Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood in Saint Petersburg, Russia

HER LOOK

Blazer: Nordstrom

Shirt: Ann Taylor

Scarf: Nordstrom

Jeans: Mott & Bow

Shoes: Jack Purcell

Purse: Kate Spade

Pink Hat: Russia (right outside the cathedral at the souvenir stands!)

These pictures are from the exterior and interior of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood in Saint Petersburg, Russia.  This church is a super iconic building in Saint Petersburg and is a MUST SEE in person if you ever get a chance! In pictures it is hard to captures the grandness of this church!

The Church of the Savior was built from 1883 to 1907. The Construction was funded from the imperial family and many private donors.  Construction started with Alexander III and was to be a memorial for his father Alexander II. The construction was completed by Nicolaus II.

The church its self is located right next to the Griboedov Canal, which makes for a breath taking view when walking around, or on a canal ride!  The church was built after inspiration from the Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow in 17th-century style.  The architecture is a mix between Baroque, Neoclassical and medieval Russian.  The completed cathedral cost 4.6 million Rubels!

The interior of the cathedral is covered from ceiling to floor in stunning mosaics!  When you see the pictures above its hard to tell that the art work is not paintings but small little individual colored tiles!  There is 7500 square meters of mosaic tiles of art work, and darling floral borders.  The creative borders were my favorite part! The mosaics are of biblical figures and stories.  The mosaics were created by architect Alfred Alexandrovich Parland, and artists Viktor Vasnetsov, Mikhail Nesterov and Mikhail Vrubel.

In 1992 the Soviet government closed the church.  It was used to house those who had passed from military, starvation, or illness, then after the ware to store vegetables.  After the Russian Revolution, the church was resorted in a period of 27 years and reopened in August 1997.  As of now the church does not run as a place of full time worship.

I can see why this place is so highly visited for tourists in Saint Petersburg!  I did not want to put my camera down the entire time we were in there!  Here is a vlog below from our travels this day and adventures at the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood! Hope you have a great day!

P.S. I got these stretchy black jeans right before I left, from Mott & Bow and have been obsessed with them! If you know anything about me, I don't like pants (I'm a dress kinda gal) and I loved these high waisted jeans so much I went and bought some cute tops so I can wear these pants more! If you are looking for some comfy jeans that fit like a glove, make sure to check out Mott & Bow!  They have mens too :)

Peterhof Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia

HER LOOK

Dress: From Russia (similar here, here)

Sneakers: Jack Purcell

Purse: Kate Spade

Sunglasses: Le Specs

Lipstick: Mac-Hot Chocolate

Peterhof is a place that pictures and video do not do it justice!  It is beyond grand in appearance and size. Everything there is just breath taking!  The indoors of the palace are stunning (sadly the no longer let anyone take photos inside) and the grounds were as well spectacular!  It can be referred to as the Russian Versailles, which would be a great description!  

Building of the palace started in 1714 and was completed in 1721.  Peter was very passionate about the fountains and landscaping and wanted to expand the palace but after his death (in 1725) the whole project came to a halt.  The palace project was abandoned and later brought back to life by Peter's daughter Elizabeth in 1740. 

We had a tour guide to take us through the palace.  We had head sets so if we were not right next to the guide we could hear what she was saying.  It was super nice to learn about what was going on.  The only negative of having a tour guide was when we were walking around the fountains and gardens we didn't have the time we wanted to wander around since we needed to get back to the tour bus at a certain time.  If you ever get a chance to visit Peterhof, a tour group is wonderful, but make sure to find out how long you will have to explore the gardens.  You could spend all day there, and there are even little innovative splash gardens kids can play in from back in the day!

The fountains and gardens go on for miles and miles.  There are tons of diffrent styles of fountains and neat water works.  The uniqueness of the fountains was fantastic but the thing that was most amazing to me about the fountains was how they functioned and got their water source from.  All of the foundations work without a pump! The water supply comes from natural springs where the water is stored in reservoirs in the upper gardens.  With the elevation levels it creates pressure to supply water to the fountains.  I am constantly amazed at what people can come up with, and make it happen, and how it still works hundreds of years later!

In May every year, there is a opening ceremony for all the fountains to each be turned on one by one after the winter!  If you are ever planning a trip to Russia.... that MAY be a grand time of the year to go!  Make sure to get your Russia Travel Visa first though :)

Thanks for stopping by today!  If you want to see more of Russia, you can see my daily vlogs from the trip here.  Hope you have a great day!

P.S. Did you see the Kate Spade Surprise Sale is just started?! The items are up to 75% off! It is one of my all time favorite places to shop for handbags! I just bought this cute backpack in the pebble white! I wished I had a cute backpack for this Russian Trip so I thought I should get one now for the next adventure :) SALE HERE>

Welcome to Saint Petersburg

HER LOOK

Blazer: Banana Republic

Dress: Eliza J (also here)

Sunglasses: Karen Walker

Shoes: Cole Haan

Lipstick: Mac- Hot Chocolate

Purse: Kate Spade

After a week in Moscow, we took a night train to Saint Petersburg!  I have never slept on a train so that was a neat experience!  I felt like I was on the train to Hogwarts!  We woke up on the train and headed out straight to explore the city!  I heard Saint Petersburg was the Venice of Russia, and it was true!

I wore these pink Cole Haan Grand Pro sneakers all over Russia and loved wearing them!  Not only were they comfy, I love the soft blush pink color!  I had brought them to go with a few outfits, and after wearing them around the first day, I ended up wearing them almost every day because they went with all my outfits and were a great sneaker to wear all day!  These sneakers come in a ton of fun colors, so make sure to check them out here!  Or get pink ones too and we can be twins :)  They are the perfect summer sneaker!

If you want to see more of Russia (I will not be posting about everyday) here is a link to all the Russia Vlogs in order from day 1 to day 13!  Here is our first day in Saint Petersburg below!  We did a walking tour of the city and had fun exploring some cute shops!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day!

Wildflowers

HIS LOOK

Shirt: Jcrew

Jeans: DSTLD

Sandals: All Saints

HER LOOK

Shirt: Ann Taylor

Purse: Kate Spade (also here)

Sunnies: Prada

Shoes: Vince

Lipstick: Mac-RubyWoo

Pants: Ann Taylor

Happy Sunday! Hope you had a fantastic weekend! We took these pictures a few weeks ago together before we headed to the movies to see the BFG!  Have you had a chance to see that yet?! We have been in heaven with so many Disney movies coming out this year!  We are HUGE Disney fans, so we always get so excited when they have new movies being released!  Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you have a great week!  

P.S. If you want to see what we have been up to these days, make sure to check out our youtube and subscribe! That is where we are always post our most recent adventures!

Water Taxi Ride in Moscow

HER LOOK

Dress: Eliza J

Sunglasses: Le Specs

Sneakers: Cole Haan

Lipstick: Mac- Hot Chocolate

Purse: Kate Spade

These pictures are from day 4 in Moscow, Russia.  All our days in Russia were my favorite day of the trip for diffrent reasons, but this one was a favorite because we got to see the city from the water,  and hang out at our friend Gala's home in the country.

One thing I learned very quickly is that Russians are amazing!  I have never met such loving, generous people in my life!

I got this fun Eliza J floral scuba dress and was so excited to wear it on our trip!  When I was looking at the weather for Russia when we were going to be there it looked like it was going to be cold, and I was so glad it ended up being sunny and hot out so I could just wear a dress and sneakers!  I love wearing dresses because they are always super easy to wear and comfy to run around in!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day!

Cruise Line His/Her Wish List

We're planning to have some fun times on a cruise in the near future and so we put together this cruise line his/her wishlist.  A cruise is the perfect place to casually relax but there could still be times that you'd want to keep it classy.  I mean, how luxurious is a cruise to begin with?  All you can eat food and drinks, free entertainment, lounging on the boat deck... it's the next best thing to owning a yacht!

For Her:

 1. Mara Hoffman off Shoulder Caftan (other fun Caftans)

2. Linda Farrow Luxe 24k Rose Gold Sunglasses (other Rose Sunnies)

3. Gray Malin Rivabella Umbrellas iPhone 6 Case (other cases)

4. Maiyet Sia East/West Hopper Tote (other Totes at Shopbop)

5. Jeffrey Campbell Malang Fringe Sandals (other Lace-up Sandals)

For Him:

1. Gitman Vintage Linen Short Sleeve Button Down Shirt (other options)

2. Damir Doma Rose 2 Button Jacket (other blazers)

3. Paul Smith Drawstring Cotton Linen Shorts (more Linen Shorts)

4. Westward Leaning Pioneer9 Sunglasses (other Tortoise Shell Sunnies)

5. H by Hudson Mato Leather Huaraches (more Huaraches)

Tretyakov Art Gallery, Saint Basils and The Kremlin

HER LOOK

Sunglasses: Le Specs

Scarf: Ann Taylor

Blouse: Ann Taylor

Skirt: Ann Taylor

Shoes: Cole Haan

Lipstick: Mac- Neon Orange

These pictures are from day three of my trip to Russia with my cute mom!  On this day we got to visit Tretyakov Art Gallery.  It was a super neat art gallery with lots of beautiful paintings.  We spent most of our time on the 2nd floor and learning about unique paintings from our tour guide! 

After we went to lunch, walked down Arbat Street, and headed over to the Red Square to visit The Kremlin!  In the Red Square is Saint Basils, and seeing this building in person for me was so magical.  I loved the cool onion top domes, the fun colors and unique architecture of the church.

This day was luckily toasty out, so I was so excited to wear my new Cole Haan Zerogrand Sandals.  The weather was a little bit more chilly than I expected so I didn't get to wear my sandals as much as I would have liked!  I love Zerogrands, so when I saw they came in a sandal, I knew they were a must for the trip since we were going to be doing miles of walking everyday!

I wore a square neck scarf for the first time and loved it!  I didn't realize how much a scarf can really mix up a look and add a little flare to an outfit!  It was also super easy to pack and came in handy on the trip to Russia because there were several cathedrals we visited that we needed to cover our heads to enter in.

If you want to see more from this day, here is a little vlog from the Russian Adventure!  Thanks for stopping by today! Have a wonderful one :)

Happy 4th of July

HER LOOK

Dress: KAS New York

Sunglasses: Karen Walker

Lipstick: Mac- RubyWoo

Watermelon Purse: Kling

Shoes: Marc Fisher

HIS LOOK

Shirt: Jcrew

Shorts: Jcrew

Shoes: Sperry Topsider (on sale!)

Happy Fourth of July!!  Hope you are having an amazing day and get to end it with some fireworks!  Since it is the 4th we decided we needed to be at least a little bit festive and sport some shades of red!

I saw these Karen Walker Starburst Sunglasses a few months ago on Shopbop and knew right away I had to have them!  I am a huge fan of Karen Walker Sunglasses! I love that the oversized frames look great on so many face shapes, there are fun frame designs, and you can usually find them in some fun colors!

Jake got these Sperry Topsiders last year, and they are a summer shoe he was super excited to bust out this season!  Sometimes there is nothing better than a handsome boat shoe that can be dressed up or down!

Has there been anything in your closet you have been excited to bust out and wear during the summer months?! Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you have a wonderful week!