Paris Bleu — Local services in Washington

Happened upon this sweet little spot when strolling through Capitol Hill yesterday. The shop is above a beautiful stationary and card store with equally lovely items. Christine, the owner, is French and listening to her lovely lilt while conversing with another French speaking patron drew me up the stairs immediately. Her space is filled with unique gifts she merchandises from Paris, as well as other fair trade items that support women working in remote locations across the globe. I picked up a beautiful scarf for my momma, as I try to find one for her whenever I'm traveling. Quaint and reasonably priced, there's a little something for everyone, but truly the best part of all is Christine. She's warm and friendly and we immediately fell into a lengthy conversation that made my whole day. If you ever wanted an immediate French bestie, this is the place to find her. Thank you Christine, and Vive la...

Visited with MIL - a gem of a find. While small, lots of beautiful and unique gifts, especially for the hard-to-shop-for category. The owner was a delight and we were happy to leave with nice gifts for others (bags, jewelry, and definitely some for ourselves). It's right off Eastern Market and upstairs from a cards and balloons shop so a bit hard to see from the street - but worth...

This is a very pleasant upstairs boutique. As we were looking around we saw hats for merely 5$ made by a 93 year old woman. She clearly put her heart and soul into these gorgeous hats. The owner was very nice and taught us how to wear the hat with style. The boutique is upstairs. I...