Category Archives: sponsored

minted holiday

minted-holiday-cards

 

I know, I know…it’s still October. However, as we all know – if you’re hoping for a great Christmas card photo, you most likely already finished your photo shoot! It’s crazy how fast the holidays arrive, and it seems to get faster every year, doesn’t it? Minted just released their new holiday collection and it has my wheels turning! Since this year was eventful for us, I’m planning to include our travels on our card, although considering our move, these are tempting. I’ve got my eye on their new letterpress cards as well as their signature double + triple thick paper options…be still my heart. I recently upgraded thank you cards and upon receiving one my Mom said, “you could break your foot if you dropped this!” – YES. That’s the kind of paper I want in my life. If you haven’t already, check out all that Minted has to offer!

this post is sponsored by minted…as always, all words + opinions are my own

crafting with seedling

fleurishing-and-seedling

kidsbeingcurious

 

I have a confession – I don’t craft with Henry and Marie as much as I’d like to. I’ll pull the twin toddler mom, small business owner, work from home card on this one. We all have our reasons, and we shouldn’t feel guilty about it. Ah, but we still do…we always do, don’t we. Which is one of the reasons why I was so thrilled to discover Seedling. Founded in 2007, they’ve grown to be a respected brand of stylish, quality children’s products that promote creativity and imaginative play. As a mother of two toddlers, I see firsthand how beneficial that is, and have a huge appreciation for it. So when they invited us to try a few of their curated activity kits, I jumped at the opportunity. The first thing we did was set out on an urban adventure in our town…how cute are these mini adventure satchels?! My adorable little explorers…le sigh.

 

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french is beautiful

paris-spiral-stairs

 

“L’esprit humain fait progrès toujours, mais c’est progrès en spirale.

The human mind always makes progress, but it is a progress in spirals.”

Madame de Staël

i

Life is finally returning to a (somewhat) normal pace pour moi, and I’m able to continue to my French studies, hooray! It’s perfect timing really, as French is Beautiful Level 2 has just begun. I’ve actually been doing some research lately about learning/teaching methods (more on that soon) and discovered “the spiral curriculum“. In a spiral curriculum, learning is spread out over time rather than being concentrated in shorter periods – material is revisited repeatedly. This method describes exactly how I’ve learned French (since childhood), and it has benefitted me greatly. While I never intentionally set out to learn this way, the organic nature of the process has indeed helped me retain much more information. In my opinion, I think it also has a lot to do with the success of my tutor Carrie Anne James’ teachings. Studies show that far more information is retained by the brain with repetition of content over time, making for more successful long-term learning. I’ll spare you anything more technical and get to my point – I’m learning…slowly, but steadily.

* french is beautiful is a regular series – browse the archives here *

palais royal with kids

playing-palais-royal

 

I’m thrilled to be sharing one more of our favorite kid-friendly spots in Paris, in collaboration with Gap Kids (you can see all the amazing people + places via #littlecityguides). In case you missed them, check out our first + second spots…they are beautiful places to explore with children. Today also happens to be National Twin Day, which I somehow miss every year, so I’m thankful to be able to celebrate it with some Parisian cuteness courtesy of Henry et Marie. The gardens and architecture of Palais Royal have always been a destination for me – both visually stunning and a beautiful oasis from the city chaos that surrounds it. With a major renovation having just been completed, I couldn’t wait to take the kids.

 

henryetmarie-paris

toddlers-palais-royal

henry-palais-royal

 

The courtyard known as Cour d’Honneur is such a fun place for both adults and children, thanks to the Colonnes de Buren, an art installation that was quite controversial when first introduced in the mid 1980’s. It’s many black-and-white columns of varying sizes seem to beckon toddlers, providing the perfect backdrop for games of hide-and-go-seek, running in circles, pigeon chasing, and sitting pretty. As soon as we arrived, Henry + Marie knew just what to do, and could have spent all day doing it. The kids were looking playful + classic in their Gap duds – Marie in her favorite denim jacket + stretch jeans, and Henry rocking his skinny jeans, bow tie + suspenders. As you may have noticed, suspenders are Henry’s jam  – what was born out of necessity to hold his pants up has become his signature look, ha!

 

mariepalaisroyal

henryinparis

 

It was very difficult to narrow down my images for this post, as the gorgeous backdrop, beautiful day, and cuteness of the kids made for so many awesome shots. I highly recommend it as a spot to take your children in Paris – grab a coffee from nearby Cafe Kitsuné, let the kids get their energy out, and then enjoy a leisurely stroll through the gardens. Many thanks to GapKids for outfitting Henry + Marie and letting us share our adventures…merci mille fois!

 

fleurishing-for-gap-kids

 

Palais Royal – Cour d’Honneur | 8 rue Montpensier 75001 Paris

french is beautiful

frenchisbeautifuliggrid

 

I thought a little change of pace might be nice…I’m sharing a few of my favorite Instagram accounts to follow if you’re learning, or want to improve, your French. While there’s a plethora of beautiful French + Francophile accounts (of which I’ll share my favorites soon), the ones that provide language learning opportunities are more rare. I actually discovered my tutor Carrie Anne James via Instagram…I fell hard for her cinematic french word/ phrase pronuncation videos. Speaking of which, she will be doing that exact thing via a daily email, beginning in August – I highly recommend signing up for it here! Her and I both find inspiration in these accounts – some are for beginners, others more advanced…but they are all lovely and informative. I realize that I subconsciously ended up with a summery theme when curating this grid…it must be my vacation brain, ha. Give them a follow and let me know what your favorites (for learning) are!

(listed in order, from top to bottom, left to right)

@zoemacaron | @frenchwords | @deedeeparis | @frenchwords  | @mylittleparis | @malinzillen | @frenchwordsjournal | @theparisdarling | @sophiefontanel | @malinzillen | @deedeeparis | @frenchisbeautiful