Curiouser and Curiouser

Kykuit : : Rockefeller Estate Tour

This past Saturday, while looking for something interesting and different to do,  Dino and I toured Kykuit Estate in Sleepy Hollow, New York.  As we started the drive the heavy clouds started rolling in and by the time we arrived we were in the midst of a relentless, soaking rain.  Lucky for us, just as our tour was about to begin, the sky cleared up and we were able to enjoy the outdoor settings just as well as inside.


The place is really magnificent, but what I found most interesting is that J.D. Rockefeller was a strict baptist, and requested the home to be built in a modest style.  So compared to some of the decadent Newport Mansions, the decor and architectural stylings were relatively sedate.  Beautiful, none the less.  Our tour guide, Muriel was really great and had a ton of knowledge to share.


Afterwards, we ate dinner at the restaurant where we had our first date back in February, 2005.  Totally by chance, the waitress even sat us at the very same table--I wouldn't have remembered that, but Dino pointed it out.


Tomorrow we head off for a quick getaway to our favorite Bed & Breakfast in Flemington, NJ.  We visited last year and it was a magical weekend.  I'm hoping that this new, cooler weather sticks around--it's so nice to have the windows in the house open again!

Back on Thursday with an update and photos from the trip!

Should we move to St. John?

This question has been coming up a lot in our household lately.  Usually it's a fleeting thought that goes as quickly as it comes.  But more often, it's becoming an in-depth discussion with multiple perspectives, pros vs. cons and major reality checks.

Here's the thing:  We're young.  Dino is currently unemployed.  We have no children, and no plans to have children.  When you look at the bare bones of the situation it seems like a no-brainer--let's do it, what do we have to lose at this point?

But of course there are the obvious family ties.  I've lived within an hour of my family for most of my life, except for spending one year in Boulder, Colorado during my very early twenties.  My dad doesn't really travel, at least not by air, so we wouldn't see him much.  Dino is already quite far from his family, and they do travel freely so we know they'd visit. 

We're considering St. John because it is a US territory which is important for obvious reasons to us, as Americans.  Some of the other issues on the table are the following:

Boredom.  Sure, when you go on vacation everything is wonderful and fun and romantic.  But when you actually live on an island you have to deal with the weather, the isolation, inflated prices and tourists!  Chances are we'd be working in bars or hotels, which means we're waiting hand and foot on the vacationers, not the other way around!

My business.  The nature of my handmade wedding invitation business is online-based leaving me with lots of freedom to do it from wherever I hang my hat.  The flip-side is that I'd be dealing with increased shipping costs and slow delivery times for my materials.  And hurricane weather could make my power source less than reliable--with no internet connection how can I conduct business as usual?  Plus, what kind of space would I be dealing with?  If we are renting a one bedroom apartment it could be a pretty uncomfortable scenario.

Travel.  I hate doing it.  If it would mean air travel at busy, hectic holiday times than I am NOT on board!  That goes for anywhere we'd move to, actually.  I do not see myself getting on an airplane at any point between Thanksgiving and New Years.  This fact, knowing that I'm a bit of a Grinch, is not surprising though.

So those are some of the glaring cons.  But the pros...oh, the pros!  I have always admired you free-spirited types.  Just get up and go, wherever the wind blows.  We're so conditioned in this society to be ruled by finances, and things so the thought of giving up all of that to live a little bit more freely seems absurd.  We could do it for just a year, no commitment.  Or we could do it forever and ever!  The ocean is my life-blood, so the opportunity to be a part of it is very tempting.  And how romantic, right, the whole scene.  What'd be the harm in just trying it out?  We could always come back, no?

What would you do, if you had a clean slate right now?  Do you think we're insane, or should we book your flight too?

Sunday in Pastels

Sunday and I have an on-again/off-again kind of relationship.  For a long time, Sundays have not been comfortable on me.  It's hard for me to attribute the reason to just one thing, because it changes from year to year, and from place to place.  Often, Sunday leave me feeling melancholy and forlorn.  Though on the weekdays, the Mew Paper Arts studio is my favorite place to be, I sometimes don't even want to open the door to it on Sundays. 

This Sunday however, we were on-again!  I don't sleep late--can't do it.  My body is just trained to get up.  So I did that at 7 this morning, and went out for an early walk.  I left Dino zonked on his saggy side of the bed...he, being a professional relaxer, has no trouble sleeping in.  It's nice to walk early--if you're anti-social like me it's a relief to avoid talking to other condo dwellers, who seem to have nothing better to do with their time than count how many poops the next door neighbor's dog drops in a week.

Later, we went to the weekly flea market where I grabbed an adorable parasol to use in Friday's portrait session with my photographer friend Megan LaBarbera of Creative Image Collections--more on the photo shoot later this week!  I also snagged four huge rolls of gift wrap paper for $6 that might be useful in other paper projects as well.

We continued onto Kent, CT where we had lunch outside at Doc's--iced tea and Sunday pasta, followed by two scoops of TiraMisu gelato.  (Oh, and by the way, I'm done with the detox cleanse.  After a full week of agony and manic self-torture, I started to deviate.  Though I'm certainly not going back to no-regard-for-my-wellbeing eating habits, I have indulged in a few of my old favorites, as evidenced in the gelato indulgence.)

The day was full of good things, so I chose some good things from Etsy to illustrate my journey.

1.  Print by Mincing Mockingbird
2.  Earrings by Linkeldesigns
3.  Gelato spoons by unknown, via Google images
4.  Sparrow print from Matouen Peluche
5.  Floral bouquet by Saipua
6.  Beaded necklace by Clever Girl

Block Island, 2009

Now that we've been back from our little mini-vacation for a couple of weeks Block Island seems like a million miles away.  While we were there I don't think I was fully accepting the R&R that it was intended to be, so it might seem like I didn't really have a good time.  But in retrospect, when I look back at some of the snapshots that Dino and I took, it was a beautiful getaway.  For your Saturday enjoyment, I'm posting a little collage of my favorite photos from the trip.