Big Dreams in the Big Apple

Reminiscing…

Hello lovely,

I guess you could say I’m in my New York girl era.

Whenever this time of year rolls around, I always dream of being in New York City… 

And last year I finally got to make that dream a reality. 

It was my third visit to the city, but the first in the colder months, and let me tell you - I fulfilled so many dreams during that trip! 

Most of you might not know this, but I’ve been a figure skater for 17 years (well, let’s say I’ve been retired for the last few since the pandemic, but you get the picture). 

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So, let me set the scene for you…

It was a crisp, NYC fall day, we grabbed some egg and cheese bagels to walk with on our way to the ice rink and did some all-important fall foliage spotting too. 

I booked onto the earliest slot, because I knew it would get busy very quickly! 

We arrived at the picturesque Wollman ice rink in Central Park, and I’m not lying when I tell you it felt like my main character movie moment. 

It was so quiet on the rink and the sun was reflecting gently onto the ice. As I laced up my boots, I felt a genuine lump in my throat - the one you get after dreaming of something for so long that when it’s finally a reality you become speechless.

Stepping onto the ice felt like home. Like a part of my soul belongs to Manhattan and I should be skating there every week.

I genuinely couldn’t stop smiling. My love for skating was reignited for that perfect hour. 

After my skate, we meandered around the Central Park up towards the Bow Bridge for some more foliage spotting. The morning was made even more perfect when a gentleman started playing soft jazz on his saxophone as we walked on by - it was like all the stars had aligned for me that day.

Even though I’m not visiting the city again this year, my heart is there in spirit and I know I’ll be there again one day. 

But for now, I will reminisce on my photos from last year whilst sipping red wine from my favourite glass, soft jazz playing in the background and maybe some Pinterest scrolling of the perfect NY autumn fashion.

Photo by Magnus Andersson on Unsplash

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