The Future Of Menus?

On Friday night we joined some friends for dinner at Da Vinici Ristorante (yay for restaurant week!). The food was excellent, and the company was even better. Our waiter was a pill, but all of the other staff seemed great (after our meal the chef came out to ask us how everything was; I felt like a VIP). You guys, this place had glowing menus. Glowing!

Some guy who works there told us they cost $200 each (maybe that's why there weren't enough to go around - we only got 3 for a table of 6). It seems a little excessive, but it was so dark in there we probably wouldn't have been able to see the menu otherwise. It was a fun novelty, that's for sure!

I took this picture with my blackberry, but you can clearly see that the menu is lighting up Eric and Joe.

Open 3/30/10

I'm 27 today, and I don't feel old at all. In fact, I feel young and amazed that people consider me a grown up. When I was little it was always a little disappointing that I didn't feel different, but now I'm used to it. I suppose it would be sort of shocking to wake up and feel like another person, since growing, maturing, and aging are gradual processes that happen over the course of weeks, months, or years. Plus, I'm still me (even if I have grown up some), so I imagine that I'll always love opening presents (almost more than what's inside), eating sweets, and making wishes - you know, all the things that make birthdays special.

On Friday, I got a letter in the mail and I was super excited. I knew right away that it was a birthday card from my gramma, but I didn't open it because it had instructions on the back:

Well today I opened it as soon as I got out of bed, and it made my day. (Thanks gramma, you're great.) Then I opened the gifts from my family, and my day got even brighter. (Thanks family, you're great too.) And then Eric came home to have lunch with me and a birthday package from his parents was delivered! (Thanks Schwarzes, you are also great.)

I've been getting emails and phone calls and texts and facebook/twitter messages all day. I feel so loved, so I thank you all! Some of you have expressed concern that the rain might be ruining my special day. I want to assure you that it never has and never will. I was born on rainy day and I've had very few sunny birthdays (I think I could count them on one hand). I've grown to expect and appreciate the rain, especially since it usually leads to a little more of this:

And that's just wonderful, isn't it? I'm so glad I'm a spring baby. Happy birthday to me! ★

*I wanted to share my day with you, so I'm offering 27% off sales of $10+ in the Everything Little Miss shop. Click here for the details and the coupon code.

Quidditch In The Park

Yesterday Eric and I spent some time downtown. The weather was beautiful, so we walked around quite a bit. As we passed through The Common, Eric spotted a Quidditch game. A. Quidditch. Game. What great fortune! In case you're living under a rock, Quidditch is a made-up game from the Harry Potter series that's played while flying on broomsticks. These days there are leagues and they play competitively. On broomsticks. On the ground. You better believe I took pictures.

Unfortunately, we couldn't hang around long enough to see the snitch in action. I wish we could have though, because I've heard that sometimes they glue a yellow ping pong ball to a cross country runner and try to catch him. I would have loved to have seen that. Click here to see a video about the sport (via @evolution20).

*If you live in or near Cold Spring, NY, a selection of Everything Little Miss cards is now available at The Country Goose!

Spring Break {Part 2}

Saturday we went for a short hike in the woods. The great thing about hikes on the Vineyard is that the goal is always a beautiful beach. As we approached the sand we saw a few rock sculptures. This one really seemed to defy gravity.

After spending some time exploring the water's edge, we continued our hike. We climbed up a small hill and looked out over the ocean. The trees are all bent from the sea breeze.

After the hike, we went back to the house and we all read/napped on the beach for a while. The weather was just amazing; I still can't believe how beautiful it was. In the evening we headed to The Net Result to pick up some lobsters and oysters for dinner (I had fried clams and coleslaw since I'm not a huge fan of lobster fan or oysters).

While we waited for the lobsters to be steamed we walked around Gannon & Benjamin's looking at the boats they're working on. It was so cool! The tools they use look like they've been around for a really long time.

Eric's grandfather joined us for our decadent dinner. He's an amazing guy, and he told us some really interesting stories. Eric and Mike ending up talking to him for long time after dinner while Brooke and I cleaned up and played some games.

Sunday, I woke up to watch the sunrise. Everything was so quiet and peaceful. I spent a few hours sitting in a sunny spot on the couch reading and enjoying my last morning of vacation.

After everybody else got up and ate breakfast, we cleaned up the house and spent some time in downtown Vineyard Haven. Most of the stores were closed because it was Sunday + the off season, but I did manage to get a gift for a friend (I had something specific in mind and her birthday was soooo long ago). After lunch it was time to say good-bye. It was hard to leave! It was warm enough to spend the ferry ride outside, which is always the best.

Eric and I will be back soon enough (I hope!). See more pictures of our trip on my flickr.

*It's Thursday, so head on over to the ELM blog for some sunny inspiration.

Spring Break {Part 1}

Last week was Eric's spring break. It was great having him home for the first part of the week, and I took some time off for the second half so I could have a mini-break, too. Our HBS friends, Brooke + Mike, picked us up on Thursday in the early afternoon, and the four of us headed off to catch the boat to Martha's Vineyard.

As we approached the island, it looked so different. We're used to seeing it with tons of green leaves and boats all around us in the water. It was a little strange, but that's why it's still the off season. The weather was almost too good to be true! It was just glorious (all weekend).

It was their first time visiting, so everything from parking for the ferry to visiting the shops on the island was exciting for them (and for us too, because it's just such a wonderful experience). We got there late in the afternoon, so we didn't do too much besides get groceries for the long weekend before grabbing dinner at Offshore Ale. As we drove to the restaurant, the sun was setting in a spectacular display.

Afterwards we played games and chatted and just relaxed, in the way that feels so right when you're on the Vineyard.

Friday morning I woke up bright and early to get some exercise in before we started our day. Then I got everybody to go for a quick mile run to the West Chop Lighthouse and a 2 mile walk to finish the loop back home. Since it was Brooke + Mike's first time visiting, we had a lot to show them. First we set off to see the gingerbread houses in Oak Bluffs.

Then we drove to Edgartown where we walked around for a bit and visited their Lighthouse.

Then we drove across the island to Gay Head (aka Aquinnah) to check out the view and another lighthouse (3 lighthouses in one day!).

After that we went home. And then we realized that I was severely dehydrated. I'm not exaggerating; I got pretty sick. I'll spare you the details, but I drank a ton of water and then made a pretty speedy recovery after a few hours of total misery. I was even able to join everybody for dinner at the Black Dog Tavern - a first for me! That place is usually too crowded for us to visit, so I was excited for a chance to check it out!

Soon I'll share pictures from the rest of our trip!

Crimson Afternoon

Inspired by the fun I had during Poppytalk's Spring Coulor Week, we went on our walk yesterday in search of crimson (Eric's choice). We saw a bunch of people wearing bright red shirts and scarves and jewelry. We saw a crimson skirt hanging on a rack of clothing that was outside for a sidewalk sale. We saw strollers and awnings and cars' taillights and front doors. But here are my favorites:

Oh snap! Gotta go!

Check out today's Lost in Thoughts if you have a moment.

Crocuses

Yesterday was the first day since we changed the clocks ahead that it wasn't pouring. Not only did the rain hold off, the sun was high and the sky was blue, blue, blue!

I guess these little guys decided the weather was good enough to make a showing. Um, hello spring!

I took this picture last night around 5:30, when it still felt like mid-afternoon it was so bright (though these flowers where in shadows). At 7:00, when Eric and I were walking home from our errands, it was still light out. What a difference daylight savings time makes!

Was your day as sunny as mine? Did you do anything to celebrate (like a nice walk)?

St Patrick's Day Celebration In Newport, RI

Saturday, Eric and I made our way (in a downpour) to Newport, RI. Our friends invited us to watch a St Patrick's Day parade and hang out for the day. The rain was coming down harder the closer we got, so we weren't sure if they'd even have the parade. But it was a rain or shine event and the 9 of us walked downtown (1 - 1.5 miles) to check it out. (I didn't bring the camera because the weather was so bad.) One of our friends' umbrellas fell victim to the storm after only 5 minutes outside, and we were all completely soaked by the time we got to the parade route. We watched the parade for about 5 minutes before deciding it was idiotic to stand around getting wetter, and we headed to a bar.

It was my first time at a St Patrick's Day celebration of any sort, and as soon as we walked in I whispered to Eric that I was out of my element. I did have a good time, and it was funny to watch everybody. There was green everywhere I looked and the type of dancing that usually happens only under the cover of darkness (it was about noon). We stayed at the bar for about 3 hours and then risked the elements again for the trek back to our friends' apartment and tons of delicious food.

Eric and I actually ended up staying the night, which was great. Sunday morning the rain stopped momentarily and I took these pictures as we headed back to Boston. It was sooooo windy I could barely hold the camera steady (the weird focus in the picture below is evidence). It started up again almost as soon as we hopped back in the car, and it got worse the longer we drove! This rain is just unbelievable (yes, it's still going).

Last night we discovered water leaking into our apartment around the window frames in our bedroom. There's a water stain on the ceiling above the windows and the towel we put on the windowsill is completely saturated. This morning I realized the same thing's happening in our kitchen, and we've got some bowls catching the drips in there. The landlord said 1) he's been living in Boston for 44 years and he's never seen rain like this and 2) they're replacing the entire back wall of our building soon so this problem will be taken care of. I'm not sure how that's going to work!

How was your weekend? Soaking wet, like ours?

Robin's Egg Blue

I submitted these two photos for last day of Poppytalk's Spring Colour Week.

As you probably know, I've got little cranes (and some bigger ones) floating around all over our apartment. I fold them whenever I have a scrap of paper around. It's nice to make something pretty out of what would otherwise be considered trash. I used real origami paper for this guy, though.

This bracelet was a Hanukkah gift from my aunt and uncle. It's a few years old at this point, and it's the only bracelet I ever wear. I might wear it for a few days or weeks at time, and then I put it back in it's pretty little box until I'm feeling bracelet-y again. Normally, bracelets aren't my thing, but this one never gets in my way and it's not too flashy for my simple taste.

I hope you have a lovely weekend. Will you be looking out for spring colors? It's just around the corner, you know. ★

Pretty Purple

Today, Spring Colour Week is celebrating purple. In anticipation, I took these photos around dusk yesterday while we were out for a walk.

It's been fun looking for specific colors in my daily life. Why don't you try to find some purple today? Tomorrow's robin's egg blue, so have fun finding that too!

*Today's Lost in Thoughts is vintage-inspired, so pop on over there and have a look.

It's Here!

Oh my god, you guys! Guess what came last night! Did you say "new camera?" YES!!! I can't believe how quickly it arrived or how much I love it! It's a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi. Our other Digital SLRs (both the same model) were wonderful while they lasted, but this is going to be great.

In other news, I'm participating in Spring Colour Week over at Poppytalk (see the gorgeous Flickr pool here). Today's color is yellow!

A few months ago I strung together four vases (that I made from old light bulbs) and filled them with homemade tissue paper flowers. It's hanging in our living room window - mostly because there was already a ceiling hook there - and I love the way this yellow flower is fading at the edges but still has some strong color in the middle. The edges look a little pink because it's reflecting the fuschia from the pink flower hanging below!

I also took a picture of a lemon for today's yellow theme.

Spring Weather + Problems Focusing

Another camera broke on Friday. First something on the inside was getting stuck and blocking 3/4 of each photo. Eric fixed that with some fiddling, but the focus is all out of whack. Auto-focus doesn't work at all, and manual focus lies to me.

It's a few years old, and we've been told that getting it fixed is just about as pricey as upgrading, sooooo we ordered a new one. It should be on its way! Picture-taking and blog posting will resume in a few days. In the meantime:

Since it was so warm today, I thought I'd share a little piece of spring. I had the windows open all day, did you? [I took this picture in 2007, but edited it today so it's a little different.]

*Check out my latest origami project on the ELM blog (images are a tad blurry because of the broken camera with focus issues).

Almost Sunset

I took this picture on Saturday from the end of our road in North Adams. One of the great things about living on a hill is the view.

It's so nice to see the mountains! They're small mountains, especially compared to those out west, but they're home to me. They change color depending on the time of day or time of year; you can't tell me that's not cool!

Home For The Weekend

Eric and I finished up February in North Adams with my parents and my brother. Our drive out to The Berkshires was pretty long because it was raining and snowing and wintery mixing, but it was worth it.

I was really missing my family and it was so great to see them. I was also really excited about all of the snow because we've just been getting a lot of rain here in Boston. I'm not the only one who was enjoying it; Z, the dog, was having an awful lot of fun bounding around the yard.

Saturday, Eric and I went skiing. I'm embarrassed to say that it was my first time this season. Yikes! In high school and college I skied on an almost daily basis for at least 5 weeks during the winter. But the past few years I've been lucky to make it to the mountain just 2 or 3 times. Needless to say, getting on the mountain was the best. We had a great time.

Hope your weekend was fabulous, too!