New York...In Pictures

Sitting here, listening to Sigur Ros, and watching the storm clouds roll in I think about where the Hubs and I are now, and where we were just a year ago.  New York City?!  Wow...now that I sit and think about the things I am missing about the city, I am just now realizing how incredible it was that we actually LIVED there.  Had I appreciated it then as I do now, I feel I would have really embraced Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs.  I would have dug deep and really taken in everything I could about the city.  But sadly, we often realize how incredibly awesome an opportunity was only after it has passed and we only have pictures to look back on fondly and think how we would have done things differently.  If only I would have really appreciated it for what it was, we'll never have that again, but it was an awesome ride...

And because I am feeling nostalgic today; and because I am missing Central Park, the musicians on the subway trains and in the stations, the smell of the most amazing gyros I have ever had in my entire life, the buildings shrouded in fog on an early Manhattan morning, and just the energy and romance of that way too over populated island, I thought I'd share some of my favorite pictures with you all.

I hope I do that magic place a bit of justice.  I took about 1,206 pictures over the course of our residence on 84th Road Briarwood NY and as much as I'd love to share them all with you, there are some that really make me miss that incredible place.

boarding the train in Omaha

our first view of one of the bridges into Manhattan

our brother and sister taking us to our new apartment in Queens

my very first view of Manhattan

Brooklyn

our first NY pizza (not too good)

the cart Beau took off the curb for me

our first subway ride into Manhattan

Radio City...need I say more...

first time in Times Square

the subway station/stop near our home

when my brother came to visit, he fit in so well there

just a building

just a park

just a rainy spring day in Manhattan

one of my favorites, it was so great to have him with us

just a random group of guys singing Motown tunes outside the Met

Beau and I listening to the music and having a hot dog before going into the Met

just the back of a building

Beau and his very best friend from childhood, these guys are true brothers

just a guy trying to paint in peace

hot dog stand in Central Park

my amazing husband

abandoned building at Coney Island

first time in Little Italy and as happy as could be

taking on a pastromi on rye at Katz Deli

a true hero (9/11 Memorial Museum at Ground Zero)

my sister came to visit, her first time in NY

our dear friend from college who was living in Brooklyn at the time

old friends, the best kind...

first try...

second try...

THERE we go!

baking Patty a cake for his birthday because he couldn't make it home to Iowa...

one of our last pictures in NY, kissing in 2012

New York wasn't anything to me then, but it means a lot to me now.  New York to me is free concerts and movies in the park (which I wish I would have taken advantage of), great music and food, culture galore, finding old friends, making new ones, learning to depend on one another because you are an awful long way from home, growing closer to siblings and really appreciating them.  New York to me is a fond memory, an amazing year in my life.  Its an amazing experience, its taking 9/11 extremely personal because even though we lived there only a year, we were New Yorkers and it was our home. Maybe someday Beau and I will walk down familiar streets again and see the city for what it really is, look back on what our life was there and smile.