Friends!! It’s been a whirlwind three weeks in which I’ve slept six nights in my own bed. First we had our trip to New York City, then our annual camping trip with friends, then a Texas road trip between Houston and Texas for work. And then I hosted a baby shower for 45 people at our house on Saturday!! Lots to report. Let’s start with camping.

For the past three years we’ve spent a weekend camping with friends, and it has quickly become one of our favorite traditions! This year it was the Rays and us; we were trying to squeeze in a trip before Nancy got toooo pregnant. We risked a March trip, and happily were rewarded with a sunny, 65 degree Saturday and nights in the low 50’s! We stayed at the Carolina Beach state park and ventured into nearby Wilmington for lunch on Saturday. The park has beautiful trails, and aside from the fact that the water smelled a bit swampy, we had no complaints. S’mores and great conversation were enjoyed by all.

We arrived home from camping around 1:30pm on Sunday, and my flight to Texas left at 7pm – about enough time in between to wash my hair and do a load of laundry! While in Texas most of my days were taken up with work, so I don’t feel I can give any sort of comprehensive guide, but there were a few highlights:

Blue bonnets on the drive between Houston and Austin!

City Meat Market in Giddings, Texas! So legit. Bare bones. You tell them what you want, they chop it up, slap two slices of white bread out of a bag on top, and hand it to you by the four corners of the paper underneath. Delicious!

Torchy’s Tacos in Austin! When you mention Austin, everyone mentions Torchy’s, and it didn’t disappoint. The queso was the best I’ve ever had, better by a smidge than White Duck’s. We also ate at 24 Diner (and it was also delicious!). Thanks to tour guide Lisa for steering our ship!

As a final highlight from Texas, I got to spend one day with a favorite online pal, Victoria. We worked on a project together and it is going to be sooooo good :)

Whew! After all of that excitement, I feel a bit like my cat:

She says to do lists are for the birds. More soon!!

First trip of the month: success!

John’s sisters and their husbands live in New York City, so once we knew I had a work trip scheduled there, we decided to extend my trip and have John come, too! We flew up late Thursday night and stayed with Marget and Seth in Jersey City.

On Friday I worked remotely, then we all headed into the city for a late lunch at Shake Shack (yum).

Next we walked through the 9/11 Memorial Museum. It wasn’t exactly the most “fun” thing to do on vacation, but we both felt it was important to remember and honor that event in our lives and American history when we had the chance.

I thought the museum and memorial were very beautiful and thoughtfully designed. There are three main sections: the first is an exploration of the World Trade Center itself. The second is a memorial section for the victims. The third is the historical exhibition, which tells the story of what happened on 9/11 through a huge collection of video, audio recordings, photos, newspapers, artifacts, etc. If you are planning to visit, I would recommend moving through the first section more quickly than we did. The final section was both the most emotionally difficult and the most dense, and I would have liked to spend more time there but was a bit spent by the time we reached it.

On Friday we had dinner at Buvette in the West Village. It was perfectly French and made me even more excited for our upcoming trip! Three of us split six small plates and two desserts, which was a great amount of food.

On Saturday Marget and I started the day with yoga at a nearby class. After looping back to pick up Seth, John, and Wes, we met up with Joe and Natalie and the six of us plus baby toured a few favorite NYC spots: Brookfield Place (lunch at Little Muenster!), ABC Home, and snacks at LPQ (mint lemonade) and Eataly.

For dinner that night we all headed back to M + S’s apartment and tried to recreate one of the dishes we’d had the night before at Buvette – basically mashed potatoes and prosciutto on top of bread. It was as delicious as it sounds. It was so nice just to have a chance to sit and talk with some of my favorite people – we don’t see each other enough!

On Sunday John and I traveled back into the city to worship with Hillsong NYC. We have been fans of Hillsong United for quite awhile, and so jumped at the chance to experience Hillsong in person! (It’s estimated that 30 million churchgoers around the world sing Hillsong worship songs on any given Sunday – pretty cool.) Carl Lentz, their lead pastor, was at the Hillsong conference in Australia, so we got to hear Levi Lusko instead. (We were familiar with Levi from watching this video, so it was a treat to hear him in person.)

The experience was very different from what we’re used to every Sunday, but we are grateful for it!

The main song we sang was Broken Vessels, which I wasn’t familiar with but have been loving the last few days.

After brunch at the Tipsy Parson (which Marget described to me as “a place bloggers like to go” – it has great wallpaper) with Natalie and Joe, we headed back to Jersey for a lazy afternoon and takeout Indian before sending John home on a plane. I followed yesterday after speaking on Monday.

Pretty killer apartment view, huh? Up next: Texas!

I have a treat for you today! My spring playlist is light and happy, gentle but with a beat. To me, it sounds the way the silvery light of spring looks. It’s about an hour and a half long. It’s equally good for getting work done, spring cleaning, or an afternoon road trip in the sun you’re happy to be welcoming back. I hope you enjoy :)

Click here to listen to my spring playlist.

You do need a Spotify account to listen, but, well, Spotify is wonderful, so go ahead and take the plunge!

Considering that Paris is generally accepted as the style capital of the world, I feel the need to step up my game for our upcoming trip! Plus, my friend Lisa just posted about her packing plans for Rome, so I wanted to get in on the action :) My goal is not to be mistaken for a Parisienne (I am proud to be an American, after all), but I like to dress for my destination and so our trip is a great excuse to dip a toe into the ex-pat life and get a little fancy. I’ve been doing my homework, and here is what I have learned about blending in in the City of Light:

— yes to scarves
— no to denim
— stick to simple palettes (namely BLACK)
— wear cobblestone-friendly flats

Lots of folks also recommend packing light, in just a carry-on if possible, since we will likely be wheeling/carrying our suitcases on and off public transportation, along said cobblestone streets, and up the stairs of our flat.

According to Wikipedia, the average Paris June high is 73, and the low is 57. With that in mind, here are a few pieces I either own and am packing, or hope to purchase in the next few months!

Striped shirt | A French classic! I just bought this one and love its heavier weight.
Chambray tunic | Lightweight, chic, and simple. I just bought this, too, and am excited to wear it belted with leggings. Cuter in person :)
Patterned shirt | Love the graphic pattern of this shirt and its silky feel!
White button-down shirt | Crisp and classic! This one from Loft has great reviews.
Black leggings | Perfect for layering.
Red lipstick | I just got the Nars stick in Cruella as my Sephora birthday gift and it’s the perfect bold red! Great for dressing up basic outfits and looking put together.
Navy shift dress | Mine is a few years old, and can be dressed up with jewelry or down with Toms. Comfortable enough for walking around all day.
White jeans | More Paris-appropriate than denim jeans! Mine are from J. Crew Factory last year.
Black ponte pants | A step up from leggings. Mine are here.
Neutral ballet flats | I have these and they are comfortable – about as good as I can get in terms of a comfort/fashion ratio.
Leather booties | This is about as high a heel as I like to go! The reviews say these are very comfortable; I’m hoping that’s so.
Toms | The only type of shoe (aside from sneakers) that I’ve been comfortable walking all day in. Not the MOST stylish, but I’m hoping everything else can carry them! :)

Not pictured: scarves and accessories! I actually don’t own that much jewelry, but I always admire the pieces others wear! My issue is that my wardrobe budget is not really big enough to buy a wide variety of pieces, so I end up buying nothing. To help with this, I just signed up for Rocksbox, a subscription service which gives you unlimited access to rent from a rotating collection of designer jewelry. I have my fingers crossed I’ll have some perfect pieces on loan in June! If you’d like to try Rocksbox for one month free (and why wouldn’t you??), you can sign up with my code – emilythomasxoxo.

Anyone have any other Paris packing tips? What are your most comfortable (and stylish) city walking shoes? I’m all ears!

P.S. Packing inspiration for Provence and the Cote d’Azur are in the pipeline!