My first full day in California was spent driving Big Sur and making several stops along the way. Everyone raved about the Big Sur Bakery so we made a stop and it was a good one. We missed dinner but the lattes were great and there was lots to take pictures of. I loved the little donkey planter and I like how the cactus in the

After we got to Monterey we explored the area around our hotel. The surf was huge and it was really windy. I couldn’t take my eyes off the water so stood behind the wall to keep from getting sprayed.

I had the most fabulous coffee date at Pavement coffee this morning. Owned by Bagel Rising and Espresso Royal, this shop opened on Boylston this week. Coffee was so good and so were the bagels. It’s cool inside, lots of cool art to look at and  great spots to sit and chat. I will definitely be going back!

Willow liked purple, but not pink. She loved apples and carrots, but not mints. She loved the show pen, but retirement was a whole new level of happiness.

She was loved by countless little girls. Won more blue ribbons than I could ever imagine, and has more trophies to her name than any horse I know.

Willow taught me to win graciously, to lose quietly and to compete confidently.

Rest in peace, Lilly J. And thank you for a lifetime of unforgettable memories.

Driving home from Vermont this weekend I passed the Robert Frost Trail and for some reason decided to stop. Growing up in Bristol, VT I can’t tell you how many school trips I took to the trail or how many times I’ve walked it. I didn’t get very far this time because of the mud but it was made me think about my favorite Robert Frost poem.

I’m sure you’ll recognize this as the last verse of The Road Not Taken

Easter just wouldn’t be complete without dying a few eggs. I spent the holiday with my family and was in charge of all the little cousins as we dyed away. Luckily it was a beautiful day so the whole activity took place outside. Something tells me there would have been dye everywhere if we had to sit inside!

I’ve mentioned it before…Brad’s moving blah blah blah. Enough whining on my part. This photo is Ryan and Brad putting the very last piece onto the van before heading off for their cross country journey. I miss them both already but the photos I’ve seen look great and I’m sure they are having an awesome time. Check out their blog: http://analogmoments.cc to follow their journey.

Sewing pillows was my specialty when I was eh, about 6. So when I wanted to make pillows for the couch I figured I could probably pull something together. Turns out, it was considerably harder than I remembered. I’m pretty sure the sewing machine I had to use was older than me and while it worked pretty well (eventually), it was really intimidating at first! Once I got the tension right things went much smoother. In the end they came out fine, it just took me a little longer than I expected.

I’ve killed more plants than I can count, including bamboo which I thought was suppose to be indestructible. Anyways, with Ryan out of town for a month I’ve been tasked with keeping all of his plants alive. It’s a scary chore, but so far so good. Right before he left he decided to repot the Bonsai tree so it would have a little more room to grow. Of course we realized we needed some stones for the base of the bowl at about 10:00. Thankfully, I remembered that the trees planted in the sidewalk have rocks all around them. So we snagged a few.

Brad is moving. And that’s really, really sad. April first is ‘Departure Day’ so we spent the weekend on one last family trip. We had planned to hike into the mountains of New Hampshire but after the 3 hour drive from Boston we realized it’s basically full-blown winter there still–and our sneakers we just not going to cut it on the trails. So instead, we found a campground to call home for the night. The photos are us setting up camp and some of the beautiful scenery as seen from Brad’s VW Vanagon. The video is a time lapse of the journey. The camera was stationed on top of the van until it was hung in a tree directly above our campfire. It was a little bit cold sleeping in a tent that night but we enjoyed each others company, ate surprisingly good campfire food and made memories that will last forever.