Jul 19, 2016

Nantucket

I have been wanting to visit Nantucket for years!  Ryan and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary last weekend on the island and lets just say we will definitely be going back!  Every single detail on the island is perfection...the airport is the smallest cutest thing ever.
 We stayed at 76 Main and it was the perfect mix of charm and style.  When we were checking in the receptionist asked us if it was our first time on Nantucket and when we said yes she just smiled and said she wished she could go back to her first visit and how she felt.  At first I thought she was crazy, but now I totally understand what she means.
 The first thing we did after unpacking was head down to the water and have lunch at Cru.  Rose, lobster, oysters and french fries is the best way to start a vacation!
After lunch we did some shopping around town.  I mostly just wanted a Peter Beaton hat so we checked that off the list right away.  They have tons of different styles and then they customize the size to your head.  From there you can chose ribbons or accessories to personalize your hat.  When you leave they put your hat in the cutest hat box to take home.
 Murrays had the biggest selection of "nantucket red" clothing.

 There was shop after shop of the cutest little beach stores!
 For dinner the first night we ate at Straight Wharf.  I had the most amazing lobster ever!  Who knew Nantucket had such good food???
 I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to find good gluten free options on the island, but that was not at all the case!  Our Inn had complimentary breakfast that we ate the first morning.  I was shocked that everything except the toast was gluten free!  Scones, apricot breakfast cake, granola, and oatmeal all gf!
 After stuffing ourselves we headed to the Madaket Marina to go fishing for the day.  We stayed close to shore for the most part which was so fun because you could see all the beautiful grey shingle houses along the coast line.  The fishing did not disappoint either.  We caught tons of blue fish!
Our guide even helped Ryan do some fly fishing.  
 We kept these two fish to take to a local artist we met the day before.  We commissioned him to do a custom art piece for us using these fish.
 We were starving by the time we finished fishing so we ate at Millie's.

 Then we changed clothes and biked to Cisco Brewery for beers and live music.

That night we ate at Galley beach.  There is something magical about Galley beach.  We really lucked out with the weather and timing of sunset too.  We walked in right behind Bill Belichick!  The sun was setting and it was all just picture perfect.


After a late night out we slept in and ate breakfast at Black-Eyed Susans.

I loved seeing the Peter Beaton car parked all over town throughout the weekend, full of their hat boxes of course!
 The cobblestone streets are so charming (although not easy to bike on haha).
 A local gave us a good tip with the popular ice cream place called Juice Bar.  There are lines wrapped around the block so they told us to go before the lunch crowd. We got ice cream each day around 10:45/11 and completely avoided the lines.  I have to say I would wait in line for this ice cream because it was really that good!
 We went back to the Inn and put on our bathing suits and then stopped at Something Natural for some lobster salad and headed to the beach!

 I could eat lobster salad on the beach every single day!  I was nervous the water would be too cold to get in, but it actually felt great and we both got in and swam for a bit.
 I can't put into words how gorgeous all the flowers are on the island.  Every house is grey shingle siding and lined with colorful flowers.  This was a driveway we drove past....seriously stunning!
Ryan loved all the old school cars around town and the wood grain details on the boats lining the harbor.
 After a long day on the beach and miles of biking we stopped for a cocktail.
 For dinner on night 3 we had pre-dinner drinks at the White Elephant and then took a boat to Toppers Restaurant.

 The boat ride from White Elephant to Toppers was about 45 min and they gave us champagne and we just took in the island views.
 The staff heard it was our anniversary and made us feel so welcome and special.
 This may be the nicest restaurant and best food either of us has ever experienced.  The favorite of the night was "the egg" as our waiter called it.  It was this creamy grits dish with mushrooms a poached egg and tons of shaved truffles....to.die.for!
 Our special dessert!
 We watched the sun set after dinner on our boat ride back.
Sunday morning we biked to the Green for breakfast.  To my surprise they too had a ton of gf options.  I ended up ordering the breakfast burrito and this cheddar scallion scone that I am still dreaming about!
Here is Pete's store.  He was the local artist we met on the first day who worked tirelessly while we were there to create our custom fish art piece.  We went to see him Sunday morning to finalize some of the details.  Can't wait to have this hanging up in our house soon!
We really just biked around and walked the beach and relaxed the last day.  It was the typical grey Nantucket day.
 We grabbed lunch at Provisions and ate it on a picnic table overlooking the marina before packing up and heading to the airport.

On the airplane ride home Ryan asked me when we were going back.  I told him soon and next time we will stay longer and we will be bringing the kids!  I am officially in love with the Grey Lady!

Jul 9, 2016

House Projects Take 2

We recently finished up a few small house projects that have made a big difference!  First we added a "drop zone/beverage station" in the basement.  We went back and forth on what to do with this space, but after living in our house for a few months realized this area is right off the garage where we constantly drop our keys, purses, sunglasses, etc.  It is also in the basement where we watch movies and entertain a lot.  We decided to make it multi functional to serve all our needs!
Here are some "during" pictures.  Ryan wanted a beer and wine fridge and since the basement stays cool year round we thought this would be a great place for them.
After the frame was finished we added a granite top and custom white drawers in the middle.   We have a lot of white and painted pieces in the basement so I decided to do some natural wood shelves above to warm the space up a bit.
 The shelves turned out great!  I may have loaded them up with a few too many accessories haha.
No more purses and keys laying on our stairs and having extra space to cool our favorite beverages makes me one happy mama!
 Next project was to make our laundry room prettier and more functional.  First it is not a laundry room...more like a closet!  The cords and wall draining box were exposed which I wasn't a fan of.  We had cheap open wire shelving and most annoyingly every time you ran the units they would move and force the doors open.  We had our carpenter build a frame and secure the units so they would no longer move around.  He made a large counter top so I can fold and organize clothes.  He built us two cabinets that went all the way to the ceiling for storage of soaps, bleach, dryer clothes, light bulbs and stain removers.
During pic...
 And final reveal!  It is such a clean and happy laundry closet now!
 I found these adorable clothes pin door handles to use in here.
 I had him create this rustic looking drying bar for us.
Now I don't dread doing laundry as much.  Most importantly I love that our laundry closet doors shut and stay that way!
Our last project we have completed is our shoe closet.  We have two double door closets in our master bedroom and then a full walk in closet off our master bath.  We use our walk in closet for clothing only.  The two bedroom closets are used for shoes and jackets, but the space was not being used fully.  We had the carpenter divide the shoe closet in two and then make angled shelves to store all our shoes.
 Love how it is easy to see all my shoes and how uber organized this is!
I also realized I have a Tory Burch addiction.
And Ryan has a brown shoe addiction.
 The worst part is this isn't even all our shoes.  All the casual shoes, work out shoes, rain boots, snow boots and flip flops are in a shoe shelf in the garage!  And before his recent purge and my resent shoe buying spree Ryan had more shoes than me!

We are slowly making this house our own and I am loving each and every step!!!  Next project is a big one so stayed tuned!