful frilled, off-the-shoulder-tops in Zara, but it definitely is time to put the winter coats away. I bought this linen camel jacket in the Zara Christmas sales, knowing that it was going to give me SO much wear throughout spring-summer. I think I've mentioned before how much of a cheapskate I am, and this translates into my shopping habits. I will buy things from sales, months in advance of me wearing them, rather than paying full price for something similar at the time. Saying that, Topshop have got some absolute gems in their current sale (which I might have spent quite a bit on...) including this brushed cotton jersey dress from Boutique.

COS sale picks

Patch Pocket Dress | V Neck Shirt | Rounded Sleeve Jumper | Cropped Knit Jumper 

Pink is taking over my life. It started innocently enough. A nude nail varnish. Blush pink trainers. I now own more pink than I ever have in my life so far. I never thought salmon pink would grace my wardrobe, but boy, I couldn't have been more wrong. I've never actually bought from COS before, only ooh-ed and ahh-ed over their website. I thought it was probably time to take the plunge!
As I work at H&M, I get the glorious, glorious privilege of staff discount - at not only H&M, but COS and many other of my absolute fave brands, which makes sales that little bit more enjoyable. So I may, or may not have purchased half of this wishlist already. 

OOTD | On Wednesday's we wear pink

Sweater - Weekday | Jeans - Zara (similar) | Trainers - H&M | Necklace - Weekday

I am beyond obsessed with the colour pink. Which is funny to me, because I am most definitely not a pink person. Before this month, I could probably count on one hand the amount of pink things I've ever owned. Now, however, I'd probably lose count. From nail varnish, to trainers, to potentially even suit trousers. I can't get enough! 

The thing is, dusty pink is such a surprisingly easy colour to wear. Not only does it pair perfectly with greys and blacks (aka, 99% of my wardrobe), but it works so well with basics to give any old outfit a bit of life.

This Weekday sweater is the most comfortable, silky ribbed fabric that I wish all of my clothes were made from. It's flared sleeves give it a slouchy feel, even though it fits quite well and isn't massively oversized. 

It also perfectly matches my newest pair of trainers! I was hesitant to buy these at first, as I don't particularly rate trainers that aren't branded. To be fair to H&M, their shoe game has massively upped in the past few months and these are actually very good quality leather. However, Vans have recently released a blush pink pack of slip ons and Old Skool's - both of which I'm now desperate to get my hands on!

*Disclaimer: I know it's Thursday, But these photos are from a Wednesday...

OOTD | Worker boots

Top - Zara (similar) | Trousers - Zara (similar) | Boots - Aldo

There's something so classic about paring navy and black together, that I can't quite understand why fashion magazines and moguls seem to hold the opinion that it's a massive no-no. But whatevs. I think it's maybe my favourite colour combination.

I bought these Turek boots especially for New York, anticipating it to be freezing cold and snowing. My weather forecast couldn't have been more wrong, but they still served me well in terms of comfortability when walking hundreds of blocks. They're shearling lined and have a really great cushioned rubber sole that kind of moulds to your foot. They're also so minimally cool and go with pretty much everything I own. I have wanted a pair of flat, pull-on style boots for so long and these just tick every box for me.
They're still on sale from Aldo, by the way...

New York | Photo diary part one

I got home from New York just under two weeks ago. How depressing is that? I can quite honestly say that I didn't expect to fall in love with the city quite so much. It feels slightly surreal that it all really happened... So instead of longingly staring at photos, I thought I'd put them into a photo diary!

Day One
This is quite a sparse day doing things-wise. We were both exhausted after an eight hour flight and all we wanted to do was eat and sleep. BUT WE WERE IN NEW YORK. So after a yellow cab ride to the hotel to drop off our suitcases, off we went for a wander round Times Square.
We stayed at the Manhattan Affinia Hotel, which was perfect for our stay. Situated right opposite Madison Square Gardens and Penn Station, and about a ten minute walk up the road to Times Square - we really were right in the middle of it all. Despite being one of the original grand hotels of New York, it has obviously been renovated quite recently as our 28th floor(!!) room was so modern and immaculately clean. Also, after scouting out a few of the other hotels we had looked at beforehand and realising how far out they were in terms of walking, we definitely made the right decision with The Affinia! 

Day Two
After a super early night, we got up bright and early and made our way to the Empire State building. It was the most beautiful blue skied day, and because we were out so early, there really wasn't that many people around. (Definitely prime time to go!) I wasn't expecting to be as blown away by the views, but I could have stayed up there for hours just looking at everything. We bought a city pass before travelling, which included tickets to the Empire State, Rockefeller, Natural History Museum and a Liberty Island cruise. This cost all of £60 and saved us SO MUCH MONEY, and I couldn't recommend anything more. It's also pretty cool that you can pick and choose, rather than being sold a set package.

After the brunch that dreams are made of at a proper New Yorkian diner, we decided to brave the subway and made our way down to Chelsea market - a labyrinth of food and maker's market stalls. A bit like Camden but posh. We then wandered down the High Line, a disused overground railway that weaves through all the high rise buildings, which has been turned into a gardens full of art installations. 

After making our way back uptown, we decided to rent bikes and spend the rest of the afternoon cycling around Central Park in the sunshine. The weather was absolutely ridiculous - you'd have never know there had been serious blizzards and snowstorms the week before! I think it was about 15 degrees on Saturday afternoon! We didn't realise how huge Central Park is (800 acres, fyi) but after an hour and a half of cycling, with legs like jelly, we made our way back to the hotel.

When we first booked to go to New York we both knew for definite that we wanted to go to a gig or at least go and see live music of some sort. We found out about Jazz at the Lincoln Centre, and were utterly sold by the incredible photos of the glass walled rooms overlooking the city! We booked to go to Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola on the Saturday night and it was so amazing I can't even describe it. We were seated at a table right in front of the band, in front of the windows overlooking New York and it couldn't have been more magical. There's something so spine-chillingly beautiful about smooth jazz, and it really was just the most fun evening away from the typical tourist spots.

So that was far more photo-heavy than I intended, but I got a little bit carried away looking through the hundreds of photos we took... I'm going to work on another post with our photo diary for the next couple of days - for my own sake at least! I'm so horribly sad to be home and I will definitely, 100% be going back to New York as sooooon as I possibly can. It really is unlike any other place I've ever travelled. And I just get why so many people fall in love with the city. There's so much going on, all the time, and there's so many people and cultures and languages and comings and goings. It's so vibrant and so exciting and I feel like you could never run out of things to do there.