New York in the Fall

It’s fall and I’m in New York with Lisa. We made plans for this trip more than a year ago and we met up late Friday night. Saturday and Sunday the weather was very fall like, with some overcast skies and even a fair amount of rain on Sunday. We tootled Times Square, popped in to see a movie (after being wet all afternoon) - Sully, which was fun to see in NY, and we shopped a little, too. On Sunday we went to the American Museum of Natural History and wow, what a place that is!! According to their website, it’s more than 1,500,000 square feet of space to learn. Lisa and I spent easily 3-4 hours there and still did not see everything. I especially enjoyed the geology exhibit and loved seeing so much from California and even Placer Country as it pertains to the gold on display. This is going on my list of places to go back to with Mason, hopefully before he graduates from high school. It is absolutely a must-see if you visit NY.




We made a list of the things we really wanted to do while we are here some of which include roof top bars & nightlife, shopping the wholesale stores open to the public, riding bikes and the carousel in Central Park, seeing a show or two, and visiting the new Brookfield Mall at the site of the World Trade Center. We are staying in a little apartment in the meat packing district which is right across the street from Chelsea Market. There is just so much to see and do that is not on the normal NYC tourist list, there is no way we will do it all. With that said, we have already covered lots and we have another 3 days to play. I’ll wrap this up with a realization I had last night before falling asleep. After a full day of fun that wrapped up at a gay country bar we hopped in a cab and headed back to our little place, we decided to stop for dinner and that was one of the best meals of my life. I learned many years ago that there are restaurants that have great food and no atmosphere, great atmosphere and mediocre food, neither of what’s important, and finally, very few that have both amazing food and incredible atmosphere - We had dinner at Tao and I have a very clear understanding of the michelin star ratings for restaurants. I don’t know if they have stars, but they should! So the food was incredible, you get that, but my realization was this, Lisa and I were captivated from the time we walked in the door. We were greeted with big smiles, got right in and the experience moved along as we laughed, chatted, and sipped our drinks. By the time we had finished our meal, it occurred to me that had not thought about our phones, friends on social media, or anyone else for that matter. The
environment we were in had us completely present and enjoying what was happening right there and then. I suppose I snapped out of it at one point when I chuckled and noted that we had darn near cleaned our plates and didn’t event think to take a photo of how beautiful they looked when we were served. Just for fun, I snapped a photo of them having been thoroughly enjoyed and we paid our bill and left. I might note, for the meal and experience we had just enjoyed, in New York, the bill was under $100! With that, I will leave you with this:

Energy of intention

Life can often leave you feeling stuck or trapped in an undesirable position. Yet no matter how confining your situation may be, there is always a positive way forward.

Even though your options may be very limited, you do still have some powerful choices. Even in a difficult, highly challenging situation, there are real and present possibilities for great improvement.

The first thing to do is to refuse to see yourself as a victim. By taking full responsibility for your situation, you give yourself the power to change it for the better.

Next, instead of fretting about the way things are, develop a clear and compelling vision of how you want your life to be. Somewhere within the realm of possibility is a realistic goal that will make things much better for you.

Find that goal, focus on it, refine it, and make it so desirable that you cannot help but move toward it. Fill your awareness with your vision of a positive outcome, working enthusiastically and relentlessly to find and follow the way.

You've spent your entire life making things happen. Take control of the energy of your intention, and get yourself where you choose to be.

Ralph Marston - The Daily Motivator