These words are overused...

...but New York, I love you.

9 months.

That's how much time passed before I finally made it back to my favorite city in the world (that I've visited, at least).

It seems completely absurd to me that it took me an entire 9 months before I couldn't stand it any longer. I thought for sure I would have made the trip loooong before I did. But, you know, stuff happens. And things that were once so much a part of your life suddenly seem like lightyears away and completely out of reach.

About two months ago, that's how I started to feel about the semester I spent in New York City. I mean, I know that I lived there for four months. The bulk of the entries in this very blog are proof. But all of those adventures... all of my time spent in that glorious city... just seemed like a complete dream.

So, sometime in late August, I started to work on a Kickstarter song for my aunt, Paula. She requested that I write about my adventures in New York City. This was a song that I had intended to write immediately upon returning to my "normal life" in Nashville... that way, all of my time spent there would be fresh on my mind.

But I didn't. Instead, I worked on other ideas. I pushed the "New York song" to the side. I think that deep down, I was afraid that finishing the song would completely end my relationship with New York City. That if I put my love in this form, it would forever cut our ties.

But when I started to realize that my memories of my time spent there were slowly slipping away, I knew that I had to write the song once and for all. And to my surprise, although 8 months had passed since I'd set foot in the city, the words just started flowing out like water from a dam. Thirty minutes in, and I realized that the song was pretty much finished in its entirety. And I am so incredibly proud of every single lyric. I know I've said this before, but I feel as if New York City is a friend of mine. A really good one. And I love her. And that may be weird, but I don't care.

Saw you first on the silver screen
The way you shined
I almost forgot how to breathe
Fought real hard for a chance to meet
You were perfect
And I was nervous in the best way

I was warned you had a dangerous streak
But you're misunderstood
You've been nothing but good to me
And I love how you never sleep
I'm always running
to keep from falling behind your pace

Don't you see what you do?
I am one in a million just chasing after you
And I know these words are overused
But New York, I love you

I'd get lost for an hour or two
Just to discover more pieces of you
And I feel safe acting like a fool
Cause there is nothing
No, nothing you haven't seen

I must admit
I'm the jealous type
When others visit you, all our memories flash through my mind
But that's why you're such a special kind
You're a melting pot of dreamers just like me

Don't you see what you do?
I am one in a million just chasing after you
And I know these words are overused
But New York, I love you

This is not the first song written for you
But it's all that I can give for now
And every line is true

Don't you see what you do?
I am one in a million just chasing after you
And I know these words are overused
But New York
New York, I love you

To get a FREE download of my song about the wonderful city, click here: New York, I Love You.

And there's a little YouTube vid of me playing it in my little Nashville room: 

 

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But this post isn't over yet! That was just a little amuse-bouche.

Upon finishing this song, my feelings for New York City were so out of control, I impulsively bought a plane ticket for myself and Bobby to go for a little visit. This isn't like me. I normally like to have things planned out long in advance. But nope. Just bought the tickets. Didn't even really think about where we were gonna stay or any of that.

And last week, Bobby and I had a magnificent adventure in New York City. I'll try to spare you the details in writing and instead, include an abundance of photos. Here goes!

We arrived at the Nashville airport at some ungodly hour on Monday, hopped on a couple of planes, and then pretty much immediately ended up at one of my favorite spots in the city:

Home sweet home :).

And we ate these falafel sandwiches that were literally the exact same size as my head.

And then I forced Bobby to walk about 11 miles throughout Central Park with me.

We discovered so many things I'd never seen before!

And did you know that there are waterfalls in Central Park? Ya. There are.

 And then our legs pretty much snapped clean off our bodies.

And we took the train over to Bushwick to meet up with my good ol' pal, Mackenzie. (aka: TORRES).

And we all went to get some dinner somewhere and then ended up at this awesome whiskey bar that just so happens to also make a mean grilled cheese sandwich. Noormans Kil. (My friend, Nick, bartends there, so we decided to stop on by!)

Then, Bobby, Mackenzie, and I trekked back to her apartment and passed out. SO tired.

Tuesday morning was yet another early morning for us! Bobby and I took the Megabus (same one I took last year!) to visit my grandparents in upstate New York (Lake George area).

And we chitchatted with both of them.

And we gazed out onto the beauty that is Lake George.

 And we both needed a picture with Grandpappy.

And I made Bobby walk even more.

And somehow, we were able to get ice cream TWICE in a span of less than 48 hours.

 And then as quickly as we came, we were gone. But it was oh, so wonderful to see my lovely grandparents and to catch up on life and to hug and squeeze them both.

Ps-- found this on Grammy's bedroom door before leaving. She's the best.

We got back to the city super late, so we immediately went to bed.

The next morning, we ventured out and found this little French-inspired cafe that had THE most delicious croissants I've ever had in my life.

(Bobby lookin' way too cool).

The rest of the day was spent wandering around the city... to Grand Central Station, to Chinatown for bubble tea, etc.

I may or may not have lost my wallet in there at some point... (I don't even want to get into it. But just imagine the most panicked expression someone can possibly have on their face, and that was mine for a good, solid ten blocks back to the restaurant where we ate lunch. Lo and behold, my wallet was just laying on the floor! No one had touched it. It was the most horrifying five minutes.)

And then Bobby and I got all gussied up to go out on a nice dinner date in the East Village.

But of course, it was hotter than Hades down in the subway.

And then, it started raining so hard, the water literally came through the ceiling onto the cars below.

I don't know if you can see it... but to the right of that man is a very intense downpour.

After running umbrella-less through the rain, we made it to our delicious destination.

Seriously. Just look at that.

Friday morning, we woke up and went for a run across the Brooklyn Bridge... well, to the "quarter way point".

We ate breakfast across the bridge in Manhattan at this cute, little place that I can't remember the name of now. AH. I should have remembered.

The rest of the day was spent exploring the shops in Williamsburg. And for the first time all trip, we had BEAUTIFUL weather. It wasn't hot. It wasn't humid. It wasn't raining. It was perfect.

So we chose to eat our dinner outside.

That's us winin' and dinin' at The Meatball Shop in Williamsburg. So. Good. I ordered some homemade chicken meatballs with a pesto sauce over a delicious selection of fresh veggies. YUMMO.

Later in the evening, we took a walk down to the water and came upon this glorious sight.

 Simply wonderful.

Then, we sauntered on over to the Brooklyn Bowl (music venue/bar/club/bowling alley... best combo ever) to see Mackenzie (TORRES) open up for Deer Tick.

She killed it. Per usual.

And there were so many people there... including several friends of mine that I haven't seen in a long time!

And then Deer Tick performed. Little did I know, my ears were in for a real treat. Every few years or so, Deer Tick does a tribute to Nirvana by performing the "In Utero" album in its entirety. For this brief performance, they're known as Deervana.

That's what I experienced last Friday night. And it was amazing. So so amazing. It was fun, they sounded great, people were dancing and screaming and jumping and throwing themselves all over the place. And let's just say, the night ended with the largest on-stage pillow fight I believe I will ever be witness to.

There were so many feathers, it made it extremely difficult to breathe. But who cares? YOLO. Right?

And sadly, Saturday was our day of departure.

Bobby and I devoured some avocado toast and coffee down by the water.

We packed up our things, and we had every intention of going to Siggy's Good Food (my old stomping ground) for lunch. One of the only things I wanted the entire time we were in NYC was their amazing salmon burger... And I waited until the last day to truly savor it.... And Siggy's was closed.

I was devastated for a good five minutes, and then I realized that it was just another reason to come back!

Instead, we ate some good old New York pizza for lunch, and we said our "farewells" to the city.

Gahhh.

What. a. trip.

I love it here in Nashville, but it was so wonderful to get a little taste of that city once again. It's good for my soul.

If you (whoever you are) have made it to this point, congratulations. I believe this is my longest post yet. You are a true gem.

Until next time!

<3

Nat

More visitors, the Macy's Parade, an 18-pound turkey, and an 80th birthday!

I don't think it is humanly possible to catch you (whoever "you" might be) up on my life from the last week and a half. 

But have no fear! I am going to try my absolute hardest to reenact every single little thing that has happened into one, concise blog post. (Aka: I'm just going to show you a whole bunch of photos and describe a little bit about each one... if I didn't take a photo of something, I've already forgotten about it).

Bobby came to visit!

(Just look at how handsome he is. And how well his head fits perfectly inside the Washington Square Arch).

And we ate bagels by the water.

And stacked up creamers at Clark's Diner.

And went to Mona's for a fantastic night of jazz music. (I think we left at about 3 a.m... Bobby caught the Mona's disease, too.. he claims he could have sat there all night).

And we drank some delicious bubble tea while walking around 5th Ave.

And at some point, his lovely parents arrived!

And we took a little trip to Sleepy Hollow.

And looked at all of the beautiful Christmas lights.

And ate a delicious lunch at a cool, little bar.

And walked across the Brooklyn Bridge.

(Hey, Garrett).

And saw a WONDERFUL Off-Broadway show (Peter and the Starcatcher).

And ate sandwiches that were literally larger than our own heads.

(That was only HALF of the turkey sandwich).

And at some point, my fabulous mother arrived!

(And we were clearly happy. Or the sun was in our eyes. Or both.)

And we watched the hazmat teams blow up the balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

And Spiderman was by far the coolest one.

And Bobby, Mom, and I had 2-for-1 martinis at Pazza Notte with Theodore Roosevelt.

And then it was an early morning! We woke up at about 6 a.m. to make our way to our seats for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. (Bobby's wonderful father gave us all tickets!).

Bobby was excited.

And I was, too.

And so were all of those people.

And the parade began! We were literally at the VERY front... so all of the people in the parade had tons of high energy and weren't frozen to the bone yet. It was so fantastic.

And we saw Kermit.

And Carly Rae Jepsen.

And a very sad-looking Spongebob Squarepants balloon.

And a really fuzzy Whoopi Goldberg dressed up as a pirate. (I know.. what?)

And the FAB FIVE WOMEN'S OLYMPIC GYMNASTICS TEAM. (Can you tell I got really excited about seeing them?)

And possibly the showstoppers of the entire parade....

Tap-dancing Christmas trees, of course! 

(They had some of the best high kicks I've ever seen).

And to finish off the wonderful parade...

...SANTA. (I swear he's looking right at me in the picture).

And then we all split up until Thanksgiving dinner later on.

And at some point, my awesome brother arrived!

And for the first time in four months, the family was together again.

(Don't be surprised if this ends up being the Christmas card you receive from the Royal family this year).

And we went to Central Park to watch the ice skaters.

And we ran across THE creepiest Elmo character. (We're pretty sure he got lost on his way to Times Square and somehow ended up in Central Park. He had leaves all down his back and a bag in his hand that read, "TIPS, PLEASE". Needless to say, parents were nervously steering their children as far from him as possible).

And I showed my brother my favorite place in Central Park.

And we were entertained by some of the most interesting music I've ever heard. I still can't decide if I loved it or if I absolutely hated it.

And then it was off to Carmine's for a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with Bobby's family!

The place was jumpin'.

And this is only HALF of the food that was on our table. (That back there is an 18-pound turkey. Insanity.)

It was SO incredibly delicious. I believe we were all so stuffed, we thought we would explode. That's a successful Thanksgiving in my opinion.

And we finished off the wonderful evening by exploring the roof of their hotel... which had views of the Chrysler building and the Empire State Building.

And the next morning, my mom, brother, and I all hopped on the train to Glens Falls to visit my wonderful grandparents!

And we had our usual salad and pizza supper at Harvest House. Because it was her birthday the next day, Grammy decided she deserved a sundae for dinner.

And we visited the free library and all checked out books.

And on Saturday morning, we celebrated Grammy's 80th birthday with a delicious breakfast!

And Grammy took a photo of me taking a photo of her.

And Grammy took a photo of her own birthday cake.

And then I took a photo of her with her birthday cake.

And then she asked me to take a photo of JUST her birthday cake. So I did.

And finally, after all of that, she blew out the candles. (It may have taken a couple of tries, but she was eventually successful).

Sidenote: We only ate cake immediately after breakfast, because my brother had to hop on a plane to fly back to Charlotte. Otherwise, we would have waited until after dinner or something.. like normal people.

And after Mike left, we all explored Barnes and Noble and had a delicious, little lunch there.

The next day, we ventured into Bolton for a breakfast at Hometown Diner. Then, we walked around the Sagamore, which was beautiful as ever and decorated for Christmas!

And we "ooed" and "ahhed" over Lake George.

And ventured around in the car to get different views.

And then it was time for mom and I to bid "Adieu" to them! We took another train back to Penn Station in New York City.

Whew.

That was the last week and half in a nutshell. Or several nutshells.

I hope that everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving! I have to say that this was definitely a Thanksgiving to remember. I couldn't feel more blessed than I do to have such wonderful, loving family and friends. This is a big "thank you" to all of you for making me feel like the luckiest gal in the world.

Now, I'm off to go write a million papers. It's technically finals week here, but I also technically only have about 15 days left in New York City... I must make the most of these next two weeks!

Love you all.

<3

Nat