over the weekend: apple picking!

I had a great weekend. Ever since K and I moved (back) to Vermont in 2008, we have been vigilant about sticking to a few fall traditions: apple picking and pumpkin carving. There is just something about autumn that begs us to take advantage--maybe it's because autumn is the last hurrah before we hibernate all winter, maybe it's some biological need to celebrate the harvest season, maybe it's because I was born in October and apple cider just runs in my blood ;) Whatever the reason, it's great fun (here we are in 2009 and 2010). After a scrumptious brunch at Libby's Diner in Colchester (yummmmmmm vegetarian benedict), we headed over to Shelburne Orchards, where we picked a bushel (40 lbs!) of McIntosh apples in under an hour (there were so many!). It was a gloriously sunny 75 degrees, and we had a wonderful time wandering through the rows, comparing best picks, and marveling at the beautiful scenery. We wrapped up the afternoon with hot cider on the hillside, and brought our apples home for lunches and pies and the like :)

That night I headed over to my parents' house, where they were having a big going-away gala for a neighborhood friend. It was a wild night, complete with a bonfire, mad dancing, fabulous people and lots and lots of wine. (Woodbury is where it's at.) No photographic evidence, but it's probably better that way. The next morning I got up feeling a little bit worse for wear, played a round of Bananagrams with my mom to give my muddled brain a bit of a workout, and went for a leisurely stroll in the forest before driving home on the back roads with the windows down and Charles Bradley and the Menahan Street Band playing bluesy music into the open air.

Good times :)

country bumpkin

Today has been pretty brutal. I am so ready for my long weekend away, even if it does mean traveling by almost every means necessary (planes, trains and automobiles... no boat).

(chambray: Walmart; lace top/skirt: Salvation Army; boots: ALDO)

I feel pretty country in this outfit, but that's okay--I live in the country! And anyway, it involves lace, so... enough said. I think that I like chambray almost more for fall than I did for summer--do you concur? There is something about the denim fabric that screams "harvest season"--days spent in the fields, cropping corn (or whatever it is that they do... I may be from the country but I am by no means a farmer!) or picking pumpkins. Have a hot cider for me, and enjoy your Thursday afternoon!

rattling brook music festival

What another great weekend! I am in love with summer :) Saturday was a gorgeous, sunny, eighty-degree day, so K and I decided to take a trip up to Belvidere, VT for the Rattling Brook Bluegrass Festival. What a pleasant surprise! K had his doubts because he'd never heard of any of the bands, but that was precisely why I knew it would be awesome. The festival has been going on for twenty-five years, but it's still very down-home and laid-back because it's not seriously advertised... it's kind of a word-of-mouth publicity plan.

We just hung out in the hot sun for several hours (my invisible accessory: sunscreen! my mother would be proud)...

(K's not-so-invisible accessory--he got so mad when he discovered that I had tied this in his hair!)

...and heard some great bluegrass (okay, there was a range of talent, but it was all fun!).

If I'd had any sort of foresight I would have brought a journal with me to record the names of all of these bands, but alas--I didn't want to be weighed down. At least I'll know better next year, when I will definitely be returning armed with a cooler of beer and a few of my best dancing-buddies--I literally could have stayed all night if I had someone to dance with, but K wasn't feeling it. The only thing he was feeling (besides joy, for being at such an awesomely quaint festival) was heatstroke.

Before we left, K agreed to take some outfit photos for me. Really he just wanted to take pictures of this truck, but I finagled my way into the frame so you could see my romper.

(romper/belt: Old Navy; shoes: Kohl's; hat: thrifted; sunglasses: UO)

I love this little romper because it reminds me of a picnic and it has little pockets in the front! I bought it months ago but was saving it for the perfect summer day--thanks, Rattling Brook!

Happy Summer Solstice, everyone!

city mouse/country mouse

What a pleasant surprise! The morning sun has finally risen above the trees, casting long shadows on the snow and warming my face like sweet melted butter--spring has arrived! It's as if Mother Nature is rewarding me for all of those early AMs spent shivering in the sleet and snow for the sake of this little blog :)

Today I decided to let my inner gypsy come out to play.

I came the the conclusion years ago that the primary problem I have (in life) is with finding a compromise between two halves of my self. My inner yin and yang, if you will. It's very City Mouse/Country Mouse.

On one hand, I am a Vermonter at heart... I love long, quiet walks in the woods and reading for hours on a sun-stroked rock in the middle of a babbling brook. I love crackling fireplaces and woodsmoke and quaint little towns and quiet little lakeside cabins. I love dirt roads and green fields and big blue skies and holstein cows and banjos. I love long flowing dresses and paisley scarves and gold bangles and dancing/spinning like a nymph around a bonfire on a midsummer's night. I like to be barefoot.

The flip side of my personal proverbial coin is my city-slicker style. I love walking fast on busy city streets juggling Starbucks and shopping bags. I fondly remember days spent watching through the windows of coffee shops as the constant, uninterrupted flow of moving bodies and bikes and trains harmonized with the cacophonous clang of jangling subway trains and rapid conversations in a variety of voices. I love long nights spent sipping wine on rooftops looking out over bright city lights, and dancing to loud music in dark, smoky clubs until I'm tired and sweaty and thrilled to the bone. If I can't be barefoot, I'm always in high high heels.

What's a girl to do? It's as if my personality is split in two and I can't decide who I want to be! I guess all I can do is try to find a common ground between my two selves. And so? Gypsy scarves and high heels and nymph-twirl-dancing in smoky clubs and sipping wine while looking out over the bright lights of the stars in the sky and perking up my ears at the sound of the Amtrak train as it rushes & rumbles past my country window in the night... a brief reminder of the joys and noise of city life.

(jumper&belt&scarf: thrifted; cardigan: Target; tights: HUE; moccasins: Minnetonka)

In other news, K and I got the apartment in Richmond and will be moving in less than three weeks!! I'm so excited & pleased & relieved :)

Happy Thursday, everyone!