On Saturday morning, Kendrick and I headed upstate to Irvington, in the Hudson Valley, for a sort of half-day-trip/half-tentative-house-hunting-trip. One of my favorite things to do is to journey around to the various charming towns on the outskirts of the city, and ever since I was little I’ve sort of fantasized about living in the Hudson Valley one day. But I never really took it seriously, because…you know, can’t take the city girl out of the city, etc etc.
Oh, shush, Jordan’s Head. This is yet another example of ‘you love what you love, stop basing your desires on others’ expectations.’ My parents have always been completely confused by how much I’m drawn to small-town life…but I am. I always have been. And I picture fifteen or twenty years down the line, when we have a teenager moaning about how bad he (or she) wants to live in the city, and how boring this stupid town is, and jeez, Mom and Dad, why’d you have to move to this laaaaaame place…and you know what I’m going to say?
Someday you’ll understand.
And I fully expect an eye-roll. But someday he (or she) will understand.
(And no, we’re not ‘in a family way.’ Patience, grasshopper!)
This is us all excited (…or at least I look excited) on the MetroNorth to Irvington. There are a bunch of adorable small towns all within about an hour of the city: we were specifically looking at Dobbs Ferry, Irvington, Sleepy Hollow, and Tarrytown. Ossining is a bit far away from us, but we also checked out the equally-far-away Chappaqua just because it’s so beautiful.
We’re not in any rush to move, but this is an exciting direction to think about heading in, so we figure we’ll take our time, take multiple weekend trips up to the area, and more or less chill out and see if this kind of lifestyle suits us before making any big and very expensive decisions.
Talk about your sleepy bedroom towns: here’s Kendrick snoozing alongside Mr. Van Winkle.
This isn’t the most picturesque spot in Irvington…but still: picturesque! No? (I seriously seriously love it up here.)
We made time for a pit stop at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, the restaurant/organic farm/educational center that I’ve been dying to go to ever since seeing Dan Barber speak at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens last summer. The prix fixe dinner is very expensive (and reservations are apparently impossible to get), but all the ingredients are strictly local, and I hear it’s an amazing experience.
I couldn’t go home without a souvenir, so I picked up a dozen hatched-that-morning eggs for $5.
That’s Kendrick trekking through the snow towards one of the places we looked at (this one was in Chappaqua). It was nice…but really, really (really) small. And part of the point of leaving Manhattan is to avoid that whole really, really (really) small situation. So: no on this one.
Before heading back, we stopped off at Via Vanti, in Mt. Kisco, for some very yummy thin-crust pizza (this one was with artichokes, goat cheese, basil, and speck) and various dips with pita. If you ever make it up that way, please stop in for the gelato (oh goodness, hot cocoa-with-marshmallows-gelato, oh goodness).
But enough of our day trip! Other random nice things that happened this weekend:
Francesca took this picture of Kendrick (and a bit of me). I like it a lot, mostly because that’s an expression I see on his face frequently (usually when I’m doing things like falling while standing completely still or deciding to remove blisteringly hot cookie sheets from the oven without the benefit of potholders).
I think this lipstick is a pretty perfect cherry red, and bonus: it can be purchased in the drugstore. It’s CoverGirl Outlast Lip Stain in Wild Berry Wink 440, topped with CoverGirl WetSlicks Fruit Spritzer in Strawberry Splash 540.
I’ve written before about my love for my purse hook, so let me reiterate: I love my purse hook. If you want one, you can buy lots of cool ones on Etsy; try here or here.
I’ve also written before about the awesomely cheap brunch at Doc Watson’s. But seriously? $11.95 gets you one of those fabulous-looking dishes up there (I got the bagel-and-lox platter; Kendrick got French toast) plus two (two!) cocktails (or coffees or juices, if that’s your preference). Doesn’t get better than that.
