Sagaponack

This past weekend we ventured out to Long Island for a little get away and some family bonding.  It was Mike's first time to New York, and it was really cool to be able to show him where I was born and to introduce him to the "New York" family.  Mike's grandmother is actually from the village of Greenport, the same place that I'm originally from. Talk about small world.  We spent the first two nights with my cousin Melissa and her amazing boys, Cameron, Grady, and Halsey, in Sagaponack relaxing, grilling, chatting, and hitting the beach, and then headed out to Greenport and Orient Sunday morning to reunite with the rest of the family.  It was such a beautiful weekend and so, so much fun!  I couldn't help but snap about a million pictures...
This is my dream. I'm such a nerd, I'd never ever leave this corner of the house if it were mine.

This is the view from the house. So peaceful The boys playing at the beach

Halsey is fearless. This is the 360 he was attempting (and nailed)

There was a perfect little alcove for crabbing.  The boys quickly enlisted Mike as their net holder

My mom, sister, and step dad met us up there to spend some time with everyone

My newest second shooter's work

Love love love

My beautiful sister

The burning of the homework

and lots of s'mores

"This one's for YOU!"

Little genius. Mike got schooled pretty well in the art of chess

I've got the most handsome cousins :)

Shelter Island on our trip over to Greenport

Heading home sadly...great view of Brooklyn though!

We had such a lovely time and can't wait to come back! Thanks so much for having us, we love you all!

sometimes I get butterflies...

I received this butterfly bush as a gift at the end of last summer and, not knowing exactly what it was, tucked it away neatly into a little corner of my flower bed and forgot about it (at this point it was about a foot tall and was on the verge of death on a daily basis...I wasn't the most attentive caretaker).  A few weeks ago I noticed that this little struggling plant had not only grown, but was about 10 feet tall and overtaking my roof.  I figured if it had that strong of a will to survive I might as well give it a little water, so I drug the hose around.  I set it to mist and let it go, but as soon as the water hit the plant it was like it had exploded. What seemed like hundreds of butterflies came fluttering out everywhere! It was the coolest, most beautiful thing!  I grabbed my camera to take a few pics of the where's waldo-esque butterfly scene and ended up with some pretty little shots.  This little (no so) plant is really living up to its name, and I can't say I mind one bit.






In other news, we took a sweet little weekend trip up to Sagaponack this past weekend for some family time and I can't wait to share. More on that soon :) Until then, wishing you peace, love and bliss-A

stars and stripes

Our 4th of July was filled with sun, hard work, cool beers, yard games, relaxation, and about 15 trips to the hardware store.  I started my newest project, restoring some old walnut furniture, and in true fashion ended up spending the entire morning and half of the afternoon sanding and scraping away.  I have a kind of compulsion once I start a project, I guess it's not a bad thing (especially for Mike since it meant he got a good four hour video game session out of the deal without being nagged).  Since it was a billion degrees out I finally gave it a rest and spent the rest of the holiday enjoying some swimming, drinks, munchies, yard games, and cute fuzzy company.

This is the before, we'll see what we end up with....(my dog is obsessed with having his picture taken if you can't tell. Can't escape him once he hears the shutter click)























 Hope you all had a fun, sunny, safe 4th!Peace, love and bliss-A