A Year in Review

That's right friends - I have now officially lived in CT for an entire year. A lot has changed since we pulled up in Mark Rauckhorst's driveway at 1:00 AM a year ago. For one thing, we were able to close on/move into our own house (luckily within about three days - I am not good at living in other people's houses and my kitties did not like living in the laundry room).

Some highlights of our year:

Finding/Moving In To Our House
We almost didn't get this house and if we hadn't, I honestly don't know that I could have moved here. We had a terrible experience with our realtor - she didn't want to show us anything in New London and we hated everything in our price range in Groton, Gales Ferry, Mystic, and all the other "desirable" places she showed us. I found our house online, had to fight with her to see it, had to fight with her more to get her to write up the offer, and then we almost lost it due to her stalling. A battle hard fought with a great reward.

Noe in front of our new house shortly after we closed

New York Trips
I'll never love NYC the way I love Chicago, but I'll also never complain about having it a (shorter) train ride away. The unexpected perk of moving out here was discovering that Noe's work badge got us into the major museums for free. So far we've hit the American Museum of Natural History (impressive but overwhelming), the Museum of Modern Art (adored it), and my personal favorite, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The great thing about getting in free and being so close is we can leave before we get burned out because we can always come back...although I can hardly imagine getting burned out on the Met.

Van Goh at the MOMA

Egyptian Awesomeness at the Met

Skiing in Vermont
Yes, we only went twice and yes, one of those days was completely warm and awful, but I can not possibly ignore the fact that in the same time it would take to drive to Boyne or Nub's Nob from Ypsi you can get to real mountains from New London. Noe and I were even able to take a bus from a local ski shop and get discounted tickets. Sure, it's no Colorado but I wouldn't know because I've never been out west anyway. Hopefully this year I can make Noe like skiing a little more and we can go more often.

I was trying to show Noe how to "snowplow."
He was more interested in taking pictures.

Making Awesome Friends
It was rough going here for a little while. Once the rush of moving and getting the unpacked was over, Noe and I suddenly found ourselves in a strange town with no friends, no hobbies, and it was more or less the dead of winter. Luckily, around this time we met and started hanging out with the people who would form our core group of friends here. Even better for me, my new friends got just as excited about wine, food, and books as I did. Now I had people to go to restaurants and wine tastings with and who told me where the fabulous Book Barn was located. The nights were suddenly filled with darts playing, rugby games and dinner/theme parties. Like getting the house, hooking up with this group was a real turning point.

Classing it up for the Gatsby Party (best party of the summer)

The Trifecta/Manfecta dinner party

Martha's Vineyard
This is pretty much directly related to the last item, because if we hadn't made friends with the awesome John and Katie, I am not sure that Noe and I ever would have made it out to Martha's Vineyard. But we jumped at the chance to go when Katie invited us (along with Amanda, Kevin, Mini, Doyle, Chad and Sarah) to spend a weekend at her family's house with her and John. I was absolutely enchanted by Martha's Vineyard and I only saw one small portion of it. I can't wait to go back. And although the setting (funky old house, beautiful beaches) was amazing, it was the company that really made the trip. It was our first vacation with our Connecticut friends and hopefully not the last.

The group at Katie's Vineyard house

Of course, there were many other good things about this year in addition to the ones above - great shows and movies at the Garde, for example; seeing concerts at the Dodge Music Center and the MGM Grand (yay Killers!); and volunteering at the aquarium. These are just some of the major highlights and the ones that stick out in my mind as definitive "maybe I don't hate it here" points. I'm still getting used to life on the East Coast, but I have to tell you that September 12, 2008 is gearing up to be a much better day than September 12, 2007.

Staying Classy

Being classy takes a lot of work. And classy activities - such as wine drinking, cheese-eating, and dinner parties - can sometimes put a strain on the wallets of 20-and-30-somethings who have all just bought houses in the past couple years. However, there are ways to stay classy without laying out massive amounts of cash. Below, some tips for Being Classy on a Budget:

Budget Wine: Think INSIDE the Box

My good friend John - or CT Wine Guy, as you may know him - has been exploring boxed wines for awhile now and because of his blog, I have been able to find several boxed wines that are extremely drinkable and classy enough for most classy gatherings.

Boxed wine qualifies for the class-on-a-budget list because of the bang for your buck. Most boxes of decent wine hold four bottles, and the most expensive of the box wines currently top out at about $25/box ($6.00 and change per bottle - that is cheaper than Yellowtail, folks!) An added benefit of boxed wine is that the new bag and box technology keeps the wine fresher for a longer period of time.

Chardonnay is probably the most widely available boxed wine, and there are a couple worth trying. At John and Katie's recommendation, I tried the Black Box Chard and really enjoyed it (as much as I am going to enjoy a California Chard, that is - they are almost never my first choice). The Black Box Shiraz, which we drank at Amanda's house, was also nice - fruity and spicy.

I would suggest reading John's posts for more suggestions. Plus, then you can mention that you got the recommendation from a classy wine blog and sound like you keep up with these hip sorts of things.

Budget Cheese: Trader Joe's and grocery store selections

The Trifecta is very found of our fancy cheese store. I love the artisan cheeses available at the farmer's market. However, there are weeks when you are short on cash but still need some classy cheese to serve to some last-minute guests.

Never fear: Trader Joe's was made for this sort of thing.

Trader Joe's has a very good cheese selection and extremely good prices. In addition, unlike Whole Foods and other such stores, Trader Joe's does not cut all their cheese to a uniform size, so it is very possible to find smaller wedges of triple-cream brie and Port Salut which in turn cost less money.

(Side Note: Even though Trader Joe's is cheap, it enjoys a certain hipness in classy circles. It is what they would call "Cheap Chic." Bringing almost anything from Trader Joe's to a party will cement your status as hip and classy - even Three Buck Chuck, as long as you make a self-aware and self-deprecating joke about it's cheapness.)

In the event that you have no Trader Joe's close by, you can still find acceptable cheeses in most grocery stores. My go-to grocery store snack cheese is Boar's Head Harvati. This is a creamy (but solid) mild cheese that goes well with most crackers and is offensive to almost no one. A block usually costs between $5.00 and $6.00, but the taste is much classier than that.

Budget Dinner Party: Serve Pasta

The easiest way to cut the costs of your dinner party without sacrificing classiness is to make pasta for the main dish. Pasta itself is cheap and even if you put meat in it, you probably only need about a pound, which is much less meat than if you were to supply your entire dinner party with their own individual Cornish game hen.

My go-to cheap and classy pasta is from Giada DeLaurentis's cookbook Everyday Italian (probably my favorite cookbook ever. Go on Amazon and see if you can find a cheap, used copy). The Orecchiette with Spicy Sausage and Broccoli Rabe can feed six people and be made for under $12. Seriously, check out these prices from a recent grocery store trip:

• 1 lb. box of pasta - $1.34 (you can use penne or cavatappi if you can't find orecchiette)
• 1 bunch broccoli rabe - $1.99
• 1 lb. package of Italian sausage - $3.99 (it was actually on sale for $3.00)
• 1 head of garlic - $0.50
• Small block of fresh Parmesan - $3.16

The only other ingredients in this dish are olive oil and crushed red pepper flakes - kitchen staples. If one of your guests brings a salad and another brings a loaf of bread, you have a classy and filling meal on a minimum budget.

I hope you find this post helpful on your journey to classiness. Classy tips are always appreciated!