pieces of my heart

i feel like pieces of my heart are in another place...a large city at that, for this country girl who calls Montana home.

a few weeks ago i was asked to join my dear friends in the most amazing trip for a week to New York City!!  it truly was a dream-time journey into 'another world' i've never before experienced.

i have so many amazing photos and stories, but will share with you a few, just a 'taste' of the flavors of this incredible journey.

we stayed in the most magnificent of the New York hotels...the renown St. Regis.  each detail of the elegant decor and service in this place made you feel as if you were royalty! getting out of our limo the first night and seeing elton john in the doorway, and terri spelling in the elevator, let you know you were in for delightful surprises, let alone the magnificent fresh spring floral displays everywhere, and original maxfield parrish art lining the walls

the streets amazed me with the most mesmerizing architecture, and window displays filled my artistic pallet with new inspiration and awe.

we dined on some of the most ethnic, authentic, delicious cuisine, awakening taste buds i never knew were there!!  from the most elegant french restaurants (our fav is la grenoille), to quaint side street bistros, even dining at the incredible italian restaurant 'joanne's trattoria', named after lady gaga's mother, which she gifted to her parents.

one of the most wonderful of days was spent at the magnificent metropolitan museum of art.  it was hard to grasp that we were standing in the presence of the original works of william adoulf bougereau, and klimt here pictured, european paintings from 1230 to 1800 (like boticelli, rubens, rembrandt, vermeer, goya, etc.), 19th-early 20th century paintings  of picasso, matisse, degas, cezanne, renoir, monet, van gogh, gauguin...and so many more of the master's works... room after room of the greatest art in the world!  i could have spent a week there alone!

we walked from the hotel many blocks away to central park, as the misty rain was falling, which made the park seem even more enchanted and mysterious. 

 trees were budding and flowers blooming everywhere as the fresh, fragrant scents of spring wafted through the air, drawing through a maze of pathways where we got lost for hours!

we ended up at in strawberry fields...the memorial for john lennon donated by yoko.

then it was amazing to attend the longest running Broadway musical ever (of 23 yrs!)...the phantom of the opera!   words cannot describe the powerful special effects and elegance of this production!

next we so enjoyed the delightful production 'anything goes'...where we visited with my host's friend and actor in the play, robert creighton, who took us backstage afterwards, then we enjoyed dinner together with him in an elegant italian courtyard of the Barbetta. i think my favorite performance was War Horse at the Lincoln Center. what a majestic work of imagination, capturing the love of a boy and his horse, in a historical setting, with the magic of puppetry.  what an unforgetable, inspirational, deeply moving experience it was to witness this heartfelt production!

then it came....one of the highlights of this trip...attending 10th annual celebration of 'poetry and the creative mind.' many celebrities gathered to read their favorite poetry and to share personal experiences in their lives.  in this photo you see the most lovely meryl streep reading, and seated is claire danes, john wesley harding & brooke shields. what a special event this was to be apart of!

 to spend such an eventful week with my beloved friends, allison, doug & brooke, who so graciously 'showed me the town' with all their love & generosity, i couldn't have been more blessed! we spent wonderful moments with many of their friends, and even got to see my niece who lives in soho, and an old classmate from highschool. it couldn't have been a more wonderful first visit to the big apple! 

all too soon we were in flight back homeward, with the last beams of a full moon dipping over the city.

back to the wide open spaces where the buffalo and antelope roam.

back to the little town of less than 6,000 people in the NW corner of Montana, where the one main street of town is for the most part, free from the hustle and bustle of the fast lane.

our little town at the base of 'big mountain' ski resort with towering views of God's creation,

is considered by many to be the last-best place.

big sky country

home, sweet home!