Cape Christmas 2011 - Christmas in July? Why not???

One thing that the East Coast has that the West Coast does not have is the ability to zip out to local beach towns on any given weekend through the wonderful gift of mass transit.  Last year was the first time Mike and I ventured out to Cape Cod and over the course of the weekend, it quickly became our favorite coastal town.

This year, the Keohane family was extremely generous in opening their home up to the Mobleys & the Bucks for a little holiday we've invented called "Cape Christmas".  The concept behind the weekend was essentially to celebrate our favorite holiday with a little nautical flair.  And since we can't REALLY go to the Cape in the winter....we celebrated Christmas a few months early this year.

But outside of the festive holiday we invented, it was my favorite weekend of the summer (so far).  The five of us (plus Winston) started out our trip caravan-ing together after work.  We arrived in Cape Cod  relatively late, so our first order of business was a midnight beach walk complete with cocktails and cozy sweatshirts.  Words, nor pictures can describe how spooky Cape Cod is at night time.  The mist, the darkness, the woods, and the summer breeze all made for a haunted adventure.  It felt like a scene right out of "What Lies Beneath" mixed together with "Jaws"...and we LOVED it.  Good thing we brought along our guard dog in case any crazies came out of the woods!

For our first full day the crew got up nice and early to head out to rent bikes, which we took on the ferry over the water to Martha's Vineyard.  It was close to 95 degrees on the Vineyard, but that didn't keep us from biking 7 miles from Oak Bluffs to Edgartown for a delicious lunch of lobster rolls & cocktails.  A few of us were a little overheated to get the bikes back to the ferry (where we all tried our hand in feeding sea gulls), but we made it back to the Cape just in town for a sunset swim together.  We finished the evening in festive nautical attire at the Silver Lounge over many many cocktails.

While we were a bit slow in getting up on Saturday AM, we were quickly cured by nature's hangover cure...the ocean.  It was a good ol' fashioned beach day, complete with floating chairs in the water, a little bit of beach football, and an extremely haunted summer thunderstorm.  When the clouds cleared we headed out to Wood's Hole to hit up every novelty Cape Cod bar and enjoy a few Dark and Stormys and steamers in town.

But the highlight of the entire weekend, and my favorite part of the trip was our Cape Christmas night.  We all donned our red & green tropical Christmas attire and played the steel drum Christmas music for a merry evening at home.  We enjoyed cocktails on the back porch watching an amazing sunset while steaming lobsters & corn-on-the cob.  Rather than eating inside, we all took our lobster bibs and claw crackers outside and ate dinner by candle light on the lawn in the backyard.  The food was delicious, the company was even better, and the setting was like something out of a movie.

 Despite the handle of Mount Gay rum that we polished off, it was a night that we'll never forget.  These weekends with our friends mean the world to us and we're so blessed to have such amazing people in our lives.  I could have stayed out there with everyone until dawn.

As usual, we were all so bummed to leave, including Winston.  But the memories of our kite flying, backyard gymnastics, late night game playing, and early morning ocean dips will make me smile for months...until we go back at least!

Mobley Crue

One of our favorite things about the summer is the concerts!  Nothing beats listening to your favorite music on a warm night with some of your favorite people in the world.  

The first show in the 2011 Mobley Summer Concert Series was exceptional.  The Mobleys & the Novogratzs battled the NY & NJ mass transit system through cabs, trains, & buses to make the journey out to New Jersey for the Poison/Motley Crue show!  Mike & Matty have been to Motley Crue COUNTLESS times together, but this was the first time we all went together since being married.  AND...more importantly, it was my first Crue show...EVER!

When Mike & Matt go to concerts, they spare no expense.  If they don't get tickets in the first 5 rows...it's not even worth it.  If they haven't splurged on $200 - $300 worth of merch, why bother?  If they don't start partying at least 6 or 7 hours before the concert starts, the concert will be lame.  If your t-shirt isn't from 1983 or earlier...it's stupid.

 So needless to say, the boys scored us 3rd row VIP tickets which pretty much bought us all a high five from Bret Michaels, a special moment between the boys and Mick Mars, and a mouthful of "blood" (aka red cool-aide) from Nikki Sixx.  

The crowd at the concert was amazing.  We saw some awesome outfits and some really intense tattoos.  The girl in front of us had Nikki Sixx tattooed across her back.  And Tommy Lee's drum solo did not disappoint.  He was strapped into a roller coaster apparatus and played the drums WHILE being suspending upside down.  Unreal!  

 So while my white shirt was definitely a bad choice...and I immediately tossed my sweet little tank top into the trash when we got home, and we almost missed the hour train back to crappy Penn Station, and while I had to sit on a train in what looked like a costume from a horror film. ..it was one of my favorite shows EVER and we had a blast and can't wait until the next summer show!

Home Sweet Home

Finally, Mike and I have a weekend home in the city.  While we enjoy our weekends out of Manhattan, it's wonderful to have a productive few days at home.

Planning our wedding took up most of our free weekends last summer.  This summer, we've needed a way to channel some of that extra energy, so we're making a project out of fixing up our cozy little apartment.  When we moved to New York last year, the majority of our furniture and decorations were Mike's.  Yes, that means all the tiki mugs, Van Halen posters, action figures along with shelves and shelves of rockstar biographies made the journey  to NY.   We didn't even have "grown up" bedding until we got it as a gift from our wedding!

So while I embrace my husband's "personality" that he's brought to his decorating style, our apartment enhancements are about transforming our place into a hybrid of both styles that feels like a home.  We're balancing our styles of artwork, pictures and accents, we even bought our first piece of art as a married couple this weekend!  I uploaded a picture of it here!

Our first project was the bedroom!  The bedding has been transformed from a miss-matched collection of sheets and coverlets from Mike's bachelor days (including Star Wars pillow cases) to a cozy, comfy Pottery Barn spread.  We replaced the vintage pictures of Poker-playing dogs with some of our favorite shots from our honeymoon in Bora Bora.  The Ikea nightstands from Mike's modern LA apartment are being replaced with matching bedside tables that match our dresser. 

Re-decorating and updating our home is going to be a long and expensive process, but we're taking one room at a time.  So I'll continue to update with our little home improvements.

Happy Birthday America

One of our favorite Mobley holidays is hands down Fourth of July.  It's the "Christmas of the summer"!  This year, our 1st 4th of July as the Mobley's fell on a Monday.  We were lucky enough to have a mini stay-cation in the city as well as a quick day trip out to Princeton, or "Camp Buck" to spend the 4th with the Buck family!

Summer weekends in NYC (especially holiday weekends) are amazing because the city literally shuts down as all the locals sprint out to the various beach locations to seek relief from the steamy city heat.  So while we enjoy our weekends outside of the city, it's also quite fun to be at home while Manhattan is a bit quieter.  We had some friends visit us from Texas during the weekend...and with a little time, we may be lucky to have yet another couple to join our NY friends after their wedding next year (Randi I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you every day for the next two months!).  

But like all New Yorkers, we found ourselves outside of the city to celebrate America's birthday.  For the 2nd year in a row, the Buck family was generous enough to open their home to us for two days of good ol' American fun in Princeton, NJ.  A visit to the Buck household usually means festive cocktails, some type of physical out door activity, costumes, board games, and Chuck's delicious cooking. And this weekend did not disappoint.  We had a wonderful time eating lobster & rib eye, riding bikes through the beautiful neighborhood of Princeton & playing games with the Bucks.  

 And of course this blog would not be complete without mentioning Winston.  While he is quite the city dog, his favorite place to be is in the country with a big yard.  So he was in heaven with acres of room to play, not to mention the outstanding collection of toys available for him to roll around at the Buck home.

We're so lucky and happy to have friends & family who are close to us and open their homes to us for a  visit during when we need to get out of the city. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!!