*Sigh* This weekend was perfect. It had potential to be pretty lame because it was snow/sleeting both days and the temperatures really took a nosedive, but because K and I didn't have any big plans, we just holed up in our little apartment and got cozy and crafty. On Friday night my parents took us out to dinner at Toscano, a nice local Italian restaurant with an unbelieveable menu. I had a terrible time making up my mind about what to order, but ended up settling on the porcini mushroom ravioli in a rich creamy cheese sauce. My first choice was the goat cheese ravioli, but K ordered that so I just had a taste of his--also delicious! It was a lovely dinner, bookended by fresh green salads and raspberry bread pudding (with a couple of bottles of pinot noir fueling us steadily from start to finish). Thanks, mom&dad!
On Saturday we got out of the house to do a little shopping (I scored at Goodwill) and to see a matinee of Catfish, a freakfest documentary that really solidified all of my misgivings about our internet generation and is an absolute must-see for anyone involved in social media. I don't want to give too much away here because the intensity builds as the film unfolds and I don't want to ruin the effect for anyone who might see it, but the basic premise is that a young NYC photographer strikes up a long-distance Facebook friendship with an eight-year-old painting prodigy, becomes close with the rest of her creatively-inclined family, and realizes as time goes on that they might not be quite what they seem. It's a really fascinating look at the way we present ourselves and the way we are perceived in the digital age, and managed to be simultaneously tragic, funny, and frightening. I think one of the most compelling aspects of the film is its spontaneity--the filmmakers just stumbled upon the story because they happen to record everything that they do on a daily basis, and they only committed to a full-length film when the strangeness of this situation became clear. (If you've seen the film, here is an interesting interview with the fellows--but beware, spoilers galore!) Their approach to filmmaking is remniscent of the cinéma vérité pioneer D.A. Pennebaker, who also lived his life with a camera as his constant companion.
Anyway, enough about that. Just go see the movie. Saturday night K watched the baseball game and I started a sewing project!! I'm totally excited about it. Basically, I was going back and forth about whether I should just exactly follow a dress pattern I had bought many moons ago or if I should try to alter it to be more like the sort of dress I envisioned for the pattern I picked out. As it turns out, I had bought entirely the wrong pattern size, so it was a no-brainer. In the end I went completely off-pattern and dreamt up a design of my very own, cutting the fabric based loosely on other dresses that I already own. So far it's turned out really well and I'm excited to show it to you guys--for my first sewing project ever (pillowcases in Home Ec don't count), I'm pretty pleased with myself.
I also carved this mini-gourd into a pet for him:
Happy Halloween!
So my fun fall weekend didn't exactly go as planned... but that's okay. On Saturday, K and I drove to Salem, MA to experience some early Halloween festivities. Oh. my. god. Don't ever do it.
First of all, it took forever just to get into town, and then we couldn't find anywhere to park so we ended up paying $15 to park in a lot with all the other suckers. We walked downtown and it. was. a. madhouse. I felt like I was going to be trampled at every turn, and the quaint historic little town had been completely carnivalized beyond recognition. It was like everything that is wrong with Disneyland--mile-long lines for every attraction and haunted house (and most frustratingly for the ladies' room in the Visitor's Center), exorbitant prices, strollers everywhere--even the graveyards were absolutely crawling with tourists. It was a major disappointment.
After attempting to escape the crowds and explore off-the-map corners of the downtown area, we finally just threw up our arms and left. It's a shame, because I remember visiting Salem my freshman year of college and having a grand old time sipping hot cider and strolling through the empty streets (and the haunted houses were so scary!). We decided that we are definitely off-season people, and maybe we'll go back next year in like... September.
(dress/fur collar: H&M; necklace: DIY; shoes: Seychelles)
This is what I wore when we picked out our pumpkin yesterday. Again, I had a full fall day planned, complete with pumpkin patches and hay rides and all that good stuff, but it was miserably cold and rainy all day. We ended up just driving down the road to a local farm and picking out a few gems (one for carving, two for cooking... and a miniature gourd that I want to attempt to carve as well). I'm going to make a pumpkin and lentil soup and K is going to make a pumpkin pie.
Sadly, the foliage was pretty decimated by the recent rain/wind storms here in VT--the tree branches already look like creepy bare bones! Just in time for Halloween :)
(shirt: TJMaxx; skirt: vintage; tights: HUE; boots: ALDO; scarf: Bargain Boutique)