New Year, Special Wishes

It has been quite a year for us, and as we head into the last half of our second full year of business (we hosted our first guests two years ago in July), Peggy and I wanted to take some time to express our appreciation for your support and enthusiasm toward The Livingston Inn and everything we’ve managed to accomplish.  We couldn’t have done any of it without you, so THANK YOU!

Over the past eighteen months, the Livingston Inn has hosted elegant dinners, weddings, showers, book clubs, garden parties, backyard yoga and a long, fascinating list of guests.  We even had a movie shot here!  We look forward to even more events — we’d love to host you and your friends; The Livingston Inn is a unique, beautiful space, but it’s also relaxing and refreshing.  We’ve been told time and again how much our guests love to simply sit by the fire and chat, or curl up with a good book.  We understand.  We noticed the inviting energy as soon as we set foot in the home ourselves.  So let us know if we can help you plan and host an event in 2013.

I thought it would be fun to let you know about some of the ideas we’ve had for The Livingston Inn.  Some are things we’ve actually considered and are working on for the near future, and some are things we’d like to see happen, but don’t have the time to put in place right now.  But if you have connections or a fierce drive to bring them to life, let us hear from you!

Backyard yoga – we had a wonderful start to this program in 2012, and look forward to continuing it when warm weather returns in the spring.  The yoga class begins in the front yard, and after class the participants partake in tea and sweet treats in the Conservatory. Contact us to be included when we start up again!

Valentine’s Dinner – Following up on our successful Century Dinner last February, we’ll be hosting a special “romantic Valentine’s Day” event in February with our pop-up dinner chef, Dan Fox of Fox Heritage Foods.  Contact us for more details!

Betty Lou Cruises – we’ve talked to the Betty Lou Cruise-line and both sides would love to instigate Livingston Inn packages; so far it hasn’t worked out because the lake is too low to stop at our dock, but we’re hoping for better luck in the future.

Mystery Dinners – some friends have brought up this wonderful idea, to be hosted in the inn.  The right stars haven’t aligned to bring it together yet, but we’re hopeful it will come to fruition in 2013 or soon after.

High Tea – We really like the idea of serving a high tea at The Livingston Inn.  As far as we can tell, no one in Madison offers this engaging afternoon experience, a big hit over the past few years on the East and West coasts.  We’re working on it as a public event, and could even offer it privately for small groups sooner.

Etiquette classes – apparently etiquette classes are a rising business model.  Who knew?  Peggy is a fan of Downton Abbey, and every time the show comes on it reminds us of our own wonderful home.  Wouldn’t it be fun learning about social graces and communication skills in a Gothic mansion that harks back to the days when such things were crucial to success and a good reputation?

Gardening classes – Peggy is a wonderful gardener, and she and some of her gardening expert friends are considering some simple classes during the spring and summer months.

Mad City Women – Peggy’s had a few conversations with friends and acquaintances about putting together some sort of group for the remarkable women of Madison.  What a great idea! We haven’t had the time to invest in it, but this is one thing we’d love to see happen this year, and we’ve put some feelers in place to try to generate some interest and energy around it.  Contact us if you’d be interested in taking part in a group like this and we’ll work on putting it together.

If you think it would be fun and interesting to host things like book groups, family reunions, business meetings or retreats at our B&B, we would love to hear from you.  The Livingston Inn is a unique, elegant alternative and chances are we can make it easier and less stressful than hosting in your own home.

Here’s to a grand new year – and to making all of our wishes come true!

The Year in Photos 2012

Like many of you, we look back this time of year to reflect upon the events and experiences that filled our lives.  Here are some of the special photos that represent the wonderful memories among our family and guests at The Livingston Inn in 2012.

Despite a mild winter for 2011-12, our son took this photo at James Madison Park after a cold windy day blew waves onto the park.

February brought a magical evening with the Century Dinner – eight courses with custom cocktails. Amazing!

Spring came with a Norwegian get together of family and friends connected to Nils Haugen, the third owner of our house.

We welcome spring each year with the annual Wisconsin Film Festival. In 2012, The Entertainers film crew held a very fun and festive party at our B&B.

Our yellowwood tree bloomed this year, an event that happens once every four years. Beautiful hanging over the wrought iron fence in the front garden.

May also graced us with the fragrance and beauty of the lilacs on Livingston Street. This photo was taken by Jacqui Harman, daughter of the Harman family who resided in our house for the latter half of the 20th century.

Sunsets on our lakefront access didn’t disappoint again. Here are a few of our favorites.

Like many of our other photos, our son takes most of the sunset ones.

Many beautiful evenings this summer on the lake.

Fall colors are even more spectacular looking out from the cupola at the top of the house.

We love Halloween and this year was extra special with a wedding!

A special greeting at the front door this Halloween!

The beauty of Christmas seemed extra special this year.

The Livingston Inn – December 2012 Snowstorm

Our best wishes to everyone for a Happy New Year!

The Light of a Winter Solistice

Candles lit on the Winter Solistice

There are so many things to love about this time of year, whether or not you celebrate any religious holidays.  Today is solstice, the shortest day of the year, and it seems pretty clear to me that no matter what your belief system – and even if you don’t have any at all, really – this time of year is about light.  Candles and Christmas lights offer a pretty sanctuary from what might otherwise be a dark, challenging time.  In Madison, it’s sometimes dark by four o’clock!  Grey, overcast days and short daylight hours can make it hard to face the morning — or the very early night.  Physically and symbolically, light offers hope in the darkness, and represents a reminder that the days get longer again, starting tomorrow.

Sometimes it seems as if nature and humanity have come together to offset the season of darkness with light.  I am reminded of the beauty and “lightness” of winter by the fifteen inches of snow we had yesterday. (Okay, so maybe the tree branches don’t think of all that snow as light.)  Snow reflects the moon and the stars, and gives an ambience to the landscape that offsets the darkness of winter.  It is beautiful, and creates a completely different world for us to watch and play in.  What a wonderful gift!

Tree lights at night in the back garden

And then there are the holidays.  Christmas is filled with light, both candle and electric.  Hanukkah is, of course, the Festival of Lights; it ended on the 16th this year.  I was fascinated to find exactly how many winter and end-of-year festivals there are and have been through history. You can see the very long Wikipedia list here: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winter_festivals)

And sometimes, Mother Nature gifts us with a snow day just when we need it, so we can explore and be inspired by both its joyful charm and its elegant allure.  Yesterday afternoon, I went down to nearby James Madison Park to take photos of some creative snowmen that neighbors had built. With the ominous dark clouds and high waves behind them on Lake Mendota, the snowmen made me happy. I couldn’t help but smile at each one, imagining what it was saying to me.

So yesterday at The Livingston Inn, as we dealt with over a foot of snow, we also took time to sit by the fire, enjoy the Christmas lights, and walk down to the lake, to admire the special, ethereal beauty of this time of year, when we take light wherever we can find it.

Enjoy!

The Livingston Inn – December 2012 Snowstorm

Christmas Traditions

Christmas tree in front parlor

At a recent party I attended, I found myself in a fascinating conversation about Christmas traditions and the emotional impact they have on us. An acquaintance told me how, when her mother recently died, the most important things to her and her sisters were their mother’s Christmas ornaments. Some of the ornaments had been in their family for generations, and many of them had special memories attached to them. The sisters were very careful to distribute them fairly, honoring as much as possible individual preferences, and any distinctive attachments each sister had to specific ornaments.  She told me this story with such reverence and it was clear that the emotional connection to the ornaments and to the experience of having to divide them mindfully, almost sacredly, was powerful.

Since that conversation, I’ve reflected on how compelling Christmas can be, and how the traditions and material things connected to the season become such a part of the celebration.  In our family, we have plenty of traditions and rituals for the holidays.  This is only our second Christmas at The Livingston Inn, and I sincerely hope we have the opportunity to create any number of special moments here.

Last year, we adapted a tradition from the Harmans, who would place a full-size, lighted tree in each window of the home facing Gorham Street – seven in all.  That’s not completely practical in an inn, of course, so we modified it, and instead place a beautiful wreath in every window and door.  As I’ve mentioned, I always feel fortunate to live in such a beautiful space, but during the Christmas season, it is especially beautiful, and I feel particularly grateful.

We’re also thinking about the ornament idea, and a very sweet guest may have set us on the road to this kind of tradition when she generously gave us two dated, hand-decorated glass ornaments at a recent shower hosted at the inn.  We love them – aren’t they beautiful?

So how about you?  Any special attachments to specific Christmas-related things, or any wonderful memories that come out with the decorations at this time of year?  We’d love to hear about them!

The Livingston Inn

Madison Improv

Scene from CTM’s A Christmas Carol

How do I love you, Madison? Let me count the ways…

Okay, sorry for the dramatic introduction to today’s post, but I wanted to share yet another thing we love about Madison – the arts culture you find in this great city.  Since we have three kids, we get to explore what Madison has to offer both as an audience and as behind-the-scenes participants, since our kids have varied interests that we try to support through classes, workshops and other learning opportunities.

One thing I feel especially fortunate to have experienced is our son Luke’s participation in Children’s Theater of Madison’s Improvisation workshops.  He is currently in his third session, and he loves it.  There’s never a time he doesn’t want to go.

The workshop space is downtown on State Street, so Luke and I usually walk or bike over together, a pleasant trip either way from The Livingston Inn.  In many respects, State Street is the heart of Madison.  As many of you know, it’s the stretch of road between UW and the State Capitol, and for the most part, it’s closed to motor traffic. There’s a special energy to State Street, with its active social and student life, out-of-town visitors, eclectic boutiques, coffee shops, restaurants and stores, all anchored by the business of government, education and the arts.  I know I will look back at the time Luke and I spent getting to and from his classes with fondness, because, if you live in Madison, State Street is often one of those places you mean to get to more than you actually do.  Truly, being there at least once a week is a nice change.

As for the improv classes themselves, I do enjoy watching them, though now that Luke is settled, he prefers I leave him to it and get coffee next door.  When I did watch them, earlier in Luke’s improv career, I remember being impressed by how well the kids were able to think on their feet, and how quickly they could adapt to changes in the concepts.  Basically, in an improv class, students are asked to create scenes and interact with each other within given parameters — so for instance, kids may be asked to create a retail store scene where they have to buy a particular product, and then act out different themes for that scene: drama, horror, Western, etc.  It was really fun to watch, and the teacher at CTM is great.  A lot of energy, and yet a huge dose of patience to let them figure things out for themselves, giving them guidance without telling them what to do – a vital element to successful improv.

Luke and his Improv teacher, posing as Tiny Team and Scrooge

If you live in Madison, I’d highly recommend the CTM studio classes, and I love their catch phrase: “Theater skills are life skills!”

Our family also highly recommends CTM’s annual production of A Christmas Carol.  This year the role of Scrooge is played to perfection by American Players Theater’s renowned JamesRidge.  We go every year; it’s a family holiday tradition.  But the years Ridge plays Scrooge are the best ones, so try to catch it this year if you can!

So, for this holiday, be sure to get down to State Street, enjoy the energy of downtown, support local vendors, and if possible, see a holiday show – A Christmas Carol if you can.  Whatever you do, I’m sure you’ll love it!

What Good Work Looks Like

Our neighbor – Yahara House

As we gather our thoughts for the holiday season, Peggy and I wanted to take a minute to acknowledge a special person on our team: Jessica.

 Jessica has been working with us for just over a year, since October of 2011, coming in twice a week to do light cleaning and ironing. She is unfailingly cheerful and sweet, and we feel so fortunate to have her working with us.

 Aside from her personal qualities, however, we feel particularly grateful to work with Jessica since she comes to us through the coordination of a wonderful organization called Yahara House.

 Yahara House, located just across the street from us, is a community-based mental health service and part of Journey Mental Health Center, a private, non-profit corporation located in Madison. Journey MHC is one of the largest outpatient mental health and substance abuse treatment clinics in the State of Wisconsin, and is nationally known as a leader in progressive, community-based, culturally competent, person-centered/recovery focused and trauma informed services.

 Yahara House is set up under the clubhouse model of community mental health services, focusing on meaningful work and meaningful relationships. In other words, members of the clubhouse can strengthen their healing journey by participating in the events and services provided by Yahara House, ultimately becoming stronger and better equipped to interact with first the clubhouse community, and then extending into the Madison community through social interactions and work opportunities.

 We met Jessica through Yahara House by approaching the staff with the hope of finding an individual who’d be a good match to work with us at the Livingston Inn. Since we have always been impressed by the work Yahara House does, we were dedicated to trying to support their programs by hiring a member. We approached the administrative team with our intention of working with them to find someone who could help with light cleaning. They connected us with Jessica, who had experience as a cleaner and had expressed interest in finding work in that area. It worked out wonderfully well. After she’d been with us for a short while, we realized that what we needed even more than cleaning, however, was someone to help with ironing. We asked Jessica is she was interested in staying with us, and learning a new skill. She said yes, and Yahara House worked with us to help her gain the skills and expertise she needed to be successful in that role, too.

Jessica, a valuable member of our work team!

 We’ve enjoyed working with Jessica, and helping her feel like the valued member of our team that she is. We are so honored to have contributed to and been instrumental in one small success for Yahara House, and in Jessica’s journey to health, wellness and enhanced self-esteem.

 I highly recommend you learn more about Yahara House and Journey MHC. It’s a special place, with special people, and it fills a greatly needed role in Dane County, advocating and supporting mental health initiatives that help real people in meaningful ways.

Our Secret Ingredient

Happy Thanksgiving!

In the Furlan household, we love all the holidays.  But Thanksgiving is perhaps our favorite.  Crammed in between decoration-crazy Halloween and Christmas, Thanksgiving is about family, food and gratitude – three of our favorite things.

The thing I am most grateful for is my family, and my wife Peggy is the heart and soul of our home and our business.  Some of you have had the pleasure of sitting in our front parlor, enjoying a drink and chatting with her.  She is gracious and engaging, a wonderful conversationalist – mainly because she is genuinely interested in getting to know people and learning about them – and a fantastic decorator, which is why the Livingston Inn is such a beautiful space. 

There is nothing she can’t do if she puts her mind to it. I believe that concept in general, but with Peggy, perhaps the difference is she puts her mind to doing things that seem absolutely impossible, and makes miracles happen.  She’s our secret ingredient.

As far as Thanksgiving goes, I have so many memories of Peggy creating beautiful, special, warm events – because that’s what she’s good at.  Making the ordinary, extraordinary.  Thanksgiving at our house has always been a huge feast, in an inviting setting, surrounded by the fun of friends and family. 

But Peggy carries off so much of what she does because she has boundless energy.  So much so that sometimes even I am astounded by what she manages to get done.  One Thanksgiving, she actually painted a full room in the middle of cooking Thanksgiving dinner.  And that was when she had an infant and a toddler underfoot!

Yes, I am thankful for Peggy.  And I know in no uncertain terms that if it weren’t for her, our kids wouldn’t be quite as wonderful, our home wouldn’t be anywhere near as beautiful, and our business would be average and ordinary.

So, as always, resting at the top of my long list of things I am grateful for is my family, and at the heart of it all, my amazing wife and proprietor of this bed and breakfast.

P.S. I asked Peggy if she would share one of her favorite Thanksgiving recipes: eggplant stuffing.  You’ll find the recipe below, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we have over the years.

Ingredients:

• 3 medium eggplant
• 1 to 2 green peppers
• 1 yellow onion
• 8 to 12 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• fine bread crumbs

Boil eggplant until soft and drain in collander. Chop finely onion and green pepper, preferably in food processor.  Saute green pepper and onion with olive oil until translucent.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Skin eggplant and puree in food processor.  Add to onion and pepper mixture in pan.  Mix in bread crumbs until mixture becomes consistency of stuffing.

Place stuffing in baking dish and top decoratively with raw shrimp.  Cook in 325-degree oven until shrimp is pink in color (usually 20 to 25 minutes).