Amy and Dan's wedding at Gedney Farms

Last spring when we received save the dates for back to back weddings in Mass, it was an easy decision to spend the week in New England!  The second wedding was for my dear friend Amy who not only went to Trinity College with me, she also got me my job at SmithBucklin all the way back in 2005.  At the time, Amy got a small referral bonus and she likes to joke that she really should be paid for every year I continue to work there.  I agree!

Mark and I invited our friends, Steph (another TrinColl alum and the best friend there ever was and I'm not just saying that because she "sometimes" reads this!) and Matt, to stay the weekend with us at the cottage. We talked and laughed, we ate cheese fries and gravy, and we celebrated Amy and Dan! Here we are all dolled up (me in Lilly) - Fancy!

 Gedney Farm is a beautiful setting for a wedding and the ceremony was held outdoors at "The Knoll" behind the main barn.  The vows were amazing and thoughtful, and of course I cried because I always do. The officiant forgot to say, "you may be seated," and I'm short so my ceremony photo is just peoples heads - doh!  After cocktails, we headed indoors for dinner/dancing/party fun times.  Too funny how similar this venue is to the wedding last week...

Excellent TrinColl representation at this wedding! So fun to catch up with these folks.

Congrats to Amy and Dan!

Alta Restaurant and Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

Just last week I mentioned to Mark that I'd never been to Tanglewood and upon arriving to the cottage we find out one of Mark's favorite comedians was performing during our vacation! Clearly we had to go and family vacation with the inlaws means free babysitting - hooray!

I made a pre-show dinner reservation at Alta Restaurant and Wine Bar based on all the positive online reviews. Trying to make a reservation the day before you need it is typically a disaster, at least in DC. The restaurant had one table available with the condition we be out by 6:45 - no problem since the show started at 7!

Alta has a good size covered porch with 7 or so tables, as well as a bar and inside dining room.  We got a table on the porch right along the sidewalk - wine, food, nice breeze, people watching - perfect for us! Here I am in my element....

The standout dish was Mark's entree - the duck with a salty caramel sauce. We couldn't get over the size of the duck portion! It was perfectly cooked and we could have eaten a vat of the sauce. I ordered the New England Cod which was fine and we started with a vegetable tart and crispy tuna. Nice presentation of the dishes!

We ordered some macaroons to enjoy at the show and I have to say they were completely delicious and creamy. We loved our Alta experience - it was Alta-mate! (Yuk, yuk, yuk)

We headed over to Tanglewood to see Eddie Izzard who was performing in the shed. The shed is basically the covered but open air portion of the venue. One of the best things about this venue is the beautiful views....

So anyway, we were already feeling quite lucky...the timing of the concert with our vacation, free babysitting, getting a dinner reservation, the perfect table...we took our seats which were basically 4 rows from the back. We could barely see the stage and would have to rely on the projection screens. But then, an usher came over and moved our entire section up one section! The show didn't sell out and they wanted a nice full audience towards the front for Eddie. Mark befriended the usher and used some combination of the words-  vacation, toddler, date night and please- and we were moved to the 12th row center!!! Also now that we were much deeper in the shed it was also much warmer. We enjoyed the show, which was about a 2 hour set from our amazing seats!

Great date night! I hope to come back to Tanglewood and do the whole lawn picnic experience another year.

Lake Mansfield

With back to back Massachusetts wedding weekends, we decided to spend the week at my inlaws cabin in the southern Berkshire area. Last summer we discovered Lake Mansfield in Great Barrington. In addition to the lake and beach with community beach toys, there are swings, trails and a picnic area.  We planned an afternoon trip and I couldn't get over the difference between Mason summer 2014 to summer 2015.

Lake Mansfield summer 2014...

Lake Mansfield summer 2015...

What a difference a year makes!

Adam and Andie's wedding in Cohassett, MA

This past weekend we headed to Cohassett, MA to celebrate the wedding of cousin Adam and Andie! Cohassett is the sweetest little town on the south east coast outside of Boston and we loved the Red Lion Inn where the wedding was held.  Since Mason was the ring bearer we were lucky enough to stay in one of the 15 rooms on the property. A lot of amazing things happened this weekend...the actual wedding, Mason as ring bearer AND I fulfilled my dream of being at a bar where the baby monitor worked! Since our room was directly above the inn pub we could enjoy a beverage and be attentive parents.

Of course Mason was the world's cutest ring bearer. I spend weeks pulling together his outfit and got lots of tips on how to get a 21 month year old down the aisle. Although he had pre and post tantrums, he nailed his role!

A few other moments from the wedding.....

Congrats to Adam and Andie!!

Vacation in the Thousand Islands

Last week we headed up to my family's cottage in the Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence in Canada.  I was lucky enough to go every summer growing up and I loved introducing Mason to the river.  Our trip was full of swimming, family time, happy hours, boating, etc. I'll let the photos do the talking for this post!

Love this pic of our family boating on the St. Lawrence.....

 Morning row....

 My brother captured this sweet moment of Mason and I in the boat house...

 Swimming with my water tot...

Aunt Sarah gets the boat driving lessons started...

 Post dinner at the Club with the fam....

 Play time at the GICC...

Enjoying the views from the deck...

Thank you Canada for a lovely vacation and beautiful weather! 

Date Night in Ballston

Back in May, Mark and I checked out SER for drinks and have been anxious to get back for dinner. We've had a few sitters relocate lately so it seemed like a good time to try a new sitter and have a neighborhood date (just in case!). As a side note, I have to say that I love Urbansitter to find sitters. It's linked through Facebook and matches you with sitters in your extended network. Since I'm a member of MONA, it recommends sitters that other MONA moms have used. This indirect referral makes me feel much more comfortable about having a stranger in the house with Mason and Barney!

Anyway, on Saturday we headed to SER for dinner and were seated on the patio. I ordered the cava sangria after having a sample last time and was quite pleased with the portion!

It was just as delicious as I remembered! We shared a raw bar platter to start and I selected two appetizers - the market salad and Gambas al ajillo for dinner. The market salad was seasonal vegetables with lobster and a citrus dressing and it was the perfect refreshing summer dinner! Mark seemed "eh" about his braised pork dish and I would same the same about my shrimp dish.  I still think we'll come back and give it another whirl!

Mike Isabella opened another restaurant in Ballston - hooray!  Pepita Cantina is really more of a drinking establishment than restaurant as the name indicates.  The food menu is about a quarter of the drink menu.  It's a pretty small space and was quite busy since it just open the week prior but we decided to stay for a drink and check out the scene.  We both got the pepita margarita and Mark got a smoked salt rim, which I would describe as 'less salty tasting' salt.  The drinks were decent and the service was slow but we enjoyed this a little corn nut snack that the waiter left.

On the way out, we scoped out the outdoor seating area and decided we'd need to come back and lounge there at a non-peak time.  We also noticed that Mr. Isabella is opening ANOTHER restaurant next to Pepita!  Good for him and I love his presence in our neighborhood.

Relationships with bartenders are among the most important in life, so we stopped by Willow to say hi and enjoy dessert and a night cap! We came home to our new sitter, a sleeping baby and happy pup - thanks Urbansitter for another great referral!

Arlington County Fair

This weekend we checked out the Arlington County Fair held at the Thomas Jefferson Community Center. There was a lot going on here including rides, games, food vendors, pony ride, teacup pig races, and more! I was pleasantly surprised about the number of rides that Mason could do! He is very tall for his age so between that and his poofy hair he just made the 34' height requirement. Each ride that we did was 3-4 tickets and tickets were 24 for $20. This could add up fast for a big family but we just got the 24 tickets and that worked great. Here we are enjoying the fair!

Mason's first fair was a success and I'm sure we'll be back next year!

Crab Fest in PA

Mason and I took another road trip to PA this weekend while Mark had a boys weekend in Boston.  We headed up to a friend's house for their annual crab fest. It was a beautiful day in the Philly area and perfect for pool, friends, beer and crabs.  Yum!

Mason has tried crab cake, but not crabs covered in old bay so we decided to give that a whirl. Here's the play by play....

Maybe less old bay next time?! He did enjoy the mallot so not a total loss. I'm going to keep working on developing his taste for crabs...its pretty much a requirement living in this area!