North Fork Weekend

Last month we were invited to join friends for a weekend on the North Fork of Long Island. The other couples we were with both have children, too, and it was so neat to see our friends as parents and get to know two kiddos that are a year and two years older than Lizzy. We have lots of chasing to look forward to in our future!

It was a low key trip with dinners at home and lots of chatting and wine, but we did explore the area a bit. We had lunch at First and South in Greenport and also the Lunch Truck at North Fork Table and Inn - both were delicious and had outdoor space for the littles to run around.

One afternoon, the ladies left the babies at home with our husbands and went to Konokosta Winery, where all these pictures were taken. The setting is unbelievable, and the wine is good, too (though other reviewers seem to think it's not as good as other options in the area - we weren't feeling too picky!). On the way out, we stopped at one of the many farm stands in the area to pick up all kinds of goodies before taking the ferry home, which made it a really easy trip to do from Boston.

Summer, I'm missing you already.

Feasting, Sleeping, Beaching

Happy Friday to you!!!

I seem to have fallen into the habit of posting sleeping baby pictures. Are we okay with that? Lizzy's just started rolling over, and when she does it in her sleep, she just sleeeeeeeeeeeeps and sleeps forever and it is glorious. Also, this gives you a decent view of her mullet-ish hairdo. I want to cut it off, but Peter thinks this is mean (!??!), so please weigh in if you agree with me. Just kidding, you can also weigh in if you think we should keep her party in the back hair going strong.

Peter's students came back this week and Lizzy had four days in a row at daycare, so even though it was a short week, two thirds of the household are very tired. I'm the most awake one! This hasn't been the case for four months and a few days (a.k.a. since Lizbert arrived), but it's nice to carry the torch of enthusiasm for the family once again.

Tonight we're doing a slightly lower key version of our annual back to school feast. There's a bottle of Sofia in the fridge, Peter's picking up a frozen yogurt pie from Cabots, and I'm going to make some kind of seafood pasta dish like this, but with more seafood :) Peter and I might get really crazy and watch one whole 22 minute episode of The Spoils of Babylon.

Tomorrow, we're hoping to squeeze in one more beach day, with a stop at the farm stand for cider donuts and corn on the cob. I haven't had my fill of corn yet at all, and this delicious looking polenta is calling my name. Then we'll probably do boring homeowner things on Sunday like mow the lawn and weed the "gardens" (quotes because you'd have to be very generous to look upon our plot o' land and think garden).

And maybe (!), we'll get to become an aunt and uncle this weekend! We're anxiously awaiting the arrival of our niece, who I absolutely can't wait to meet.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend! Perhaps you should have an end of summer feast yourself, regardless of any ties to the school calendar!

Postcards from Martha's Vineyard

I've written about Martha's Vineyard a lot over the years, so I'll try to keep this pretty snappy and just share a great new-to-us find this year - the Galley in Menemsha. Excellent seafood shack with reasonable prices and a lovely open patio in the back where you can sit and watch the boats float. Delightful.

The only other new thing this year was Lizzy! Going to Martha's Vineyard every summer is such a bright spot for me and my family, and it's one of the things I dreamed of sharing with my kiddos one day. Even though she certainly won't remember this trip, it was just so fun to be there with her - taking her to our favorite beaches, letting her taste a nibble of syrup during breakfast at Art Cliff, and going on her first ride on the carousel. This is somewhat over the top in terms of sap, but I did feel, over and over, like I couldn't believe how lucky I was to be there with all my favorite people, including this precious little (but kind of big...) baby who I get to live with and take on adventures and introduce to all kinds of wonderful things.

Now we're off to the Berkshires to kiss this beautiful summer goodbye. Hope you all have a lovely long weekend!!!

Wedding Scouting

I mentioned earlier this summer that my sister and her long-time boyfriend got engaged. We are still over the moon! Last month we were able to join them on part of a wedding scouting weekend. They checked out places all over Rhode Island and then a few by us on the North Shore.

They decided on the Crane Estate, pictured here. For the last few years, we've been heading up this way to take advantage of our beach pass, but we hadn't been inside the house until this visit. Stunning, right?

They'll have their ceremony there - hopefully outside, if the weather is good, on a rolling green lawn that overlooks the water.

There's also a gorgeous inn on the property that we'll get to stay at. Hooray for wonderful celebrations!!!

P.S. Hopefully my last post didn't have you fearing for my sanity...we're doing much better, slowly adjusting to the new normal.

A Week in Maine

Earlier this month, we were lucky enough to join Peter's family for a week in Maine. The house was steps away from the beach, with a big deck in the back that looked right at the water. Heavenly!

It was a low-key week with lots of walking at the beach, big family dinners, and time spent making crazy faces at Lizzy in a attempt to make her smile and laugh. On the first night, we celebrated my 30th birthday with bubbly, lobsters, and cake - a completely delicious way to start this new decade.

We went into Portland for lunch and shopping one afternoon, and took home a box of potato donuts from Holy Donut. These are more like fried dough than donuts, but completely yummy nonetheless.

Peter and I went back into town later in the week for a belated birthday celebration, leaving Lizzy at home with her Nana, aunt, and uncle. We had the best time, first hitting up Eventide for oysters, and then Hunt and Alpine Club for fun cocktails and more substantial snacks. Lizzy was a hungry little gremlin by the time we came home, but they assured us that she was mostly well behaved while we were out :)

Summer is just the best-est, am I right?!

Mount Auburn Cemetery

One of the easiest things to do with a newborn around involves going out for walks and mini hikes. We've done many laps around our neighborhood, but we've also gone to the Arnold Arboretum, the Charles River Reservation, Crystal Lake, and the Cove in Auburndale.

Last week, we went to check out the lovely Mount Auburn Cemetery. There's ample free parking (it's a cemetery, after all, so people need to be able to come visit the sites of loved ones easily). The grounds are very large, and there are beautiful paths to take that lead through gardens, thick trees, and little lakes.

On the way home, I popped into Sofra for some of their fancy hummus. I'd heard so many wonderful things about it! I'm excited to go back for lunch sometime soon.

It's been great

I'm in the final days of my twenties, and I've been thinking about what a wonderful decade it's been. It started and ended with a bang. A few months after I turned 20, I hopped on a plane to study abroad in Italy, which made me feel like every day life can be a little adventure, and definitely fostered an interest in food and cooking that's grown and grown over the years. A few months before turning 30, I got to meet my sweet Elisabeth Mae, which was just about the most fun ever.

And in between - oh my, the in between. I went to Namibia, interned at the Treasury Department, met and fell in love with Peter, got my first grown up job in D.C., moved to Manhattan, survived a crazy job in book publicity (barely), moved to Brooklyn, made wonderful new friends, kept in touch with wonderful old friends, got engaged, went to Brazil, planned our wedding, went on our honeymoon, moved to Boston, bought our house, started working in higher ed, began grad school, and just generally tried to enjoy my days with lots of reading and a little bit of gin drinking and many made-up celebrations with Peter.

It's been great. 

And now, I am beyond excited to begin an incredible new set of adventures in this next decade. I will get to see friends and family celebrate their marriages and expamding families, continue creating a loving, lovely home with Peter, take new leaps professionally, exercise my creative muscles every now and again, and have a front row seat for watching Lizzy grow up.

It's going to be great. 

Happy Days

We are back from a not quite vacation/not quite staycation in the Berkshires. It was glorious! The week started on a serious high note. The first Saturday we were there was my sister's birthday, and she and her boyfriend were coming up to go to Tanglewood to celebrate. As soon as they walked in the door, she flashed us her sparkly new diamond ring. Hooray!

Joel has been around nearly as long as Peter has, so he's been regarded as a member of our family for ages. I adore my sister, of course, but I love Joel almost as much, and am so happy he'll become my official brother-in-law. I am so excited for a wonderful family wedding to celebrate these two next year! (Lizzy's mesmerized by Sarah's new ring above...)

On our anniversary, we took Lizzy to the Mount. It was super hot (very strange for the Berkshires!), but it was so lovely to walk around the grounds. They have a new set of sculptures up on the grounds. The one above was my favorite - it's called Kimonos. I thought butterflies, but you know, kimonos works, too.

That night we left Lizzy with my parents while we went out to dinner at Prairie Whale, which was recently included in the New York Times 36 Hours in the Berkshires. We loved it! Delicious cocktails, yummy food, and a very cute, casual dining room. And we only sent one probing text to my parents while we were out (which they didn't even respond to because they were both fawning over her during bath time, ha!).

The Fourth was a rainy disaster there, so we all went out for sushi at Bizen - another new-to-us spot that we really enjoyed. No fireworks, though, which is sort of tragic. Peter's going to be on the look-out for other ones this summer that we could see.

The next day we took a drive to Ashintully Gardens. There are gardens at the bottom that have a sort of back-to-the-wild look about them, and you can do a short hike up to the ruins of an old mansion - sadly, all that remains after a fire are those columns above, but the view of the Berkshires hills is lovely. 

All in all, it was a fantastic week. We've been going to the Berkshires for years, but my parent's new house is in south county (instead of north, where their condo was), and it feels like a whole new world for us to discover down there. Hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July!