i'm coming home!

I'm literally completely torn between devastated to be leaving and ecstatic to be coming home.

Mike and I checked into the airport hotel because we realized upon arrival that the Charles de Gaulle airport has got NOTHING on the Trudeau airport in Montreal.

The seats were metal and cold, there was no carpeting and there are creepy military men in camo walking around with machine guns.

So our plans to spend a nuit blanche giggling and reminscing over our trip were rained on. We've now rested up and gotten a real nights sleep and I'm feeling refreshed (not to mention showered) for my plane ride home. Better than my last groggy plane ride when the plan to sleep the whole way here was ruined by the sardine-can-esque flight we were on.

Anyhoo, I should get off this dang computer and go be with my man since this is the last day of the wonderful bubble we've been living in where we know only each other, have no jobs but tons of money and discover beautiful new parts of the world together each and every morning....

sigh.

on a happier note, I'LL SEE YOU ALL VERY SOON!!!

Barcelona

We're in Barcelona now, and this entire day has unfortunately been spent sweating out a serious fever in bed. I can see my tonsils if I open my mouth and my skin is achy and sore.
I won't let it ruin this whole week though. Tonight we're going to walk around the Gothic Quarter and get some tea and dessert or something. Tomorrow we're going to the Barcelona Aquarium and la Sagrada Familia and the next day we're taking a Barcelona Bus Tour!

I blame this sudden illness on the 2 bottles of wine Mike and I finished all too quickly last night over dinner. We stumbled down Las Ramblas and picked up every flyer that was being offered to us along the way. We both decided that the best flyer was a bar called Sunset that boasted "the most exciting girl's party ever!" offering me one free drink and both of us free cover.
The short way of describing this place would be "lame/awesome" the long way would go as follows:
by the bar were the soon to be salt and pepper single men waiting for the dance floor to fill up so their eyes could finally feast on some flesh.
on the floor was a group of about 25-30 bordering-on-ugly-but-definitely-tacky JLO brand toting 18 year old girls. The kind that crawl about Crescent street at 3am screaming about Boston Mass (for the record, I have nothing against Boston Mass Libby! Only against those girls!)

The cheesy spanish remixes to some dance floor classics like Flo Rida and Lil John were annoying, but we made it work, and for a solid hour or two we made complete fools of ourselves dancing circles around the young girls and cheering with them when one of the hungry eyed middle aged men meandered over for a lil bump n grind!

A loooong walk home, two bottles of water and several advils later (Mike is very good with preventative hangover measures) we went to bed, where I realized how sick I was getting.

And now here I am. Being sick has ironically also made me HOME sick... Mainly because the thought of being in my own bed with Stef and Lola and William watching the hot chick and making soup is one of the most comforting thoughts in the world to me. But Mike is the greatest Nurse I could ask for. Making me food, getting me water, tucking me in and rubbing my feet all day! Now he's napping, and I think I'm gonna get dressed and stuff so that he doesn't waste his whole day on my account.

I MISS YOU GUYS I HOPE MONTREAL ISN'T TOO COLD!!

A couple of mojitos in Nice

Yesterday may have been the greatest day of our trip so far. For one thing, Monaco is the craziest little country I have ever seen! no bigger than some of the cities we've seen, but built entirely on these crazy mountains facing a crystal blue bay!

We hit up the Jacques Cousteau Oceanography museum/aquarium which was as awesome as I'd hoped, lost 5euros on a slot machine at the Monte Carlo Casino (which, if you want to see anything past the slot machine, you need to pay a 10euro cover...needless to say the slot machines are all we saw) and snuck into a ridiculously ritsy hotel's swimming pool area. Unfortunately we didn't have our bathing suits so we couldn't swim, but we spent a solid 20 minutes staring out the window at the Marina and talking about how small all the yachts were compared to our familie's yachts!


Then we walked around the Bay where a carnival with rides, fun houses and cotton candy entertained us for a while. I injured my ankle a little in the Fun House but the 3 mojitos we drank at a little cuban restaurant down the street from our hotel had me back in shape again in no time!

This video was taken immediately after the fun house decided to blow a ridiculous gust of wind up my skirt as i was exiting onto the street, forcing me to run over a trick floor which was very wobbly and hurt my ankle...

Nice

Mike and I are in Nice. It's about 9am here and already sunny abnd 15 degrees. I'm about to put on a dress without tights and I don't feel bad about rubbing it in anyones face!!

Dave Harris is meeting us here later and then we're going to the beach! HA!

BAGUETTE FROMAGE CROISSANT MACARON

I'm in love with this city. I want to live here. I never want to leave!!!!

But the thought of Stef's little feet pitter pattering in my room to say harru is reason enough to miss home! :)

Thinking of you guys from way ova here! hope Kristina and Dave are equally enjoying their trips!!

Greetings from Paris

my beloved muffin

Today we have to put our kitty cat down. I'm actually incredibly sad about it, more than I ever thought I would be. He's been with us now for about 12 years and deserves a whole bunch of love, so I'm writing about it here in hopes that people will send a little love to him and make sure he goes to kitty heaven happy!

I love you and miss you already baby boy!

1970's Goldie Hawn

“I have witnessed the softening of the hardest of hearts by a simple smile.”
- Goldie Hawn

Not only do I think her big messy blonde hair and wonderful sense of style are admirable, Goldie Hawn happens to be a celebrity I look up to in more ways than one!
Her happy-go-lucky outlook and ability to make "dumb blonde" seem adorable rather than tacky are two of those ways.
The way she promotes having fun and laughing at yourself a little is refreshing compared to all the people who take themselves so seriously out there!

So without further ado, here are some of my favorite Goldie moments...

weekend finds and family time

Well, I can't say my "finds" were really "finds" at all. I walked into Urban Outfitters and immediately snatched up this brown leather bag I had my eye on and this matching set of bra and underwear to start my collection.
The feeling isn't the same as finding a fantastic bargain on a one of a kind item, but it's still pretty exciting to own pretty new things!

I decided this weekend was a family time weekend and I packed up and headed over to my parents place to spend a couple of nights. (Don't worry Stef I made sure William was well cared for!)
I was happy to spend quality time with each family member, starting fires in the fireplace, making fondue and eating it too, taking long walks with Lola and going fabric shopping with Grandma! Lola looked great in her Groucho Marx costume!

sweet november

Tonight we are moving the time back and although that is great news for my sleep deprived brain, it's terrible news for the part of me that wants time to speed up to next Sunday at 8h45 pm!!!
Mike and I have been working hard to book and plan this trip for months now and all of my money-saving-stinginess and devotion has finally paid off! The entire trip is booked, from our hotels and apartments down to our train tickets and itineraries. I've even made myself a little outfit guide to follow if i'm lacking imagination while i'm there (but really how could places like Paris and Barcelona do anything but add to my creativity...)
I've slowly begun putting things into my suitcase, packing the warm clothes at the bottom for the end of my trip in Nice and Barcelona...
Now I'm at my parents house relaxing by a really cozy fireplace and eating chocolate fondue. Mike is gone for the week and I have a bunch of free time so if anyone else is in the same boat and would like to do breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks, coffee or even just go to the park and soak in the last of the warm autumn days, i'd be more than happy to do so!

Kristina and I have been spending copious amounts of time treasure hunting together.. as we always do when the boys are on the road, and i've come across some pretty fantastic finds in the last couple of weeks...here is one of about 30 self portraits i took the other day...the result of having a new camera (which i just learned how to use) a great sunroom, too much time on my hands and the apartment all to myself!!

the sweater is a beautiful pale pink angora sweater with little pearl detailing on the front...

the shoes are the Jeffrey Campbells I ordered off e-bay that are too comfy to be real...

the bag is going to be my school bag this january and also conveniently fits my laptop!

the little pink umbrella with a frilly trim and beautiful gold handle was at village for 2.99$!

and the little white dress in the background that a lady was selling for 5$ at the St Michel flea market (where i found the bag) just so happenned to fit me! I was gonna buy it just to hang it in my room but now i've worn it twice and love it. I can't figure out when exactly its from but it doesn't really matter to me. 

Aside from these wonderful finds, I also managed to pick up a gorgeous pale blue swinger style knee length coat with big blue buttons and the ultimate birthday party dress that i plan on wearing this friday when people come and celebrate Stef's homecoming as well as my going away and both of our birthdays over at my place!!

I hope everyone had a lovely halloween!!!!