summer on instagram // june.

The Hestekins love summer. 

june 2014: 
We love that we don't need to make work a priority.
We love walking Leo.
We love seeing our families.
We love that baby T is almost walking.
We love concocting new drinks.
We love watching the sunset over the church across the street.
We love stir-frys and grilling vegetables.

I'm joining Chantelle's Photo a Day challenge in July! We starts tomorrow and post every day with the hashtag: #FMSphotoaday.  Information about daily prompts are here. Follow me on Instagram by clicking the icon on the right sidebar or here.

a traveler's love letter... // michelle from i ripple. i dance.

While Chad and I are away wandering the streets of Brussels, London, Paris and beyond, I gathered some of my favorite bloggers and asked them to write a guest post/love letter to their favorite place on earth. These ladies are graciously babysitting my blog while I'm eating macaroons and taking postcard-worthy pictures of the Eiffel Tower + Big Ben. Thank you for reading and I'll see you when we get back! 

xo -- Amanda

Bella Italia

Ours was not just any holiday romance.  When I met you last year it was that cliche of love at first sight.  You were warm and welcoming and so beautiful, full of culture and wisdom.  I feel like you have so many stories to tell me and just want to sit in the sun with you and listen to them all.  You seem to have so many different personalities too.  In Bologna, it was relaxed and quiet.  Few people were around and I felt like we were alone wondering the porticoed streets.  In Rome it was exciting and you were full of suprises, around every corner there was something 'new' (but actually really really old).

In Tuscany we were able to relax and lounge by the pool and explore old towns on hillsides.  We discovered some antique markets too (that stuffed squirrel we saw still makes me giggle, we should have bought it). Together we discovered beautiful Renaissance art - Piero della Francesco frescoes on the walls of churches, Michelangelo in the Vatican, Carvaggio in Florence.  In Naples you showed your edgier side and were a little bit more, shall we say, carefree. 

We shared some great food together.  The gelato was heaven.  The peach + lavendar and ricotta + cherry were my favourite. The pastas, the gnocchi, so rich and delicious. Oh, and the pizza in Napoli.  Stuff that dreams are made of.

Mostly, I love how you love as though your life depended on it. Sunshine, food, friends, family are all precious to you and the passion you show everyday is contagious.

Don't think I have forgotten you.  I am coming for a visit again this year although it is brief.  Unfortunately I have promised Croatia that I will come and see her but we shall meet in Bologna for a few days.  Perhaps next year I can stay for longer.  I would love to discover Venice with you.

I promise that one day I will be able to stay with you permanently.  I imagine our life together, la dolce vita.  A little piece of land in the mountains of Tuscany where the light is so special.  I can't explain how it is different, golden doesn't do it justice, but I can understand how it inspired so many great artists.  The idea of this day is making me smile. 

Ciao mi amore, until we meet again.

xx
Michelle
i ripple. i dance.

a traveler's love letter... // megan from time after tea

 

While Chad and I are away wandering the streets of Brussels, London, Paris and beyond, I gathered some of my favorite bloggers and asked them to write a guest post/love letter to their favorite place on earth. These ladies are graciously babysitting my blog while I'm eating macaroons and taking postcard-worthy pictures of the Eiffel Tower + Big Ben. Thank you for reading and I'll see you when we get back! 

xo -- Amanda

Dear Edinburgh,

I had been on a plane for nearly 24hours and then sat in Heathrow airport for 8 hours before getting on another plane to finally make it to see you. I sat on the bus from the airport to my hostel completely exhausted, barely able to keep my eyes open. But then the gorgeous old cobblestone homes began to run alongside the bus and the green landscape spread out before my eyes, covered by a light hazy mist. Suddenly I became more alive and felt like I had truly stepped back in time. When the bus pulled up and I got out and saw the castle sitting over city I was completely awestruck and really felt as if I had entered a magical land. To go to a place that has castles and cobblestones streets was such a completely different experience for me.

You were the first city I visited on an amazing six week trip with my best friend and we had the best three days. We ate fried mars bars and lots of potatoes, dressed up in a vintage clothing store, went on a ghost tour and shopped along Princes Street. Thank you for giving me such an amazing experience and so many wonderful memories. I look forward to when we meet again.

Yours Sincerely,
Megan
:: time after tea

a traveler's love letter... // courtney from vintch

 

While Chad and I are away wandering the streets of Brussels, London, Paris and beyond, I gathered some of my favorite bloggers and asked them to write a guest post/love letter to their favorite place on earth. These ladies are graciously babysitting my blog while I'm eating macaroons and taking postcard-worthy pictures of the Eiffel Tower + Big Ben. Thank you for reading and I'll see you when we get back! 

xo -- Amanda

It was a quarter to seven in the evening when we arrived.

We pulled into the hotel parking lot, but we didn’t go in. We parked quickly, probably a little sideways, opened the trunk to grab our coats, and ran. It was a short walk, made shorter by our brisk steps and hurried movement. On the way to the coast, we climbed down cobblestone steps and into a brush thicket, a mini forest of deep sage green branches bent into a makeshift cave.

Robert grabbed my hand and pulled me along. The sunset was quick on our heels and we had to make it to the ocean before it sunk into the sea. As we walked out onto Cannon Beach, Oregon, Haystack Rock was the first thing that caught my eye. I’ve read books where the protagonist loses his breath when he sees the girl of his dreams. Where the wind is literally knocked out of you and a whisper makes it way out of your lips. That’s exactly how I felt.

There were teenagers roasting marshmallows by a campfire, and pieces of driftwood washed up on the shore. The sun set quickly and we only had a moment. But oh what a moment it was. It was freezing. My vintage white coat was so pretty, but it was thin and didn’t shield me from the blustery winds that grow fiercer when blown off the water. But I had Robert’s arms around me. I had 3,000 miles between where my feet were planted and home. I felt God there in my smallness. In the infinite height and glory of the Rock. In the European, whitewashed, gray haze that swept over the sand and gave a foggy mist to the evening.

We continued down the west coast that week. We saw the golden gate bridge, the Hearst castle, and the Hollywood sign. We sat in our car on the side of the road and looked out onto the unbelievable Pacific Northwest, and for two twenty-somethings from North Carolina, seeing the mountains jut up against the ocean like that was a sight to behold.

But I’ll never forget that moment on Cannon Beach. The time we raced against nature and beat the sunset to catch a glimpse of something bigger than life. Because that’s what travel should be. Feasting your eyes on something new and unknown. And sometimes, in the very best of times, you stumble upon sheer brilliance and remember why you left home, traveled across the country, and drove hundreds of miles down a road unfamiliar. For those twenty minutes of Heaven, you’d do it all over again.

From Amanda: Thanks Courtney! For more of Courtney's lovely writing, check our her blog.

a traveler's love letter... // erin from pugh's news

 

While Chad and I are away wandering the streets of Brussels, London, Paris and beyond, I gathered some of my favorite bloggers and asked them to write a guest post/love letter to their favorite place on earth. These ladies are graciously babysitting my blog while I'm eating macaroons and taking postcard-worthy pictures of the Eiffel Tower + Big Ben. Thank you for reading and I'll see you when we get back! 

xo -- Amanda

Hello there lovely readers of Project Simple Life! This is Erin from Pugh's News. Isn't it exciting that Amanda and Chad are off on their European adventure? I'm so happy for them! I have a special place in my heart for London, where I have spent a lot of time over the past ten years, and Paris is a dream destination of mine. One day...

I'm off on a slightly less exciting, but still very fun, holiday of my own. As I write this, I'm madly packing my family's suitcases. Tomorrow morning we are catching the first ferry off Vancouver Island and heading up into the interior of British Columbia to spend a week in a cabana by the lake. It's going to be blissful! I'm excited about hitting the open road with my family in tow, and looking forward to the new places we'll discover along the way. I've always had a serious case of wanderlust, ever since I was a little girl, getting happily lost in the imaginary lands of my favourite books.

image via pugh's news tumblr

When I was about 8 or 9 years old, I wrote a letter to C.S. Lewis, begging him to tell me how I could get to Narnia. I never mailed the letter, and I always sort of regretted it. But now look what I've found! A sign-post that will lead me to all sorts of wonderful places. Just imagine...

Tea with Mr Tumnus.

Shopping for school supplies in Diagon Alley.

Following the yellow brick road.

Visiting Frodo and Sam in the Shire.

Studying and scheming in the Gryffindor Tower with Harry, Ron and Hermione.

How amazing would that be? I'm sure the signs I can't quite read say things like Green Gables. The Secret Garden. Zuckerman's Farm. Wonka's Chocolate Factory. How would I ever choose where to go first?

What wonderful world from children's literature would you like to visit? Let's plan to go there together, shall we?

PS: Come visit me at Pugh's News. I love to make new friends...

a traveler's love letter... // kim from fill your well

 

While Chad and I are away wandering the streets of Brussels, London, Paris and beyond, I gathered some of my favorite bloggers and asked them to write a guest post/love letter to their favorite place on earth. These ladies are graciously babysitting my blog while I'm eating macaroons and taking postcard-worthy pictures of the Eiffel Tower + Big Ben. Thank you for reading and I'll see you when we get back! 

xo -- Amanda




hi there, this is kim from fill your well. i am so honored to be doing a guest post for amanda's sweet blog while she's off on her adventure! traveling is one of my favorite things and i'm still riding high on the greatest adventure of my life, which was my honeymoon in thailand last september. there are about a million different spots around the world that i can't wait to visit, but at this point, my absolute favorite spot is a little village about an hour north of bangkok. here i spent some time living and working among the mahouts {sort of like the thai version of a cowboy} on an elephant kraal {or ranch}. that's right, elephants!

now some boys, while planning a honeymoon, might think, "hmm... where should i take this beautiful lady of mine after our wedding? maybe someplace relaxing, maybe where there's a spa or a beach for lounging? yeah, that sounds nice." but not my boy. nope, he thought "where can i take this beautiful lady of mine where we can not only touch an elephant, but where we can feed, scrub, ride, and clean up after them?" not every girl gets to say she raked elephant dung out of a field on her honeymoon, but let me tell you, i wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

of course it wasn't all hard work. we got to ride our elephants through the village and down to the river where we swam with them in the cool water. we also got to play with the babies during our free time, who were pretty much the cutest things i've ever seen!

mornings were my favorite time on the kraal. we would wake up around 4:30am to a jungle full of life {don't worry, we were jet lagged so we didn't mind one bit}! i'd sip my morning tea while watching a one-armed monkey play lovingly with his pet rabbit and listen to the parrots sing "hello" in their australian accents, all while elephants meandered past by my door. we would spend the day caring for 6 retired she-elephants who had been assigned to us, then relaxing at night as powerful thunderstorms rolled in {it was monsoon season at the time so massive thunderstorms would blow in every evening, even taking out the power some nights... which isn't a problem at all when you're on your honeymoon}.

fun facts i learned living with elephants: did you know elephants talk to each other in such low tones that we can't hear it? we can, however, feel the rumbling of it in our bodies! and did you know elephants are so aware of our fragility, and love their caretakers so much, that they are extra gentle with all of us humans? how about the fact that they walk on their tippy toes so you don't hear them coming? these giant beasts would constantly sneak up on me like ninjas... enormous, big-eared ninjas, but ninjas all the same.

yes, it was by far the most amazing experience of my life, and i often wish i could pop back over on a weekly basis to get my elephant fix. not to mention, a food fix {oh the food!}, which was the best i've ever eaten anywhere - truth. oh if only it were a shorter flight!

a traveler's love letter... // sarah from fairy tales are true

 

While Chad and I are away wandering the streets of Brussels, London, Paris and beyond, I gathered some of my favorite bloggers and asked them to write a guest post/love letter to their favorite place on earth. These ladies are graciously babysitting my blog while I'm eating macaroons and taking postcard-worthy pictures of the Eiffel Tower + Big Ben. Thank you for reading and I'll see you when we get back! 

xo -- Amanda

Dear Venice,

I hope you're well and not feeling so droopy these days. I love, miss, and hope to see you soon. This was not always the case though. Upon our first meeting I was terrified you. My family boarded a water taxi and we cruised through your canals but all I could focus on were your dilapidated buildings and the rats that occupied them. I admit I missed the shimmer of your sea, the entire whimsy of a city built on water... at first. forgive me, I was young. I hadn't yet developed my love for all things old just yet. I remember trying to find our hotel. I was shaking in my sam and libby flats. Each hotel looked scarier than the next. Dirty, old, smelly. But thankfully we found ours and it was pretty, shiny, new-ish even. You must have known I wasn't quite ready for a hotel with lots of character quite yet. Then much to my surprise the next few days were some of the best. We wandered your streets, bought murano glass, rode in a gondola, and ate at every turn.

In 2010 I revisited you. Gosh, I am sorry for the length of time in between visits. Life really got in the way. But to make it up to you, I brought my husband (yes, I'm married!) who had never seen your splendor before. We had the best time getting lost. Your streets are truly magical, your canals sparkle, your food is mouthwatering.

Thanks Venice! You've shown us some very good times. Enclosed are some pictures of our trip (:

Love,
Sarah

fairy tales are true

a traveler's love letter... // natalie from the soho

While Chad and I are away wandering the streets of Brussels, London, Paris and beyond, I gathered some of my favorite bloggers and asked them to write a guest post/love letter to their favorite place on earth. These ladies are graciously babysitting my blog while I'm eating macaroons and taking postcard-worthy pictures of the Eiffel Tower + Big Ben. Thank you for reading and I'll see you when we get back! 

xo -- Amanda

I Heart New York.

New York City can be a cruel mistress. The winters are brutal, the summers are sweltering, and when you're on a crowded subway car, you begin questioning the life choices that led to this particular uncomfortable moment. But in spite of all that, I still love her so. There's nowhere on earth like this incredible city.

 

It's the world's biggest social experiment -- a tiny, exciting island packed with people from every culture, race, religion, and walk of life. There's basically whatever kind of food, art, activity, sound, vibe suits your mood right outside your door.

A walk through a neighborhood is never boring. You'll always come across something you never noticed before. 

New York and I have an on-again, off-again relationship. After three years away, I came back, and I'm glad that I did. I'm not from here, but it always feels like home.

Find more of Natalie's writing here: The SoHo.

a traveler's love letter... // bethany from rinse. repeat.

 

While Chad and I are away wandering the streets of Brussels, London, Paris and beyond, I gathered some of my favorite bloggers and asked them to write a guest post/love letter to their favorite place on earth. These ladies are graciously babysitting my blog while I'm eating macaroons and taking postcard-worthy pictures of the Eiffel Tower + Big Ben. Thank you for reading and I'll see you when we get back! 

xo -- Amanda

Dear Paris,

I love you. Or in your tongue: je t’aime. It’s always prettier in your language, I’ve learned.

From the very moment I spotted you this summer, while cruising above you at an altitude of several thousand feet, I knew we were meant to spend the most beautiful vacation together. And we did. I’ve never cried so many happy tears as I did while I was with you. Beautifully inspired, in-love-with-life kinds of tears.

You hugged my birthday tight, cuing your epic tower to sparkle at the beginning and end of my day, making it the most memorable birthday a girl could have. You even welcomed a proposal + my engagement…the inhabitants of your city noticing my dazzling ring, wishing love and long life to my fiancé and I. Kind hotel staff delivered your luscious Laduree macaroons and a heartfelt handwritten card to me the next morning. Does it get sweeter?

Yes, you are expensive. Yes, you are crowded. Yes, you are a tad cliché. But you gosh darn deliver with views like this:

And museums that house beautiful pieces like this:

And stairways with more romance than entire cities in the US can boast:

What people say about you…that your people are unkind towards visitors? Well, it just isn’t so. Most everyone I encountered was warm, kind and helpful. Well, save that one spicy waitress who rolled her eyes at my attempt to request the bill in French. But, given that I spotted her there at 10am and later at 8pm? Perhaps she was just having a rough day.

Paris, you made my dreams come true. Infact, our week together exceeded my most romanticized, ridiculous dreams. Au revoir, my love. Until we meet again. And we will.

XOXO,
Your biggest fan.

a traveler's love letter... // lauren from aspiring kennedy

 

While Chad and I are away wandering the streets of Brussels, London, Paris and beyond, I gathered some of my favorite bloggers and asked them to write a guest post/love letter to their favorite place on earth. These ladies are graciously babysitting my blog while I'm eating macaroons and taking postcard-worthy pictures of the Eiffel Tower + Big Ben. Thank you for reading and I'll see you when we get back!


xo -- Amanda

Dear India,

Today I find myself longing for you.
The summer days in England are just too cool,
and I'm longing for your oppressive heat to press against my skin.

Some people may not be enchanted by your endless seas of people,

but I'd gladly push my way through your crowds

to beat with the pulse of your country.

Your flavour is like heaven to my lips.

Hot naan, spicy curry, sweet juices

leave me longing for more.

The funny thing is, dear India,

is that I have never actually met you.

But my true love is currently there with you...

and I'm opening up our relationship to include you.

So come July 26th, it'll be you, me, & the big guy.

The exciting thing is-

if you look this good in pictures,

I'm sure you'll be a real knock out in person.

xo-

Aspiring Kennedy

Aspiring Kennedy

images via // Aspiring Kennedy's pinterest

a traveler's love letter... // micaela from dolce vita

While Chad and I are away wandering the streets of Brussels, London, Paris and beyond, I gathered some of my favorite bloggers and asked them to write a guest post/love letter to their favorite place on earth. These ladies are graciously babysitting my blog while I'm eating macaroons and taking postcard-worthy pictures of the Eiffel Tower + Big Ben. Thank you for reading and I'll see you when we get back! 

xo -- Amanda

hi lovies! it's micaela from dolce vita so happy to keep you company while amanda and chad are off on their exciting european holiday. thank-you for letting me share my 'love letter' with you. xo

Dear D.C.,

i was excited to finally meet you. As our Nation's Capitol, you did not disappoint. I think what made you even more magical was we met on mine and my husband's first road trip together. Of course at the time he was just my boyfriend (it was during the 20+ hour road trip from Texas to Virginia where i also met his parents). We took a detour to see you and meet up with one of my childhood friends who was working at the Washington Post.

I remember me and Max sitting at the bar of Busboys & Poets, dreaming of living in a city like yours. There was a thrill about our future together. We stayed out til the early hours, laughing with people we just met (a late night that included a stop to the famous Ben's Chili Bowl).

And the next day walked around seeing all the must-see's of the district. We only had time to visit one Smithsonian and Max knew instantly what my choice would be. i will never forget seeing my first Van Gogh and how patiently he waited while i stood in awe.

D.C., my husband will tell you that it was on this trip in the summer of 2009 that he knew he was going to marry me. The nearly 3,500 miles of interstates and small towns in a car was filled with our laughter, conversation (or even comfortable silence), our signing, and dreaming of our future together. 

i thoroughly enjoyed the lights and glamour of NYC. i found my heaven on the beaches of italy. i ate to my hearts content and stood in awe at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

but when i think of writing a love letter to a place... D.C. you are it. It's where my love story truly started.

no other place will hold my heart with special thanksgiving than your streets.

with love and affection,

Micaela