{quotable thursdays}

Insanely busy around here, so this will be brief & to the point:

{Beau Tapplin, unstoppable}

onwards, 

xo

L

{Bank Holiday weekend}

I had a fantastic break at my cousins this past Bank Holiday weekend. We went to Wrest Park, once the home to Earl de Grey as well as the Duke of Kent. It's extremely well-known in garden history as it offers a collection of a range of European gardens, modelled on some of the most famous (such as Versailles)... & Capability Brown even put his mark on the sprawling landscape.
It's certainly a feast for the eyes and a lovely place to go for a stroll, discovering little follies in the vast grounds. The pictures say it all:

{trompe l'oeil in the pavilion}

{pet cemetary}

xo,
L

{quotable thursdays}

{great words from Tolkien}

We can waste time, we can also make good use of it. But there's a time to work hard, a time to relax, and a time to enjoy what is around us. It is not always the biggest moments that mean the most... Hard work is important but so is rest. I believe that it's really a matter of balance... and that decision is up to us. 

Related to this, I think this quote also rings true:

{smiles}

This next month is going to be insane with work...I will have to remember these quotes, as the choice is actually mine. Yes, there's work to be done, and in that there is a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction at working hard. But there's also delight and happiness that comes from appreciating the small, quiet moments spent with friends, family, or even alone or with the cat.

Apologies if I fade from blogland for a bit, but I'll be back when I can take a breath.

Happy Bank Holiday weekend to all of you in the UK!

xo, 

L

{à Paris}

Hello readers,
I realise that I completely forgot to blog about my fabulous trip to Paris last month. It was fantastic. A great girly time spent with a dear friend....we walked a lot, talked a lot, ate a lot, drank a lot, and laughed a lot... Parfait!

{lunch on the Eurostar}

{first breakfast}

{Les Gobelins}

{typical Paris street scene}

{Pantheéon}

{Ruth at Jardins du Luxembourg}

{live jazz dans la rue}

{Seine}

{one of our many stops for wine}

{I love how the cafes just spread out all over the place}

{Moulin Rouge}

{views from Sacré-Coeur}

{some very large beer glasses--you can tell, both Ruth & I are super happy about that!}

{Louvre}

{Nike of Samothrace}

{Louvre selfie}

so you can see we had fun!

We ate at some fantastic restaurants. I'd recommend two especially.

d'Alivi: 10 years ago, my best friend Katie & I stumbled on this restaurant when we were visiting Paris from London when we were both MA students at the Courtauld. We had taken a weekend off from our MA thesis writing, and years later we still can't stop talking about this Corsican restaurant. It's delicious. Anyway, Ruth ended up taking me here and I recognised it immediately. 

Chez Gladines: A fantastic Basque restaurant--there are a few, but we ate at the one on Rue des Cinqs Diamants. It's super good and really cheap. Be prepared for a long queue though, & the chance that you might be sat next to two old men in their 60s or 70s who might hit on you...but sooooo worth the wait & the unwanted attention.

xo, 

L