cap maison.

so, where did we go? the stunning island of st. lucia and the brand spanking new cap maison. which. is. ridiculous. look on to be convinced!

Click to read more ...

the man the white house wakes up to.

there's an amazing article in the new york times magazine about mike allen and his playbook in politico. for washington dc nerds like me, it's an incredible "tipsheet" and something i read every morning. it's one part incredibly informative, and another part small town charm and i love it.

i met mike allen a couple of years ago when i had just moved to dc. he was interviewing my boss and it was one of these crazy days where it was happening in between meetings, so we met at a starbuck's by the white house. when mike arrived, i started to duck off and go to another table so he could talk to my boss. before i could get two steps away, mike pulled up a chair for me and asked me to stay. playbook is amazing. this article speaks to what a good friend mike is to a ton of big time washingtonians, but what strikes me is he also is kind to complete strangers (no matter how young or unimportant they are :)

jetsetter.

so, the story of our honeymoon really begins with how we found the spot. well, long story short, the navy had us reschedule our honeymoon a bunch of times. my husband dealt with all of this (he's amazing) and when we finally knew we could really go, it was only about a month away.

insert here our amazing friend (who also helped ryan with the ring) who told us about jetsetter. jetsetter is an incredible, invite only site that has INCREDIBLE deals on some of the most exclusive, little known spots around the world. i'm in love with it. and, guess what? all you have to do is click here, and i've invited you! they have new sales every week, domestic and international. this week you could go to kauai, the maldives, san francisco ...

ready?

amazing readers: i've told you about our wedding and house, so i think it's about time i let you in on our amazing honeymoon! i'll give you a hint: it involves a precious island, an amazing 40 room getaway that is pretty much heaven on earth and some pretty incredible views. stay tuned this week for details!

kind & gentle.

wise words from my mentor. you might want to make this your desktop background :) i just took her quote and put it with a simple photo i love.

ten questions to ask your mom.

i love this list of questions to ask your mom by real simple. maybe mother's day means a long walk or headed to your favorite coffee shop and asking away. if you're still looking for gifts, check out my guides here, here and here. i get to see my mom this weekend in dc and can hardly wait!

photo by lisa charles watson for real simple

good lookin.

so i'm loving barefoot contessa back to basics and real simple magazine recipes these days, but lately my heart has been leaping for jamie oliver. not only is he so socially minded. and his dishes look ridiculously good. and his store is so ridiculously amazing. i loovvee mustard and feel like this jar and sign would make it even better. so, anybody have his cookbooks? got a favorite i should put on my wishlist?

one potato.

loving this site, one potato, where you can find wonderful children's books like this one. so, for all you moms and dads, aunts and uncles, godparents, grandparents and kind neighbors who love reading to kiddos, check out one potato for some amazing undiscovered books! makes me want to build a fort and read by flashlight!

what i'm reading.

i'm a really big fan of anne lamott (my MOH and i have this "road trip" and we've designated several people who can come with us. they're not people we actually know, but people we know we would like ... if we could just convince them to be our friends. anne was the first we invited on the road trip).

imperfect birds is her new book and I'm diving in! what are you reading? always looking for good books!

update: this is my best book of 2010, read it asap. xo

san diego.

saw this photo our wedding photographer took of san diego. it's one of the possibilities of where the navy could send us this fall and made me kinda excited! it's in our top two cities and it's hard to beat the weather and things to do. happy monday! how was your weekend? more on ours soon ;)