"The best part of life is when your family becomes your friends, and your friends becomes your family" - Danica Whitfield

i know i showed you photos of our trip to NY yesterday, but i couldn't help and write a special post for the girl who made NY that much more magical.

 {doesn't this Texan girl scream tourist in her gloves and trainers?! ha}

me and Karina met a year ago thanks to blogging-- oh the wonders of blogging -- and she instantly felt like family. I knew that when we met (which would be the moment i landed at JFK because this gem of a friend to us rented a car to pick us up!) it would be seamless-- like you were meeting any family member at the arrivals gate. 

in fact, when we were eating with meg she couldn't believe that we were girls that just met Saturday when i flew in!

Her 7 year old (though he'll tell you he's 7 and 3 quarters) Miguelito was a true bonus. Just as sweet as can be and so well mannered. To see Kary with her son, you can't help but smile and hope to be the kind of Mom she is one day. There are no words to tell you how much i fell head over heels for Miguelito. 

Karina not only shared her beautiful home but also her family. She was a most gracious hostess, patiently taking us to each of our must-see list as 1st time visitors to the Big Apple and thanks to her we saw everything we wanted to and then some! (like the copious amounts of magnolia cupcakes + eating pizza every.single.day)

She's a beautiful person with a big heart. You can easily tell it from reading her blog, but in person... wow. I could go on and on how much we both LOVE Kary & Miguelito and obviously have :) but let's just say we are blessed to know them and call them family.

and we already can't wait to see them again!

with my older sister maria & her husband frank and us in Times Square 

with her sister jessica on the Brooklyn Bridge

 i mean summer even said she wanted to steal little Miguelito away so i know i'm not totally biased ;)

 this is exactly how we were the whole four days... inseparable. 

Kary as my pappa told you on the phone... Wichita Falls is no NYC, but our home is always welcome to you all. 

Muchas Gracias for everything mi dulce amiga!!! i love you & miguelito more than words... "more than all of outer space" xoxo

p.s. i love that the scarves me and twinkie are wearing are ones Karina had sent us for christmas. 

New York, I love you.

we had such a magical and busy time experiencing all NYC has to offer (including meeting some of you fabulous girls!) that i seriously had to cut down our hundreds of photos. 

we were incredibly lucky to have Karina share not only her home but her wonderful family with us. who am i kidding, she is family... from the very start when we met a year ago on blogger we felt that way and all four days we were in NYC, we were all inseparable. I'll gush about her tomorrow but for now i had to share bits and pieces of mine and twinkie's trip!

the first night we were in NY, Kary took us all around the wonder that is Time Square 

while in NY, i also had a blog/real life dream come true... i finally got to meet a kindred spirit, the beautiful meg fee. we had super yummy organic vegan dishes at Candle Cafe.

i love this photo because obviously i'm smitten with her, but it truly shows how fun it was to meet someone you feel like you know (as she pointed out, it was as if we were in "freshman 101" together when we first starting this blogging world). I am so thankful that even as her blog grew to the thousands (because how powerful are her words? like this recent post... oh perfection), she is so down to earth which made me adore her even more. 

we were so sad to miss the start of the blogger meet-up in Central Park (thanks to the Sunday train schedule out of Hawthorne, NY were we were staying at-- near to my older sister's work conference) but thankful to meet the girls that were still around.

i was glad to finally meet Summer!

i love this photo of marianne and lady liberty 

and! how is this for a NY experience? i got interviewed in Battery Park by WPIX-TV. ha! (too bad i wasn't wearing any make-up!) It was so funny because the other girls ran so fast as soon as they saw the news crew but being a former reporter, he didn't have to ask me twice (we laughed about this!). It was pretty symbolic to be visiting NY during such an announcement.

and if we're going to do all the sights of NY, i insisted we get a sister's photo with the Naked Cowboy!!! (that's our older sister Maria next to me and kary) i LOVE Kary's expression when she saw us do the grabbing. 

it's amazing how fast four days goes and how much you cram into them when you're seeing NY for the first time. 

i wish we had more time to meet up with everyone which is all the more reason to start planning our next trip-- especially when we did all the sight seeing on this one. 

So for all the fabulous NYC bloggers i didn't get to meet this trip, next time let's promise! xo