Central Park, My Happy Place

Although I can't deny the townhouses in the West Village and the buildings downtown are absolutely beautiful, I wouldn't change living close to Central Park for anything in the world. I love walking around the park whenever I have some free time––or when I don't but I need to clear up my thoughts––and working out there a few times every week. Central Park, I'd say, is my favourite place in the city––although the Met is a serious competitor for the award.

Last week I went there for a walk with my friend Emilie, and although we almost freeze––it was incredibly cold and windy!––we had a great time just walking around and talking about life. Regarding the park, I was astonished at how beautiful the park looked even if the day was gloomy and sad... Now I can't wait for the snow to come and seeing it all white!

Love,

Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio

Last Days of Fall in New York

After a couple of days with temperatures below zero––Celsius; I still don't learn how to use Fahrenheit degrees––it's pretty obvious that the winter will soon be here, and the city will be covered under white layers of snow. Although the temperature is now too cold to wander around the city, I managed to shoot a few pictures of fall foliage in Central Park before leaving for my weekend retreat.

Although I'm pretty excited about the snow, I am also a little disappointed that the fall went by so quickly. I love seeing the trees covered in shades of orange and red, and adore the perfect weather of the fall. Why couldn't it last longer?!

Love,
  Photography: Laura Belru

Travel Diaries: Tivoli & Rome, Day 3

On our third––and last––day in Rome, we decided to spend the morning in Tivoli, a small town about an hour away from Rome, where you can find the most beautiful gardens on Earth! The place is called Villa d'Este, and it was declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO.

One thing I noticed here was the reason why kings and queens loved to have these enormous gardens in their palaces... And it thrilled me! See, this morning was so hot that we were about to melt. The temperature was above 38ºC (100ºF), and the sun was shining as bright as it possibly could... So we we're just dying from the heat. But when we entered the garden and, especially, when we were near the water fountains, the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees! I swear!

After spending the morning in this wonderful and magical place (I swear the pictures don't show how beautiful the place actually is), we had a quick––in Italian standards, of course1––lunch at the Piazza Garibaldi, before taking the train back to Rome.

We got to Rome in the evening, so we decided to go back to our hotel for a while, and wait 'til the night was fully set to go out for a walk. We started at the Vatican City––we always do, out of my mum's obsession––and then walked around the center. We finally went to the Castle of Sant'Angelo, where you get the absolutely best view of the city. It was absolutely breathtaking!

I'm sad to tell you that this post is almost the last one! I'm sadly sitting back at my desk and, although I did miss home, I can't believe the summer went by so fast! The good thing... Is that you'll get to wait until Monday before seeing the end. And the other good thing is that New York is patiently waiting for me to come back next week!

Warm kisses from cold Bogota,

Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio

Let's run away to the countryside!

On Monday, I wrote about how much I like to escape from the world sometimes and do something fun! But I don't like escaping only when I'm tired of studying after a very long day in college... I like escaping every time I can because it's awesome and there's always an excuse to have some fun! In this post, I'm sharing with you my escape out of the city last Sunday.

This time, my excuse for escaping was meeting my friends' baby son. His name is Daniel and he is the prettiest creature in the whole world! Ricky and Lily (Dan's parents) live in a countryside about half an hour away from Bogota. They have horses at home and the contact with nature is just amazing. I'm sure Dan will have an awesome childhood there, surrounded by animals, nature and happiness!

During our short journey, I had the chance to shoot some pictures of the trip. It was really relaxing. Although I'm a big city person, and I love the rush and seeing people everywhere, I do enjoy a bit of calm, which was exactly what happened to me during this trip. It started with an early ride, and it was followed by a delicious (and enormous) brunch. And then we finished the afternoon with Lily and Ricky, and their lovely baby. I wish my weekends were like this more often!

Love,


Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio