Daydreaming.

I've always been prone to daydreaming.

I doodled my daydreams in school

and covered my notes with drawings.

I made up stories to entertain myself

on the monotonous and Texas-hot bus rides home.

And I distinctly remember lying wide awake in my bed at night

imagining what it would be like when I got married...

in a castle...

to a prince...

in a HUGE fluffy white dress...

I also built teeny tiny worlds in the dirt in my backyard

for fairies that I hoped lived there during the night.

Later, I matured a bit,

and imagined things like my future home;

a yellow kitchen,

an over all pottery-barn-esque vibe,

all in a little white cottage

with a blue door.

In college my thoughts would wander

amidst lectures on adolescent development and such,

to traveling the world.

I'd plan in my head 

what I'd wear

and eat

and see

and do, 

everywhere from Greece

to Brazil

to Japan

to Alaska.

But always,

alongside all of that,

I've daydreamed about raising kids.

It used to be that I'd get lost in the thought of

building the most rad tree house with them

and playing imaginary games in the backyard,

but now,

seriously,

this is what my daydreams consist of:

NYC

I saw this today on my favorite blog

and thought,

"That's it!

That's the happy place I go to in my head

when work and life gets crazy;

marchin' around NYC with little babies!"

Hahaha!

I'm so weird, I know.

That would be so crazy and hard.

Little kids are hard to tote about

and NYC is crazy to get around.

Wanting to combine them is nuts.

But that's my daydream.

That's my wish.

Future husband please take note.

Thankful for:

Massage chairs at the dentist,

and getting my little brothers and sister

as hooked on "Once Upon a Time"

as I am.

Also, stellar, uplifting, love-filled

conversations.

NYC Take Two.

One day,

I will live in New York City.

I will live in a tiny (yet charming) apartment.

I will know the subway system well enough

to tell tourists the wisest way to get where they're going.

I'll buy my produce in Chinatown,

my meat from a real butcher,

and my cupcakes and such from Babycake's vegan (aka gluten free) bakery.

I'll meet up with friends for lunch at places like "House of Sandwich",

or I'll  grab a hot chocolate from somewhere like "the Chocolate Room",

(and since we're living in my dream world,

I'll be an accomplished runner 

who runs in Central Park every day)

I'll go on dates to places like the Guggenheim,

or the Met, or catch a show on Broadway.

I'll watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade 

live,

every year.

I'll be a regular at the "brooklyn flea",

And get lost in stores like "Books of Wonder"

(kind of a real-life 'Shop Around the Corner' from You've Got Mail...).

My children will be cool New Yorker's

who wear bow ties and oxfords, 

or stripe-y leggings with peter pan collar dresses to church.

My family will of course be in the Manhattan ward,

and go to the church on the bottom floor of the Manhattan temple building.

Yup. Right there.

But for now, since I love Austin so much,

it is sufficient to simply visit NYC every once in a while.

Or maybe more often than "a while"...

Seeing as I went in May, and just got back from another trip with my family...

And it was as wonderful an adventure as the last.

First of all, I seriously think one of my favorite parts of this trip

was the ordeal of my entire family getting on and off the Subway--

we never lost anyone ; it's a Christmas miracle!

And these handsome dudes were always gentlemen

and let us ladies take the seats first.

There was a lot of family bonding/huddling for warmth.

And plenty of hood/hat/scarf wearing;

it was a foreign concept to those youngins who haven't ever lived in a cold climate.

And our family's suggestion for when you visit NYC, 

is DO NOT take the "fast pass" option to the top of the empire state building;

it's code for twice as much money and an extra 2 hours of waiting...

it's not like a fast pass at Disney World... hahaha

We LOVED the Plaza though!

We even prepped for our trip by watching Home Alone 2: Lost in NY

just the night before we left

It also made me want to read the Great Gatsby again...

And mine and my mom's little hearts flipped when we saw this portrait of Eloise.

(with her pets Weenie and Skipperdee of course)

We were suuuper excited to see this on Time Square!

We felt like celebrities.

And it turns out that 'Annie' on Broadway is FANTASTIC.

Not quite as life-changing as 'Newsies', but even Dylan liked 'Annie'.

(although, Sophie and I haven't decided yet if it was quite as good as the renditions

we put on in our game room growing up...)

We ate lots of yummy food.

And clearly enjoyed each other's company.

The girls loved the SHOPPIN.

(aka window shoppin...)

Aaand the boys did not.

This picture sums up the Robinsons in NYC; 

we took up that entire ice cream store.

We saw the beautiful Grand Central Station.

Where Jesse's head pretty much scraped the ceiling...

he just won't stop growing!!

We went to church...

in my future ward.

And got to visit the breath-taking 9/11 memorial.

And walked across the Brooklyn Bridge!!! It was beautiful!

It was also freezing...

But don't worry, Emma and Logan had the appropriate head gear.

And I got to go to the Guggenheim with my mom.

She's so wonderful.

Goodness Gracious I'm in love with that city.

Grateful for:

my hippie Mom,

my cowboy Dad,

and Logan, Sophie,

Jesse, Max, Dylan,

and Emmacita,

and for the blessing to be sealed to my whoooole family

forever.

Christmas time [was] here...

I'm a big fan of the Christmas season;

I looove that Christmas lasts a whole month.

The shopping and such does stress me out,

but I do love that it's socially acceptable to sing Christmas songs every day,

and everyone seems to be a bit friendlier for the month December.

I also love the excuse to go to concerts and throw parties.

Me and sweet miss Livvy 

got to attend Emma's choir Christmas concert;

I loved when they sang "Santa is the Man".

And then Livvy Lou gave me this Christmas present--

because she knows how much I love Paris!

It was so sweet!! 

And thennn, I went to a lovely little Christmas party,

where apparently a group of us subconsciously decided 

that we wanted to show the Christmas spirit

with the color of our pants.

I ended up making way too many presents

I didn't mean to, but I spent a whole lot of hours

(that I should have been sleeping, mind you)

making, remaking, and perfecting Christmas presents...

and loved every moment of it.

My sweet roomie gave me a super wonderful gift.

And left it in my stocking before she left to go home; so cute!!

My family even came over to my apartment for treats, and coco

and the "Polar Express"

We wore Christmas sweaters 

(and snowflake headbands)

and everything.

Such cuties!

"The first gift of Christmas!"

We love the Polar Express.

And then we donned footie pajamas...

And also party hats while we were eating our Christmas Eve soup...

...we made CC and Papa wear some hats too--they were great sports.

It was an extra special Christmas because these guys were there.

They are some of the most wonderful people I know.

And we all sure love them.

...

(and then came this big, lovely trip my family took to NYC; 

just imagine a group of nine people shuffling on and off of subways,

and in and out of tiny NY restaurants and stores...

It was simply fantastic.  I love that place.)

...

It's been an exceptional Christmas!

Grateful for:

my Papa serenading us on Christmas Eve,

my sweet Grandma and friend CC,

gluten free NY pizza,

the Manhattan Temple,

my faithful, soon-to-be missionary sister,

getting to go to the temple with my parents and brother and sister,

a whole new year ahead of me,

a nice, neatly organized list of resolutions

and the blessing of forgiveness

Quote for 2013:

"It's never too late to become what you might have been."

I'm the King of New York.

Recap of the constant adventure that is NYC...

A plane and bus ride, and a metro pass and a bit of walking later...

we came upon the Plaza !!

Which inspired plenty of "Home Alone 2" quotes,

and made me feel like I was inside one of my favorite children's books;

"Eloise at the Plaza"

Then, when Aubrey, Christina and Mandy headed off to see "Evita" on Broadway...

     

...I headed off to an art museum.

Of course.

And also happened to catch the season premier of Project Runway on Times Square.

Nooo big deal.

"Che" in Evita was played by none other than Ricky Martin.

Seriously y'all, no big deal.

And of course we stopped for some Max Brenner dessert afterwards.

Good thing I'd sampled the chocolate at Max Brenner in Australia;

before I couldn't eat chocolate any more!

(But a s'mores sundae is delicious with just vanilla, in case you were wondering)

Next morning; Central park (where some awesome people went running... I am not included... I walked around all art-nerdy and took tons of pictures...)

and then Statue of Liberty.

In some rather perfect weather.

Then, obviously, China town.

Anyone need a purse??

Adventures around every corner.

And Aubrey found some fruit!!

Great deals--she was so excited!

And,

Are you ready for this??

NEWSIES.

Seeing as we were SUCH fans,

we took the tip to stay and wait for the cast after the show.

Best. Idea. Ever.

Sooo many handsome boys.

Seriously; life changing.

And then we just wrapped it up with a little Brooklyn Bridge/pizza magic.

Can I just live there please??

Grateful for: Artwork on the subway.

And friends that don't get too embarrassed when I pull out my gargantuan camera to snap a photo of it.