Hi friends. I had one of the best weeks I can remember because the eclipse was so incredible and we’ve had some exciting adoption developments (which I will share SOON). Life is good!
Here are 10 things I am loving right now …
1. We’re prepping for a weekend trip for New Orleans. Anyone have any must-see spots for us?
2. The ultimate gold statement earrings.
3. Just ordered a couple little dresses from this Etsy shop. It’s SO CUTE.
4. I wasn’t able to find a spot in my home OR my Airbnb project for this amazing wallpaper. Someone please, please use it in my honor. It’s so pretty!
5. In preparation for our essential oils launch, I am making everyone on our team read this book. I cannot recommend it highly enough if you’re interested in essential oils … even a little bit interested! I learned so much!
6. This blanket is BEYOND pretty. My home already has plenty, so I’m just window shopping for you all now … haha!
7. How to edit your photos with Flashes Of Delight filters. So good!
8. Rainbow printable notebooks!
9. A cute hanging planter basket. When people ask me where I bought something in my home I’m always like, “Amazon” … “Amazon” … “Amazon”. Haha!
10. We’re still on the fence about a babymoon … but thinking Tulum. Does anyone have hotel suggestions? Thinking we want something on the water, close to lots of food so we can just be lazy and relax.
And a couple things I want to mention:
– Our wishlist page is so full of pretty things right now. Jacki has been updating it like crazy. Go see!
– A Color Story DESKTOP is here!!!! I just deleted all the other actions and presets I have used for years— these are SO amazing and we are so proud of them (I can brag because other talented people on our team created them!).
– Get some cute FREE downloads when you pre-order our cookbook. Info here!
– Laura keeps asking me what theme I want for our baby shower. I have NO IDEA. Any ideas??
Love you all. We have a LOT planned for fall that we have been working toward all year. Your support means the world to us! xx – Elsie
34 Comments
That dinosaur dress from RockyRaccoon is just the sweetest! My friend is expecting a little baby girl in February so I’ll definitely be stocking up on all the nerdy girl things!
So happy that you guys are coming up with so many new products and even a cookbook. You truly deserve all of it! 🙂
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We spent a wonderful week at Om Tulum, its right on the beach and they serve great food 🙂 we ate sooo much guacamole! Our friends got married there on the beach and it was pretty magical! http://www.omtulum.com
It’s great to hear there are some developments, finally! So thrilled for you!
Audubon Park is great to walk around, plenty of nature w/o being in the swamps 🙂 My personal favorite street in the quarter is Royal. I love walking it in the evening with all the beautiful gas lamps and street lights. They have a chandelier shop and a gas lamp shop that’s basically an alley lined with beautiful gas lamps. Definitely eat Vietnamese while there, NOLA Vietnamese is the best! (Magasin Kitchen is a good one or my favorite is 9 Roses.) Also, Dat Dog is delicious! All the shops along Magazine are fun to walk through. I also think its fun to take the street car the length of St. Charles and just get a chance to look at everything( the very beginning is regular stores, but a little further it gets good!) Also, you could take the ferry across to Algiers Point and have breakfast at Tout de Suite -on the weekends there’s usually people playing music. Algeirs Point also has tons of colorful shotgun house lined streets to walk along. They have the best ginger and black pepper cookies! NOLA is such a wonderful place!
I love New Orleans! I’ve lived here for about five years now and there are so many great places. You can’t go wrong on Freret St (between Jefferson and Napoleon). It’s a short strip so you can hit a few places quickly. You’ll find Cure, Bar Frances, Freret Beer Room (their cheese wedge and a pint deal is my favorite) among SO MANY others.
Bakery Bar in the Lower Garden District is currently my favorite bar in the city – they have great cocktails and they make desserts on site! I hope you have so much fun! It’s really a great city.
Love hearing about all these exciting projects! And I’m all for the babymoon…I’m not even married yet and I’m already set on a babymoon hehe. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden in City Park was a big highlight of our trip last spring – its free, shaded and gorgeous! Also conveniently right next to the art museum if you want to visit that too and City Park in and of itself is beautiful with a bunch of attractions and events. I believe the Canal St streetcar line has a stop at NOMA so you can take an hour to visit the sculpture garden on the same line as the French Quarter or the St. Louis Cemetaries.
Flamingo theme.
I say a magical Forrest theme for the baby shower! I just keep picturing a cute cake with little forest animals on top
OMG!
The water in Tulum is freaking BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!
I wanted to stay there and was so bummed when we had to leave.
My bf and I stayed in Cancun in the Zona Hotelera at the riu peninsula where the beach water was amazing crystal clear blue. His brother and gf stayed closer to tulum but the beach water wasn’t as clean. And tulum is really busy with people (might be different if youre staying at a hotel. You might have your own access to another part of the beach) where as we basically had the beach to ourselves. So I would definitely look into that. From us to there its about an hour drive. Not sure if renting a car interest you. But you should if you can. …..and if you’re down for excursions, definitely recommend xplor. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!
I have a blog post on my blog juuust in cass you want to look!
But also, Chelsea Foy just went to Suyalita and that place looks beautiful too!
The State department just issued a warning for Tulum! Check it out!
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I went to New Orleans last year and fell DEEP in love with the city. District Donuts is a must-visit and the Glassworks and Printmaking studio on Magazine has some beautiful stuff. Ooh and we stumbled upon the Louisiana Loom Works where there are many beautiful rugs! Oh gosh and Surrey’s for breakfast- I dream about the bananas foster French toast and they have local art on the walls. Enjoy your trip!
I absolutely adore Suenos Tulum! It’s further down the beach road (so quiet) but still in walking distance to great food. The staff and owners are amazing. The buildings are hand crafted using traditional building techniques and the design is great. It’s also kid friendly so you can return some day with your little one. We’ve stayed three times. Once just my husband and again with one kid and then two! https://www.suenostulum.com/
Have fun in New Orleans! It’s my favorite city to visit and I highly recommend The Spotted Cat for great music! When we threw my sister’s baby shower, we stuck to a color theme, and kept the decor and food focused on that. The hit was a table with onesies and baby tees and baby leggings with a ton of fabric pens and markers – everyone had fun coloring and decorating the baby’s clothes.
A Preservation Hall show is not to be missed in NOLA. Frenchman street has a few quirky places to stay and overall is my favorite street. Enjoy!
I live in New Orleans and my first tip is please, please be conscientious of SAFETY. Please.
It is a wonderful place to visit and you most likely will have a beautiful, memorable trip, but there are a few things to be aware of:
Please do not make the mistake of walking long distances because “it’s perfect weather” or ” we will see more that way.” New Orleans is city of varied neighborhoods and there really isn’t a destination in New Orleans that you can walk to from uptown or the french quarter where you wouldn’t also have to walk through a sketchy and completely unsafe neighborhood first. We have shootings in broad daylight down here. You need to stick to areas where you will be safe like the quarter, the shopping districts of Magazine street, City Park in Midcity (art museum/sculpture garden/beignets @ Morning Call, etc.) the
Bywater, St. Charles/Audubon park, Oak street shopping district and that pretty much sums it up.
If it is night time please do not walk anywhere, use uber, it’s safe and easy. No matter what anyone says, just do not walk anywhere at night. As far as being *out* at night, there are three neighborhoods where you can mingle relatively safely, but still at your own risk. The French Quarter from the river front all the way to Bourbon, from Iberville all the way to Barracks is pretty ok, but if a street feels isolated or is empty of people walking around, AVOID it. Just be aware of your environment and be *smart*.
Frenchman Street and Magazine Street can be ok places to be at night as long as you stay in the populated areas of restaurants/bars/shops.
As far as recommendations:
Shaya is like the pinacle of goodness: http://www.shayarestaurant.com/
Bywater Bakery is fun/cute: https://www.bywaterbakery.com/
Croissant D’or is a classic, can’t miss: http://www.croissantdornola.com/
Turkey and the Wolf just made Food and Wine’s restaurant of the year list and it’s super casual: http://www.turkeyandthewolf.com/
Bacchanal is the quintessential New Orleans laid back but delicious experience, with live music, if the weather permits as it’s outdoor seating: http://www.bacchanalwine.com/
The Cake Cafe for breakfast/brunch, doesn’t get better, get the shrimp & grits or the biscuits & gravy: https://nolacakes.com/
For romance either Paladar 511 or Sylvain, make reservations :
http://www.paladar511.com/
https://www.sylvainnola.com/
For the New Orleans dining experience just do Commander’s Palace, you won’t regret it and nothing compares:
http://www.commanderspalace.com/
And for poboys: http://parkwaypoorboys.com/
Oh! if you need some smoothies to feel a little healthy-http://greenforknola.com/
And if you need the best coffee, Mammoth Espresso, Stumptown Roasters & French Truck
http://mammothespresso.com/
https://www.stumptowncoffee.com/
https://frenchtruckcoffee.com/
Classy little easy spots for cocktails, Cane & Table, DTB NOLa, Cure, The Mayhaw:
http://caneandtablenola.com/
https://www.dtbnola.com/
http://curenola.com/
https://www.facebook.com/themayhaw/
Seriously, there are waaaaay more places to go and enjoy, this is just my can’t miss list of tried and trues that I take folks to from out of town. But on the other hand, if you miss these places u are missing out, lol!
For shopping:
Blue Dream-https://www.facebook.com/pg/bluedreamvintage/about/
Century girl-https://www.centurygirlvintage.com/
Trashy Diva-http://www.trashydiva.com/
Magazine Street upper and lower shopping districts
Roaming the French Quarter
Just remember, be smart, take ubers and you will have a BLAST down here, it’s amazing.
I love the idea of the flamingo theme that someone mentioned; I also saw a super cute unicorn theme on pinterest and an indoor garden party theme! Also, you could do a winter-themed shower since that’s her name (but no Frozen characters 😉 🙂
New Orleans-You need to go to bacchanal. It’s amazing. It’s owned by a few restaurant owners and it’s such a magical experience! They have live music every night. And what you do is buy wine and cheese from the front store and then they will plate it for you and take it out back where they have sting lights and beautiful music, so good.
I’ve always loved lists of recent finds like this. Nice wallpaper store and hanging planter.
Check out Frenchman Street in New Orleans! Tons of really cool jazz spots over there. Not on the main touristy strip which is nice to slip away from (Spotted Cat Music Club and d.b.a.)
This shower idea is not super unique but I loved it and my son is 5 and we still cherish all of the books we were given. It was a library theme. The invites were old library cards. Everyone was asked to give a book instead of a greeting card and they were given a sticker to put inside of it to write a message to Henry (my son). He loves reading the messages and talking about all the people who were so excited for his arrival. My mom and sister went above and beyond with all of the food being book themed (fruit tray from Hungary Catapillar, cookies from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie…..) and the decorations. But the best part is seeing him light up when we read the special messages on the book plates. Which you could probably still do with any theme. I’m excited for you!
Definitely head to Frenchman Street, instead of Bourbon Street. Throughout the year Frenchman street sometimes has an artisan market on Friday nights–it makes for a great night out, with great music, and friends!
And if you can make it to Algiers Point, there’s a great little brunch place called “Tout De Suite”.
You have to hit up Frenchman street. The Blue Nile is one of my favorite bars that always has a variety of live music. There’s also an open air art market that’s tucked into a little alley on Frenchman. And make sure and hit up Cafe Du Monde.. I know it’s a bit touristy, but it’s 100% worth it.
Oooh, I’ve only been to New Orleans once, but it was so fun!
We got a tip from a local to go to Frenchman St, which is not too far from Bourbon St but is where all the locals go. It has all the live music, dancing, and restaurants that Bourbon does, but it’s much less rowdy and icky. (I was on Bourbon during the day and it still smelled terrible honestly.) So I preferred Frenchman cause I’m secretly 90 😉
And we stumbled on a bookstore called The French Library that sells French children’s books — it was ADORABLE! They had French classics like the Madeleine series and The Little Prince along with French versions of books originally published in English. I had a hard time not buying one of everything! Totally worth a visit if you get a chance. 🙂
These aren’t hotels, but in Tulum you MUST eat at Hartwood and Kitchen Table. I had two of the best meals I have ever eaten!
You ladies are staying so busy and I can’t wait for the launch of your essential oils!! =o)
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OMG I’m so excited to see your baby shower theme in action. The “party” posts from you guys are some of my absolute favorites. How to throw a rockin’ party…future book idea? 😉
Such wonderful links! So excited for your update and all the babyshower planning. Those baby clothes are super cute! Glad to hear you’re on cloud 9!
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What if you did a “theme” after Winter’s name? Not totally like snowflakes and fake snow everywhere, but pussy willows (which are actually used a lot in Chinese tradition!) and fluffy white rabbits.
For New Orleans, I love everything! The same more traditional/touristy stuff we’ve always done is just as much fun as trying out new things!
This last trip I visited family, and tried the Cheesy Cajun for breakfast and it was amazing, and we also went to Tujague’s for dinner, Tommy’s Cuisine for dinner, and Angeline for brunch–they’ve all been there forever but we just never made it over there before. Also, Sucre sells amazing sweets. They used to be on Magazine, not sure if they still are. I love Cafe du Monde for sentimental reasons, but my aunt and cousin swear by Cafe Beignet. Also love Acme’s chargrilled oysters. And If you can, visit Grandmother’s Buttons over off Magazine, beautiful clothing and fun housewares, but their specialty is incredible handmade jewelry made from antique buttons. Be sure to hit the French Market and wander around the shops nearby– I love the variety of styles and items I can find there. Marie Laveau’s and Lafitte’s tavern must be seen to be believed. A friend took photos around Mme. Lalaurie’s, and about 9 kinds of creepy showed up on her images, so next time I’d like to check that out. I highly recommend the Carousel Bar, again, maybe it’s a touristy thing, but it’s a blast and the drinks are great. Whatever y’all do, you’ll have a great time and make wonderful memories!
Also– Natchitoches, St. Francisville, and Baton Rouge all have lots to offer, too, and don’t get the attention their flashy sister NOLA does, so if you ever have time, get a meat pie on a quiet Sunday afternoon by the River-Lake in Natchitoches!
So I haven’t been yet, but i’m DYING to stay at http://betulum.com/
Do a garden gnome theme!! It is so cute and unique!
xoxo
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