Saturday in the Park...

When I was a kid I had big dreams. The biggest of which was to live in NYC and work on Broadway. As I got older I realized the Broadway thing probably wasn't going to work out, so i decided on working at cool company and living in the Big Apple. I'm not quite sure what fasinated me with New York over all the other cities in the world. There was just something magical about it to me. My first visit to NYC was when I was a JR in High School, I came with my choir. That was when I really feel in love. From the big buildings, lights, fast pace, culture, diversity, class and sas I loved it. When I went to college and started dating I knew that I would most likely marry a utah or Idaho boy and be out West for the rest of me life, which I was fine with. I can't even begin to explain how excited I was when I found out the Mike got a job in Darien CT, a town only 45 min away from NYC. Dreams really do come true.

Sadly since I've lived here the reality of life has prevented me from spending the amount of time I would like exploring the city. With Mike and I both working full time, church callings, school and studying for test we probably make it to the city about once ever month and a half. Shame on us. So I have decided that starting now I need to be more proactive about taking advantage of were I live and making some of my childhood dreams come true.

This Saturday I got my good friend Lizzy (whos husband is also studying for the CFA) to go into the cuty with me. It was soo much fun. I mean spending time with my husband is wonderful but it is so refreshing to be with another women. To be girls and empower one another to be better. We had such great conversations ontop of doing some really cool things, I don't think it

could have been any better.

We started out with the Metroplolitan Museum of Art on the Upper East Side.

They had a great Midevil times display. I thought it only fitting that I take a picture with all of these Knights since I am a former "McKnight."

As soon as I saw this statue I recognized it. It use to be on top of Madison Square Garden I think.

Lizzy and I "Oww'ed and Aww'ed"over the awesome musical instrument collection

I was so excited when I recognized this painting from my Humanites 101 class.

The Death of Socrates By: Jacques-Louis David

The Met also has a great Picasso exhibit with hundreds of his pieces. They had it all in sequential order so it was interetsing to see how the events of his life really shaped to form his art took on.

After the Met we found a sandwich shop near by and picked up some lunch. We went across the street to Central Park and found the perfect spot to enjoy our meal, the beautiful day and people watching.

Such a good panini

After lunch we probably stolled through the park for a good 2 hours. We saw so many iconic sights of the park on our walk. First we walked through the Great Lawn and the Baseball dimonds.

Followed by one of the lakes and the Bow Bridge

I was so excited to finally find out exhacatly where the long strech of trees you always see in movies and pictures was. It is actually known as "The Mall."

After our walk we went down to the Farmers Market in Union Square park and picked up some awesome Apple Cider and apple cider dougnuts. So yummy. I also got Mike some wonderful homemade jam. That is hard to come by when you don't live 25 min from Amish country.

Somehow we lucked out and Lizzy hooked us up with free facials at the Clarins in Sax 5th Ave. It was amazing, they did a great job and taught me a few tricks to hide the now forming dark circle and bags under my eyes.

On our way back to Grand Central we say the "Party Bus" I was pretty excited.

And what more could possibly top off this fun filled day in the city? Some delicious gilato ice cream for the train ride home.

I had such a great day and I felt like I was living my childhood dreams I could really get use to spending all of my free time in that amazing city.

So if anyone is ever looking for a travling buddy or tour guide of the city-- I'm your girl!

PS- Chicago's song "Saturday in the Park" is one of my all time favorites and it was running through my mind all day long...