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.

Hot Cocoa by the Tour de Eiffel

Warning: Picture/Info Overload. Sorry for the long Posts.

Paris Day 1:
It took us around 9 hours, but we finally arrived in PARIS! Just a tip for anyone who is planning on traveling here in the future: The direct Delta flight from Salt Lake City to Charles de Gaulle is the best decision Zach and I ever made. Normally, you take a flight to NYC, then a connection to London or wherever you wish to go. The fact that SLC got a direct flight to Paris was the best thing that ever happened to Utah. Or at least Utahns don't know it yet. The flight was awesome. We left at 4:45 pm and arrived in Paris around 11:00 am. We slept the whole way and woke up in the city. Regardless of the fact that we slept the whole flight, we got to the hotel and crashed on our bed, and didn't wake up...for 5 hours. So we decided to be super touristy and go to the Eiffel Tower our first night.









After we got some hot cocoa, we went to Pizza at Amile. Zach and I went here together on our study abroad trip two summers ago, and they have the BEST pizza and pesto.



Not to mention Coca-Cola Classico!

1 Year

In two days Zach and I will have been married for 1 whole year! It seems like we've been married forever. Sometimes I can't even remember what things were like before I married him, life makes sense being married to your best friend.

To my husband; my partner in crime, my soul mate, my best friend....I can't wait to spend time in our favorite city together...



The Louvre at night...



The Pompidou...





Ice Skating on the Eiffel Tower...



and perhaps meet some other fun people along the way...

I love you.

Catching Up....

Zach and I feel really bad that we didn't go all out for Halloween this year. He was a nerd, and I was a witch. They were the easiest costumes that we could find out of the boxes that our clothes were in. (We moved in on Halloween). But we did do the annual Halloween party at the Henderson house, where all my nieces and nephews came and showed off their darling costumes. Here they are...



There are only three missing, Jakob, Connor, and Charlie. That makes 18. Aren't they the cutest Peacock, Spider, Hot Dog, Butterfly, and "Chick Magnet" and so on.....you have ever seen? Love them all. We carved pumpkins (mine was infected with the H1N1), ate some really good food, and drank some orange slush.

Zach and I didn't even get a picture in our costumes, in fact, this is a picture of us with our nephew Benny.

Slowly but SURELY!

Well, Zach and I have been living in our house for almost 3 weeks! There has been a lot of progress already. Our fence went up last week, but I guess that doesn't really matter considering we don't have grass. BUT, regardless....we have a fence! We now have Direct TV, a new Television, and a city garbage can. You should have seen Zach's face when I told him his 42" Samsung wasn't big enough to fit in the cove above our fireplace. But once he figured out that we had to get a bigger TV, his pain was instantly gone. We also painted our living room and replaced the light fixtures. Here is a picture of what it looked like before. (This is the day we moved in, so sorry about the boxes and clutter.)



Pay close attention to a couple of things: Every interior surface of our house is tan. Even our ceilings. Standard ceilings are WHITE, right? Not ours, just tan. Second thing to notice is the boob lights. Thanks to my husband and my friend Derek, all I look at when I see those lights are boobs now. Zach and I have always disliked them, so we decided to replace them. So....we started in this room. First we painted the ceiling white, and then painted the walls the color below. Once the paint dried we replaced the boobs with white drum lights, my favorite. Not too long after, we finally got the new TV up on the wall. Yes, Zach and I lifted a 50" Plasma screen up a ladder and mounted it above our mantel. I will post a pic after all the wires are tucked away.



Next, we replaced all the lights in our bathrooms. Before they were the lovely exposed bulb fixtures. Now they are the Spritz Sconces from RH. The double sconce in our powder room, and the triple in our guest bathroom and our master bathroom.



Poor Zach. I told you, I am probably driving him crazy. But at least he is learning all this manly stuff...like painting, re-wiring, and...mounting (T.V.s of COURSE!). :)

Viewers Beware (Photo Graphic) THE HUNT

Catching up. So my husband gets a gun from my father for his graduation/birthday and now all of a sudden he is REALLY into hunting. (Sort of). I guess when he gets bored of hunting, they just go back to the cabin and play Halo. BUT, this was Zach's favorite hunting trip. He went with his dad and all of his brothers/brother-in-laws. Zach's super lucky he works for the family business or else he wouldn't be able to be gone THREE WHOLE WEEKENDS during the month of October for Hunting Season. Yeah, it was a lot of lonely weekends for me last month. BUT, at least it was worth it! This beauty was shot by Mark the Shark, and will be mounted and placed above the fireplace of the Hendo Cabin. Note how mini Zach Attack looks next to this thing.