weekends like these.

columbus day weekend

I love weekends like this one… the nothing planned, three-day variety. The little bit of sleeping in here, a trip to the beach there, nothing-on-your-to-do-list-but-you-get-everything-done kind of weekend. Yes, those. I love them!

On Saturday I took myself on a day date of sorts. Zan was working all day, so I drove myself to Cambridge for coffee and lunch and shopping. It was the loveliest. I really wanted to try out Loyal Nine {my latte was delicious!} and since Clover was a few blocks away of course I couldn’t not help myself to a Chickpea Fritter. IT IS MY JAM! Then, I headed over to visit Loyal Supply Co., a shop I have been meaning to visit for forever! From everything I’d heard and seen I knew I would be in heaven there. And I was!

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I seriously wanted everything in the store — those wire baskets! The honey! The ceramic pottery! It was everything pretty and so many things practical and I will absolutely be visiting again soon.

columbus day weekend

I also stopped at Ricky’s Flower Market because I love that place a lot. I love to walk up the ramp to the garden shop where it’s like a warehouse greenhouse. Huge windows and all kinds of greenery to choose from. I picked up some new succulents like I always do, and an airplant. My very first!

columbus day weekend

{How amazing is PL’s new bed? I found it on Etsy here and my mom gifted it to me/us as a birthday present. I want to get her another one for Christmas! And a collar too!}

Saturday night we hung out with PennyLane and binged on episodes of the Walking Dead. Since we don’t have cable we have been working our way through season 5, which just came out on Netflix. We hardly watch any TV over here but this is one show we love. It is so disgustingly bad, but also it is SO SO GOOD.

columbus day weekend

Saturday morning I walked Penny while Zan slept in and then we headed up to the North Shore to one of our most favorite spots, Rockport and Gloucester. We ate lunch at the Blue Lobster on Bearskin Neck and then took little PL to the beach. Beautiful blue skies and a nice temperature for October. This fall has been glorious, hasn’t it?columbus day weekendcolumbus day weekend

This shop is Lula’s Pantry on Bearskin Neck…. it’s got all sorts of fun knick-knacks and they have the best outlook onto Rockport Harbor from their back deck. It’s how I got that sweet photo of Motif No. 1 above!

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A favorite place… forever!

After the North Shore we came home to watch the football game, or really, Zan watched while I worked on dinner and laundry with Penny. Sunday night football is seriously my favorite even if I hardly watch a minute of it. Ha! I love having the TV on and working on this and that around the house. It just feels relaxing and happy to me. Another point for you, Fall. :)

columbus day weekend

We also picked up a new, bigger crate for PL on Sunday. Her old one was smaller and getting cramped, but her new one is like a luxury hotel. She obviously thinks so too because this is how I found her sleeping when I woke up this morning. Too good, right? I’m so glad I captured it.

And today! Today I woke up early to go grocery shopping for all the fixings for pulled pork {I decided on this recipe by Sherri Lynn — thanks for the tip, Colleen!}. I’ve been so excited to try out our new Crock Pot and today seemed a good a day as any to give it a whirl. I got dinner going and ready before 9 AM {FELT LIKE SUPER WOMAN}, brought PennyLane to the groomers, did a little J.crew shopping :) , and then successfully turned over all my drawers and closets from spring/summer clothes to fall/winter. Bitter sweet, always, but also so refreshing. A clean slate and I am pumped about it.

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Now I’m just waiting for Zan to come home, and the pulled pork to finish. I’m about to go cook up some sweet potato fries and put my sweatpants and slippers on and get cozy cozy cozzzyyyy. I’m so glad I could take the time to stop in here and get some memories down. My beloved blog! My record of things! Forever and ever I will love it so.

weekend scheming…

hike the whites

Hooray, horray for another weekend in the works! We’re hoping to go on a day trip tomorrow, but don’t have all the details figured out fully yet. I’m making a case for the Berkshires and I hope I win! We want to head somewhere where Pennylane can tag along, and I’m thinking Bish Bash Falls might be just the place. I’m using both Rachael and Ashley’s itineraries as my guide, and if you know either of their blogs/spirits you know we could never go wrong.

The photo in this post is from this past August when we took our second annual hiking trip to the White Mountains– we did another hut hike and stayed in Greenleaf Hut this time around. I absolutely love doing this hike at the end of each summer and hope we can continue this tradition until we have hit all the huts {and then do them all over again!}.

I hoping this weekend we can do the short hike to the falls, visit an apple orchard, and hit up Rubiner’s and SoCo Creamery. YUM YUM! My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

What’s your favorite thing to do in the Berkshires? It seems kind of funny we have been driving through on our way to New York and back for YEARS but we’ve never stopped to have a look. For this weekend we’d just drive out for the day so I think we’ll stick to the Great Barrington area, but would love to hear your favorite places for either this trip or next time!

Have a good weekend wherever it takes you! xo

life in film // 02

FILM 02 // dearfriendblogFILM 02 // dearfriendblogFILM 02 // dearfriendblogFILM 02 // dearfriendblogFILM 02 // dearfriendblog

“Beach Days”
Good Harbor Beach
Gloucester, MA
August, 2014

PENTAX K1000
Fuji Film Superia X-TRA400

//

This post is coming to you live from the broken heat and shattered dreams of my frigid old house. I’m being so dramatic about it, but you understand. Brrrrr. I’ve got the space heater mere inches away from me blasting out as much heat as it dares to give + these photos are a good distraction to the cold.

Good Harbor Beach is our old stand-by. Unless we’re feeling up for something new {which we’re usually not!} we head up to Good Harbor, our favorite of all the beaches on the North Shore. Everyone around here has their favorite– Singing Beach, Wingaersheek, or even Crane’s Beach {if you can deal with the Black Heads! AHh!} and they are all completely gorgeous in their own special way, but Good Harbor Beach is where it’s at for us. Every single summer it wins.

We know where to park without having to pay and where we like to sit in the soft sand. I love being able to walk the length of the beach and when I’m up for it, taking the trek through the low waves on the sand bar out to Salt Island when it’s low tide. The views are also my favorite which is probably why I have hundreds and HUNDREDS of landscape photos from over the years. It’s the same each year, the same each visit and yet, I continue to jam-pack my iphone with photos of this place. It’s just so pretty.

This particular trip was a challenge for me because with the Pentax you cannot go wild with the click. If you do, you’ll run out of film and you’ll surely be sorry. On this day I had to take my time and think about each frame that I was capturing— the sea of people you see when you first get to the footbridge, the gorgeous old house up on the hill, my sister and our friend Jordan walking out to the water, and the way the sand looks like glass at low tide… each photo has a lot of thought that goes into it, at least I tried to put thought into each one, and still I only came out with a few that I really loved. But then again, that’s the beauty of photography, you know?

Even if I just get one good one it’s enough. I captured that moment. That moment is mine.

Thacher Island

Thacher Island

Blue skies
Smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies
Do I see

Bluebirds
Singing a song
Nothing but bluebirds
All day long

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Wow was this day ever real.

I say that because when I look back on these pictures I have to ask myself, was this really real?

{It really really was.}

A few Fridays ago Zan and I decided to head up to the North Shore and enjoy the sunshine and blue skies. We left a little later in the afternoon, taking our time, since I’m on summer vacation (whoop!) and Zan took the day off work. This season is just so full of good. My sister had recently taken a kayak trip with her boyfriend Tom and some friends out to Thacher Island, so we thought we’d try the same. We brought up a canoe from Zan’s parents garage, filled some coolers with fruits and veggies, and paddled ourselves out to sea leaving from Pebble Beach in Rockport with Thacher Island as our destination. The ride was PERFECT! Calm waters so glorious I couldn’t keep my eyes off the gentle waves. It really was the ideal condition for canoeing in the ocean– it’s not very often that the ocean is so smooth and silky. It was amazing.

When you get to Thacher Island, you have to pull your boat {or kayak!} up onto the land and then sign in and leave a 5 dollar landing fee. After that you are free to picnic or walk the many trails of the island as you choose. There are also two working lighthouses on the island so there’s a chance you’ll see the lighthouse keepers while you’re there. We saw both {there is a lighthouse master keeper, and then an assistant} and both were very friendly and welcoming. You can even walk up to the top of one of the lighthouse, and so of course we did! How incredible it was to see the view from that high up! There is so much history in a place like this, I just love it.

Little day trips like this one are what summer is all about for me. I love seeing places that are new to me, and also love going back to places that I know and love. Today we’re headed up to Good Harbor Beach, I think! A place that we’ve been many a times and just can’t quit. Nothing better than a day trip to the North Shore for some beach time and ice cream on a hot summer day.

Forever, AMEN!