Mom and Dad's Remodel

My mom is seriously considering a complete remodel of the house, and has been inspired by Restoration Hardware's departure from Americana to Primitive/Industrial Europe. Thanks RH for FINALLY doing something different and giving us something to be excited about.

Mom has selected several pieces for potential purchase. This is a little game where I try to see if I picked the same ones from the website that she picked.

This little horse is just a bonus. Wouldn't he be cute on a bookshelf?
Impact piece #1, Option A- Balustrade Salvaged Wood Console Table. I love the bottom of this one.Impact Piece #1 Option B - French Industrial Console Table. Love the clean lines and metal legs.

Is it either of these?
Impact Piece #2 - Printmaker's Sideboard. All of those little drawers, adore. I hope this is on the list.
Impact Piece #3 - Wine Barrel 6 Arm Chandelier. I'm pretty sure I nailed this one. This is it, yes? I'd venture to say it will be the piece de resistance of the dining room. Impact Piece #4 - French Upholstered Wing Chair. PLEASE tell me this is on the list...make it two as far as I'm concerned.

How did I do? Did I get any of these right? I can see why you were re-inspired! Love, Love, Love. Please complete pre-Christmas. Merci beaucoup.

Bootcamp

I'm starting my own personal bootcamp. 4 weeks of 4 workouts per week. If a bootcamp at the gym starts before my 4 weeks is over, I'm allowed to quit my operation and join the real thing. There, now you know, so I have to do it.

Busy Weeks!

The last week and a half have been BUSY! What have I been up to? Well, I haven't been working out, I'll tell you that.

Look what happened today-SNOW! This is our street this afternoon. When it snows the street feels so peaceful and quiet and always reminds me of a winter movie. I love it.

Last night I went on a sushi date with my two favorite little pups. This picture is funny because the tv makes it look like there are 4 pups (haha).I came into work on Tuesday and Mark was wearing this happy shirt. Love at first sight! Thanks for representing fall perfectly via a shirt, Mark. He struck this pose on his own, work it, work it, work that 8th floor window. p.s. that's the view out of my window at work.

Last Thursday SS hosted a Make-A-Wish fundraiser and raised 15k! Here's my team, fundraising, clearly.

For the team lead donation we decided on a "stock your bar basket." Friend Noah and I went to the store and picked out the goods, including this pretty Absolut bottle. Then I took a cardboard box, and some tissue paper and created this. Pretty proud of myself.
Tuesday we had a little bon voyage happy hour for my boss of 2 years. He's off to the Singapore office and we will miss him!
See why I haven't had time to blog?

When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad

I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel sooooo bad.

1. Getting to see Dad on his way to hunt elk in Steamboat last Thursday...dinner at Fogo de Chao, delicious.

2. Planning a trip here...

...with him. Can you believe how cute this little Marc is?

3. Owning these boots that I was only dreaming of last winter, thanks Mom and
Dad! A few trips to the cobbler later and I can actually zip them, "thanks athletic" calves!

4. Signing up for another bootcamp-love/hate, but thinking about all those squats and pushups somehow makes me happy. Maybe this time I'll actually pass out. I came dangerously close several times during my last bootcamp.

5. Cute houses like this in Vernon, France. I took this picture while riding a bike (pretty impressive) on our way back from touring Monet's house and gardens (pretty impressive).

6. Biking in Versailles, dreaming of Marie Antoinette and all things extravagant, opulent, and excessive, just like Marie. Few places will ever beat Versailles in my book, and few days will beat this awesome day spent biking and piq-niqing avec Mom. "It's gone already? Why did we only get one bottle of wine?? Big mistake." This was shortly after my little trip to the woods. Thanks for having my back, Mom. Couldn't even say I was taking pictures!?

I'm feeling much better. I hope sing Sound of Music songs all day.

***Katie, let me know when you're feeling the need to perform the Sound of Music soundtrack, you know I'm down. It has been awhile.

LA Weekend

This weekend we went to LA for Marc's cousin Joel's wedding. We had a little free time to do some CA exploring. I loved this gorgeous hotel in Santa Monica (the only place around L.A. that was actually nice). That's my opinion.

Here we are in Santa Monica again. We had lunch and then took a little walk to the beach. Marc's Mom, bro, Marc et moi.
The bride and groom are big fans of Celtic music. As a surprise to the bride, her parents booked Bad Haggis, a Celtic band. The bag piper recorded the music for Braveheart, Titanic and lots of other movies. At the end of the reception I requested the theme from Braveheart and he played it! Wine+theme from Braveheart performed by actual recording piper=hysteria and maybe a few tears. Post script: Can you see the excitement in our eyes because we got to take our picture with him? Do you see any excitement in his eyes? NO. He was not interested in hanging out with us...too cool. :( Aunt Nancy, moi, Eric Rigler, Cousin Amanda, Carla

And here we are on Venice Beach. What a freak show, and also very smoggy. The bloody marys we enjoyed at lunch, however, were delicious!

A Few Things

So, Jordan's parents are finally both going to be living in Denver (you might already know this from Jordan's Blog). I'm excited because that means she'll be here for all holidays and I will get to see her lots! Yay! She's in Seoul right now, but I get to see her at Christmas...skiing, Hamburger Mary's perhaps, movies with beer and unlimited popcorn. p.s. I forgot to tell you they have REAL butter for the popcorn, awesome. This is a picture that made Marc's mom very happy. The whole crew all wearing Nebraska gear, even me, and even baby Mason. That little boy comes from a broken home (half Nebraska, half Texas fans). He has to take turns supporting teams.

I don't mind wearing my new Nebraska shirt Marc got me. I like to accessorize with my zebra shoes with red bow toes, unfortunately not pictured here.

Back Yard Bounty...Before and After

Look at this mess! This was our back yard BEFORE Marc cleaned made it the beauty we know and love today. Please note the wire fence inside of the wood fence, and all of those nasty bushes in progress of being chopped down in these pics.

Back Yard BEFORE

Back Yard BEFORE

Back Yard AFTER (below)...This is the same fence as in the pic above. Can you believe it? Please note Marc's built in grill. The hot tub is just on the other side, but not pictured here.
This year, we added the mulch along the fence. Next year I will plant it.

Look at that pretty grass! I'm in charge of the potted flowers. Garden in the left corner by the fence. This year we went crazy with the peppers.

Hey, look who it is! Marc made this picnic table! I think it's just awesome.
Garden bounty.
These little peppers are HOT.

Thanks for coming over!

New Header

Do you want to know what I did last night? Worked on my new header. I have no idea why it was so difficult. I'll do a real post tomorrow.

Baby Sitting, Round 2

Look who we're baby sitting tonight! Baby Mason! What a little cutie. Last time we watched him he cried for 2 hours straight. This time is going much better.

Things I've done one handed tonight while holding Mason:
checked facebook
ate dinner
wiped the counter
picked up and disposed of a poopy diaper

I'm lucky I have such a good co-baby sitter or I wouldn't have a free minute to blog ;).

Book Review, Movie Review

I'm reading a really good book right now that I love. It's called American Wife, by Curtis Sittenfeld. It's a fictional novel loosely based on the life of Laura Bush.


I'm finding it quite entertaining and a nice departure from watching t.v. in the evening. This is perfect timing since the t.v. is often occupied with football these days.

The book is a NY Times best seller, but didn't get the best reviews from the critics or my mom. I love the story line and the way it's written, so pish posh critics.

What are you reading? Football season is sooo long, I'm going to need additional reading material.

This weekend I saw Julie and Julia. I had been waiting for the chance to see it. I went on Sunday, by myself, as I often like to do. I went to the Landmark in Greenwood Village. For the price of one ticket you get all the popcorn you can eat, and all the soda you can drink. Also, there is a bar.

Me, my popcorn (which I buttered in the middle of the bag, then again on top), my soda, and my beer walked into the theater and found a seat. I was in a crying mood. This is the best time to go to a movie solo. As soon as the movie started I was crying, it was the beautiful scenes from Paris making me nostalgic. I had a good cry.

Meryl Streep playing Julia Child is fantastic in the movie, Amy Adams was good too but I didn't like her story line as well. I loved the relationship that Julia Child had with her husband Paul. I loved Julia's energy and endless optimism. In this way, it would be nice to be more like Julia.

By the end of the movie I was inspired to do more cooking, be more optimistic, have dinners with lots of red wine, and to make Boeuf Bourguignon.

Lucky for you, I think I will do the last 2 in combination and have a party for the Beaujolais
Nouveau in November and serve Boeuf Bourguignon a la Julia Child! See you there!

Boots...Are You Ready?

Today at work I was on a rant re: boots. I love boots and anticipate boot season just as much as everyone else, but the end of summer is not the appropriate time to whip em out. Let's enjoy the end of summer and anticipate fall.

It is not time for boots, it is not time for tights. I know, I'm sad too. What can we do in the meantime? How about TRANSITION pieces! Mom and I have spent a lot of time discussing transition pieces.

Transition Plan:

-Rompers a la Anthropologie-get one, maybe two. I just got the Scottie romper below as my

back to school outfit from mom and dad, thanks!!!

-Thin plaid shirts-seeing them everywhere

-Leggings (instead of tights)

-Thin scarves

-Vests over short sleeved shirts

-Blazer (do not wear your velvet just yet)

-White button up with cotton skirts in fall colors.

The time for boots will be here before you know it. I'm pretty interested in booties this year, per the observations mom and I made in Paris. I'm excited to wear my new Cole Haan boots from last year (still need to get them stretch to fit around my "athletic calves"), and, I'm wanting these:

Joie de Vivre Continues, a Paris

Hello friends! I realized when starting this post that I'm not taking enough pictures of people, just scenes. I will work harder to take pictures of mom and me tomorrow. Dinner last night was French Onion Soup, wine, bread, heaven.

After dinner, we went and watched the fireworks over the Eiffel Tour. All of my pictures are terrible, but you can see the effect here. The display was awesome!
Today we went to Notre Dam and Sainte Chappelle. This is the back of Notre Dame. It was full of tourists.

Here is the display at Lauduree on the Champs. It's a famous Macaroon shop and their windows were gorgeous and full of candy and cookies.

Outside Lauduree display window.

Annnnd her are the french men I was stalking at happy hour. The one on the right looks SO French. Mom looks thrilled! This is my favorite picture!!! More tomorrow!

Bienvenue a Paris!

Finally in Paris! We are having power issues with the laptop. The converter really isn't working, so posts may be far between. We're having a great time so far! Here is a glimpse of what we've been up to.

When I arrived at our apartment, I had 3 sets of these waiting for me. I hauled 2 giant suitcases up all of them-I'm still sore 3 days later! No elevator.



View from the hall when you enter the apartment. The bedroom is on the left, living room straight ahead.

This is a terrible picture of the living room, but I didn't have a better one on the camera. The shutters on the left are closed so you can't see out. Usually we have them open.

Here is our tiny bedroom.

Chevre Chaud salade. FINALLY.

Close up of Chevre Chaud, warm goat cheese on bread over a delicious salad. Heaven.

Cutest puppy in Paris. I stalked this little guy for a long time.

Mom at fondue...mmmmm.




Fondue, we love you.

Bastille Day police forces. There were lots of groups of cops just like this.

Finally, here I am with a Marin Pompier de Marseilles out for the July 14 celebration. We loved his uniform!