{South Africa Day Seven}

Two days in a row! Look at me! hehehe

So, back to the South Africa posts... Our seventh day in South Arica was a fun one! We started our morning with coffee from Deluxe Coffeeworks. If you're into good coffee (we're Portlanders, so you know we are...) then you must stop here if you're ever in Franschhoek. We strolled the adorable downtown (which is basically just one long street) and then headed out for a day of wine tasting. We visited La Motte, Tokara (this one ended up being our favorite), Thelema and La Petite Ferme. There are obviously so many wineries to visit and there were many on our list that we missed, but we loved all the places we went - great wine and amazing views. Couldn't complain!

 {Photos © Liz Denfeld Photography}

{South Africa: Days Five & Six}

Hello, hello! It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, the good news is I wasn't eaten by a lion :)

We got back from our safari 8 days ago. I can't believe we've already been back so long.

I want to continue on with a couple short posts giving a general overview of each day of our stay in SA, then I'll do some more detailed posts on where we stayed, our itinerary, restaurant suggestions, the whole deal. I've already gotten several requests for a detailed itinerary to follow, so I will definitely be working on that!!

On our fifth day in Cape Town we finally got to take things a little slower. We slept in a bit and then made our way up to Table Mountain. We booked our tickets on the gondola ahead of time as we've heard the lines can get pretty long. Luckily there weren't any lines at all! Cape Town is just full of amazing views. We didn't think we'd be up at the top of the mountain long, but of course we ended up taking our time walking around and enjoying the scenery. It was a warm and beautiful day! 

Later that day we ventured over to Camp's Bay - the more "posh" beachside area in Cape Town. We strolled along the beach as we got lost trying to find our restaurant and wished we would have come down earlier and spent the day soaking up the sun (took note for next time!). We ended up getting appetizers and cocktails and watching the sunset at The Bungalow. I must admit, while it was a nice experience, it wasn't really our scene. One of our friends had told us it was very "South of France", but I would have gone further to say it was more Miami. I felt a little out of place, but it wasn't anything a couple drinks couldn't fix :) We ended up seeing a beautiful sunset and having tons of fun. 

On our sixth day in Cape Town we checked out of our amazing hotel (can't wait to tell you more about it!), and drove an hour outside of the city to wine country! We didn't even make time to drop our bags at our guest house as we had lunch reservations we could not be late for! Going into this trip we actually had a lot of recommendations. A meal at Maison was at the top of our friend's list, so we booked weeks in advance to make sure we wouldn't miss out. The second we stepped in we understood why they had said it was their favorite meal of their entire trip. Everything was flawless. The decor, the service, the food, the wine, the grounds. My my my. We ended up spending a good 3+ hours there just making ourselves at home and contemplating never leaving (maybe they wouldn't find us if we hid in their awesome bathrooms?). It was an afternoon to remember. There will definitely be more to come on this place! 

After checking into our cute little guest house in Franschhoek we made our way to Dieu Donne Vineyards to enjoy the view (and a glass of wine of course). I wish my camera could have captured the insane beauty of the landscape. It literally took my breath away. We were so excited to be in wine country and couldn't wait for a full day of tasting the following day! 

 {Photos © Liz Denfeld Photography}

{Our Swiss Chalet}

Staying in a Swiss chalet was very much like my dream of staying in a Tuscan villa. So cliché, yet so necessary. When Corey and I realized we wouldn’t be making it home for Christmas we knew we had to go somewhere super awesome to help temper the sting. And we couldn’t have picked a better place to spend a week relaxing. We were in the most beautiful, tiny Swiss Alp town of Val d’illiez. There’s not much to do there except stare at the gorgeous mountains and cuddle up by the fire. Exactly what we had in mind! I started every day with a bubble bath (pure heaven!) and ended each one with a glass of wine, a cozy fire and a Christmas movie. The only thing missing was our little Henry. There will be many more posts about our trip to Switzerland to come... For now, here are a few photos from our dream Swiss chalet. 

 {Photos © Liz Denfeld Photography}

{Our Two Year Wedding Anniversary}

Happy Monday everyone! How are you all doing? It’s been snowing buckets in Amsterdam and it’s been causing all sorts of chaos – with trains and planes – and worst of all.. with me! I guess biking in 23-degree weather was a bit ambitious for me, because this weekend I came down with a nasty bug that has me bed-ridden today. Husband is taking great care of me and it’s not so bad having a beautiful snowy view out the window. I just wish I could go outside and enjoy the wintery white weather!

Speaking of the huz… Corey and I are creeping up on two and a half years of marriage! Now, I know that’s not a super long time, but what I will say is boy does time fly!! I feel like we just celebrated our two-year anniversary, which I realized I never blogged about!

While I wish we could’ve done something extravagant and luxurious to celebrate our wedding anniversary, I was flying out to Portland the next day and work was crazy busy at the time, so we settled on a romantic dinner at a gorgeous restaurant. We got dressed up and headed to De Kas. This place is so awesome. It sits on the edge of a lush city park in Amsterdam and is probably the coolest looking restaurant we’ve ever eaten in. It also happens to be one of those super fancy restaurants that doesn’t really have a menu. Each day the chef has a three-course dinner planned that consists of three small starters, a main course and dessert. The best part is everything is made with local, fresh ingredients grown in the restaurant’s very own nursery.  We decided to fancy things up even more and get the wine pairings with dinner. The whole things was a fun and special experience and the perfect way to celebrate two years of wedded bliss. Here are a few photos from the occasion.

And P.S. Yes, our wedding anniversary was in August and yes I am wearing tights and a blazer... Why? Because there is no summer in Amsterdam. Yeah, I guess you could say I’m bitter about it :)

 {Photos ©  Liz Denfeld}

{Video: Our Weekend in Venice!}

Ciao ciao friends! How are you all? Did you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday? Corey and I had an amazing dinner with some expat friends and then we took off for Venice on Saturday. We got back from our dreamy weekend yesterday and I was so inspired I put together this video of our trip! I haven’t made a video since our trip to Paris over a year ago, so I thought it was about time I made another. It’s such a fun way to document memories! I am definitely not a professional moviemaker, but this video captures a few of my favorite moments from our trip. Hope you enjoy it! Photos to come…

Venice from Liz Denfeld on Vimeo.

P.S. I stole this song from Brittany's awesome Italy video :)

{Have an Amazing Weekend!}

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, or you read Megan or Lauren’s blogs, you probably already know that as we speak I am on an epic blate (blog+date) in Tuscany with the two of them! It’s just us girls for now, lounging by the pool of our Tuscan villa, but the boys are joining us this weekend! I’m excited for good wine, girl talk and some sun! I’ll be back here on Tuesday. Until then, have a fabulous weekend!

 {photo credit}

{Wine Tasting + Picnic at David Hill}

Things got so busy right before our trip to Portland I didn’t even get to blog about our two-year wedding anniversary. It fell on a work night, the day before I was leaving for home, so to be honest it wasn’t the most incredible anniversary ever. But we did make time to go out for an amazing meal (in a greenhouse!) and for some quality time together before I left Corey for two weeks (torture!).

When we were home, partly as a little celebration and partly just because we hadn’t been back since our wedding day, we went out to the winery where we tied the knot. Corey’s parents and my mom joined as we did a little wine tasting, then enjoyed a picnic among the vines enjoying a fantastic pinot noir. Being back was so special – the place hadn’t changed a bit.  

**Update! Apparently you guys like my dress ;) Thanks! It's from Zara. Unfortunately I got it on super sale while I was in Bruges with my sis, and I don't see it online.

  {Photos ©  Liz Denfeld}