My Life, in Stitches...

When I graduated from college and moved into my very first apartment (and I don’t think I’m atypical here), my decorating taste consisted mainly of whatever I could find or was given. Thankfully, the “donated” items came from family that had pretty great taste, but still. It was time to do some upgrading. Not to mention, my dreams of moving into a bigger something soon were quickly deminishing each time I checked trulia.com to find out that my condo had yet again decreased in value. What’s a girl to do? Apparently, redecorating was the answer! 

It took a few months, and I would definitely say it’s still a work in progress, but for the time being it’s “complete.” I’m a terrible blogger because I don’t really have great before pictures..this is the only before picture I’ve got: 

I didn’t really have any huge ideas of how I wanted this room to turn out, but I knew that I wanted a white couch, that I loved the painting over the current couch and wanted to brighten things up. Honestly, I never thought I’d love it as much as I do! 

Without further ado:

In an attempt to share my experience thus far with a white slipcovered couch: I couldn’t love it any more, but I don’t have pets or kids…so not sure how much wear and tear that would bring. I do eat dinner on it every night, and any spots that have appeared I’ve been able to bleach out in the wash. I love how crisp and clean it is! 

Also - the wicker back chairs I got at Ballard for $59.99 in one of their door buster sales…I happened to run in one day 5 minutes before closing time and found them - they honored the price a day early!

{Part 1} & {Part 2}

Mom: Have they opened that new Chee - pole - te by you yet? 

Me: Not yet, and it’s actually pronounced chee-POHT-leh Mom, not teh. 

*Some discussion around Chipotle locations, and my hard of hearing Nanny finally asks what in the heck we’re talking about. Someone explains about Chipotle, and the following ensues*

Nanny: No, no you all are all wrong. It’s pronounced Chee - poe - tul, end of story.

Me: … *explodes in laughter*

On Sunday, we woke up mostly rested and ready for a day in Versailles. We bought our tickets in advance, but still had to sit in a ridiculously long line. Crowds abound! We toured the house and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the Gardens…well worth the 2nd ticket! For a bit we laid in the grass and watched the clouds…so relaxing! 

Presented without comment:

After touring Versailles, we headed back into Paris and hit up the Arc Di Triomphe before having dinner on Champs Elysees. Arc Di Triomphe definitely provided some of the best views in the city - plus we went at sunset which came recommended to us and I definitely recommend doing! 

For dinner, we picked Chez Clement, mostly because it was close to the hotel. I had an artichoke au gratin as an app that was delicious, but the rest of the meal really left something to be desired. Can’t beat the view though:

As we were finishing up dinner, we started seeing all of these riot cops start heading out into the streets…me having the paranoid curiosity that I do, immediately freaked out that there was some sort of attack. Turns out, the Spain vs. Italy game was about to end and so they were preparing for the worst. Turns out futbol is a big deal over there…sure enough, not long after the cops were spotted, people started driving down Champs Elysees honking horns and waving flags. Victory! It was really fun to be in the midst of all of that without even realizing it! 

After our eventful day the day before, we were pretty exhausted heading to Paris. We had already booked our train tickets, and didn’t really have anything huge planned for once we got to Paris. We took the subway to the train station and left ourselves about 30 minutes to get the train. Of course everything was in French at the station, so figuring out where to go and what to do was a complete nightmare. I had my confirmation number but Liz and Katie didn’t end up having the right paperwork. They waited in a massive line to be able to print their tickets. Since we were getting close to departure time, I went ahead and headed towards the train to board and wait. Of course I couldn’t find the right platform so I ended up running to catch the train myself. I got on board and it immediately it started to move. I just knew that Liz and Katie hadn’t made it - I found out later that they were running on the platform to try to catch it! I immediately burst into tears - I mean, I’m alone (though knew other people on the train so I knew I would be fine) in a foreign country where I don’t speak the language and had no idea how the next few hours would go. I calmed down and finally found my seat…though was paranoid that people would steal my luggage so I had all of my bags wrapped around a limb of some sort and was afraid to fall asleep. It was definitely an experience - but all ended well and Liz and Katie caught the next train and actually beat me to Paris. 

We had been planning on using the subway while in Paris, and boy was getting those tickets an experience! We finally got our tickets, and got on our train headed towards our hotel. I was exhausted at this point, so we checked into our hotel (Hotel Mogador in the Opera district, for posterity’s sake) and rested up some before heading out to take in the city. 

The first night we were really pooped, so we wandered around for a while before we ended up having dinner back in our neighborhood at Tivoli…a delicious italian joint. That first night we saw the Opera house, the Louve (we totally just stumbled on this) the gardens, the Seine and the Arc Di Triomphe and Eiffel Tour from afar:

Wandering around Paris at Twilight was one of my favorite times - so very Parisian and French!

After sleeping in some on day 7, we grabbed a quick lunch at a creperie down the street from our hotel. How I wish I could visit a creperie everyday! I’m not sure that it was the perfect hangover food, but it sufficed none the less. We headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready for a day full of wedding festivities. Here’s how the day shook out:

2:15pm Bus picks up wedding party from in front of the Grand Hotel

3:15pm We arrive at the catholic chapel and hang out for a bit until the ceremony starts. Side note, Tyler got recruited to be a program attendant, and an excellent one he was:

5:00pm Ceremony complete, wandered over to the Chateau across from the chapel for our first cocktail hour. 

The two white tents in the picture above are where the wedding was held. 

6:30pm Made our way down the hillside to the winery Chateau L’Emeritage to begin the real party. 

7:00pm Started on our 2nd cocktail hour. I experienced the best bread and butter I have ever experienced in my life. (They also had other food like spanish ham and oysters, but I was too busy with the bread and butter!)

9:30pm We sat down for our 3 course meal. Veal wrapped eggplant…delicious! 

11:45pm Dinner complete, band starts up! 

1:00am First bus leaves, we obviously stay.

2:45am Band stops, DJ starts. Best night ever! 

4:00am DJ stops, 2nd and last bus leaves

5:00am We arrive back at hotel, pass out immediately. 

A few months back I assisted Eloise in cleaning out her closets in the house, and we came across this plaque that used to hang in her bathroom before she remodeled it. We had this conversation about how she couldn’t bear to get rid of it because she looked at it every day for so many years and loved the reminder. I didn’t exactly know what I’d do with it, but I quickly asked her if I could have it instead. Turns out, it goes great in my bathroom instead:

A few days after that, this was August 8th daily Jesus Calling {side note, for those that I haven’t told about the wonders of this book, take heart…it’s an easy daily devotional that I look forward to reading each day}:

“Understanding will never bring you Peace. That’s why I have instructed you to trust in Me, not your understanding. Human beings have a voracious appetite for trying to figure things out in order to gain a sense of mastery over their lives. But the world presents you with an endless serious of problems. As soon as you master one set, another pops up to challenge you. The relief you had anticipated is short-lived. Soon your mind is gearing up again: searching for understanding (mastery), instead of seeking me (your Master). 

The wisest of all men, Solomon, could never think his way through the to Peace. His vast understanding resulted in feelings of futility, rather than in fulfillment. Finally, he lost his way and succumbed to the will of his wives by worshiping idols. My Peace is not an elusive goal, hidden at the center of some complicated maze. Actually, you are always enveloped in my Peace, which is inherent in my Presence. As you look to Me, you gain awareness of this precious Peace.” 

His reminders never cease to amaze me…the particular week I read it, I was in fact struggling with understanding of why things are the way they are. The a-ha moment was real. Forget understanding. Seek peace. Simple concept. Certainly hard for me to put into practice. 

I’m so thankful for this daily reminder, especially since it once served to remind Mom daily too.

We woke up bright and early on Thursday morning ready to tour some wineries and do some more celebrating! I was a bit worried that we’d have some downtime in Bordeaux and would be bored, but I couldn’t have been more wrong! We got ready and headed to meet the rest of the wedding party at the Grand Hotel and catch the bus to the wine region. First stop was a tour and tasting at Chateau St. Soutard:

We had the best tour guide at this winery - and I’ve been on some wine tours to be able to tell the difference. He was originally from Spain (though spoke fluent English) and had studied in France and was currently living in Bordeaux. By his own admission he was “hung” (apparently a hangover doesn’t translate) due to some celebrating he did the night before due to Spain defeating Portugal in the Eurocup. He was definitely a champ, and pulled through better than I would have! He told us the history of the property that the winery was on…apparently the house and property were originally owned by an old widow. When the winery had proved success, they wanted to make some renovations to the house and property. She hated this idea and decided to move out and lock up her portion of the property. She boarded up her wine cellar and moved…leaving everything locked and boarded up. Our tour guide was making it his personal mission to figure out what was in that cellar! Here’s a picture of the cellar:

After the tour and tasting we headed into the town of Saint Emilion for lunch and another tasting at a wine shop. I think I originally expected Bordeaux to be as quaint as Saint Emilion was, but it’s much more big city like. Saint Emilion had cobble stone streets and quaint restaurants and shops. Our lunch was delicious, and the views were spectacular. 

We had a quick tasting at a wine shop in town - we had quite the knowledgeable expert assisting us! Always fun to learn about wines!

That night, we had the Groom’s dinner that was hosted on a barge that sailed along the Garonne River. Talk about fabulous setting! The weather was overcast and spitting rain at times, but we certainly didn’t let that stop our fun evening. The meditteranean food was delicious, and the festivites were lots of fun…a DJ, some toasts and lots of fun conversation. We ended the night enjoying the fireworks show on the barge…Granted, the fireworks were for the Wine festival that was in Bordeaux at the time, but we pretended that they were for the bride and groom anyway! 

We finished the night with bottle service at Black Diamond - the club at the bottom of the Grand Hotel. A great day/night, indeed.