Monday, March 25, 2013

Top moment in Paris

My very very favorite moment in Paris was Blake's Valentines surprise.

Background: There was a recent NY Times article on this bridge in Paris where lovers started placing initialed padlocks on the chain-linked sides of the bridge. Tradition is you write your and your lover's initials on a lock, lock it on the bridge and throw the key in the river together. Now there are literally thousands of locks covering this bridge. How romantic right?

Well we were just wandering around (or so I thought) and we "stumbled" on this bridge. Blake began to tell me the history of the bridge and I said "We'll just have to pretend to put a lock on the bridge." Blake smirked and explained he had something different in mind. He reached into his pocket and showed me a silver lock he had engraved with our names and wedding date!

I melted right then and there. I was SO excited!

Then in all our cheesy glory we locked it onto the bridge, kissed and threw the key in the river. 





 Valentines Day 2013 is going to be pretty hard to beat! 



P.S. We went back a couple of days later and I found our lock again! Now that is love.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Paris for the Weekend

"Oh, but Paris isn't for changing planes!  It's for changing our outlook, 
for throwing open the windows and letting in . . . letting in la vie en rose." - Sabrina
Several weeks ago, Blake and I combined a three-day weekend with a couple of vacation days to run away to Paris for a long weekend! Before you get any ideas about us wasting all of our student loan money, this was only possible because of Blake's interest in obsession with collecting frequent flyer miles and hotel points. :)

So in no particular order, here is our Top-10 List from our adventures in the City of Lights!

1.  The Eiffel Tower at night from Trocadero across the river. Like all activities on this list, this is best accomplished with a hot crepe in hand.  We waited around to watch the Tower sparkle - unfortunately the pictures failed to capture the magic of it shimmering, but trust me it's incredible. 


2. Wandering the city on foot. One of our favorite things to do was just explore. We walked, we metroed and we walked some more. There were so many fun neighborhoods that we just stumbled upon. Oh Happy Day recommended some fun local flea markets that we loved. I ate the best Belgian waffle of my life. I gave Blake about 2 tiny bites.


 



3. Walking the Seine and visit Notre Dame at sunset.
 It was Valentine's Day and we're in love. My heart was basically melted the entire time. 

4. Our afternoon walk up to Montmarte. The only thing prettier than the church was the view of the city. I loved sitting on the steps of the Sacre Couer enjoying a Coke Lite (soooo not the same as Diet Coke!). There were fun street performers and people smoking weed. Win win.










5. Standing in line for Saint Chapelle. Normally lines are top of the lame list but this 30 minute wait was awesome. There was a hilariously naught little French toddler who was equal parts mischievous and adorable. We loved watching her win over the crow. Plus the stain glass windows were well worth the wait.

6. Strolling around Versailles. The place kinda speaks for itself. 
I loved imagining Mary Antionette playing house in her crazy little play "cottages". 


7. Taste testing Laduree vs. Angelina's macaroons. Trust me we tried a lot of macaroons but the jury is still out on this one.


8. Eating Nutella crepes and baguettes multiple times a day. Honestly, why would we even bother with other food in France?


9. Exploring the Musee d'Orsay and Musée de l'Orangerie. A kindergarten class was there having a field trip at l'Orangerie and a thousand 5-year olds were laying out on their tummies sketching Monet's Water Lilies.  It was adorable!  We only managed to get one creeper pic before the teachers noticed us ... so pictures of windows it is!
 


10. Ok this last highlight needs a post of its own. So stay tuned! 




Paris, we loved you.


Thursday, March 7, 2013

happy happy Thursday list

I don't know if it's the sunshine or the surprise day off yesterday (thank you no-show snow storm) but this has been a happy happy Thursday.

+ My new nail polish was a hit at work. Nail polish is a preeetty big deal with these ladies, I've never seen such intricate manicures in my life. So I was pretty pumped my electric blue nails made the cut.

+ This adorable song is just so happy and fitting for spring. Spring I can feel you! You are so close! COME! Thanks Ams for the song.



+ Blake comes home tomorrow! I've missed him quite a bit.

+ One of my little kiddos at work said my name for the first time (without me asking him over and over what my name is). Well actually he said "Morning Stefi! What's happenin'?" He is 3. It was pretty much awesome.

+ I booked a flight to see all my fam in NY in May. Faust family paaarty!

+ I'm having a girl party tonight to watch Pitch Perfect and eat yummy Trader Joes snacks. Aca-awesome!

+ We have killer weekend plans to watch Blake dominate his ward bball playoff game. The boy can drain a 3 pointer like nobody's buisness.

+ I'm slowly wearing Blake down to buy me a puppy one day :) How can you resist this face???



And on that note...Happy Thursday!





 
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