International Friends & North Fork Wine Tasting

The past couple weekends have been so much fun because my long time friend, Ilaria, who I met on an exchange program to Italy over 20 years ago came for a visit to New York City!  We have met a handful of times in different countries and kept in touch over the years via post mail, then email, and most recently Facebook.  

Our visitors spent their time primarily in New York City but I thought it was really important that they experience other parts of NY as well.  During the Fall, the North Fork of Long Island is filled with beautiful scenery, great wine, and fun harvest events.  This was a great opportunity to show them a different part of NY state.  For this trip I left the kids and hubby at home and enjoyed a girls day out!

Our first stop was Paumanok Winery.  We enjoyed a leisurely tasting and a light lunch.  Our favorite wine was the 2013 Merlot (not pictured here).

The Long Island Wine Trail is dotted every so often with great farm stands or harvest events.  We stopped at Harbes Family Farm to enjoy live music, fresh produce, apple cider donuts, and fresh roasted corn dipped in butter.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it....

My Outfit Details:  Shirt (Size S) // Jeans (Similar distressed here) // 

Shoes (Similar here) // Sunglasses 

Our favorite winery for the views was Kontokosta Winery.  This tasting room is located in a chic modern barn and looks onto the vineyards on one side and out to the water on the other.  We were able to walk out to the lawn to get a better view of the water.  The entire property was stunning!

Nothing beats the time I was able to spend with my friend, Ilaria, and her girlfriends who accompanied her on this trip!  I'm thinking I'll just have to be planning a trip abroad with the hubs soon!

"There are friendships imprinted in our hearts that will never be diminished by time or distance"

-Dodinsky

Weekend Musings: Family Sail & #NSale

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  It was rainy and or cloudy most of the weekend so we did a lot of staying indoors.  However, the sun did shine for part of Saturday morning so it gave us a chance to go out on my parents' sail boat!

The boys had a great time on the boat!  Little J has been on the boat many times but I think this is the first time Little T realized what was going on!  He did a lot of exploring and we did a lot of hanging on to him.  All we lost was a snack cup which flew into the water so all in all was successful outing!

Nordstrom Anniversary Sale

So, there has been a lot of talk about the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, aka the #NSale.  I bought a bunch of items however, my favorites and my likely to use the most are not the typical clothing items.

I never really purchase myself Pajamas or bras often.  I also hate spending a ton of money on those items for some reason.  However, I found the cutest PJ's at the #NSale.  I purchased this PJ Salvage Top (Small) and this PJ Salvage shorts (Medium).  They are on regular rotation and I can tell you they are so comfy!  I'm also going to purchase the pants as well!

Great bras are a must and good ones are an investment!  If you are not sure of your size it's always helpful to go into the store so you can get properly measured.  I used to go to a shop in NYC which did great bra measurements.  Since then I've been able to correctly size myself at any retailer.  I purchased this black,  this cafe, and this gunmetal Natori Bra.  You can't beat these prices (between 30%-40% off) and the black Natori bra I have in the Caramel color from a previous purchase.  It's so pretty, supportive, and comfy!

There are so many great buys at this years #NSale!  You can really stock up your closet with some great Fall styles, some which you can start wearing right away and transition into the cooler weather.  It's really worth a look!  I even bought some great things for the kids and hubby!

Here are some other items I'm loving at the #NSale:

Go take a peek before it's over on August 8th!  

Weekend Musings

This is my first blog post of a series I am titling "Weekend Musings".  I want to highlight what we do with the kids to keep them busy and how we, as a family, spend our weekends.  What you'll find is that sometimes we spend them together and other times we spend them apart.  However, it's a healthy mix of both which helps us feel rejuvenated as individuals, strong as a couple, and in sync as a family.   I hope you like this series and that it spurs imagination or inspiration for your weekends!

Water Play

It was SO HOT this weekend here in the NY!  I half wanted to stay inside in the air condition all day and the other half wanted to sit in a pool of water.  I didn't think staying inside was an option with the kiddos so I thought water would be a great idea instead.  However, I didn't feel like dealing with the crowds at the pool since hubby was away for most of the weekend.

I had conveniently thrown out our water table and actually had one in my cart on Amazon for a while!  I really didn't want to spend the money on another water table that they may grow out of soon but I know how much my boys (and every other kids I know) loves playing with water.  So, I improvised and found these plastic beverage tubs on sale and filled them with water.  Instant "water table"!

The boys had a blast and it entertained them for a full 2 hours, while keeping them cool, and tiring them out for a good nap!

What was I doing during this time?  Relaxing on a chair nearby and reading a book!!!

Books I've Been Reading

For my birthday hubby bought me a new Kindle Paperwhite!!  I cannot tell you how much I LOVE IT.  I even got the cover below to make it more fun.

Before I had kids I devoured books, however, since having my boys it's been harder to sit down for long periods of time to read.  Since the kids are getting older and able to entertain themselves for a bit it gives me more time to sit down and read.  Albeit not without interruptions, but I'm happy to even get a little bit of "me" time in when I can.

I seem to gravitate towards lifestyle, period novels, and scifi/fantasy.  I also read some educational books for leisure so if you are interested in photography I'm listing one that has been helpful.  Below are some recent titles on my kindle.

Stay cool!!!