Shabby Apple Giveaway!

Shabby Apple is the absolute cutest online store - and is perfect for the everyday Modern Marie. They sell vintage inspired and flattering women's dresses, bathing suits and accessories galore! They have amazing different city themed collections. Of course their French inspired collection sparked my attention, after all Paris is my favorite city in the world.

Shabby Apple is giving away this adorable striped "Oh La La" dress from their Parisian collection for one of my readers.

Here are the rules to enter:

For 1 entry: Leave a comment telling me your favorite dress from shabbyapple.com

For 2 entries: Follow Shabby Apple's blog and tell me in your comment that you did so.

For 3 entries: Become a follower on my blog.

This giveaway is only open to US residents!

I will run the giveaway thru Monday June 28th. The winner will be announced the next day, Tuesday

All of my readers receive 10% off coupon for Shabby Apple!

Just enter the code: modernmarie10off at checkout!

California Coast

Driving along the coast of California is undoubtedly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. My pictures do it no justice.

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Also I am thinking of getting a Nikon D3000 Camera- do any of you use one? Love it? Hate it? Is a Canon better?

Fairytale Ending

{a cake i made for a friend's daughter's 2nd b'day - princess themed}

This week's playlist is inspired by something I love - Fairy tales! Harps, chimes, harpsichord, etc make all these songs Princess ready:

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1. Running – No Doubt
2. I’m Not Calling You A Liar - Florence + the Machine
3. Candyland - CocoRosie
4. Golden Brown – Alexi Murdoch
5. Walking On A Dream - Gary Go
6. Loch Raven – Animal Collective
7. Night Swimmer – Beth Jeans Houghton
8. Jynweythek Ylow – Aphex Twin
9. Cuddle Fuddle – Passion Pit
10. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) (ACOUSTIC) – Florence + the Machine

Yosemite National Park

Here are my pictures from our little 2 day trip to Yosemite National Park in Northern California. The huge mountains, redwoods and waterfalls were so majestic, it took my break away. Tres beautiful! I took some in black in white in honor of Ansel Adams, who took many of his famous photographs there.

Imogen Heap

Last Friday I went to see Imogen Heap at the tabernacle in Atlanta. The friend I went with had been to her shows several times before and had raved about them. She was right, it was truly an amazing and inspiring experience.

The set had a million (exaggeration) different instruments on it and in the center of the stage was a light up tree that had chimes and gongs hanging off of it. There were mac books all over the stage - even on her clear acrylic "grand" piano keyboard.

Imogen had these little sensitive microphones on her wrist that were connected to all these computers. She (or a person from her band) would play a little of an instrument and she would record that sound from the microphones on her wrist. On the computer, she would playback the sound over and over, looping it. She layered all these sounds on top of each other until they finally sounded like a song. That is how she makes her background music - in the studio and on stage. Also, her voice sounded EXACTLY like she does on her Cd's! It was just amazing to watch her make her music from scratch, so to speak.

Add in great lighting, a great backup band, and her fairy-like hair - it was an unforgettable evening. Not to mention she played ALL my favorites (she does a poll for each city to see what they want to hear). First train home YOU got to get on it!

**we got there an hour before the doors opened so we could be up close - there was no one between me and the stage!

Napa Valley

Napa and Sonoma Valley was my favorite part of my NorCal trip. Vineyard after vineyard, the scenery and landscape was absolutely beautiful! It reminded me a lot of Tuscany, which I think that's why I loved it so much. We did some wine tastings at Hop Kiln Winery and a few others. During these tastings I discovered that I really do like red wine much much more than white. Sort of odd for a beginner wine consumer I suppose, but oh well - at least red is better for you :)