new orleans

New Orleans was never on my radar to visit. It's not that I had anything against it, rather it wasn't a place I thought of to put on my list of must-sees.

But when a family friend gave us a free week at a condo in Nola and I began to research, I started to get excited. I had mistakenly thought the city was all Bourbon Street, but in reality, that one stretch of road is only a tiny slice of the cultural and historic city.

We stayed just a block outside the French Quarter and put some major mileage in walking -- mainly -- to places to eat. New Orleans is a food city and they have some incredible innovative local places that we tried to hit up in addition to the fried food that the Quarter offered.

I think the reason I like New Orleans so much is because of its local flavor. Whenever I go to a city, I want to eat at local places and shop at local-owned shops; I want to explore where the city residents go -- not just the tourist destinations or chain restaurants. In a city like New Orleans, there are plenty of tourist-y spots, but we were able to dig out some hidden gems as well.

Special thanks to the Nola city guide at Design*Sponge and Joy the Baker.

I'm listing some of our favorite things from this trip:

tourist-y activities: laura plantation // swamp tour // renting bikes to ride to city park // cemetery tours

eat- dinner: la petite grocery (my favorite meal) // cochon // royal house // felix // beignets!

eat- breakfast: merchant // surrey cafe and juice bar

drinks: organic banana in the french market (for fresh fruit daiquiris!) // tonique

nightlife: maison was our favorite for local music (and the rest of frenchmen street)

shop: stg in the french quarter // shops near jackson and magazine street

Now we're trying to consider what American city we should hit up in the next year or two. The husband thinks Austin, I'm leaning Nashville, or we both are considering about an East Coast tour of Boston + New York. Orrrr Italy. I want to go to Italy. ;)

xo, erika

I saw London

 layering in London: blouse: JC Penney // sweater: Madewell (two years ago) // jacket, jeans: Nordstrom // boots: ebay

As you may know, I went on a little trip. And now that I've returned, I was considering how many photos, how many blog posts would I dedicate to my trip?

I asked someone and they wisely told me, "Erika, it's your blog. You went to Europe and you don't have kids, so you need something to blab on about."

So it's decided: I'm going to blab on for a bit about Europe for a few posts. I hope you stick around, but if not, I get it. :)

The husband and I spent a total of five days in London, and they were split between two short trips. Overall, my thought on London was 1) it was very cold 2) it was very expensive.

When we were there, they were having the coldest March on record. It snowed a few times and the temperatures rarely hit above 40. The gloves I bought our first day there ended up being my best purchase the entire trip.

Despite the weather, we had a great time and nerded out over all the touristy-history things. Our favorites? The Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and the two soccer...er football games we attended.

Here's a few photos from our trip: 

 

 

Tomorrow- France!

xo, erika

surprises

europe bus scroll via TransitDesign

the people who know my husband know one thing about him.
The guy cannot keep a secret.

Or, as he qualifies, he doesn't like keeping fun secrets. Like when he proposed to me, nearly all of my friends, his coworkers, random people on the street, knew about it before I did. It was pretty astonishing I didn't know. 

When I came home this week and he told me that he could no longer keep my Christmas present a secret, I wasn't too surprised. He's been dropping hints about it for months and telling me I can't get him anything big. So of course I'm curious but I like surprises and I don't mind waiting for them. 

So he attacks me with the box, trying to thrust it into my hands.

 

"Open it! Open it!" he says.

 

I am backing away. 

 

"No no no! I want to wait! I don't want to open the gift." I tell him over and over. 

 

He finally told me it was "time sensitive."

 

I open it and inside is a neck pillow...

 

but beneath it is a printout and in little font it tells me that at the end of March, he and I are going to London via Icelandair.  For 15 days. 

We are going to Europe. 

I can not even tell you how excited I am. Emoticons and this blog post just don't do it justice.  

 

Europe! 

 

And living in Seattle where everything is barely older than 100 years old (and even that's hard to find), going to a place where art, history and people have been living for centuries... oh my nerdy, history-lovin' heart can hardly take it. 

The best part is that nothing is planned. Just the plane ride in and the plane ride home. Otherwise-- blank slate. Which is why I am asking for advice. 

Obviously, obviously, we are going into France, just because, well I freakin' love France and need to go there again. 

 

But I need to know: Scotland or Ireland? Belgium? Belgium chocolate, beer and waffles? Switzerland? Is Italy too far? 

 

Where are the best parts of London? (I'm kind of overwhelmed by London.) 

 

What are cheap things, great things, must-dos?

I do know the few things I am going to do:

 

- go the marche aux puces (the largest flea market in Paris)

- buy myself pain au chocolat and a cafe au lait and people watch from a sidewalk cafe. 

- go to westminister abbey 

- drink beer in an ancient, ancient pub

- try and spot the royals walking the streets

- pretend I'm in a Jane Austin movie in the English countryside

but I need details, and suggestions. So help?

paris. I will see you soon.

 

xo, erika 

what to bring on a trip

Packing for Hawaii looks much better than packing for anywhere else. 

Everything is a bright color!

Here are my travel necessities:

Source: picasaweb.google.com via Erika on Pinterest

   earplugs

   a good book (or two or three! I just picked up "The Postmistress." Has anyone read it?)

   downloaded podcasts on the ol' iPhone (I'm a TOTAL NERD and love love love "This American Life")

   book of crosswords* (I can't do Soduko)

   plane snacks like almonds or dried fruit

   cash money money--especially quarters. You never know when you'll need a quarter.

   a comfy sweatshirt-- planes are always freezing

What do you pack when you go on vacation? 

Source: charmingitaly.com via Erika on Pinterest

*so I could not think of the name of crossword puzzles and had to describe it to my husband. "It's not a word scramble...it's like Scrabble, they're in newspapers?" Luckily the husband is used to me grasping at words. "Sometimes," he told me, "I think you're so smart you out-think yourself." aw thanks hubby!

p.s. Please note that all orders placed in my shop from June 28 (today) through July 6th will not ship out until July 8th. Thanks for your understanding! :)