We have a new sponsor I’m excited to introduce to you: Brookelyn Photography. Brooke is the talented photographer we have to thank for the lovely photo of the two of us on our homepage. A few years back, you might recall, Aron won us a photoshoot styled by You+Me and shot by Brooke; we love the results and are so happy to have these to treasure for years to come. I actually recognized the name Brookelyn photography from before, however, when her beautiful family shots of Elisabeth were featured on Cup of Jo–so you might, too!
In addition to shooting weddings, Brooke takes beautiful family portraits. I also happen to partial to her photos of horses from her trip to Iceland and her clam-digging editorial shoot. Check her out!
Brookelyn Photography Interested in sponsorship on Hither and Thither? Contact us at amuirbruhn [at] gmail [dot] com.
Another milestone we like to celebrate: the anniversary of the blog. Aron wrote the first post for Hither & Thither after a freezing walk to work on a bitter January morning, four years ago (technically, four years ago yesterday, but a certain six-month-old got some vaccines on the eve and we were all a bit zonked).
Ever since that first post, the site has managed to surprise us. We are surprised by all the pleasure that it gives us, by the friendships it has led us to and the community it has introduced us to. We are also surprised by how time-consuming it can be and, frankly, that we still enjoy writing it as much as we do! Sometimes we find ourselves doing something in the city because we know it might lead to a good post, but more often than not we’re glad to be nudged–it has led us to see many things and many places with different eyes; I think we’re better for it. And I’m especially grateful for that motivation now that our pace and our comings-and-goings are changing so much again with the addition of Hudson.
Thank you so much for reading along and motivating us to continue with your nice comments and your emails these past three years! It really does mean a lot to us.
Here are some of our favorite blog highlights from the past year:
In February, we celebrated the Year of the Rabbit; went on a cruise to the Caribbean (and tacked on a visit to San Juan); finished our travelogue about our trip to India; and announced we were anticipating our most exciting collaboration–a baby!
In May, we took a short trip to D.C. for a Urology conference (and celebrated our anniversary there) and I was promoted to Editor at my publishing house. I also wrote a breakfast column for Serious Eats, and shared some of my finds. We sampled fresh donuts; snacked at Madison Square Eats; and greeted spring at the greenmarket while counting down to my due date. And we shared photos of the beautiful phenomenon called Manhattanhenge.
Hudson arrived in July, bringing with him a burst of sunshine. (Literally. The temperatures soared to record highs that week–it was 105 when we first met with our pediatrician.) Nothing that month (or any) could match our excitement to introduce our beautiful son, but a few other things did happen before he came: we watched the sun set from atop the Met; swam in waters off Sandy Hook; ate watermelon salads in Battery City park; and I contributed to the inaugural issue of Kinfolk. Generous, wonderful guest posters stepped in to help us take a break to enjoy our new baby.
November is always beautiful in New York–especially when the marathon comes through Central Park. We updated the site and gave it a new look (on WordPress), and I bid farewell to Baby Mine. I spent lots of time watching Netflix Instant with a sleeping baby on my lap and revisited freshman year of Felicity–and found I wasn’t the only one.
This past weekend was bitterly cold, but were were excited to get out of the apartment together–and despite the low temperature, it was still sunny and beautiful. While we normally enjoy walking, we instead took the L traIn to Williamsburg. I still get excited over the fact that,with only one subway stop we can find ourselves in a whole new neighborhood, a whole new borough. This route saved Hudson from making the old man “I don’t like the cold” groan. We decided to try Cafe Colette on Berry, a short walk from the Bedford stop, which Ashley had spotted on a walk earlier in the season. Years back we had seen the space in its previous incarnation as “Silent H.”
When we arrived, we were amongst the first to sit down, but soon the place filled up comfortably. The aesthetics of the restaurant seemed to say diner-reinvented and we loved sitting in the sunlight streaming in through the big windows on such a wintry morning. I noticed there’s an enclosed back patio which looked pretty lovely as well. The menu held lots of appeal, and I kind of wished that we could have had both brunch and lunch there. But we settled on splitting the poached eggs and the extremely decadent french toast–served in a cast iron skillet with mounds of whipped cream. I couldn’t resist the seasonal, spiced-fig scone (delicious if not obviously scone-like); Hudson was very jealously eying it each time I took a bite. This place definitely goes onto our mental “will return to soon” list (especially since they open at 10am).
Speaking of which, does anyone have suggestions for brunch spots in the city that open early-ish on weekends?
