Colors in Connecticut

I spent one of my most beautiful Saturdays ever upstate in Connecticut, which is about an hour plus drive from Midtown Manhatten. The drive was along a very scenic route along the Hudson River and then on the Merritt Highway, which was flanked by rows of trees in full colors of the fall, green, yellow, orange, red, purple and what have yous.

Arriving at her place, we drove up a 100 meter long driveway to her very quaint and pretty house. The houses in the suburbs are HUGE! Her place was surrounded by so much flora i thought she lived in a nature reserve! it's SOOOO beautiful! After meeting the family and having a nice coffee and bagels, we spent the morning house-hunting for one of my colleagues. It was such great fun as we visited million dollar homes that were so well furnished and mind-blowingly awesome!

Coming up north and visiting these houses was like living out a Hollywood movie. I remember watching "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" when i was younger and loved those big houses that those people lived in. Everything is there for them, the fireplaces (yes, one house has like 5-6 fireplaces!), the bathtubs, the swirling stairwells. You can even break the house into East and West wings! that's how huge it is. And there's like gigantic basements, and attics that house your imaginary "monsters".

Problem is that every house sits on such huge lands that the nearest amenity is at least 10-15 min away! And it's just a simple town with some grocery stores, some food outlets and shopping places. I guess growing up in Singapore got me accustomed to doing many things all the time and all day long, even my nights are always filled up. But here, you've really got to be prepared to spend time only with you family cos that's probably the only entertainment you have most of the time!

But well, after a nice lunch the Tavern, we went to buy pumpkins! I was just in time for Halloween! We bought some back and i volunteered to carve one together with my boss' husband. Oh man! It was tough work!!! It was just fantastic that i got to celebrate my first Halloween ever, in a traditional American home! Check out her super cute kids too! They were having fun removing the seeds from the pumpkin while the two of us slogged it out. But after one hour plus, TA-DA! Check my Bat pumpkin out! And Kenny's Wolves pumpkin! Not bad for a first timer huh!

We roasted the pumpkin seeds with some salt and they tasted fantastic! Kenny and I were so hungry we ate cereal and milk! It was strange for our stomach though, cos there was like nachos, salsa, wine, cereal and milk inside. The "wine latte" inside isn't too good for our tummies eh? hahah

This is one of the most magical Saturdays for me. Visiting such a nice home, being able to live out the American dream for one day, spending time with the most beautiful kids ever, carving my first pumpkin by the fireplace, i guess this is one experience no money can buy. Loved it.