Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Bon Jour!

Greetings from Paris!! We made it into Paris yesterday and we walked around a little bit. We didn’t find anything exciting and in fact got a little lost.

Today, we took a sightseeing tour and ended at the Eiffel Tower. It was GIANORMOUS! I didn’t think it would be that large! Amazing that it was built in less than two years.


Magnifique!



Eiffel Tower

Nick and I were on our own the rest of the day. So we found…

Arc de Triomphe

This too was larger than I thought it would be. It also had amazing carvings on it.



Notre Dame Cathedral

This was huge too and had cool carvings on it. We took a tour of the crypts that were under the square in front of the cathedral. It was hot under there and smelled weird and musky. The cathedral itself was amazing! The carvings were extensive and remarkable. Each carving was different and individual from the other.


The Pantheon


Trying to find The Pantheon was more difficult than we thought. It was hidden behind a large ugly building. We finally found it! When we turned the corner it was there like a large roman beacon! I would have loved to go inside but we were tired, soar, and sweaty! It was quite fantastic!

Nick and I have decided that we don’t like Paris very much. The sites and the history are awesome but the city itself sucks! The Metro is entirely too difficult to find. And everything here smells HORRIBLE!!! Right now it’s also hot, and humid. So walking around is miserable!!! And Nick is not a fan of the food; I don’t mind it.

Tomorrow we have planned to go to the Louvre!! Can’t wait to see all the art and history!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

You'll be Green with ENVY!!!

On Sunday we planned to go see Stonehedge, but by the time we made it to the travel station to buy our tickets the tour was full. So instead we took a trip with Harry Potter!!!

Nick and I found the very platform that Harry, Ron, and Hermoine use to get to Hogwarts!!!! King’s Cross platform 9 ¾!!!

***YEAH!!!***

Next we took a trip to Abbey Road!!! Along with hundreds of other tourists we had our picture taken walking across Abbey Road just like the Beatles did in 1969!!!


*** Carrie, eat your heart out!!!***

Tomorrow we are leaving for Paris!! Hopefully we will have better luck with internet access and I can update more frequently! Until then… Cherrio!

London Day 2

On Saturday we had our sightseeing tour and decided to also take a tour of the Tower of London and St Paul’s Cathedral. The Tower of London is not what I thought it would be. I thought it would be smaller and have more exhibits about the prisoner and torture that went on there. Seeing the crown jewels was cool. They were a lot larger than I expected. The Tower was originally a castle for a king and later storage. So even thought during King Henry VIII rein he put traitors and anyone else that disagreed with him in the Tower of London, not much else happened there. I was pretty cool to see it and read all the history that did happen there.

Next stop was St Paul’s Cathedral. It was beautiful!!!! We were not allowed to take pictures inside. But believe me when I tell you it was AWESOME!!!! We climbed to the stone gallery where you can go outside and get a 360 degree view of London. It reminded me of the view from the Empire State Building.


Outside St Paul's Cathedral

(View from the Stone Gallery)

From St Paul’s we stopped by Big Ben and

Westminester Abbey.
We didn’t go inside the Abbey but the outside was again beautiful too.


The last place we headed to was Harrod’s. I was informed by Mindy that I MUST go here. So we went. It was pretty cool.

Harrod’s started as grocery store know for its service and quality goods. It burnt to the ground in early December of 1883 and still managed to get all of its Christmas orders delivered on time. Its reputation has continued since then. They rebuilt the store and now it is five stories and carries everything you could possibly think of. Sporting goods, clothes, shoes, electronics, food, you name it they sell it. I felt compelled to buy something so Nick and I bought some cupcakes. They really were yummy!!!

At this point Nick and I are almost experts in the underground system, which is London’s version of New York’s subway. Nick’s new favorite saying is “Mind the Gap”. Which is said every time the doors close or open on the underground. Silly Nick.

Welcome to LONDON!!

Well, we arrived in London very tired and sweaty. The bus from the airport to the hotel took 2 hours and had no air conditioning. It was awesome! We got to the hotel room and immediately took a shower. The flight was mainly uneventful. It was VERY long!!! Two hours from Denver and another nine hours to London! GEEZ!!! Nick is not use to sitting for that long so he tossed and turned the ENTIRE flight to London!!!!

Our hotel is nice. The elevator is the smallest I’ve ever seen!! It barely fits Nick, me, and our luggage. But the sign inside says its maximum capacity is 6 people. Not sure which 6 people they are talking about; certainly not 6 English people. They sure like their beer!!


We didn’t have a sightseeing tour scheduled until the next day so we went wondering around London.

We saw...

Queen Victoria’s memorial


Buckingham Palace


Wellington Arch


Other buildings we have no idea what they are. But they look cool!


Saturday, May 15, 2010

All You Need Is LOVE

Today is THE day!!! Nick and I are getting married!! People keep telling me to relax and to breathe. But honestly I’m not nervous at all. Ok wait. Let me partially take that back. I am nervous for everything to come together the way I’ve envisioned it for the past 7 months (23 years!). All the planning and crafting and decision making as finally come to an end. (A little sad) But no matter what else happens as long as Nick is standing at the other end of the aisle than I’m good!

I’m not nervous about getting married because I know I’m doing the right thing and that Nick is the guy for me! Even through all my craziness (and believe me I’ve been a little crazy!) he’s stuck with me! He’s calmed me down, when I got stressed out that it won’t get done in time. He’s been my rock, knowing I can count on him to do something. It may not get done exactly the way I wanted, or in the time frame I wanted, but eventually it will get done! He’s had my back, when my shoe broke and he wanted to call up the company to complain and get me a new shoe. Bless his heart. (The shoe story will have to wait for the recap) And, he’s brought me down to reality when I wanted to take dance lessons 3 weeks before the wedding. With finals for me, Landon in town, and both of us working full time there was no way that was going to get done. (So, now you will all have to suffer through our first dance 8th grade style! Bear hug anyone?!)

So I will breathe and relax and probably cry like a baby when I finally get to marry the man of my dreams!!
Happy Wedding Day everyone!!!

See you all at the wedding!!! –I’ll be the one in white! Come find me!

Monday, May 10, 2010

All the world's a stage

This morning on the way to work Josalyn reminded me of all the new roles I will be inheriting this week. With all the wedding planning I guess I never really thought about all the things I would be gaining and become when I marry Nick. As she pointed out that not only will I become a wife, but also a Step-mom, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law, granddaughter-in-law, and an aunt. No pressure!

Other than the in-law part, sister, daughter and granddaughter are all roles I’ve played before. But the wife, step-mom, and aunt (officially) are all new to me! The aunt role should be a breeze, “I will always have gum.” It’s the wife and step-mom that are a little scary. I suddenly thought of all the women in my life that have shown me through example how to be all of these things. They’ve shown me the way to being a good wife, an excellent (step) mother, a loving daughter, a caring sister, and a thoughtful granddaughter.
So to them I say, Thank you! You are loved more than you know. I could never repay you for all you’ve taught and have done for me. You are truly loved and cherished!
And to my new family: Thank you! For accepting me with open arms. For welcoming me into your family and giving me the chance to be a wife, step-mom, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law, granddaughter-in-law, and aunt!

**Happy Mother’s Day!!!**

-pretty profound for 5 in the morning right?!-

OMG! OMG! You guys!!!

Can I just say, "OMG!! You guys!" The wedding is in 5, let me repeat that 5 days!!! My freak out mode started last week but now I think I am officially in a full fledge panic! There is NO WAY everything that I wanted to do will get done. So now is the time to get let some things go. The cute greenery thing..

Not really sure where this would have gone. But cute no?

Arrivederci!

The metal screen with family wedding photos hanging from it, is a thing of the past.

I’ll still have the family wedding photos but the search for the screen is over.

The hand crafted arch with beautiful flower and airy fabric,


Au revoir sweet arch.

But the majority of my projects are done and will be making an appearance at the wedding. Yeah for that!

But, “OMG You guys!!”

Wed-vision

I’ve noticed recently everything is tainted with wedding bliss. Ever since Nick and I got engaged (ok for me it was before that) everything I see, hear, touch, taste, or smell turns into a thought about the wedding. I try to find ways to use or incorporate things I encounter everyday into the wedding. “Would this look/sound/taste good at the wedding?” I have become consumed. In fact right now as I listen to the radio every song that comes on I think, “I want this played at the wedding!” or “No way this is being played at the wedding”.

Simple daily life tasks are full of wed-vision. Getting the mail –Wonder who RSVP’d?! Going grocery shopping –is beer on sale? ‘Cuz we still need to get some for the wedding. Driving to work –should I take my car or Nick’s to the wedding? Nick would say I’m obsessed and that I need to get a grip. But I like to think that I have an eye for the details. **wink**
Cuz, “The details DO matter”!!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Curiosity ruins the fun

Can I just say, who ever created the online registry is a genius and complete idiot at the same time. I love being able to add and remove things from our Target registry at anytime time of the day or night without being in an actual store. It's AWESOME!!! However, I can also see what has been purchased! Knowing what has been purchased before someone gives it to you kinda ruins the surprise of opening a beautifully wrapped gift. So, I try really hard to look at the registry just to make sure there is enough things for people to choose from without looking at what has been purchased. I love a good surprise! And yet curiosity might get the better of me!