I started posting these "view through my lens" posts to help recap each month as seen through the lens of my iPhone to help keep random snapshots saved and easy to find. They are, by far, my favorite posts to write and look back on, as I am able to relive each memory from the month!
We started out the month of October at a pumpkin festival near my parents house where they shot pumpkins into a lake using a giant slingshot and other machinery - something I had never seen before! The pumpkin in the above picture was one of the two perfect 100lbs+ pumpkins that my mother grew. We lucked out and brought one back to our house to show off to all of our neighbors (:
L and I snuck off to our favorite ski mountain the following weekend to enjoy the gorgeous fall foliage and festivities at Okemo! So much fun and so beautiful.
The next day (Columbus day) was fair day for me! My dad and sister arrived around 9 and we scooted over to the Sandwich fair to nosh on elephant ears, participate in a skillet toss, watch the truck pulls and take a beautiful helicopter ride!
Sometime this month I also put together a little Ikea BESTA hack which I love! Macy cat was very intrigued as well...
I captured this gorgeous view from one of our after work walks along the lakes. New England, you're beautiful!
L and I snuck up to one of our favorite places earlier this month to enjoy New England's gorgeous fall foliage and festivities. It probably comes as no surprise that that place was the infamous Okemo. Okemo is like a second home for my entire family which always makes every trip up there extra special. The last time we were there was in February for a fun ski week with family!
We swung by Market Basket and picked up every fall themed food that we laid our eyes on! Pumpkin spice life, pumpkin bars, cider, caramel donuts, apple pie... you name it!
Early Saturday morning we bought tickets to take the sunburst six up to the summit house to get a little fall foliage tour from above. I was hoping that the summit house would be open so that we could indulge in some hot chocolate and a chocolate chip cookie, but I suppose that will have to wait until our next trip up when there is some snow!
We explored a little more and hiked up to the fire tower for some one of a kind views of gorgeous Vermont!
There is something eerie about a snowless ski mountain.
After our lift ride up and down the mountain, we found ourselves at Jackson Gore for their fall into winter festival. They had a band, ski gear sales, beer, and their outdoor adventure courses and the timber ripper was open!
Nothing tops of a trip to Okemo without a visit to the waffle cabin for a sweet and delicious chocolate covered waffle on a chilly fall day! Looking forward to our next trip up when there is some snow!!
L and I have a room in our house that wears many hats. It is a space that serves as an office, dressing room and storage. One wall has two racks of clothes, another wall has a bureau, the third wall has my all time favorite storage containers stacked to the ceiling, and the last wall had a small bookcase filled with all of our office supplies. Unfortunately, that cluttered and dark bookshelf was the first thing I would see every time I walked into the room making it a huge eyesore. Because this space (which I lovingly refer to as my woman cave) is undergoing a makeover so that it will eventually be a cozy and bright oasis, this bookshelf was the perfect place to start!
If you want to skip past reading this post in its entirety, I made a short clip that shows the project from start to finish with all of my mistakes along the way!
I guess you could say I did a lot of homework when deciding what type of furniture I wanted, but I was most intrigued by the versatility and affordability that the Ikea Besta system offered (this is not sponsored, btw!). When planning this project out in my head I knew that I wanted it to be bright, mirrored, chrome, I wanted it big enough to house our printer, I wanted it to have adjustable shelves, I wanted to have the option to add to it down the line, and most importantly I wanted it to be a cabinet with closing doors so that I could hide the mess clutter. I also wanted it to be somewhere under the $300 mark. It was no surprise that I couldn't really pin down what I was looking for. SO... to Ikea it was! ...and when I say "to Ikea" I'm referring to the website because I can assure you there are no Ikea's east of Boston where I now live.
Because it's Ikea, you do have to order all of the parts individually. Don't assume that the doors come with hinges, or the cabinet come with feet and a support leg... those are all extra pieces that you should add to your shopping cart. I purchased:
The total for all of the products used for this project cost me $281 (not including any shipping expenses).
I love the look and brightness of mirrored furniture which is why I really, really wanted to incorporate it on this cabinet. I took both of the HANVIKEN doors to a local glass shop and they kindly cut two mirrors to size and glued them onto the doors so that they were flush with the trim. I was thrilled. If you don't have a local glass store, I'm sure Lowe's or Home Depot would work as well, however you may need to glue the mirrors yourself.
The Besta cabinet comes with what I believe to be flat "feet" that you can screw onto the bottom of each corner so that the cabinet is not sitting directly on the floor. I knew I wanted it to be lifted a little and I knew I wanted the feet to be chrome to match the handles so I purchased two packages of NANNARP legs to dress it up a little. I do plan on eventually adding another Besta cabinet on top which is why I also purchased the support leg to help give it a little stability should I add on to the cabinet down the road. This isn't really necessary, however I would like to add to it eventually.
The next customization that I made was dressing up the two panels that slide in the back of the cabinet. I wanted it to have a little pizazz as well as tie into the chrome accents that I was adding to it. I purchased come metallic wallpaper from an online store, aliexpress, which I have never heard of before... but was pleasantly surprised by the speedy shipping. I definitely purchased way more wallpaper than I needed for this project but am sure I will be able to find another use for it down the road. I glued it down with some 3M spray adhesive which ended up making a huge mess. If I were to do this again, I would try to use something a little more controllable and less messy. This stuff gets everywhere. By the end of this I had glued every speck of dirt from the floor onto my fingers!
Unfortunately, when I went to slide the panels into the back of the cabinet, they kept catching and ended up ripping. This made me very sad... especially after the whole 3M glue fiasco!
SO! Back to the drawing board I went, this time I covered the entire panel except for where it would be sliding on the sides.
I ended up putting wallpaper on both sides of the panel which meant that the back of the cabinet got a little facelift! What a beautiful surprise, I love it!
I wanted the cabinet to have a little bit of a dramatic flair which is why I purchased these 15" Liberty Steel Bar Pulls from Home Depot for the front of the doors. They also tie in nicely with the feet and wallpaper that I added to the cabinet earlier.
I'm no master measurer, however once I figured out the correct measurements for one of the doors, I stacked them on top of each other and drilled through both of them to get a consistent and even measurement. This probably isn't the most proper measurement technique, however, it worked for me!
It was important that we use this new space to store our printer, so we drilled a small hold towards the bottom of one of the panels to feed the printer cord through to the outlet.
I haven't quite organized it how I would like to see it organized, however, here is an idea as to how we are able to store all of our office supplies so that they are out of sight, yet still functional! The lower left shelf has a container filled with cords, cameras, cables... you name it! The lower right shelf has our printer, binders and my favorite zippered poly envelopes. Above that I have several sterilite containers filled with paper, envelopes, ink, manuals, pen, paper, tape, etc., and the other top shelf is a mixed bag of other random items (greeting cards, notepads, stapler, labeler).
I'm pretty please with how everything turned out! My only complaint would be that the door on the left is slightly higher than the one on the right and it's my own fault. One day when I am feeling ambitious I will fix it by loosening the screws. Over all though, I am loving the clean, crisp and bright aesthetics that it brings to this multi-purpose and slightly busy room.
I started posting these "view through my lens" posts to help recap each month as seen through the lends of my iPhone to help keep random snapshots saved and easy to find. They are, by far, my favorite posts to write and look back on, as I am able to relive each memory from the month.
Hanging out at the summit of Beehive Trail with the family!
We also all got together and hiked Mt. Washington for the second time mid September on the most beautiful day!
I tried my hand at a delicious marinara sauce that was shared with me. The secret... butter!
All I did was blanch a ton of tomatoes, cut an onion in fourths, and 5 tablespoons of butter.
There are turkey's everywhere here! There were a handful of these little buggers hanging out in our driveway the other day when I got home - so much wildlife!
...and what's a post without a snapshot of this little biscuit! Her favorite place in the house is the loft, which L and I lovingly refer to as the man-cy cave (Macy Cat + Man Cave).
Mount Washington, round two! Last year, my mom, dad and I spent the most beautiful day in October hiking up Boot Spurr trail to the summit of Mount Washington over Columbus day weekend. This year, (almost) the whole gang was able to go, so we spent the third weekend in September doing just that! We ended up staying at the Joe Dodge located at Pinkham Notch lot the night before in hopes of getting an earlier start than we did last year. The lodge was very cozy and accommodating for our party of 7, complete with a room full of a games, a library and a little living room. We enjoyed their buffet feast Friday night, and again early Saturday for our breakfast!
We spent a good hour in the visitor's center Friday night staring at the huge 3D map of Mount Washington trying to decide what the best route would be. We eventually decided on the steepest route, Huntington Ravine!
Being the super hikers that we are, we successfully did not bring a map and did feel a little unprepared when hikers hiking the same trail passed us with helmets and ropes? Naturally, we had neither of those.
It was very steep! BUT, it is very "possible" if you are a mediocre hiker. All seven of us survived and we are by no means experts. It was best described to us as "similar to Precipice without the rungs and ladders."
We once again hit the weather jackpot on this one! Known as the most dangerous small mountain because of the drastic weather changes, we scored a beautiful clear day with comfortable temperatures. A little chilly at the summit (as expected), but nothing a fleece and rain jacket couldn't handle.
Staring at Wildcat mountain the entire hike up wasn't too bad either! The pictures from that linked post give you a good idea as to what we climbed this trip up.
We successfully made it to the summit 5 hours later, noshed on our amazing lunches that The cafeteria at the visior's center prepared for us, and then hiked Lion's Head down. All in all a great time! AND this time, we got back just before the sun went down, unlike last time! #greatsuccess
...and because making little vlogs of our adventures is my new favorite thing, I leave you with 6 exciting minutes from our hike!
A couple months ago I began aching for a camping trip to try out some of our new gear, roast up some s'mores, feast on some pudgie pies and spend some time with family. We hadn't been camping in a loooong time, and living in the middle of the city with no vehicle or space to store gear didn't make it any easier. When my parents made plans to go camping as a family in Acadia National Park over Labor Day weekend, I nearly jumped out of my skin in excitement! Everyday I would tell L how excited I was to not only go camping, but also spend some time on breathtaking Mount Desert Island! We spent a good chunk of time there two years ago for my grandparents 50th anniversary and it was nothing short of a great time! I don't have as many pictures as last time, however I did compile a handful of short clips from our trip into a fun little vlog which I have put at the bottom of this post!
First and foremost... the car. L and I forgot how convenient it is to have a vehicle to throw all of our gear in and travel. After packing all of our "stuff" into totes and traveling via trains and ubers for so long, this is truly a treat. We are still adding to our camping collection, however I can say that these clear weathertight containers from the container store are a favorite! We don't go anywhere these days without one of these in the trunk... just in case we come across an adventure of some nature, you never know!
We ended up staying in a cute campground right outside of Acadia and right on the shore of Somes Sound, Somes Sound View Campground.
We glamped in two side by side cabins (Starfish and Barnacle) at Somes Sound View Campground which could sleep four people each, perfect for our party of eight! We finagled our parking spaces and moved our tables in-between the two cabins so that we could spend even MORE time together. The place was booked for the weekend (as expected) and offered great creature features! A quarry that you could take a little boat on, a heated pool, docks, etc.!
We played one of our favorite group games, telestrations, a mix of pictionary and telephone... just imagine the fun! I am proud to say that we successfully mastered a lighting setup by tying a rope from a tree to our car and hanging two Luci lights above our game playing table! #greatsuccess
We did get our butts up wicked early to witness the infamous sunrise from Cadillac Mountain. There's nothing quite like being one of the first (along with the other 400 people on Cadillac) in the country to watch the sunrise. Parking was insane, as anticipated, so as a helpful hint to you if you ever go, do not park on the side of the road. Don't do it... you will never be able to turn your vehicle around... find a spot in one of the two lots.
We unfortunately didn't have enough time to hike the very steep Precipice trail, however we did play on another crowd favorite, Beehive trail... another fun but steep trail with rungs and ladders.
The gang!
One of my favorite parts of camping is the campfire food. We got serious about our pudgie pies and s'mores this year. One of my favorites being a cinnamon graham cracker, marshmallow, chocolate and nutella pudgie pie.
We can't go to MDI without paying a visit to our favorite soup kitchen, Common Good. Located in Southwest Harbor (they recently moved in town), Common Good is where you can get the most delicious popover and oatmeal breakfast on Mount Desert Island for whatever price feels right. Hopefully when you visit you are feeling generous, as that helps provide for people who may not be able to afford as much. They have a plethora of different jams and butters, as well as hot beverages, milk and juice. It is the perfect buffet of food for such a GREAT cause!
We had such a wonderful time in Acadia and an even better time with the family. Looking forward to next year!
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