The whole Martin clan came to Boston this weekend to move in my sister, aka my and Mike’s roomie for the summer. We adventured around Copley Square on Saturday, including a stop at Restoration Hardware and, OMG. I’m moving in. Mike told me 1000000 times I would love it there, but obvi I didn’t listen until I actually went to shop visit. Beeeaa-uuuty.
On Sunday we spent the day in Marblehead, with perfect weather and an impromptu photo shoot or two (see last photo). Family fun for all 😉
Hi friends! How was your Memorial Day weekend??
Mike and I took the train to Maine on Saturday to meet our friends Liz and Dave in Portland. We hit up Shipyard and Duckfat (obv), then headed to camp for some good old fashioned relaxation. We sat around the fire, made peanut butter cup s’mores, visited Freeport to hit up the JCrew outlet 50% sale (!!), stumbled upon a field of frolicking baby cows (truly!), accidentally-on-purpose wore red, white and blue pants to showcase our Memorial Day spirit, and had a cookout on Monday just as the sun finally peeked out. Another awesome Maine weekend!
I’m baaaack! I’m going to try my hand at a more casual approach to blogging – more life updates/photos, fewer recipes, same amount of crazy stories of my adventures. I hope you’ll stick around!
Mike’s parents came to visit this past weekend, and we took a day trip up to Rockport and Gloucester. We hit up Halibut Point State Park, ate lobster rolls by the ocean, and just be-bopped around. It was a beautiful day!
This past weekend Mike and I headed to NYC to hang with some of our favorite college peeps, and as always, it was a whirlwind weekend of food, friends, and FUN! We spent all day Saturday boppin’ around the city looking for the most delicious eats with my bestie Alix – we went to Doughnut Plant (finally!), Balthazar Bakery (felt JUST like Paris), Rice to Riches (graham cracker rice pudding FTW), and Momofuku Milk Bar (All. Everything.) Fooooood comaaaaa.
On Saturday night we went to a friend’s engagement party then to a Cornell young alumni event at the Bowery Hotel, which meant getting all fancy and catching up with so many people we hadn’t seen since college! On Sunday, we hit up Artichoke for the YUMMIEST pizza – they make a pizza with spinach and artichoke dip baked on top. It is ev-a-ree-thang and more. We took a nice long walk back (and obvi stopped for bagels) to Alix’s apartment before heading to our bus back to Boston. I love wandering around the city and just taking it all in; it’s my favorite way to explore!
More NYC visits, friends! MORE!
Ho ho ho and Merrrrryyyy Christmas, my friends! I am in the midst of happily being snowed in to my house and haven’t left my couch (or my new bunny slippers) in over a day – except to go out for hot cocoa. Pri.or.i.ties. Here are some {lots} of pictures from the past few days of Christmas-ing 🙂
My aunt made 22 kinds of Christmas goodies. Twenty-two. Can one person fit 22 cookies in their belly, you ask? Only if they’ve been training since the age of three, I tell you…
All the cookies will be miiiiiiine.
This year we went to Utica the weekend before Christmas to spend time with my extended family. Mike and I stayed at my aunt and uncle’s log cabin in the woods, and we woke up in the morning to freshly fallen snow, a wood-fire stove and lemon-ricotta pancakes. Dreeeeamy.
All the cousins with Buscia! She’s the cutest.
After visiting with everyone in Utica, Mike and I headed to his house (along with 10 family members + 3 dogs) for Christmas round three! There were Christmas crackers and tree decorating and adorable puppies in reindeer antlers. And, an ice cream maker! YES! Ben and Jerry’s, heeeere I come.
Finally, I headed home for [real] Christmas. We had our traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner, went to mass, and battled it out for the Christmas pickle. Peter {brother} found it in four seconds. As ALWAYS.
How was your Christmas, friends? Anyone else want to join me on a cookie detox?
(Just kidding. Christmas or not, cookies are life.)
((But I will join you in eating 10x more veggies.))
Apparently this year I made it my goal to experience fall in as much of New England as possible. Last weekend Mike and I headed up to Stowe, VT with our friends Liz and Dave for some autumn fun; we spent Saturday poking around Burlington (hello, Ithaca NY on crack!), where we stumbled upon the BEST farmer’s market (complete with thousands of samples, a pumpkin sweet potato fritter, hippie children dancing, and a morbidly obese bulldog being pulled around in a wagon) and hit up the Magic Hat Brewery. On Sunday we explored the uber-creepy Smuggler’s notch, then went to Cabot (FREE CHEESE), a perfectly Vermont cider mill (pictured above), and Ben and Jerry’s! A trip full of foliage and eating, just how I like it 🙂
(Sorry, Liz, about that spot of sunshine you are birthing)
{photo credit to Liz!}
If you can figure out what’s going on in this picture I’ll give you a prize.
Have I ever mentioned that I love taking pictures of foliage/pumpkins/gourds/leaves/trees/sunrises/fall things? Ever? No?
Well then YOU’RE in for a surprise!
Last weekend I got to tag along on Mike’s firm’s fall outing in Meredith, NH. We had the cutest room with the cutest little balcony for watching the sunrise over the lake, found a lunch place with deeeelicious butternut squash-apple-bacon bisque, and spent Saturday afternoon driving around looking for all the best fall photo ops (covered bridge and pumpkin farm included). We also managed to snag some cider donuts straight from the fryer and make friends with a giant pig named Munchkin. All in all another perfect fall weekend!
This past weekend Mike and I headed to upstate NY to relive the good old college glory days at Cornell’s homecoming. We packed as much nostalgia into 48 hours as possible and I’m STILL recovering. As much as I hate to admit it, we’re definitely not in college anymore…
Here are some snapshots from our weekend of fun!
Football game with my sister, carrying on the legacy!
Let’s go Red!
We went to the Avicii concert. I felt like I was 21 again.
But not. At all.
Before heading back to Boston, we managed to squeeze in a quick trip to the farm in Mike’s home town to get some pumpkins!
*Sparkly* shoes for a *sparkly* weekend. Uhhhh huh.
It’s fall! It’s fall! It’s really really fall! #favoriteseasonhappiness
Um, can I be an undergrad again?
{Sunset over the slope at Cornell}
Here are a few more photos from our upstate NY adventures. Please excuse the 100 animal photos…it’s Wildlife Wednesday???
{Toad friend we found outside my grandparents cabin in the Adirondacks. Photo credit to Mike!}
{Hummingbird at the feeder. Kudos to Mike (again! Wildlife photographer extraordinaire!) for this shot}
{Grandparents’ cabin, but we call it “camp”. I think this an upstate NY/Maine thing? Either way, most relaxing place in.the.WORLD.}
{Archway at Cornell}
{Inside the Cornell war memorial. Mhmm I love my old school yes I do!}
{Big sister/little sister Cornellians. Go Emily GO!}
{Clock tower}
{Last Cornell one. Swear.}
{The definition of upstate NY. Please note the two cows in the back are MOOOOOing at me.}
{Mike and I at the sailing club on Otsego Lake}
{Twilight on Otsego Lake, Cooperstown}
{I apologize that this is blurry and out-of-focus but UM…this is the night sky at home. Look at all those STARS!!}
It’s official: I’m never coming back to Boston. It’s too pretty here.
(Except that I am. Seeya Saturday!)
Hello from upstate NY!! Life these days has consisted of 10AM wake-up calls, daily ice cream cones, nature walks, and zero obligations.
It.
Is.
Glorious.
I’ve been soaking up every moment of family and fun, but I *am* looking forward to getting back to Boston and on some sort of real-life schedule at the end of this week.
Until then…more ice cream, please.
{Jersey shore sunset}
{Colorful Adirondack chairs in Clayton, NY}
{Vintage signs in Clayton, NY}
{Monarchs everywhere!}
{Giant windmills}
{Upstate farmland}
{Playing in the river like 10-year-olds}
{Picture perfect pond}
{Stole adopted someone’s dog for the afternoon}
{Can we keep him????}
Great news! As you’re reading this…I’M FINALLY BAKING SOMETHING. One month without recipes is toooo long. Expect a recipe coming your way in the near future 🙂
Pssstt…what do we think of these photo posts? Do you like them?
The Sweet Life 