Thanks to one of the raywenderlich.com authors -> here's a nice NSDIctionary category extension that easily turns json data into convenient dictionaries toJSON: can be used on an NSDIctionary instance to get JSON data

nsdictionaryjson.m

// extend NSdictionary (foundation) class
@interface NSDictionary(JSONCategories)
+(NSDictionary *)dictionaryWithContentsOfJSONURLString:(NSString *)urlAddress;
-(NSData *)toJSON;
@end

@implementation NSDictionary(JSONCategories)
+(NSDictionary *)dictionaryWithContentsOfJSONURLString:(NSString *)urlAddress
{
    NSData *data = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL URLWithString:urlAddress]];
    
    __autoreleasing NSError *error = nil;
    id result = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:kNilOptions error:&error];
    if (error !=nil) return nil;
    return result;
}

// use this to call on an NSDictionary instnace to get JSON Data out of it
-(NSData *)toJSON
{
    NSError *error = nil;
    id result = [NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:self options:kNilOptions error:&error];
    
    if(error !=nil ) return nil;
    return result;
}