As we’re settling in to our new City, we are trying to explore local areas as well; I’d say we equally love the countryside and the City.

This past weekend, we decided to check out a town near us called Carp; it was recommended to us by my husbands colleague, who mentioned a great little farmers market which happens every Saturday from 8am-1pm from May until October. Of course that caught our attention; we’re all for supporting local!

It was no surprise that this was an amazing market; there were so many local vendors with organic food options, plants and herbs, and local handmade products such as soaps!

In addition to the farmers market, across the street we stumbled upon the prettiest coffee shop called Alice’s Village Cafe – I’m sure I looked like a total tourist with the amount of photos I was snapping! Pure wooden furniture (including old church pews) offered comfy seating for the customers, raw metal and unique lighting fixtures added the perfect hygge glow, and green plants decorated tables and walls – this place is just dreamy!

I would definitely recommend this town to visitors; especially the farmers market and Alice’s Village Cafe. I’m sure we will visit it again sometime soon and will check out some new spots which then I’ll be able to share with you!

Happy Weekend!

Whenever we travel to Europe we like to make a stop in the United Kingdom; for family + shopping generally. This time, our stop was very quick and had an exact purpose.

7:55 am

We touched down in London at 7:55am; by the time we moved through customs and grabbed our luggage it was 9:00 am. My sister in law picked us up, we grabbed some Costa coffees to go and we were off to Bicester Village for some shopping.

11:30 am

We arrived at Bicester Village with a mission. My husbands goal was to buy a few suits, dress shirts, and a few pairs of shoes. I personally didn’t have high hopes of getting what I wanted; simply because what I wanted is very specific and has been sold out in EVERY store I’ve gone to (including online). So the focus was on my Husband and his shopping mission.

After a couple of hours of shopping we succeeded in finding and buying all of the things he wanted. I can’t say that I didn’t have any luck either though because I bought myself    something as well; a powder pink lace dress from Ted Baker.

4:00pm

The shopping was done and the hunger kicked in. We drove over to the Town of Oxford to one of our favorite restaurants which we always try to visit when in England; Wagamama. Traditionally, we both got Ramen.

Since we were in Oxford we decided to have a look around and sightsee a little bit; we learned and saw some pretty neat things. For starters, Oxford University has a breathtaking campus! The town seems like an entire student town; there are hardly any cars in the area and instead, the amount of bikes everywhere is astounding. Secondly, we learned that many of the locations in the area were used to film scenes from Harry Potter! This was something very interesting for me; it was so neat to find the various locations and recall which scene of the movie they were in. Clearly, I’m a Harry Potter fan; I feel like I grew up with the movie.

6:00pm

The next part of the day was spent doing something I recommend to anyone traveling to the UK, and that’s stopping in to Primark for some shopping.

Although I look at clothes differently now, and don’t feel the need to buy dozens of items just because they’re “nice” I still like to stop in and see what I can find in these stores. So, I didn’t really buy much besides a cardigan, skirt, and a few tank tops and T-shirt’s.

8:00pm

At this point we were starting to feel the exhaustion of the trip and days events, and we headed back to my sister in laws home outside of London.

The 12 hours we spent running around were planned and well used; but also exhausting. But this was the idea of our time here, since we knew we’d be spending time together in Poland within the next week, we took full advantage of the UK.

The next morning we caught a flight to Warsaw, Poland, and that was it for our London adventure for this trip. We usually spend at least a week in the Country; it’s mandatory to visit Harris’s and Selfridges, and to fall in love with a new designer item, but we just didn’t have the time for that fun on this trip. Either way, it was nice to be in England again!

To finally find myself on the west coast was like a dream come true for me. I’ve lost track of the number of years that I have been dreaming of a california vacation, literally. I’ve touched down on this land before, but only as a flight transfer, and it only lasted 3 hours. Since this trip, I have learnt that there is actually no such thing as enough time spent in California.

Our California trip began in San Francisco – the land of incredibly hilly streets, foggy skies, and the world famous Golden Gate Bridge. Our first stop after settling in was of course, Whole Foods – I couldn’t wait any longer to walk through all of those super healthy, vegan friendly aisles; basically, I always find new, state-specific items whenever we travel, and, more importantly, I am always snacking!

We spent about three days playing tourist in this wonderful city, but we definitely could have used a few more. A few of my favourites from this trip would have to include Alcatraz, Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf, and the San Francisco Premium Outlets. Overall, there isn’t one specific location in the “downtown core” that I could say I preferred over the rest, because I feel like we ventured around so much it all felt so special and beautiful. I definitely was able to feel the San Fran vibes everywhere, and I LOVED IT!