Monday, June 30, 2014

East Coast Vacay Continued...

After we left Boston, we decided to make a quick stop in Cambridge because we couldn't be that close and not just take a peek at Harvard. 
 It looked like what I thought it would :-)
We stopped at Cambridge Common and had a yummy burger and then headed out to Plymouth.
Plymouth was adorably quaint.  Plymouth rock was pretty uneventful, haha, but we enjoyed seeing this cute little seaside town and the homes where the original settlers lived.  The downtown was cute and I wish I'd had time to mill around in the little shops.
Checking out the Mayflower II
The beginning of some of the prettiest residential architecture we would experience over the next several days.
That weather vane and the patina on that cupola roof...goodness, love it!
We drove the scenic route, along the ocean, from Plymouth to Hyannis Port.  It was so picturesque!  I'm so glad we did this instead of driving on the freeway.  We got to check out the back roads and so much Americana, quaint, adorable residential goodness!
We grabbed a bite at The Dockside in Hyannis Port while we waited on the ferry.
I snapped this pic as it was getting dark in Hyannis Port.  We jumped on the high speed ferry and headed over to glorious Nantucket ;-)

Monday, June 23, 2014

Bunny Is Getting A Big Girl Bed | Part I

Well the time has come to say farewell to this sweet little nursery.  It has been good to us.  My little Bunny is ready for a big girl bed...well, I actually need her to be because I need that pretty gold crib right there for our next little bundle that will be here in September.  If I didn't need the crib, I might just keep her in there forever...just kidding...kinda.
So, I'm taking this opportunity to move the baby stuff over to sweet Baby James' nursery and changing up Alice's room with a little more girly-ness.  After all, she surely is my girly girl. Baby James' nursery journal will be coming soon, when I actually start the nursery :-/ ...my poor second child.  When I designed Alice's nursery I always knew that she wouldn't have these things forever and I wanted bedding that could work for a girl or boy nursery for our exact scenario.  I'll just be removing the floral elements and masculine-ing it up a bit.
So, as you will see (or recall if you followed her nursery journal) she has a really pretty greeny-aqua beadboard ceiling, which I'm keeping, along with the darling chandelier, and throwing pink into the mix.  I've moved the Summer Palace Fret drapes downstairs to my family room (which I need to show you the change up in there too).
I ordered this Louis XVI caned bed, in a beautiful cream whitewash, that will be her new bed.  I'm having a pelmet box made to go above the bed.  I've been toying with fabrics for months, but I'm pretty sure that this is the final.  I still need to find a trim for this.
For her bedding, I'm really still working it out.  The only thing I've purchased so far is the Buffalo Check Emmie Ruta bedding from Ikea, below.  I plan to use the shams behind some off-white monogrammed shams and fold the duvet at the foot of the bed. 
I'm leaning towards this combo for a large scale bolster pillow. 
I have two of these adorable Swedish style nightstands that will be going in her room as well.  I'm planning on stripping off the Swedish gray paint and going to the base with a stain...or maybe changing them to cream.  I'm not sure yet...so they sit...  I love the stain on the top and the antique brass hardware though, so the body will be the only change.

You might remember this adorable custom art I made for Alice's nursery.  This is staying, where it is actually.  I'm pulling a small light greenish painted dresser from our guest room, that belonged to Frank's grandmother, and putting it under this art for her dresser.  I'm only going to change up the hardware on this piece. 

So this is where I'm at so far. 
I've got a lot to pull together still with the rest of her art etc. but I'm liking the direction and what I have completed so far. 
She's getting very excited about her big girl bed, so that is making this even more fun.  The bed is just leaning up against the wall in her room right now waiting to be put together and we talk about how fun it's going to be to sleep in her big girl bed soon.  I love that little Bunny fiercely!

I'll be back soon with more from our 'babymoon' :-)
I hope you're getting a great start to the week!

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Boston

Frank and I just returned from a wonderful 'babymoon' to Boston and Nantucket.  It was a much needed vacation for both of us and we are both so grateful for the time away, together, before our new little blessing graces us with his presence :-)  We are, obviously, already parents to Miss Bunny, and so we don't get much time away as just the two of us, so this little trip was very special.
We chose Boston because Frank, who really loves history, had always wanted to see this historical city.  I really wanted to go somewhere on the Eastern coast and so we chose Nantucket over Martha's Vineyard, based on recommendations from family.  I couldn't be happier with what we saw and experienced.  It was all together replenishing! 
I have a gagillion photos, so I'm going to break this down into little chewable pieces ;-)

I seriously 'ooohed' and 'aahhed', the whole time, over all the wonderful Colonial architecture, which is one of my favorite periods for architecture and design.

We wanted to stay in a historic building, so we chose the Omni Parker House for this reason and for it's central location and proximity to lots of touristy sightseeing downtown.  Above is the beautiful entrance to our hotel.


Standing in opposition ;-)



We didn't have an 'itinerary', which is our very favorite way to travel.  We love to wander and see what we happen upon.  However, we did plan this and walked our keesters off on The Freedom Trail, but I'm so glad we did because we got to see many cool, historical sites and a lot of the downtown area.  We did give in and hop on an occasional tour bus here and there, which my preggo feet were grateful for.


I ate a cookie the size of my head from a cute little marketplace behind Faneuil Hall.

We LOVED the North End.  I thought my head was going to pop off when we had to pick a restaurant for dinner.  Literally, door front after door front, for as far as I could see, was completely charming.  We finally just picked one and settled down at Florentine CafĂ©.  I have no idea if the locals consider this a good one or not, but it was delicious!  Frank had the Gnocchi and I had the Filette Balsamico with truffle risotto.  It was really good!  Our waiter was from Italy, and we had a nice little chat about where my father is from in Italy and how the waiter likes the states.

While we were in the North End we picked up a box of Mike's Pastries and I ate a cream puff in bed for breakfast the next morning.  Oink oink.  My Zio, also from Italy, is an amazing chef and used to run a really yummy restaurant in Dallas.  He used to make cream puffs like these and this was the closest thing to those that I've ever had.  So unbelievably good.
Speaking of sweets, this adorable bakery was just down and across the street from our hotel.  Isn't this one of the most adorable store fronts you've ever seen?!
Had a beer here...well, Frank had a beer and I had an iced tea, but I really wanted a beer. 
Grabbed a bite here.  
It was right across from the cemetery that Frank wanted to see that had a lot of old, important, historical guys buried in it ;-P
Baby bump appearance :-)

I might have eaten Mike's Pastries again from bed the next day.  Hazelnut Cannoli this time.  No shame.


We peeked inside the public library and I'm sure glad we did!  Stunning!
Just incredible!  It reminded me so much of wandering through the architectural gems of Italy.
We grabbed a delicious lunch on the patio at Stephanie's on Newbury.  I had the lobstah roll.  YUM!!!  For you mommies out there, you know how very special it is to have a meal ALONE with your husband.  Just sitting in the sunshine, without anywhere really to be, and no one needing me for anything was pure bliss.  We indulged.
My date and my dinner at No 9 Park.  Delicious, delicious!!!
We loved Boston!!!! 
We'd love to go back and see more. We know we only saw a very tiny slice of this incredible city!

Next we headed over to Cambridge...