We flew in from London on Monday and tried to stay up as late as possible to avoid the inevitable jet lag. Alex's parents have graciously allowed us to crash at their NJ residence whenever we land in the NYC area so we took advantage of their hospitality, home cooking and laundry facilities for a couple days while we got ourselves sorted.
On Wednesday we drove into the city for a day of errands - mostly beauty treatments to remove excess hair and callouses - and a reunion dinner with our friends. Being surrounded by the faces we have missed so much over the past eight months was incredible - and a reminder of how at home we feel in New York!
Not the best quality image but definitely the best quality people.
Taking advantage of additional hospitality, we stayed with our friends Nikou and Mike in Brooklyn so we could get an early start on our drive to Massachusetts Thursday morning. We stopped in Boston for lunch with our former colleague Avi and made it to Newburyport by early afternoon so we could rest up for two days of wedding festivities.
Charming streets and shops in Newburyport.
Town Square.
Looking out into the marina.
I loved the "old-timey" feel of the shops and buildings.
So many sailboats!
We enjoyed a casual BBQ outside with the bride and groom before heading to bed early (Alex is the Best Man so he needed to be fresh for Friday's wedding events!).
I spent Friday exploring the charming town of Newburyport on foot and sampling the local blueberry iced coffee before returning to our hotel to get ready for the wedding. The weather had been cloudy but cleared up just in time for the ceremony and everything - including Alex's speech - went perfectly! Alex and I got to catch up with friends and enjoyed a night of dancing while celebrating an amazing couple.
Not our ride for the wedding!
Beautiful couple; beautiful day.
Congrats Todd and Shannon!
Someone's looking a little lighter...goodbye "beard!"
We woke up early on Saturday in order to drive to Montauk, the site of our wedding, to celebrate our one year anniversary for a couple of days. While the weather didn't exactly cooperate for spending time at the beach, we were able to revisit our favorite places and catch a pretty spectacular sunset on Sunday night. To top it all off, our wedding cake baker even made us a special free anniversary cake!
Saying goodbye to Todd...they didn't even plan the matching outfits!
One of our favorite beaches in Montauk.
Back to Montauk Yacht Club: site of our wedding last year!
Sunsets at Navy Beach are almost always incredible.
Sky on fire.
One more in front of the sunset.
Mussels - a new favorite for us! - at Dave's for a special anniversary dinner.
Monday was beautiful so we spent a few hours enjoying the beach - without weekend vacationers! - before making the drive back to NJ.
Today we head to Italy for another wedding and plan to spend our time focusing on friends, food and fun. Ciao!