Family Weekend in Ogunquit, Maine on a Budget

Last Friday we decided at the last minute to spend the weekend in Ogunquit, Maine - the weather looked great, my husband was itching to take some Milky Way photos, and it had been too long since we did a little family trip.  It was also right before "the season" starts, which meant that there would be less crowds and cheaper hotel rooms (yes!).  All-in-all as a family of three we spent less than $175 for the whole weekend, including the hotel room, so I would call that a huge success!  

For hotel we stayed at The Beachmere Inn which is conveniently located right on the Marginal Way, a 1.25 mile scenic walkway following the edge of the ocean.  Even though we were calling for reservations the day before, The Beachmere thankfully still had a few rooms available.  We opted for the least expensive one ($100+tax, which was this particular room's preseason rate).  It was a nice, modest room with a queen sized bed in the Victorian building of the hotel complex.  This room didn't quite have the view that most rooms at the hotel have, but we didn't mind since we knew we'd be out walking most of the day and then to bed early with our little one.  

The Beachmere Inn

The view from our private balcony.

To save a little extra money we packed our lunches from home for that first day.  We got to the hotel around lunch time and since our room was ready they let us check in early (very nice!).  We were able to enjoy our lunch on our own private balcony overlooking the great lawn of the hotel.  

That afternoon was spent wandering up and down the Marginal Way and walking into town to explore some of the little shops and buy some delicious pastries at Bread & Roses Bakery.  We highly recommend their Cinnamon Butter Puffs and our daughter was a big fan of the massive chocolate chip cookies bigger than her head (no surprise there).  

Running along the ocean = perfection.

Mid-afternoon Daddy watched Miss M so I could get a training run in.  I ran four miles along the Marginal Way and through the high-end coastal neighborhoods, and even did a short stretch of running in the sand on Ogunquit Beach.  This run has to be the most fun and scenic I have done to date - why can't all runs be so pretty?

Dinner options in Ogunquit were a bit limited as it's still the "off season" (many seasonal businesses and seasonal rates start April 14th).  So we opted to drive up the road a few minutes to the Moody Beach area and have dinner at Jake's Seafood where we ate our weight in delicious fried seafood.  The bill for the three of us came in at $40, which was a little more than we were expecting but splurging on fried food is pretty much a must-do of any seaside trip.  

The views along the Marginal Way are breathtaking.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and played outside a bit before turning in early.  Adrian was planning to get up at 3AM to capture some Milky Way shots as long as the weather cooperated.  Luckily for him, the clouds held off and he was able to just walk off the hotel lawn and get some amazing Milky Way and sunrise shots (you can see more of his photos on his Instagram, @adrianpelletier).  

The next morning we enjoyed a nice continental breakfast at the hotel.  They had coffee, tea, cereal, bagels, fruit, and yogurt as well as selection of locally made donuts.  (I had yogurt with granola and a very delicious Boston creme donut, because you know, balance.)  

Bread & Roses Bakery - so much deliciousness!

After breakfast we walked back into town to do some last minute poking around and pick up more pastries from Bread & Roses to bring home, between our two trips here we spent about $20.  Then we went to Ogunquit Beach to let our little one run around and play in the sand a bit.  It was brisk but sunny and we pretty much had the whole beach to ourselves.  After that we decided to check out a little early and head home to catch Miss M's nap, but if we had stayed in Ogunquit for lunch we would have grabbed some sandwiches from The Village Market, which looked yummy and reasonably priced and had a picnic on the beach or along the Marginal Way.  

Overall it was a great, affordable weekend in Ogunquit.  Lots of beautiful views, good food, exploring downtown, running and photo adventures, and, most importantly, some quality family time.  

Early morning walk along the Marginal Way.

Support New England Makers on Pinterest

As you probably know already, I love supporting local makers and buisnesses so I thought it was time to make a group board on Pinterest to support New England Made Products.  This board will be a collaboration where New England-based crafters and small buisnesses can share their beautiful goods.  

If you're interested in joining please give me a follow on Pinterest and send a message requesting to join the group board.  

As of right now there's just my items on the board, but I can't wait to get more collaborators and see more beautiful New England-made products on here too!

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Interviews from New England Makers:

Restock at The Straw Cellar

I've just dropped off another order of our handmade ornaments to The Straw Cellar in Wolfeboro, NH!  Even though it's not Christmas-season, it's always a great time to get ahead on gifts and our ornaments are now again in-stock there.  

While you're at The Straw Cellar, don't forget to check out all the other wonderful New England-made goods they carry!  

First Trip to IKEA

Today was my first time going to IKEA and let me tell you, it was ah-mazing!  

We live about 3 hours away from the nearest IKEA, and that's probably a good thing because I liked way too many of the things they have there.  What blew me away most was how beautiful, sturdy, and reasonably-priced the furniture was.  

We left with "big girl" furniture for our daughter's new room since she'll be transitioning out of her crib soon (eek) and moving into what was my craft room.  We got her the small Hemnes dresser and Hemnes twin bed (full review and room makeover will be on the blog soon).  And since my craft room will become her room, we decided to bite the bullet and get the Hemnes sideboard to hold all my displaced craft supplies.  I just loved the Hemnes line from IKEA, can't you tell?  We also picked up a cute (and cheap!) wooden train set for her.  

I was expecting IKEA to be a lot of modern furniture and accessories, but I was pleasantly surprised to see they had a lot of great "farmhouse-inspired" pieces that fit with our New England style.  

I should have taken more pictures for the blog while we were there, but I was just too busy browsing and shopping!  ;)

Cheers to 2016!

Every time the New Year comes around it really gets me motivated.  I want to overhaul everything in the house, with Birch Landing Home, and my fitness goals and this year is no different.  

I've decided to take most of January to focus on our home:  it's time to do our yearly closet purge, deep clean all the carpets, and reorganize the dumping ground that our basement has become.  While I haven't read the book myself yet, I have read a lot of articles on The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and I'd like to try to use these techniques to purge more unused items from our home.  Though I can't make too many promises on this front.. I can be pretty sentimental about little things so we'll see how far I get.

I have big goals for Birch Landing Home too and I want to grow my Etsy shop and blog in many ways.  I'm planning on expanding to more New England-inspired decor in the shop including signs, handmade boxes, and painted sap buckets (don't worry, we'll still have our signature hand-etched ornaments available).  I'd also like to get our products carried at more local retailers too.  
The blog will still be a mix of DIY projects, product reviews, and lessons learned as first-time parents but there will a be a stronger underlying New England vibe to it.  I'd like to blog more about our favorite places to visit in NE as a family as well as showcase more great local products and makers (by the way, if you're a New England-based maker and want to collaborate this year please send me a message).  

And then there's fitness goals.. every year I say I want to get back into running and while I did run a lot more this year than I have in a while, I still didn't get to where I want to be.  So this year I want to make the push to finally run a half-marathon!  For those of you who aren't familiar with my running backstory, I was training for a half-marathon about six years ago when I suffered a couple stress fractures, mostly due to a structural issue with my foot (which I now wear orthotics for).  
We're hoping to expand our family again within the next year or two and so I feel this year will be my last chance to try for a half marathon again before I'm too pregnant or busy with a newborn to seriously run for awhile.  

Whew, so those are my top goals for 2016!  Wishing everyone lots of health, happiness, and success in the New Year - cheers!  

Featured on Seacoast Lately + Giveaway

Super-excited to have been featured on Seacoast Lately's beautiful blog today!  Maggie does a wonderful job highlighting the beauty, businesses, and events on the NH Seacoast and beyond and I'm honored to have made her carefully curated selection. 

If you want the inside skinny on the best of the area, be sure to give her a follow - you won't regret it! 

 GIVEAWAY

If you'd like a chance to win a set of my hand-etched ornaments, visit @seacoast.lately's Instagram for details and to enter - good luck! 

Soon to be at The Straw Cellar!

Just dropped off an order of our Hand-Etched Ornaments at The Straw Cellar in Wolfeboro, NH!  Owner Carrie is working hard to carry more locally-made products in her shop and I'm so honored to be a part of that.  Be sure to check out this beautiful store next time you're in the Lakes Region and #shoplocal.

Soon to be at Wyler's!

Dropped off an order of ornaments at the wonderful Wyler's in Brunswick, Maine yesterday!  This boutique has lots of unique gifts for all ages (the kids section was so fun!) - and there's even an adjoined specialty food and coffee shop.. why ever leave?