This weekend I had absolutely no plans, so I made plans with myself. New York has brought out a side of me I have not known before and I have become kind of a recluse since living here. I went from hating to be by myself to preferring my alone time. Maybe this change of attitude comes with growing up. I find myself enjoying real simple things, like drinking peppermint tea and writing in my journal. Maybe I am making myself sound real lame. I still of course love being around people but sometimes it is nice being able to do exactly what I want to do, exactly when I want to do it.
I have made a lot of interesting goals for myself that most people wouldn't exactly consider goals. For example, one of my goals is to watch a lot of Netflix. I know, so weird..... but I am being one hundred percent serious that it is definitely one of my goals and so far so good. I am making a lot of progress in that area. I have almost finished all three seasons of New Girl. Other goals include, using all natural products for my hair, skin and face, discovering new places to eat around the city, learning how to cook well for myself and lastly I want to start reading a collection of books. (If anyone has book suggestions, please send them my way.) Random goals....I know, but basically I want to have a lot of Natalie time. I am sort of in a self discovery chapter of my life.
Saturdays are my days. It is a day I look forward to all week long. Today when I woke up I wanted to have a productive but fun day. The weather has been so beautiful and the only thing that comes partially close to driving up the canyon in October to see all the pretty changing leaves, is walking through Central Park. I live on the North side of Central Park and I am lucky that I basically consider it my backyard. I walked all the way from the North side of the park to the South end. These pictures illustrate what I saw while on my stroll. I was in my own world this afternoon. I put my iPod on and walked, walked, walked until the park turned into the city again.
It was so peaceful walking through the park. I thought to myself, life is too perfect. It is nice to be reminded of reasons why life is wonderful. During the week I experience the stresses of work, the busyness of the city along with the frustrations that come from living in a place that is occupied by 8 million people. Some days I am like, "I love New York!!!" and other days I am like, "I hate New York". Regardless of how I feel on a day-to-day basis, there is one thing I know for sure, New York is challenging me. I am growing so much as a person because of it. My experiences here, at this stage in my life, are going to mean a great deal to me down the road. I am learning that life really is to be enjoyed. We just have to believe that great things will happen to us, that's all.
