Nantucket

A very photo heavy post for your Monday. Consider it a photo diary of sorts from our amazing trip to Nantucket...

Madaket Beach, the scene of many swims and lots of sunning.

Change of scenery at Surfside Beach for an afternoon swim.

The amazing heritage listed streets in town.

I've started saving up for my yacht, now I just have to decide which one (in my dreams).

Sankaty Head Lighthouse.

The view from Sankaty Head, looking out over the cliffs.

The crew outside our amazing house.

The most amazing sunset I have ever seen. It's just a shame my camera died right 

after this photo because it got even better than this!

Until next time Nantucket, and there will be a next time.

The Weekend, Two Weeks Ago

Images by Kate Maguire

Due to my absence, this post is a couple of weeks old, but for the Memorial long weekend (which also happened to be my birthday weekend), Michael and I headed out to Greenport on the North Fork of Long Island. This trip was so lovely and definitely worthy of a post.

Greenport is a small little harbour town near the very tip of Long Island. It is such a picturesque little town and we thoroughly enjoyed strolling the streets, eating fresh seafood and enjoying the festivities of the Memorial Day holiday weekend. There were also several tall ships in the marina that people could board and explore, although we opted to look from afar as the large crowds were a big deterrent. We stayed at the Greenporter Hotel, which was pretty basic but all we needed for a weekend getaway. Plus an afternoon lazing by the pool was just what the doctor ordered.

Our favourite discovery of the weekend was Shelter Island. We travelled over on a car ferry and spent an afternoon driving around this gorgeous little island. It is so beautiful and some of the homes there are amazing. We loved it so much, we are planning on staying on Shelter Island next time we head out to the end of Long Island. I am really enjoying that we don't have to go far to discover beautiful places that give us a well deserved break from the craziness that is New York City.

Santa Monica Before Breakfast

{Images from my phone, edited with Pixlr}

I love waking up so close to the Pacific Ocean. Knowing that Australia is just an ocean between us, and smelling the familiar fresh salty air is part of what makes me love being on the West Coast so much. We woke up early this morning and went for a walk along the beach in Santa Monica, past the pier and palm trees. It was so nice to be up early on this cool spring morning. There were plenty of fit people (much fitter than us, but we aspire to be that fit soon!) taking advantage of such a nice morning on the beach. What a way to start the day!

Day Dreaming

Here are several things that have been occupying my day dreams lately...

Our Honeymoon in Kauai. We have made a deal that we will go back
every ten years, but do I really have to wait that long?

Alexander Wang Aida Pumps & Prisma Tote

Image: Pinterest

A big, open, light-filled kitchen - yes please!

Designer Stripes from Elizabeth and James, DKNY and Malene Birger.

Image: Pinterest

Laying out in the sun and swimming in the ocean 

(this will be a reality in a few short days).

My Favourite Trips in 2011

I thought I would round out the first week of 2012 by looking back at my four favourites holidays from the past year. Even with the wedding back home in Australia, we still managed to get to some beautiful locations including Boston, Martha's Vineyard, Mexico, London and Sao Paulo. But, my favourite trips were to extra special locations that will stay with me for a very long time. Here they are in the order that we visited them in...

Los Angeles, March 2011

I tagged along on one of Michael's work trips to LA and I seriously feel in love with the place. I know that living in New York I am not supposed to say that about the other coast, but I seriously could move there tomorrow. It helps that we got to stay at the amazing Huntley Hotel in Santa Monica, and while Michael was working I got to enjoy the amazing views from our room as well as take walks along the Santa Monica beach front. We hired a car for the weekend (you need one in LA) and spent a day cruising around Malibu and another around Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and the Hollywood Hills. I am just waiting for another excuse to get back over there.

Cost Rica, July 2011

We are famous for last minute holiday bookings and this trip was no exception. We decided that instead of staying in New York for the Fourth of July long weekend, we would jet off to Costa Rica (and unlike some of our other last minute disasters) we didn't regret our decision. We stayed at the gorgeous Hotel Punta Islita (which came highly recommended by a couple of friends). It certainly wasn't cheap, especially given the last minute nature of our booking, but we think it was worth every penny. We had five heavenly days of relaxation, sun and swimming - my favourite things.

Montana, September 2011

We were lucky enough to be invited by a couple of friends to visit them in Montana, which I wrote about here. What an amazing place, we saw so many animals and wildlife, stunning scenery and had a great weekend with a great group of people. There isn't much else I can say except that if you ever get the chance - go there, you won't regret it.

Kauai, October 2011

This beautiful Hawaiian island makes the list not only because it was the location for our honeymoon, but also because it is such a stunning part of the world. Kauai is a far less touristy island than the likes of Oahu and Maui, but is is certainly not without it's creature comforts. We spent an amazing ten nights at the Koa Kea resort, which we felt was the perfect, laid back yet beautiful resort to spend our time. Kauai is a great place to soak up the sun, drink delicious cocktails, get active and spot plenty of marine life. It truly is a heavenly place that I hope to get back to one day.

I hope we get to some equally beautiful locations this year!

Merry Christmas

Christmas is almost here, only two more sleeps. It is not looking likely that it will be a white Christmas in New York this year and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed. We are looking forward to sharing Christmas day with a couple of Australian friends, eating lots of food, drinking good wine and laughing at each other in our ugly Christmas attire!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas, and if Christmas is not your thing, Happy Holidays!

Honeymoon in Paradise

With my new husband (I'm not naked, I promise)

Today I thought I would share some honeymoon pics with you. We went to the Hawaiian island of Kauai and stayed at the Koa Kea Resort, which is everything great about a resort with none of the bad (the pictures on their website don't do this place justice - it is gorgeous). The sunsets, the ocean, the marine life, the canyons and the [painful] hike to an amazing waterfall - there really wasn't anything that we didn't love about our time on Kauai.

One of the many lookouts at the Waimea Canyon

The stunning Waimea Canyon

On top of the Canyon with the fog rolling in

A lookout near Hanalei Bay

Kilauea Lighthouse

The Napali Coast as viewed from the first leg of the Kalalau trail

Looking through to Hanakapi'ai Beach

Almost at the halfway point and feeling good 

(I wasn't feeling so good with a mile to go on the steep uphill return trip)

The halfway point, the Hanakapi'ai Falls with its refreshing freshwater pool

Hundreds of dolphins surrounded our catamaran, it was quite an amazing sight

The view from the Napali Coast

Enjoying the sunset after a day of getting my tan on

One of many beautiful sunsets

Toasting the end of another beautiful day with an ice cold beer

And what we were faced with on our return to New York - yes that's right, snow!

Looking back at these photos I really hope I can get back there one day - just amazing!

Mother's Day

I apologise for my lack of posting lately. We have had lots of visitors in New York these last few weeks and I haven't really had too much time to think about posting. I have some great posts planned for next week though!

In the meantime, I would like to wish all the mother's out there a very happy Mother's Day, especially my beautiful Mum, Mary. I love you, have a great day! xx

Happy Easter

Today is Good Friday which means this weekend it will be Easter Sunday. 

Wishing you all a  very Happy Easter!

Image credit: Design*Sponge

How cute are the eggs above, they were embroidered by Brett Bara of Manhattan Craftroom.