versailles.

i have always wanted to see and tour versailles. i was so glad we (candice, nicole and their husbands) made the trip out there before the retreat to check it out. regardless of visiting on probably the hottest day of the year (and having not slept in 24 hours because of my red eye flight + jet lag) it was still breathtakingly beautiful and worth it. if you ever get the chance, GO!

*i think candice took that picture of me. but it might have been nicole. i can't remember. and the photo of the three of us is by candice's husband, mark, but with nicole's camera. :)

while in france...

i had my favorite big mac sandwich while in france at my beloved mickey d's.

familiarity in a foreign country is always nice.

you know what's extra cool about mcdonald's over in france?

they sell macaroons and other fancy pastries there!

and even though i don't like macaroons,

i think that's pretty cool. and fancy.

see?!

giveaway winner!

congrats to kate for winning last week's giveaway!

please email me your shipping info, kate!

naomi.megan@gmail.com

paris. (part II)

some more photos from paris with marci.

paris.

after the photo retreat in beynac, i spent a few more days in paris with my beautiful friend marci. we walked, shopped, ate and toured so many museums and places until we couldn't feel our legs or feet at the end of each day. it was perfect. here are a few photos... more to come.

winner!!! (of the popina swim giveaway)

trina is our lucky giveaway winner! congrats!

please email me your swimsuit choice, size and shipping address...

naomi.megan@gmail.com

rockstar giveaway!

today we have a giveaway for you by sponsor Pear and Peacock! they are giving away one of their beautiful mermaid necklaces, handmade from recycled fine silver. the pendant is slightly over two inches wide and the necklace hangs at 16 inches long.

to enter, please visit the Pear and Peacock shop and leave a comment below before monday, july 26th!

good luck!

and, if you don't win, Pear and Peacock is offering 20% off a number of different items in their shop right now through the 25th! oh la la, summer sale!

p.s. last week's giveaway winner will be announced later today. i'm oh-so-very-jet-lagged-and-sick from flying in from france... so that will have to wait just a tad bit longer. thanks everyone!

beynac, france

spent the last few days in southern france for the french photo retreat. we stayed in a darling little medieval bakery turned cottage literally just a few feet from the castle where "ever after" was filmed. it was beautiful.

now i'm heading back up to paris where i'll meet my friend marci for a few days. can't wait to explore paris somemore with her!

xoxo

photos by nicole.

rockstar giveaway! (closed)

you know i love vintage inspired swim suits.

and i've been the proud owner of that yellow jantzen swimsuit below for a few years now.

(see here and here and here...it's obviously my favorite.)

so i'm thrilled that the portland based company, popina swim, is sponsoring this weeks giveaway offering one of you a swim suit of your choice! popina swim specializes in retro swimsuits and vintage swimsuits. in addition to the popina line, they also carry the jantzen swimwear line which i absolutely love.

to enter, please visit popina swim and leave a comment below

before tuesday, july 20th! good luck!

also, if you aren't the lucky winner,

just enter the code "rockstar" for 10% off your order!

bonjour!

just a quick hello from paris!
we (candice, nicole + their loves) are actually in benyac now...
will post more later!
(photos by candice + her husband, mark)

happy monday!

au revoir!

pitango, pitango!

our friends carissa and andrew told us about pitango, a little gelato shop here in the district a few weeks ago. we're so glad they did. i don't think i can count how many times we've "accidentally found ourselves around E and 7th NW" since, but it's our new favorite place and some of the best gelato we've had. our favorite flavors are the pistachio and chocolate noir. the gelato shop imports their nuts all the way from europe and all their milk and cream products are produced on their local farm in pennsylvania. we want to go visit the farm near amish country later this summer. we've been wanting an excuse to visit amish country again anyway.

france.

i'm off to france and so excited!

there are a few fun things scheduled during my absence

on the blog for you...

be back soon!

xoxo

french polaroids by nicole.

4th.

because we did a bunch of the 4th of july events in d.c. last year, and we weren't really up for the excessive heat and crowds this year (are we getting boring or what?) we took it easy over the weekend celebrating america.

we grabbed some burgers at good stuff, took a few walks around the hill to admire all the red, white and blue, spent time with friends, churched on sunday and watched the fireworks over the washington monument on the rooftop of josh's office building that evening.

and it was quite a nice weekend. hope your 4th was lovely! god bless america.