I'm Never Growing Up

Most people come to New York to get grown-up jobs with grown-up salaries and live in grown-up apartments. I thought that was what I was doing until Saturday afternoon/evening. For those few hours, I became a kid again. :)

Natalie and I walked, or rather puddle-jumped in the rain, up to Dylan's Candy Bar (founded by Dylan Lauren, Ralph Lauren's daughter) and then over to the most famous toy store in the world, FAO Schwarz.

Both stores were magical places that could make anyone happy that enters through the doors! Well, unless maybe you were a kid with parents that wouldn't buy you the toy you wanted so badly...

The display of giant lollipops when you walk in the door of Dylan's Candy Bar

The stairs in Dylan's have candy in them!

The entire downstairs level of Dylan's is all CHOCOLATE. Notice the drawer I've pulled out looks like a chocolate bar!
Mom- When you finally get around to renovating the kitchen at home, I think you should install these as drawers! I'm sure they make cupboards as well. :)

Chocolate fit for a Queen...or a Prince, as long as he is charming.
A little history tid-bit on the Hershey's Kiss:
Again with the candy in the floor at Dylan's:
The doorman at FAO Schwarz, his puppet, and I.
The BIG Piano in the toy store. I believe I made the comment while standing here, "Oh, to be a kid again." To which Natalie replied, "Um, there are several adults in there on the piano." Good point.
Is that an Iowa State Cyclones scarf? No, silly...it's red and gold for Gryffindor- the house Harry Potter is in at Hogwarts School
And then we found Harry's wand!!
And to top it all of, for only $55, I could have had my very on Snitch, just like Harry catches as Seeker in Quidditch to win the game! Oh dear, I may have outdone myself...

After we left the toy store, Natalie and I remembered there was an American Girl Place on 5th Ave. It took only a split second to make the decision to walk on down there and take a trip back to our girlhood fantasies. I couldn't believe my eyes when I got inside- how could a place like this exist and I had never been here before! I called Mom while walking around and informed her that it was probably a good thing we never made it to one of these stores when I was younger- we would have never made it out!

Finally, Santa brought me a Kirsten doll for Christmas. I think that may have been the year Reece and I snuck down to see our presents before everyone got up on Christmas morning...don't worry, Mom and Dad already know. :)

Does your doll want to join you for dinner? No problem. This nifty little booster seat slides right onto the edge of the table.
Pigtails to braids, crimped to curly- your doll could get any hairstyle at the American Girl Doll Salon, complete with the traditional chairs and capes found in a real salon.

For dinner, we walked to a 50's diner on 3rd Ave called Johnny Rockets. While eating our burgers, Aretha Franklin's R-E-S-P-E-C-T came on the jukebox. Before we knew it, the waiter and waitresses came out into the aisle between the booths and did their own dance and chants to the classic tune. Check out the video below! (Video to come...)




To finish off the day, Jessica, Emily, Natalie, and I went to a movie theater up on the Upper West Side to catch Disney/Pixar's latest, UP in 3-D, meaning we had to wear the sweet glasses, of course!

There is a scene towards the end of the movie (warning, this may be somewhat of a spoiler!) where Mr. Fredricksen finds his late wife, Ellie's, Book of Adventures from their childhood growing up together. He flips through the familiar pages that remind him of their dreams as kids to travel to Paradise Falls to build a home. He hesitates turning to the next pages because he knows they are empty and should have been filled with recordings of his and Ellie's adventure to Paradise Falls. He notices something on the following page where he had remembered it to be clean. He turns to find several pages filled with pictures of him and Ellie together throughout the years. As Mr. Fredricksen lingers over the photos, the message is very clear: his life was not marked by the places he went or the material things he had, but rather the time he shared with the one he loved.

I admit, I shed a tear or two at this point in the film, but still now a day later, I can't get this part of the movie out of my head. I've realized that I'm at a point in my life where I too often feel it to be necessary to define myself by what material things I have, what I have accomplished for myself, and what my future plans are. My thirst to "be someone" has a tendency to sometimes take over my mind, actions, and motivation for achieving success.

Ellie's message to Mr. Fredricksen was simple: she had a fulfilling life because of those people whom she loved and those who loved her.

I'm having the time of my life out here, really! I wouldn't trade this time for anything. (Well, maybe a few days at home to see my brothers' baseball games!) I know that adventures such as the one I'm on right now have a purpose in life- to open up our eyes to different worlds in order to gain perspective, as well as experience. It's the chance of a lifetime that I am fortunate enough to get! Yet, I can't help but think how blessed I am, not because of the opportunity I have been given to come to New York to work and live in the city for the summer, but because of all of you who love and support me for just being me- Hallie. So as I near my halfway point of the summer, I want to say thanks to ALL of you for sharing this summer with me. I couldn't have made it this far without each of you! Keep reading, the best is yet to come!