summer

life in film // 02

November 15, 2014

“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.

1 Comment · Filed Under: boston day trips, summer ·

creative overnight!

October 8, 2014

This past summer, I took at trip to the Catskill Mountains in New York with a bunch of local Boston creatives {and friends!} for a very special overnight. The event was dubbed “#CREATIVEOVERNIGHT: no work, all play” and with my friend Lauren running the show, I was instantly up for being a part of it. We drove down on a Tuesday morning, spent the day stopping here and there around the Hudson Valley, and then spent the late afternoon and evening doing the kinds of things that fun people do when they are together. There was rain, which was not ideal for swimming or sunbathing, but there was certainly plenty of instagramming, taco eating, flower crown making, and S’MORES, which was QUITE IDEAL and perfectly delightful.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip…

Rachael, Natalie, Laura and I all drove up together from Boston. We piled into my car and coasted out on the thruway, heading towards the Hudson Valley and the Catskills– and we stopped in the town of Hudson for lunch!

Hudson is so cool! Old School vibes with both vintage and trendy storefronts.

…

Destination #creativeovernight: Phoenicia, NY

Home of The Graham and Co!

Rachael and I were roommates for the night! Loved!

The Graham and Co. was amazing. It’s a small but mighty boutique hotel located in the town of Phoenicia. This wasn’t my first trip visiting the Catskills, but it has been a very long time {my cousins have a cabin in “upstate” where we visited once or twice when we were little} so everything felt very new to me. There is just such an old fashioned feel to the whole town, like you’ve stepped back in time. The Graham and Co was the perfect spot for our getaway– and so kind and accommodating, too. They had simple cozy rooms, and both a lobby garage and a den, which saved us from the rain and was also the perfect movie theatre for Moonrise Kingdom!

The next morning we headed to the Phoenicia Diner for brunch. SO DELICIOUS!

This is the kind of place I would go back to every weekend if I could.

I just loved everything about it.
Because it’s fun to have a good time, eat good food, and spend time with good, kind, inspiring people. And because this getaway was the dreamiest.

Thank you, Lauren for organizing the best #creativeovernight ever!

And 3 cheers for The Graham and Co! Such a sweet place!

{diner food by Rachael + map photo by Natalie}
{group photos by JAMES. Thank you for everything, James!}

♥

5 Comments · Filed Under: friends, summer, travel ·

the great hut to hut.

September 12, 2014

At the very end of August, when the days were still hot and blissfully free, Zan and I, and almost his entire family went on the most amazing 3 day adventure in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. We hiked during the day and spent the afternoons and evenings in a few of the Appalachian Mountain Club Huts, which run along the parts of both the Presidential Traverse and the Appalachian Trail. The entire experience was completely amazing and something that I feel so lucky to have gotten to do! We packed all our snacks and lunches ahead of time, kept our backpacks full of the essentials, and breathed in the most incredible views you can imagine.

Do you know what it feels like to be five thousand and twelve feet above sea level?

I T F E E L S G L O R I O U S.

The first night we stayed at the Mitzpah Spring Hut. All of the AMC huts have one main dining room {pictured here} and then bunk rooms or cabins. It had been raining on our way up to the hut so upon arriving I was both excited and relieved. It felt so cozy and with so much of Zan’s family there hiking the trails and being together– like something special was going down in the history books. And I was glad to be a part of it.

Black Bean Soup! Foccacia Bread! Alpine Salad! Chicken Parm!

{These hut crew members did NOT mess around with dinner.}

The gang’s all here.

Our bunk room!

Mapping out plans…

And the weather was perfect. Early morning blue skies and a just a little bit cold, which turned to warm, of course, the minute our feet hit the trails. We ate oatmeal and pancakes and bacon for breakfast {another hut meal!} before gathering up our belongings to head out for our second day in the high mountains– 6 miles across the ridge to the Lakes of the Clouds…

All 17 of us!

{And Zan’s sister and her boyfriend were joining in later that day. That’s 19! Party!}

There she is! The Lakes of the Clouds Hut!

{And not a moment too soon.}

Also, Mount Washington straight ahead! Which I did not choose to climb, but much of our group {including Zan} did!

Relaxing in the hut was more my speed at that point of the day… :)

There really are lakes in the clouds, in case you were wondering!

And they are stunning.

As is the view from the hut!

Hiking is hard, but it’s also incredibly fantastic. I would not say the actual act of hiking is “a walk in the woods” for me, but everything I feel at the end of the day is worth all the hard miles and steep hills and sore knees. It feels so free to be on top of the world like this looking out at all the layers, feeling like you just accomplished something big. And my favorite part was always the hot chocolate waiting for me in the hut, and when I was finally able to climb into my jams and sit down with my people, and enjoy a good meal AND a sweet sunset, all after a summer day’s work. ♥

30 Comments · Filed Under: family, life, summer, travel ·

hello, how are you?

August 29, 2014

Was it just last weekend that my beloved summer was still here? My official summer at least, seems to have come and gone out of nowhere– here one minute and practically up and disappeared the next! I did most everything that my heart set out to do. So much sweet I can still taste it, just a bit, on the tip of my tongue, but it’s fading fast and I’m trying to find the heart to let my hold on it go. Fall is not my favorite, but as it creeps in I’ll try my best to embrace it. There is beauty in every season, after all.

And also!

School is here! Or practically, anyway. I’ve spent this ENTIRE week in my classroom from sun up to sun down, doing this, putting away that. Crayons, and pencils, and BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS. I get so into what I’m doing while I’m in my little room that I hardly ever even stop to take a sip of water let alone glance at my phone. It’s been glorious, really. Life without instagram exists! Who knew?!

Only there was this one point today where I did remember OH RIGHT, I have a blog! And so much to say! And suddenly, just as quick as summer begins and ends, I felt the need to write something down— to start telling my story again and the places I’ve lived and loved along the way.

So here’s a hello and how are you?

I hope your summer’s been well and that things on your end are fine.

I’ve been busy (oh so busy!), but I’m here now, and I’m glad for it.

Photo taken by my sister in Martha’s Vineyard
A place I’ll tell you more about soon! XO

14 Comments · Filed Under: life, summer ·