Almost 3 years ago...

...was my last post on this blog!

While enjoying the mid-70 degree weather yesterday, I remembered that in 2009 I wrote a blog post about getting a sunburn in March. Curious about it, I ventured back into this blog and was inspired to give this a try again. Although I do keep a relateively updated blog about Miss Ava, this blog is different and could certainly use a little TLC.  So, I'll give it a shot and see what happens. Quite a lot has changed in the last 3 years, so I should have a number of topics to write about.

Springtime in Paris

Visiting Europe is a trip that Jon and I will not soon forget. For this first entry, I will feature our two day trip to the beautiful city of Paris. This was the leg of the trip that had us slightly nervous-we were unfamiliar with the area, knew not one word of the language, and had been warned by many that the French weren't fond of Americans and should expect general curtness. To our pleasant surprise, we didn't find ourselves lost (not too often at least), many people spoke enough English to understand us and for us to understand them, and we did not encounter one rude individual.

On our arrival day, we spent the first hour off the metro looking for our hotel. Once we arrived, we were pretty pleased with the accommodations. It certainly wasn't luxury by any means-our room was about 10x10 and was no frills for sure-but it did, have a lovely balcony that overlooked the small street the hotel sat on. Very European for sure.

After dropping off our luggage at the hotel, we walked down the street to find a bite to eat. We were still nervous, and had not yet gotten the confidence to try our hand at ordering something at just any little shop or bistro. Instead, we opted for this option-yup, Breakfast in America. It was just what we needed to ease into our new surroundings. After our truly American breakfast, we headed to our tourist destinations-the Louvre, and the Eiffel Tower. We began this mini tour by walking the grounds of the Louvre, and walking down the mall toward to Place de la Concorde. At this point we could look one way to see the Louvre and the other to see the Arc de Triomphe. Such an amazing view.

The Louvre Museum was ENORMOUS (this ends up being the "theme" of our trip-everything was so much bigger than we could have imagined!) We had absolutely no conception of just how large this building was-and being limited in our time in Paris, we knew we couldn't spend a whole lot of time inside. We did make sure that we saw two of the most famous pieces of art the museum owns-Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo-so cool!

We saw many other works of art, but the others were not necessarily as awe inspiring.

After visiting the Louvre, we hopped on the metro and headed to the most known structure of Paris-the Eiffel Tower-or officially called "Tour Eiffel". This monstrosity was stunning to say the least-more impressive than we could have ever imagined. We opted to climb to the second floor-a mere 380 feet in the air. The ride up in the lift was slightly intimidating, as it ascended straight up, and was operated by some very old looking pulley-like system. The view from the second floor (for the record, the top floor was closed-although I can't say for sure I could have mustered up enough bravery to actually go to the top had it been open)-was SPECTACULAR. It showed Paris for the beautiful, rather pristine city that it is. It is a view that everyone should have a chance to see. In an attempt to avoid the lift (I was worried about the safety of riding down-straight down!) I coaxed Jon into taking the steps down. This option was slightly less anxiety provoking-for me at least-but for Jon, he said he would have preferred the lift. I will admit that the lift would have prevented my stomach from jumping into my throat numerous times as I would not have been able to take note of the distance between the hard ground and myself. All in all, a spectacular visit to the tower that was originally expected to be temporary, as it was built to be the entrance to the Exposition Universelle (a world's fair) in 1889.

After this busy day, Jon and I felt we would benefit from a brief break at the hotel, since at this point we had been up for over 24 hours, and we had seen a great portion of the city already. It was around 4:30 pm as we laid down to "rest." The next thing we knew, it was 11:30!!! We ho-hummed about what to do for dinner-after finally getting our act together we left for dinner at a little after midnight. We found a nice corner restaurant that was open, and sat down to evaluate our day. The food was just so-so, but the fact that we were eating dinner in Paris-that was more than enough for us!

It was on our second day in Paris that we found a great appreciation for the city. In the morning we made our way to the Notre Dame cathedral where we were to meet our bike tour group at the Charlemagne statue. We did our bike tour through a small company called Bike About Tours and we had a blast! The company is owned by two guys, Christian and Paul. Our tour guide, Paul, was from New Zealand and he was a former Louis Vuitton employee who decided that life was too short to not do what you love (what a message, huh?!) and decided to start the business. On the bike tour we got to see most of the 20 different neighborhoods-and learned so much about each location and its history in the city. We learned a lot about the French Revolution, and got to see many interesting sites-like the place that the restaurant from Disney's "Ratatouille" was based on, the place where Victor Hugo lived, and the place where Jim Morrison died. Quite the tour! After the bike tour, we took the chance to visit Notre Dame, get some ice cream known as the "best in Paris," see a May Day protest, and just walk around and take in the romance in the city.

After visiting this city, Jon and I decided that, if ever given the chance, we would live in Paris in a heartbeat. It's beauty is overwhelming, and more than we could have imagined. At the very least we will definitely visit again. There were parts of the city that we did not get to see, and parts we would like to see more of, so it will surely be on our list of things to do again.

One Year of Marriage

One year ago today, I had the chance to say "I do" to spending the rest of my life with my best friend. How cool is that?! As I reflect on our first year of marriage, I can't help but think of how lucky we have been. It has been a year of firsts for us-buying our first house, my first move to a new place, owning our first pet, our first trip to Europe-it has all been so exciting.

As we step into our second year of marriage, I can only hope that we will have half the opportunities of "firsts" that we have had this year. I am confident that this year will continue the ever-increasing love and respect we have for one another-and also that we will continue to grow as individuals and as a couple.

Here's to another year!!!...

Happy Anniversary, Jon!

****************************************************

P.S. Since I didn't do so well with documenting our Europe trip while we were on the trip, for the upcoming entries I will be featuring various aspects of our visit to France and Italy. Stay tuned...

Happy Birthday, Jon!!!

I just wanted to take today to wish my wonderful husband HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

As of today you can no longer (well for another year at least) say that I am "a whole year older"-and for that, I am thankful! :)

I hope that your birthday is a great one because, as anyone would agree, you deserve it.

I love you with all of my heart.

XOXO

T-2 days!!

Ok, so it has been a LONG time since I have written an entry-life has just been an exciting whirlwind. Between juggling my job, doing some side designing work (yay!) and oh yeah-planning a trip to Europe-it's been busy!

On Wednesday-yes, as in 2 days!-Jon and I will be jet-setting off to Paris for two and a half days, then hopping on a plane and going to Italy for six and a half days. We are totally excited, but certainly nervous. As I keep telling people-I don't consider myself to be a very "worldly" person, so this should be an experience. One I won't soon forget, I am sure.

In Paris, we are hoping to see the traditional tourist attractions-the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, etc. We have also reserved a bike tour to see the city from a different perspective.

In Italy, we will be spending majority of our time in Rome. The primary reason we are travelling to Europe is that Elizabeth, my fabulous sister-in-law, is currently studying abroad in Rome. Yay-perfect reason to go. We haven't seen her since February 1st, so we are stoked to see her and see what her life has been like for the past couple months. So exciting!

I will do my best to blog while on the trip-a real time account of the travels-but if that doesn't pan out, I will certainly blog about our adventures when we return!

Au revoir and Ciao!