our Canadian adventure, part II: Jasper

our Canadian adventure, part I: Banff

♪ Carolina in the Morning ♪

We just returned from a 5 day stay in the mountains of North Carolina. We were hoping for lots of snow, but the weather didn't cooperate haha...We did manage to find some patches of snow when we drove north for a ways. It was little A's first time seeing snow and she loved it! She wanted to bring a snowball with her in the car. I absolutely love walking through the woods here and driving through the foggy mountain roads.

Sweet Home Alabama

Last week we took our yearly trip to my hometown, Montgomery, AL. Unfortunately a lot of our plans had to be cancelled due to sickness; little A had a nasty cold and there was a stomach bug that was passed through the family...but we still got to visit with some dear friends and family, so it wasn't all bad :) I miss the cooler weather up there so much! I forgot to take my Nikon camera so there are just a few pictures from my phone, including a little outfit shoot:

                                  

                                  

                                  

                                  

                     

                                   

                                 

                     

                     

                                    

{outfit details}

sweater: urban outfitters

slip dress and sunglasses: free people

leggings: ebay

Maine Trip, part 2: PORTLAND

"Yes. Life's good here". That is Portland's slogan and I can see why. We enjoyed exploring this city. Lovely architecture with lots of very old brick buildings, gorgeous lighthouses, Casco Bay, tree-lined streets with plenty of unique shops, and soo much good food! I think Congress Street was my favorite downtown area, it had several eclectic/vintage stores and an amazing little co-op restaurant called Local Sprouts. Their kombucha was out of this world. The Portland Headlight was such a fun stop too, postcard beautiful. Here are a few of my favorite pics:

Maine Trip, part 1: ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

Last week we returned from our vacation in Maine. It was my first time visiting and I absolutely loved it! Beautiful scenery and amazing food :) This trip was also little A's first time on a plane, and she did pretty well overall...A few tantrums on the way back but it was naptime. I bought several little toys from the dollar tree store and brought them out one at a time as needed, and we had lollipops and plenty of snacks which helped. I am sharing here some (ok, a ton of) pictures from the first 7 days of our trip which we spent in Acadia National Park. It was so incredibly picturesque I filled up 2 memory cards, which is a bit much, even for me lol! I highly recommend visiting the park if you have the opportunity, especially in autumn. It's really difficult to pick a favorite spot in the park, but a few of my must-see places were Bass Harbor Lighthouse, Jordan Pond, Ocean Path, Dorr Mountain trail, Hunter's Beach (technically outside of the park but still on Mt. Desert Island, off of Cooksey Drive), Thunderhole, and of course Cadillac Mountain. Also, my favorite places to eat in Bar Harbor were This Way Cafe (quirky cute place with bookshelves lining the walls and some good vegetarian options) and Morning Glory Bakery (seriously good quiche and homemade chai).

Europe trip part 2: Paris

day 6 continued: we arrived in Paris, checked into our hotel and strolled around Montmartre, which was where our hotel was located. We had a gorgeous view of the city from our room. Next we headed over to Champ Élysées and window shopped, and of course picked up a crepe from a street vendor to hold us over til we made it to LaDuree for the best macarons ever! I had pretty high expectations and they did not disappoint! It was really hard to choose with all the lovely colors/flavors available, but I managed to narrow it down to: Marie Antionette (a lovely aqua blue), pistachio, orange blossom and rose. At dusk, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower and hung out there for awhile and got to see the light show, sooo pretty! 

Europe trip part I: Amsterdam

Sorry about the long absence from the blog! My husband and I took our first overseas trip together for our 8th anniversary. It was a lovely getaway and we saw so many great sights (and ohh, the food!) I will be posting a recap of the trip in two segments...

The first place we went was Amsterdam. Our journey went like this:

day one: We explored the city, went to eat at a cute little place called Pancakes!, checked out some vintage shops, and just took in the beautiful canal houses and bridges, especially as they lit up in the evening. We found a great vegetarian/vegan cafe for dinner, de bolhoed.

Alabama Trip

About a week and a half ago, my mom, little A and I took a little road trip to my hometown of Montgomery, Alabama to see family and friends. It was a nice little getaway, and we got to see some more fall colors too :)  I loved the ginkgo trees! Here are a few of my favorite pics... (anytime I see a cool vintage sign, I absolutely have to stop and photograph it!)

Family Vacation

So I've been missing from the blog for awhile because we took a family vacation, and then as soon as we got back everyone got sick with a cold... We drove to Asheville, North Carolina to see the autumn colors along the Blue Ridge Parkway, something I had been wanting to do for years. And the leaves did not disappoint! It was gorgeous. We hiked in the mountains every day and it was so nice to get away. We went to Mount Mitchell State Park, Pisgah National Forest, Nantahala National Forest, Craggy Gardens, Skinny Dip Falls, Upper Whitewater Falls, and more. We did some apple picking at Justus Orchards. Little one did pretty good in the car too, as long as she had her snacks, books, and magna-doodle :)

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip: