I Left My Heart In NYC

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

Mmmmhmmmm yes, there have been quite a few blog posts and references to New York round here lately haven't there. Sorry about that. I'm not quite done yet but soon I promise it'll be out of my system.

I just wanted to share with you some of my favourite snaps that I shared on my instagram and just say a little bit about each of them. If you already follow me on all the social mediiiaaass then this might not be the post for you. 

Top Row. Left to Right. 

Heeyyyooooooo unicorn shaped biscuit on a lollipop stick. Yep, I was so game for these, I had about 4. 

The outfit I wore to Brandcast which was hosted at Madison Square Gardens. The dress was from ASOS two years ago, denim jacket from Primark, sparkle shoes a recent purchase from Dune and little black bag from H&M. What can I say, I'm a high street gal. 

Just a casual view of New York and the Statue of Liberty from a helicopter. No big deal. 

A highlight- watching Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson perform Uptown Funk at Brandcast. In that moment, I was so happy that if I had burst, confetti would have come out. 

Aviator shades (a recent H&M buy) in a helicopter. It was the best. 

Second Row. Left to Right. 

On the third morning, in a moment of bravery, I left my hotel all on my own and took myself on a little adventure. I walked down to the New York Highline which is a park built on an old tram line and has amazing views, a relaxing vibe and was the perfect place to stop and eat the disgustingly healthy breakfast I had stopped to grab at the hotel (natural yogurt with berries and granola if you're interested).

The 'Welcome' party Google threw on the first night had a candy floss station and naturally, Dan, Phil and I took advantage of it. The candy floss was, er, flossed (?) onto glow sticks which just made the whole process all the more special in my eyes. 

Maddie took this picture on her Polaroid camera at the Welcome party I think. I love those boys. I always feel so much calmer and safer on a trip if I know Alfie is there. He is a little bugger and teases me far too much but when push comes to shove, he's there to take care of me. 

The gang at Tao, an amazing restaurant right by our hotel that we went to the first night. If I wasn't so worried about getting poorly (seriously, every single time I go to America I get an upset tummy. I don't know what it is about their food but my body hates it), I would have eaten SO much more. It was delicious. 

Another view from the highline. I think the Empire State Building might be my favourite. 

Third Row. Left to Right. 

This is the outfit I wore to the first annual YouTube Summit, (which was INCREDIBLE). The skirt and Jacket are from Primark, vest and bag from H&M, scarf and necklace from Accessorize (a gift from my Auntie Judith), shoes from Monsoon. Grace Helbig said, 'You look like Malibu Barbie', so that made me really happy. 

You guessed it, another view from the high line. If you have the chance, go!

The lovely boys and I just before we took off to fly out there. I made it to check in by minutes and was so so so glad to be on that flight!

My friend surprised us all with a helicopter ride. I cried. It was a lot. I like heights. Oh man. 

At a real life Yankees Game. When I found out we were going I kinda thought it would be one for the boys, yanno, something Alfie and Joe would love but something that I would just smile along with. As it happened, I loved it. I was just sat in my little chair with yum junk food, the sunshine on my face, great company to chitchat too and I was just so weirdly relaxed. I'm a happy person but I'm not always a relaxed person so it was a real treat to feel so chill. 

Bottom Row. Left to Right. 

On my actual birthday night, I had a team Gleam dinner with Maddie, Clare and these boys. I love them a lorra lot. 

Maddie and I at the Yankees game. GO YANKEES!

As part of the Creator Summit, David Blaine came to do a talk about finding a skill that connects with people and being the birthday girl, I went up on stage and did magic with him. I say, 'did magic', but what I mean is be totally overwhelmed by how amazing his tricks were and die a little on the inside with joy. 

Did I mention I went on the high line hahaha?

With Dan and Phil after Brandcast, moments before I took the sparkle shoes of painful joy off and replaced them with my snazzy little fold up flats. Yeah buddy. 

And there you have it, four amazing days in twenty (I think) amazing pictures. Hope you enjoyed!!

Toodlepip!

xx

Hi, I'm 30

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

Wanna know something? I'm 30. I'm a 1985 baby. I have lived 3 entire decades. 

For a long time in my life, 'Louise is 25 again' became a bit of a running joke. I became fixated on not ageing and not entering the (what I thought to be) dreaded 30's. I was afraid that I would be considered old or that I would act boring or that I would be thrown out to pasture whilst all the 20-somethings danced wildly into the night and jetted round the world being big hot shots.

(I took a screengrab of a gif set from Tumblr which I think was taken from Alfie's recent vlog. It's not great quality but it captures the moment the wonderful people at Google surprised me with a giant pink sparkle cake. AMAZING!!)

I felt like this all the way up until last week. My plan was to not mention my age and I'd briefed my friends that if I saw so much of as whisper of the word, 'thirty', on twitter, I'd castrate them. Jack very kindly stuck to his word. Instead he just posted an awful selfie of me but that's another story. 

When I look back to my actual 25th birthday, I was working in a dead end office job with a hobby blog and about 7 youtube videos, my wedding was weeks away and little did I know it but I had about 5 weeks until I fell pregnant with Darcy. If you'd have asked me then, 'How will you spend your 30th?', I'd have thought very differently to it's reality. 

Life doesn't always stick to it's plan. Sometimes stuff works and it's great, sometimes things exceed your expectations and they're incredible (Darcy and Sprinkle of Glitter please and thank you) and then sometimes, things don't work out. In those things you have to make a choice. Will you mope about or will you accept and adapt? 

My 30th wasn't what I had envisaged. I thought I would be having a sweet family day with a Husband and maybe 2 or 3 children but instead, I had a different type of amazing day. 

I spent it with some (although sadly not all) of my closest friends at Google HQ in NYC, listening to inspiring talks from other creators as well as watching performances and shows from artists, musicians, singers and magicians. I was presented with a giant pink sparkly birthday cake, sung happy birthday to by a huge room of people, partied, dined, skipped about, and all round treated like a total princess. Even when your original plan doesn't come to light, it doesn't mean there isn't room for other amazingness. 

And so here I am, fine with being 30. I don't feel old or 'past it'. I feel motivated to enjoy this new decade as much as the last and to redefine my life plan. My twenties were so good to me, better than I could have hoped, so if my thirties follow suit, I'm going to be a really happy 40 year old in 10 years time!

Here's to all the wonderful 30-somethings out there who are laughing at themselves for being so afraid to leave their twenties. Silly us!

Toodlepip!

xx

Motivational Monday || Chances

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

If you're in the UK, Merry Bank Holiday Monday to you- no work, woohoo!! If you're somewhere else, regular Merry Monday to you!

This week's Motivational Monday is a follow up on last week's (here), where I talked about letting go of control and allowing other people in. 

So, it's one week later and I'm home from my New York Adventures and, crazytowns, I had the best week. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say perhaps the best week I've had in years. I was completely out of my comfort zone, had no sense of bearings, my schedule was totally in the hands of Drew and Maddie and I did things I would never have done if I hadn't just let go of control. I'm not sure I could do that all the time, but for those three days, I'm glad I took a chance on the notion. 

I vlogged all the fun for my Sprinkle of Chatter youtube channel so I won't go into too many details but I'll give you the emotional roller coaster here (the vlogs will just be a blur of me being over happy haha). (Is there such a thing as 'over happy'??)

Before I left I very clearly said to Maddie and Drew, 'Don't tell me anything, just surprise me', which a couple of days later I lived to regret when I begged Maddie for clues and details and she wouldn't give me any. 

I started to panic. What if I didn't like the surprise? What if I felt too far away from the hotel? What if I got so worked up I was sick? What if I was sick in public? What if I got lost?

To add to that underlying panic, interspersed in our little chitchats, they would say, 'More surprises planned!'. Argh!

And then, it was travelling day and I almost missed my flight. My taxi got stuck in traffic and I made it to the check in desk with only minutes to spare and a heart rate that was through the roof. In that moment I realised how fearful I was that I would miss the flight, miss the trip and miss the surprises and loveliness. On the plane I had a chat with myself (in my head, otherwise that would have looked reeeaalllyyy weird to other passengers) and reminded myself that sometimes in life you have to take chances. At the time they can feel really scary or you can be unsure if they are the right choices to make but that's the thing about chances, you don't know how it will work out, it's a risk. Taking risks is brave. They say, 'fortune favours the brave'. Do it. 

The week was a whirlwind. It wasn't just the one surprise, it was multiple. Some of them were work related goodies and a couple were just sweet birthday things. If I had not taken the chance on letting go of control, I would have regretted it and I would never have allowed myself those lovely experiences.

Sometimes, doing a really new or uncomfortable thing is actually the key to having a really amazing thing. I realise 'letting someone surprise me for my birthday', isn't quite the same as, 'quitting your job and following your dreams' or something of that ilk, but to me, it was a biggie. 

This year I'm going to take more chances. I'm going to be braver. I'm going to let myself enjoy life a little bit more. 

Sometimes those chances will end in failures and sometimes I'll get hurt but I'm ready for that. I think the good will outweigh the bad and I'm excited for it. 

Will you join me? Will you allow more chances into you life? Are you already that person? Tell us about it in the comments. 

Toodlepip!

xx