While I was in New York, my mom took me to visit the creative home of MacKenzie-Childs. If you've never heard of MacKenzie-Childs, you're in the same boat that I was a couple of weeks ago. They are a design company which creates ceramic and fabric everything ... using their eclectic mix of patented patterns. They own a property in Aurora, NY, which used to be a Victorian dairy farm but currently houses the main design studio and gift shop. They also offer a tour of the original Victorian house, which they have turned into a showpiece for many of their designer pieces. The tour of the home was absolutely fascinating, but the products are ... kinda pricey ... like $250 for a teapot kind of pricey. I'm convinced that the only way I would ever own anything designed by MacKenzie-Childs is, 1. If I made a million dollars a year, and 2. If I decorated an entire room or an entire house in that style. The style is very cool, but very bold, so a single piece would look very out of place in my modest home.
The house
The view of the lake from the front porch of the house
It's hard to tell from the picture, but this is a (can't think of the name ARGH!) kind of art where every element of the landscape is at different depths. This is actually a table and it was absolutely breathtaking.
Dining room and sitting room, completely decorated in MacKenzie-Childs
They call the pattern on the walls "Courtly Check". Every square was HANDPAINTED.
A very curious lamp in the giftshop
The bathroom in the gift shop
And yes, every single tile is hand painted: floor, counter top, wainscoting, you name it.
The grounds around the estate were absolutely gorgeous and very well tended. We found a pond surrounded by weeping willows;
and a comprehensive vegetable garden, complete with peppers, tomatoes, basil, carrots, kale, mustard greens, beets, honeybees and a very friendly cat, to name a few.
One of the barns next to the garden. I wish my house was as nice-looking as this barn!
In short, beautiful place, expensive stuff ... nice place to visit and dream :)
One of my absolutes when I go home to New York, is a visit to Skaneateles, a picturesque town located in the Finger Lakes region. It is pronounced "skinny-at'las", but my husband calls it "scan-ee-a-tell'-eez" which by saying it this way has become the only way I can seem to spell it nowadays. Whenever we do go there, we always make sure we have time to eat at the historic Sherwood Inn which has absolutely delicious food. I've never eaten anything there that I didn't like. Then we typically venture over to "La Patisserie" to see what delicate pastries we can get our hands on. This time, we made Skaneateles a "girls day out", leaving all three kids behind for my dad and brother to chase after. Since I've been watching what I eat, I tried hard to determine which item from "La Patisserie" would have the lowest impact on my waist line, but I wasn't going to pass up a chance to eat chocolate! In the end, I settled on a chocolate mousse cup, and truth be told, it was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten from "La Patisserie". Samantha had a cupcake, which she went a little giddy over, and my mom had ... I can't remember what it's called--a fruit and nut ... bar ... thing with a delicious sugar-cookie like crust. Samantha and I became a little silly as we sat down outside La Patisserie to eat our goodies. The pictures will attest to the general silliness that was going on ... And what better time for silliness than a girls' day out?
Outside La Patisserie
Chocolate Mousse Cup (yummy!!!!)
Mom and Samantha (You can see Samantha starting to get giddy)
A couple of weeks ago Lydia and I flew to New York to spend some much needed time with my family, including my sister who flew in from Utah with her two children. It had been two years since I had seen my sister, and if any of you have a sister that you love dearly, you know that is MUCH too long to go without seeing your sister. Samantha's kids are 3 years and 7 months, and so my 17-month old had a great time playing with her cousins, just older and just younger than her.
One highlight of my trip was the visit to Ross Park Zoo, which was totally deserted despite the fantastic weather. I suppose everyone in Binghamton was still recovering from the recent devastating floods there. We saw a lot of furniture and other items along the curbs while we were heading down there. It was very sad to think of how many people's memories were sitting at the side of the road ... But the zoo was wonderful; everyone had a good time.
This year we make the 4-hour drive to Savannah to spend Labor Day weekend with Ben's sister and her family. We arrived on Friday afternoon, and they took us to one of their favorite restaurants which is right on the water. Lydia was having a rough time after all the travelling we did, so she and I spend most of the evening on the dock right next to the restaurant.
A view of the restaurant, from the dock
The bank was COVERED with mussel shells. It was so cool!
On Saturday, we drove into downtown Savannah and were just amazed at how beautiful the city is with its green city squares and picturesque architecture. We played in a fountain:
... and we went on a carriage tour through the city. I would highly recommend the carriage tour to anyone visiting Savannah. Much better than a bus tour!
Recognize the backdrop? "Life is like a box of chocolates ..." (Just insert a bench and Tom Hanks.)
Better Homes and Gardens rated this street the most beautiful place to live in the Unites States.
After our carriage tour, we made our way down to river street, where we strolled along and looked at the merchants selling various crafts and things.
Then we had lunch at a yummy pizza place called "Your Pie", which I thought was pretty good, although Lydia was tired, cranky and driving me berserk.
Sunday was pretty relaxed--Lydia actually had an official "in-the-bed" nap for the first time in almost a week! (Poor girl.) After dinner we drove out to Tybee Island (a place I REALLY REALLY REALLY need to visit again REALLY soon) to see the beach. Lydia LOVED the water. This video is for the grandparents, as it is a little long and might seem like overkill to anyone but parents or grandparents!
As if that wasn't enough adventure for one weekend, we ventured down to Wormsloe Plantation on Monday before we headed home. If you didn't know, Wormsloe Plantation was one of the first places settled in Savannah, and the site of much of the filming of "Forrest Gump". The avenue of Oak Trees was absolutely breathtaking. I started taking pictures while Ben went in to pay the entrance fee and then noticed this sign:
Whoops! Well, I figured we WERE paying the fees, even if it was a little bit after I took pictures ... The plantation included a walking tour of the remains of the originally "tabby" plantation house. I learned that "tabby" is a construction material that is composed of shells. It was pretty cool.
Of course we had to take some pictures of ourselves running down the avenue ... "Run, Forrest, run!!!" Even Lydia got in on the running action ... sorta.
We were so sad to leave; we had an absolutely wonderful time. We're hoping we can return to Savannah again soon. I need some more time at the beach!
Ben took the day off work on Thursday and we went to the zoo as a family (plus my nephew). I had never been, and Ben couldn't remember the last time he went. They had some pretty cool exhibits, and some pretty ok ones. My favorite exhibits were:
The Parakeet Aviary
This was one of those "walk-in" exhibits, where you can get up close and personal with the birds. We bought a "seed stick" to feed to the birds, and we had a great time milling about and being surrounded by birds. Lydia was especially fascinated with these little fluttering creatures.
The Tiger Exhibit
This was SUPER cool because the tiger came down and actually licked the glass we were standing behind. Apparently this mama tiger had cubs a couple of months ago but we didn't get to see them.
The Petting Zoo
A petting zoo complete with ... goats. And ... more goats. That's it.
Other fun pictures, including:
A lounging Panda
Scott reading the map--that was his official job all day.
