Eurotrip Recap #3: France

I’m finally onto the third and final recap from our Europe trip last year—France! The France leg of the trip was really the whole reason for us going, as we were attending some of our dear friends’ wedding in Provence. Knowing their wedding date, we planned the rest of the trip around it. Their wedding was so incredibly special and fun because it was basically like a long weekend of summer camp with their friends and family. They had their wedding at the Chateau La Tour Vaucros, located in Sorgues, in the region of Provence. The way the Chateau works is that you rent out the whole property for your wedding weekend, and then all or most of your guests can stay on site in the gorgeous accommodations, and you have your wedding rehearsal, pre-wedding festivities, getting ready, etc. all on site. It was a DREAM. The property has a bunch of different small castle-like accommodations that can sleep 20-30 each (from what I remember), two swimming pools, tennis courts, and just tons of space to relax.

To get there, we flew from Brussels to London, where we met up in the airport with two of our best friends who were also attending the wedding. We were so giddy once we saw them in the airport! We all hopped on a flight together to Marseille, in the South of France.

Everything was so incredibly stunning from the moment we landed. We then drove from Marseille to the wedding venue and got set up in our adorable, French country-style bedroom. I forgot to take any good pics of it sadly! Once we were settled, we joined the wedding party for welcome wine (made nearby) and caught up with many friends we hadn’t seen in awhile, including the bride and groom. I remember seeing this room with a long table (probably seating 25 people) absolutely FILLED with people toasting and celebrating this soon-to-be-married couple and just feeling so filled to the brim with joy and sense of community. It was so special!

Mirror pic at the Chateau with our friend Rachel who was staying in the room right beside ours!

When we’d arrived at the Chateau the night before, it was dark, so waking the next morning was stunning to see how beautiful the property was.

I forgot to snap a pic, but each morning we were at the Chateau a local bakery delivered piles of pastries and breads. We got croissants, baguettes, turnovers, madelines and more. I miss it so much.

After we had some breakfast on our first morning at the Chateau, my friends Natalie and Rachel and I headed to the French supermarket to get some provisions for the group. French supermarkets are AMAZING. We probably spent over an hour just browsing, sampling, and marveling at everything you could buy there. Since most of our main meals were covered by the wedding festivities, we focused on buying small provisions (and wine) for snacks and light lunches.

I also bought a big orchid to snip the flowers from for some hairstyles for the wedding weekend:

For the rehearsal dinner (a little sunburned!)

And for the wedding!

We made a big spread of food for the group when we got back from the supermarket.

I still dream about this food! France does produce, dairy and bread EXCEPTIONALLY well.

That afternoon was spent poolside, and it was so much fun hanging with our friends and getting to know some other wedding guests we hadn’t met before.

James, the groom, about to jump in!

That night was the rehearsal dinner, which was a food truck that came and made huge platters of paella. It was amazing! I didn’t take any photos though, other than this snap of the gorgeous vineyard lining the property.

The next day was WEDDING DAY! I always get so excited on my friends’ wedding days. The whole day feels electrically charged. Grace and I woke up and went outside to do some yoga on the lawn with one of our best friends Laura, who led us.

The wedding photographer was already on site starting in the morning, so he got these fun shots of us.

While we were waiting until it was time to start getting ready for the wedding, we relaxed in the sun, played games, and of course made another huge snack platter.

The whole day was so relaxing because it was all on site. Late afternoon, we decided to get dressed for the wedding, and then we strolled across the lawn to where the ceremony was being held. Our friend Laura officiated, and she did an incredible job. The ceremony was bilingual—French and English—and Laura nailed both!

With the newlyweds!! We love you, Camille and James!

Grace hanging with Laura’s precious son after the ceremony

A bunch of Grace’s high school friends. All except me and one other (Clayton, on the far right) are high school sweethearts. I will forever be grateful to this group for welcoming me so warmly. I feel like I’ve always known them!

The reception was SO MUCH FUN. The bride and groom are huge foodies, so there was so much amazing food. I wish I could remember it all. I know there were about ten different “stations” during cocktail hour, including cheese being freshly shaved off huge blocks, and there was a late-night meal of burgers and hot dogs (the reception went until 4am). There was also a sit-down dinner, which was so delicious, and everyone danced afterward. I wish I had photos of the desserts, but it was like every type of French sweet you can think of. Macarons, profiteroles, and on and on.

At the end of the night, it was so fun to just stumble back across the courtyard to our rooms. It was such a fun night that we’ll never forget.

We were very sad to leave the next day, but it was time. We were off to Paris, which made the most sense for us to fly home from. But we also wanted to try to make the most of our short stay there. We stayed at the Hotel Monge, which I very highly recommend both on location and on charm! It’s a stunning boutique hotel in the Latin Quarter. I researched a bunch of hotels, but Hotel Monge was I think ranked #2 or #3 in Paris on TripAdvisor, and I found a good rate so I ended up booking there and loved it.

The wallpaper is to die for.

For our one night in Paris, we started by walking to the Jardin du Luxembourg for our Paris photos (which I already recapped in the linked post). Grace and I have both been fortunate enough to visit Paris more than once in the past (though not together), so we were okay having our time there be so short. But we took in some pretty sights while walking around on the way to our photos.

After our photos, we walked the winding streets leading back to our hotel from the Jardin du Luxembourg, and stopped along the way at a delicious seafood place for a late dinner. After that, we searched for crepes, finally finding a stand still open. I got lemon and sugar (my fav always), and Grace got Nutella. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

We flew home to our little house and pets the next day, feeling very grateful! We nearly had to stay in Toronto overnight unexpectedly (where we had a layover) because of flight delays, but ended up on a flight on standby and got back to LA. The whole trip was so special and so much fun. Can’t wait for the next one!

If you haven’t read them yet, you can find my England recap here and my Belgium recap here.

February 2020 Goals

WOW this month has slipped away from me quickly. It’s a little disappointing to me that this is only my second blog post in 2020, as I love this little space so much. That said, I’m super hard on myself in general so I’m trying to be less so :) I think that being less hard on yourself means not necessarily feeling the need to explain when you don’t meet all your goals. We all have stuff going on. I could write a mile-long list here of everything I’ve had going on for the first six weeks of 2020, but that would be counterproductive to my heart for my blog: to write whenever I can, about whatever I want, which brings me joy.

My February goals are pretty simple! Here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish this month:

• File our joint taxes

• Plan/book spring travel (we have trips with friends, bachelorette parties, weddings … all exciting!)

• [Big personal goal not sharing publicly right now]

• Write three blog posts here! Not counting this one!

• Order a photo album from our Alaska trip

I hope you have had a beautiful first couple of weeks of this short month of love. Grace is going to be traveling on Valentine’s Day (more State of Grace episodes coming!), so we are going on an early V-Day date tonight.

Xoxo!

Hello 2020 + January Goals

Happy New Year!!

I, for one, love New Year’s Eve (which is when I’m writing this) and New Year’s Day so much. I am a big fan of anything that brings extra light and celebration on dark winter days, and New Year’s is a mental clean slate that can bring so much positive change.

I have been setting New Year’s goals for the past few years, and I shared my 2019 and 2018 year-long goals on the blog.

I generally set year-long goals in the major areas of my life . . . health, family/marriage, faith, creativity, community, career, etc. But for this coming year I have felt very strongly that I should set ONE specific, big goal for 2020. Everything else will follow. I am thankful that at 28, I feel confident that I know what I need to do to cultivate life and growth in the general areas of my life. I know what my body needs and how to treat it well (even if I don’t always do those things). I know that it takes work to cultivate rich friendships. I know what makes me feel rested and filled up—and what doesn’t. I think for the past few years I have been setting goals to find a new or creative “life hack” to jump start change in my life. But I already know what I need to do. I know that if I’m consistent in setting good habits and boundaries, I’ll see positive results. I also can say that at the end of 2019 I feel the most content in the key areas of my life than I have ever felt going into a new year.

So for that reason, I’m only setting one goal for 2020. And I realize this is an annoying thing to write about and then not share, but it’s not something I am ready to share publicly. No, I’m not trying to get pregnant if anyone’s mind was jumping to that :) But this goal is just a bit personal right now for the internet. And so exciting! If all goes well, I think I’ll be ready to share more about it in about a year from now. I will say that it falls generally under the category of creativity.

Of course, I am still going to set monthly goals this year like always. Here are my January 2020 goals:

• Un-decorate from Christmas and start the year with a clean slate as far as the house goes

• Get a haircut. It’s been over a year. Yep!! I hardly ever cut my hair but I think going more than a year is a first

• Plan a trip to Portland to visit my best friend

• Progress on my main 2020 goal

I hope you have a very happy start to the New Year, and thank you for reading! Xoxo

Eurotrip Recap #2: Belgium

I’m finally back with part two of my Eurotrip recaps! I took a long break from writing these, but I was determined to get at least one more done before the end of the year . . . and here I am on December 31. Better late than never!

I’ll jump right in. After spending a few wonderful days in England with Grace’s best friends from childhood, we took an early morning Eurostar train ride to Brussels.

For those who don’t know, Grace grew up in Waterloo, Belgium, which is about twenty or thirty minutes outside of Brussels. Her family doesn’t live there anymore, but we’ve had opportunities to visit together over the years and it’s always so special for Grace to visit home!

We only had a couple of days in Belgium this trip, so we decided to spend one day hanging out in Waterloo, and one day going into Brussels by train to explore. Once we arrived on the Eurostar our first day, we took a local train to Waterloo and stopped off at the adorable Hotel Côté Vert. We have stayed there in the past and absolutely love it. It’s super charming and they have the best breakfast included with the rooms!

Let me tell you a little bit about Grace’s hometown. Its claim to fame is the Battle of Waterloo and, of course, the ABBA song. That said, it is TINY. Which we both love. You can walk anywhere you need to go, so we set out on foot to enjoy some of our favorite spots. #1 on Grace’s wish list was going back to her old school (where she went from third through twelfth grade), St. John’s International.

This is Grace outside the school.

I didn’t take any pictures inside, but it was so fun getting a tour around the new changes to the school, catching up with some of Grace’s old teachers, and hearing about what it’s like to go to school there. I know it probably sounds weird to enjoy going to visit a school where I didn’t attend, but St. John’s is pretty magical. It makes me wish our future children could go there, but I don’t see us moving to Belgium as of right now. I didn’t love my own high school, so I like to imagine I went to St. John’s with Grace and all her amazing friends, haha :) Fun fact, Grace was the student body president while she was there.

After St. John’s, we walked down to The Snug, which was the bar Grace and her friends would hang out at after school. The drinking age in Belgium is 16, so it was totally normal to go to a bar after classes ended for the day in high school. So strange to think about being from the US! The Snug is a tiny little pub and it’s so cute.

It was still kind of early for dinner after our beers at the snug, so we explored a bit more of the town, including stopping in the Carrefour just to walk around, which is an amazing Belgium supermarket I’ve been obsessed with whenever we visit Belgium.

We were so excited for dinner at our favorite place in Waterloo: Pizza Hut. Yes, I’m serious. Pizza Huts in Belgium (at least the one in Waterloo) are completely different from in the US—they have nice menus and signature cocktails and the most incredible pizza. We go there every time we are in Belgium, and it was Grace’s favorite place to go as a special treat growing up!

After dinner we decided to make one more stop at L’Amusoir, which is a really cute bar and restaurant right across the street from our hotel. It was apparently around when Grace was in high school, but they have fixed it up a lot since then.

The next day we got up to head into Brussels! I love Brussels because of (a) how delicious the food is; (b) how laid back and easy to navigate it is; and (c) how local it feels. Of all the European capital cities I’ve been to, Brussels is by far the least touristy. But I was excited to be a tourist for the day!

On the way to the train station, we decided to walk the long way and pass by Grace’s old street and her childhood home. I made her take a photo in front of it for memories.

It’s so fun for me to think of Grace growing up in this adorable Belgian neighborhood.

Onto Brussels.

As you might expect, pretty much all of our Brussels activities revolved around eating and drinking. We got waffles:

Ate moules frites (baked mussels + fries . . . one of my FAV meals) at Chez Leon:

And of course went by Delirium to try some different beers! I am not a beer person . . . other than in Belgium and local Oktoberfest events I don’t think I’ve ever once ordered a beer at a bar or restaurant. But with the world record for most types of beer (by a landslide), even I was so excited to go back to Delirium after my first visit a couple of years ago. There’s something for everyone, and it was one of Grace’s favorite places growing up.

Over 2,000 kinds of beer, including crazy stuff I had never heard of

It ended up raining a lot while we were in Brussels, so we decided to head back to Waterloo in the late afternoon and took at nap at our hotel. We were exhausted but eventually psyched ourselves up to get dressed and go get pita for dinner at Pitta El Grecco, which was a staple for Grace in high school.

Soooo good. Yes, we both love pineapple on savory foods—I know this is controversial for some people :)

We were so sad to leave Belgium the next day! But we were also very excited to move on to leg three of our adventure: FRANCE for the wedding of our dear friends! We hopped on a train to the airport to catch our connecting flight to London, and then on to Marseille.

But first, one last waffle in the airport!

Happy New Year, and thanks for reading HDWD this year! I promise not to let so much time go by before I finally recap the last leg of our trip.

My 2019 Christmas Wish List

Merry merry! I’ve been meaning to write a Christmas Wish List for a couple of weeks now, so I’m a little late for Black Friday sales (though this is going live on Cyber Monday . . .) but better late than never! I keep getting questions from family and Grace about what’s on my Christmas List this year, and I’ve been kind of stumped. I think as I get older it gets a little harder to think of Christmas gifts I want. But I think for me the best gifts are things that would be really nice to have (or to upgrade something I already have), but I’m unlikely to buy it for myself. My list below is a mix of stocking stuffers, things I need to replace and would love to get as a gift, and little treats and goodies I’ve seen online. I hope this is helpful if you are looking for a gift for a special lady in your life—especially if that Lady is me! Hehe :)

1. Cute Doormat

The pic above is of an adorable Anthropologie doormat that I love. I also think this semi-circle doormat and this hi/bye message doormat, both from West Elm, are darling. Our doormat is a little worn out, so I’d love to add some fresh charm to our front walkway with a new one.

2. Ice Cream Scoop

Image via Williams-Sonoma

This is one of those random items I wish I’d put on our wedding gift registry, but at the time thought it was kind of unnecessary: an ice cream scoop. We love ice cream and generally just use a big spoon to scoop it out of the carton. But an actual scoop would feel like an everyday luxury :) This would be a good stocking stuffer for anyone who doesn’t have an ice cream scoop or wants an upgrade! This anti-freeze scoop from Crate and Barrel is genius, and I also love the look of this copper scoop from Williams-Sonoma (we have a lot of copper in our kitchen so that would fit beautifully).

3. Hair Straightener

Image via CHI

I fried my hair straightener on our Europe trip this past summer using an outlet adapter without a voltage converter, so I’m currently without one. I had a pretty basic one before and have always wanted a CHI straightener, so this is probably my top “bigger” gift on my wish list.

4. Plant Watering Measurer

Image via Amazon

This is another stocking stuffer-type item—I have seen them for $5-$10 online—but such a smart idea! This is a little meter that you stick in the soil of your houseplants to see how dry the soil is and whether they need to be watered. I would LOVE to have one of these because I have a bunch of plants and it would make life easier. I think this would be a cute idea for any “plant ladies” on your Christmas list :)

5. Cute Alarm Clock

Image via Pottery Barn

I’d love to start a goal of not having my cell phone in our bedroom in 2020—I’m always hearing about how beneficial it is to keep devices out of bed. The biggest obstacle is that my phone is my alarm clock, on the days I set an alarm. A cute clock for my nightstand would solve the issue! I absolutely love this vintage-inspired bunny ear alarm clock, and this pink alarm clock is also super cute.

6. Pajama/Lounge Sets

Image via Summer Salt

I don’t know what exactly this says about me, but I can never seem to get enough of PJs and lounge sets. I have loved this PJ set from afar for so long that I should probably just buy it for myself, but I’ll put it on my wish list for now . . . I love the pink sand & lava color combo and would want it monogrammed with EHB! I am also crushing on this top and bottom together in the Ecru color to make a set, both from Lett Clothing. Lastly, I will always and forever love Lake Pajamas—this set is a dream and I love it in the Twilight colorway.

7. Gift Cards

I know some family/friends like to give gift cards, so my top two picks for gift cards this year would be:

• RugsUSA.com, to go toward upgrading our living room rug

• Artifact Uprising, my favorite place to have photos printed, to get some of my favorite shots recently on paper

That’s all I can think of this year! Family, if you’re reading this, talk among yourselves so you don’t accidentally overlap on the same gifts from this list :) Love you!

Everyone else, I hope this gives you some ideas for the people on your shopping lists. I am hoping to finish all my shopping by the end of next week so then I can turn to one of my favorite activities—wrapping!

December 2019 Goals + November Progress

Happy December! I am currently sitting by my twinkling Christmas tree, with a doggie curled up beside me, feeling so grateful to be in our house finally spending some time blogging. I only blogged once in November and I’m sad about it :( I don’t even really have a good reason why I got so out of the groove . . . it just wasn’t happening for whatever reason. But I never miss a monthly goals post, so here I am on December 1!

Grace and I had a wonderful first Thanksgiving together in North Carolina last week. Being home was so full of the good stuff. My mom also got to meet Grace’s grandmother, which was really special. All in all just a perfect visit. Too short!

I made progress on a few of my November goals and also left a few uncompleted. That’s okay. Here’s how I did:

• Cook and bake for people I love all month long—yes, definitely! I made all kinds of good things, most especially homemade cinnamon rolls that I cannot wait to make again at Christmas.

• Get our Christmas cards stamped, addressed, and ready to send out—I’ve gotten a bunch done but still have some to do. That’s okay because it’s going to be even sweeter writing them while curled up beside the Christmas tree!

• Enjoy the last of our Fall bucket list—yes! Making our Winter one is on my December goals list.

• Order my 2020 planner—yep! So pretty. I got one from Rifle Paper this year.

• Get flu shots with Grace—halfway. I got a flu shot, Grace did not because she was traveling and I just needed to get it done while she was gone. At least half of the household is immunized.

• Get organized for 2020 health insurance—no, didn’t happen (mostly because Grace and I were either apart or away from home the majority of the month, and I needed to sit down with her to do it. Will happen the first half of December).

• Take a social media break 2 days a week (putting this here to actually hold myself accountable)—I did this some weeks, but not every week. This might sound cheesy, but the main reason I fell off the wagon on this is because Grace was out of town for a big part of the month and I missed her and wanted to watch her IG stories so I could follow along with what she was up to while traveling. I feel like that’s okay though because that’s social media at its best! Being able to keep up with loved ones who are far away :)

And here are my December goals! Hoping to finish the year well!

• Sign up for 2020 health insurance for both of us

• Make our Winter bucket list

• Start on a personal writing project

• Observe Advent

• Be cozy, soak in the season, and rest

Wishing you a wonderful start to the month, and if you celebrate Christmas, a very happy beginning of the Christmas season! We decorated the house this weekend and it’s bringing me so much joy!

November 2019 Goals + October Progress

Happy November! The photo above is of a cheese plate I made for our Halloween movie last night which got absolutely demolished! Yay friends, movies, cheese plates, and Fall. Hoping for more of that in the coming month.

But most of all, I am really hoping to slow down in November. October was packed for me, and for Grace and I together as a little family. I think life has just been making me feel a little tender lately. There’s less light in each day (literally—don’t take that in an emo way, haha), I’ve been stressed out, our dog Willie’s health issues are sometimes really hard to manage, and I’ve just been feeling overwhelmed. I really, really want to prioritize rest, my mental health, my marriage, and simplicity this coming month.

I think I can make that happen but definitely need to work for it, which is okay! We also have some travel and events coming up this month, including a friend’s birthday in Palm Springs for me, Grace traveling for work, us celebrating Grace’s birthday, and we’re both going to North Carolina for a week over Thanksgiving. It will actually be our first Thanksgiving we’ve ever spent together believe it or not, which I am so excited for.

Okay, goals! Here’s how I did on my October goals:

• Book tickets home for Thanksgiving for Grace and me—yes! At great expense but worth it!

• Stick to our budget—mostly! See above re expensive Thanksgiving airfare, haha

• Design our Christmas cards for this year—yes and I cannot wait to send them out

• Change the oil in my car—yes!

• Make homemade veggie broth—yes and I might do a blog post on it since I got so many questions on IG! I can’t wait to make another batch.

And here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish in November:

• Cook and bake for people I love all month long

• Get our Christmas cards stamped, addressed, and ready to send out

• Enjoy the last of our Fall bucket list

• Order my 2020 planner

• Get flu shots with Grace

• Get organized for 2020 health insurance

• Take a social media break 2 days a week (putting this here to actually hold myself accountable)

I hope you have a sweet month full of lots to be thankful for!

The First "Gay Married Weekend"

A couple of weeks ago, Grace and I headed up to San Francisco for the weekend to see two of our dear friends, Tommy and Philip. They live in Austin, Texas, but had flown in for Philip’s birthday and invited us to join! It was such a special weekend that I’ll never forget.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you might remember Tommy and Philip’s New Year’s Eve wedding in New Orleans last year! Tommy and Philip are some of our first “gay married friends”, and while that might sound silly or trivial, it really means so much to share a season of life with a wonderful couple like Tommy and Philip. It’s so funny because in some ways, Tommy and I are VERY alike (we both took the primary role in planning our respective weddings, we both are fascinated by random pieces of history like the sinking of luxury ship liners and the history of monarchies, and we both are self-admittedly needy toward our spouses sometimes, haha), and in other ways Philip and I are a lot alike. We are both more introverted, we’re both lawyers, and people rarely think we’re gay when first meeting us. The same goes for Grace and the two guys - she’s a lot like each of them in certain ways. I really feel like we could talk to Tommy and Philip for a week straight and not run out of things to talk about. We feel so lucky to know them!

San Francisco was the perfect late-September destination for it to really feel like Fall. The air was crisp when we got there, and we had the best time eating and drinking our way through the city. We stayed at the Stanford Court hotel in Nob Hill, which was cute. We really didn’t spend much time at the hotel, but it was nice, and I would stay there again. I LOVED staying in Nob Hill.

I used to live in the Bay Area (in Berkeley) during law school, so I know San Francisco well! It was really fun to go back and see new areas and try new places. Some highlights were:

The Clarion Alley Mural Project

Enjoying some high times in Mission Dolores Park

Dim sum in Chinatown at City View for breakfast the first morning

Checking out the Castro (the famous gay area of San Francisco): we went to Twin Peaks Tavern, Q bar, Hi Tops, and Beaux. Twin Peaks has a really cool history (it is maybe the oldest gay bar in the US - the title is disputed), Hi Tops had great food, and Beaux was a lot of fun to end the night. We didn’t love Q bar (I had actually been there before, years ago, and feel like it used to be more fun?). Also we went to Hot Cookie in the Castro for the BEST cookies. Omg!

Last but not least, the brunch we had at Chubby Noodle on the last morning before leaving was the yummiest brunch I can remember having in a long time. If you’re in SF, GO THERE!

Most of all, though, just spending time with this sweet couple who we can share the experience of being young, gay, and married with is so rare and cool. I titled this post “The First Gay Married Weekend” because I can’t wait to continue this tradition. Tommy and Philip always travel in style so I can’t wait to see where we go next!

Eurotrip Recap #1: England

Today I’m starting my three-part recap series of our Europe trip! We were lucky enough to spend some time at the end of summer traveling to three countries: England (where we have some dear friends), Belgium (where Grace is from), and France (where our friends were getting married).

Grace and I had been looking forward to this trip for what felt like forever. We planned it based on our friends’ wedding in the South of France the first weekend of September, so we left at the end of August and decided to travel around a bit before the wedding.

Grace grew up in Belgium, so most of her best friends still live in Europe. It’s hard being so far from her oldest friends, but it’s so fun visiting Europe and having some of our favorite people to stay with!

After an overnight flight from LAX (thank goodness for nonstops between LAX and London Heathrow), we landed in London around noon. Our plan was to stay awake the whole day until a normal time to go to bed on England time, so we could adjust to the time zone more easily, and I think it definitely worked!

We took the underground to Grace’s best friend Juli’s flat where she lives with her boyfriend Jens (who we are low key obsessed with, haha). Jens is from Norway.

Juli and Jens’s flat is adorable, full of exposed brick and city views. They live in Shad Thames which is a super cute neighborhood right by the London Bridge. We spent some time catching up with Juli once we arrived, and then Grace and Juli’s other best friend Laurane came over to meet us. Juli and Laurane were both bridesmaids in our wedding and we hadn’t seen them in about a year. We talked for hours and took a stroll by the London Bridge before dinner.

Grace with Juli and Laurane!

We then headed to dinner to meet up with Laurane and Juli’s boyfriends, Angus and the aforementioned Jens. Juli had made a reservation at the cutest and most delicious Peruvian place! It was called Adina, in the Shoreditch neighborhood which isn’t too far from Shad Thames. Grace and I had been up for over 24 hours at this point (we both can’t really sleep on planes) but we were at the point of just being deliriously happy to be in England, so we cheersed with everyone else with our Pisco sours and ate endless amounts of ceviche and other delicious Peruvian dishes.

Low quality photo, very high quality friend reunion and very high quality Pisco sours.

After dinner we walked across the street to a pub and had a couple more drinks while we kept catching up with our friends. At that point I was so delirious on no sleep that I don’t even remember what it was called or what drink(s) I got! I do remember they had very delicious popcorn that was free. Honestly, a highlight of the first day haha.

That night we slept 10 solid hours so I think our plan of staying up until the next night worked perfectly! We woke up and headed over to have brunch with Juli, Jens, Laurane, and Angus at a cute vegan place in Notting Hill falled Farmacy.

I didn’t take a picture of the food I got, but I had the vegan burger with fries (aka chips in England) and it was amazing!

I did snap a pic of my turmeric latte with black pepper on top. Very different but so good as well and from what I understand, very good for inflammation which I tend to get when I travel.

After brunch we ventured out to Portobello Road which is a fun shopping district in London. I LOVE the colorful houses there.

One of my favorite shops was an antique place selling old rugby balls, golf clubs, and other sporting accessories. It was so cool and the guy working there told us tons of fun British tidbits and history.

After Portobello Road we headed over to the lovely Kensington Gardens. I should mention that it probably seems like we’re skipping over a lot of the key sights in London like Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, etc. We did skip a lot of those famous places, but it’s because Grace and I have both been lucky enough to go to London several times before (including a trip together a few years ago). We really wanted to focus on spending time with friends on this trip and didn’t feel a strong desire to go back to some of the iconic London landmarks, fun as they are :)

On the tube!

And we stopped for an ice cream while walking through the park.

After Kensington it was about dinner time so we headed to get a pub dinner near the Globe Theater, where we had tickets for that night to see a Midsummer Night’s Dream!

Fish and chips was one of my food “musts” while we were in England and this did not disappoint!

Next we walked over to the Globe Theater and watched a Midsummer Night’s Dream! It was truly such a cool experience. I’m really glad Juli booked it for us ahead of time and thought of it. Spending a balmy night of our summer vacation, in London with amazing friends, watching a Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Globe Theater with a Pimm’s Cup in hand was a transcendental moment for me.

The next day was super sweet and a very different change of pace from our whirlwind day exploring London. One of Grace’s other best friends and bridesmaids, Laura, lives just outside London so we headed up there with Juli to visit her and her precious children. This is the one time my jet lag hit, because I fell asleep in the car on the way there. But I was refreshed by the time we got there :)

We spent such a special afternoon relaxing, eating the delicious lunch Laura cooked us, and playing outside with the kids!

Laura’s son LOVED taking photos on our phones, like this one, which was hilarious.

It was just the best day! And it wasn’t too sad of a goodbye since we knew we’d see them the next week in France for our mutual friends’ wedding (which Laura was actually officiating!).

The cutest mother-daughter pair ever

That night was, very sadly, our last night in London. We kept it relaxing since we had an early train ride to Belgium the next morning, and we stayed in and ordered delicious Indian takeaway (as they call it in England)! Indian food was one of my other must-haves while in England. We watched the new season of the Great British Bake Off and had such a nice last night hanging with Juli and Jens.

The next day we woke up and headed to the Eurostar to make our way to Belgium!

Writing this recap makes me so nostalgic for our time in England—it was just so sweet and filled with some of our favorite people. Stay tuned for my Belgium and France recaps coming soon!

October 2019 Goals + September Recap

October is flying by already! We had friends visiting for the first week of October, so I feel like I’m just getting into the swing of this new month. I’m really trying to embrace the first full month of Fall (which hasn’t always been my favorite season) and it’s been a sweet one so far!

I’ve crossed a lot of things off my seasonal bucket list already, and I’m excited to do more this month and next. A couple of my goals for this month are based on items from there.

Here’s how I did in September:

• Make my Fall bucket list—yep!

• Get Halloween costumes for Bean and myself. So excited for our matching costume!—yes!! I think it’s going to be so cute!

• Install updates on my computer—yes

• Update my voter registration—yes

• Get back into blogging and my usual routines—I think so.

• Enjoy a much-anticipated trip to San Francisco—YES! SO fun.

• Local hikes and/or yoga at home a few times a week—could have done better on this.

Considering we spent the first couple of weeks of September in Europe, I think this was a pretty successful month as far as goals go :)

Here’s how my October looks:

• Book tickets home for Thanksgiving for Grace and me (this will be our first Thanksgiving spent together!)

• Stick to our budget

• Design our Christmas cards for this year

• Change the oil in my car

• Make homemade veggie broth

I feel a little bit behind, but I wrote a reminder at the top of my paper goals list this month that There Is Still Plenty Of Time. There really is!

Hope you’re having a beautiful October so far!