"I've got dreams in hidden places and extra miles for when I'm feeling blue"....

One of the things that keeps my love for New York going strong is that we never run out of places to explore, and by places I don't mean Bryant Park or the Statue of Liberty. The places I'm referring to are those off the beaten path (which is easier said than done in a city of so many). As much as I love New York, it can be an exhausting place to live. Discovering these hidden gems does so much to revive me. They fill me with excitement, hope, passion, life, and dreams, and they refresh my soul. When we set out to shoot these photos, it was the last thing that I wanted to do. It was cold, grey, and ugly out (totally not what you'd expect for a Northeast winter, right?! Ha!). We were both over our typical shooting locations so we set out to find something new, but we kept having the worst luck. People lurking around, lack of parking, a bus driver yelling at us that we were in "bus only" lot when there was no sign indicating so....I was more than ready to give up. And then we saw it. It was just a glimmer at first, a sliver of land jutting out into the water, but it was a sliver of land that looked like a gorgeous park. It was hidden behind rows of industrial buildings with no clear indication on how to get there, or really what it even was. After making several wrong attempts to reach this hidden locale, we finally arrived. Mr. RC and I excitedly walked what we found out was a brand new park, exploring the fresh landscape and city vantage point, all while discussing life things. Feelings of gratefulness washed over us not only for discovering this magical new place, or for the city we call home, or for a to-do list item turned into an exhilarating afternoon outing, but for realizing that the journey to this park, was similar to the journey of life. It was difficult to get to and going there wasn't what we had planned, but the obstacles were worth climbing over and the result was far better than anything we could have designed.

I hope you all have a great week and thanks for reading!