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Pretty, huh?  I want to move into this style a little more.

Okay!  Friday after New York and right on cue I am sick.  I knew it was coming.  I promised my body after New York it could knock me right out if it wanted to.  It did.  But I wanted to recap my trip today – I always promise recaps and photographs and then don’t deliver.

New York was amazing.  This was my third time there and finally the first time that was truly on my own schedule and I loved that.  I travelled out with a girlfriend, met her group of friends and could either stick with them or go off on my own as the wind took me.  I did a little bit of both.

Thursday evening I attended the September Social and finally got to meet Inslee!  It was funny to walk into a room and recognize a bunch of blogger faces that I knew through Instagram.  Carly from the College Prepster, Mackenzie Horan of Design Darling, and the lovely Roxy of Society Social.  I also glimpsed Katie Rogers from Paperfashion, but she was in and out of there before I could catch her and introduce myself – I would have loved to talk shop with her as well.   It was an interesting evening and I fared okay.  One of the best things I’ve learned from my husband is the art of putting yourself out there.  I walked into a room full of strangers and managed to have someone to talk to pretty much the entire night.  I had the chance to talk shop with Inslee and left proudly clutching my 2014 Inslee calendar.  It was reassuring to learn as well that she’s been illustrating for ten years.  I’m still just a rookie with this business.

Friday and Saturday were a wonderful mixture of shopping, eating and a dinner cruise that headed out by Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.  I won’t even bother posting a photo of her – they simply don’t do the justice of seeing Lady Liberty in real life.  We did the entire thing pretty much on foot, I did manage to get a minor grasp on the Subway system there – and just…wow.  And by the end of it I had a decent sense of direction in the city, which felt amazing!

 I also took a trip to the Metropolitan Musuem of Arts all by myself and the experience was almost religious.  At one point I was walking through the second floor through an area filled with Monet’s works and could not stop the grin on my face.  It’s wonderful to have time to linger over the paintings which really strike a cord in you, as it is to breeze by the pieces that don’t.  I loved reading the captions beside works that explained the artist was just trying to convey a place of beauty and a life of leisure – I think that’s what I want my work to convey as well.  That sense of magic you can feel from the shadow of leaves on a sidewalk, or the reflection from rain on the streets.  That’s just magical to me.

My last night in New York I went to visit a capoeira school and take a class from Mestre Lampreia.  I was nervous heading over there, you don’t always know the style of the school or what will happen to you when you get there, but it was a really enjoyable class.  I connected with two more people I’ve met through Instagram and we laughed about the power of the hashtag – how else can you travel to the other side of the continent and have an instant connection with people?

The trip was what I needed.  Time away from routine and a refreshment for taking pleasure in the small things.  I came home rejuvinated (though I wouldn’t say rested), over the moon to see my husband and our cats, and ready to settle back into life in Calgary.