Scenes from the weekend.

It is always a challenge to return to work on Monday morning after a perfect weekend. And this weekend was practically perfect in every way. On Saturday Brian, Emily, and I visited Wilklow Orchards in Highland, NY. Apple picking is one of our favorite traditions and this year we left with over 50 pounds of apples! The weather was beautiful and the trees were full of apples. For dinner that evening we returned to Mill House Brewing Company, a restaurant we discovered during our last visit upstate. I had been craving their flank steak lettuce wraps and was so excited to order them!

On Sunday I met up with my friend Amy and her husband Chuck, who were in town visiting from Michigan. Amy has followed my blog for a few years and it was so fun to finally meet her in person! We had brunch at Cooper's Craft & Kitchen and then explored the West Village. We walked The Highline, snacked at the Gansevoort Market, and popped into some of my favorite stores around the area. We stumbled upon The Meadow, a store that carries salt, chocolate, flowers, and cocktail bitters. How amazing is that?!? Hands down one of my new favorite shops in the city. Amy and Chuck, thanks again for such a fun day!

Gourdough's

I had been dreaming of Gourdough's ever since I first heard about it on Jenni's blog last month. Her pictures of my favorite sweet treat covered in mountains of tasty toppings convinced me that this popular food truck needed to be at the top of my to-do list during my first trip to Austin. So, it seemed only fitting that once Jenni and I planned our blogger date, we needed to meet for donuts! 

The Funky Monkey- grilled bananas, cream cheese icing, and brown sugar. I am convinced I will fly back to Austin just to have this amazing creation again! 

Funky Monkey and Son of a Peach. 

Gourdough's was everything I hoped it would be. Jenni and I were the first eager customers of the day and excitedly perused the menu and debated between the many tempting options. The donuts were absolutely delicious and reminded me of my favorite guilty pleasures from the Minnesota State Fair. They also made me a firm believer that warm cream cheese icing should be put on just about everything... 

After following each other's blogs for some time, it was so wonderful to finally meet Jenni in person. The joy of meeting blogger friends in real life is that you get to skip all of that getting to know you stuff and jump right into the real conversations. We had a great time chatting about Austin, New York, the blogging community, and life in general. I can't wait for our next blate... in New York, maybe?

If you are not following Jenni's blog yet, you need to head over to Story of My Life and start reading. She is just as wonderful in person as she is in blogger-land! Thanks again for a wonderful donut blate, Jenni! 

Connections.

When I started this blog a couple summers ago, I was eager to have a new outlet to connect with my friends and family back home in Minnesota. After years of emails with large pictures attachments, I couldn't wait to share my experiences in New York City in both words and photos on my very own little piece of the world wide web. With camera in hand, I started documenting my daily life out and about in the Big Apple. 


Soon after I started posting, I realized the connections in the blogging world were much larger than immediate friends and family. I slowly created my daily reading list of blogs and loved browsing inspiring posts, admiring breathtaking photos, and appreciating clean and artistic blog layouts. Without ever meeting anyone, I felt myself getting to know bloggers across the country from their words and photos. And I loved it. Over time, small conversations happened over emails and relationships were formed. Case in point: my first blate (blogger date) with Kim last fall. After reading each others' blogs for months, we finally got to meet during her trip to New York. And, just as I predicted, she was just as amazing in person as on the web. We got to skip all of the initial conversation small talk, and were able to spend hours together catching up about life as we wandered the city. Connections, my friends. They are fantastic. 

Kim and I in SoHo, Fall 2011. 

One of the first blogs I followed was Enjoying the Small Things. A friend recommended Kelle Hampton's site soon after I created my own, and like many I sat at my desk crying as I read the birth story of her daughter Nella. I was immediately moved by her words and hooked on her blog. I perused post after post and was instantly inspired. I have been an avid reader ever since. 


Fast forward to last week. Brian and I were in Central Park with Danielle, a fellow NYC blogger and photographer who I finally got to meet after following her blog for months. We were having a blast chatting and shooting pictures in my favorite corner of the park, the scene of mine and Brian's first kiss years ago, when Kelle Hampton strolls by. You better believe I ran right on over and stopped her to chat. We talked for a few minutes about the park and her visit to NYC and snapped a few pictures before she was on her way. She was just as wonderful and lovely as I expected her to be. Afterwards, I thought to myself about how I didn't even hesitate to approach her and briefly questioned why I was so comfortable talking to someone I had never met. But I quickly realized that although Kelle had never met me, I actually knew her quite well. I had been connecting to her words and pictures for years. 


I feel so grateful to be a part of this blogging community and for the connections I have made. I truly look at the world around me differently now than I did two years ago, and am motivated to explore and capture it in ways that I might not have imagined before. I cannot say thank you enough to my family and friends for their support, readers who have encouraged me through comments, and fellow bloggers who have inspired me with their work. I feel very lucky. 

Photo courtesy of Danfredo Photography.