la croix-valmer
she's thirty and wise
Over a year ago, we took a family trip/babymoon to lily of the valley and discovered the gem of la croix-valmer just on the other side of saint tropez. This year, while searching for a house to rent, we stumbled on a beautiful villa in that area and it was di-vine.
I won’t bore you with every detail of what turned out to be a wonderfully, unplugged week of vacation including two days sans children while they had grandparent camp, but a few highlights…
pre-breakfast swims followed by a drip dry and cup of drip coffee
a murder mystery on the last night, randomly paired with fish tacos, guac, mango salsa, agua fresca and funfetti cupcakes
singing happy birthday to charlotte every time we had dessert because she wanted to blow out candles
late lunches of tomato tart, spanish tortillas, melon + prosciutto, and rosé
afternoon affogatos by the pool
tarot, apéro and champagne in the late afternoon
a wine tasting at fonduges pradugues followed by foodtrucks and pétanque as the sun set
breakfast scrambles with leftovers from last night’s grilled veggies
being goofy and playing nostalgic games in the pool…sharks and minnows, jumping olympics. also watching charlotte’s progress and fearlessness in water
family style grilled dinners with different configurations of people every night. truly my eden.
the sunday market in la croix-valmer
nightly dance parties with amazon’s finest 15 euro disco light
a hike along plage gigaro’s sentier littoral
but the biggest highlight by far was spending time in the kitchen alongside various culinary mastermind friends and watching different worlds of people connect over chopping veggies and comparing cooking techniques
other food highlights….grilled peach panzanella, veggie skewers with yogurt sauce, fresh oysters, homemade pickles, truffled brie, salted cashews, tarte tropezienne, olive oil cake, coconut shortbread sandwiches with chocolate buttercream inside, fresh beignets on the beach, leftover grilled steak sandwiches, key lime pie
and some photo highlights
two for the road
My audrey hepburn obsession started well over 15 years ago, back when my christmas gifts were coffee table books about her. So when flipping through a book about st tropez and connecting the dots that one of my favorite movies had been filmed in the area, we had to queue up two for the road on the one stormy evening. It had been a while and it was every bit as delightful as I remembered it, but the fashion somehow even more relevant and incredible than ever. The paco rabano number in the final scene will forever be a showstopper.
thirty and thriving
I treat all new years really ambitiously and decided to set goals for my 30th decade.
take some kind of structured art/painting class
slow down a bit…the twenties held a lot. no need to keep up at that pace for another ten years. stop and smell the roses aka the babies growing under our roof.
being less wasteful / organizing what I have
music education
tomato red
caring less what I put out there for other people
Upon returning to Nice, I’m very prematurely wishing for long pants and cozy sweaters. All whilst dripping as I bike along the promenade with a 15kg package in tow. The only bearable way to transport because the smells on public transport this time of year be smelling.
I’ve been hand embroidering Charlotte’s smocks and backpack in preparation for the start of school on September 1. Things are slow and humid here, so leaning into morning outings followed by long afternoons inside. Relaxed bedtimes and wake-ups.
the frenchie
On the note of hand embroidering, a very exciting collaboration has launched stateside for pre-order. My mom and I dreamed up these embroidered mirth shackets and I must say I think they’re absolutely adorable and so practical and overall chic. Photographed by my talented friend Juliette. (if you’re in Europe you can’t open the page without a vpn). If you order one please let me know so we can make sure it’s extra special!!
okay I’ve kept you captive for long enough! big bisou xxx