Little known fact: The day we officially closed on our dream, we hopped on a flight to Paris, France. Crazy, but true. It wasn’t exactly planned that way, though.
The hubs had a big birthday this year (one with a “0”)… and, as a surprise (that was revealed early so he could get excited… and get time off work…) we went to France to see Le Tour de France and do some sightseeing.
In the weeks leading up to the trip, we started “casually” house-hunting – our mortgage broker and realtor will both laugh OUT LOUD as they read this. We figured it would take a few months to find the right house, wade through the paperwork and actually seal the deal. Well, our Dream had other ideas and stumbled into our surprised little laps way earlier than expected. That meant a rush of wading through paperwork and a deal sealed just in the knick of boarding time.
We were quite relieved and grateful to have Dream keys before our trip. We could relax and enjoy France! And we did. Except there was a lot of Dreaming going on. And France found a way into the Dream… here’s how:
just a sample of the many chalkboards we saw in france
Cafe’s. Restaurants. Bars. Stores. Chalkboards. Are. Everywhere. We knew one had to come home with us. It took some searching. (Our suitcases were only so big.) But we did find a chalkboard at a cute home decor store in the last city on our trek, Lyon.
again, good thing we don't write the blog by hand
She now graces a wall near our kitchen, proudly displaying menu items for the evening – and an occasional love note.
Here’s the dish she advertised on this particular day.
Yumm-o!
(A Rachel Ray 30-min meal fav in our Dream.)
The best part of our trip – the Bourgogne Region. We spent three fabulous days and two great nights in Beaune – and we can’t wait to go back. We…
rented bikes and pedaled through gorgeous vineyards...
stopped for tastings...
bought bottles and stuffed them in our bike bag...
took a wine class...
and enjoyed the best picnic ever.
One thing we noticed in that area is that no cork went to waste. Each wine shop/store/tasting room had huge decanters filled with corks. As mentioned in an earlier post… We’d been saving wine corks and collecting them from family for a while. So, we were ready to implement this French aesthetic into our dream.
cork and candle filled apothecary jars
The candles are from Ikea. The jars were wedding gifts – something I apparently couldn’t live without while registering. The candles are the same size. The jars are not. So, I had to get a little creative to mask the height issue…
if you can't even remember why you purchased a certain canned food item, much less when, it's probably not safe to eat anyway (even if it is canned)
Now, with that little dilemma solved, what better place to place our corky creation then atop our bar?
one could say they're kind of like cork trash cans, but classy cork trash cans
and she's on wheels - so we can swing her into a different room for a party if we're feeling sassy like that
hmm... anything else catching the eye?
champagne cellar shots from reims, france
we came back from our trip with 1,300 pictures! (can you say, "shutterbugs?")
8 Responses to Paris in the Dream