Martha's Vineyard Wine Fest 2014

I love Martha's Vineyard. I've written a few times about my family's travels to the vineyard, but today's post I'm sharing my recent solo trip to MV! That's right... this wife/mother of 2/small business owner took a lovely trip sans family.

The weekend of May 8-11 found the island filled with visitors welcoming the Spring season, enjoying the Pink & Green Weekend and the Martha's Vineyard Wine Fest(benefiting the Martha's Vineyard Boys and Girls Club). My dear friend, Marnely, author at Cooking with Books, is in charge of the MVWF Social Media/Public Relations, so it was also a chance for the two of us to catch up and enjoy a glass of wine and a few meals together.

I was thrilled when Marnely asked if I would design the insert cards for the "Swag Bags".  These cards listed the websites and twitter accounts for the wine fest donors! Take a look at all the amazing businesses who so generously gave samples (and sometimes full sizes) of their goods.

I arrived Friday around noon, giving me plenty of time to rest up from the long drive and ferry ride before meeting up with Marnely and another friend, Brandy O'Neill of Nutmeg Nanny. The three of us had dinner at Atria. This event was appropriately called "King of Cabernets". The five course meal was paired with five different Cabernets from the following wineries: Frog's Leap Winery, Hewitt Vineyards, Beaulieu Vineyard, Louis Martini, Faust Winery and Trinchero. The meal was prepared by Chef & Atria Owner Christian Thornton.

Saturday morning, breakfast was at The Harbor View Hotel with Marnely, Brandy, and Gina of Running to the Kitchen. Later that afternoon we all met up for the grand tasting where I also got to meet Gianne of Organic Bath Company. Wine after wine samplings, tasty canapés, local artisans and even a little sangria made the event fantastic. So much hard work went into making this festival special. Please be sure to read about the hard-working men and women who made this event a success!

Sunday was my last day on the Vineyard. It began with an amazing brunch at Detente. A trip to MV wouldn't be complete without a little shopping, and a stop for some chocolate from Not Your Sugar Mamas. This was truly one of the nicest visits to the Vineyard. A special thank you to all the people who made the MVWF so enjoyable and a BIG thank you to Marnely Rodriguez-Murray for being such a wonderful hostess and friend.

Cheers!
-Patti

Wordless Wednesday: A Color Palette from Martha's Vineyard

Monday, Done.

Today started around 4:00 a.m. and it was non-stop. I'm thankful for a very full day. Here's to sweet dreams and another new day tomorrow.

rock sculpture; Martha's Vineyard

xoxo
-Patti

Thoughtful Thursday

This summer my husband and I took our family to Martha's Vineyard. It's an annual tradition that's been going strong since Matthew and I were married. That's right... we had our honeymoon on Martha's Vineyard! As summer winds down, I find myself daydreaming about our few weeks on the vineyard. The sand, surf, biking, hydrangeas, seafood... a lovely daydream.

One of the things I seem to forget when packing, and you'll see the irony instantly, is thank you notes! On several occasions I found the need to write a thank you. For starters, the housekeeping at the resort was amazing. Our room was freshened daily, sometimes twice if we asked for it. (Kids, beach, afternoon snacks = messy vacation stays.) And while I tip the housekeeping staff daily, it would have been nice to finish off the trip with a handwritten note on a lovely piece of stationery.

There are a handful of restaurants we make sure to return to every summer. Often the hostess will recognize us and give us a complementary drink or dessert! (yum) When that happens, it would be so lovely to drop a thank you note in the mail the next day instead of trying to remember to write the note when we get home from our trip. I really hope I can remember to bring along some correspondence notes when we next travel. Even just a handful will be useful. Let me know in the comments if you also find yourself in need of a note or two when you travel.

• Martha's Vineyard inspired Teal Blue Whale correspondence notes from Easton Place
• Chappy Lighthouse, Martha's Vineyard
• Hydrangeas from the garden
• Sea Star (as found by my youngest son) on Martha's Vineyard
• Rock Sculpture (built by my oldest son) on Martha's Vineyard
• A perfect beach-side porch with painted ceiling. source

(all photos by Easton Place except the painted ceiling photo)

Color Palette: Rock Sculpture

This is a photo I took while visiting Martha's Vineyard. It's of a small rock sculpture I created along side many other rock towers at home on the beach at Aquinnah. I love the colors, don't you?

Print Ads with Easton Place Designs

Today I received a wonderful surprise in the post. One of my favorite clients, India Rose of Martha's Vineyard Wedding Studio, sent a hard copy of "Martha's Vineyard Wedding" magazine. The magazine featured an amazing article on India's studio and it also had the print advertisement I designed for her business! I was so excited to see one of my ads in print. See for yourself below...

A huge thank you to Ms. Rose for being such an amazing client. It has been a joy working with her. I look forward to many more design projects with India and her growing firm!

Should you be planning a Martha's Vineyard wedding or soiree, be sure to contact Martha's Vineyard Wedding Studio for all your event planning needs.

If you're interested in Easton Place Designs creating a print ad or other marketing materials for your business, you can contact me for more information.

2011 Summer Travels (part 2: Martha's Vineyard)

Many of my readers know I have a deep love for Martha's Vineyard. For those of you who are new to this blog or somehow missed this personal fact, you can read about my 2010 Vineyard trip here.

This year we did many of the same things, but added a few new. One of the new events was the "losing of the only set of car keys"! That was a fun day in the end. Needless to say, sometimes you just have to laugh about little mishaps. A recap of that day...

*Family piles into car and heads to "Jaws Bridge" to go jumping.

*Husband is first one to jump!

*Husband forgets to take car key out of swim trunks.

*Key to car is lost at sea.

*I calls best friend (Cathy) to ask for help.

*Best friend calls locksmith to break into house and retrieve extra key then overnights key to the Vineyard

*Husband contacts Oak Bluffs police to break into car so we can collect our phones, i.d. and wallets

*Husband rents Jeep

*Family has an awesome day/night riding around the Vineyard in a Jeep!

(lemons to lemonade moment)

*Key arrives 2 hours before scheduled ferry reservation for car!

"Jaw's Bridge" - Oaks Bluff

Moving on...
One of our favorite places to eat is The Right Fork Diner. If you have the great fortune of visiting Martha's Vineyard, you must at least go there for their French Toast. It's our family's favorite item on their breakfast menu. I prefer to order them with fresh berries, but there are other options as well.

Brioche French Toast with Fresh Berries

While we were at the diner, we arranged for "Thing 2" and my niece, Jordan, to take in a Bi-Plane ride including tricks (loop-to-loops and spirals). I can personally tell you that this is a fabulous way to see the Vineyard. I took advantage of this opportunity in 2010, but this year left it to the kids!

Smiles from Jordan

Assistant helps get them strapped in

Across the field from the diner is the Farm Institute. It's a beautiful farm and educational center. The farm also supplies fresh eggs, poultry, beef and pork to area restaurants. My youngest has on occasion enjoyed stopping there, on the walk back to the resort, to help feed the chickens! If we can remember to think ahead next year, perhaps we'll sign him up for farm camp.

farm institute 

Once again we enjoyed ourselves at The Winnetu. It's completely family friendly with daily activities for all ages including camp, tennis lessons, yoga, firetruck rides and evening movies. If you're looking for a well appointed, yet relaxed environment, the Winnetu Resort will suit you quite well! (This is not a paid endorsement of any kind. I just happen to love giving credit where credit is due.)

pool side at the winnetu

While I'm on the subject of the Winnetu, I can't forget to mention our favorite little spot for a snack or picnic lunch... Katama General store! It has the best scones (cheddar chive is my fav.), cookies, fresh sandwiches and cold drinks! A perfect place to bike ride before or after a day on South Beach!

katama general store

the surf on south beach in katama

The last stop I want to share with you is the lighthouse at Aquinnah. The beach is amazing and the views from up top are breathtaking!

Along the way I took several photos of flowers. If you'd like to have a look, you can do so by visiting my flickr account! Here's my favorite...

queen anne's lace
(a weed technically, but still my favorite)

Personally, one of my favorite days was the day I got to meet India Rose of Martha's Vineyard Wedding Studio! It's not often that a graphic designer gets to meet a client who lives so far away, but I was lucky enough to have that opportunity. Though we'd not met or spoken before, it was as if we were instant friends. I came away from the meeting with a MVWS bottle of water and her amazing letterpress business cards each branded with the logo I designed for India. Have a look... the double thick letterpress cards are gorgeous!!! Her wedding studio is warm, inviting, well designed and perfect for planning that special event. I'm sure India's studio will be a huge success!

martha's vineyard wedding studio bottled water and letterpress business cards

I hope you enjoyed part 2 of my 2011 Summer Travels! And if you get a chance to visit Martha's Vineyard, tell her I'll see her next year! I'd love to hear about your summer travels. Feel free to share in the comments below. And if you've blogged about it or have a tumblr or flickr recap of your trip, let me know!

Happy Summer!

Latest Web Design Client: Martha's Vineyard Wedding Studio

Wedding season is in full swing and I just had the pleasure of working with India Rose, of Martha's Vineyard Wedding Studio, designing and uploading her new website. As you may recall I gave you a sneak peek at the elements here. Today I'm thrilled to announce the site has officially launched!

Martha's Vineyard Wedding Studio is located in Vineyard Haven. It offers brides & grooms, their families or anyone planning a lovely event, a place to relax while having the finest wedding and event vendors' information at their fingertips. If you're looking for more hands-on assistance from the studio, India is happy to help with whatever is needed in planning your wedding or event. What a great business to run. I wish there had been such a place when I was planning my wedding!

It was a pleasure working with India... basically from the ground up! From the beginning we had a terrific level of communication between the two of us. When all was said and done I designed her logo, business cards (shown in the photo), website, blog, letterhead and envelopes, welcome letter and contract. Truly a special opportunity.

Please take a moment to visit Martha's Vineyard Wedding Studio online and if you're lucky enough to be on the Vineyard this summer, stop into the studio in Vineyard Haven! You can also keep up with India and this new venture on Facebook, Twitter and her Blog!

Again, I would like to thank our friend, Nelly Rodriguez of Cooking with Books for introducing me to India and for the glowing review of my design work! (xoxo) And I'd like to take this opportunity to thank India for being such a lovely client. I wish her all the best in her beautiful new business!

New Design Client Sneak Peek

The past week or so I've had the pleasure of working with India Rose of Martha's Vineyard Wedding Studio. We were introduced on twitter by our mutual twitter friend, Nelly Rodriguez of "Cooking With Books". You might recall I created Nelly's blog banner a few months ago.

India is starting a new business on Martha's Vineyard and she came to me for logo design, letterhead, business cards, web and blog design. While she and I put the final touches on everything, I'm giving you a look at the design palette and logo. I love her color combination of Aqua, Silver and Black. Classic yet modern don't you think?

I'll keep you posted as to when the new website and blog are launched! A special thank you to Nelly. One of these days maybe we'll have a "tweet-up" on the vineyard!

Summer's Last Hurrah: Martha's Vineyard Edition!

Many of you reading this may already know I've been on holiday on Martha's Vineyard.  I've tweeted daily about the lovely adventures my family and I have been having.  I thought I'd do a recap of the trip and show you some of the photos from around the island.  But first a little background on my love affair with the Vineyard...

I first visited and fell in love with Martha's Vineyard while visiting with a college friend the summer after I graduated from Purdue.  I say "fell in love" and that's exactly what I mean!  I absolutely loved the vineyard then and the feeling has only gotten stronger since.  You know the age old question, "Do you believe in love at first sight?"  Well I do!  I believed from the first visit to the vineyard this was going to be a life long love affair and so far that holds true.

My husband and I had a last minute change to honeymoon on the vineyard after a hurricane sadly blew away the tropical island we were scheduled to visit only two weeks before.  I've sometimes wondered if Martha maybe orchestrated the whole thing so that I wouldn't be tempted by another island... hmmm?

Since marrying and having children we've vacationed on the vineyard nearly every year.  Last year my husband was recovering from a torn ACL and the trip wasn't to be.  This year we've resumed our scheduled visit and made up for loss time!  We've biked, played tennis, visited beaches, swam, seen the lighthouses, eaten like a kings, seen the island from the sky in a biplane, visited the local farm and jumped off the famous "Jaws Bridge"!  Every year our visits get better and better, and this year is certainly no exception to that idea.  I hope that each and every one of my readers has an opportunity to experience the beauty, fun and simple pleasures of Martha's Vineyard!

Let me know, in the comments below, your favorite place to visit!  Or perhaps you have your own Martha's Vineyard "love story" to share.

To read about some of our favorite restaurants on the vineyard, please read my post on The Whimsical Fig!

Links:
Katama Airfield, Atria Restaurant, Winnetu Resort, Mad Max