Decking the halls

Batch of fudge... check.
Knitted minisweater... check.
Xmas crafting... check.
Decorated tree... check.

How many days until Santa comes?!

Holiday season kickoff

November's been busy busy busy. To start off the month, we spent a week in Copenhagen visiting dearly-missed friends and colleagues... it felt like we'd never left! It was an excellent trip all the way around full of laughter, reconnection and many shared meals with treasured friends.

Speaking of shared meals... our Thanksgiving was delicious, how was yours?! Big thank-yous to Meg's parents who were in town for the week to play around Boston and celebrate the holiday. We split up the foodie responsibilities and were able to get out of the kitchen for a bit and really enjoy the whole day.

We took a midday walk that was especially colorful...This year, I made all of my pumpkin recipes (bread, pies and soup) from actual pumpkin puree... it was so easy! And it made the apartment smell awesome.

Heat the oven to 350F, pour 1/2 inch of water in a baking pan, half (halve?) a small baking pumpkin and scrape out the seeds and stringy stuff. Place pumpkin halves cut side down and bake for about an hour. Take out to cool slightly, then scrape out the lovely steamed pumpkin flesh and give it a zizz with a blender to make it super smooth!

A getaway was in order after so much hanging out in the Boston/Cambridge area, so we headed up north for some daytripping in Gloucester, MA then Portsmouth, NH and finally Kittery, ME! Three states in one day... the Californians were all duly impressed.

Late fall twilight while crossing over from NH to Maine.

From where I sit...

The foliage in New England is doling out its last few bursts of color. Here's the view from my computer right now...

I drove up to rural New Hampshire last weekend (sounds far away, but it was only 70 minutes from Cambridge) and the drive was just exquisite. I *may* have been a potential hazard as I could barely keep my eyes on the road...

I mean, really, how was I supposed to concentrate when there were red barns! and fiery orange trees! and old mill buildings! and antique co-ops! to be drooled over?!

We can't get over how lucky and privileged we are to be living in this beautiful and historic part of the country.

Montpelier, Vermont

We spent a picturesque October weekend visiting some of our cousins in Northern Vermont.


A stop-off in Putney, Vermont (so cute!) led us to a wonderful lunch spot: The Front Porch Cafe. Highly recommended! Located within an independent bookstore/yarn shop - it was Megan's idea of heaven-on-earth.

The weekend was full of good conversation ranging from green-living to education to New England living to lab-life (guess who?!)... and much time was spent doting on sweet Josephine.

We enjoyed dinner on the town at The Black Door Bar and Bistro and then watched the Sox win Game #3 over the Rockies on Saturday night. On Sunday, the yammering continued over a long walk on the outskirts of Montpelier and maple creemees at Morse Farm (yum!). We returned to the city refreshed and happy from a great weekend!

The cutest Pumpkin Head ever.

A glorious autumn weekend

Just as we did while living in Europe, we're trying to explore our new surrounds here in New England when an opportunity presents itself. This time around, we're still striving for a monthly "getaway", but it'll more than likely be a new state or city... alas, not a new country. (!)

This weekend we drove up to Portsmouth, NH. A mere hour's drive north of Boston, we saw some colorful foliage and strolled around the charming town for the whole afternoon ducking in and out of stores as the clouds above would allow. Lunch at Popover's was lip-smackingly-good and we managed to snag a window seat which allowed for one of our favorite activities: people-watching. (We're going to make an excellent old couple... slunking around waiting for the window seat to open up... only to sit there for hours watching the world pass by...) A leisurely hand-in-hand walk around the town revealed some great shops including one of the best kitchen supply stores I've ever seen.


This weekend Boston was filled with rowing teams from near and far. The Head of the Charles Regatta has been keeping things humming around here - especially on the Cambridge side of the river. This morning we biked down to Harvard Square for a stop at the Farmers' Market and for a look at the races. It could not have been more gorgeous here today with blue skies to rival the color of those clear winter days in Denmark we used to rave about.

Our new place

We're so happy with our new place in Cambridge. It's a whole 100 sq. ft. larger than our last Copenhagen apartment and we feel like we now reside in a palace. It's been such fun hunting for just the right things to fill out our new home. It's still a work in progress, but we're comfy and enjoying our time when home.

We celebrated our 4th Anniversary with a trip to Cape Cod...


Although we haven't had a full weekend to explore our new neighborhood just yet (!), we love what we have seen. From independent bookstores to a you-need-it-we-have-it hardware store, we're feeling right at home and can walk to just about anything. We're hanging on to the European way of biking and walking as much as possible!

Site test

We've landed in Boston and have decided to try blogging about this next adventure. Thanks for stopping by! It's pretty sparse around our new digs at the moment, but the truck should be arriving sometime next week. Check back again soon!