@BECCALOVESART + @BGRETTENBERGER

Morning run view with #villabelza glowing in the sunshine! Love mornings like this in #biarritz Also, how do we get an apartment in THERE?! #housegoals Bon week-end, friends!

O U T S I D E is my happy place. Afternoon hike with @bgrettenberger along the beautiful Basque coastline to enjoy this sunny day! This country sure is gorgeous when the sun comes out! #routedelacorniche #hendaye #paysbasque

Just what the doctor ordered! Pretty sure everyone in Basque Country needed this today! Isn’t she pretty when the sun comes out? #villabelza #cotedesbasques #biarritz #france #GiveMeAllTheVitaminD

too many gloomy days in #biarritz

2 years ago Brent and I took a trip to Lisbon, Portugal for a weekend adventure. While we were there I sat and drew a little sketch inspired by our time in the city, because - like every year - I had a resolution to draw more, especially during our travels. I shared the sketch on our travel blog and then about a year ago I received an email from a nice designer named Nelson, telling me his family was going to open a Portuguese pastry shop in Bordeaux and they wanted to use my illustration in their shop. I was beyond excited when I finally saw pictures this week of the beautiful @latelierdespasteis , with my design hand painted on some tiles hanging in the front of the shop!! They’re brand new and just opened in Bordeaux in the beginning of December - I can’t wait to get up there to see this space and try some delicious Pastéis de Nata! If that isn’t inspiration to keep drawing more, then I don’t know what is. MERCI BEAUCOUP + OBRIGADA + THANK YOU SO MUCH @latelierdespasteis !!!! #latelierdespasteis #pasteisdenata #10ruesaintremi #bordeaux #france

Another day, another handful of plastic Q-tip sticks picked up off the beach in #Biarritz

misty morning by the beach

Trying to make the most of our ONE non-rainy day this week with a hike along the gorgeous Basque Coast. (although it looked like it was about to rain the entire time...)

So happy to be back home in Biarritz after such a long trip! We came home to stormy weather and dramatic tides so of course I hit the beach today for a little beach-combing session. The beaches were covered with trash and I found 214 plastic cotton bud / Q-tip sticks, just today!! Picked them up from Port des Pêcheurs all the way to Plage du Miramar, and there’s still more out there... it makes me sick. We should all make a resolution for 2018 to not use these single-use plastic sticks to clean our ears, remove makeup, etc. ! We have the power to vote with our dollars (or euros, or whatever currency) and if we all buy the cotton buds with paper / cardboard sticks instead of the plastic ones, it will make a huge difference, especially for our beaches and oceans! Check out my story on @seaandgather to see what else I found today! (And I’ll photograph all my New York finds and share those soon, too!) #biarritz #beachcombing #qtips #cottonbuds #cleanyobeach #beachclean #beachplastic #beachtrash #2minutebeachclean #takethreeforthesea #oceaninitiatives #cleanyobeachbeaches #beccalovesbeachcleaning

Always love that Parisian -cafe-hand-lettered type #paris

New Years beach (river) combing treasures found today along the bank of the East River below the Brooklyn Bridge. Some of these pieces were super old! Thanks to @dgrettenberger & @trellisdoor for taking me to this treasure trove in the middle of the city. 2018 is off to a great start! #happyplace #beccalovesbeachcombing

My friends know me well! Found my happy happy happy place today when Dustin & Shadia took me to the bank of the East River at low tide just so I could go beach-combing! (or.... river-combing) We all hunted and found so many amazing treasures - huge chunks of seaglass that were super old. It was a beachcombers dream!! I’ll photograph all our finds and share them on @seaandgather as soon as I’m back home in a few days. Thank you @dgrettenberger & @trellisdoor for showing me this special little beach! Photo of Shadia and I snapped by @dgrettenberger

Cruised the High Line in freezing temps with these two! There’s been wind chills below zero in the city for the past few days so this was a pretty cold walk, but glad we did it! ️

Snowy adventures in the city with @bgrettenberger ️ #newyorkcity

Finally getting proper use of that coat, @beccalovesart along with @dgrettenberger and I cruised the snowy streets of Brooklyn Heights. I'd consider it the Venice Beach of New York.

We got the white Christmas in New York that we were hoping for! (A few days late, but still...) It was a winter wonderland yesterday! ️

We saw our second Broadway show yesterday! The Parisian Woman - a new play staring Uma Thurman (my celebrity doppelgänger, so people have told me since her Kill Bill days). Written by Beau Willimon, who wrote House of Cards, and inspired by Henri Becque’s play La Parisienne. #theparisianwoman #broadway #newyorkcity

Love checking out all the designs & type variations of the subway tiles throughout the subway around New York City! #newyork

Love Biarritz at Christmas time, decked out with all the sparkly lights

These polar bears almost make it look like it’s a summer day! ️ #lesoursblancs #biarritz

Crispy cold morning workout view ️ #biarritz

I see this old man feeding the birds at Plage du Miramar every day during my morning run...

Annual Christmas market trip!!This year’s destination: the Swiss town of Montreux in the most picturesque setting below the Alps, next to Lake Geneva. It’s a Christmas winter wonderland dream! ️

Tide so low you can practically walk under the arched rock at #plagedumiramar . Biarritz you’re cold, but oh so pretty today!

My other favorite beachcombing find from this morning, that was confiscated by the police when I turned in the gun (see my other post for that story)! Hopefully they give it back when the “investigation” is over... at least I took a photo of it! Found on Plage du Miramar in Biarritz.

The tide was super low this morning, so of course I went beachcombing! After searching from Plage du Miramar to Port des Pêcheurs, I ended my search in the tide pools on the south end of Grande Plage. When I least expected it, I looked down and saw a gun in a holster sitting under the water. I was shocked and not sure what to do, so I text Brent & my friend Elisa and they both said to tell the police. Then 3 guys walked over and asked me what I was looking for. Wanting some advice on the situation I pointed to the gun and did my best attempt in French to explain what I had found. They didn’t hesitate, pulled the gun out of the water and started examining it - it was super old, very rusty and not it working condition & they were going to throw it back into the water & they said I should keep it with the rest of my finds (I was holding a bag full of other beachcombing finds). I said I was scared... (my French vocabulary totally failed me in this gun-finding situation, by the way, they didn’t understand anything I said). They just laughed and walked off, tossing me a cell phone they found in the water as they walked away. So there sat this gun, the guys I had shared my discovery with not interested and not thinking this was a problem. I was secretly hoping they would say “we’ll take this to the police so you don’t have to touch it, and we’ll explain to the police in perfect French what happened.” I still wasn’t sure what to do, but my friend Erin’s boys love to play in these tide pools ALL the time, especially on ultra low tide days like this, and I just imagined a kid stumbling onto it, so I didn’t want to leave it. I carefully picked it up, put it in my bag of other beach finds, and walked it to the police station, where I did my best to tell them that I was an avid beachcomber who just found a gun on the Grande Plage. They took the gun, along with the rest of my finds (nooo, so sad), and said merci & they will call me. I was so scared talking to the cops, especially having to tell them this story in French, but hopefully I did the right thing. Maybe if I was on a beach in the US this discovery might seem more normal, but here in Biarritz it was very unexpected!

Cold outside, cozy Christmasy evening inside. My favorite time of year at #châteaugrettenberger !

Fighting jet lag with Christmas spirit! We found our tree, time to decorate!

Fighting jet lag with Christmas spirit! We found our tree, time to decorate!

Happiness is... sledding with my Dad, sister and nephews in Alaska! Love that look of pure joy on Baby Gabey’s face!

“To the lover of wilderness, Alaska is one of the most wonderful countries in the world.” - John Muir ️️️️️ Yesterday Hanna took us to Eagle River Nature Center where we did a small hike (the boys got to ride on sleds) through the forest to take in these gorgeous mountain views. Alaska is breathtaking!

Stopping every five feet to take pictures of the beautiful snowy details! ️ I can’t decide if the light feels more like early morning light or evening light, but it feels like this all day because the sun never rises very high. Glad I’m here for the time of year I get to experience at least a little sunshine in #Alaska

Trying to get some exercise between meals... we lasted for an hour walking outside in the snow in 10°F! So happy to be home with my family for Thanksgiving! ️

Happy to have some quality sister time with @hannaveva ! She showed us Cottonwood Park this morning on the way to pick Gabe up from preschool... the light here is so beautiful!

Max made Grandpa a coupon book for his birthday so yesterday’s adventure included walking on Otter Lake, which was completely frozen over. They’re standing on the frozen lake in the background. ️ I was not super excited about this idea since most of my childhood nightmares were inspired by the Disney movie White Fang, which was filmed in Alaska in the 90’s, and there’s a scene where a man falls through ice on a frozen lake and freezes to death. I don’t think I slept well for about 10 years after watching that, with visions of wolves and frozen dead guys haunting my dreams... Hanna wanted me to conquer my fears, so I walked out, and survived. #otterlake #anchorage #jber #alaska

Post work & school sunset walk around the neighborhood. Getting in my workouts by pulling little guys on sleds! Also we’re all happy DAD / Grandpa Bryan made it here! ️ #socold #alaska

My tough sister @hannaveva livin’ that Alaskan life! ️ And I thought Biarritz was cold...

Happiness is... hanging out with my nephews after not seeing them for two years! It’s been way too long! Finally made it to ALASKA for Thanksgiving week with the Radanovich family @hannaveva @jordanradanovich ! Four flights from France, a lost bag, and 26 hours later, it was all worth it waking up in this winter wonderland with these cute faces! Morning sledding adventures in the neighborhood... and it’s 5° F (-16° C) outside!!! ️ Photo by my sister @hannaveva

Office life avec @elisarouta Is it Christmas vacation yet? Also matching beanies because this room doubles as an ice box. ️ #workworkworkworkwork #bidart #france

Happiness is... Sunday afternoons at #châteaugrettenberger