April vacation is one of the amazing perks of being a teacher. A week away from work when its just starting to get nice out is just what the doctor ordered. I have been doing a lot of work to finish up this semester at grad school, but I made plans to relax yesterday with a lovely group of my coworkers at Nashoba Valley Winery in Bolton MA. There aren’t that many vineyards here in New England, a lot of them are small. There are some grape wines, but Nashoba started with a lot of the fruit wines- apples, pears, peach, blueberry, and strawberry. They do tours on the weekends, and tastings anytime. Some of my friends did the tasting, but this wasn’t my first trip to the winery so I just grabbed a bottle of chardonnay and stepped out into the sun! The tastings can be really fun to try some of fruit wines, or they have some beers too, and they have a brandy called Northern Comfort (NoCo??).
We all brought some snacks to share. You can bring in food, or you can get these really cute picnic lunches from J’s Restaurant. J’s Restaurant is right there at the winery, it has a seasonal local menu- kinda pricey, definitely more for a special occasion. I brought some cabot cheddar cheese and triscuits and got to use my new gray marble cheeseboard. I also brought my tervis because I was nervous about transporting an actual wine glass ha. It was such a beautiful day, the fruit trees are all just starting to bud. We will definitely go back in the summer when everything is green and growing and even more gorgeous.
Getting married means getting new monogrammed stuff right!?
So many varieties of wines all made right thereSide of the winery, perfect to sit outside and enjoy some wineFront of the wineryBuds on fruit trees! Spring!!
So much fun yesterday, and now back to work for a couple days until the weekend. I have to finish up a hw assignment today, then an exam tomorrow, and a presentation on Monday! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel though, just a couple more weeks and I will have my MS 🙂
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.
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!
I apologize for my blogging hiatus, but its been a crazy couple weeks since my Aiken SC trip. I got married this past weekend!!! We headed up to the Indian Head Resort in Lincoln, NH on Friday, and did our rehearsal there. Then we had our rehearsal dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Truant’s Taverne. Now, some people think you have to choose- you are either a Truant’s fan, or a Woodstock Inn Station & Brewery fan. Woodstock is on the other side of the street, they brew their own beer, so delicious. I love both. I couldn’t decide if you made me. One benefit of Truant’s is that it’s closer to the ice cream place I guess. The people that own Truant’s also own White Mountain Bagel Co. which is where we got breakfast for Saturday morning at the hair salon. Their tomato basil bagel is so good. Ok I promise my wedding weekend wasn’t all about food…but we also got lunch on Friday at another place I love, Half Baked Fully Brewed….ok back to the wedding.
Rehearsal time with the traditional bow bouquet made from shower gifts 🙂 Wearing a Lilly Delia little white dress (sadly sold out)! Yes, the lake outside is still frozen on April 9th….New England
Indian Head Resort has many conventional hotel rooms, the ones with a view of the Shadow Lake, the Pemi River, and the mountains are the best. The resort also has two adorable houses for rent, so some of my bridesmaids were in one, and the groomsmen were in the other. Our rehearsal dinner was all about fun comfort foods- chicken fingers, mac n cheese, steak tips, and garlic whipped potatoes. There was also salad though, no worries, haha #eatclean. The varsity room upstairs at Truant’s has shuffleboard, arcades, pool tables, and a jukebox. It was such a fun night. We headed back to the hotel, grabbed drinks at the Thunderbird Lounge, and did some hot tubbing! Indian Head has an indoor heated pool/hot tub AND a heated outdoor pool/hot tub. The outdoor hot tub is huge, I want one.
Saturday, the mothers, bridesmaids, and myself headed off to the Daydreams Hair & Nail Studio for hair and makeup. The ladies at the salon were so sweet, they genuinely cared about what we wanted and we loved them! They made everyone’s hair and makeup dreams come true. Their makeup is a mineral based line, so it was great for my skin, and they had the wispie fake lashes which I love so much more than the blunt cut lashes.
We got back to Indian Head, put on our dresses, and then it was time for champagne and photos! Jon and I did a first look so we saw each other and did some pictures before the ceremony. It was so good for both of our nerves/emotions to do the first look. The ceremony was inside, and it was perfect. There were tears, laughs, and it feels like it was over so fast. We did some photos outside even though it was freezing, and then it was reception time. The food was amazing, our DJ was fabulous, and it was just awesome having so many friends and family members all together in one room!
Ceremony First Kiss!Reception First Dance!
My dress came from David’s Bridal, and my bridesmaids’s dresses were all navy/gold dresses from Lilly Pulitzer! My sister wore the navy beaded ‘Largo”, my friend Kayla wore the navy ‘Bentley’, and my three girlfriends from the barn actually did Rent the Runway for the navy ‘Valli’. My sister got her dress from the After Party sale, and the Bentley dress was really affordable on Amazon. The groomsmen were in gray tuxedos, navy ties, brown shoes, super classy looking bunch of guys.
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After the wedding, we all hit up the hot tub one more time before heading to bed. Sunday many guests met up with for the breakfast buffet which includes lots of bacon and an omelette station….soooo good. Again, sorry for my food obsession.
Because I am in grad classes, we are not doing a honeymoon right away, but we do have some fun trips planned for the summer 🙂 I can’t wait to get the professional photos to relive the amazing weekend all over again. Both Jon and my families vacationed at Indian Head Resort growing up, often because camping trips got rained out at Fransted Campground, so it was extra special to be there, and with the mountains that we have hiked looking down over us….it was just a great weekend full of love and happiness. Hope you all had a lovely weekend!! Here’s one last pic of the beautiful sunset over the Franconia Notch.
This past weekend was so beautiful in Mass. My fiancé was out on his bachelor party with his friends, and I knew that I wanted to take Mizpah to the beach! I was so excited to learn that a couple of my favorite beaches, Good Harbor and Wingaersheek in Gloucester, are off leash every other day in the off-season! Wingaersheek is off leash on odd days, Good Harbor is off leash on even days. I think the season starts May 1? Growing up in Merrimack Valley in Mass meant that the north shore beaches on Cape Ann were the closest beaches. I have many awesome memories of going to Wingaersheek, Good Harbor, and Crane Beach (Ipswich). My mom grew up in Reading MA, so the north shore beaches are her favorite.
Mizpah was literally the happiest dog in the world running in the sand and surf. Wingaersheek has a really fine sand beach, fun rocks to climb and play on, and the water is clear and not very sea-weedy. There were so many dogs there and because it was a dog day, everyone was happy to see dogs. Its nice because if you want to walk the beach without dogs, you just go to the other beach, or wait a day. Keeps everyone happy!
Here are some pics from the beach! My hat is from Harding Lane, monogrammed quarter zip is from Trendy Tulip Designs (Etsy), my boat shoes are Sperry Authentic Originals, and my bracelet which I think you only see in one pic is from KJP but sadly I think the navy/green color for turk’s head bracelets is gone now.
Swimming pup!
Annisquam Lighthouse there in the distance!
The awesome thing was that the sand is so fine and it was such a dry day, I just rubbed her down with a towel and we were ready to go! I really hope I get to go back with her before the season starts. From the beach, we headed to Rockport MA. Rockport is a really cute coastal town, lots of little shops, cute harbor, cute houses, very New England. This is a typical second stop for my family after the beach, another typical stop would be Woodmans in Essex….beach, fried seafood, and ice cream, the stuff summer dreams are made of. Here are some pics from Rockport!
Closed for now, busy spot in the summer!
Fudgery…another popular spot!
Adorable row of cottages
Similar building to the motif where that houses a boutique and a kayak rental
Got Buoys?
Love the door on this cottage!
Rockport Harbor
Mizpah’s gear matches the motif
Mizpah & me in front of Motif #1 on Rockport Harbor
Motif Number 1 on Bradley Wharf is known as the “most often painted building in America”. The building you seen in the pictures is actually a replica; the original built in 1840 was destroyed in the blizzard of 1978. The replica was built that same year. A painter named Lester Hornby is credited with its name because it was such a favorite among artists to portray. In the 1930s, it was owned by John Buckley, who used it as a studio, and then it was sold to Rockport in 1945. It stands as a tribute to all from Rockport who have served in the armed forces and is still a popular subject for painters and photographers.
This weekend is not going to be as nice I don’t think, which might be good because the fiancé and I have a lot to do for the impending nuptials!! It was definitely nice to get a little beach time in though, and its always nice to see Mizpah enjoying the nice weather!
What’s your favorite beach? Is it a lake or an ocean? Tell me all about it!
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.
Love the flowers just starting to grow in their beds 🙂That little balcony, so cute. I also love the brick pattern and that chimney!Those chimneys…
Joining of the stone and brick sections of the houseThis 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.
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? 🙂
I am so excited that the weather is getting warm and with the lack of snow, we have kinda skipped mud season! Woo! Now I am not sure how this will affect us moisture wise, like if we will have a bit of a drought without all that snow melt, but I can’t help but be excited to get out and run on the trails!!
Here are some pictures from our runs lately!
One muddy pup, comin right up!This is an adorable little sitting area to pause and enjoy nature 🙂
Mizpah and me are so much happier when we can get out and run on the trails together. I need new trail running sneakers though!! Any recommendations from anyone??
I would love gore tex but the price of trail running shoes is up there! I try to remind myself that these are my feet, ankles, knees….and its worth it. I will certainly be keeping my eyes open for deals!
Oh man is this week kicking my butt! Between work, classes, homework, and wedding stuff, it feels like my free time is nonexistent! Today I finally took my wedding dress to get altered though, so that was a huge check off my list! Woo hoo accomplishment! This past weekend, we hiked Mount Jackson and Mount Pierce in NH. These are the southern most mountains in the Presidential Range and the trails start in the beautiful Crawford Notch area. Fun fact- Mount Jackson is actually named after Charles Jackson, the state geologist back in the 19th century NOT Andrew Jackson, our seventh president.
Jon, Mizpah, two friends, and myself set out on Sunday morning around 9 AM. Immediately we all put on our traction, three of us have crampons, and one of our friends just had microspikes. The trail was solid ice from melting snows. Wearing crampons is pretty serious business. You have to be careful of every step, making sure you don’t slice yourself or one of your hiking companions. Super scary with Mizpah running afoot. The day started a little gray, but over the course of the day, the sun came out and blue skies prevailed! We had pretty good views of the rest of the Presidentials. Mizpah had a great hike with the warmer temps and her claws were perfect in the soft ice. She will probably never hike the northern Presidentials (Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Madison) because of the rocky terrain, but the southern ones are ok. Her hut, the Mizpah Spring Hut, is on Pierce 🙂 Here are some pics from the hike!!!
Crawford Notch Depot- station for the Notch Train of the Conway Scenic Railroad which will resume service on June 14th!
Winter wonderland trails, like our very own NarniaView from Jackson- up on the left you can see Bretton Woods Ski Resort and thats the Mount Washington Hotel in the middle. The red roof is really easy to see up on the mountain, not so much in the photo!It’s really important to remember to bring food for yourself AND your dog. We bring a bag of Mizpah’s food for her to eat on the trail, and a water bowl!Yep, that ice is the trail, crazy!!For hiking on ice….here are my La Sportiva Nepal mountaineering boots, Grivel crampons, and EMS Gaiters (similar here) . Winter hiking is pretty awesome if you like to collect gear!The rest of the Presidential Range from Mt. Pierce- the ridge to Mt. Eisenhower looks so cool. Mt. Washington’s summit is in the clouds.
Frozen waterfalls on the Crawford Path down from PiercePicturesque little pup in her Ruffwear jacket and collarHad to take a quick snap on the way home of the Mount Washington Hotel and the Presi’s
My fiancé broke his toe the other day soooooo we might not be hiking again until April! Poor guy. I had already done these two mountains, but we were with a friend sort of new to hiking and wanted a short hike with nice views for him. This hike was about 6 1/2 hours. I still have 9 peaks left to finish the New Hampshire 4000 Footers. Goal is to finish by the end of this summer!
Hiking, horseback riding, trail running, swimming, biking…I love anything that gets me outside. What do you like to do to get outside? Do you have any outdoorsy goals for this spring/summer??
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 🙂
One of my lovely bridesmaids Alex, also in her Lilly 🙂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.Can you believe my future MIL made this cake? Talented lady, and it was delicious too!!!Beautiful centerpiecesFireplace in the parlor room #fireplacegoalsLoved all the fox hunting prints in the estate
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!Oval dining room where our food was set upThere 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.Walking out to the sun porch.Sunning out on the sunporchWith 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??
This past weekend I got to use my new skis again up at Killington Mountain Ski Resort in Vermont!! We got 22 people together in one house for a really good friend’s birthday. Her husband organized the weekend and told her it was just going to be a few friends and surprise, there were 22 of us ha!
The house we stayed in was unreal. It had its own location on instagram, The Cabin at Bridgewater. It sleeps 25 and is right down the street from Long Trail Brewery, no more than 20 minutes from Killington. The house had a hot tub out on a porch, a grill, a huge fire pit that I didn’t even really see until the snow melted and get this…..it had a teepee with a fire circle in it too. Crazy. The fireplace at the house was well used as well as the enormous bean bags- perfect for lounging! If it wasn’t so close to my shower, I am sure Jon and I would have found them for our registry!
Now this has not been the greatest year for snow up here, but hats off to the Killington snow makers and groomers, the trails were in pretty good shape! It was a little icy in some spots, and as the day progressed, the huge piles of snow started form as the snow got pushed around. Its a huge mountain though, biggest that I have skied at. My fiancé, Jon, had never been either. It was super easy to sorta get lost and end up somewhere on the mountain by mistake ha.
On the way up to Killington, we stopped at LA Burdick Chocolates in Walpole NH for some unreal hot cocoa and macarons, and then we hit up the Vermont Country Store in Rockingham, not the Weston one. Then we stopped at Long Trail Brewery before heading to the house.
I have fallen in love with LA Burdick Chocolates and can’t wait to visit their locations in Cambridge/Boston!
Here’s some pics from the Vermont Country Store
Cute little mill with a water wheel next to the country store
In front of the Vermont Country Store Kissing Bridge!
‘Merica!
Love the decor in here!
Dale of Norway 🙂
So much amazing Vermont cheese
Irish Wool Sweater from a previous post!
Love the front of the country store
On our way home from Vermont on Sunday, we stopped at Seven Barrel Brewing in Lebanon NH and then Flying Goose Pub in New London NH. I liked both places, but Flying Goose had a large selection of beers to try, probably close to 20 of their own beers. It was amazing. As we left the cabin, I took this pic from the car. You can see how much the snow has melted.
It’s been a weird winter here. I would definitely love to explore Vermont more! Maybe go back to Killington? Maybe try Stowe next year?? Who’s with me??
Happy Presidents’ Day!! Today we celebrate George Washington’s birthday which is on February 22nd AND Abraham Lincoln’s birthday which is on February 12th. The official holiday name is actually still Washington’s Birthday though.
This past weekend, we braved the cold to ski at Gunstock on Saturday. It was cold, but we were dressed for it- no exposed skin at all. We skied from 8:30 AM to 1 PM, did about 13 runs. My new skis were awesome. They are Rossignol Temptation 77’s and they definitely made me look like a better skier than I actually am. They turn so easily and really are no work at all. I am used to using rentals and sometimes really having to bend my knees and push to turn, my new skis are very little effort at all. I got an awesome deal on them too because ski places are trying to get rid of inventory and the snow is a little late this year. I got a great deal on my Nordica boots too!
Beautiful viewMe and Jon bundled up! Look at the beautiful backdrop we have!End of the day as the worse weather was rolling in….
The views from Gunstock of Lake Winnipesaukee are breathtaking. All of the trails are awesome, but my favorite is Stonebar. I usually try to do that one a couple times. Saturday, we all ended on Stonebar which was awesome. It was just starting to get really windy and the sun went in behind snow clouds when we were leaving, perfect!
Sunday’s Valentine’s Day was an extremely cold day, thank goodness we skied on Saturday. Jon got me a Lindt dark chocolate & pomegranate bar and the Harding Lane mountain hat I mentioned here! He does read the blog!! Woo!! It was the perfect gift. Jon loves his Yeti koozie, and put the Miller High Life tshirt I got him right in the laundry to wear this coming weekend. We made a delicious dinner with heart shaped steaks, roasted kale, and wheat rice pilaf. I made little chocolate heart cupcakes too! We chose the Southern Tier Choklate stout to go with our meal, so good!
I honestly don’t know if we will ever go out for dinner on Valentine’s Day because we have such a good time planning a nice meal and dessert. We save so much money too!! Tomorrow I am off to Florida for a few days, and my new hat will be coming with. It will be in the 70s, which is cold now to my parents, but will be soooo warm for me! I wish Jon could come but he sadly has to work. February vacation is a definite perk of being a teacher. I hope that you all had a lovely weekend and enjoyed Valentine’s Day no matter who you spent it with!
New England Classic Beauty 