summer in seattle part II

this family reunion is no joke. we are on day 2 of 3 and i've already forgotten about 54 of the 55 new names i've learned since thursday night. seriously, name tags are a lifesaver in this situation.

yesterday morning involved a duck boat tour - have you ever done one of those? it was... a lot. i mean, i certainly learned a ton about seattle, but i was exhausted on behalf of the tour guide at the end of the hour and a half. he was... intense. luckily, it was a gorgeous day, so after a little sight-seeing, we helped blake's parents set up for a big salmon bbq at the yacht club for dinner. it was so gorgeous out, even mt. rainier made an appearance! another day of boat tours and dinners today (and perhaps an afternoon pit stop at the nordstrom anniversary sale?). wish me luck.

p.s. i did a guest post over at the daily tay today! be sure to say hi if you're new around here.

view from the 34th floor of the hotel we're staying in downtown

yacht club flag

if you squint, you can see mt. rainier in the back there

not a terrible view. 

thoughts on thursday: dads, striped flowers, and barre

another thursday, another look at what's floating around in my brain! most of the beginning of this week was spent fighting through the haze of jet lag and working to stay up past 8pm, but i think we're past the worst of it. on to some random thoughts, as hosted by nat and annie as usual! go check out their blogs, they are super cute.

dads
you know who's great? dads. let me brag on mine for a minute here. he lives down near sacramento, and drove up to seattle on tuesday to drop off his car so we could use it to drive down to california in a few weeks, which will save us a couple hundred bucks on plane tickets. then wednesday morning, we dropped him off at the train station, where he hopped on a 20 hour train back to sacramento. i mean, really. dads. just the best. we also had a blast introducing him to blake's parents for the first time. we BBQed out on the deck, drank way too much wine, watched the sunset, and laughed a lot. it was amazing. hooray dads!

flowers. that are striped. striped flowers. 
just look at these!! they're on blake's parents' deck and i am obsessed. i have never seen striped flowers! and we all know how i feel about stripes. ahhhhmazing.

barre3 classes
so i'm a yoga fanatic, and have practiced regularly for the past four  years or so. i'm going to try my first barre class here in seattle in a few days, and i'd love to hear if anyone is a big fan and has advice for first-timers? excited for a new work-out, but i fear i'll fall in love with it and my checking account will not be thrilled.

hair chop
oh sweet baby jesus, i am counting the minutes til monday at 1pm when i get my haircut. it is a total disaster. here's what i'm showing the stylist as inspiration. stay tuned to see just how close we can get in reality...

this weekend, we're attending a family reunion for blake's dad's side of the family. about 50 people are coming to seattle, and there are all kinds of events starting tonight and going through sunday morning. i'm sure a lot of great stories will emerge, and i can already tell i'll need a vacation to recover! stand by for a full report in a few days...

summer in seattle part i

26 hours of travel, four large lauderee macarons, three movies, two flights, and one $15 glass of wine in the montreal airport later, we made it. not quite "home"... actually, i'm not really sure where "home" would be right now... but we're back in the us of a. woohoo 'merica!

our "home" for the next three weeks is with blake's parents in seattle, and i am already loving our rhythm here (apart from it being impossible to keep my eyes open after 8pm and waking up at 4am). it's such a relief to be working normal hours and being done at 5pm to enjoy the rest of the afternoon and evening. i foresee lots of bbqs, morning runs by the water, boat rides, and dinners watching the sunset on the deck in our future. luckily, la is a powerful lure, otherwise we might get too comfy in this routine and never leave.

just snapped a few pics of our first sunrise and sunset over lake washington. it's so breathtakingly beautiful here! anyone have seattle must-dos or must-eats while we're in town?

bonjour au paris!

oh don't mind me, just spending an afternoon in paris, waiting out a quick thunderstorm in our airbnb rental in the marais. we've already been to two cafes, had plenty of rosé, and now we're gearing up for dinner. next time i write, it will be from north america! craaaaaazy. oh, and we had to say goodbye to dylan. dislike very much.

one final belly rub for our favorite great dane.  

the skies were blue when we arrived!

the view from our apartment. 

and yes, i've already had a pistachio macaron from pierre herme. i mean. whattttt. so good.

sad to bid farewell to our french adventure, but can't wait to be back in the states. see ya on the flip side!

zee perfect omelette

since we've been in france, i've been obsessed with perfecting a breakfast omelette. we are big egg eaters, and usually do some variation of eggs and veggies in the morning, but omelettes always struck me as super fancy and difficult. maybe it's something in the air, but i think i've finally nailed this elusive oeuf dish (yes, it' much more fun to call them oeufs instead of eggs. just say it out loud and you'll get it). so break out your nonstick pan and give it a shot!

zucchini omelette (for one)

- 1 zucchini, chopped
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil (or butter)
- Salt and Pepper
- 3 eggs
- 3 slices of tomato
- 1/4 cup of diced ham (optional)
- Avocado (optional)

start by buying a kilo of zucchini at the grocery store for about 50 cents because july. then choose one and chop it up.

heat up about a tablespoon of the olive oil on medium-high heat and add the zucchini along with a pinch of salt and pepper. sauté for about 8-10 minutes. i like my zucchini verging on burnt (don't ask), so if you like yours a little less well done, just keep an eye on it.

once it's done, take it off the heat and put it in a bowl for later. now you can assemble the rest of the cast of characters!

put the pan back on the stove with the other tablespoon of olive oil or butter and heat it up on medium-low heat. whisk together the eggs with another pinch of salt and pepper and then pour into the pan. if some ham tickles your fancy, go ahead and sprinkle it on top of the eggs and throw a cover on top of the pan for about 3-4 minutes.

once it starts to firm up, start feeling around the edges with a spatula to see if it's done enough to flip. freak out a little and take a deep breath. close your eyes, say a quick prayer to julia child, then remember that it's probably better to keep your eyes open, and just go for it. you just flipped an omelette, hooray!

once you've recovered from that anxiety, throw a few slices of tomato and the cooked zucchini on one half of the eggs.

it only needs to cook for about 30 seconds on this side, so once it's done, use your spatula to fold it in half and slide it out of the pan onto a plate.

give yourself a pat on the back for not ripping it on the way out!

add a little sliced avocado (with some salt because french avocados don't taste like anything at all and it's really sad) and a perfectly ripe peach or two on the side.

the last and final step is the most important, so pay close attention. eat outside on the patio of a french garden with a lounging great dane on the lawn beside you.

et voila! c'est magnifique.

thoughts for thursday: beachy waves, groceries, and sneakers

happy thursday! it's our last day here in semur alone, as dylan's "real" father comes home tomorrow, and then we take the train into paris on saturday afternoon! hello wine, macarons, and steak frites. yes please. here's what's on my mind this week.

drunk history

um, what? have you watched this? i am obsessed. i heard the concept a few months ago and completely dismissed it, thinking it sounded like the dumbest show ever. but we've stayed up late the last few nights watching episodes on amazon prime (thank you amazon prime!), and i cannot get enough. i mean, not only is it educational, or something, it's hysterical. take 5 minutes of your day and watch this clip and i dare you to not want to watch more.

this is a sea salt spray

i love davines hair products, and i just ordered some of my favorite shampoo and conditioner to be delivered to seattle and await my arrival. i was looking for some styling products too, as i'm constantly in search of a potion for the perfect beachy waves, and came across this spray. i haven't used it yet, but i just wanted to give them a standing ovation for the name. there's a whole line of "this is a" products. i love a company with a sense of humor.

sneakers

speaking of ordering things online and having them delivered to seattle, i snagged these sweet sneakers for $35 from j.crew the other day. did you catch their 50% off the final sale code? i know, i know, this month's goal is to save, but what i neglected to mention is that another goal is to have really cool shoes and to take advantage of great sales. so it all evens out.

whole foods

true story: grocery shopping is probably my favorite hobby. and whole foods is my happy place. sorry i'm not sorry. there was a new one opening literally a block from our apartment in nyc, and if it had opened while we lived there, i honestly don't think we would have ever moved. anyways. it's been almost two months since i've been able to stock up on kale and coconut water (cry me a river, i know), and with a trip looming early next week, my dream two nights ago was literally just me grocery shopping. walking up and down the aisles. putting things in the cart. that was it. no other action, just me grocery shopping. yeah, it's a little sad, but what can i say?

blake + dylan

i'm not quite sure how to tell these two that we're leaving in two days...

linking up with nat and annie again! check out their blogs and say hi!

gallery wall additions

our living room gallery wall in our nyc apartment was one of my favorite parts of our home.

i can't wait to recreate it once we get a place in la (in december...). but i've been finding some cool pieces of art to add on and revamp it. here's what i've got my eye on for gallery wall 2.0.

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

i love looking on west elm, minted, youshouldbuyart.com, and etsy for prints, but let me know if you have any other good sources i should check out!

our weekend was: the get me outta here edition

ok, i realize i will garner little to no sympathy for this post, but we are ready with a capital R to be on that plane back home. i'm hoping this week flies by, and for the love of god, stops raining (for those of you keeping track at home, we're now at 10 straight days of rain). if i can spend our last week back out in the garden, getting some vitamin d, that will make things a whole lot easier.

we were in desperate need of a trip out of town, but we didn't get our act together to leave until mid-afternoon on saturday. so we drove to beaune, which is a (wait for it) very picturesque little village about 45 minutes away, and walked around for a bit for a change of scenery.

just a castle in the distance as we were driving. because france. 

one great thing about being surrounded by so much wine is visiting beaune in the afternoon, and then drinking a bottle of local red in the evening. i still can't get over how cheap and delicious the wine is here... i guess it's "world-renowned" or something for a reason.

and it's bastille day today, so we're gonna go explore this evening to see how they celebrate! i'll be wearing my new french espadrilles which i purchased for 4 euros... at the grocery store. i mean, what a deal!

oh, and how about those germans last night?? so excited, but wishing i was there to celebrate!

what did you get up to this weekend?

west elm sale picks

let's pretend for a minute that we had an apartment in la already... and didn't have to wait til december to scratch my decorating itch. weirdly, i doubt our subletter would be super thrilled if she came home after four months to a totally redone space. i mean, whatever.

but back to this fantasy apartment... i'd be going nuts at the west elm sale right now, especially because it's an extra 25% off. here's what i'd be picking up for us. feel free to shop on my behalf and let me know how it goes!

dot medallion duvet cover / freeman storage unit / courtyard wool dhurrie / bamboo laundry hamper / claudia pearson dog plates / chevron crewel pillow covers

happy beachaversary!

three years ago today, this cool and cute guy i knew from work texted me on a day off, asking if i wanted to take a day trip to the beach with him. i said yes, and the rest is history. it's been 1,095 days since then, and he's made me laugh at least 1,095 times (actually, probably more).

we're spending today in gray and rainy burgundy, but we've got lots of beautiful california beach days (and free 7/11 slurpees) ahead of us. happy beachaversary, blake!

our first new years together in 2012 and one of my fave pics of us.

thoughts for thursday: rain, gene kelly, and bikes

closing in on our last week here in semur, which is mind-boggling! our time here seemed to stretch endlessly ahead of us when we first arrived, and the days are long but the weeks are blurring together. yesterday, i took a shower, got dressed in clothes other than yoga pants, and put on make-up just to go to the grocery store for a handful of things. yeah, i think we're just not cut out for country living...

linking up again with nat and annie on thoughts for thursday! you should too!

it has seriously been raining here since friday. that's six days. not on and off, and not nice summer storms in the evening. it's been gray, rainy, and 50 degrees and we are going a little stir crazy. july in france feels a lot like november in new york! but this dreamy forecast for seattle is keeping me going... hopefully it stays that gorgeous for our three weeks there and we get lots of time out on the water.

the view from blake's parents' house... cannot wait to be on that deck!

the big 3-0!

just 67 days until i come to the end of my twenties. i'm pretty much the last person in my group of friends to make it to that milestone birthday, and i can't say i have much anxiety about it. bring it on, new decade! my twenties certainly saw a LOT of action, and if i told 20 year old meghan what the decade in front of her held, i doubt she would have believed me. but being older and wiser is never a bad thing, and i'm so excited about what i'll look back on in another ten years.

to celebrate, blake and i just booked a weekend getaway in my favorite vacation spot, palm springs. yes, i am actually a ninety year old woman masquerading as an almost-30 year old. we've been twice before and when we first decided to move to la, being closer to palm springs was definitely high up on the list of 'pros'.

just a little weekend drive

i never really understood what it meant to "go to the city" for a day trip when you live out in the middle of nowhere/a historic but tiny village in burgundy... until this weekend, when we ventured into dijon and were immediately overwhelmed by traffic, stores, restaurants, and other humans. so many of them! it felt like we were crawling out of a cave into the daylight. yes, that's right, two former new yorkers were overwhelmed by a city of like 150,000.

so overwhelmed in fact, that as we wandered around the main street, browsed in shops, and treated ourselves to sandwiches and macarons (hey, it was like a vacation!), that i didn't take any pictures. i was too excited and distracted by the fact that i found unsweetened almond milk at a grocery store, and proceeded to buy up their entire stock. woooo!!!

anyways, we took the long way home through the incredibly beautiful vineyards of burgundy. there's a road called the 'route des grands crus", which basically translates into the road of the great wines. it's dotted with villages and vineyards and is basically stunningly gorgeous. sadly, we didn't really have much time to stop and taste any wines, but don't feel too bad for us, as we're well stocked with local bottles at home. it was threatening to storm all day, but the rain held off long enough for a few pics along the way.

top five things i'm excited about in la

in just over a month, we will be rolling into la with just a few suitcases, ready to take on the world. that makes it eight months from the original idea percolating to actually making it happen... and during those eight months, i've had a lot to get excited about. here's what i'm most looking forward to about living in los angeles.

1. weather. duh.

this could probably be numbers 1 through 10, i am that excited about the sunshine. i truly thought i was in it for the long haul with new york city, and never really pictured living anywhere else, until this winter and the phrase "polar vortex" entered my vocabulary. as i'm typing this wearing shorts in july with freckled arms, it's almost a distant memory. but those long dark days of february made it really easy to say goodbye to nyc and hello to year-round 70 degree days.

nope. nope. nope. no more.