Afternoon at the Arboretum

I went down to New York again this past weekend for my cousin's bridal shower. While there, my sister, Mom, and I took my Nana out for afternoon tea at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum.

The arboretum, now officially a state park, was originally the private estate of the Cutting family in the early 1900s. Similar to the Newport mansions, the estate is a beautiful and intricate home surrounded by breathtaking grounds and views.

I remember visiting the arboretum many times when I was younger. In fact, when my Nana would take my sister, brother and me there, she used to tell us that leprechauns lived in the gardens and throughout the grounds. She would then drop coins at the bottoms of trees or tie green ribbons on branches for us to stumble across. We of course, thought they were gifts from the leprechauns.

I also remember climbing these really cool trees. They had tons of low, strong branches that gradually slanted up towards the top of the tree. It was as if they were meant for little kids to climb up. My siblings and I would spend all day under those trees if we could.

Trading leprechaun hunting and tree climbing for tea drinking this time around, the four of us ladies made our way to the main house.

Where we were then seated at a table in the library, with a nice view towards the backyard.

There were a ton of tea selections to choose from and we were quite happy when our waitress told us that we were not limited to the same flavor for every 2-cup-teapot we had.

I ordered Irish Breakfast, Nana got vanilla cream, Cait chose maple, and Mom went with her favorite, earl gray.

Warmed teacups and plates were shortly brought out, along with our tea.

 

As we sipped our tea, we gabbed and gossiped about what we were up to and what was going on in each of our lives. 

My Nana also told us stories of when she was younger, relating the present day to how it was back then. In some ways similar, in others different. 

I swear she has had the most fascinating and fulfilled life. Each story was more interesting than the next. I could have sat there all day, listening to times past.

After a cup or so, our food was brought out.

Scones, sandwiches, and desserts galore!

There was so much of it - and all of it looked, smelled, and tasted amazing.

The scones were my favorite though... warm and heavenly.

We couldn't possibly finish all of what was served.

Cup after cup and bite after bite, we all had our fill and had to package up the rest.

Once through with our tea (a high ranking tea on my list so far, I might add),

we headed off to walk around the arboretum for a bit.

 

 Not too shabby of a view, huh?

The arboretum holds so many good memories as a child for me. I'm glad I can now add this (adult) memory to the collection as well.

xo Belle

Lilly Pulitzer Endless Summer Sale

FYI... today's the last day of the Lilly Pulitzer Endless Summer Sale! 

They have a ton of cute things...Happy Shopping!

1-2-3 Pasta

It's already been a busy week and it's only Tuesday!

Wanting to make a no-fuss but healthy and tasty dinner, I whipped up a simple, 3-step dish. 
Fresh pasta with chicken and veggies in a light white wine sauce - nice and light, perfect for summer.

I got out my main ingredients:

• fresh pasta
• vidalia onion (chopped)
• red and green bell pepper (cut into bite-size pieces)
• spinach
• chicken (cut into bite-size pieces)
• olive oil
• white wine

and got down to business.

Step 1: Lightly coat chicken in some flour and cook in a pan with some olive oil.
In a separate pan, saute onions and peppers in olive oil. Boil salted water for pasta.

Step 2: Once chicken is cooked through, pour the onion/pepper mix into the chicken pan. Now get out your wine and pour so that you have enough liquid to have as your "sauce. " Boil off the alcohol by turning up the heat for a few minutes. Add some salt, pepper, oregano, and garlic (or whatever spices you chooses!) to your "sauce."

Step 3: Cook your pasta. Add some spinach to the "sauce" pan and let in wilt and mix in. Your "sauce" should be thickened and a light brown color by now.

 

 

Once your pasta is cooked, drain and plate it.

Pour your chicken, veggies and sauce on top.

 And sprinkle with some parm cheese.

Serve with some warm, toasty bread.

And dig in!

Simple, quick, and tasty.

xo Belle

S.O.S

Shopping is always a good idea.
And it's a bonus when you can find some good steals and deals.

So on this cloudy and overcast Saturday, I paid a little visit to the Wrentham Outlets.
Saturday Outlet Shopping ... aka ... S.O.S
(those deals just pull you right in. You feel like you need to be rescued from them sometimes!)

What's great about the outlets, is the fact that it's pretty much an outdoor mall.
And although I only make the trip to visit a handful of stores, it's nice to be able to walk around outside as you go from destination to destination.

What's also great, as mentioned, are the prices. Although some things may be "last season," they're still in perfect condition; and there is usually a fairly large selection of things to choose from.

A lot of the stores had a good mix of summer and fall items which was nice to see. Being that we're nearing September, I was happy to beef up my fall wardrobe.

 

I really made out at J.Crew - where I found:

- A chambray shirt

- Dress

- Floral scarf

- Sweater

- Suede gray ballet flats (so comfortable!) 

    *you can find these exact ones on the J.Crew website (here)

After browsing the clothing stores, it was accessories time.

Kate Spade had a bunch of great sales going on - from handbags to wallets, to costume jewelry.

 

I loved this "peter pan" collared dress and polka-dot cross body bag. 

It's such a colorful and fun store. Definitely one of the best ones at the outlets.

The Tory Burch store was the next stop...

 

... where I was drawn immediately to the shoes.

And just had to buy this one pair of boots.

Can that bag be any bigger?

You could really spend all day at the outlets. Having been before and knowing the exact stores I wanted to hit though, saved me a good amount of time.

Overall, I'd say it was a pretty successful shopping trip!

xo Belle

A Couch Tale

My brother is heading back to college in 2 weeks and is living in an off-campus apartment this year. Being that he was living the dorm life last year, he was in need of some things to fill up his snazzy new apartment.

He has three other roommates. They each will have their own bedrooms and bathrooms, and will share a living and dining area as well as a kitchen. Between the four of them, they divvied up what each person needed to bring and buy for their shared space.

My brother, Chris, was in charge of bringing kitchen supplies (think plates, coffee maker, utensils...), a couch, and some bar stools.

Needing to also move in all of his bedroom and bathroom stuff, a road trip down to North Carolina (where his school is) was called for.

We decided to make a mini-vacation of it, spending a few days down there.
We piled a bulk of his things into the car, along with our luggage. It was like a jigsaw puzzle trying to fit everything in. There was hardly enough room for our bodies by the end of it.

Though a bit squished, we safely road-tripped it down to the "First in Flight" state and unpacked his things.
*Side note: I know this may sound crazy, but I LOVE road trips. Something funny/crazy/strange always seems to happen on them.

After a day's rest from all of our unpacking and apartment cleaning / setting-up,
it was then time to pay a trip to the land of Swedish furniture - IKEA. The nearest one being about an hour and a half drive away (the only one in NC!)

On our list of to dos: buy a couch and a desk chair.

What we actually ended up getting: a couch, 2 lounge chairs for the living room, a desk chair, some more glasses for the kitchen, a clock, oven mitts, and some other minor kitchen gadgets.

Now, if you're familiar with IKEA, you know that you choose the furniture you wish to purchase and then you have to pick it up down in the warehouse. The furniture is often in piece parts for which you then put together yourself.

Because of this, we couldn't exactly plan for how big of boxes we would get - or rather how much room everything would take up.

Whatever thoughts we had, however... were severely underestimated.
The couch alone couldn't fit into our Acura SUV (even with the back seat down).

And so, we got "creative."

 Everything except for the couch fit in the trunk. So onto the roof the couch went.
A bit of rope looped here, a bit of rope tied down there, and we were golden.

Or so we thought...

After about 20 minutes into our drive back to his school, we looked up through the sunroof to check on the couch. It had shifted -- and quite a bit too.
We pulled over, did a little fix, grabbed lunch, and then got back on the road. This time, I took the backseat, offering to "watch" through the sunroof.

Fifteen or so minutes into our drive - I was looking out the window on the highway and noticed a black sky ahead and to the right.

About 5 minutes later - we were in a downpour.

Now, long story short - the poorly packaged and exposed suede couch on the roof was now not only shifting slightly with every mile driven, but was also getting wet. With nowhere to really pull over for "shelter," we shimmied the couch back to a neutral position by means of opening the sunroof and pulling on the ropes.

And although this worked, the wind and general movement of the car kept shifting it around.
Unsure of what to do, Mom and Chris decided to just hold it down and in place by keeping the sunroof open and holding onto the ropes.

Did I mention it was pouring? Raindrops were being pelted towards me in the back seat, and falling onto their arms and seats.

Oh and did I mention we still had a good hour's drive to go?

We thought our current couch situation was bad... but nope, not bad enough.
Because of the way we roped the couch onto the roof, we had rope going down the front of the car (down the windshield). And since it was raining, the wipers were going.
I bet you can guess what happened next...
The wipers caught on the rope and pulled. And the rope's resistance snapped the wiper, leaving the driver's side of the car wiper-less.

We rode like that - open sunroof, rain pouring in, holding ropes down, broken wiper NOT wiping, Mom looking out the passenger side of the windshield for the rest of the time.

As pathetic and awful as it was, we were hysterically laughing at the misfortune of it all.

I told you funny/crazy/strange things happen on road trips!

We made it back to the apartment safe and sound. And surprisingly the couch was only slightly damp in one small area.

We unpacked all of the purchases and went inside to put it all together.
And I have to say, everything turned out really well and was super easy to "build." The couch and chairs are really comfy too!

Exhausted from a long and eventful day; we treated ourselves to dinner and laughed about the last few hours. It's definitely one of those stories we'll never forget.

 

I'm going to miss him while he's at school! 

Maybe I'll go visit him and crash on his couch ;)

xo Belle

Summer Sangria

Sangria is my summertime drink of choice.
Cold, fruity, and refreshing, it's perfect to make for a fun dinner party, casual barbeque, lazy weekend lunch, or just because.
The great thing about sangria is you can customize it to your liking.
Sweet, strong, red, white, bubbly, flat, citrus-y, etc.

After some trials and tribulations, I think I have found the recipe for the perfect pitcher.
To make, you'll need:

A bottle of red (dry)
1/3 to 1/2 c. brandy (depends on how strong you like it. I usually do somewhere in the middle)
1/4 c. lemon juice
1/3 c. orange juice
1/2 c. triple sec
1/3 c. frozen lemonade concentrate
1 lemon, 1 orange, 1 lime - all sliced into thin rounds
1 c. ginger ale OR sprite
1 c. club soda
8-10 maraschino cherries
1 orange (or lemon or lime) cut into wedges (to garnish your cups of course!)

Get yourself a nice sized pitcher and pour in the wine, brandy, triple sec, juices, and lemonade concentrate. Place the fruit slices and cherries into the pitcher. Refrigerate it overnight (allowing all the flavors to combine). Just before serving, add in the ginger ale and club soda.

Serve over ice and garnish your glasses with a citrus wedge.

Summer Sangria Perfection.

Enjoy!

xo Belle

Stranded Island Sushi

Have you ever played the game If I was stranded on a desert island, I... ?

You know, the one where you would have to choose: the person you'd want with you, the only clothing you'd bring to wear, the only book you'd have to read, or movie you'd have to watch, etc.

The point of the "game" being that you have to choose what you think you could live without, while also choosing what you think you could live with forever, day after day.

Well when I play the game, and come across the scenario of If I was stranded on a desert island with only one type of food... 

I automatically think sushi.

It's light yet filling, flavorful, healthy, can be made and eaten various ways, and one of my favorite foods.

The best spot around town to grab a bite of the stuff, is Oishii.
*Fun Fact: "Oishii" in Japanese means tasty and/or delicious.

Looking to have a substantial yet not too heavy meal, some apps and rolls were what we were craving.

We sunk ourselves into a corner table and meandered over the menu.

 

They have a wide range of items, which include: soups, salads, hot and cold appetizers, cooked entrees, udon noodle dishes, and of course sushi.

Lemon ice water and hot green tea were brought over, and not long after we placed our order.

For starters, we had steamed edamame sprinkled with salt,

as well as steamed shumai (shrimp dumplings) with a scallion-ginger-soy sauce.

 

And for our main course, we ordered a rainbow maki, spicy tuna maki, and shrimp tempura maki roll.

Yum. Yum. and Yum.
Or should I say...
Oishii. Oishii. and Oishii.

Just throw in some chocolate and plop me on a desert island. I think I'd happily make do.

What would you take to your stranded island?

xo Belle