The long awaited conclusion of my very wonderful week in NYC. Enjoy!
Wednesday (Evening).
Thursday.
These are not real..promise (mainly due to my extreme fear of both wrists AND needles).
Thank you all for joining me on this incredible journey. I hope that these images were able to accurately share the way that I saw this beautiful city with you. I promise I’ll get back to words for my next post. Until then, lots of love – Kaitlyn.
The third and NOT final post (sorry I lied) of NYC pictures. Enjoy!
Wednesday (Afternoon).
Proud to be from OH – IO!
Check back soon for the 4th and final (I mean it this time) post of pictures from The Big Apple.
<3 Kaitlyn
As promised part 2 of pictures from the one and only NYC.
Tuesday (Afternoon-Evening)
Wednesday (Morning-Afternoon)
Stop by soon to see pictures from the island and of course the 3rd and final part to this series :)
<3 Kaitlyn
I went to New York and fell in love <3 Small town life definitely has its perks; grass, space, but it’s not where I belong. Perhaps I’ll post some stories later, but for now, here it is, as promised..New York in pictures.
Part I.
Monday.
Tuesday (Morning).
Check back soon for the rest!
<3 Kaitlyn
So yes I just posted earlier, but here I am an hour and a half away from boarding a bus with my senior class headed to New York City. Basically I’m just trying to stay awake in hopes of making it to the school on time. So here I am, sooo super excited to leave this little village behind in exchange for the hustle and bustle of NYC. I cannot believe that in less than 24 hours my best friends and I will be in Times Square – it’s extraordinary really. I have spent my whole life dreaming of a visit there, a chance to see a show on Broadway, to catch my first glimpse of the ocean. Now’s my time. I thank God for this incredible opportunity to travel far beyond my everyday routines, to see a vastly different way of life, to learn from it and in turn grow as a person. I am not exactly sure what it is I should expect from this experience, what’s in store. But I do know this, that it will be an incredible week that I will remember for the rest of my life. That this is the last “field trip” I will ever take with my graduating class, the class of 2012. It’s bitter-sweet really, it feels like only yesterday we we’re 8th graders boarding the bus to Washington D.C. – same people, whole new adventure. Yes time flies, yes sometimes I wish I could speed it up, slow it down, learn to appreciate more of what I have before it’s gone. And right now I have a 12 hour bus ride with 50 other equally excited individuals. New York City, here we come! :)
I never, ever, post a naked post. But I am honestly at a loss for the perfect picture (shocking I know). I guess you’ll just have to wait and see what I can discover in the big apple.
<3 Kaitlyn
I finally got around to cleaning out my backpack from sophomore year (I’ll give you a few minutes to let that one sink in) when I ran across this – a long lost, untitled poem I had written during biology. I think that keeping it hidden for so long was a little gift from God, that he knew just when I’d need a pick me up, a reminder of the beauty in that which he created. Another gift? The freak snow day Monday which gave me the time to find it, and of course todays beautiful seventy degree weather. Thanks Ohio. So here it is, my own little secret masterpiece. A poem that made me long for summer and send a prayer of thanks to the big man up above.
*****
Step outside into fresh country air,
Gods’ beautiful creation awaits me there.
I close my eyes and breath it in,
then look around, my journey begins.
Down by the creek I sit in the dew,
dangle my toes in the waters so blue.
Squishing my fingers around in the muck,
finding the perfect size rock to chuck.
I roll up my sleeves and my jeans,
to wade in the coolness of the stream.
Splishing and splashing I run to the shore,
seeing these things like never before.
I spread out a blanket in the cool shade,
drying myself from the water I’d wade.
I close my eyes too exhausted for words,
finding slumber to the chirping of birds.
<3 Kaitlyn
Today I felt free. Today it was 70 degrees and I drove home with all my windows down and Tom Petty blaring. Today reminded me why I love spring – the hope, the promise. It isn’t just the new life, the budding trees and the warmer weather, it’s the reassurance that summer is just around the corner – freedom is almost here. Yes I realize it’s still February, and yes I know that this day was just a tease, but I liked it – a lot. 3 more months of highschool, 3 months until freedom, 3 months until summer and then only 3 months until college – change. And I’m ready, at least I think that I am; I guess I’ll just have to wait 3 more months to see.
It’s amazing what thoughts come out of warmer weather, where your mind wanders to when it’s finally given the chance to thaw.
This week has gone extremely fast. Now that I think about it, the closer I get to graduation, the faster they seem to go. It doesn’t even seem possible that I’m senior in highschool, that in five short months I’ll be an adult. In my head I’m still six years old, sitting in my daddy’s lap. I think that I’m ready to leave, to move on, but there are always doubts – fear. Fear in the unknown, fear in the future, but mostly fear in change. Public school is all I’ve ever known, to be plucked from it and thrown into the “real world” simply because you’ve reached a certain age is scary. But at the same time I am excited. Excited to move on to bigger, better things, excited to reach my full potential.
So here’s to life, to catching each and every moment before it slips away. <3
Soundtrack – Famous in a Small Town (Miranda Lambert)
*****
Today I felt like being personal, sharing the place that has made me who I am. I live in a small town – village. For those of you who don’t know, you can’t be considered a town unless you have a population of at least 1,000 people. There is only one “town” in my county. I attend school in the middle of a cornfield – literally. I have a graduating class of 59 students, all of whom I know on a first name basis. We have a drive your tractor to school day each year, and most people come to class in work-boots. Yes I stick out like a sore thumb, but this is my home, these are my people. I show animals at my county fair (heck I was even Fair Queen), cheer at highschool football games, love riding in truck beds, enjoy country music, never where shoes, have seen and experienced serious farmers tans, eat farm fresh eggs, chicken, pork and beef, go creeking, camp out under the stars, relieve myself in the occasional cornfield, ice-skate on ponds, know how to line dance (kind of), live for fair week and the list goes on and on. Maybe this sounds “hick” – uncivilized, but it’s not. To me these things symbolize freedom – running wild. I wouldn’t trade the feelings of riding in the bed of a truck – wind blowing through your hair, sitting around a bonfire with friends – long past the setting sun, for anything. Sure living in such a rural place has is disadvantages, but those are greatly outweighed. I love being here, connected with this community, having an understanding for how we get our food, an appreciation for what hard work truly is. I think it’s important for us all to find a connection with such things, to experience them first hand. You don’t have to be “country” to be country – I am living proof of that, you just have to have a certain respect for nature, hard work, God and the simple things in life. You have to realize that money can’t buy you the things that truly matter – friends, family. You have to know how to have fun outside, inside, away from fancy clubs, restaurants and theaters (simply because there aren’t any). But most of all you have to understand and appreciate that everyone has your back. Small town (village) living may not be where I see myself in the future, but it was where I lived my past, am living my present. It is a huge part of me, one that I will never lose – not that I’d want to. I have learned so much here, have grown to appreciate the little behind the scene things that most never even realize exist. But most importantly, I have made all of my memories here, my friends, my family are here, everything that has made up who I am is here; and for that I am truly grateful. Grateful that I was fortunate enough to experience the freedoms that only us “country” kids can, grateful that I am not scared to both love and eat animals, and grateful for the safety that only a small community can provide. This is my taste of home, this is where I began – the rest is still unwritten.
A little taste of country. Give it a listen, who knows maybe you’ll fall in love?
Why Don’t We Just Dance (Josh Turner)
As She’s Walking Away (Zac Brown Band)
The House That Built Me (Miranda Lambert)
Love Done Gone (Billy Currington)
I Don’t Want This Night to End (Luke Bryan)
Hip to My Heart (The Band Perry)
Working on a Tan (Brad Paisley)
Somewhere Else (Toby Keith)
Give me Summer.
Give me campfires, campouts, and endless nights under the stars.
Give me late night laughter, discussions and swims.
Give me warmth, tan-lines and sunlight till nine each night.
Give me freedom.
Give me barefeet, sundresses and messy hair.
Give me roadtrips with friends, and family, the beach.
Give me bug spray, bruises, adventure.
Give me no curfew.
Give me beauty, wonder, vacation.
Give me mornings to sleep and evenings to live.
Give me memories, magic and mountain dew.
Summer feel free to hurry back, we miss you here in Ohio.
Until Infinity 