Sunday, April 17, 2016

Sixteen and Spring Break

K turned 16!!!  We had dinner at Umi with Sheila and Elliott, we had delicious food and it was a nice relaxing evening because K had a late start at school the following day.  The real celebrating started a couple of weeks later when we went to London and Paris for spring break.



K was having nothing to do with the pajamas provided by BA.  I, on the other hand, put my on and slept like a baby.  



K is looking a little jet lagged in this picture taken on our first day!  I always try to have plans that will keep her awake.  This was taken outside of the London Dungeon.  A fun, interactive way to learn some history of London.  Guaranteed not to fall asleep.  We also went to the Tate Modern and had lunch and saw the Calder exhibit.  It was a beautiful exhibit and we had a yummy lunch at the museum.  



Our fist day ended with dinner at Inamo.  It, too, was fun and interactive and kept us awake.  Good food too!


We visited the John Soan museum, a museum dedicated to the architect John Soan.  It is in his house and contains an amazing collection of his art and artifacts.  Our Uber driver told us not to miss the Charles Dickens museum which is close by.  K is a Dickens fan so we walked to the museum and were not disappointed.  





Another Asian dinner at Hutong at the Shard.  The space is really breath taking and the views are amazing.  It was a rainy evening and I think that added to the beauty.








It rained a lot during our time in London but the spring flowers were out and we enjoyed walking.



We rose early and took Eurostar to Paris.  Lunch our first day was at a Japanese noodle place that I read about.  The food was really good and it was great people watching because it happened to be Fashion week.  K had just taken a very hot (temperature wise) bite of her noodles.



Place de Voges.


We took a break for tea at our hotel.  We stayed at Le Bristol and we decided it is the best place we have ever stayed in Paris.  Love the gold leaf on K's cake.


Our room was amazing.  So much room to spread out and so quiet and comfortable.


Since we had gotten up so early to catch Eurostar we relaxed our first evening and had room service for dinner.  The food did not disappoint.


Le Bristol has a beautiful room top pool. There is a also a great workout facility and wonderful spa.



The hotel sent this beautiful desert up for K's birthday.  It was delicious and we loved the gold leaf touch.


Waffles for breakfast with more gold leaf.  

It looks like all we did was hang out in our hotel and relax and eat.  I swear I could have never left the hotel and been happy.  We did run and around and shop and eat.  We had lunch at L'Avenue.  I told our waitress that her English was very good and she told me that my French was really bad.  K got a laugh out of that!  We also had dinner at Frenchie Restaurant.   It was such a disappointment.  We also found a new little place that we really enjoyed called Hibou.  We returned to Le Berkeley and were disappointed.  Paris eating is always so hit or miss for me.  The food at our hotel was some of the best food I have had in Paris.  


And in more 2016 news, we fostered this handsome guy who was hit by a car.  We nursed him back to health and he was recently adopted.


K's school colors are red and white and I love how there were red and tulips all over campus.  Note the canon in the background.  Hey, we live in the south.


We went to Serenbe and a late lunch with these knuckleheads.  There was so much fighting going on that their parents decided they are not going to Italy with us this summer.


We babysat for a week for one of our foster dogs.  She has gained 12 pounds and is heart worm negative.  She was in such bad shape when she was rescued from the puppy mill last fall.  I don't think she would have lived much longer.  She now has a wonderful family and is thriving.

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Christmas 2015

K decided that she wanted to go visit her cousins in Idaho.  She wanted to go by herself or at least she did until the time to leave drew near.  Once she got there she had a great time.  

Not one to stay home alone, I cooked up a trip to Paris with one of the Catherines.  Everybody won!



Cousins in Idaho
Baking Cookies with cousins-My cousin calls herself Mormon Betty Crocker
The French know how to do Christmas
It wasn't all eating and shopping
Drinks at the Peninsula Hotel with the Eiffel Tower in the background
More beautiful French Christmas trees
More trees I like how they sparkled, the blue lights were LED.  Interesting combination.
Charlotte came to visit and the girls made candy houses.  Note the cool L'Occtaine advent calendar in the background.
The Youtube video made this look sooooo simple
Not so simple
Looks like something exploded in the kitchen
Our petite Christmas tree.  I'm going to have to up my game if I want a French looking tree next year!


Sunday, December 6, 2015

Thanksgiving 2015

For Thanksgiving we went on a Caribbean cruise.  It didn't seem very much like Thanksgiving but it was nice to get away and K really needed to break.  She did spend a lot of time studying while we were on our trip.  We started in San Juan and stopped in St Barts, St Kitts and Tortola.  We were supposed to stop in Turks and Caicos but it was too rough.  So we ended up with 3 days at sea.  K got in extra study time and I read a lot.  

When we got back we got two more foster kittens.  I think we are starting to loose track of how many kittens we have fostered!



The food on the boat was pretty institutional so K was happy to get some heathy, fresh good food.  Clean plate club!



Friday, October 9, 2015

Homecoming


I was shocked when my non girlie girl decided to go to homecoming!  I saw a dress online and I was even more shocked when she liked the dress.  She did not want anything too short or anything hanging out.  She drew a line in the sand when I offered to buy some high heels.  She wore her Ferragamos (that's my girl!)  Love her sock tan!



Saturday, October 3, 2015

Time Flies

We finished off our summer with a trip to visit and cousins and an afternoon at the county fair.  K swears she was almost kidnapped by carnies!  The ride operator did let her ride some awful ride for a really long time.  Yikes!





And them 9th grade started!  K is not a morning person!


We fostered this sweet Boykin, she was a rescue from a puppy mill.  She was very sick and thin when we got her but with a lot of TLC she blossomed into a funny, friendly girl.  If I ever get another dog I think it would be a Boykin.  They are wonderful dogs.  Actually, if I ever mention getting another dog please schedule an intervention.


Sunday, July 19, 2015

And In Other News

We fostered another kitten who had a respiratory infection.  Bert was a perfect gentleman and shared his treats but did not want to wrestle.





We went to the beach for the 4th of July.


We have an exchange student from France for a few weeks.  Because everyone needs another teenager who wants to sit around and text and watch tv all day.


And we are fostering this little cutie who got hit by a car.


Saturday, July 18, 2015

Zurich


Our final stop was Zurich.  We took the train from Como and spent the night and flew home the next day.  I had planned what I hoped would be a fun activity-Fox Trails.  You follow the trail of a fox from clue to clue.  It might have been doable if we were at all familiar with Zurich.  At one point we had to take a tram-we were not at all familiar with the tram system.  We ended up going to wrong way and wasted a lot of time.  The next few clues were doable but then we had to find a street that we could not find.  The was a tip line we could call and the woman's response was "Everyone knows that street."  Thanks!  Swiss people!  It was getting late so we decided to give up and have dinner.  K had spotted a Wagamama earlier in the day.  On our way back from dinner, K discovered the street we had been looking for!  We completed a few more clues.  One involved finding a bottle of whiskey in the window of a bar.  The next clue was in a courtyard-the maitre d in a restaurant pointed us in the right direction.   He was probably tired of people roaming through the restaurant looking for the clue.  The next clue involved another tram ride and at that point we quit.  It would be fun to do again!  We decided that we would have to start earlier in the day, have a city map with us and a fully charged cell phone.  Poor K was biting her nails at one point and I realized that there is nothing more that I hate than being lost and looking for things.  What was I thinking????



Don't know what this ad was for?  The train ride from Como To Zurich was beautiful-I think K stopped playing Candy Crush and looked out the window once.


K's shirt is of an Andy Warhol painting that she bought at the Guggenheim museum in Venice.