berkshires wedding weekend

Back in May (oy, where does the time go?), Kurt and I went to a friend's wedding in the Berkshires (I gave a quick instagram rundown way back when). Sometimes life without a car is complicated and expensive, especially when trying to get out of the city. We thought we would be clever (i.e. cheap) and take a Metro-North train to Poughkeepsie and rent a car there to save some $$. The train ride along the Hudson is fantastic but we ran into some complications with the rental car. After some cursing and stressing, it all worked out and we sped to get to the wedding on time in our minivan :)

The wedding was at Jiminy Peak in Western Massachusetts. It's a cute little ski resort that seems pretty sleepy in the summer months. We dashed for our hotel room and changed into our fancy clothes just in time to beat the couple to the ceremony. The wedding was small and sweet; the crowd mainly family and a few friends. We ate and drank and even did some dancing. After the main festivities, the groom fell asleep and the bride demanded we party it on. Being a small hotel in the middle of nowhere, we convinced the restaurant bartender it would be worth his while to stay open late for us. I think everyone went to bed happy.

The next day we had to return the rental car to Poughkeepsie but on the way stopped in Hudson, New York for breakfast. The town was very cute with lots of shops and restaurants in the historic downtown. I want to take the train back sometime and do some antique shopping!

points of interest: Jiminy Peak Resort, Hancock, MA // Half Time Beverage (fun beer store!) Poughkeepsie, NY // Le Gamin Country, Hudson, NY

weekend in review

This weekend is brought you by instagram. We travelled out to the North Fork of Long Island and did lots of train riding, food eating, wine drinking, bike riding, soccer watching, and general vacationing. It was fantastic. I can't tell you how many times we just paused from the enjoyment and commented "can't we just stay a little longer?" Sigh. Now we're back to reality and I will hopefully get around to blogging with real pictures eventually because if there are this many instagrams, you know we took a boatload of photographs.

Follow along @melgraveline and we are so special we assigned the weekend a hashtag. See all our photos from the weekend with #dynamic4donorthfork.

4th of july fireworks

Happy [belated] Independence Day, everyone! For the past few years, the big NYC fireworks show has been held on the Hudson River, catering to the west side of Manhattan and New Jersey. Finally, this year, they have been moved back to the East River near (and on) the Brooklyn Bridge to be shared with the legit boroughs. Kurt's parents were in town for the 4th, so they requested we get an up close view of the show from Brooklyn Bridge Park. The show was great and amazing and impressive (although surprisingly quiet), but there were just so many people there! Getting to the park and then returning home ended up being a bit of a hassle. (During the show, we could see cars parked on the BQE because traffic was so bad!) It was fun to experience the show up close, but next year I think I will try to find a nice, relaxed rooftop viewing spot. Or maybe a vacation outside the city!! Who knows!!

of mice and men

Several weeks ago, Kurt, Christian, and I went to see Of Mice and Men performed at the Longacre Theatre. I don't often go to plays or musicals (talk about wasting away my NYC experience) but we were excited to see James Franco, Chris O'Dowd, and Leighton Meester on stage in this rendition (yes, I can be swayed by celebrities). It had been a while since I read the book back in high school, so the story wasn't exactly fresh in my mind. Luckily its a pretty simple premise and easy to follow along.

James Franco as George was good but pretty much just yelled a lot. I wanted to like Leighton Meester as Curley's wife but she was shrill and had a terrible accent (maybe she isn't meant to be a likable character anyway?). Chris O'Dowd as Lenny was excellent. He really stole the show in my opinion. The detail and construction of the stage sets was incredible. They rolled on tracks and descended from the ceiling to switch between scenes. 

There was no photography allowed in the theater but I snapped that middle one before getting yelled at by an usher. Kurt nabbed that bottom one of the cast during the final bow. I don't think I'll be attending shows every week but it was a treat to take in one of the city's more cultural draws. If only I could find some reasonably priced Book of Mormon tickets...