Mom & Me - May 12th, 2007

Celebrating Mom & Holiday Weekend Recap

I know I am 2 weeks behind, but I wanted my mom to know how much she means to me! My parents left this past Thursday to go to Europe. They will be gone until late June. I miss her already! My mom sees the best in me and forgets the rest! This photo was taken on our mother/daughter day out at California Pizza Kitchen and manicure/pedicures at Remedez spa.

Memorial Day weekend: Mostly stayed busy around the house. We braved the IKEA crowds on Friday evening. We spent about three hours there with a stop in the restaurant and ate Swedish meatballs - pretty good.

The store has only been opened a few days, but they were out of one piece to the craft desk I purchased. It looks like one more week before they get it in. We bought two bookshelves for the office/craft room. We assembled those and rearranged the room as best we could without the desk. I am loving it already! We also cleaned the grill, cleaned the patio furniture and spent a lot of time working on other house projects. All in all, Trav and I both agreed it was a pretty good holiday weekend. If only the Jazz can hang on tonight...

Weekend Recap - 92nd post

We had a pretty fun weekend. We watched BYU beat the Utes (always a good time) in baseball on Friday night. It ended with a walkoff homer by Leon Johnson. We had front row seats behind the Cougs dugout. We were surrounded by students taking seats that didn't belong to them. They were constantly being asked to vacate when the real ticket holders showed up. Don't know why that bugged me so bad. Actually, I think it was the entitlement attitude that bugged me. I found myself with some internal eye rolls throughout the night. One funny story was about this girl who sat next to me. She was very chatty to her friends sitting around her. She leaned over to the guy sitting next to her and said, "are you normally this quiet?" I laughed at the guy's response..."No" was all he said. Seriously a very funny moment. I also found myself leaning over to Trav and asking reassurance that he would never leave me. Besides ALL the many real reasons about why that would be oh so very bad, I'd just HATE to date again.

Saturday was spent driving around the valley looking at the Parade of Homes. We started at house #1 in Woodland Hills and worked through #8. We enjoyed what we saw, but I love coming home and feeling content and happy with our home. Is it exactly what we want? No, but we love it nonetheless. We got movie popcorn and spent the rest of the night in.

Today was filled with church activities and responsibilities. I was able to sleep in which felt great. I had to take a Tylenol with codeine so I could sit through church. I had another cortisone shot on Friday but it hasn't taken affect yet. Oh, how I hope it works! The airplane ride home from Paris did me in. I made some visits to some new sisters this evening and uploaded some photos for our very large bare wall in our kitchen. We got our shaker display cabinet this past week so now we can finish decorating the kitchen. Very exciting!!

Tomorrow brings a new day. There has been a bit of a shake-up at work. My former boss was appointed to a new position within the university and so I now have a new boss. My department is even getting a new name. We have lost some employees to other departments and have gained a few. This will keep me pretty busy, but I say...bring it on!

We'll always have Paris

We did it!! I always find myself in a bit of a funk after I return from a trip. I feel a bit dazed and confused. We got home about 6:30PM Friday night. Travis was waiting for me with three beautiful roses. I really missed him and am glad to be reunited. I went to bed at 8:30 and woke up at 3:38 AM so I got caught up on some television shows that had been taped. Last night, I went to bed at 9:30 and this morning woke at 5:50AM which was a bit more reasonable. I thought I had a meeting this morning so I got all ready and then realized that I don't, so now I have the chance to catch up a bit. But, I am getting ahead of myself. You are probably wondering about the actual trip. Well, here it goes...

We started the trip with a bit of a panic. Our itinerary said that our plane left at 12:50, but that morning I looked at the actual ticket and it said 11:40! I got on the phone and called all the girls. We had to leave right then! We made it but a bit frazzled.

We arrived in Paris the next morning at 9:30ish. We were exhausted but exhilarated that we were actually there! We decided to take the RER (train) to the stop closest to our hotel. That was all find but we had to lug all our luggage about 6 blocks through crowded Paris streets to our little hotel - Hotel Claude Bernard by the Sorbonne. We had two small rooms - one on the 4th floor and one on the 6th. No elevator. :)

Just to highlight our days:

Thursday: Travel day

Friday: Arrival in Paris, Notre Dame, Luxembourg Gardens, Met up with Michelle and had Jana's surprise birthday dinner. Delicious Nutella and Carmel glace'.

Saturday: Flea Market, Les Invalides & the Musee de Armee, Alexander III bridge, Celebration of Mary presentation at the Notre Dame, boat ride on the Seine River

Sunday: Cluny Museum of the Middle Ages, Pantheon, walked tons, La' Orangerie, Place de Concorde, Tuilleries, pictures at the Eiffel Tower

Monday: Moved to Michelle's apartment, Sacre Couer and Montmartre, Moulin Rouge, shopping at Galleries Lafeyette and Printemps, Opera, Fauchon chocolates, Champs Elysees and famed Laduree chocolates

Tuesday: May 1st holiday (France's Labor Day), Giverny & Monet's gardens/home, Eiffel Tower at night

Wednesday: St. Eustache church, wandered around Michelle's neighborhood by myself, famed ribbon store, walked to the Musee de Orsay (closed early), Inno (French Target), Book Club discussion of "The Devil in the White City", Raclette diner at the apartment

Thursday: "On our own" day, Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, La Conciergerie, St. Chapelle, Pont Neuf bridge, Notre Dame and St. Michel square, Rodin Museum, dinner at Bistro le P'tit Troquet for real French cuisine (escargot!)

Friday: Travel day

We saw so much and packed in a lot each day. I am pretty sure we all still like each other :). I really gained an even deeper appreciation for my friends, especially Michelle. I am grateful that she let us come for a visit and invade her turf. I am going to certainly miss her while she is gone.

Vive Paris!!