merry, merry

this year hasn’t been my favorite. it brought about a lot of change, most of it uncomfortable (as change tends to be), & stressful situations.

so i just about sprinted into the holidays as soon as i could, overhauling our living room/dining room into a personal winter wonderland. decorating our home for the season has brought me a lot of joy & i’m really looking forward to cozy nights with a lit up tree, christmas movies, & glass of wine in hand. 

weekend notes

after a month of nonstop traveling & visitors, we were so ready for this weekend. with joe now working out of DC during the week, our weekends have become especially important to us as our time to be together & reconnect. 

from enjoying the beautiful weather outside (as you can see, kate did too - we couldn’t get her to come in!) and doing some fall cleaning/rearranging at home (more to come on that) to great meals at the old greenwich social club & with friends at dos caminos, it was a much needed mellow few days. 

i'm not the biggest fan of halloween. i hate anything scary and am not into dressing up.

but chocolate candy? that part i don't mind at all. so this year i decided to combine it with my tried and true chocolate chip cookie recipe for a fun little halloween surprise.

when it comes to summer drinks, if i’m not having rosé - it’s margaritas all the way. & paloma makes one that is just sheer perfection in my book.

while i haven’t even attempted to take on their recipe (tequila, grand marnier, house orange tincture, lime, & hibiscus nectar), i have picked up 2 little tips from them that i’m definitely putting to use when going the homemade margarita route.

1. i always ask for their “spicy salt” when i go & finally found out what it is. they’re using tajín - a blend of chilies, lime juice, & salt. i managed to track it down at the grocery store last night & will never go back to regular salt. 

the past few months joe & I have been so absorbed by our jobs that it feels like we've barely seen each other. we swore when the weather got nice we'd start taking advantage of our location & this weekend we held true to that promise. 

we woke up early on saturday & drove out to newport, which neither of us had been to since we were young. as soon as we pulled into town, we drove right to the forty steps & spent some time on the cliff walk before getting some brunch at the low-key franklin spa. then we checked out the breakers & drove along ocean drive before climbing the rocky coastline at brenton point. next up were the legendary lobster/crab/shrimp donuts at the mooring & an afternoon nap with the windows open & fireplace on at forty 1 north. dinner that night was at one of the oldest U.S. taverns - the fantastic white horse tavern where we had great drinks (their “modern fashioneds” were on point) & a delicious dinner.

sunday had perfect weather, so after a tour of touro synagogue we hopped over to easton’s beach to take advantage of the sunshine & grab some fresh lobster rolls & del's lemonade. we spent the rest of the day wandering the city before we found a spot right on the water at the hotel where we spent the evening watching the fog roll in with rosé & crab cakes. 

there’s just never enough.

i’m not saying i’m obsessed with fun leggings for working out, but if i was i’d be scoping out (& crushing on) the bandier website today.