Happy New Year...

May the year ahead be full of goodness for everyone.

Image from here.

Boston + New York...

...with a bit of Vermont + New Hampshire thrown in. Vermont was pretty (even with very little snow). And the historic inn we stayed in was hilarious in a Fawlty Towers kind of way! The one day it did snow the roads were chaos and driving was pretty hairy - our one hour drive took five hours! Boston was wonderful - we stayed in the Back Bay area, and took in galleries, parks and lots of history. A day trip up the coast to Portsmouth proved worthwhile with a wintery quiet and serene views from the coastal road. Here's a few things we discovered along the way...

Tucked away in Middlebury, Vermont, is Clementine, a wonderful little shop selling lovely letterpress, antiques, art and handmade goodies.

We dined here on New Years eve and it was one of the best Italian meals I've had outside of Italy.

Boston's Museum of Fine Arts was really impressive - I could have spent days here. Their exhibition of embroideries of colonial Boston was exquisite. Another highlight was the Mapparium, an extraordinary three-story glass globe constructed in 1935.

I found this portrait in a furniture shop and just love the elegance of it.

Boston Architectural College's beautifully illustrated posters.

If you find yourself in Portsmouth, NH, and in need of coffee and cake call into Cafe Vonsolln. Yummy cakes, delicious soup + great coffee.

And after visiting Cafe Vonsolln, pop along to Gus & Ruby where you'll find all sorts of letterpress and stationery goodies.

From Boston we caught the train to New York - a great way to travel and take in the scenery. The Connecticut coast was lovely. We emerged from the chaos of Penn Station, hopped in a cab and headed off to our hotel. A quick lunch at Lucky Strike then it was off to explore one of my favourite cities. It was jolly cold with a bone-chilling wind, but we toured about taking in museums, the High Line, shopping, and lots of eating. Yummy meals were had here, here and here.

Located in Brooklyn is Greenhouse a beautifully curated shop full of eco-friendly home goods.

The freezing temperatures were a perfect excuse to stock up on chunky woollens from Rag & Bone.

We stopped into the Dinosaur Designs Nolita store. Love their Abstract 2012 collection.

Discovered With & Wessel's silky, fine merino pieces.

Took in the quirky goodies at Babel Fair.

Found these wonderful mugs by Jansen+co at Vitra.

And viewed the Maurizio Cattelan exhibition at the Guggenheim.

Images from Clementine, MFA, me, Greenhouse, Rag & Bone, Dinosaur Designs, With & Wessel, Babel Fair, and Jansen+co.

Happy 2012...

...may the new year be filled with love, laughter + happiness for all.

Image from Marie's flickr.

Happy New Year...

Happy New Year! I hope the new year is off to a good start in your neck of the woods. We are leaving our little piece of paradise early tomorrow and heading to Raglan for a few days, then we're off over to meet up with my family for a week by the Lake. I have been collecting bits and bobs to post and promise to be back into the swing of things in just over a week - see you then!
ps: I know the snow is a little incongruous with the beach image - but I thought I'd keep it for just a wee bit longer.
Image taken at Takou Bay, Northland - only accessible by boat and completely deserted - bliss!

A small piece of paradise...

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! After a "by-the-skin-of-our-teeth" departure from San Francisco thanks to the weather, we made it to New Zealand and had a fab Christmas with our families. We've spent the past ten days catching up with extended family and our friends - which has been wonderful. And now we are quietly ensconced in the tiny piece of paradise that is Takou River. Tucked away from everything, surrounded by lush native gardens and bush, with an abundance of bird life - it is truly sublime. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year, and I will be back in the coming week.

Hello and Happy New Year!

My it has been a looooong while. I hope you all had a fab Christmas and New Year, and that the sun shone or snow snowed wherever you were. We had the most wonderful Christmas and New Year in New Zealand (above) with family and friends. On our way back to Portland we were lucky enough to spend a few days in the Cook Islands (below). Bliss! We're now back home in our perfect little apartment and slowly getting back into the swing of things. I hope you're all enjoying the New Year - it's so nice to be back!