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. 

our weekend

as you probably guessed, our weekend was spent up in Park City hanging out with my parents and their new puppy. the cool fresh air was so wonderful, waking up in the morning and having to wear a sweater or cuddle up with a blanket was a nice break. the 100'+  temps we have been having in Provo are getting a little old.  

on saturday we took the dogs to the lake. shento enjoyed swimming after sticks and a toy duck.  the puppy (Sadie) enjoyed chasing after shento once he got far enough away from the water. sadie was very hesitant of the lake and wouldn't go near it by herself.  but she sure loved chasing shento all around, and she quickly learned that biting his legs would get his attention.

it was such a nice weekend.
i hope this week goes by quick so we can have another great weekend.

our weekend...

was relaxing.

we watched a lot olympics

had dinner with some amazing friends

spent time with family

(who came to help us fix some things around our house)

i painted a new picture

we ate lots of fresh fruit 

and we planted a few new house plants. 

the weekend was perfect!

over the weekend

1. I made a delicious shrimp sandwich, in which I enjoyed it outside while basking in the sun.

  2.    I got to spend a little quality time with Bear.

 3. Fresh squeezed limeade.

4.  We made an ice cream run to the local BYU creamery. Highly recommended! 

it's friday

I am super glad it’s Friday. Although we have nothing planned, well, 

let me rephrase that, I have nothing planned. I am excited to have a weekend 

to catch up on household chores, photo editing, and swinging in our hammock. 

Bear has lots of research/hanging out to do. He is one busy guy these days. 

And it happens to be that the weekends are his busiest days, which puts 

a real damper on enjoying each other on my days off. I know that if his days are 

filled up he is making progress. And progress is exactly what we want. 

So although I feel like most of the time my husband is off doing something 

without me, it makes me happy to know that he is making headway and we 

are one step closer to being finished with this grad school journey.

Have a great weekend everyone! 

lets buy a hammock and lay in it

this weekend was spent outside, soaking up every moment of the sunshine. 

summer is by far my favorite time of the year. 

who doesn't love summer? 

warm weather, fresh flowers, picnics... the list could go on and on.

i live for the warmth and being able to enjoy the outdoors. 

in the summer i pretty much live outside! and it's spectacular. 

but we had one problem. 

our house had no patio or place to sit outside. 

so this weekend, we created one.

 we cleared out a corner of our back yard, 

mulched it, planted flowers, started our garden, 

and the best part... hung a hammock. 

The corner transformed from a pile of leaves, sticks, and multiple disintegrating items

to this area that we are now able to enjoy and relax in. 

I spent most of sunday reading my magazine, sipping on lemonade, 

and swinging in the hammock. 

it was g.l.o.r.i.o.u.s !

p.s we also stopped by my favorite bakery to pick up some doughnuts. 

weekend events

Over the weekend, we squeezed in a little time for some flea market shopping. After a very stressful few days the fun we had was much needed. My parent's decided to come hang out with us on Saturday and go to fleaology. Of course, fleaology was great, the vendors out did themselves. I walked away with a great yellow and orange carpet bag, a 1960's picture to hang in our kitchen, and a green bowl.  

After fleaology, we hit up the local breakfast spot, One Man Band. I remember frequently visiting this spot when I was younger. There's a phone at each booth that you use to call the cook when you're ready to order. When you're young, this is one of the coolest inventions ever... Bear had never been to the One Man Band and couldn't get over the fact that you had to actually pick up the phone, ring the chief, and order your breakfast.  Hence, the reason it's called "ONE" man band, it literally is one man behind the counter answering phones and cooking up a breakfast storm. Because of it being only one guy working, the service is a little slow but the food was great and the atmosphere is fun.

Thank you to Mom and Dad for coming down and having fun with us. And I want to thank them for being so patient and extremely helpful in this time of need. This coming week we have a big decision to make, but hopefully the stress of everything will slowly taper off. 

Happy Monday!!

stress

Excuse me for not writing much on the blog this week.
It has been a stressful, irritating and emotional past couple of days.

I am counting on the weekend to make up for it.
hope your week was better than mine. Here's to the weekend!

If you live in Utah here are a couple fun things happening this weekend!

Fleaology happening in Payson.

Rooftop Concert series in Provo: performers are Peter Breinholt and Ryan Innes.

Live Green Festival in Salt Lake City

the weekend at the bijou market

 

I had a busy weekend. I was the 'official' photographer for the Bijou market, sounds official right? I had a blast. It's so much fun meeting lots of wonderful and talented women. It was like an all day party. Socializing, laughing, and eating way too many sweet tooth fairy cake bites. 

More photo's to come.... 

If you live in Utah County you need to check out Square Native. 

A site for all things happening in Utah County. 

Oh, and one more thing, I am blog of the week over here. 

Happy Monday! I hope everyone has a great sunshiny day. 

hello weekend

 

Boy, am i glad it's Saturday. 

The sun is shinning brightly this morning.

It has turned out to be a perfect day for a hike and picnic. 

Happy Saturday Everyone. I hope the sun is shinning wherever you are. 

image found here 

it was the perfect weekend

Dear weekend, you were spectacular. I never wanted you to end. Bear and I were able to hang out with friends, relax and enjoy each other, uninterrupted for an entire day.

Dear thanksgiving point, thank you for entertaining Bear and I on Saturday. You kept us laughing with your diagraph of how farms work, you brought back lot of fun memories, and you created the perfect setting for a romantic kiss in your indoor garden.

Dear Kia, thank you for fixing my car and not laughing at me when I fell on my face in your shop.

Dear sunshine, I wish you would stick around a little longer. Shento and I really enjoyed you.

Dear McDonalds, sometimes you are exactly what I need. 

a walk around downtown

Today has been an absolutely beautiful warm day. Shento and I decided to take full advantage of this spring like day and explore Provo on foot (and paws). I think we covered most of the down-town area and a couple little neighborhoods by our house. It always amazes me how different things look when you are walking instead of driving. I think you miss so much when you sit in your inclosed vehicle.

Today made me excited for spring. I can only image all the family walks that we will be going on once the stays warm. Next time, hopefully Bear can join us (he was busy with some school things).

over the weekend

 hope your weekend was just lovely. 

Ours was filled with lots of celebrating, enjoying each others company,

and eating lots of good food. 

Some highlights were: 

going for a walk; but it turned out to be way too cold, 

so we decided to go eat a delicious fruit tart at la jolla bakery instead.  

we bought some house plants to bring color to our home,

 we stuffed ourselves with indian food, 

and then cuddled on the couch and watched some law and order. 

yeah, it was a great weekend. 

now onto a wonderful week! 

a few awesome things from this weekend...

1. Seeing Joshua James perform... Magical! 

2. Pizza night, a couple episodes of madman, and cuddling on the couch with Bear. 

3. Spending a Saturday morning enjoying all the wonderful treasures at fleaology.  I walked away with the best find - that amazing blue bench. 

4. Taking Shento on a walk long enough to make him tired. That's hard to do. 

5. Finding a fun bakery within walking distance from our house. 

6. It snowed. 

7. Drinking lots of hot beverages to stay warm. 

8. Decorating for lover's day. 

the weekend

Highlights from the weekend include

1. going to glades for hamburgers. This use to be one of our weekend hangout spots (the parking lot) when I was younger.  It was as delicious as I remembered it being.  They have this white sauce for dipping your fries (and anything else) and it is scrumptious! It's so good that I kept some and it's in my refrigerator for when I get a craving.

2. taking a walk up Hobble Creek Canyon, and then driving around looking at all the million (x6) dollar houses that are hidden up throughout the canyon.

3. watching Shento play in the snow.

4. coming home and trying out our new espresso maker. Bear made a killer pumpkin spice espresso!

5. (not pictured) Bear and I walked to center street to watch Santa turn the Christmas lights on in downtown provo. The lights were so so, but the walk was wonderful. It is great living within walking distance to downtown.

That wraps up our weekend. How was yours?

our saturday

the weekend has come and gone, it always seems to happen so quickly. this weekend was a busy one. i'm starting to feel the effects of being married to a grad student once again. luckily, i was able to snag Bear away from his computer and hot beverage for a Saturday afternoon together. we ventured out to the thrift store and local park. we were able to escape the thrift store with only a few items. One of which was a woody tennis racquet that we played with that evening. the park city local park is beautiful and is quickly becoming one of my favorite areas to walk and bring shento. you will always find other dogs eager to play, which makes shento extremely happy. there is a music garden tucked away off the walking path, that is Bear's entertainment (who doesn't love beating on logs and metal things), and the scenery that surrounds that area is breathtaking. 

out my window

oh my, i love this time of year. the leaves are beautiful, the weather is perfect, and the aroma of pumpkin spice is all around. i feel giddy inside just thinking about it. i intend on enjoying as much of this fall beauty as i possibly can. do you have any wonderful plans for the weekend? i was thinking a hike or drive up in the mountains! i am sure it is beautiful way back there. and tonight i will be cheering on my amazing tennis player hubby in a woody tennis tournament. i am pretty excited to watch everyone play with the old wood tennis rackets. i am going in hopes of making new friends. because we all know, we could use some friends here in Utah! have a wonderful weekend. i will be back in october.. ha ha ha - wednesday to be exact. 

the thoughts for the night

it's getting late and I should be cuddling up with the Mr. but instead, a burst of energy hit me while I was lying in bed and my mind wouldn't relax. although I am not thinking about anything in particular nor anything important I just can't settle down. So instead of being a nuisance with my tossing and turning, I decided to get up, make a cup of tea, and write some emails. Yeah for getting a head start to the week! But I got distracted from my emails and decided that writing sounded better. 

How was your weekend? Our weekend turned out fantastic. All of my family has been in town and we took full advantage of being around them. Nightly gatherings, day trips, and wonderful lunches were on our agenda the past couple days. I will write more about their visit later. 

I had a wonderful photography shoot this evening. Every single time I go on a shoot I feel so blessed that I get to do what I love. I LOVE taking people's pictures. It makes my heart so happy! 

While I was thinking about my photography and how delighted it makes me feel inside, I started thinking about other things that make me happy. So I created list and I thought I would share it with you all. Have you seen rockstar diaries 'Happy Lists'. Reading them makes you happy and grateful for all the small things in life that make you smile. 

Here's my Happy List

1. The memories that Bear and I made the past two weeks with my Grandparents.

2. Feeling the warm sun on my skin

3. Pumpkin spice lates 

4. The smell of my pumpkin spice candle

5. When Bear apologized for loosing my to-go box yesterday (silly husband)

6. Thinking about decorating a new house 

7. A rainy evening cuddling with Bear & lots of blankets 

8. Waking up in the middle of the night and feeling my puppy by my feet 

9. Finding new recipes

10. and of course, taking pictures

and ten things that I want to start doing. That will, in return make me a happier person! 

1. Send more letters and post cards

2. Kiss my husband more

3. Re-initiating our weekly date nights

4. Organize our bedroom

5. Find new ways to market my photography business

6. Start doing more yoga 

7. Make new friends here in Utah 

8. Paint my fingernails

9. Bake these yummy looking treats

10. Start taking Shento on more walks. We need our us time! 

Goodnight. 

weekend report

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. 

Ours was lovely. 

Shento turned five... where did the time go? 

We celebrated his big day 

by going on a long walk. 

The air has been so crisp and clean, 

it is definitely starting to feel like fall around our neck of the woods

We also stopped by the doggy bakery 

and picked out a peanut butter cupcake. 

We loved on our not so little puppy anymore 

and reminisced about the past 5 years. 

Shento has truly been the best pup 

we could ask for. 

My family has been in town 

and we have been visiting and hanging out. 

It's fun being around all of them and catching up. 

I have some pretty silly Uncles,

they make us all laugh pretty hard.

Since being in Utah, we (okay, so I think I need to leave Bear out of this) have been on the search 

for a good bakery. I am in need of a moist, scrumptious donut. 

I am sorry to report that I have not found one. 

I tried this weekend.. but failed. 

I am going to gain 5lbs just on my quest to find that perfect bakery.

If you know of one in Utah, please share. 

Happy Monday!!