When you live only a few hours away from the border of Denmark, and your upstairs neighbors who are also very good friends are Danes, you can't help but love all things Danish. As you know, I've been writing about and traveling to Denmark for several years now - in fact, Denmark was were we began shooting years back for my first book. I've made many good friends "up north" in the past years and most recently, a wonderful stylist and author from Copenhagen contacted me to offer me a great rate on her summer house next month since she read on my Facebook wall in March that I was looking for a beach house on the Danish coast to rent in July. I really wanted to celebrate our wedding anniversary on the coast this year so I'm excited to say that thanks to Facebook (!) we'll be taking a few weeks off in July to drive up to Copenhagen and then further north, to stay in a gorgeous little cottage owned by one of Denmark's best stylists. I can't wait! Really!

I'll take some photos and tell you more about my trip upon my return but I'm very excited about my upcoming trip as I've not had a proper vacation in a very long time. That last time I took a real vacation was in 2010 when my husband and I went with our dear friend Esra to Istanbul for 4 days. But that was 3 years ago and since, I've been traveling so much for work that it will be nice for once to travel for pleasure. After taking over 20 flights in 2011 and another 10 or so in 2012, my version of a vacation was to stay home. This year, now that we just bought our first car since moving to Europe in 2009, we decided to skip planes and just enjoy road travel again. It's been so long since we hopped in the car to go anywhere - normally it's the train for us - but with a car you can meander off here and there and explore (something I love) and in the summer months, isn't that the best thing to do? Oh, there's a roadside stand selling strawberries. Stop. Oh! there is a pretty little antiques shop. Stop. Oh honey, can you stop at that cute cafe so I can get a coffee? Stop. There's a pretty field with flowers, can you stop so I can Instagram that? Stop. Thank goodness my husband is a good sport. When I think about it, I must drive him sorta crazy. But this is typical with blogger's who are also wives, right?

Our trip to Denmark will be one welcome break and if the weather cooperates, I plan to spend most of my time directly ON the beach. Even if I cannot sunbath, because Danish summers are not tropical by any means, I will be just as content to throw on a sweater, grab a chair, and just read on the beach, snap photos and collect little treasures on the shore. To have a coastal vacation is a dream of mine for several years since I left America - I live inland now and don't get to the coast nearly as much as my little heart yearns for, so this trip will be a big highlight of the year for me. To smell the salty air, eat some smoked fish and relax in a sweet little cottage  in Nordsjælland (she is even leaving me her bicycle to use!) is something I anticipate highly. It's all I'm thinking about at the moment! After spending time in the sea cottage, we'll then rent a space in the center of Copenhagen and spend 4 nights exploring the city. I've been there a few times but my husband hasn't, so we'll need extra time for him to see the sights and for me to do a little shopping and cafe crawling. :) I'm really looking forward to going to BLACK, the new store there that just opened by one of my favorite ceramicists Anne Black and Kirstine Meier Carlsen.

I wish I could see Astrid Svangren's current installation there called BLOOM done with flowers, illustrations and still life vignettes. She is a Swedish artist who does some amazing contemporary work that I find fascinating.

I also want to check out the newish restaurant called Höst. Has anyone visited this place yet?

We also plan to spend a day in Malmö, Sweden since it's a close train ride over from Copenhagen and my husband has never been to Sweden. I think he'd really love and with a name like Thorsten, I suppose he really should go there - I'm sure he'd find one of those souvenir shops with his name on a mug for sure, right? He never could when we lived in Boston, ha ha! Have you ever been to Malmö? Any MUST SEE book stores, cafes, shops, antique stores?

July is a good time to vacation because I'm in the midst of my next book and to have a break 'in between' shooting and writing will be just perfect. Then I can come back refreshed and energetic - ready to take on the rest of the project so we can turn everything in at the end of the summer.

Where will you go on vacation this summer? Tell me all about YOUR plans! Also, if you've been to Copenhagen within the last year, what did you LOVE and what do you recommend I check out? I'm particularly interested in beautiful shops, restaurants and cafes and the most photogenic neighborhoods...

(images: RUM, Black and Host)