Dreamy August Days

August might be one of my favorite months. I love how lazy it gets right before school starts! I even love how hot it gets, like summer is having one last hurrah before fall takes over (which is one of my favorite seasons!). And my August has been PERFECT so far. 

The first day of this month I went to heaven. Basically. I went to the floral district! Seriously, it was the most dreamy floral wonderland. I could have spent all day there! Although, I actually can't as most of the shops in the floral district close at 10am. Because all the florists in the city get up bright and early to get their flowers, and then rush back to their shops to have the arrangements done for the day. If you love flowers, it is so worth the early morning to see them! We went at 8am, so we could have a few hours to enjoy the shops, but I'm already planning to return extra early so I can see everything in full swing!

^Just look at those ranunculus! My favorite flower in the whole world! (I just love spring flowers - daffodils, iris, tulips, ranunculus... so dreamy!)^

^Yes those are all real flowers. And yes I was in a total blissful daze - hence the awestruck expression^

^Just buckets and buckets of flowers lining the streets!^

^I loved this little bundle of flowers! They have such a country charm to them!^

^My cute friend Alex and I bough the most lovely garden roses! If only they lasted even longer!^

^Following our adventure in the floral district, we made our way to the Upper East Side for the famed macaroons at Laudree. Now I've only had one macaroon before, at Buchon Bakery (delicious), but even I could tell these were something special.^

^And they had the cutest shop!^

^The girls and our delicious treats!^

^I tried Salted Caramel, Rose Petal, and Pistachio - surprisingly Pistachio was my favorite! (I tend to love all things salted carmel, but I guess it's a flavor that doesn't translate as well to macaroon)^

^Alex got a darling box full of flavors - I also really liked the vanilla bean!^

^The Upper East Side is incredible. Look at this gorgeous garden we stumbled across! (It's for the Frick Museum)^

^My cute roses all arranged!^

^Then later that evening Camille & Justin, Lauren & Brian, Jani & James, and Clark & I all went to Broadway bites! They had a bunch of food stands featuring some popular local restaurants - we got some brick oven pizza and a crepe! But there were lots of other great things to try! (Oh and Camille and I snagged this picture because both our boys had to leave early)^

^The next day started out as such a bummer - I woke up early to wait in line for Les Mis rush tickets (Clark and I had been dying to go to a broadway show, but I hadn't had time to wait in the lines because of my temp jobs). Unfortunately, after waiting for 2 hours in the rain, they ran out of tickets. But at least I saw this cool Ferrari race!^

^Then Clark and I were going to join Richard & Mani for Shakespeare in the park - have a little picnic in line and then enjoy the show. Except I forgot they are SUPER lame about holding people's spots in line. So that plan was foiled as well. I was really bummed - I had wanted to take advantage of Clark's day off to plan something really great. Luckily he was so positive and suggested we move our picnic over to Belvedere Castle, enjoy a walk around Central Park, and dessert at Magnolia's Bakery. I'm so lucky to have him around to keep me positive!^ 

^And I was so happy Richard & Mani were so willing to have fun despite our plans falling through^

^During our adventure we saw a whole family of raccoons playing in the lake!^

^The next day Clark and I both had work. But that evening we went down to Battery Park City because we both haven't explored too much of Lower Manhattan! It was so fun! And just look at this view of Liberty & Ellis Islands!^

^On top of the Irish Hunger Memorial - It's a neat little piece of the Irish countryside, right smack dab in the middle of the city!^

^Gorgeous views from the walk along the tip of the island^

^After eating dinner in Tribeca, we made it all the way up to Washington Square Park where we enjoyed listening to some street performers! I had the best time just chatting with Clark and exploring this amazing city. Walking around with Clark makes me love it here even more!

^Then Camille and I made the trek out to Dough. OH my yummy! They have such tasty doughnuts! I got their salted caramel chocolate doughnut and it was very rich. I think next time I want to try their famous blood orange flavor (they weren't making any when we went)^

^Thanks for coming with me Camille! It was so fun to see a little bit more of Brooklyn!^