d.c. & the maryland shore

my sejour in DC was wonderfully full of family & denison, as usual. 

visited the zoo, which was recently redone, and spent lots of time with the elephants, pandas, big cats & seals. the walking paths in the new part of the zoo are fantastic, and i can easily see myself running there early morn/late at night if i lived nearby. 

twins & i :)

after two great nights in our nations capital, i hopped in my car & continued east over the chesapeake.

spent a fantastic few days in st. michaels with new friends, canceling things back home in CT so that i could extend my stay (oops). although the waters were chock-full of jellyfish, we managed to carefully hop on a jetski and go for a spin around the bay, falling off only twice :) 

i would have loved to explore the town more, it's a quintessentially cute seaside town, full of small cafés, shops and the occasional bar draped in a huge american flag...

all in all, a wonderful jaunt down south ~ only missing the famous maryland blue shell crab (next time)

bises xo

sails on the sound

no editing, no filter...i could look at this lighthouse all day

another particular highlight of summer in fairfield county - getting out on the sound!

thanks to a friend from denison, i've been able to get out on long island sound several times now. 

words to describe it? relaxing. calming. rejuvenating. beautiful. lighthearted. 

new canaan itself isn't on the sound, but it's easy to get down to stamford or darien or norwalk for some solid waterfront. maybe one day i'll hop on a boat & actually step foot on long island? 

i've always loved living on or near water ~ whether it's lake michigan, the mediterranean, long island sound....or wherever else i end up in life. water has a refreshing, calming effect...often needed nowadays.

sidenote - looking forward to a long weekend in DC & maryland this coming week! then a day or so back in CT before heading up to Cape Cod :)
expect lots of lighthouses and beaches and boats and adventures!

bises xo

boatyard cocktails @ the sunset grille, norwalk

everyone should have cocktails in a boatyard at least once. 

i, for one, will be at this particular boatyard a ridiculous number of times this summer until they close.

http://sunsetgrille.net/

denison in the real world

As a Midwesterner on the East Coast, I tend to notice & adore nouns that are part of everyday life for the average friend or acquaintance here. A sunset in a marina, a bowl of fresh mussels, the occasional whiff of the sea, cheap oysters, & the relatively close proximity of…everything. 

One place that immediately captured my heart is this restaurant called Sunset Grille in Norwalk. It’s seasonal, has fantastically fresh seafood, good drinks (I loved the Nantucket Lemonade) and – this is the best part – is smack dab in the middle of a marina. I must have driven around the whole of Calf Pasture Beach before figuring out I had to drive through a boatyard. It’s been busy each time I’ve gone, which doesn’t surprise me. We sat there for a few hours, right through a beautiful sunset. Seriously – boats, sunsets, seafood & outdoors? This has got to be the gem of Norwalk. 

Well, now I just want to go there. 1pm drinks anyone?

bisous xo

& let summer begin

summer

a word that, for a teacher, can still mean everything it did when we were younger. beaches, books, travel, friends, getting reorganized, adventures, painting & doing all of those things we don't have time for when school's in session.

finished with the kiddos last tuesday & meetings on friday! i got so many wonderful, thoughtful cards from both kids & parents ~ although i was more than ready for summer, i will definitely miss my 18 3rd graders.

one particularly sweet letter :)

my gift from the whole class - each child gave a word/phrase

but...on to bigger and older kids! in late august i'll start in 5th grade. this means a few things: coaching soccer, longer books, deeper conversations, and hopefully less repeating myself? i'm also hoping this year can give me more direction, career-wise. perhaps teaching will work it's way back into #1 career choice. i'm incredibly excited to coach soccer, just getting back into the sport overall is sure to be a highlight of the year.

i'm getting ahead of myself - there are two and a half months of travel bliss ahead of me! here's what you can look forward to reading about:
         ~ cape cod
         ~ road trips to & from chicago (definite stops in pittsburgh & cleveland, hoping to stop in michigan, maybe rhode island, and perhaps a park or two on the way)
         ~ 3 weeks in the Loop, a block from the Art Institute
         ~ several days in the "countryside" of chicago - barrington. my familiar home away from home. my family retreat.
         ~ the western coast of michigan, assuming a kappa reunion gets off the ground
         ~ & hopefully some more jaunts around connecticut and new york city!

bisous! (& more to come soon!)

american country living

had a wonderful getaway to rural pennsylvania a few weekends ago - complete with a few stops on the road & new people & country adventures!

m & i left right after school on friday, and did the 4 hour drive to annville, pa in a fabulous mix of lightning, thunderstorms, and darkness. we stopped in scranton, to get a driving tour of where she went to college. reminded me of denison, and my own college days in middle-of-nowhere ohio :)

saturday was chalk-full of activities: breakfast at a nearby diner of baked berry oatmeal (delicious), then off to partake in a distinctly rural american activity - shooting. a friend of a friend of a friend owns a few guns, and was happy enough to give us some lessons and let us shoot at a target in a field. on yes, mcdonald's farm. not even kidding - that was the name of the place. it was wonderful, driving a huge truck across fields and through a muddy stream. the whole time i'm thinking, this is what people actually do?! shooting was actually a blast, regardless of political leanings and such. being outside, doing something different, in a new place...it just revitalizes me.

we also visited a nearby brewery for lunch, right near hershey park (no, didn't make it to the chocolate town..next time). delicious beer flights and a great pulled pork sandwich...pretty classy stuff for rural pa ;)

the week after was full of work: fractions, mexico planning, wrapping up our black history unit & trying to figure out my summer. i've found a couple fantastic coffee shops within 15/20 minutes from home, so i've pinned those as my need-to-be-productive locations. had a wonderful dinner & work session with a friend one evening (goat cheese, arugula & caramelized onion pizza!) & a byob pottery-making ladies night!

sam summer & creative pizzas

pre-baking    "eat.travel.love." utensil jar

to all the full-time teachers

i do have a draft for a real post waiting (on pictures of course)...but i have to give a huge props to all the full-time teachers out there. my lead has been out sick pretty much all of this week (and will be pretty MIA the rest of the week), and WOW is it exhausting doing this alone. and prepping. and being organized. and getting enough sleep. attempting to eat well. exercise has gone completely out the window. 

i haven't thought about anything but school in days. school...and sleep.

an apple (or a bottle of wine) for all the teachers out there. 

& happy may!!

a spring clean

        As the weather starts to warm up, and the sun begins to stay out I'm struck with a need to catch up & get down to work before the summer weather hits. Maybe it's the annual fervor of a school year wrapping up, but spring tends to launch me forward...thinking of the summer and reflecting on how this year has gone and thinking back on where I was a year ago. Soon, I won't be able to say "ohh this time last year I was ____ in France/the UK/Italy..etc" When will I go back? Where will I go after this second year in New Canaan? Where do I want to be? What do I want to do? These are the thoughts I'm launching into...but before I can go forward I have to go back, even if it's just a summary



     Spring break was a struggle getting to, and once it arrived it was incredibly apparent how much we all needed a break. I immediately flew south, to Florida. Left my computer up north, and managed to mostly de-tech for five days. Fantastic. Time with grandparents, with myself, the beach, sailing, great dinners & drinks & time reading. A true vacation.

out on the docks

palms

Islandia

beaches & sun & paris

cocktail hour

black & whites are best

quite the strong sand castle

& then back north it was - to greet my best scottish friend in NYC! The adventures that ensured were...adventures..but we had a blast seeing NYC and CT and Boston. Here are some snapshots of her trip here!

view from the Top of the Rock!

flowers on the high line

paintings along the high line

Kicks v Celtics!

in Boston!

France reunions in NYC are da best

obligatory delicious cup of chowder

        Two weeks off made it difficult for everyone to get back into the swing of things at school, but we're already three weeks into the final push! I'm teaching fractions & decimals for the next couple weeks, then leaping into a 6 week unit on Mexican culture & immigration with the two other third grade apprentices...and then - DONE!

happy spring cleaning everyone :)

bisous