…and that’s it!

WOW. Just like that, its already come to an end!

It definitely doesn’t feel like it can possibly have been a year since I started this. I have had the most incredible year, met amazing people and had unforgettable experiences. I can’t really begin to explain how much this year has meant to me and how happy I am that I got this opportunity.

This week has been a busy one. Monday was spent on the rooftop of the Standard Hotel with Shella, Tom and Michelle.

Sadly as I was starting to feel like I was coming down with a cold, I spent Tuesday at home in bed feeling rather sorry for myself! Wednesday and Thursday it was back to work, as well as packing and overdosing on vitamins. On Friday though, Jones and I were celebrating our final day of annual holiday (only 15 days in the US, and it was fine!) by doing our favorite things. We spent the morning in Sweet Revenge and then went rowing on Central Park Lake. I can’t believe Michelle had never done this before. It was a lovely day and all terribly romantic. Followed up with a Mimosa!

I love New York.

All Fridays should look like this.

Friday night was the unofficial MB leaving do which we held at the Gallery Bar in the Lower East Side, which was perfect. It was all very messy but lots of fun. I won two runners-up awards, one for Biggest Gossip and one for Most likely to be on the Jersey Shore. HOW NICE! (Because of my tan, not my behaviour.)

❤

Mr Mountbatten himself, a celebrity among us.

Saturday was even more fun, as we had our final family brunch. I had booked Pranna, for all 23 of us as we hadn’t been there before and it was AMAZING! It’s a great boozy brunch which just turns into a daytime rave in the sunshine. Sweaty and amazing. I love love loved it!

From a civilized lunch to a hot sweaty mess. But I still love him.

On Sunday we headed to the Mall and Hoboken to complete the necessary shopping for travelling and Peru. The rest of the day was very lazy, hungover and chilled out with Benjamin. As I write today’s blog he is spilling his mashed potato dinner down the inside of his shirt. He has demanded a paragraph dedicated to him. BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN BEN. There it is.  🙂

All in all a great weekend! I feel like if there is ever a time to be soppy and get all cheesy, this entry would be the time to do it.  So I am focusing on some of those cheesy comments I have heard people say this year and some of the things I have learnt.

Stop and smell the roses. 

And also, all the cheaper flowers too. Being an intern makes you appreciate all the small things. I still remember Vin making me a cup of tea and bringing it to me in bed on my birthday and Ben having stolen a shoe from my  own closet and wrapping it up and bringing it back to me for my birthday present. These were small wonders that cost nothing and were still marvellous!

Jokes aside, I hope that should I ever get to be wealthy (or lets face it, anything more comfortable than impoverished intern) I will still appreciate all the ridiculousness. We hosted events in stunning places with 3 course meals and limitless snazzy champagne – to rich folk who received such treatment so often that they seemed to have forgotten how lucky they were and what they had.

Appreciate stuff. If the small things make you smile, surely you will be smiling more often. Simples.

That which does not kill you makes you stronger. 

Now this a corker and I think this year has been all about this one. In a serious way, in that I was FREAKING TERRIFIED on the plane, and have surely been made stronger and braver by everything I have done this year. In other ways, such as on those mornings when you are so hungover, so tired and so brain-dead that you think you cannot walk and then you actually survive a whole day at work without disaster.
Surround yourself only with people who are going to lift you higher. (Oprah Winfrey)

I am possibly the luckiest and richest person when it comes to my friends and the people who surround me. I am as close to all of the important people at home as I was when I left and I can’t wait to see them again. I probably speak to my Mum more now than when I lived fifteen minutes away from her and  I have found people out here who I love with all my heart. I can’t wait to watch them become hugely successful in their new adventures as I know that they will and I am excited about sharing new things with them. The people of the ‘White Hot’ Nucleus of the MB Family know who they are and they are all beautiful and wonderous and have made me smile every single day.

If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together.. there is something you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. but the most important thing is, even if we’re apart.. i’ll always be with you.”. From Winnie the Pooh by A.A.Milne

Because well, if Winnie says it, it has to be true. This whole quote is perfection.

In fact, on researching this quote which I stole from the ever creative Ms Lacey, I stumbled upon another which was less meaningful but no less relevant to my life. Winnie is the new prophet of all wisdom.

‘It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like “What about lunch?””

Talking of lunch, Ma and Pa please reserve in you busy schedules (Pa, that goes to you specifically I know that you have a busy retired person’s life and Ma just mooches around all day getting under your feet) Monday 24th September.  I am taking you out for LUNCH! Yes, I thought that in the grand scheme of things, your making this entire year possible for me and being pretty frikkin’ cool in general this year, would be balanced out by me taking you for a thank-you pub lunch. Even Stevens right?

So….this is the last week at work. my laptop goes away on Wednesday and I hop on a plane to Lima on Friday morning for one month of volunteering so this is the last blog! After one month its home and real life and whilst I am gutted to be leaving I am super excited to see everyone!

New York, its been ridiculous and I might never love anywhere more.

Finishing with a classic : Que Sera Sera.