{stateside} thanksgiving in ithaca

a couple of years ago my mom and stepdad ditched the texas heat and moved to upstate new york. i was sad at first - i'd never been more than 45 minutes away from them! and as much as i miss having them here, i know they're so happy up there {plus, now we have another place to go visit!}.
ithaca is a college town in every sense of the word - it's home to cornell and ithaca college, hippies of all ages, a spectacular farmers market, delicious vegetarian restaurants, lots of resale shops, local artists and musicians... it's situated on the southern shore of the largest of the finger lakes, and it offers incredible views, stunning waterfalls, and gorgeous gorges. there are local wineries and independent breweries and gimme! coffee and purity ice cream.
this year we headed up to ithaca for thanksgiving. it was a nice quiet week: we did a whole lot of eating, relaxing, shopping, sleeping, and more eating.  when we weren't stuffing ourselves stupid at the house and lounging around with the two kitties, we shopped and ate our way around the ithaca commons {perhaps not the most exciting shopping scene ever, but the food situation is pretty fantastic}. we hit just about every thrift shop we could find {ithaca has a killer salvation army store, by the way} and sampled fifteen different craft beers that we bought at the ithaca coffee company. we watched as much football as my parents could stand {i think A managed to terrify their friends with his football yelling}. we even decorated the house for christmas. then we ate some more.

{appetizer chips at simeon's}

{crazy plastic bag mushroom sculpture}

{mate factor: coffee shop/tree house}

{wall spidey}

{two of many beers}

{weekender} fall in fredericksburg: day one

{on the road again}

it just so happens that A's family has an incredible historical home and a good amount of land in the texas hill country just outside of fredericksburg {why, yes, i am the luckiest girl in the world, thank you}. it's especially lovely in the fall, so we decided to take a half day on friday and go down for a long weekend.


naturally we grabbed lunch in west at the czech stop. {this place is absolutely a must if you ever find yourself driving between dallas and austin. the kolaches are made fresh every day by czech angels in heaven. exit 353 on I35. do it.}

after five or six hours on the road, we arrived in downtown fredericksburg. most of the shops there were closed, but we walked down main street and found a little dinner spot called hondo's. pure hill country awesomeness. specialty margaritas, great patio, live music, stuffed armadillos, et cetera {you had me at popsicle margarita}. when we were finished eating, we "got married"* at the gazebo by our table and then wandered over to check out the band playing outside at a restaurant across the street.

an hour or so later we were driving up to the house, scattering the dozen deer who had been grazing in the yard. we took a moment to admire the stars in the cold, clear night sky before heading in for the evening. we ate dessert {pumpkin kolaches from west} on the couch and watched a little television until we were ready to sleep.

*we're big nerds, in case you haven't already figured that out. specifically, love nerds. any time we see a really good wedding spot, we have a two-second ceremony and a kiss. vomit if you must. i'm not ashamed.

{weekender} fall in fredericksburg: day two

frigid weather and a noisy old windmill prevented us from getting much sleep that night, but we woke up with the sun {and the local rooster}. we drank our morning coffee and then we got all bundled up in some borrowed hunting clothes for a walk.

we explored the barns behind the house {i found some treasures to take home!}, visited the cows and turtles at the pond, and saw the various broken-down tractors and trucks that live on the property. we hiked through a huge overgrown field where A claims he used to find arrowheads and elephant bones as a kid, saw some giant ant piles, and then came upon a group of trees where three deer were grazing and playing.

after our walk, we freshened up a bit and went back into town. we ate brunch on the patio at mahaley's - sadly, we'd missed their famous breakfast tacos by about an hour, but A's burger and my sandwich were yummy and satisfying. we soaked up some sunshine and gathered our strength for an afternoon of shopping...

first stop: red. quite possibly the best store i've ever been to in my entire life. no joke. modern and vintage home furnishings, fabrics, and accessories, all merchandised so perfectly that i wanted to move in and/or cry tears of joy.

next we hit der kuchen laden to get a cup of coffee and look at all the kitchen toys we never knew we needed. we drank our coffee outside and listened to some local texas folk music.

after coffee we stepped into homestead and friends, another incredible antiques store with fantastic displays. the store goes on forever - there's an upstairs, a basement library, a courtyard and side rooms all filled with amazing treasures {and more than a few creepy ones}.

we visited some other great shops, like house.wine {wine bar + home decor? yes please!} and something different II {eclectic home furnishings and accessories}. but my all time favorite may be dooley's five and dime. it's pure junk, all of it, but it's the most fun ever!

worn out from our day of shopping, we picked the closest pizza place and ordered a pie to go. we sat at the bar in the charming courtyard and drank a glass of fredericksburg wine while we waited. of course we also checked out the game room and wrote on the chalkboard before it was time to go home.

back at the house, we scared all the deer in the yard again. we ate our pizza and watched the most recent harry potter dvd {i know, we're such party animals}. after dinner we went out into the back yard to look at the stars and listen to the sounds of the texas hill country.

{weekender} fall in fredericksburg: day three

we slept much better on our second night in fredericksburg {thankyouverymuch, heater and white noise iphone app!}. we woke up early and watched deer and cardinals in the back yard while we drank our coffee. we took our time packing up and saying goodbye to the house.

on our way out of town, we stopped in llano at cooper's {another must if you find yourself in the area}. it's an old school, nothing fancy, paper-towels-on-the-table and beans-in-a-bucket kind of place. if you don't get there before 11:30 you will be waiting for a long long time to place your order at the meat pit, but you won't be disappointed. we ate a quick bite and then headed home after our perfect hill country weekend.