strawberry picking in crozet

A couple weekends ago I had a strawberry picking date with my sister-in-law (and two nieces and a nephew). I have been wanting to go strawberry picking for several years now, but for some reason or another it hasn't quite panned out...until this year. Since my brother's family lives in Charlottesville, I drove out to them and from there we headed out to Chiles Orchard in Crozet, a picturesque town about 15 minutes outside of Charlottesville that sits in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was a perfect afternoon for picking strawberries - mid-70s, no humidity and no crowds. We came home with several (I think about six) boxes full of ripe, bright red berries. I have to admit my main purpose for wanting fresh strawberries is to make freezer jam...my sister-in-law and I stayed up until 2am making numerous batches, which I will be devouring all summer!

photo date

A couple weekends ago I met up with my good friend, Ashley, for an afternoon photo date. We headed into the town of Leesburg, grabbed some lunch at Shoes Cup and Cork Club and then walked around the town with our cameras. It was an overcast day, but thankfully the rain held so that we could capture some of the beautiful flowers and historic buildings in the area. It was fun to just walk wherever we felt so inclined...there was a lot of "right or left?" followed by a shrug of the shoulders, which was nice since we both weren't on any time crunch. I definitely need to take advantage of the surrounding dc area more often...and make "photo dates" a regular activity on my calendar.

Check out Ashley's awesome photos from our afternoon here.

· national arboretum: part ii ·

More photos from my visit to the national arboretum, most of the above photos were taken in the culinary garden. Next up the bonsai garden... (see part i here)

· spring nails ·

My current favorite nail combo for spring: Mouse (a taupey-grey) by American Apparel, Shop Til I Drop (sheer pinky-coral) by Essie Limited Edition for J.Crew and Turquoise & Caicos (minty-aqua green) by Essie.

p.s. that's a guava margarita in my hands...so good!

· national arboretum: part i ·

Last Friday I spent the afternoon with a couple friends touring the national arboretum. I'm a little embarrassed to say I've lived in the dc area my whole life and this is my first time visiting the arboretum. It was the perfect spring day to be there, the weather was sunny and in the high 60s...and the azalea garden was in full bloom! The grounds are gorgeous and obviously well maintained. I have a camera full of photos from our afternoon there...I'll be working my way through them this week and hope to post more photos soon!

· weekend goodness: old town/national harbor ·

We brought my oldest nephew back with us after spending a day in Charlottesville this past weekend. It's his spring break this week so he gets to spend a few days at grandma and grandpa's house...minus his four siblings who don't have their spring break until April (and who are quite envious). Since the weather has been awesome, we drove down to Old Town Alexandria and took a water taxi over to the National Harbor. It was the perfect day to be on the water and take-in the scenery...I am loving this weather!

· pops of color ·

There are pops of color showing up everywhere - flowers are blooming outside and they have inspired me to add some bright colors to my wardrobe, like these electric blue jeggings, which I kinda love.

Enjoy the weekend!

· weekend goodness ·

Family time in Charlottesville this past weekend.

· b-day loot ·

A few birthday presents I received over the weekend that I'm pretty excited about: a new odette necklace from the minerva divinus collection, maui by mcmc fragrances and wild mint lip balm by phoenix botanicals. It was a lovely birthday weekend spent with good friends and family!