I definitely feel like I am beginning to see the charms of New York more and more, and starting to feel more at home here. It is getting a bit colder in the mornings but generally the weather is still great which always lifts my mood and means you can keep doing outdoor activities.

I went for a drink with a co-worker on Friday at a really cute Italian wine bar where you can sit in the courtyard and then go up for amazing food. We had artichoke and spinach dip (which, for something that sounds reasonably healthy, is basically cheese fondue), as well as pizza and a meat platter, all of which was delicious, along with some Rose wine- very welcome at the end of a week at work! I am also slowly becoming accustomed to the fact that when water drips on you here, it is more likely to be from an air conditioning unit than the first few drops of rain- not something I ever experienced in London….

On Saturday morning, I went to brunch with some friends at a place called Jacob’s Pickles on the Upper West Side, which makes their own pickles on site. The place was fun although I have to admit I wasn’t blown away by the food- the portions were huge but I felt it was more quantity over quality (as a lot of things are here).

Being just around the corner from Central Park, I decided to wander over to the reservoir which looked clear enough to dive into in the sunlight- sadly I don’t think you can though…

And then the highlight of my weekend… prepare to be jealous. A colleague had a spare ticket for the Global Citizen Festival taking place in Central Park, which is aiming to raise awareness about poverty and drive change. I jumped at the chance to go along, looking at the eclectic line up of Tiesto, Fun, No Doubt, Carrie Underwood and Jay Z. We got there a bit late so missed the first couple of acts but we saw Carrie Underwood, No Doubt and Jay Z, as well as Ban Ki Moon, Prime Minister Modi, Hugh Jackman, Jessica Alba and many other politicians and celebrities involved in the cause.

Jay Z started his set by playing New York, New York, before breaking into Empire State of Mind so I felt very lucky to be in this city. If you turned around, this was the view…

And then to top it all off, look who came on stage to join Jay Z!!

So far, a pretty awesome weekend!