I have to admit, I get a bit lost when it comes to summer dressing. I know I like girl stuff, but I wouldn't say I'm girly girly. I like a bit of edginess when I dress, even when it's just casual. 

Which is why I have fell in love with the shorts and sweater combo. Casual, but you can have a bit of fun- especially when the shorts are leather.

It's also a great alternative to the crop top fashion. I don't know about you, but I much prefer flashing my legs, whilst covering up my top half. 

There was something about this outfit that I just loved. It was comfy yet it felt fun. A motif sweater made a statement whilst the touch of leather gave it just that added oomf to stop it being entirely boring. 

Sweater- Marks and Spencer

Shorts- Finders Keepers c/o House of Fraser*

Converse- Office

Bag- Coach

Also with this look, I feel it is OK to wear shorts even when our summer hasn't exactly been the warmest. I mean my top half will be nice and snug which will radiate down right?

Let me know what your think of this look. Are you loving leather shorts right now?

For this post I was planning to move more away from food and show you some of the cool sites we saw, but to be honest, on this day we mooched around Grand Central station and spent a lot of time in the Apple Store. Not the best blog worthy material. However what was blog worthy was the food. Oh the food, why would I ever consider ignoring you?

Especially when it's as quirky as Burger Joint.

Now the story goes that back in the 50s there was a typical dirty diner. However it got quite a following with New Yorkers and celebrities, and sort of became an institution. Then years later a big hotel company wanted to buy the land it was on for their fancy new hotel. There was uproar! So the hotel made a surprising decision. It built the posh and refined hotel on the last, but built it around the diner.

Meaning yes, the dirty diner is in this expensive hotel. Whether the story is true remains to be seen, but the diner sure is real.

You slip behind a discreet curtain and down a corridor to where a neon sign beckons though in.

Leaving the world of marble and chandeliers behind, the diner truly is the definition of a dirty diner. It's the most higgledy piggledy, dirty shack- and it was awesome. 

The walls are covered in stickers, graffiti and 90s posters with some little extras- poor SJP's face.

It's funny though as such a grimy place attracts such a diverse crowd. There were the casual crew like us, the post office city workers, and even some glam ladies in heels. I think it's an indicator that its a goodun. 

The menu is pretty darn basic. 

Single burger with or without cheese, and then doubles of them. Fries as a side. Milkshake, coke or beer and that's about it. 

No fancy pants burgers here. It's the classics done well. 

There is limited tables, so pull up a pew next to someone with your greasy bag and get stuck in.

It may not look much, but let me tell you something. A humble beef burger with cheese is a glorious thing when done right. They do it right. No messing, no faff, just juicy, cheesey burgers. 

It gets a thumbs up for sure. 

Burger Joint is one cool... err... joint. We ended up chatting to some random city worker next to us who was on a work trip from Chicago and was told of this place as a must go to. It's also one of those places that if you are solo, is perfect to go to.

Refined dinner in say the actual hotel I'm sure is a great thing too, but isn't it sometimes more fun to just relax, keep your converse on and not worry when the sauce dribbled down your chin?

We went at around 11pm and it was booming. So if you are in need of a late night dirty burger, then this is just your thing.

Burger Joint

Le Parker Meriden

119 WEST 56TH STREET 

NEW YORK 

NY 

New York and rooftop bars are pretty synonymous. Before going I researched so many rooftop bars, but once here most plans went out the window as I should have known that me and Dan aren't exactly schedule kind of people. We like to just see where the day takes us and go from there.

We didn't end up going to any rooftop bars, but there was one rooftop that I insisted we plan for, and that was a rooftop brunch.

New York has so many amazing hotels with every street seeming to be filled with at least 2.

There are the grand, opulent ones, with marble floors and doormen. The quirky ones with water beds, and bubble chairs, and ones which you'd rather avoid.

Having never been to New York before, we decided to try two different hotels.

After having loved the quirkier Chambers, we decided to end on a bit of Luxury and settled for The Loft Suite at the Royalton.

I realize I haven't really spoken about brunch in New York. You'd think that I'd be brunching everyday seeing as New York is famed for pancakes, waffles, bagels... mmmm bagels.

Yet we rarely got out of bed before midday, except for Norma's.

Housed inside the uber fancy Le Parker Meridien hotel, with it's marbled foyer, is Norma's- a breakfast/brunch only restaurant. Just the thing I'd been missing.

Some days you just don't want to get out of bed, even when you are in New York. We were so tired/comfy/ lazy that we managed to sleep in till mid day. By the time we got up and dressed we were famished and set out in search of food.

With the 10th anniversary of 7/7 having just been yesterday, I thought it was rather fitting to post this today.

I didn't do too many touristy things in New York, however I just had to do the 9/11 memorial and museum.

We wanted to do the just opened viewing platform of the One World Trade Centre too, but as you can see, the clouds were so low we decided to skip it this time.

We decided to go for the guided tour of the museum, as I will be completely honest, I didn't know too much about 9/11.

Sure, I knew the atrocity of what happened, but I don't really remember the day as I was only 9 or 10 at the time. I knew the general outline of what happened, but not in detail, so me and Dan decided to educate ourselves and pay our respects by learning.

I'm not going to rehash the tour to you, as I'm sure you'd like to hear it for yourself, and also it can be quite upsetting at times. I'm not going to try and educate you as it's a sensitive subject that can mean many different things to different people, so instead I'm just going to show and tell you some of the fascinating, moving and quite unimaginable facts.

Everything in the museum is real, nothing is reconstructed, including the voice overs, which are pulled from everywhere including answering machines that day.

Compilations of missing persons posters were projected onto the walls of the initial part of the museum, which seeing the vast quantity really put it into perspective.

This art instillation represents each of the people who had lost their lives- each square is a person totally 2,977, not including the terrorists.

Each square is a different shade of blue, meaning there is 2,977 shades. Everyone is an individual and not one of these victims will become lost in part of a mass number.

Throughout the tour their were pieces of the wreckage, including the antenna of the top of the north tower. The sheer volume of it and how it had just been ripped right apart of startling.

As was the elevator cable being snapped.

To put it into perspective, this is a huge piece of steel that was running through the building as supports. Steel melts at around 1510 degrees C (2750°F). Therefore some parts of the building reached the unbearable 1510 degrees C that day.

A nicer part was seeing the Steps to Freedom. These are the steps that led of the plaza onto the street which was deemed out of harms way. All those escaping the world trade centers would have had to come down these steps to get away, hence the name.

These steps also had a covering over them, stopping falling debris and ash from harming people meaning they also helped save lives.

This totem, is a steel rod that again came from the supports of the building. It was found intact and became a totem for the services involved that day.

The numbers sadly represent how many each service unit lost that day.

The museum is built directly on the site of the attacks, and so throughout you can see parts of the original site like the foundations and parts of the walls.

The tour was both moving and informative and I came away with a much clearer head on what happened that day.

There is also the exhibition which goes into more detail, showing artifacts found that day like belongings. However naturally this is a no camera zone due to the sensitivity of it so you'll just have to go to see for yourselves.

Later on after we had been round the exhibition- which I'll tell you, I welled up on multiple occasions - we headed outside for fresh air, and to see the memorial. 

2 huge fountains, covering the sites of the twin towers. Beautiful, respectful, but tinged with sadness, as I studied the names of the victims snaking round. 

Again the sheer size, just puts everything into perspective. You can never truly imagine how big these giant buildings were until you see the site. 

Sometimes I don't understand the human race. To actively go out and cause such mass devastation I'll never be able to wrap my head around. 

However there is good too, the museum and memorial are educating people, strengthening and bring people together. Every person who walks through that building, comes together for a moment as they pay their respects and with the hope of a better world binding us all.

9/11 Memorial

180 Greenwich St, 

New York, 

NY 10007, 

United States