Weekend in Essex, CT

 

Last weekend was a nice long weekend so we decided to take a day trip to Essex, Connecticut.  I love Essex because it's such a quaint New England town with historic houses that line a beautiful main street.  There is a main strip of antique shops, retail stores, coffee houses and restaurants that makes for a fun stroll on a sunny day.  And of course, "The Griswold Inn" adds such wonderful character right in the middle of town.  We ate brunch in the Tavern room on Sunday and there was a little band playing. 

 

Here are some of my favorite photos from the day. 

 

 

We call this "The Birdhouse" House.  This is one of my favorite houses along main street- and it's actually for sale.  (Interested parties can view more photos here). 

The yard is always so manicured!

 

Courtesy William Pitt Realty

 

 

 Yes, the sun is glaring into my iPhone but I love this house as well-- The bright red door and black lacquer shutters, love! 

Courtesy of Historic Buildings of CT

 The houses are still decorated with New England Christmas flair.  Fresh greenery and wreaths adorn the doorways and gates. 

 

 

 

 

 

The 'boys' outside of The Griswold Inn just as we're getting ready to go in for brunch. 

 

 

Courtesy of The American Public House

 

 

 

And the "after" photo of the Vivster and and me relaxing after we have stuffed our tummies with wonderful comfort food. 

 

 

 

 

 

 Strolling along Main Street doing some "window" shopping. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The kids get some exercise by the water. 

 

 

We continue on to look at more of the houses.  Some have very nautical themes.  Essex is right on the water!  A beautiful place to visit in the spring and summer time. 

 

 

The kids stop to reflect the day's events. 



It's nice to visit other New England towns outside of my own.   

It makes for a fun day trip away with the family. 

 

  I know I've been off to a slow start this year in blogging.  I've been taking some time off to enjoy the family.  We've been so busy during the weekends and the weeks seem to fly by.  You know the drill.  Before we know it, spring will be here.  Once I get my act together and get myself more organized, I'll be back on track with blogging more regularly again!  Promise, ya'll! 

xoxo

Heather | Vivid Hue Home

Pink Cowboy Boots and Pond Scum

Ever have those series of days or weeks where you feel like life is making you play catch up? 
Catch up may not be the word.  Maybe I mean it's making you work extra hard at 'stuff?'

It can be catch up in a good and hectic way;   Like on a professional level, at my day job, we are expanding the medical practice that I help run with my husband EG and so we've been meeting with architects to figure out how the space will look and what we'll need to accommodate our growth.  

Or it can sometimes feel like a desperate sort of trudge through molasses to make positive changes; Like on a personal level, I am feeling like my family is needing some extra love and attention.  My little peanuts are precious and at such a wonderful and cute age and they are like little sponges in what they learn and absorb.    My littlest peanut is very feisty and has been expressing herself in "nice colorful ways" and so we're giving her some extra hugs and focus and trying to figure out the challenging mind of a four year old little being.  So for now, I wanted to share a fun memory I have of a family photo shoot we had in NYC last fall. 

So, here we are in all of our disheveled loveliness.  I so desperately wanted this family photo shoot because we never have the four of us together.  I also wanted Wendy and Tyler from Blue Lily Photography for the shoot because they have always produced such wonderful photos of NieNie and her family (see here).  We high tailed it down to NYC from Connecticut to meet Wendy and Tyler in Central Park for the shoot.   A perfect location...this is where EG and I got engaged so no better place to film our whole family years later!  (ha...Luckily photos can hide the behind the scenes)

Before Wendy and Tyler even arrived, the kids were squirrely.  They were running around the perimeter of the pond and sometimes getting daringly close to the edge.  But the edge consists of "stairs" that actually step down into the water so I rationalized it's not like they would actually fall off the ledge into the water because there was no ledge!  I stepped away to message Wendy and provide some identifying elements so she could spot our family when she arrived.  EG was on kid patrol (Hey, no blame here).  In the midst of my texting, I noticed a commotion at the base of the pond.  Non-English speaking tourists were flailing their arms around in a frantic flight.  Well shit...I'd better get over there.  There's got to be some celebrity at the scene to cause such a stir.  As I got closer, I noticed.  No celebrity.  Ah...my family.  My husband.  My son.  At the base of the pond.  But my daughter was no where to be found.  Until I inched closer and realized that the "fish" the tourist was fetching out from the water was in fact my daughter.  Yep, submerged from the neck down in the smelly wretched cold pond water of NYC.  That's my girl.  (Fine by the way, just soaking wet!)

All this went down BEFORE the photo shoot.  Now most sane families might have called the shoot off.  Actually, that's what my husband wanted to do.  But no.  I'm no 'Toddlers and Tiara' stage mom, but you forget, this was our once in a lifetime family photo session and the show must go on!  So I sent EG to the car for a back up outfit for our daughter and Wendy started to shoot away!  You'd never even guess that Vivi is soaking wet from the head to her toes in the above photo, would you?  (The gray coat was dry).   We had a one hour photo shoot and the first 40 minutes were of the kids only while EG trekked to the car for new clothes!  We did manage to muster 20 minutes of family portraits and we actually LOOK happy in some of them. 

Like the hairdo?  Vivi's hair had previously been chin length on both sides until she and her brother decided to play barber shop and she chopped off one whole side (Not on the same day as the photo shoot or that would have sent me to therapy for sure).  We decided to make lemons from lemonade and turned it into a "style."  Shorter on one side and longer on another.  (She got so many compliments during those months when it was growing back out). 

(Notice new skirt | outfit change for Vivi in this picture?)  I must mention that when EG returned from the car with new clothes for Vivi, he didn't just bring a new change of clothes back to the park...he lugged Vivi's ENTIRE SUITCASE full of clothes back with him.  So yes, I was not only dealing with a dramatic four year old that jumped into the pond scum that day, I was also dealing with an over zealous husband that dramatically brought an entire suitcase through Central Park so that I would have my pickins of back up clothes.  To his credit, he knows me well and I'm sure I would have had something to say about his selection so he brought all TWENTY outfits to me for me to select myself!  haha, never a dull moment. 



Looking back at these photos it reminds me that there will always be challenging times and it's just how we choose to make lemonade from the lemons.  Or smile even when your pink cowboy boots may be soaking wet with pond scum water.  Or pretend to laugh even when you may be gritting through your teeth ("why did i agree to do this?  never again!"--from eg).  Because when you look back in time and remember your life, it's easy to overlook the times when you may have been struggling, and nice to remember the times you chose and put one foot in front of the other.  Sometimes when you're mud deep in the midst of a struggle it's difficult to remember that things tend to work themselves out in time.  It's nice to have a happy reminder of that from time to time. 

2016 Update: I initially wrote this post in 2013 when our understanding of what our daughter may be facing was unknown and foreign.  Since then, we have gained a bit more insight into what may drive her behavior and moods at times.  To read more, go here:  You Need This Place

xoxoxo
Heather from Vivid Hue Home

Napa November Photo Reveal!

Happy January!  Remember Napa?  I started talking about 'The Countdown' in October, 2012.

I shared some of the craftiness that went into the planning for this party in early November.

For those of you that may not recall, I hyped my Napa November trip pretty heavily and promised to share photos as soon as I had them.  And then, I didn't!   Ha, really, I'm quite embarrassed about sharing photos in January from an event that happened in November. But I'm going to blame it on the holidays! 

If you're late to the party and have never heard me talk about 'Napa November' , in a nutshell, my husband (EG) and I both turned 40 last fall and decided to host a weekend in Napa to include a handful of our closest friends from grade school to present. 

Twenty five guests in total; some arrived as early as Wednesday but all were there by Friday for our big party.  I selected the Farmstead in St. Helena as the venue because of the authentic barn-style decor (the restaurant itself is housed in a former nursery barn).  Once I started planning the party with their event coordinator, we moved our party to their private dining area space.  It has the same authentic feel.  I really wanted to give guests a Napa feel with a chic barn house flair. 

I wanted the table scape to be filled with wild flowers and seasonal vegetables that were not the traditional autumnal colors (red, orange, brown).  I envisioned eggplants, aubergine, celedon (purples and crisp greens).  I wanted mixed vases and vintage containers.  Come on, ya'll, this is Vivid Hue...Nothing matchy matchy here!  (smile)

I found a photo of each guest pictured with EG or me at a point in our friendship and used those to create this photo clothes line.  It was a great way to commemorate our many friendships. 

Here is a close up of EG and me in NYC.  Each year we try to celebrate our wedding anniversary weekend by returning to NYC (without kids) and visiting all of the places we used to go when we were dating.  I * think* this was taken on our 7 year anniversary weekend.  (photo removed)

This weekend really was about celebrating our vast and meaningful friendships with so many special people (I know, I know, as much as I hyped MY birthday leading up to this...) This was a weekend filled with so many wonderful memories and hysterical laughter. 

These are the girls I go on my annual mom's Vegas trip with...

Even though there were 25 of us, I wanted the dining room setting to seem intimate.  I had the table set up like one long barn table.  We all set at a long table and it was pretty easy to converse with each other!   I had originally thought about sticking to white table linens but then decided to be true to myself and add a spice of color and pattern.  Yes, it was supposed to resemble a barn like setting, but I asked everyone to wear cocktail attire.  So I was already mixing things up.  Adding a fun table cloth just provided some additional flair. 

My theory is that you don't have to follow the rules all of the time.  This was my party so I did exactly what I wanted.  And it was exactly as I envisioned. 

There were some shabby chic and vintage elements in the room that added personality such as a vintage wheelbarrow with old barn doors.  An old birdcage and accents of orange. 

I made  a banner that said "Happy 40th Grahlings" from burlap and stencils and had the venue string it with twine and clothes pins. 

 

 

Here's a group shot of our happy group.  We really had a wonderful time.  My motto has always been "let's make a memory," and we certainly did.  It was a weekend that I'll remember forever. 

It's an amazing thing when there are years between when you see an old friend but when you get together, it's as if no time has been lost.  You're able to pick back up where you left off.  That's how you know you're really great friends.  As we get older and our own families demand more of our time, it becomes more difficult to give devote daily time to friends from childhood and college.  But when you can get together with friends and continue a conversation as if you have seen each other just yesterday, that is a sign of a friendship that can endure the test of time.  I cherish every single one of my friends.  I'm truly blessed. 

Happy 2013.

All photos courtesy of Matt Edge Photography 



xoxo Heather

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