Apple Picking

We went apple picking, way back in October. I couldn't believe how many different types of apple trees we could pick from. We had our choice of every kind of apple you could think of. Super tart, hard & sweet, sweet & soft, bitter & hard... 

The day was a beautiful one. We spent so much time roaming through the trees, smelling the apples we picked to try to determine which kind they were, and enjoying a perfect fall day with each other.

and lastly, we wondered over to say hi to the turkeys.

Our Local Farmers Market

Every Friday vendors from across the state gather in the middle of our town to sell their produce, baked goods, flowers, and local honey. We go for the organic produce, the occasional bunch of sunflowers, and always hit up the pickles guy. One time I bought a pint of pickles and had them almost finished off before I even made it home. What can I say, the pickles are tasty.

I can never get over how huge and beautiful the sunflower bouquets are. And I’m sure this week  the pumpkins will have arrived and we will buy one or four of them. You can never have too many pumpkins this time of year. 

Farmers markets are a fav of mine. I love the atmosphere and seeing everyone out and about enjoying themselves. It makes the town feel more like a community.  It's been fun watching this particular farmers market double in size in just a few short months. Bring on the fresh produce. 

A Day Spent in Bernardsville

A couple Saturday ago we took a spontaneous trip to Bernardsville, NJ. I had recently read about  Cross Estate Gardens and marked it on our list of things to do this summer. 

The town of Bernardsville was lined with gorgeous houses and mom & pop shops. Before going to the gardens we grabbed lunch to go at the local deli.

The gardens were landscaped in the early twentieth century and they feature a perennial garden, a wisteria- covered pergola, a mountain laurel allee, and a native plant garden. Plus, a maple leaf tree that the family planted when they first built the place in 1905.

The wisteria-covered pergola was magical. It reminded me of the secret garden and how I always wished that one day I would find my own enchanted garden filled with pink flowers and willow trees.

The family that built up this land in 1905 also built a gigantic water tower.  The tower is made entirely of stone and was used to pump well water into the home.

After exploring the gardens, we headed to the ShermanHoffman Wildlife Sanctuary. The area is filled with miles of hiking trails that weave through forests, fields, and along the Passaic River.

With the area being a wildlife sanctuary and Bear being a lover of birds, we did our share of bird watching :)

And toad hunting. These little guys are great at hiding, they camouflage themselves into whatever tree bark they are sitting on.  Bear making sure that we are on the right trail. He makes for a great hiking companion. 

We ended the day with some delicious chocolate and coffee ice cream from the local ice cream shop in downtown Bernardsville.

The day was spontaneous, unplanned, and perfect. I can't wait to go back, next time we will try one of the local restaurants. There was plenty available and they all looked yummy. 

Easter

Easter is a refreshing holiday. The flowers are starting to showcase their colors and new life starts appearing. The birds are chirping outside and the sun and blue skies shining brightly are an instant pick me up. Oh how I LOVE this time of year.  

For Easter we spent most of the day at the New Jersey Botanical Gardens. Things were just starting to bloom and have some color. I can’t wait to go back when all the flowers and trees are in full bloom. 

After we got home from our day spent at the gardens, we did our annual Easter egg hunt for Shento. He has perfected his craft of finding eggs. Bear hid them all over the yard, on top of a tree branch and in a flower pot, and Shento found every single one of the eggs.

He did eventually find the blue egg in the flower pot :) 

January - February - March - April

January

We rang in the New Year pretty uneventful. Some loud cheers, dancing in the living room and a kiss at midnight was what we mustered up.

We  visited one of our best friends in Charlottesville, VA. We had a great time, like we always do with him. We explored the town, went out to breakfast, and took a day trip to Roseland. The Roseland day trip was quite eventful, we got turned around and went the wrong direction for some time before realizing that we might be going in the wrong direction. A couple hours later, an ice cream pit stop, and a lot of quality time together, we arrived, just before the sun set over the hills.  We spent the evening by a huge fireplace eating food and enjoying some yummy drinks at Devils Backbone Brewery.

February

February was by far our worst winter month. It was filled with snow, rain, ice, freezing temperatures, and more rain. The entire state seemed like it was one big ice skating rink.  We watched a lot of Parks and Rec. and British Murder mystery shows.

March

In March we went to an all Beethoven recital by the wonderful Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes at McCarter Theater in Princeton. Bear loved it and I appreciated the talent that he had. Incredible.

We also cheered for the Gators during March madness.  We don’t have cable so we watched most of the games at our local pizza parlor.

April

On the first semi warm day the local ice cream shop opened, and you bet we went and tested out a few flavors.

For Easter Bear brought home the most gorgeous bouquet of flowers I've ever seen.   

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I’m so happy to be finally posting about the most wonderful time of the year.  December. This December felt more magical than most, and although we weren't around any of our family, sad face, we loved every minute of being together and really tried hard to do lots of holiday stuff. 

Our first holiday outing was to a small town just West of us, Clinton, NJ. They put on an annual Dickens festival complete with horse drawn carriage rides, old Saint Nick walking the streets, and holiday decorations that made the small town sparkle. We walked through the streets and ventured into a couple local shops. If you happen to be in the Clinton area stop off at Citispot Tea & Coffee. We ordered the pumpkin spice latte and it was wonderful. 

Next up, we got a Christmas tree. No, not the gigantic one on the left, even though I think that one would have been perfect, we opted for the cute five foot tree that was little crooked and missing a couple branches on the lower half. We always feel bad for the little Charlie brown trees  

One afternoon we drove to the shore and spent the evening enjoying the sights and sounds of Asbury Park. A lot of the area is still in the re-development stages after hurricane Sandy but Shento, Bear, and I were able to enjoy parts of the beach and boardwalk. After tiring Shento out we headed into the old conventional hall for some delicious dinner. If you look closely in the picture above you can see the convention hall and inside it was all decorated for the holiday. 

One of our newly acquainted holiday traditions is trying a new restaurant that normally is out of our everyday price range. This year we got all fancied up and went to Delta’s. A southern style, jazz music playing, fried chicken kind of a place. The chicken and waffles (with a hint of powdered sugar on top) were out of this world good. 

By the middle of December the weather was starting to get pretty terrible, and venturing outside in the ice and snow didn't seem like a good idea. But visiting numerous coffee shops throughout the area was the perfect date. There is something I love about sitting at a cozy coffee shop enjoying the company of a loved one. 

Bear baked some delicious pecan tassies.  Thanks to an old family recipe that his Mom gave him and his amazing baking skills these quickly became one of our favorite treats. 

Christmas morning was magical. We sat on the floor together and opened our presents. We felt so blessed to have family who graciously sent us wonderful gifts and my Mom who (always) put together the best stockings. We acted like kids, laughing and loving each other. I don’t think we go out of a PJ’s until after 1pm.  

Happy Holidays to everyone 5 months late. 

September, October, and November Adventures

I still have updating to do from the past several months. I have made this a goal to get all the updating done so that we have some sort of documentation on the last several adventures Bear and I have been on. This process has seemingly taken forever. I sit down to go through pictures only to realize that I have thousands of pictures all un-organized and in separate folders because that's the way they have downloaded to my computer… ridiculous.  But hooray for me, I'm slowly making progress on the photo organizing front and updating our life over the post 6 months. 

To those who still read this crazy blog of mine, the months and months of updating will soon be over and I will get back to posting regular posts.

September.
We were still on the hunt for furniture to fill our empty home. I stopped by every yard sale I found and frequently visited the thrift store.  I was able to find some great things, see below the 1980’s record player hutch. With some sanding and a new coat of paint it looked great.

We enjoyed our favorite Chinese noodle restaurants in New Brunswick. 

The weather was so beautiful in September that every moment we had we got outside and went for runs/walks to our local park.

We celebrated Shento, it was a happy 7^th birthday filled with dog cupcakes and a new stuffed animal.  

I traveled to WA to visit Miss. Milly, Whitney & Joey.  I had such a wonderful time. We packed the 5 days with eating Cronuts, wondering around the unbelievably beautiful Chihuly garden and glass museum, went on a girls date and devoured Mexican food, took lots of walks, and explored a little bit of Seattle.

October. 
Bear and I wanted an adventure, and we had always heard that upstate New York was beautiful during  the fall months, so the weekend after I got back from Washington we hoped in the car and drove to the Catskills.  We camped out in our car for a night and explored the little town of Windham.  

Janice came for a weekend visit. We walked downtown Highland Park stopping at the farmers market and our favorite bagel shop. 

Vicci and Charlie, Bear’s Aunt and Uncle, were visiting Maryland and it’s only a short drive from our house so we went to enjoy the day with them. We ate the absolute best crab cakes ever.

November

Bear rang in another wonderful year of life. He was busy the entire day so we celebrated that evening with a stombolli, cake, and the opening of gifts.  

Ryan took a spontaneous trip from D.C to come visit us. Always fun having him around. 

Bear went to Chicago to present a chapter of his dissertation. This was a big deal and I was a very proud grad student wife. 

We celebrated Thanksgiving by each picking two new recipes and making them together. The top favorites were the spinach sausage tart and the mushroom pilaf.

Hopewell, nj

here are some photos from our day yesterday. we have been wanting to go explore this area more and learn about the history. Since we are moving, we feel like we need to go take it all in, and i am so glad that we did.

first, we ventured to rockingham historic site. George Washington called this place home for 4 months during the revolutionary war. the house is filled with furniture and belongings (replicas) from that time period. it was really interesting to see how they lived during that time. 

Later, we made our to Hopewell, a small quant town with a lot of history. we grabbed sandwiches and the best coleslaw around at the local grill.  we then toured the museum, learned all about the town (John Hart lived here), and walked through the cemetery.

it was a beautiful day, and Hopewell was a great town to visit.