Tag: classic

Marathon Monday & North Shore Beach/Food Adventure!

On By careofmonIn Lifestyle, Trips2 Comments

Good morning!! Happy Patriot’s Day & Happy Marathon Monday!!!! Growing up in New England always meant waking up on Patriot’s Day, which is the first day of April vacation here, and immediately tuning into the marathon coverage. Since I became a teacher just a year out of college, I have continued this tradition! I went to watch the marathon for quite a few years. One of my friends from college ran in it, and we would get a group together to watch and then meet up at a bar later. I was there in 2013. I was at mile 25 with a group watching for our friend. After she passed us, we walked down to the finish line, met up with our friend at Copley Square, and headed to a bar. She finished in 3:02. Less than an hour later, we heard someone come into the bar and say that there had been an explosion at the finish line. People thought it was a man hole cover or a pipe bursting, nobody could have even imagined that the explosions were bombs. It had to be something uncontrollable, some sort of unintentional disaster. There was no urgency at that time, but we decided we should finish our drinks and get going because the T would be packed with so many people leaving at once. None of our cell phones worked, it was so weird- did the explosion take out a cell phone tower? It didn’t make sense. I hopped on the commuter rail to head back to my car parked in Acton, and then I looked at my phone and oh my goodness, I had soooo many text messages & missed calls. When I got home and turned on the news, I saw why everyone was trying to get a hold of me!! What a week that was, the love and compassion shown in the city of Boston and all over the world for the victims and their families was incredible. I haven’t been back since, not because of the bombings though. I was away in Atlanta in 2014, and then the weather last year was terrible. Today I am happily watching at home curled up with the pup, relaxing after our hike yesterday.

Saturday, Jon and I celebrated our first week of marriage by heading to Gloucester with our dog, Mizpah. It was an even day, so Good Harbor Beach was the off leash beach. We ran around the beach for a while, and then hit up a few of my favorite North Shore spots.

LLBean Sweater // Barbour ‘Argon’ Jacket (old) // LLBean Scarf // LLBean booties // KJP bracelet (old) // Harding Lane hat

First up was Woodman’s in Essex. This was one of the traditional stops on the way home from the beach for my family. Lawrence “Chubby” Woodman is credited with the invention of the fried clam, believe it or not. They have amazing fried seafood, fries, onion rings, and chicken fingers. The one thing that’s tough is they have the milk broth clam chowder, not the thick chowder New England is known for. Woodman’s was featured in the Adam Sandler movie Grownups too! In the summer, they have an ice cream window and a little nautical gift shop; they sell KJP there!  Jon had never been, so we grabbed some fried clam strips and french fries 🙂

Then we drove by the farm where I used to ride in Essex. The new owners have really done a lot of work on the paddocks and barns. I met one of the owners a coupe years ago when she was still doing a lot of renovations, she had jumpers. It looked like a lot of her boarders were probably also jumpers- big horses, sheets in warm weather, small paddocks, haha.

From there we hit up our last stop, Richardson’s in Middleton. Richardson’s homemade ice cream was sold at Orchard Hill Ice Cream, the big ice cream spot in my hometown. They have the most amazing ice cream. I love their mocha chip with big chocolate chunks, the Tollhouse cookie, and oreo cookie. I got a chocolate frappe, and then we picked up a half gallon of oreo cookie. They have their cows right there on the premises, but Mizpah was a little freaked by them. The picture I snapped her was near the donkeys, which she was a little calmer around, but honestly, she just looks so pathetic. There’s mini golf right next door, so you can really make a day of it there.

Yesterday we hiked Mt. Moosilauke, so I will post about our hike tomorrow. I love how you can spend one day at the beach, and then the next in the mountains here in New England. It’s so nice out today, I hope this warm weather is here to stay, happy Monday!

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Higgins House & Gardens at WPI

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Last week I got to go back to my alma mater to chaperone my students at the Worcester Regional Science & Engineering Fair. The fair was in the campus center, so during my lunch, I took a couple minutes to admire Higgins House. Aldus C. Higgins was the owner of the home, and his father Milton Higgins was the founder of Norton Company in Worcester. The house was built in 1921 by Grosvenor Atterbury. The tudor style three story home was donated to WPI in 1971 after the passing of Aldus, and the home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. I have so many great memories of events at Higgins House. I was thinking about it, and honestly I am shocked that none of my friends ended up getting married there. I snapped some photos of the garden side of the house. Its so beautiful, makes you feel like you have stepped through some sort of time warp to an old English countryside home and garden.

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Love the flowers just starting to grow in their beds 🙂
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That little balcony, so cute. I also love the brick pattern and that chimney!
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Those chimneys…

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Joining of the stone and brick sections of the house
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This little door is where you enter the Higgins gardens and lawn from the rest of campus. 

I will be back at WPI in June, so I will head back to snap some pics with the beautiful flowers and vines that grow in the gardens. I didn’t walk around to the other side of the house, but this picture from the WPI website shows the beautiful stone tower on the other side.

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I loved my four years at WPI. My fiancé was my friend, teammate, and co-captain at WPI, and I still have many girlfriends from WPI. A lot of us will be together for my wedding in a few short weeks. I was so proud of my students at the science fair, and getting to walk around my old stomping grounds a little was just icing on the cake!

Where did/do you go to college? Does your campus have a big old beautiful building for events that you just want to move into? 🙂

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Bridal Shower at Gov. Rolland Spaulding Estate

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This past Saturday, my mother and future mother-in-law hosted my bridal shower at the Rolland Spaulding Estate, now a part of the Governors Inn Hotel. There were 27 ladies in attendance, and we had the best afternoon. The estate and inn were built back in 1920. Brothers Huntley and Rolland Spaulding lived in the two buildings and both of them were governors of NH! The Spaulding children actually grew up in Townsend MA, went to Lawrence Academy in Groton and then Philips Exeter Academy in NH when they moved up to NH. Their father, Jonas, and their uncle Waldo started Spaulding Brothers in Townsend, a leatherboard manufacturing mill. They expanded into millwork in Rochester NH making fiberboard and thats where the estate and inn are!

We had a fabulous luncheon, bridal shower bingo, so many amazing gifts, and then read through some wedding advice. Some of the gifts included a Kitchen Aid Mixer (so excited) and a Ninja blender (also so excited). Jon and I are so blessed to have such generous family and friends. For the occasion I wore a cerise cashmere & merino crew neck sweater  for $36 (I think its down to $34 now!) and an older Lilly Pulitzer crab embroidered skirt that I got from Ebay for $36 with navy tights and riding boots. The Lilly skirt is white label….but its not “The Lilly”, so its probably from the early 2000s, not exactly vintage, but its one of my favorites 🙂

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One of my lovely bridesmaids Alex, also in her Lilly 🙂
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I loved the rich green upholstery of this chair with the carpets. It was a great occasion to wear my J Crew Factory bracelets! I love them but usually feel they are too dressy for everyday life.
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Can you believe my future MIL made this cake? Talented lady, and it was delicious too!!!
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Beautiful centerpieces
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Fireplace in the parlor room #fireplacegoals
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Loved all the fox hunting prints in the estate

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View out the windows of the oval dining room where the food was set up. They do weddings out on this lawn in nicer weather….the snow is just about gone!
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Oval dining room where our food was set up
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There are guest rooms in the inn and the estate. Presidential candidates and dignitaries traveling through NH often stay here because of the historical significance of the property and its founders.
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Walking out to the sun porch.
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Sunning out on the sunporch
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With the other half out on the sun porch after he lugged all our gifts out 🙂

Jon and I actually went to a wedding at the Governors Inn Hotel this past summer, and I fell in love with the place. Now I have a whole new set of memories at the property which makes it so special.

I hope that you all had a great weekend! It was so nice today in the 50s here in MA, what do we think? Is it officially spring or do we think winter will have one big storm left??

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Winter Skirt-spiration & Rollerskating!

On By careofmonIn Fashion, LifestyleLeave a comment

I am home today on a snow day as we are expecting 3-8 inches of snow today!! The university where I take classes is also closed today, so I have a true day off today. One of the things I am always working on is dressing nicer for work, and utilizing my skirts/dresses even when I just want to wear sweat pants to work.

Living in New England means having clothing for all the seasons, and so with skirts that means a lot of diversity! You have your chino, Lilly print, seersucker, lacey macramé overlay, linen, madras patchwork for spring and summer….but then for fall and winter, I love nice textured skirts in tweed, houndstooth, and herringbone patterns. Plaid and corduroy are nice for this time of year too. I pair them with a sweater, tights, and ballet flats or riding boots. My LLBean mocs have been awesome to wear to and from the car when I don’t want to get my leather shoes wet!

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These are my favorite textured winter skirts from my wardrobe, the top left one is from TJ Maxx but then the rest are old from J Crew/J Crew Factory. The second one down on the left is so fabulous because it actually has gold and silver tinsel stitched in. I love the orange corduroy one too with the embroidered peacocks! I wore it last week to present to the graduate school of biological sciences and then out rollerskating after! Rollerskating was so fun, what a throwback. It was just $4 to rent skates and it was a workout!!

Anyways, I was looking around for some other nice fall/winter skirts and while many brands have started selling their spring line now, there are still some nice ones out there.

I love this Button Tab Tweed Skirt from Loft for $59.50. They styled it on the website very casually with a striped jersey knit, denim jacket, and sneakers but this can definitely be dressed up for work.

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This skirt is gorgeous, its an olive high waisted lace skirt for $69.60 from Express. It looks beautiful, might be a little too dressy for my workplace at a high school, but I would love it with a sleeveless silk blouse and blazer.

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Here is a nice looking navy textured skirt from Tommy Hilfiger at Macy’s marked down to $39.99. One of the reviewers said it looks great with a v-neck sweater, and I believe it! I am not absolutely in love with the pattern, but it really is a nice deal.

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LLBean has this nice herringbone faux wrap skirt for $54. Its a little long on the model, but would be a nice addition to your wardrobe where you want different lengths for different occasions. FullSizeRender-42

J. Crew Factory really doesn’t have much for wintery skirts right now, no fun neutral tweeds…they have this pink one so if you can rock that pink, all the power to ya! Woolrich actually has some nice winter skirts though. This Double Creek Fleece skirt looks nice, comfy but nice enough for work and really warm.  I like the gray the best which is on sale for $29.99. They also have this Holly Hills Corduroy skirt that is a tad bit long, but looks really nice for $39.99-$65 depending on the color your pick. Woolrich has some beautiful wool plaid skirts too, see all their skirts and dresses here.

We are getting into the time of year when the pickings are slim for fall/winter fashion because spring stuff is coming out BUT you can get great deals on what is left now. Now, if you want to find tweed or corduroy skirts from past years, there are sooooo many on Ebay, Etsy, and Poshmark for really great prices!

Where do you find skirts appropriate for the winter? How do you motivate yourself to dress up in the colder weather??

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Sunny morning at the barn

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This weekend was beautiful in Massachusetts. We are in a weird warm spell here…snow is pretty much melted and we have been in the 40s/50s. Last year at this time I believe we had 3 feet of snow on the ground!!!

Saturday AM, I had such a nice ride with my buddy Sterling. Sterling is a quarter horse and has been used in lessons since I was at the barn. He had an owner who was in college and came maybe a couple times a year to see him, and finally last year he was pretty much gifted to the barn. He has some costly medical issues, melanomas & PSSM. He has had a couple surgeries to help with melanomas and he is on some supplements/meds for the PSSM. He is a huge asset to the school because he is totally capable of just slowly walking around in circles with a beginner, or packing around a small jumper course with a more advanced rider. He has typical quarter horse issues for dressage because he is lower in front than behind, but my dressage lessons with him are so rewarding. You can see such a huge difference from a horse who is expecting to just carry someone around for an hour to a forward horse using his muscles and stretching his topline. Dressage type exercises are great for all horses, sort of like power yoga.

Here are a few pics from my lovely morning at the barn!

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Sterling 🙂 , his show name is Shades of Gray
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View out the window of the indoor to the dressage arena
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View of the original portion of the farmhouse where owners live. The home has been added onto and renovated, its absolutely gorgeous.
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Oh just a quaint little gazebo on your way to the paddocks
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View of paddocks and off to the left where that trail goes is the cross country course
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Alfonse, or Alf for short, arguably the cutest little pony. He was so cute snoozing in the sun, couldn’t help but take his pic!

Friday night, I went out to the Red Raven in Acton with my fiance and his coworkers for some drinks. They have an awesome little loungy area when you first walk in and I couldn’t resist snapping this fireplace. The brickwork is so unique and fun.

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Saturday afternoon, I headed out on a NH brewery tour in the Londonderry/Derry area that finished in Nashua…so fun, I will fill you all in tomorrow! I can’t believe today is February!! How was your weekend?? Tell me all about it! Enjoy the day everyone!

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Irish Wool Knit Sweaters

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New England is full of adorable little Irish Americans. Many families in New England trace their heritage to Ireland. Many have relatives still in Ireland. My father’s mother’s parents were from Clifden, in Galway Co. They came over to America and had my grandmother and her brother. Then they sadly died young leaving the two children in the care of cousins that ran something of an Irish immigrant boarding house on Trull St. in Dorchester. Friends and family from Ireland would stay there to get their start. My great uncle Bartley would get the men set up working for the electric or telephone company and the women got set up with jobs at similar companies or cleaning houses. The entire backyard was a victory garden, and the only language heard throughout most of the house would have been Gaelic.

My grandmother was never interested in going to Ireland, but I definitely was! In 2006, my family headed over to Ireland for a vacation. My sister and I both got Irish knit sweaters made from the wool of the adorable little white sheep we saw all over Ireland. Our sweaters are from Avoca, which I really haven’t been able to find online.

Here’s the cardigan I got, still amazing after 10 years! I wore mine yesterday with my plaid LLBean Signature scarf, J Crew Factory chambray shirt dress (old), leggings, and boots.

For sweaters you can find online, one of the more expensive options are the sweaters from Blarney Woolen Mills. We went here on our trip, but I think we had already gotten our sweaters. To see how one of my favorite bloggers, Sarah Vickers styled one of these sweaters on a beautiful sailing trip with the KJP crew, click here.

Hand Knit Aran Sweater $299 / Hand Knit Aran Lumber $299

Cowl Neck Aran Sweater $119 /  Aran Tree of Life Lumber $99

Another website to check out for Irish wool items is the Aran Sweater Market.

Hand Knit Lumber Jacket $148.95 / Hand Knit Honeycomb Aran Sweater $169.95

Aran Lumber Jacket $99.95 / Heavyweight Wool Aran Sweater $88.95

Both of these websites have great items. There are all different sweaters, cardigans, accessories, and capes, but I am sure you can see Aran Sweater Market is a bit cheaper than Blarney Woolen Mills.

Around New England, there are lots of little Irish goods stores. Often these stores will carry some sort of Irish wool sweater. A very popular line of sweaters that you may see are Carraig Donn sweaters. Here’s a cardigan from The Vermont Country Store for $119.95. This company’s products are only sold through distributors, they do not sell directly through their website.

These beautiful sweaters were necessary on the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland. They kept fishermen and farmers warm in the rough weather seen there. When I go back to Ireland, I want to spend more time in Galway, see the family farm in Clifden, and take the ferry over to see the Aran Islands. Which sweater would you want to bring on the trip??

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Happy Birthday to me & MLK Jr!!

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This morning I turned 32!! Man, when I look at my past self in my 20s….the things that I thought I would have accomplished by 32….

I am currently finishing up my second Master’s degree, so education is in good shape.

I am still in great health, able to run, ride horses, hike, ski, swim….all my favorite outdoors activities.

In an interesting turn of life events, I am divorced and no children which is NOT where I thought I would be at 32.

BUT I am marrying my best friend and love of my life this spring and am now happy that I have waited to start a family.

All in all, I am doing great, and 32 is going to be a great year! Here’s my birthday outfit today 🙂

Sweater / Shirt / Jeans / Socks sold out in boot height, but check out these / Boots

When I first started school, this really cool thing happened around my birthday- a 3 day weekend!! I learned that this 3 day weekend came about because a man named Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15th as well. There has been years when my birthday actually fell on the Monday that we got off in observance of MLK Jr’s birthday which was really cool.

Martin Luther King Jr. would be 87 today. I wonder what he would think of some of the events that have occurred over the past few years. From the murder of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman to the murder of Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, MO….

I am not going to use this post as a soapbox to discuss racism in America today because frankly I just don’t feel educated enough to start spouting information but I will say I think racism is alive and well today. More than just the traditional feelings of superiority between races, there seems to be a distrust right now between people of different racial groups, maybe in some areas more than others.

Anyway, I am happy to be here celebrating another birthday, healthy and employed with great things coming up this year. I will ALWAYS be happy that I get to share my birthday with the great Martin Luther King Jr., a man that I think we can all strive to be more like. I will write more posts next week for sure about the birthday weekend! Have a great weekend everyone!!

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P.S. I hope you all like the new address/title for my blog and my new little signature!! 🙂

The Old Bromfield School, Est. 1878

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In 1878, Margaret Bromfield Blanchard founded the Bromfield School in Harvard, MA. The building was designed by Peabody and Stearns in the beautiful Queen Anne style.   In 1960, it was home to just 100 students. A new Bromfield School was built just next to it that had a gymnasium, and the high school moved out of the old school officially in 2003. In 2007, the building reopened as the Harvard Public Library.

The old Bromfield School is beautiful, and due to its proximity to the center of town and all of Harvard’s schools, it is a vibrant meeting place for people of all ages. They have a children’s room, a teen room, and silent rooms. Oh, and down the hill behind it, past the athletic fields is a beautiful pond, Bare Hill Pond. People row, paddle board, and even sail a bit out there. I will have to go back and snap some pics this summer.

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Above are two photos of the exterior front. Looks like the Mass version of Hogwarts right?? Off to the right and back there is an addition to expand the library. I was there around 3:30 and the library was full of adults,kids, and many students. Students in Harvard can walk just a short distance  to the library to do homework after school.

This is a reading room in the library, there were probably 3 rooms that not only housed books, but were silent spaces for studying, reading, and reflection. This reading room is a half circle, the same half circle you see from the outside in the front.

Here are some of the historic items set aside in a foyer of the library, a lovely grandfather clock, a portrait of Margaret Bromfield Blanchard, and the wooden sign declaring the purpose of this beautiful building.

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There is a room upstairs used for functions/concerts called Volunteers Hall. They did a Sound of Music singalong in December that I would have loved to go to if I hadn’t gotten a root canal that afternoon hahaha. I did end up getting a couple books- All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot and Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams. I read All Creatures Great and Small by Herriot a few years back and just never continued, and I read Williams’s first 2 books which were both pretty good.

I love libraries. I love book sharing of course because its free, but the buildings themselves are often repurposed or given to the town and have rich histories. Harvard’s public library is an important part of the community, I can only hope that wherever Jon and me end up settling will have such a nice, supported library.

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A very LLBean Christmas

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It’s Monday and Christmas has come and gone. We had an awesomely busy weekend, family Christmas gatherings from Christmas Eve straight through yesterday. Yesterday we got my mother’s family together at our family restaurant, Kitty’s in North Reading. My great-uncle was the head chef there from the beginning and they still use his recipe for many things, including their amazing pizza.

As far as gifts go, of course being with my family, having my parents up from Florida and my sister having some time off were the best gifts! For the gifts that you have to unwrap though, I got some great stuff from LLBean!!!

One of my aunt’s got me this amazing LLBean back pack. Its smaller than my backpacking pack, and will be perfect for small hikes where I want to pack light. I can’t wait to use it, probably not until this summer though. Winter hikes require the bigger backpack to bring my sleeping bag in case of emergencies.

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My sister gave me the two pack of cotton ragg camp socks . I have these socks in the boot length as well. They are great socks, very soft and comfortable. They are definitely my second favorite socks only to smart wool. The thing that they do have over smart wool though is they come in more classic solid colors.

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I was given two LLBean scarves this Christmas. They have both sold out though on the website!! The one on the left is a wool blend scarf from my parents, and the one on the right is 100% Irish lambswool made by John Hanley of Ireland for LLBean from my sister. They are both awesome scarves, warm and stylish.

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My parents gave me the heritage fair isle mittens and hat set from LLBean. The inside of the mittens is a nice soft fleece, and the hat is also lined with fleece so your forehead doesn’t itch. These are also sold out on the LLBean website!

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Two lovely LLBean sweaters made their way to me this Christmas as well. My fiancé’s parents gave me a black double L cotton cable knit sweater. This is a great staple item in your wardrobe. Crew neck sweaters and button downs are basically my fall to winter uniform. Between my cousins and my other aunt, I got some LLBean gift cards, so I stopped by the LLBean in Burlington yesterday and picked up the cream fisherman sweater from the signature collection. I usually size down for most LLBean tops, but for this sweater, I got my true size. I wanted it to be a little more roomy on me, sort of like a boyfriend sweater.

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Finally, with my gift cards, I was able to almost cover a pair of the LLBean Boots Rubber Mocs. I think I had to chip in like, $24 of my own money. I am in love. They are awesome because they are waterproof, comfortable, and they just slip on!!! So great for New England weather when you have to take your pup out all times of day.

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Some other LLBean gifts in my family were these  moccasins that my sister got and this awesome fleece lined flannel shirt that my fiancé got. Don’t fret about sold out items on LLBean.com. If it doesn’t come up as backordered, then it is just gone for the season and will come out again next year with some new tweaks usually.  I have this week off so I had some day trips planned, but we will see if the weather cooperates. Tomorrow, southern New England will see its first snowflakes!!! I am so excited, but of course the weather will probably keep me from going to see friends in RI……typical New England problems. What were your favorite Christmas gifts!? I hope you all had a lovely Christmas weekend!!

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Favorite Christmas Tree Ornaments

On By careofmonIn Lifestyle2 Comments

I am going to keep my writing brief because I definitely fell off my horse tonight into the wall of the indoor. We had just done a jump perfectly after many tries and he bucked while I was leaning forward and off I went. I’m sore, but ok. Got back on for a little while so no one starts to think that bucking me off is a good way to end a ride, but I will be rocking some IB profen, a heating pad, and lots of hot cocoa tonight to recover. I have a red line on my back from where I made contact with the bottom of the wall….I will be fine haha.

This post is about some of my favorite ornaments. I hope that you enjoy them!!

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An older ornament from my parents, the swan boats in the common
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Santa in his workshop, one of my favorites from my childhood
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One of my favorites from my Breyer’s ornament collection
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My Barbie ballerina for Nutcracker season
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Another great one from my Breyer’s collection, how many little girls have asked for a pony for Christmas? 🙂
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This one is a gift from my mom, love it
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Rowing on the Charles in Cambridge ornament, perfect for a tree belonging to two rowers!
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I have the whole set of Rudolph characters, the Bumble, Hermey, Yukon, Rudolph, and Santa.

I hope everyone’s holiday preparations are going well. I had a big food shopping trip tonight for the weekend into next week….it was painful and slow moving. Of course I ran into a student while I was limping through the supermarket still covered in dirt haha, oh well. Happy Friday everyone, one week til Christmas!!

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