May 31 Day Blogger's Challenge Day 12: The Outfit I've Had The Best Times In

I was torn between two outfits for today's challenge, after narrowing the good memories down to two specific periods of madness last year.

The first was a floral tea dress I wore during a weekend of concert escapades and endless laughter in Scotland, but I decided to leave the tales of fan-girling with my favourite girlies in early 2011 for another day...

Instead, I chose the bird-print maxi dress I wore in New York last Summer...

I fell in love with the dress the minute I saw it when shopping for summer clothes to take on holiday last August. The brightly coloured bird-print is really quirky, and it's different to any maxi dress I've ever seen with a ruffled hem and collar. At the time I didn't own a single maxi, but knew I had to have it. I wore it like this in New York with yellow havaianas and a studded cross-body bag.

Outfit Details

Dress: Dorothy Perkins

Cardigan: New Look

Photos from my collection: 1. Manhattan skyline from Statue of Liberty. 2. Manhattan from Top of the Rock. 3.Manhattan from the Empire State Building.  4. The Statue of Liberty.

Our trip to New York last August was my first holiday outside of Europe, and I certainly wasn't expecting the scorching hot weather we were met with. It was so hot, wearing a maxi was often too stifling, and I even resorted to baring my legs!! You heard me right! Me! I was too hot to care. This dress was worn on tour buses Down Town, to the Statue of Liberty, to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, and was even part of a little madness that happened after a late night trip to The Empire State Building in the rain.

Hailing a cab from The Empire State Building at 11pm in the rain is about as likely as scaling it in the hands of a giant Gorilla. Practically impossible. Eventually, a rickshaw driver coaxed us on board, but not before we'd dismissed the idea because we honestly didn't think any guy could cope with the weight. The man was a total legend, told my sister he thought she and larger ladies were sexy (and made her day, I think), and flattered our outfits as he pedalled us back to Rockefeller Center. We laughed the entire journey back, peeking out at the sky scrapers from under a tarp, while the guy told us tales of the city and jokingly took the piss out of our accents, while I wondered if I was going to be hit by passing cabs! We walked the short journey back from Rockefeller Center to our hotel in Times Square in the rain. I think the concierge thought we'd had a bad night because we arrived back soaking wet, but really we'd just had the most random fun evening ever!

Photos from my collection: 1. A typical New York street. 2. Times Square.

 3. Me windswept at the Statue of Liberty. 4. Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Centre

I can't wait for my next trip to New York. It's one of my favourite places in the whole world, and even more amazing than it appears in the movies. It's one of the last happy times before I injured my back, and I loved every minute of it. Everybody must visit Manhattan at least once! I will say it's hard to stay stylish in the city during the summer, but I enjoyed wearing dresses there all week.

What outfit have you had the best times in?