Once again I'm lucky to spend most of the day with the lovely Suzanne Golden and we start by exchanging gifts and chatting about beadwork- always a good way to spend time.

The first task of the day was a trip to the Port Authority Bus Terminal for a dry run of my journey to teach tomorrow to ensure I don't get lost when I do it for real.

Then, what else but shopping!

First up was Beads World, then M&J Trimming for some great iron-on pieces.

Then onto what surely must be one of the best shops in the world- York Beads.

It was an absolute revelation to me- there were so many beads that we just cannot get in the UK. So I indulged in lots of fab daggers, Czech shapes and more.

Someone asked me recently why I mainly used Delica beads in my work and I think it is simply that is what I have access to (obviously they also suit my personal style aesthetic).

I cannot easily get hold of things like charlottes, fancy crystals, fun daggers, Czech shapes, pressed glass and many, many other beads I would use for embellishment- so my work stands unadorned.

Would it be different if I could get hold of these things or would it look the same? Who knows. It would be fun to have access to a wider palette of materials but then I would be exceptionally poor!

Obviously I can buy in these beads from the US but I prefer to support Uk suppliers when I can and only buy from other shops when I'm there. That limits me greatly as to what I can buy and use but I work with it.

Also, I am passionate that Bead magazine (which I edit) only prints projects that use materials easily available in the UK and Europe as we just don't have access to the same range of beads that are available in the US.

There are plenty of other magazines which use materials bought in the US and, as Bead was the first magazine to focus on beading in the UK, this seemed an obvious "rule" to work by.

I believe it would be ridiculous to print pages of projects that meant you had to buy in beads from overseas to make them. Not only does that not support our local shops but it adds to the cost of each project. Add onto the cost of the beads the £22/$40 postage, the import duty, the VAT and the handling fees of around £8- £25/ $13- $42 and those bargain beads soon get pretty expensive.

Buying overseas also means you also have to wait longer to get started on something- which I never want.

All of our projects can still be made by people around the world and with beads bought outside of Europe- I just believe it makes the projects more accessible to a wider range of people.

Does it limit some of what I can feature? Yes. Does it mean what we print is less worthy of being featured? No. Does that mean I don't want to own all those lovely beads? No!

It would be nice if other magazine/ book publishers took their overseas readers into account. I get sent a lot of books for review and I have lost count of the number of them I have flicked through and realised there is no way I can buy ANY of the materials.

I'm also tired of magazines doing reader polls and asking you what State you live in- no option to say you're outisde the US. There is a whole world out there why shut yourself off to all it has to offer?

Anyway, pondering on the state of bead supplies over- back to the fun!

After all the shopping I headed off by myself to explore and my first stop was The Empire State Building.

Wow- I expected good views, obviously, but they were absolutely incredible. I was there as the sun was going down and watching the lights come on over the city was worth the ears popping in the lift on the way up.

My last stops of the day were Bryant Park to view the christmas shops and ice-skaters and then Times Square to be overwhelmed by the size of everything.