a weekend in maine

hello darlings! two items on my list of things to do before i leave the north east are (1) see a lighthouse and (2) go to maine. well, this weekend, michael and i traveled up the coast to maine. it was so relaxing and delightful. i don't think we mentioned wedding planning once! we stopped off at the cape neddick "nubble" lighthouse. the view was amazing. there was something wonderful about the calm that comes with winter in a summer town.

our cute 'lil zipcar. 

crazy wind = crazy hair

on the second day we took a stroll along marginal way. it was snowing like crazy but the views were still breathtaking.

 my bean boots in their homeland.

in order to keep me warmer, michael insisted that i have his jacket(because the longer i stayed warm, the longer i stayed happy, & the longer we got to hike :). boy, was i lookin' good! 

i hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!
and, i'm curious, does anyone else love to go to places "out of season"? or, do you prefer going when all the shops are open and there are lots of other lovely travelers? 

the days gone by...

i can't believe that the semester is almost over! i registered for my last semester of college on friday and am happy to say that i will have fridays off and most importantly, no 8a.m. class. woohoo! that means every weekend is a three day weekend. crazy, right? it will be a wonderful change from this semester's schedule. here's a little of what i've been up to in my free time this week:

on wednesday, my cousin, rachel, and i had a pre-thanksgiving dinner with a couple friends. rachel found us some great treats at a british imports store in her neighborhood, including a fantastic shepherd's pie (which i failed to take a picture of). 

saturday was the harvard-yale game, the first (and probably last) college football game i'll attend during my college years. it was really fun! i'm not big on sports or school spirit (which is why nyu is perfect for me) but it was fun to get dressed up in the school colors and tailgate and all that. best of all, harvard won! 

i've also been squeezing as many brunch/coffee dates as possible. there is nothing worse than getting wrapped up in work and realizing it has been weeks since you have had a good chat with a friend. and how cute are those tiny waffles? michael and i went to this great little place called dorian gray. they have an awesome brunch deal and we didn't have to wait for a table (a huge plus!)

i am beyond excited about spending the weekend with my family in tennessee. if only i didn't have to wait until thursday morning to fly out! the holiday season is in full swing! 

hope everyone is having a fantastic week! when do y'alls thanksgiving breaks begin?

fill in the blank ... sunday

things just keep getting busier and busier around here! michael came to new york and surprised me on thursday. we had a wonderful time putting off homework and enjoying each other's company. on saturday we headed to boston. it was so awesome to have a bus buddy! it made the ride seem so much shorter. i guess the mild weather has kept the colors around longer because cambridge was beautiful! so many fall leaves on the ground! this week is already as crazy as the last few have been. only a week and a half til thanksgiving though! woohoo! i am greatly in need of a vacation.



1. my favorite new blog of the moment is roost.


2. something i am thankful for is my internship! i have heard so many horror stories about the life of an intern and i am so blessed to be in an office full of warm and gracious people.


3. something that made me laugh this week was the first wives club. i'm sure the other people on the bus hated me and michael because we were laughing out loud the whole time.


4. an item that is currently on my wish list is a knitting class at purl.


5. i am excited about the harvard yale game this coming weekend and thanksgiving in tennesse the next! i am so excited to get out of the city. that 24hr trip to boston just didn't cut it!


6. if i were a color i would be dark purple.


7. my favorite way to spend a chilly fall day is a breakfast date followed by some serious window shopping.

Let's have make it a great week!

dear monday: oct 31, 2011

dear monday, here so soon? thanks for the nap this afternoon. that was pretty awesome.

dear snow, you were absolutely magical this weekend, but i am glad you didn’t stick around. i am sure there is much more where you came from….

dear little one, you are the cutest lil’ firetruck around.

dear paranormal activity 3, please don’t be too scary. lydia and i can only take so much scary in one night!

dear boyfriend, thanks for a wonderful weekend. hurry up and come visit again soon! i promise to have piles of cous cous and stewed tomatoes waiting for you.


weekend wrap-up:
i’m not sure if y’all heard, but we had a snow storm up here in nyc. when i saw the forecast i assumed that we would get a few minutes of tiny flakes at the most. boy was i wrong. it was a full on blizzard! it was quite ironic, considering what i had posted the day before. my sweet boyfriend was in from boston and we had an amazing homework free day. I know, crazy, right!? it was pretty awesome. it made me seriously think about taking a year off before grad school (no homework for a whole year?!) tonight, i am going to see paranormal activity with my friend, lydia. we already have plans for her to stay over because I don’t think either of us will make it through the night without a friend!

hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

braving the cold + fill in the blank friday

source

at the beginning of the semester, i remember saying that i was totally set on cold weather clothes. i didn't buy any new clothes last fall or winter (minus a few pretty dresses for special occasions) so i thought this year would be the same way. well, i was wrong. i guess i forgot one minor detail: the past three school years, i have spent half my week in tights and leotards for studio. turns out those are not appropriate for an internship! (don't worry, i have not actually attempted wearing my dance clothes to the office:) now, i am in serious need of work appropriate, warm clothes. i prefer not to do much thrifting in new york (especially for clothes) because it is so much more expensive than in texas or tennessee, but, this weekend, i am going to give it another go. we'll see what happens! 

as far as halloween goes, it's going to be pretty boring around here. in fact, this is the first time i have even mentioned it on here. i'm not big on halloween (shocking, i know) but i'm sure i will get dressed up at least once... michael and i usually do something in the boston area but we both have school on monday and tuesday. we went to salem two years ago and it was awesome! we got there early so we could do a lot of exploring but by the end of the day we were the only ones under the age of 60 who were not in costume. we looked pretty cool. i'm just ready to move on to thanksgiving and christmas! i've got the christmas music on repeat already. something just occurred to me, maybe i would like halloween better if it was a school holiday! anyway, here is my fill in the blank friday:

1. when i was a kid i wanted to be a marine biologist when i grew up.

2. as an adult, my dream job would be anything with small children. i would love to have a small in-home preschool someday!

3. when i was younger i wanted to be just like hermoine. i was a pretty cool kid. 

4. the childhood halloween costume that i remember most was when i was peacock. i got to wear the costume from our town's 'nutcracker' and had a full length feather tail. i was pretty disappointed when my mom wouldn't let me jump on the trampoline at the fall festival though. looking back, i understand why(:

5. my favorite childhood toy was my backyard. i realize that's not an actual toy, but that is definitely where i spent the majority of my time. i was a climber.

6. the time i got into the biggest amount of trouble when i was a kid was when i ...not sure. i have always been very careful about not getting into trouble. i'm sure my mom would remember a few times that could qualify though, haha. 

7. i get daily inspiration from the people around me, my childhood experiences, and other lovely bloggers. 

do y'all have any big plans for the weekend? am i the only one who doesn't love halloween? 

an afternoon on the streets

chicago

this (two day) week has been crazy busy with very little sleep. i wanted to get these pictures up before the weekend though!
chicago was just delightful. it is beautiful and so clean! i could not believe it. even though it was a short trip, we still got to do a lot of walking and sightseeing.
sunday was marathon day so we all rolled out of bed nice and early to watch dad start the race. here was my view:

it wasn't long until we saw the first runners...

and, soon after, my daddy!

i could not believe how many people were running.

we saw dad again right before the four mile marker.

still smiling!

there was another marker down the road where we saw him but i didn't get a picture. he had been super sick and is injured so he pulled himself out at the half-way point. i am still so proud of him! i would not have been able to drag myself out of bed if i wasn't feeling well and b) not let myself stop even if i was hurting. i guess that sort of self awareness comes with much experience, haha! the good thing about daddy finishing early was that he was ready to hit the town after a nap! 

willis tower:

michael took a secret shot of mom and dad while mom was overcoming her extreme fear of heights (:

and no marathon day would be complete without a trip to a brazilian steakhouse where we all eat like we ran a marathon...

last but not least:

on monday we stopped by the field museum. having loved the ghost and the darkness for the majority of my life, i loved getting to see the actual lions. if you have never seen the movie, you need to watch it! it is quite an amazing story.

getting ready for our 3d movie about sue, the t rex

michael, of course, wanted a picture of me and sue being twins. i know, i'm pretty terrifying.

it was a whirlwind of a trip and i can't wait to go back and see more of the city!