Once we had had our fill of lavender fields and olive trees (as if that’s possible!), we drove about an hour south to Cassis, a small town on the French coast (a little east of Marseilles). Cassis is built into the side of a hill, with the town center at the bottom, right next to the water, and houses perched on the hillside. We stayed at an Airbnb for our one night in Cassis (this one – it was great!), and had about a ten-minute (steep!) walk into town.

The first afternoon we walked down to the public beach, intending to go for a dip. The water was beautiful but very choppy and cold. However, that wasn’t what stopped us from going in – it was the ROCKS. This is a Very Important Tip, in my opinion: if you want to go in the water at a French beach, make sure you bring water shoes! I found it almost impossibly painful to walk or stand barefoot on the (confusingly smooth-looking) pebbles, especially when being buffeted by waves. However, other people were doing this with no apparent difficulty, so maybe I just have inexplicably tender soles.

We ate dinner in Cassis’s town center. It was good, but not our most memorable meal! If you like seafood, a coastal town is definitely a great place to be. We also indulged in gelato and crepes for dessert while strolling on the seawall.

The main reason we added Cassis to our itinerary was the calanques, and they did not disappoint. The Calanques National Park extends from Cassis to Marseille, making Cassis a great starting point to venture from. We visited three calanques on foot, for a round-trip total of about 8 miles (with some serious elevation gain). Information is a bit scarce (and often in French), so here’s the scoop in case you’re interested in going.

From where we started, the first calanque, Port-Miou, is a very easy walk. It’s mostly flat on a clear trail. It’s also not the most exciting – it’s lined with moored boats, so while beautiful, it’s not that wild.

The walk from Port-Miou to Port Pin was also very enjoyable – more uphill, but with the most beautiful water views. We started out in the morning (maybe 10am?), and by the time we got to the beach at Port Pin, there was still only one other couple there. We considered stopping to take a dip (it looked so nice!), but decided to continue on.

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The hike from Port Pin to Port d’en Vau was most definitely the hardest stretch. We were hot and tired by that point, and even when we could finally see the water of d’en Vau, it was kind of discouraging, because it was SO far down, and all I could think about was if we went down there, we’d eventually have to climb back up.

But of course, in the end, we were glad we did it. The water was cold, but we were very hot and didn’t mind, and swimming in beautiful clear water between such epic cliffs was definitely a singular experience. This is why exercise is important to me – so we can continue to explore exquisite places off the beaten path!

A few practical tips to remember: 1) Bring water and snacks. 2) Wear hiking shoes/sneakers. Yes, you’re going to a beach, but do not wear flip flops (as we saw some people doing). 3) If you’re visiting from June to September, they sometimes close the calanques due to fire danger. You can check this website to see if they’re open. 4) This is a very helpful website that we used when planning our calanques hike – lots of great information there.

Have you been to the French coast? To Cassis? To the Calanques? I’d love to hear if you found the pebble beaches equally impenetrable!!

My next and final France post: Mougins!

P.S. If you’re thinking of visiting Cassis: our friends the Terhunes love it, too, and have beautiful photos and tips from their honeymoon trip!

By the time August rolls around, all I want to do is go to the beach, eat peaches, and relax. Which is not a particularly conducive environment for setting goals, if you think of goals only in the traditional sense of workmanlike drudgery you have to check off. Happily, I don’t. My goals are about living a more marvelous life, and while sometimes that involves hard and tedious things, sometimes it just involves eating peaches.

The most beautiful sunflowers at Buttonwood Farm!

Revisiting my goals for July:
Pick blueberries at our favorite local farm Checking this one off because while we didn’t go to our local farm (it was closed all three times we tried!), I did visit another one with my work ladies.
Plan and co-host a sweet summer co-ed baby shower for Natalie + Joe! Done! See here!
Eat in and eat healthy. We borrowed a friend’s spiralizer, and liked it so much I think we’re going to buy our own!
Write eight blog posts. Wrote nine! Success!

August goals:
— Frame and hang our two new pieces from Framed & Matted
— Finally paint the tray I primed about a year ago (this is my inspiration)
— Make progress on goal no. 37 (maybe the weeding out part)
— Post an updated house tour here after our tour appears on Southern Weddings
— For my most ambitious goal: do some sort of exercise every single day this month, whether a walk around the neighborhood, a run, a bike ride, or something else. Yikes!

If you’ve posted your goals somewhere, I’d love to see – or just drop them in the comments!

Let’s jet back to France, friends! On Tuesday, it was time to say au revoir to Paris and hop on the TGV to the countryside. We spent just two days in Provence, but we packed a lot in (and it still felt relaxed!). Get ready, peeps, because this will be the most photo-heavy post in the series.

Pont du Gard:

Pont du Gard is an ancient Roman aqueduct near Remoulins. It was built in the 1st century!! It’s the highest of all the Roman aqueduct bridges and apparently one of the best preserved. Reading more about this wonder gave me such an appreciation for the precision and skill required to build it so long ago — it’s pretty amazing, when you think about it. We spent about an hour here, walking across the bridge and sitting down by the water. (We wished we had our bathing suits on so we could have gone swimming – lots of people did!)

Nîmes

Nîmes is a city in the Languedoc-Roussillon region with a history stretching back to the Roman Empire. We paid for admission to the Nîmes Arena, which came with an audio guide. The guide was definitely informative, though shocking at times — to this day, there is still actual bull fighting in the arena, which made me a bit uncomfortable. After finishing up at the Arena we wandered the town for a bit. It was kind of mind-bending to be reminded over and over again how much history there is around every corner, not just at the official landmarks. (For example, the Roman temple below was built in 19 BC, and it was just hanging out next to random modern buildings!)

L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue:

L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is a tiny town on the Sorgue River. When John planned a trip to France for some of our friends last year, he sent them here, and it was one of their favorite stops on the whole trip, so we knew we had to go, too! We had lunch right next to the river (there are tons of cafes back to back – I can’t remember the name of the one we chose!) and gelato while strolling and poking into a few of the antique shops.

Fontaine-de-Vaucluse:

Fontaine-de-Vaucluse is feels almost like what I imagine a Gypsy encampment would, but with more permanent structures. The main attraction is the source of the Sorgue River, the biggest spring in France (the fifth largest in the world). We were surprised by how much colder the air felt down next to the pool!

Gordes:

Gordes is a tiny town perched on the side of a mountain. We’re not really sure how people live or work there, because it’s basically a maze of ridiculously narrow streets. Maybe it’s just retirees, who simply enjoy the beautiful view? For a tourist, I think the only attraction is to stroll around and get lost, which we did — and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Aix-en-Provence:

Not too many photos from our time in Aix, but we had a delicious lunch at O Bagel. We also wandered around the Aix Cathedral and popped into Le Petit Souk, a home goods, party supplies, and kids store from which I wanted to buy everything.

Le Domaine de la Rose:

Finally, I need to tell you about our accommodations! We stayed at an inn in Orgon, Le Domaine de la Rose. It was our biggest splurge of the trip, but definitely worth it. Everyone who’s been to Provence seems to have a favorite place to stay — we got several effusive recommendations when planning — and I know we’ll be doing the same when friends ask us in the future! The grounds were so beautiful, our dinner at the on-site restaurant was perfection, and the kitchen garden was out of a dream. Highly, highly recommended.

If you’ve been to Provence, what towns and sites were your favorites? I’d love to hear!

Up next: Cassis by the sea!

I’m interrupting our Paris adventure to bring you this past weekend’s big doing: Natalie and Joe’s baby shower! I loved this event so much that I just had to report in ASAP. My co-host for this shindig was the lovely Marget, Natalie’s sister and my sister-in-law. It seems like just last month we were planning Natalie’s bridal shower, so we work together like a well-oiled machine by now!

We knew family would be traveling in for the festivities, so we decided to make it a co-ed shower so everyone could attend. Marget had the idea to make it an adventure dinner party, and picked out the perfect corner of a Lower East side park, right on the water, as the location. Aside from the scenic views, there was easy road access just a few hundred yards away — always an important consideration when toting in chairs and tables!

We batted around a few aesthetic options, including red striped nautical and Liberty print, before settling on a perfect compromise — summer strawberry! We wanted something sweet and a little bit girly (they are expecting a girl!), but not too girly (it was a co-ed shower!). Here’s the invitation I designed:

Our first inclination was to rent chairs, tables, and linens, because we wanted to seat everyone at one long table. After calling around to many rental companies in Jersey City and Manhattan, we could not find a single one who would let us pick up our small order at their warehouse – and the lowest delivery fee was $250. This was a surprise to me, since my local rental company here in Raleigh will let me do this, but apparently it’s not that easy everywhere!

So, we regrouped and decided to buy slim Ikea stools (on Jordan’s suggestion) and folding tables from Target. We also purchased Ikea Tekla dish towels (perfect with the red stripe!) and planned to use white tablecloths I already had. Done and done!

Except that the day before the party, Marget decided to check the NYC Parks Department one more time to see if there was anything we missed. To our dismay, there was — the first time around, we had read that if you have fewer than 20 people in your party, you’re okay to have chairs and tables… but in the fine print, it said you had to have a permit — and you have to get permits 20+ days in advance! A quick call to a friend at the department confirmed that our park is patrolled frequently and they would definitely shut us down with no permit :( Agh! Several anxious texts later, we decided we would return the tables and instead group the stools around picnic blankets.

Friends, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. When we arrived on Saturday evening to set up, the park was packed, and I think we might have attracted more attention than we wanted had we been setting up tables. The only thing that would have been nice would have been to have one table to arrange the food on – it would have been a little easier to serve if it had been higher up!

Alright, enough details — on to the photos! As you can see, we had the most beautiful day. The weather was perfect!!

Our menu: mild and spicy fried chicken (picked up from Popeyes and plated in a pretty baking dish!); grilled corn salad in mini mason jars (loosely based on this recipe); good potato chips and ranch dip; a cheese platter with fruit; pasta salad with cantaloupe and feta; homemade brownies, strawberry tarts, and strawberry ice cream; and root beer, sparkling water, and strawberry lemonade to drink.

Since we had a group diverse in age where not everyone knew each other, we decided to make conversation squares to grease the wheels. They were focused on childhood and parents — appropriate for a shower, and topics everyone has experience with!

We sent guests off with cookie treat bags – everyone got a sugar cookie shaped like a strawberry (the Gianna’s brand at Whole Foods!) and either a black and white cookie (in honor of New York) or a chocolate chip cookie (because everyone loves them).

It was so good to spend time with some of my favorite people. Just T-one month until baby girl arrives! (Hopefully!) Can’t wait to meet our new niece!!