day trip: salem, massachusetts

halloween is my second favorite holiday, right behind thanksgiving. i love the scary movies, the candy, the costumes, and general spookiness that accompanies the time leading up to and including the glorious night. so, it only makes sense that i would also love salem, aka halloween central. my first visit to the city was actually ON halloween night in 2009, and i was immediately smitten. since, i've been several times (both in october and otherwise, because it's a dope town regardless of its history). but i started getting that witch itch again last week, and my lovely friend katie accompanied me for a little sunday funday yesterday. i have to say, it was perhaps my favorite visit to date.

once we arrived by t and commuter rail (DO NOT DRIVE. I REPEAT, DO NOT DRIVE), we kicked things off with brunch at the brand new ledger restaurant & bar, which is located in the former salem savings bank downtown.

the place is owned by the proprietor of the fabulous blue ox in lynn (i know, lynn is scary, but i had lobster risotto there once that was absolutely worth risking my life). anyway, like its sister restaurant, ledger did not disappoint. of course, we ordered brunch cocktails--a downsized bloody mary for katie, and an apple pie mimosa for me. 

i forgot to take a picture of the open-faced smoked salmon english muffins we both got, but they came with breakfast potatoes and mixed greens and were absolutely delicious. things were off to a great start!

next up was a stop in front of the ropes mansion ... better known to us millennials as alison's house in hocus pocus. we wandered through the gorgeous garden in the back of the property, and i was reminded that i'm old now because i care about flowers. :(

we then took a stroll down historic chestnut street, which is home to some of the most beautiful homes in town. leaves were falling and a breeze was blowing and it felt so perfectly fall i just wanted to cry into a mug of mulled cider.

and then! we saw those two magical words: open house. the couple who was walking behind us was talking about checking it out as well, but the girlfriend was all "the broker is going to ask us questions." i turned around immediately. "you don't owe them ANYTHING! let's all go in." and so we did.

y'all. this house will haunt my memory forever, it was so damn creepy. there were three floors of what seemed like eight rooms each, two kitchens, a million fireplaces, terrible floral wallpaper all over the place, and a weird-ass painted bathtub. at one point i honestly felt like we might not make it out so we took a selfie for posterity.

i'm shuddering just thinking about how eerie it was. to top it all off? it was nathaniel hawthorne's former home. that shit is 1000% haunted. but it was certainly an unforgettable and uniquely salem experience, so there's that.

after escaping the house of horrors, we made our way to the essex street pedestrian mall, which is full of artisan vendors, costumed characters offering photo ops, and top-notch people-watching. you can truly feel the energy of salem so i'd recommend that any first-time visitor take a stroll down here.

i'm not a big jewelry person, but when i see something super special, i gotta have it. such was the case with this gorgeous citrine pendant, handmade by the lovely ladies of freyja jewels, which i'm now obsessed with. they bill themselves as selling "mystical adornments for the modern goddess" and i'm all about that. oh, and that's a snail on top, because why wouldn't it be?

our last stop was the famed house of the seven gables. i'd somehow never been, and it seemed like the most worthy of all of the salem tourist traps (confirmed: very worthy). we grabbed some bomb iced coffee at nearby derby joe, and got on with it.

the house was so interesting and cool, and the woman that inherited the house in the 1800s, susanna ingersoll (nathaniel hawthorne's second cousin, natch), is my new role model. dig this: she ran her own business, turned down like 12 marriage proposals so she could keep all of her family money, and adopted a son by herself. ladies is pimps too.

they said no photos, but you're talking to a girl who snuck a selfie in the sistine chapel, so:

if you've never been to salem in october and have the opportunity to go, i highly recommend it! it's a quirky, crazy town that's a little bit spooky, a little bit campy, and a whole lot of fun.

5 things i love right now

1. the collaboration between kurt vile and courtney barnett



pure joy and loveliness. a much less toxic kurt and courtney, KV & CB make meandering, beautiful autumnal music that's refreshing and familiar all at the same time. i especially love this video for their newest single, "continental breakfast," because it's so real and kurt's such a goof and his daughters are the cutest. imagine kurt vile being your dad, man.

2. pumpkin spice brulee oolong tea from teavana

OH GOD, I'VE BECOME A PUMPKIN PERSON. the mere thought of a pumpkin spice latte is enough to make me puke, and i'm extremely discriminatory when it comes to all other pumpkin incarnations. but i was shopping with my mom last weekend, and can't resist a good free sample, so i tried a lil' cup of this elixir at teavana and immediately spent a billion dollars on a tin of it in loose leaf form. it's somehow...creamy? and tastes like frolicking through foliage and snuggling in a blanket with a hot bearded guy. i know i'm not making sense, but that's what this tea has done to me. i'm obsessed.

3.  this new show, kevin probably saves the world

i'm typically into anything involving jason ritter, and this new show is no exception. the premise is silly, but interesting: "Kevin, a down-on-his-luck man, is tasked by God with a mission to save the world." a premise which is amusingly similar to the premise of one of the first shows he was on, joan of arcadia. regardless, the pilot had wit and charm and was super heartwarming, so i'm a fan thus far.

4. these apple pie bites i made today

 

i ain't much of a cook, but i DO love baking. partially because it's strangely therapeutic, and partially because i get to eat the fruits of my labor. and in this case, actual fruit. heyyyo. i found this recipe during a pinterest spree last week, and it seemed easy enough: crescent rolls filled with a mixture of brown sugar and apple pie spice, chopped pecans, and butter-dipped apple slices. 10 minutes in the oven, and bam. a homemade dessert that's fall af (and delicious af).

5. this dance routine to portugal. the man's "feel it still"



so, i didn't really "get" this song until about a month ago when i had just arrived in new york city for the weekend. as i lugged my bag with me to the subway station, a classic car rolled by, BLASTING it, and everyone on the sidewalk--myself included--instinctively started dancing. it felt like a movie scene IRL, and since then, i think of that joyful moment every time i hear it. this choreography perfectly captures that joy; i was smiling from ear to ear the entire time, and i hope you are, too.