The Festival of Trees in Wolfeboro NH

On December 15, 2016December 12, 2016 By careofmonIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Wolfeboro NH is one of the adorable New England towns on Lake Winnepesaukee. It is the home of Mitt Romney, Brewster Academy (boarding school made up of whitewashed colonial homes and a seriously amazing boathouse right on the lake), many antique stores, quaint shops, and the Wright Museum. The Wright Museum exhibits a great collection of WWII memorabilia, and around this time of year, over 60 decorated Christmas trees!!! The Christmas trees are decorated by various organizations in the area as part of the Wolfeboro Festival of Trees.

The charities benefitting from donations to have a tree and donations from patrons are going to the Child Advocacy Center of Carroll County and the Global Awareness Local Action this year. Different charities are chosen every year to be the recipients of funds raised. There were holiday cookie platters, punch, and live music for wandering around checking out all the different trees. My husband’s two favorite trees were both fishing themed, and my favorite trees were decorate with metallic hydrangeas and model boats!

Tree made of fishing rods, decorated with lures and bobbers!

The silver and gold hydrangeas, oh my goodness, it was beautiful!

This tree had so many perfect model boats! The boat museum in Wolfeboro will be showcasing Fred Clausen’s extensive model boat collection. Some of them had the cutest details.

So now of course I need to go to the NH Boat Museum in Wolfeboro! We walked around the town dock area of Wolfeboro, and checked out a great used book store called Eyes of the Owl. We grabbed a couple old hiking books…Trails and Summits of New England….Vacation Tramps of New England….and Lucy Crawford’s History of the White Mountains. I can’t wait to start reading them! The book store was literally a one bay garage with books and records stacked from the floor to the ceiling. It was perfect.

Out on the dock with the Brewster Academy’s Pinckney Boathouse up on the horizon!

I am wearing my LLBean Signature fisherman sweater, LLBean fair isle hat/mittens from last year, and my new favorite Tory Burch boots. I love this LLBean sweater and I have been wearing my new boots nonstop since they came. The sweater is cotton which is heavy and warm, but not itchy.

Alright folks, back to Gilmore Girls. I am just into season 6 on Netflix, and honestly I have no idea how I lived so long without this show. I started watching this past spring and have been chugging along in anticipation of the new season!!

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Christmas Lights on the Nubble Lighthouse

On December 13, 2016December 7, 2016 By careofmonIn LifestyleLeave a comment

Maine is home to many lighthouses; 65 to be exact. Maine along with being called Vacationland is also called the Lighthouse State! The closest Maine lighthouse to me is in York Maine on Cape Neddick. The lighthouse is on Nubble Island with a house and a couple other buildings. The lighthouse was built in 1879 and became automated in 1987. I believe the official name for the lighthouse is the Cape Neddick Light, but many call it the Nubble Light. The Sohier Park has a gift shop and parking area so you can see the island. You can see the cable contraption to send packages from the park over to the island. It’s a pretty cool spot to visit.

The official lighting for the Nubble was the weekend after Thanksgiving. They had carolers and cookies and Santa; its quite an event. The lights will be on from dusk to midnight until New Year’s Eve. I went the weekend after to see it so I could have a little privacy with the Nubble. Here she is.

Oh and if seeing a lighthouse in Maine light up for Christmas isn’t enough, on the way in and out of the park, you can see this lovely lobster trap tree!

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Snowy hike up Mt. Liberty & Mt. Flume

On December 8, 2016December 8, 2016 By careofmonIn HikingLeave a comment

It may not technically be winter, but it seems no one has discussed this with the White Mountains of New Hampshire. They are already quite white! This past weekend we headed up the Liberty Spring Trail to Mt. Liberty and then over to Mt. Flume and back. You can do a loop going up the Flume Slide Trail to Flume over to Liberty and then down the Liberty Spring Trail but at this time of year, the slide is a slippery treacherous mess.

We left Mizpah at home because it was a seven hour hike, 10 miles, which is just too much for Mizpah in the cold and snow. On the ridge between the peaks, we used snowshoes, and then descending from Mt. Liberty, we wore microspikes. It was beautiful up there- the snow and the rime ice were so pretty. It almost looks like another planet up there.

Rime ice on the rocks in the cloud on Mt. Liberty

Those are trees on the slope there, trees frozen in ice from precipitation and freezing fog.

On top of Mt. Flume, the clouds finally parted!

The evergreens are magical covered in snow

Up on Mt. Liberty the second time looking back at Mt. Flume

Looking out to Mt. Lincoln from Mt. Liberty. This might be my favorite shot of the day….all the snow covered evergreens.

The last time I did Liberty and Flume was September of 2014 and it was wet and foggy. I was so happy to see some views this time. Liberty and Flume are a part of the Franconia Ridge which is probably some of the most picturesque mountains in the Whites.

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Tree Lighting Evening in Portsmouth NH

On December 6, 2016December 6, 2016 By careofmonIn Lifestyle4 Comments

One of the best things about my new home in New Hampshire is our proximity to Portsmouth!! Portsmouth is on the water, but not really the ocean. Its on the Piscataqua River which is an estuary to the Atlantic. There are “the decks”, which is what we call the restaurants that overlook the river, and then Market Square, and Strawberry Banke. Market Square is sort of the hub of walking in Portsmouth, and the Strawberry Banke is this area that preserved all the historic homes there. There is a museum and tours and such there. Then there is Prescott Park which sadly doesn’t allow dogs, but is a nice place to look out at the water.

The tree lighting takes place every year right in Market Square, followed by the annual illuminated holiday parade. The many holiday activities throughout the month are called “Vintage Christmas in Portsmouth” The Strawberry Banke is decorated with carolers and horse drawn carriages and ice skating. In the evening, they put on all their Christmas lights and their tours are called “candlelight strolls“.

img_7743-2 — Beautiful Christmas Tree, and yes bottom left corner is an LLBean hat haha

It was definitely a night for the down jacket!

All of the light posts in the city have illuminated wreaths with bows, love it.

I loved everything about this night. The tree was great, not as big as the Boston tree, but great. This was the first holiday parade I had ever been to, and I haven’t seen that many lights since the Disney parade. The marching bands even had lights on their instruments.

There were a bunch of illuminated and decorated antique VW’s. I loved this pickup truck, so cool! Think it would fit under the tree?

Yep, a Christmas train with a hot tub car. Definitely a fan favorite!

Santa! I know him! This was the end of the parade, the kids went wild!

We walked around the perimeter of the Strawberry Banke to check it out, and decided that we are going to do the candlelight stroll next year!!

The ice skating rink, Christmas tree, and crowd around the fire pit at the Strawberry Banke- so festive

It was cooooold out standing to watch the parade. We got hot cocoa at Starbucks after to warm up walking around. Breaking New Grounds is my favorite spot to get a hot drink in Market Sq but sadly the line was out the door! This is a tradition that I hope to go to every year! I need a better camera to take pictures at night huh? That WOULD certainly fit under the tree ❤

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Black Friday Mt. Tecumseh Hike

On December 4, 2016February 26, 2017 By careofmonIn Hiking1 Comment

A tradition that my husband and I started a couple years back was going hiking on Black Friday after Thanksgiving instead of going shopping. Last year REI even did a campaign for heading outdoors on Black Friday called #optoutside. They gave all of their employees a paid day off and the stores closed to all them to go out and enjoy nature with families and friends instead of in crazy lines at stores.

Sadly this year Jon had to work, but Mizpah and I hit the trails and did a little girls hike. This was my third time doing Mt. Tecumseh. It is a great 4000 footer because its so short, just took me three hours. We had to be back in the afternoon to go out with Jon’s family that night so I had to pick a quick mountain!

Usually the views from Mt. Tecumseh are lovely. Here are the views from an outlook over one of the Waterville Valley Ski trails and a view from the summit. These pics are from September 2015.

View from outlook on Mt. Tecumseh trail, not sure which trail this is at Waterville Valley?

View from the summit. The summit for this one is small, just a cairn up there and some views!

The weather on Friday was drastically different. Driving up, it was rainy and sleety, and just past exit 19 on 93 there was snow on the ground and trees. The hike was literally in a foggy cloud the whole way. It wasn’t raining or snowing but my jacket and pack were soaked just because the air was soggy and wet. The snow on the trails was beautiful. It was definitely fresh because literally only one person had been on the trails that morning on the snow. There were no views, it’s just white. Honestly it was almost a little disorienting.

No views at the outlook on the ski trail, huge difference huh?

I wore my waterproof Marmot pants which are dead now….I put another hole in them slipping down a snow covered rock. My Marmot shell jacket is still awesomely waterproof and my pack held up with the moisture. Mizpah had her Ruffwear jacket on too which was good and kept her dry and warm!

Its a winter wonderland in the White Mountains!

One of the best hiking dogs you will ever meet ❤

Noone would say the conditions were optimal, but it was still a nice hike. I bare-booted the whole way up, and then threw my microspikes on for the trek down so I could go a little faster. The only thing I purchased during the holiday sales was actually a pair of Tory Burch boots. They were on sale from almost $500 to $208! I have been needing a new pair of black boots and I think these will fit the bill nicely 🙂 I know I am a little late, but I do hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family! Anyone snag anything good during the sales??

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Boston Ballet premieres Le Corsaire

On November 8, 2016February 26, 2017 By careofmonIn Lifestyle6 Comments

This fall, the Boston Ballet’s Le Corsaire was the North American premiere of original choreography by Marius Petipa from the 1800s and Ivan Liska from the early 2000s. Petipa’s Le Corsaire originally premiered in St. Petersburg in 1863, and much of this new version was reconstructed by Liska from Petipa’s choreographic notations. Ivan Liska’s version premiered in Munich in 2007, and has now made its way to us in Boston in 2016.

My mother loves the ballet, and so I grew up attending the ballet as well as playing many of the famous classic ballets in youth orchestras. Le Corsaire was beautiful, dramatic, dreamy, and exciting- everything I hoped for. Corsaire is French for pirate, and there are swashbuckling fights, treasure, and scandal! The basic premise is that Conrad, leader of the pirates, falls in love with Medora, the foster daughter of Lankedem. Lankedem disapproves, but eventually agrees to sell Medora to the Pasha. Conrad vows to save Medora, and he rescues her to the pirate island. Lankedem is angered because he will lose his payment from the Pasha so he goes along too, and takes his chance to get Medora back when a fight amongst the pirates breaks out. Conrad wakes from a sleeping poison to find that Lankedem has taken Medora back to the Pasha and vows to again rescue her. Conrad and his fellow pirates go to Pasha’s palace disguised as pilgrims. The Pasha puts on a show for his guests only to have to pilgrims reveal themselves and rescue Medora in the end. The final scene is of the pirates, led by Conrad and Medora, on their ship off to the next adventure!

My husband came to this ballet with me, and we of course observed all rules and traditions of my trips to the ballet. We dressed up (even though I was not feeling great), walked around the Boston Common a bit, got a goodie at Boston Common Coffee Co (carrot pecan muffin top, so good), got a fancy drink at intermission (chardonnay for me), and no making fun of the male ballet dancers, which wasn’t hard at this ballet because they were all pirates. The costumes were exquisite; I especially loved the tutus in the Jardin Anime scene. The next ballet that I will attend will be The Nutcracker in December and then The Sleeping Beauty in the spring. Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev ballets are my favorite 🙂

Despite feeling under the weather, I managed to throw on my gray wool skirt, black tights, penny loafers, and a sweater for the occasion.

Boston Common is so beautiful, all the colors right now are stunning

Looking up in the lobby of the Boston Opera House

The Boston Opera House has such beautiful ornate moldings and chandeliers

Another beautiful chandelier, this one in the lobby.

Has anyone out there been watching The Crown on Netflix? I just started, and its been very well done so far. I’ll be honest, I could use more English countryside and horses, but I am only in the 3rd episode.

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The 52nd Head of the Charles Regatta

On October 25, 2016October 25, 2016 By careofmonIn Lifestyle, Trips4 Comments

Hello everyone! It has been a crazy couple weeks. We finished ripping up carpets and putting down hardwoods in our living room and bedroom and painted the walls. The place looks completely different with fresh paint and nice oak hardwoods! I am glad we finished up in time for one of my favorite weekends, the Head of the Charles!

I decided against going down on Saturday because it was pouring for most of the day, but I did head down on Sunday because I was volunteering! Sunday is also a great day to go because parking is free in Harvard Sq and its the day of the Championship 4s and 8s! This was my fifth year of volunteering. I volunteered my senior year of high school and freshman year of college, and then the first two years out of college. My first two years we got long sleeve tshirts, the next two years we got fleeces from Nautica BUT unless you were there Friday night you got the big sizes so I gave those away. Brooks Brothers took over the volunteer apparel in 2009. This year they did a fantastic blue and red down vests and black hats. Love it. I have volunteered out on the docks in the past and I have volunteered in the info booths. This year I was in the info booth right across from the Brooks Brothers tent at Attager Row, the retail area between Elliot Bridge and the finish line. My fellow volunteers were great, all very helpful and interesting people. Volunteers aren’t just rowers, they come from all different backgrounds to help this amazing two day event go as smoothly as possible.

I think that having rowed in the event two years does help me to be a good info booth volunteer, as well as the fact that I got to learn how to row on the Charles in high school. I know all the bridges, all the boathouses, and the good places to watch. I have had some mishaps out there too: I coxed a boat (the only time I ever coxed a boat) into the shallows on the Cambridge side by the Weeks Bridge (oops), rowed around in the basin during what felt like a hurricane, and swamped a four. Swamping the four meant hopping out of the boat to flip it, and then getting back in…not easy. For next year I am going to put together a HOCR guide- all the food, shopping, places to watch, and such. It will be really fun for me to write 🙂

I did take a break to run over for a pic at the Brooks Brothers photo area.

It was a cold and windy day, but gorgeous blue skies.

I just loved the pink and navy unisuits on this crew

Four launching out of Cambridge Boat Club from the Eliot Bridge.

Beautiful scene by the Eliot Bridge. The boathouse up towards the left belongs to the Belmont Hill School and the Winsor School.

There were some fabulous highlights this year. Gevvie Stone who won the silver medal in Rio won the women’s championship singles. The O’Donovan Brothers who were hilarious in Rio rowed in a quad for a second place finish, the US Para Team rowed in the mixed eight race, and the gold medal women’s eight was on hand for autographs. The HOCR just after the summer olympics every four years is always a little special. I would love to row in the HOCR again. We shot for an alumni 8 but didn’t get a bid, maybe next year!

Now, sadly the HOCR gear from Brooks Brothers is not available anywhere else but their tent during the event. I really liked the HOCR long sleeve cotton sweatshirts but they were a little too expensive for me. The official HOCR merchandise is really nice too and can be a bit more affordable depending on what you are looking for. There was no KJP presence this year in the Brooks Brothers tent which was interesting. The past few years there was an area within the Brooks Brothers tent featuring members of the KJP team and products.

How was everyone else’s weekend? Whose coming to the HOCR next year? Counting down already…

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North Country ATV Adventure

On October 10, 2016October 9, 2016 By careofmonIn Trips2 Comments

This weekend we headed up to the Great North Woods of NH to a friend’s family camp for some ATV fun and beautiful foliage. We boarded the pup so that she could have fun and socialize with other pups while we played out on the ATVs. We got up there on Friday night and headed on the ATVs Saturday morning. Up in North Country NH, there is an awesome trail network for ATVs called Ride the Wilds established in 2013. There are 1000+ miles of trails connected, which include town roads and sections of highway when necessary to connect sections. Eleven different clubs within the region take care of the trail system with donations only- no tax dollars were spent on them.

Before 2013, the trail network wasn’t as connected and was really dependent on permission from private landowners. The signage along the trails was amazing and really helps keep people on the trails and off land that the landowners would like to keep private. There are restaurants, lodges, general stores, and campgrounds along the way. For this adventure I wore my LLBean fleece, Harding Lane mountain hat, buff to cover my face for the dust, jeans, my old Merrell boots, and my Fox mountain biking gloves. It was definitely a day for functional clothing that you didn’t mind getting dusty/muddy!

Our first stop on our ATV adventure was the Blueberry Hill Inn & Cafe for breakfast. The food there is fabulous- our party got blueberry pancakes, grilled blueberry muffins, bacon, homemade corn beef hash, home fries, and endless cups of coffee. The blueberries for the pancakes & muffins come from blueberry fields right on the property and of course, the maple syrup was locally produced.

Such a cute homey feel

View from the inn/cafe

From there we headed up the Cree Notch Trails to a great lookout/picnic spot. Along the way we rode along a railroad, saw glimpses of the Connecticut River, & rode through a Christmas tree farm.

Along the railroad trail was the most dust, but I liked it because it was cool to see the old school telephone poles still standing

Feeling like a bandit through the dusty parts

The views from Cree Notch were amazing. The foliage was just breathtaking.

My husband Jon and I rode on a Polaris Sportsman ATV. He drove the whole way out, and I drove part of the way home. Our friend was on a Kawasaki ATV, and then his parents, our amazing hosts, were in a Polaris side by side. They have had their camp up north for about 30 years and have really been there since the beginning for ATVing up there.

From there we headed to Bear Bait Mountain which also had some beautiful views. As the day progressed, the clouds rolled in and there were even a couple rain drops but thankfully nothing that disrupted our day. We saw a juvenile moose alongside the trail coming down from the notch view. It was early in the day for it to be out and about, and it didn’t move when we approached. Sadly the poor thing might be sick with something. We didn’t stick around too long in case mom was close by. It may have had some sort of tick borne disease like lyme. It was still a pretty cool encounter.

After our amazing day of four wheeling, Jon did some fishing at the brook right near camp, and we had a campfire to warm up before dinner. He caught and released six beautiful brook trouts to hopefully grow and increase the healthy trout population.

Beautiful brook trout, caught & released

We had such an amazing day and made it home on Sunday in time to watch Tom Brady play with the Patriots for the first time this season. I am pretty sure this weekend is the peak foliage for northern NH, but southern NH still has a week or so. I am just loving all the fall colors, and secretly I am totally getting excited for snow and skiing in a few months hopefully!

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October Hike up Galehead Mtn

On October 9, 2016October 9, 2016 By careofmonIn HikingLeave a comment

Last Sunday, despite some cloudy conditions, we hiked up Galehead Mountain in the White Mountains. This is a mountain that I have already done in July last year, but my sister and a friend needed it for their 48. Our friend brought his dog, Marshall, and this was his first hike! Its a great hike- nothing too technical, just 6 hours. There is a hut on the way to the summit with some views, the Galehead Hut, and the summit itself is in the trees. The Galehead Hut is a nice one because its just one building- so the lodge, bunks, and bathrooms are all together. Some of the huts are multiple buildings so you have to find the one with the bathrooms in it.

The trail we took in an out was called the Gale River Trail and then Garfield Ridge Trail to the hut, and finally the Frost Trail to the summit. All together round trip the distance is about 10 miles.

p1040219 — Mountain hat from Harding Lane here 🙂

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p1040232 — Leaving the hut to head up the Frost Trail to the summit

p1040228 — Four people, two dogs at the summit cairn- 16 legs in all 🙂

Sisters ❤ LLBean packs can be found here and here.

Its always fun to hike with a group because the constant conversation makes the hike fly by. After we hiked we hit up Truant’s Tavern in Woodstock NH for some dinner. It was a cool & damp day, so having some chili really warmed me up. The trail was actually dry despite the conditions and the crossings were very manageable. The dogs were great, it was fun to see Mizpah hike with another pup.

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Autumn Fair in Deerfield, NH

On October 5, 2016October 5, 2016 By careofmonIn Lifestyle, TripsLeave a comment

I love autumn in New England. A tradition that I have never been able to pass up is a fall harvest fair! I love the animals, the food, the crafts, and all the competitions for biggest pumpkin, best photo, best floral arrangement, prize jersey cow, etc. I grew up in MA going to the Topsfield Fair every year, then in college out in Worcester I learned about the amazing Big E in Springfield. This year with my move to NH, we stayed local and headed to the Deerfield Fair.

The fair has been running for 140 years, it is the oldest running fair in New England. We went on Saturday morning and the crowds were small due to the subpar weather. It was a little rainy/windy but I was ok in my Sperry rain boots and Barbour jacket.

So first up, the food!!! I had apple crisp, hot apple cider, and apple cider donuts. There were mini apple cider donuts and normal sized ones. I also had some ice cream thanks to the Granite State Dairy Promotion folks!

The animals are awesome at the fair. There are oxen, dairy & beef cows, sheep, pigs, draft horses, and show horses. There is also a little petting zoo with goats, alpacas, and a camel! The oxen participate in an oxen pulling competition. They work together as a pair and are trained from a young age- conditioning, strength, and obedience to their trainer. It was really cool to watch. I read articles accusing this event of being cruel to the oxen, but I saw a lot of love between the handlers and their animals and really amazing training shining through this Herculean task. There is a pretty constant flow of horse events going on throughout the day from huntseat to saddlebred pleasure to lead line classes.

The agricultural exhibits and competitions are awesome. The state record was set for the giant pumpkin with 2066 lbs!!!! I loved all the farm displays. My favorite depicted a scene from The Tale of Peter Rabbit. It was perfect. I also loved trying all the free samples- from cheese at the Yankee Cheeseman to maple roasted cashews at the Maple House thanks to the NH Maple Producers Association.

We got some chicken tenders from Krisi’s Chicken Tenders and some french fries made right there with fresh potatoes for lunch. Everything was so good and fresh. I think its safe to say I definitely ate too much, but I left full and happy.

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