it's the first thing on your mind. an escape for mundane days. glimmer in your eye. a pick-me-up at best.
for me. its a place.
it's having so much motion sickness that i seriously debate giving it all up before getting on flight numero dos, but knowing as soon as i hit the ground - it feels like home to me.
it's true that i feel just as at home on this little island as i do down a dirt road on top of south mountain in searcy county. couldn't for the life of me tell you exactly why.
but i do. and it never gets old. and it always leaves me wanting more.
now. this trip had a hometown feel about it for another reason, as well.
i came to see my little sister living it up in the big apple.
and BOY is she. couldn't be prouder of her!!
i literally dropped my bags at the hotel and headed straight over to her apartment.
i didn't even take a nap first!
that's big, people.
we had intended to move some of her furniture around and re-arrange some rugs, but i got hungry.
she quickly vetoed the interior decorating sesh in favor of eats. smart girl, she is.
salads are apparently all the rage in manhattan. {i'm guessing they've never heard of wings.}
so, i watched her eat a salad while i downed me some fruit and yogurt.
and then our ADHD kicked in and we decided to go to the park.
OH! the pic above is because mom texted and was like 'send me a pic!' so we stopped in our tracks on park aveune and sent her this.
don't wear cowboy boots to walk more than 14 blocks in. mmmkay.
she took me to do one of her most favorite things in the park - to sail sailboats!! it's like driving a little remote control car - but so much harder!
we decided to race around the pond.
OH! and this is where some random tourist with a thick russian accent asked me to take her picture {mind you, i'm secretly thinking 'you've got to be kidding me! i'm in the middle of a boat race here! ugh.'}
so i snapped one of her and then she sat down.
in a very risque position.
with a very little dress on.
and i'm all like 'OMG! COME ON! I'M GONNA LOSE!'
and then she wanted to see the back of the camera and was like 'oh yove tak good piktchurs, more!'
and i pretended i no longer spoke english and just walked away.
i've pretty much perfected the sail boat racing stance.
one leg up on the perimeter of the pond.
my lil sis chooses two feet.
she also lost the race.
so, there's that.
she had to go to work the next morning, but texted me this little gem...
apparently she lied about work and had coffee with mr. big and didn't want me to go.
chump.
everyone else worked all day while i shopped and ran five awesome miles in the park.
and then i got ready and took what turned out to be the only outfit pic of the trip.
so - selfies it is! duh.
i have this knack for no matter where i go the first things i look for are baseball games. and then concerts of my most faves. and then eateries. and sometimes not in that order. but i digress.
the yankee's were out of town that week, so the mets had to do!
me and d.might and his braces in all their glory. {he just got them the week before ;)}
now. it's no secret i'm a huge baseball fan. i love the yankees through and through, but i just love baseball in general. i can quote you line for line of the sandlot and was the only person in our group to thoroughly enjoy a trip to the louisville slugger museum when i was in high school. {i was so trying not to geek out in front of my friends! still have my bat, ps.}
so. if there's baseball involved, you can pretty much count me in. regardless of which team is playing.
d. might goes to see the stadiums.
i'm not even kidding. his exact words to me as we were walking into citi field were 'i don't even like baseball, i just like the stadiums.' OY VEY. pretty much cut me to the core.
however, i will have to agree with him this one particular time.
if you've never been to citi field, you should give it a go and i'll give you one reason why:
SHUT. THE. FRONT. DOOR.
yankee stadium is amazeballs and all - but it does not have a shake shack.
i was sold from there on out.
even if the mets lost. again.
twinning.
and right here is where i was told i was right.
he should have brought a jacket.
HOWEVER - might i just add that the mets were playing the nationals and i'm pretty sure bryce harper waved at me from the field.
just throwing that out there. ;)
my sister texted me the next morning (morning in new york time is about 11am) and said 'want to come down here and meet up for lunch?
duh.
so we had one of my four basic food groups.
the crazy thing is that this stuff is fruit and water!! i know, right.
it was crazy delicious.
next food group i do was for dinner that night.
i can't come to manhattan and not have hard salami, half sours, and mazoball soup at some point. it's like un-american or something.
after dinner d.might and i took a nice little stroll through the park.
there was a gang of rollerbladers off to my left in the above pic.
didn't get them in the shot for fear of my life, basically.
although my first recollection of this new york love affair dates back to second grade, i'm pretty sure it became serious when my 1932 rockefeller print was put in my room when i got a little older. the essex house can be seen in the shadows of the guys eating their lunch. it's still one of my most favorite prints.
after the park, we had the usual:
everyone always asks 'what do you do when you're there?!' and while i can spout out a list a mile long, i typically just do WHATEVER I WANT! duh. kidding. but i do everything.
shop a little. visit all the parks and libraries and churches and historic sights i possibly can. the history part is what usually sucks me in. i'm a dork like that. and yes, i research things and seek them out.
i had some time to kill one morning, so i ducked into st. patricks for a bit.
it's under renovation right now, but is still open and functional - and still breathtakingly beautiful.
i sat there for quite some time thinking and reflecting and praying.
so, so much to be in prayer for lately.
crazy how in the midst of all the hustle and bustle you can always find peace.
i had lunch plans with my sister {see: new yorkers do lunch at 2pm like crazy people} so i went downtown to meet her at work:
um, yeah. that'd be j.crew headquarters.
and it is exactly what you think of when you hear about someone working in the fashion industry in new york city.
she makes me proud, what can i say.
oh just your typical office view of lower manhattan.
the other side of her office is an empire state building view.
but i couldn't embarrass her any more than i already was and make her co-workers move over so i could instagram it.
we took a cab uptown for lunch - selfie for mom!
she made us reservations where ladies of new york lunch, of course.
bergdorff's.
and she told them it was my birthday so we could sit by the window that overlooks central park.
and i tried realllllyyyy hard not to take lot of pictures, but then i was like 'psssh! don't care!' and took them to my heart's content.
once again, with the salads.
and it's not that i don't like salads! i just don't like them enough, apparently.
so i got deviled eggs. like any good southern girl should.
keep in mind these are all pics off my phone. i'll eventually get around to getting pics off my camera, but these were quicker. and for some reason i feel like i'm missing three days in between these pictures! sheesh.
special delivery! first pumpkin spice latte's of the season on the ONLY cool day of the trip!
ash and i sat outside of j.crew hq sipping happily while people were coming into work. she introduced me to a few of her friends and pointed out to me which people were the head designers as they walked by.
but one lady walked by us and then turned around and came back.
she introduced herself and said 'well, i walked passed you and could hear you both laughing and i knew your sister was in town, so i had to come introduce myself! you two look just. alike. - a blonde version and a brunette version, but just. alike.!'
so a million miles away from home. in a city full of millions of people. and it's still a no-brainer that we belong to each other.
i left her there. watched her walk into that big huge building in her signature cape. and i'm pretty sure have never felt more honored to call her my little sister.
d.might met me uptown at the park for one last hurrah this go-round...
row boats in central park for the win.
we'd made it all the way to the other side of the lake in this pic.
and had about 15 ducks following us.
and i turned green about 3 minutes after we snapped this. because if someone is going to die from motion sickness IT'LL PROBABLY BE ME.
grabbed us some lunch and did our traditional bryant park rendezvous before we left, too.
and come to find out, i'm like the only person in the world that's not a pro hula-hooper.
gonna fix that. asap.
this sight just never gets old.
and neither does this one.
d.might noticed that i went allll week without getting a black and white cookie.
which is a record for me. i usually have one everyday. so he completely hooked me up when he saw this.
and might i just say that this one from the airport was just as delicious as the ones i get from the shop on broadway?! i'm pretty much an expert on the black and white cookie. trust.
the lights. the horns honking and sirens blaring. the smell of sewer and hot dogs and nuts for nuts in the air.
the feeling of hope in a place where nobody even knows my name.
it's always on repeat.
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