New York.

Hello, internets! We are home from New York City. I can’t even begin to describe it… it was fantastic.

I saw, felt, tasted, experienced, heard, and was touched by so many things, I feel like I could write a book about these past five days. And so I’ve decided to put together a scrapbook of sorts, full of ephemera and photos and moments and things.

I was so captivated by the city – so busy experiencing it – that my camera never left its case. I did snap some shots with my iPhone, and I think we captured a few videos, but for the most part, all of the memories are tucked away in my mind.

How can I really show you the people tucked away on a sidewalk in Chinatown, fixing shoes, cutting soles from rubber, while a well-dressed young woman sat nearby on a crate with one boot on and one boot off? How can I describe the excitement of seeing fresh whelks on ice in a Chinatown market, then pulling them out of their shells and dunking them in parsley butter at an oyster bar uptown? How can I capture the lone trumpet player in the subway, playing “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” while we waited for the train, hand in hand, tired and happy and inspired? Or the taste of a perfectly pulled espresso mixed with ganache made from Mast Brothers chocolate and cinnamon? Or the man behind the counter who handed me my bagel, wished me a Merry Christmas, and gave me a wink? Or the accent of the woman at the cash register… “Nexta, pliz! Nexta!” Or the group of Asian senior citizens atop a Christmas float, all dressed as Santas, dancing and singing to Christmas tunes? Or the biting cold of 24 degrees F, and the warmth of a steaming bowl of ramen?

Oh, internets, New York was lovely. I can’t wait to tell you more about it, to journal about it (and about what we ate!), to put together a scrapbook, to put all my ideas into place. Cranberry-popcorn garlands and paper snowflakes, toasted marshmallow ice cream and jalapeño mignonette, handmade books and Nina Simone on vinyl. I want to remember it all.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, too!

6 responses to “New York.”

  1. YAY! Sounds like you had an AMAZING trip. So jealous and can’t wait to see pics and hear more. 🙂

    1. We did! It was fantabulous.

  2. I do this same thing every trip we take. I pack a camera and promise I’ll take tons of pictures, but in the end, I end up taking barely any. And I never regret it because honestly, it’s more important for me to experience it with the person I love most and just exist in the moment. Somehow pulling out a camera ruins all of that.

    When we were in San Francisco last month, I wrote random things on scraps of paper during our stay and kept those to help me remember certain things (like what we ate and funny things that happened). Instead of making a scrapbook, we put ours into our “memory jar”. Basically, it’s a huge jar full of all kinds of random stuff that we put in from time and time, and which we’ll pull out on New Years Eve to look over. Can’t wait to re-experience everything!

    Glad you liked New York! This post really makes me wish I experienced all of that too!

    1. I love the memory jar idea! Sounds like such a fun new year’s tradition.

  3. I really love your words, the way you describe the details. The love is in the details-thanks for sharing!

    1. Thank you so much! And thanks for reading. 🙂

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