My New Family

Last week, the Hendersons hosted an adult dinner at their new cabin. It was such a blast! Mark (my father-in-law) had us all meet down at the dam, to all ride up together in the green machine (shown above). What was even more amazing was that it seated all of us! Mark had carpet installed and it looked awesome. That thing even has a heater! Now I realize why Mark loves grooming trails so much, or "making corduroy". (You can't access the cabin in your car, even with four wheel drive in the winter). We were about 100 yards away from the cabin and the Green Machine gave out, so Tony, Sean, and Trav took turns driving us up on snowmobiles.

Once we all arrived, we ate dinner. It was amazing, as always...especially Jeanene's rolls, which I managed to hit two people in the face with while "passing them" across the table.

It was awesome to have everyone together. We even had Sean and Siri from Arizona up there with us. To be honest, I don't think we all have been together since our wedding. That's what happens when you have a big family with 18 (soon to be 19) grand-children.

Thanks Mark and Jeanene for an awesome meal and ride!

Going for Green.

I fell in love with these Scrapile Benches when I saw them on AT. I finally found where they are sold....at feelmorehuman.com. Too bad the size I needed was over $900! They are made from scraps of wood which are laminated together. SO, realizing that Zach would never let me spend $2,000 on benches, I turned to Chris Barlow. He's amazing. He owns Zoe Dane, a custom furniture business. He told me he could make them easy! He just gathered a bunch of extra scraps from around his shop, and busted them out! So I bought two for either side of our dining table! I LOVE THEM! They are just as I imagined/prayed they would be! I wanted them to be made out of scraps, but larger, thicker pieces of wood. His daughter Zoe (2) apparently was super upset when I came to pick them up, she wanted them to "sleep at her house."

Our sweet sustainable benches....yeah....Zach and I are eco-friendly. Unfortunately, I think with all the glue and lacquer he had to use to get these pieces fused together, I believe we hurt the environment more than we helped. It's the thought that counts, right?



He is also making our low coffee table, which will be this exact shape....



But be made out of walnut....like this.....



Check out his site! ZOE DANE

Bah Humbug.

I am a Humbug, officially. These are our only Christmas decorations this year. I went and bought ornaments, because I had an intention of buying a tree, but I got super distracted being Santa. SO, we finally got our dining table, our two dining chairs, barstools, and couch. So I decided we would use our dining table as a tree. Sort of.




And with the ornaments?
Well they replaced bows this year, and went on the gifts.



Yep. This is as festive as we got this year.

Now all we need is the benches that go on either side of the dining table. MONDAY!
It's crazy, it feels like we have so much more to do, but we'll get there....without a Christmas tree. :(

Heli Christmas Light Tour

Every year, Classic Aviation does Christmas helicopter tours. This year, they didn't do them for the public though. Mark was nice enough to take all his employees and their families on a ride. So, this year Zach and I got to go! Last minute, there was a spot on our ride, and I got to take my little nephew Cam! Cam is full of questions. He asks "Why?" to everything. This 20 minute ride was the first time I have ever heard Cam completely silent. He just stared out the window and looked at all the people skating at the Gallivan Center, Temple Square, and all the cars on the streets. It was hilarious. As soon as we landed and got inside the hangar, he was back to normal. "Where does the helicopter sleep?" "Why does Rob the pilot where a helmet?" This went on for some time. Either way, Zach and I had a blast seeing the lights from the sky, and one little boy got the coolest Christmas present ever. I hope Classic still does this when we have kids!!!

Dear Santa...

Zach and I are pretty low-key Christmas people. We usually just do whatever our families are doing, and switch off between us. Last Christmas Eve was with my fam, so this year we are spending Christmas Eve with the Hendersons. It will be a blast to do that annual tradition of dinner and a movie! I feel really bad that we don't have a Christmas tree this year, I love decorating trees. I feel like I am not a very festive wife, but I know that next year when we have furniture and the walls all painted, then I can go crazy with a tree. I am too busy trying to get all of our furniture here before Christmas.
So in tradition of the holiday, Zach and I "tell Santa" what we want for Christmas. So funny. Here are our Christmas lists:

Zach's Christmas List:

Play Station 3
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
Madden '10
XBox Live for 1 year
XBox Live Wifi Plug-In

Katie's Christmas List:

Boots

It seems like fate though, because when Santa sees Zach's list, that is all the Katie is going to get....because Santa can't afford any more for our little family.

I Heart Blu Dot

Our Counter Stools and Dining Chairs.



Oh please, please, please come before Christmas!

Furniture-less

Have you ever been to someone's house, and there is really nowhere to sit? So you stand around awkwardly until you find a barstool or something random to sit and chat? Well that's our house. We were in Paris when our sofa was supposed to arrive, and because of Christmas, shipping is backed up like crazy everywhere. I ordered this sofa/sectional Nov. 2nd. So that is officially a month tomorrow we have been waiting. So. We have been sitting on the floor to watch TV, eat dinner, and have conversations. So if we haven't invited you over to see the casa yet, don't be offended, because you have nowhere to sit. Poor Morg and Britton were our last visitors and they sat/lounged on our living room floor. No worries though, because soon we will have a dining table, dining chairs and benches, barstools, and a sectional to sit on. I just ordered the dining table today, so I guess it will get here.....in two more months. Just kidding, it said 7-10 days. I don't believe it.

Our future sofa:



Our future dining table, but NOT our future dining chairs:
We have a lot of wood in our house. So I decided to do metal and glass. I LOVE this table.



Next week I am going to order some office stuff. I have always dreamed of owning an Eames Office Chair. So, we're gonna do it.

This chair:



I dream of Eames.

With this desk:





I found this picture and thought, THEY READ MY MIND...except a different chair is all. This will be Zach's desk. He loves it. He asks about it all the time. I never thought he would be interested in buying furniture but he is very passionate about a few things.

Last Day...Arc de Triomphe

The picture speaks for itself. The top of the Arc is the most picturesque thing I've ever seen. I thought Zach and I would hate that it was raining, but it made it perfect. I know, weird, but true.



When we were at the top, there was this little boy on his toes looking over the edge and kept saying "superbe". I want to take our kids here some day.



9 days in our favorite city, with my favorite person. Best. Anniversary. Ever.

The Grand Arch + Christmas Village

The Grand Arch, actually not an arch, but more like a hollow cube, is so bad-A. The coolest part of it all I think is that you can see straight down Champ-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. Like a modern arch, vs. the new-cool-hot-studly arch. Both cool, but so different. The view from the top is so legit.







There is an amazing museum at the top, that is called the Information Museum. It has a timeline of computers. Pretty cool. Also, an amazing bookstore.
As our days were coming to an end, we spent a lot of time walking around, and visiting some of our favorite places. This time two summers ago, Chance, Zach, and I went to this monument and played their grand piano in the middle of the giant art exhibit. You'd think everyone would be pissed, but even the guards came over to hear a couple of songs. It is amazing how they can't SPEAK English but they know all the words to Snoop Dogg's Nuthin' But a G-Thang. Weird.

At the base of the Grand Arch, was a Christmas Village. Chestnuts roasting, the whole deal. I loved it, Zach wanted out quick. When he realized they might have popcorn, he was on the hunt.

Centre Pompidou

We were super jazzed to get to the Pomp. They say the square block around the Pompidou is the most dangerous in Paris, and you never forget it. One way to get there, is through a giant mall called Les Halles. As you ride the escalator up to the ground level, you quickly realize why everyone tells you this. Crowds of gangs pack around the escalator. I remember this from the last two times I have been in Paris, but it was never this bad. What throws me off though is that they wear these hats, black beanies with a giant puff ball on top, encrusted in fake gems. I think it hurts their street cred, but whatever.

Once we got to the Pomp, we found that 5 minutes before we arrived, they went on strike. Greve, it is called in French apparently. It took us a while to figure out. The building itself is still amazing, and worth the Metro ride for sure.



Plus we found a bomb.com restaurant.





Another great find:



Zach discovered that our hotel lobby had an XBox. Great. He said it really was a vacation.

Sacre Coeur

We loved the Sacre Coeur Arrondissement. It is one of my favorite areas in Paris. It looks like something out of a fairy tale. A lot of Paris is very industrialized, but not the Sacred Heart. Tiny little shops selling pastries and vintage postcards is what makes up the neighborhood. There was even this shop that sold hand made christmas lights. They were amazing. It is is a hike to get there. Like 3 pastries worth of a hike. Once you get to the top, you realize why so many people are up on the hill. This is what it looks like during the day:



But Zach and I went at night, when you can see the city lights.

Thanksgiving...2

Pumpkin Pie?

No thanks. I'll take one of....



everything?

After the museum, we ate at KONG. Designed by my all time favorite Mr. Stark.



It was just as gorgeous as I thought it would be. The best part is that it was all Zach's idea. I completely forgot about going there, until he brought it up. The ceiling was made of all glass, you could see Paris below. Cherry on top: it started to rain and the glass ceiling was incredible with the streaming water.

Turkey is not big in Paris, but chicken and mashed potatoes was the closest we could get.

On our way home we ate dessert. You guessed it....a cone glace from Mickey D's.

Thanksgiving...Parisian Style

Did you know that in Paris, there is no Thanksgiving?? Just kidding, we knew that, obviously it is strictly an American Holiday. I guess we were just hoping some lonely American would be offering a Thanksgiving Dinner at their gorgeous restaurant. Nope. We also told a few people to "enjoy your Thanksgiving." They just looked at us really odd.

Sidenote:
If you have been to Paris, you know not to step in ANY puddles. This holds true for NYC, London, any major city really. I love the Metro. I think it is genius. Same with the Tube and Subway. GENIUS. I am obsessed with how the whole system works. Unfortunately I think the Metro is the most fowl. It smells of urine constantly. Especially in the corridors, were you can...urinate in private. Well Zach and I were at this stop below....(La Motte Picquet Grenelle)



It is a pretty big stop, it has multiple lines running through it, so it is pretty crowded, and it is how we connected to a lot of different lines from our hotel stop.
ANYWAYS....as we got off, I looked at the map to see what line we had to connect with. I saw in the corner of my eye, about ten feet away from me, a man crouched down in the corner, between the vending machine and the wall. I thought, "poor guy, having a rough day." I look at the map again and that's when I realized what he was doing. I could smell it. I looked over, and he was staring straight up at me. Ten feet away from my boots a man...relieved himself on the Metro dock, in front of probably 20 other people as well. Parisians are disgusting. He pulled up his pants, and walked away from me. It was like one of those moments when you know you should look away, but you can't believe what is happening right in front of your eyes. Like a car accident. So yeah. Don't step in any puddles, or any...masses. Ever.

Back to topic. Thanksgiving.

So we couldn't find anywhere to celebrate our lonely holiday, so we decided to go all out. I have been wanting to go to Kong for two years, and what better day than Thanksgiving. So we woke up and went to the Musee d'orsay. It's Zach's favorite museum, and I had never been there before. So he took me to some of his favorite pieces in the museum. It was awesome.

Date Night!

Paris Day 3:

Sorry to bore everyone with my sappy, sappy ways. Everyone knows that Zach and I had our first date in Paris. We went to the Louvre at night, and ate lasagna at a corner cafe. So, we decided to celebrate our anniversary by doing the EXACT same thing. So we slept in, walked around a lot, and went to the Louvre.



The Louvre at night is the best. There are no crowds, no lines for Ms. Mona Lisa, and thousands of square feet to observe.





They let you take pictures of her now. She used to be off limits to ANY photography, but now you can snap as many as you like...as long as there is not a flash. We took advantage, because all of our other photos of her were very blurred, and usually had guards' fingers in the corner, swatting our cameras away.

Nike, my favorite.



Ms. Milo, Zach's favorite. (Boobs)



We took this exact same picture on our first date.



Side-hug and all.

Exploring the City

Paris Day 2:

Those of you who know Zach would know that it was HIS idea to go shopping the second day. Serious. He had a map, given to him by the concierge, that he had meticulously mapped all the shops that he wanted to visit. Zara, H&M, Marc by Marc Jacobs, COS, and so on...



So we set off....



One of many stops was to Marc. Paris has the best dressed infants/toddlers in the world. See Exhibit A above.
While exploring, we found this awesome restaurant, Bio Boa.



We ate an artichoke heart and shrimp salad. Zach didn't like it because it didn't have...pizza in it. But it was really, REALLY good. This lady, the owner of the eatery, makes custom floral arrangements every day for the tables. They were awesome.





I'm a sucker for branding, and I had the camera the majority of this day...so sorry. This is as interesting as it gets.



Every corner you turn there are amazing restaurants. The colored doors were my favorite.



Once again, I know it is wine. But the store is rad.
After a day of shopping, we stopped at some random corner restaurant. Then on the way back to our hotel, we got off the Metro and spotted a McDonald's. Zach says, "Can we PLEASE stop and get an ice cream cone?" We're in Paris, and the only place he wants to eat is McDonald's. But we we went inside.....



Eames chairs?? Are you KIDDING? Even McDonald's is better in Paris. So Zach got his Cone Glace, and was the happiest visitor in the city.