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Monday, October 21, 2019

a weekend in Bristol, VT


Hey friends.

Chris and I spent last weekend up in Bristol, Vermont, tagging along on his parent's leaf-peeping getaway. The forecast said rain, but the weather turned out to be perfect: crisp without being cold, lots of sun, and crazy blue skies. I have lived in New England my entire life, and I will never get over how beautiful autumn is. The speed and vibrancy of the change surprises me every year.

We have been to Bristol and the surrounding towns (Vergennes, Lincoln,Middlebury, and Starksborough) three times over the last year. Exploring new places is always exciting, but I've loved getting to know this little town. It is so fun to begin to know our way around, and arrive looking forward to visiting favorite spots. So far, we've been twice in the fall (October '18 and last weekend) with Chris' parents, and then once over this past Memorial Day weekend for camping. It's beautiful and charming both times of year. 

This time, we left in the morning on Saturday and met his parents at Oktoberfest at Mount Snow. It was wicked crowded, but this was my first Oktoberfest and I had a great time trying perogies and carrying around steins of local beer. Plus there was polka music and plenty of people dressed up, so even waiting in line for food felt like an activity.

Bristol is about 2.5 hours away from Mount Snow, so once we were done we loaded up again and headed to our Air BnB! I loved this place. The inside looked like a general store, the bedrooms were cozy and filled with books, and they had a woodstove in the living room! My parents have always heated the house with wood, but it was weirdly exciting to make and keep a fire going in a new-to-me-stove. Coupled with no service and slow internet, it made the whole weekend so refreshing. I could sit and stare at a fireplace for hours.


The Air BnB was also on Sentinel Farm, so we got to meet their horses. The cows weren't on the property, but they also raised their own beef, and had freezers in the back of our kitchen filled with their products! I will forever be interested in how small, full-time farmers make their businesses work, and it was very cool to how many different projects they had going. 

It was pretty late on Saturday night by the time we headed out to dinner, so we went to Cubbers, which is an adorable little sandwich and pizza place on Bristol's main street. Super casual, but really good pizza, and the staff were very friendly. 

After dinner, we walked across the street to our favorite Bristol spot: Hatch 31. Last October, Chris and I stumbled on this bar while waiting to meet his parents, and we have been in love with it ever since. They always have live music, we've had the same bartender all three times, the locals that go there are always high energy and super friendly. The first time we went there, there was a five or six person folk band all playing instruments and leaning in to sing around one microphone. Something about that set our hearts on fire, and we've looked forward to dropping in every visit since. Hatch 31 is a treasure.


After sleeping in Sunday morning, we stopped for breakfast at Bristol Cliffs Cafe. It's a fresh, bright breakfast and lunch spot, with lots of muffins, eggs, and sandwiches. We enjoyed noticing all the different salt & pepper shakers on the tables, our favorites being the potato shakers on the table next to us. I got an egg sandwich with lots of veggies and onions, and loved it. Sometimes eggs taste weird at restaurants, but these were obviously fresh and local. I also picked up a slice of carrot cake and a slice of cheesecake to have later that night. The carrot cake was amazing!! The cheese cake was a little gross. All in all though, I can't wait to go again. 

After breakfast, we walked along some trails to enjoy the scenery. We weren't looking for a real hike, so we just did part of the Cooley Glen-Emily Proctor Trail. I know this isn't breaking news, but guys: fall in Vermont is beautiful. The sky and the leaves and the water: everything was perfect. And the farm houses! Every two feet I was shouting "that one! that one! how about that one?!". They were the kind of fields and houses that make you want to be a better person.


After our walk, we headed over to Middlebbury VT, a little bit to the south, to Happy Valley Orchard. They make incredible cider donuts and their own apple cider, so of course we got some. I also bought a really cute pumpkin called a 'sunburst pumpkin', which is small and perfectly round and yellow, with orange streaks. We also took a bunch of photos, because it was beautiful, but also because we took photos here last year, and who doesn't love a side by side?!

2019
2018
After that, we spent a little more time in the Air BnB and then Chris and I headed home! It was the perfect, quick weekend away, and a great excuse to take some time off work and soak in my favorite time of year.

In our year and a half together, Chris and I have managed to explore quite a few places. Our favorites, though, are always the spots that let you see them the way locals do. Nothing gimmicky or touristy, just friendly and unique and authentic. There is something really pleasant about going back to Bristol, and I hope this little tradition continues. 

Other Bristol favorites:

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Life Right Now


Hey friends.

I have become the absolute worst kind of blogger: the sporadic, only-posts-life-updates kind. Luckily, though, I'm not naive enough to think that anyone actually cares that I've not posted since June. And I'm certainly on top of things enough to understand that if at one point anyone did care, that person definitely doesn't read blogs anymore. Because who reads blogs?

Well, I guess I still read blogs. The other day I was combing through Elise Joy's blog archives for a knitting tutorial and I got caught up reading old posts about her early marriage. While reading one of her anniversary posts, I actually teared up. Elise has been so inspirational to me in her way of presenting herself; there are few people with online presences as large as hers that do it so authentically. While (of course) there is always so much behind the scenes we don't know about, I love how great she is at capturing the feeling of specific chapters of her life.

Though the 15 year-old Gillian that started this blog definitely couldn't articulate that, the ability to form a written time-capsule is what 22 year-old Gillian still wants from blogging. I journal, sure, and I'm on Instagram a lot, but I'm missing long form writing again. I want to challenge myself to capture my life in type.

So, here we are. I'm excited to come back to this world, and excited to write earnestly again. The goal is a post published every Sunday morning at 5am. Though I know I've said it a thousand times over the last two years, I'm back for real this time.

A major contributing factor to my lack of posting over the last two years has been the seemingly constant changes in my life. Especially since this time last year, no two-months have looked the same. So to get started: here's a bit about what life looks like right now.


work. I am currently working as a professional figure skater, performing in professional contracts. At the moment, I'm in-between shows, and have been home since April. For work during these in-betweens, I'm still working as a skate technician at Home Ice Boston, coaching both group and private skating lessons, and working at a coffee shop.  It's an exciting time because for the first time in my life, skating (through shows, coaching, and the skate shop) is making up the majority of my working hours and the majority of my income. What a crazy thing to say. It's also an exhausting time, because I don't have a regular day off and I'm commuting to Boston (3 hours round-trip) 5 days per week. But, busy-ness is a good problem to have.

skating. Speaking of skating, I'm finally buckling down and getting myself back to training for my Novice Freeskate test. This summer was busy and wonderful, but unfortunately not the greatest skating summer. But my jumps have been making progress, and I'm excited to finally be in the right headspace to make this test happen. I've been spending a lot of time beating myself up for being 'bad at it', and that isn't helping. So here's to digging deeper, committing, and challenging myself in a way that is fun and encouraging.

chris, family, and friends. Chris and I have been dating for a year and a few months now, and he truly makes life wonderful. He deserves a proper blog introduction, but us being together has led to so many adventures, good talks, belly laughs, and new perspectives. There's been a lot of relationship changes for me over the last year: making new friends, discovering new things about old friends, changing how I interact with my family, and generally attempting life as part of a committed couple. Lots of change, but still exciting.


anxiety. While 2019 has been an incredible year, it's also been one full of insecurities, self doubt, self loathing, and major anxiety attacks. Perhaps it's because of there being so many changes? Regardless of the cause, my self-talk, perfectionism, and worrying has led to a lot rough nights, arguments, wasted days, and general lack of joy. I'm currently actively working on improving and managing my anxiety, and talking about it more openly. I am still debating about whether or not counseling or medication is something I should turn to right now. In the meantime, I'm trying to be conscientious about what I can do.

reading. On a lighter note, 2019 has held some incredible reading experiences. So far I have read 21 books, which is a really big number for me. Most of my reading time has been coming from audiobooks, because of my long commutes. It's really satisfying to be able to get through books quickly, as paper books generally take me a month at least. Reading consistently (and diversely) makes my life so much better. Some favorites of the year: Station Eleven, Burnout, Pachinko, Big Magic, and The Defining Decade.

the rest. Outside of this list, I've been getting back into yoga and running, cooking a lot more (yay!), wrapping up a re-watch of The Office, planning roadtrips, and starting to put cinnamon in my coffee.


If you asked me at 2pm in the middle of the day, I'd probably say that life right now is "CRAZY! unmanageable. Busy. But good? But crazy. and stressful." Right now, though, I will say that life feels pretty great, actually. I don't often take a step back, but I'm at a point where I can trace the work, people, and good habits in my life back to tangible decisions I made over the last few years  (as well lots of luck and coincidence, as always), and that feels amazing. I'm tip-toeing, but I do feel myself coming up on the life I wanted a few years ago. It's coming. Curating a life is exciting!

Thanks for reading, guys. Hope this Sunday finds you well. These are the days, let's enjoy them.