Four Points

Week 27: The Start of 2017. The Return of Tartan.

Wow. What a year 2016 has been! I moved to New York, married my love, launched this blog and my online shop, travelled to gorgeous places, and so much more!

Those loyal readers who follow me on Instagram (I love you!) know that I have been on the craziest, most wonderful "tour" over the last few weeks. I spent a very cozy Christmas at home with Ben and his family in Utah, and then my love took me on our Scandinavian adventure. 

The trip has been splendid and surprising in many ways, however I feel I have been living on an airplane for way too long now!

All throughout December, Ben and I flew back and forth between New York and Park City, and after Christmas up until now we were hopping from Moscow to Stockholm ---> Kiruna ---> Copenhagen ---> Oslo ---> Stockholm ---> Amsterdam. Phew!  I promise I will share a proper travel diary with you as soon as I get back to New York... and after at least one day of proper sleep and some serious unpacking.

For now, catch out this sexy, casual look that I shot with Dennis. The Old New Year celebration falls on the 14th of January, so it is still totally appropriate to have a Christmas tree in some photographs. :)

The highlight (or I shall I say Highland? ;)) of the look is this plaid skirt from ZARA, matched with a sexy Zaful top and knee high Steve Madden boots. The tartan print is definitely becoming more and more popular, especially after the crazy success of the whole Outlander universe. At least to me, tartan is always a good reminder of Jamie Fraser ;) Who else loves tartan because of Outlander?!

 

Week 18: Summer in NYC. Living in a hotel full time!

Many of you don't even know that Ben and I actually live in hotels in New York. FULL TIME. For more than 7 months now! 

I am no Van der Woodsen, so usually we do not stay in a suite at the Palace Hotel, however living in hotels has been mostly pleasant and a very interesting experience I never expected I would have. 

Ben is a loyal Platinum member of SPG and it helps to make all of our stays at their hotels extremely pleasant. We often get upgraded to the best hotel rooms available, I get to have breakfast and snacks every day for free, everyone is there to help with picking up the mail, sending out our laundry or dealing with any requests you could possibly imagine.

At the beginning, back in January, when Ben and I moved in to one of the big suites at the W Hotel in New York, I wasn't really ecstatic about it. Growing up in a big house where the kitchen and dining room are a big part of family gatherings, I felt robbed of the new, little experiences like doing grocery shopping in NYC, cooking for my boyfriend, baking cookies to share with neighbours (do people still do that? I would!) and inviting people over for a board game night with drinks.

Also at that time it was extremely cold in New York and I didn't know a lot of people in the city. I felt extremely lonely and claustrophobic in the big, pristine, clean hotel suite that didn't have anything of my own except for a few clothes and coats I brought with me in one suitcase. I was missing small things like drinking freshly brewed tea, having my little library and ability to wash things whenever I wanted and instead of waiting for Delivery.com to pick our laundry up once a week.

Ben on the other hand was used to this kind of lifestyle as he was living in hotels for more than a year before he met me. He was trying as much as he could to make me feel comfortable and gain a sense of "home". 

He would send me flowers while he was at work and order me new books, even though afterwards I didn't know where to find a space for them.

At that time we had to leave our hotels every two weeks to go to Ben's parents' house in Park City, Utah. We would fly over for just a weekend, but every time we had to take ALL our luggage and repack there again. You have no idea how frustrating it was for me if I forgot to pack something and bring it to NYC, or if I didn't realise I would need it (especially if it was something important like a bill, a statement or a document). Also we would often switch from one hotel location to another and it would mess up all my mail and orders.

But a few months after we started living in hotels together, I adapted and started really enjoying our hotel hopping life! I particularly grew fond of SPG's Four Points Hotels.

My favorite one to stay at is Four Points Soho. Their rooms might not be the biggest ones, but they are decently sized for such a great location in Manhattan. The hotel staff are phenomenal and all of them became almost like our little family. I started to love getting breakfast every morning downstairs (Jay is an amazingly nice guy and his service is impeccable) or ordering food straight to the room when I felt I wanted to stay in or watch a movie while eat my regular porridge with latte.

Another perk of living in a hotel? Actually being able to focus on my website, on my relationships with husband and friends, writing, going to photoshoots and reading, and not worrying about cooking, cleaning and washing as in a hotel everything is taken care of!

How many people can say they have experienced full time living in a hotel with all its perks? I know one day Ben and I will get an apartment (might even be really soon!), but for now I am fully appreciating living in the heart of New York, surrounded by Four Points SoHo staff that are willing to help, and just enjoy LIVING. Hotel-hopping life might have it cons, but there is much more to love about it.