The Bloodworths

Baby Gear Survey: Sleeping, Soothing and Swinging

2013-07-01T17:18:00.001-07:00

With 5(ish) (ok, still working on this one and we're looking at 3ish...and now 2ish) weeks left before baby Ellen's arrival, I'm now scurrying to finish up my Baby Survey posts. Again, thank you to everyone who participated in this survey. Your input has been beyond helpful for us as we prepare for our first baby!

This post focuses on the following: crib bumpers, sheets and other bedding, sleep sacks, swaddling, blankets, bassinets, rocking chairs, swings etc.

Click here for the spreadsheet of results

Now that you've read what other people have said, this is what we chose:

Crib bumpers and baby bedding: Yes. It will be awhile before Ellen can actually move around in her crib. Bumpers are pretty (I know that sounds selfish and shallow), but when she starts moving, we'll make sure she doesn't cuddle up with them and suffocate. I just can't bring myself to use those mesh bumpers...they're ugly. I went with custom bedding that my mom and I made. I have really obsessed about the nursery and couldn't find anything within a reasonable price range that I loved. No, I will not make bedding for you. It was much more difficult that I thought it would be...but it sure is pretty!

Here's a little sneak peak:

Sheets: I decided on a mixture of sheets, all white- regular cotton, organic muslin (Aiden and Anais) and flannel. Depending on room temperature will depend on what we use. One great tip I've learned is to layer mattress pads and sheets (as many as you can layer) so that if your baby has an accident or spit up/throw up in the night, you can just take the top set off and have a clean set underneath. I chose all white sheets so that they can withstand lots of cleanings. Here is what we registered for:

Aiden and Anais Muslin Crib Sheets

American Baby Company Flannel Crib Sheets

Carters Keep Me Dry Waterproof Fitted Quilted Crib Pad

Sleep sacks: Since Ellen will be a summer baby, I went with the lightest weight Aiden and Anais sleep sacks and swaddles. I'm not sure whether we'll put her in a sleep sack or swaddle in the beginning, I think it will depend on what she prefers. I also have a heavier weight Halo sleep sack and Aiden and Anais for winter. I definitely advocate for sleep sacks a few months in when swaddles aren't preferable any longer.

Swaddling: so far, I'm an advocate for swaddling. I'm using all Aiden and Anais swaddles, or swaddles that are made from similar muslin material. I think they're easiest to use, we won't have to worry about her getting too hot and they are SO SOFT. They're also a great size. I've been a big fan of them for babies I've babysat/nannied in the past.

Bassinets: We are going to use a bassinet near the bed especially for the first couple of months when we're figuring out feeding etc. I don't know what brand ours is because its a hand me down from my sweet SIL, Elizabeth. We are so fortunate to have a bassinet that carries so much love with it already! I don't really think bassinet brand matters- you don't use them that long. However, if you're looking for something beautiful check out RH Baby and Child for their bassinets and moses baskets. They. Are. Gorgeous. If you don't care about style and you're looking for function only, most pack and plays have a great bassinet feature.

http://www.rhbabyandchild.com/catalog/product/product.jsp?productId=rhbc_prod242037&categoryId=rhbc_cat102147

Swings: We chose the Mamaroo by 4moms. I love the look of it and its functionality in theory (since we haven't actually gotten to use it yet). I love the different swinging modes, the white noise options and that you can plug an ipod into it and play whatever your baby loves. It can be pretty pricey, so look for one from a resale shop or borrow one from a friend). When looking for a swing I recommend something with a pretty strong swinging motion and fairly loud music/white noise. You'll also want something that plugs into the wall so that you're not going through a million batteries.

Rock and Play: I have many friends who SWEAR by the rock and play; however, we decided against it. While most babies love it, I've heard from many that breaking their babies from sleeping in the rock and play has been a miserable feat. I didn't want to deal with that...and I don't like the monkey head on the back of it, so we didn't get it.

Rocking Chair: The biggest advice I got regarding rocking chairs/gliders is to get something that you love and that is super comfortable because you'll spend a lot of time in it. We chose a Best Chair Company chair. I wasn't crazy about the fabric options (I'm not kidding, I've had some serious nesting issues with nursery style), so I found the chair I wanted on Craig's List and then had it re-upholstered. It's really pretty and you'll see it in my nursery post that I swear will happen in the next 5 weeks.

Pacifiers: The jury is out on whether Ellen will use a pacifier or not. We're not totally against it, but we'll definitely wait until she becomes a breastfeeding champ. Here are the ones we've got in the paci arsenal just in case:

Nuk Classics

Avent Soothies (a favorite among many)

The First Years Gumdrops

Secretly, if she needs a pacifier, I hope she chooses her thumb- so much cuter than a paci and MUCH easier to keep up with :)

Lovies: I strongly believe that every baby needs a lovie. I also swore I would not be one of those mommies who forces a specific lovie onto her child. I love when kiddos pick them out for themselves...I have a friend whose little girl loves a Grinch doll and it's adorable :) That said- I picked a lovie that I will strongly suggest for Ellen. It's this JellyCat bunny. It's SO soft and pretty:

She also got this JellyCat bunny from some of my favorite people on Earth, the Rickels, and she can choose it if she prefers:

My overall advice about lovies that I've learned from babysitting and nannying is to have back ups. If a lovie is lost, it's bad news for everyone and if a lovie is dirty, it's nice to have as second stream while the A team gets washed.

So that's it for sleeping, soothing and swinging! I hope this is helpful. I'd love any of your feedback or further advice!

Baby Gear Survey: Diapering

2013-04-23T11:00:00.002-07:00

I feel like all I do is apologize for being behind on the blog. This baby survey has been so helpful for me and I really do want to share the results with you as well as some of the research I've done on my own! Here's the diaper section- I'm sharing the spreadsheet here. It's a little more confusing, I had trouble finding a layout that I liked, so this is what I came up with.

Overall results:
disposable diaper users: 23
cloth diaper users: 7
both diaper users: 3

Most popular disposables:
Huggies
Pampers

Most popular cloth:
Bumgenius

Most Popular wipes:
Pampers Sensitive

Most Popular Diaper Rash Ointment:
Desitin followed by A&D

Wipe warmer vs. no wipe warmer opinions were about 50/50. One good comment I saw was that if you only use wipe warmers at home, it's a shock to little baby bottoms when you're out and about and put a cold wipe on their bums...could lead to a fussy baby. We're still on the fence. I will at least need some sort of wipe container because we are planning on using reusable wipes while at home.

Diaper Genie- some people were for, some people were against, cloth diaper-ers use diaper bags and pails depending on where their changing diapers. One helpful comment was not to buy a diaper pail that requires specific trash bags because it gets so pricey!

And now here's our plans: After researching the pros and cons of cloth vs. disposables, we are going to give cloth diapers a go. I can't promise that this is all we will use, but we're going to give it our best shot! We are choosing cloth for these reasons: The cost savings is significant over disposables (there are many different people who have done analysis on these and they all turn out with slightly different figures...the moral of the story is that the cost savings is significant). Using cloth diapers is better for the environment. Sensitive skin babies often do better with cloth diapers...I thought I'd go ahead and assume I was going to have a fair-skinned redhead with lots of allergies and sensitivities...maybe I'm wrong, but I did marry one of those :) Cloth diapers are environmentally friendly- no diaper trash in the landfill! You can use the same diapers with subsequent children further increasing the cost effectiveness. Studies show that cloth diapered toddlers potty train faster than disposable diaper wearers...and I'm all for early potty training! Finally, cloth diapers are pretty darn cute (that's just an added bonus, no, I did not choose cloth on the cuteness factor). Since I'm getting to stay home with Baby Girl, I figured an extra load of laundry or two per day and diaper maintenance wouldn't kill me!

I registered for diapers at Terra Tots in Fayetteville, AR where they have amazing cloth diapering support. We have registered for a mixture of different types of diapers based on Baby Girl's size, time of day and whether we will be out and about or staying at home. I registered for diapers made in the USA and Canada so we're giving back to the North American economy...more specifically the AR economy because that's where Blueberry brand diapers are made. The majority of products I chose are made from bamboo because I like the combination of absorbency and lack of bulkiness. I also chose diapers with snaps instead of velcro, mostly because it seemed easier to deal with to me. I won't go into cloth diapers any further because there are so many great blogs and videos already published on this topic. I've read and watched them for HOURS!

Regarding diaper rash ointment, I'm not really sure what we'll use. I do know that with cloth diapers you have to be careful on what you choose so that you don't clog up the absorbency of the cloth which means things like Desitin and Boudreaux's Butt Paste are out for me. The recommended Northern Essence All Natural Salve looks appealing to me (who wouldn't want their baby's bum to smell like lemon pie?!) but we'll see what works when the time comes!

**UPDATE on cloth diapering** My friend Lindsay shared this diapering site with me. I hadn't found her yet and she does a wonderful job summarizing cloth diapers. Check her out: www.paddedtushstats.com

That's it on diapering! I'd love to hear your feedback!

**UPDATE ON CARSEAT AND STROLLER DECISIONS**After much deliberation we made a decision! We went with the Maxi-Cosi Prezi carseat and the Maxi Cosi Foray LX stroller as well as a BOB for exercise. I really liked the streamlined design of the Prezi as well as the safety ratings and the materials it's made out of and the Foray LX makes sense because the base easily converts to a snap and go with the infant seat and when Baby Girl moves to the toddler seat the stroller remains lightweight and streamlined. I just couldn't imagine navigating crowds with a bulky stroller system. We're going with the BOB as our second stroller because we loved our BOB test drive and EVERYONE recommends it for a jogging stroller over anything else...although I'm still tinkering with the Bumbleride Indie...

Baby Gear Survey- On The Go: Seats and Strollers

2013-02-24T20:57:00.000-08:00

Well hello! Embarrassingly, I haven't written a blog post since September...my how time flies and things change. If you didn't know, we're expecting a baby at our house in July!! I realize I should've posted long ago to share our news and excitement, but I was embarrassed of my blog tardiness and it just kept getting worse and worse. Today I decided it was time to get over it- I've got to re-start somewhere, right?

I sent out a baby gear survey about a month ago to gather the opinions of friends who already know much more than I do about outfitting our home with the perfect tools to make life with baby much easier and safer. I've had many requests to share the results and I'm so excited that this survey will be helpful for others besides me! I've been contemplating the best way to share the results as the survey was so extensive that comprehensive results seemed a bit overwhelming.

I've decided to separate each section of the survey into different posts. This will help me stay organized and will help you find exactly what you need without sifting through results that you don't care about! Please add input in comments if you have any and ask questions too! We've been doing a lot of researching and test driving lately!

Thanks again to all who contributed to the survey! Your input has been SO helpful!

It appears that I don't know how to embed a spreadsheet directly into Blogger so you'll have to click on the links below to see the Google Drive documents:

On The Go: Strollers and Seats
I have included links to each item so that you can see specs. Orange highlighted comments were ones I deemed as "does not recommend" comments. I added my "two cents" in the right column and tried to be as honest as possible.

I'd like to add a review for one more product that my friends hadn't used BUT we test drove this stroller this weekend and really liked it. The Mamas and Papas Urbo Stroller is a bit pricey but VERY easy to maneuver. I loved the easy of flipping the seat from forward facing to rear facing. This seat folds easily and has a very slim profile for transporting in the car. The construction is very sturdy and I loved how short this stroller is (not from top to bottom but from front to back). ** Update: This stroller only has adapters for Mamas and Papas carseats and Graco carseats. A bit of a bummer since I don't plan on purchasing either.**

I hope this is helpful and I hope to hear your feedback! It takes a village to raise a child...and to choose the best gear :)

Thirsty for Thirty Part 2: The Menu

2012-10-02T13:59:00.002-07:00

To save you from an endless list, I have created a Bloodworth Beer Birthday spreadsheet for the food, beer and soda. Please know I did not come up with all of the beer descriptions from scratch! I combined descriptions from many resources so if you happen to be reading this and notice a familiar description, I am thanking you for that and not taking credit for it!

You'll see that non-alcoholic beverages that are within the spreadsheet instead of the bottom, I have highlighted them in brown. At the bottom where the remainder of the sodas are placed, I just included food pairing suggestions, I didn't actually make that food.

I'm not going to give you ALL of the recipes because it'll take up too much space, overwhelm you or bore you to death. Here are some of the major crowd pleasers:

Pork Tacos with Cabbage and Sriracha:

Follow the link above for the main recipe. I added a full cup of apple juice to the recipe. I also made my own tortillas by following this recipe. In addition, I assembled the tacos as follow: tortilla, meat, a thin line of sriracha, a little bit of cabbage and 1-2 slices of avocado.

Buffalo Chicken Poppers with Avacado Bleu Cheese Dip:

I modified this recipe slightly by rolling the poppers like little tiny crescent rolls because I couldn't make them look like the tents she made. I boiled my chicken breasts whole with chicken broth, the whole package of ranch dip and the hot wings sauce then I shredded it and added the cream cheese before it cooled. That way when it was time for preparation there were fewer steps. If you wanted to stop before you put this mixture in the crescent rolls, it'd make a kick-booty dip with some ritz crackers! I scooped the mixture after it had been refrigerated with a mellon baller.

Instead of using bleu cheese dressing in the dip, I used blue cheese crumbles and about 2 tablespoons of olive oil based mayo. It worked well but you can't expect to store it for more than a day.

Meatball Burgers with Pickles and Havarti

I pretty much followed this recipe above from Alton Brown for baked meatballs except I made the meatballs slightly smaller. I used grass fed beef which made them extra delish. To assemble the burgers, I used Sister Schuberts dinner rolls for buns and they fit perfectly. I used a block of havarti sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices that fit over the meatballs and made sure they melted. I used basic deli mustard then put a mini dill pickle on top with a toothpick that also served to hold the burger together.

Chocolate Chip Cookie with Vanilla Sandwiches

I used the Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe in the link above but did not use nuts (nuts in chocolate chip cookies?gross!) and then substituted half of the butter for butter flavored Crisco to keep the cookies from getting too hard when they froze. Once the cookies were baked and cooled, I paired them up by similar size. If I would've thought ahead, I woud've used something that created a more uniform shape. I then put them in a baggie and put them in the fridge.

I cut butcher paper into uniform squares. Sadly, I don't remember what size I (and Russell) cut them. Butcher paper is awesome because it's nonstick on one side and paper on the other so it's great for freezing things and keeping them from getting freezer burn.

I used Breyer's vanilla bean ice cream because in my opinion there's nothing better! I let it thaw a little while on the counter first so it was easier to manipulate. I just used an ice cream scoop and a little spatula to form the sandwiches, wrapped them in the butcher paper with the non-stick side toward the sandwich, taped the paper and put a sticker on top. Make sure to put the sandwiches straight into the freezer after making each one because if you don't they'll be a mess!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip with Mint Chip Sandwiches

I THINK this is the recipe I used for these cookies...I actually can't remember! Just like above, I halved the butter with butter flavored Crisco and omitted the nuts.

I used Great Value Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream (it tastes just like Breyer's) because the artificially colored green mint ice cream from most other brands sicks me out.

Read the above recipe section to figure out how to put the sandwiches together.

Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

I don't have a recipe for this one so here's how I think I make it:

2 pork tenderloins (because 2 come in a pack)

big pack of bacon

deli mustard

salt

pepper

garlic powder

worchestire sauce

thaw the tenderloins

lay the bacon so it makes a sheet where the strips are vertical toward you

place the tenderloin on top

salt, pepper and garlic lightly on top of the tenderloin

rub mustard across the top

flip the tenderloin and do repeat the seasoning steps

criss cross the bacon around the tenderloin

lightly cover in worchestire sauce

wrap in plastic wrap or place in a baggie

repeat with the second tenderloin

bake in a heavy iron pot covered in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes or grill on a 350-400 grill for about 8 minutes on each side (don't quote me on that).

Chocolate and Toasted Coconut Bark

Follow the link above to get to the recipe. This was named "crack" at the party. It's pretty amazing and VERY easy. I added a little kick by sprinkling red pepper flakes and cinnamon over the chocolate while it was still warm before I added the top layer of coconut.

So there it is! Hope you love these recipes as much as we did!

Lake Titicaca: Our Last Leg!

2012-10-01T18:23:00.001-07:00

Lake Titicaca was our last stop on our trip and an amazing way to end our vacation! Lake Titicaca is the worlds highest lake. The culture is fascinating and the scenery is unforgettable. It's been an embarrassingly long amount of time since we went to Peru and I don't know that I can accurately describe Titicaca without a barrage of pictures so here it goes...

We stayed at a beautiful hotel called Lake Titikaka which was out on the edge of a dirt road on a little peninsula with beautiful views all around! We were here for 4 days (I think) and we loved every minute of it.

Our first excursion was to the Uros Islands....

Here I am all bundled up...I hate that darn hat. Short haired girls have a tough time in those things!

This is the second half of our group, we were in a similar boat.

Our first glimpse of the islands! The Uros people weave floating islands from reeds and root bundles. In addition they weave their boats and their homes! The islands are totally moveable!

I'm not really sure what this is a video of...enjoy!

Taking a look with our hotel friends from Brazil via New Zealand. Very cool family!

This is the mother of this island. The moms are the bosses! She's cooking on a clay oven.

...and I'm tasting the yummy popped corn she made!

These reeds are used by the Uros people to keep their teeth bright and shiny white. They don't use toothbrushes and toothpaste!

The ladies of the island are weaving. Each island is made only for one family. The men of the islands build their addition when they're ready to marry.

I think this is a video of the women singing...

Yep! This is me, I got roped up into dressing like a young Uros woman. The big yarn things on my "braids" indicate that I am single...I should have black yarn things (yarn thing is a technical term).

And Russell had to dress up too!

This guy is about 12 years old. He is learning to navigate the reed boats that are used for transportation to the school, village and for fishing. He took us for a little ride!

In all honesty, the authenticity of the Uros people is up for debate. They did not begin creating the floating islands until the 1960, I think. Many of the young people go to school on the mainland and it is rumored that most of the people on the islands take boats to the mainland to live "real life". Regardless, the traditions we experienced were cool and even if this is just a tourist gimick, it was really fun!

This is the back of the lodge. Isn't it cozy?! The back glassed in area is the dining room and lounge area. We loved spending time here!

Most nights we ended the day with a bonfire with all of the guests complete with wine, champagne and snacks!

This was one of our favorite parts of the day. It was so nice getting to know the other hotel guests. We met some really cool people from all over the world!

view from the bonfire as the sun was just beginning to go down

...and going...

and gone!

The next day we headed out to another island. I think this one was our favorite! This island has been preserved by UNICEF so that the native people are able to continue life in the traditional way. The people are beautiful weavers and great cooks!

This is Julius Caesar (no lie) showing us some flashcards of history. He got pretty upset if people weren't listening. Good thing Russell and I have good listening ears!

and the treck up the "mountain" which was nothing more than a hill. Lake Titicaca is SO HIGH that it was like breathing in space!

our view from the top of the hill

Look at me, more being brave standing on the edge of things...

optical illusion!

Hmm, I don't know what this is a video of either, but I will tell you, somewhere near this point of our trip Russell took an embarrassing tumble. I was sure he was about to smash his head and roll off of a cliff but to the surprise of all he was saved by his backpack- whew!

This is the leader of his family. See that hat on his head? He knitted it himself. In this village only the men knit and your manhood is judged by your skill. They literally knit ALL day even when they're talking to others.

This is his homestead

and his girls

and his knitting wife and aunt

this little one was so adorable!

and this is the sandy beach that leads into the VERY cold lake...

...and this is Russell racing into the very cold lake because the Frenchman did it and he wouldn't be shown up. I passed.

Yes, that IS a sunburn you see forming on my face. We were REALLY close to the sun. Even wearing sunscreen wasn't enough. That cute girl beside me had just graduated from high school in France. She was on her senior trip with her dad. We absolutely loved getting to know them...and I loved her because she told me I looked like I could be an American movie star :)

another beautiful shot of the hotel

We decided to be a little more active after the massive amounts of food and open bar we could feel our pants getting tighter by the day. We took advantage of the bikes provided on the property and went out on our own for a little ride over this beautiful landscape

Do I look like a natural?

...and then we came upon this and if you know me, you know I can't ride bikes.

...so we headed home!

Our last full day at Titicaca, we went on a special trip to see a family of weavers. We went to their home and watched them in action.

This is the father using the amazing loom. I'm embarrassed to say, I still can't figure out how that thing works!

I"m choosing my favorite souvenirs! I chose these white pillow covers I had been eyeing these all week at the hotel. The hotel had these on their couches. These beautifully woven pillow covers were made by a 12 year old and now happily live on our bed! We also came away with some of those bright and colorful striped blankets.

This is definitely one of my favorite pictures.

We went on a little hike up to some ruins and picked up some little friends along the way. They loved playing "say this in English" by pointing to pieces of clothing and different colors and waiting our English response. The little girl had a big goal to learn English and become a tour guide.

group pic!

This is me explaining to my little friend that if he doesn't stop jumping around all over the place, he's going to give me a heart attack.

Our view from the almost top...we stopped early because of my intense fear that my little friend would surely fall off the edge at the rate he was going!

My bull friend I made on our walk back to the car.

and here I am in action!

Back at the hotel for another lovely bonfire

Another sunset. I seriously couldn't get enough of these!

An overall review of Titilaka:
LOVED: the scenery, Armando our tour guide, experiencing local culture, the bonfires, number of included activities, pricing of extra activities, rooms were tiny but well arranged and decorated, cozy beds and hot water bottles, transfer shuttles were great
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT: cuisine was consistently unimpressive, dining staff was disorganized, and internet was spotty

Ok, I can't end our vacation blog without telling you about the craziness that was our transfer home! While we were in Southern Peru, there were massive teacher strikes. When I say massive, I mean we had to be rerouted through towns because of marching, protesting, burning roads, boulders blocking the way, barbed wire kind of striking!

At one point, Russell and I had to get out of the van and assist moving large boulders out of the road so we could navigate through to the airport. When we arrived at the airport there were tons of machine gun armed guards to protect the airport from the teachers. Doesn't that sound funny? Protection from teachers?!

Our flights were mostly uneventful until we got on our flight from Lima to the US and this is when we met the most adorable little girl. She was 6 years old and headed to meet her father in Miami. Every time I think of this little girl, I smile and wonder how she's doing. Can you imagine putting your 6 year old baby on a plane and sending them to another country alone? She did just fine! Her manners were impecable (and so was her English and Spanish). She was so smart, so optimistic and so excited to meet her father. She had not seen him since she was 2 years old except for on Skype. Our little friend told us all about how she was going to stay with her dad and teach him about God. It was just so sweet. When we arrived she told us that she didn't sleep the whole trip because she was so excited, despite her cuddling up and sleeping soundly for much of the trip!

Couldn't have had a better vacation although it was THE LONGEST TIME we had been away from home and maybe, just maybe we'll never take another 21 day vacation. At least not for awhile :)

Thanks for following our travels!

Thirsty for 30: A Beer Tasting Birthday

2012-09-09T07:43:00.000-07:00

Y'all, Russell turned 30 this past week. I seriously can't believe I am old enough to be married to a 30 year old! I remember when I couldn't imagine being 30 and how I couldn't possibly be in a relationship with someone who was 30 because we obviously would have nothing in common and wouldn't be able to relate (I'm pretty sure I was like 25 when I said that). Well, I guess the truth is that I'm almost 30 myself and 30 isn't so old and foreign anymore!

Before we go on to checking out the birthday party, I have to say I am so proud of Russell, where he has been, where he is going and who is has become and is becoming. 30 is a really cool milestone (much cooler than 21) and I think Russell couldn't represent 30 better. He is loving his job, we are settling in and we might even see being "real adults" peeking at us around the corner. 30 certainly sounds adult, right?

Ok, enough about that and on to the party!

I wanted Russell's birthday to be really special for him. I knew he would just be meeting new people at work and this would likely be the first major party at our new home. I love for my parties to be casual and comfortable yet well planned and put together. I came up with beer tasting because I thought Russell would love it with all of his beer snobbery and it'd be a great way to mingle and learn about something new with new friends. I think (I hope) I succeeded.

Not to brag (ok, I'm bragging) but I'm pretty sure this was the best party I've ever thrown. Unfortunately we had a HORRIBLE rain and windstorm that began about an hour before the party started so turn out was a bit lower than expected. Fortunately, I LOVED the crew we had!

Before I go any further, I need to give a special shout out to SaucyPants, Stylish Printable Parties. Kristi Murphy was AMAZING to work with and has beautiful style that meshed perfectly with mine. I'm pretty sure we're best friends who haven't actually met...just emailed a lot. Kristi, your decor made the party casually beautiful!

The next shout out goes to my friend, Kate Spencer. Her amazing photography skills made my food and decor look super yummy and recorded our party so that we can remember it forever! Check Kate out. She takes beautiful photos for engagements, weddings, babies, and parties!

And also very importantly, thanks to my helpers, Ashley-Brooke Holdaway, Kate Spencer, Mom, Dad, Fran (MIL) and Rusty (FIL), David Spencer and Russell. There is absolutely NO WAY this party would have been ready to go on time without you all jumping in to help execute the plans. Ashley-Brooke, your crafting/carpentry skills were amazing and your calm spirit kept me from freaking out all day on Friday. Kate, your doodle skills, photography and grilled cheese focus and efficiency was awesome. Mom, Dad, Fran and Rusty thanks for dropping your bags and rolling your sleeves up and diving into cooking, picking up, sharpening pencils, and taking out trash. David had no idea I was going to bark orders his way and Russell did an awesome job setting out the beers and sodas and popping the tops :) This truly was an all hands on deck event and I appreciate you all!

Ok, back to the beginning. Once deciding on the beer tasting, I wanted to make sure my food made sense with my beer and food choices. While I love beer and I love food, I haven't spent a lot of time intentionally researching and remembering food and beer pairings. I spent about a week working on the menu. I used this chart developed by the Beer Association as well as Beer Advocate along with others to create it.

I used Paperless Post to send out invitations. I highly recommend this electronic (and soon to be paper) invitation service. Their organization and recording program is outstanding and I love their invites. They are beautiful and classy!

Alright, here are the pictures:

These were taken by Kate Spencer Photography

From top left moving clockwise: We used 2.5 oz shot glasses that were shaped like pilsners for tasting glasses. Oatmeal raisin cookies, goat cheese with fig preserves (thanks to my grandmother for making those). Meatball burgers and an assortment of beers. Buffalo chicken poppers. Wedding cake cupcakes.

From top left going clockwise: It's not a birthday party in 2012 without a birthday bunting! The starting table of the tasting. Ashely-Brooke made these great "clotheslines" to hold category signs. The beer list was made into a take home sheet where notes could be written on the back. Rating cards were placed by each beer with user-friendly rating categories. Category signs were placed over the top of each beer with descriptions of the beer type. Oh, and we used chalk cloth as a table cloth (I'll be using this frequently, it was awesome!). It erases easily and makes for really cute decorating.

Beginning at the top left and going clockwise: Notice we also included natural sodas to change things up and provide options for designated drivers and non-drinkers. Gruyere cheese with lavash crackers and the yummiest chocolate coconut bark. Grilled pepperjack with jalepenos. Brussel sprouts with bacon.

Mom improvising with the grill pan because it was raining too hard to use the grill. My awesome chalkboard :)

on the left going down: chocolate coconut bark, pulled pork tacos with homemade tacos, avacado, cabbage and sirachi, brussel sprouts and bacon. On the right: cheese tortellini with bratwurst and mild cheddar

Thanks to Summer for these pics!

Thanks Rusty for these:

A little Kinect cheering break...David is a natural

Thanks again to everyone who came and celebrated Russell!! It was the perfect start to 30! Next post: The menu!

When The Webers Came To Visit!

2012-08-22T20:45:00.001-07:00

Last week we had the privilege of keeping 2 of our 4 nephews, William (age 5) and Christopher (age 3). These are 2 of Faith's 3 boys....did you get all those family relationships in there?

I say privilege and I mean it with all my heart. While it was a long 3 1/2 days and I was EXHAUSTED Sunday evening when they pulled out of the driveway, it's not every day that we get to spend time with those little guys and they're growing up so fast. I hope we made memories last week that will last all of us a lifetime.

We had great 5 and 3 year old conversation, saw what made those little guys tick and got in some good practice for what life will be like for us one day when we have children of our own. Keeping William and Christopher made us think hard about the way we will actually react to challenges and not just how we theorize things will flow when there are pitter patters of little feet at our house.

Those few days of getting to love on our nephews were priceless!

As I have said many times before, picture taking is not my forte but I tried extra hard to record our time together! Here are the pics!

Playroom Time!!

The playroom was christened with some serious block play. The boys spent hours building ships, fortresses and swimming pools

Walking Trail

Out for a scooter ride on the trail with a little break to experience the creek. The next day while Faith and Steve were still with us, the boys had great fun playing in the creek!

Back to the Playroom

...and then they found the dress up box. Growing up in a house full of boys I don't think William and Christopher have ever played with wands and purses...this was pretty funny!

Fun With Boxes

Creativity with boxes time. Luckily our patio furniture cushions came in the day before the boys arrived. The boxes were HUGE! William was a bit concerned about being outside in his underwear (such a gentleman) but I didn't want them to ruin their clothes with markers! Check out Christopher...he enjoyed marking his body...typical 3 year old! It was pretty funny when I found him hiding in a box methodically applying teal marker to his lips!

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Here is where they are delivering pirate messages. The one Christopher got from William says "beware of the booby traps"

Hard work to get that fortress intruder-proof!

more block time...this is a ship

and this is the bridge where the cars get on

Genna, Sit!

Time for fetch with Genna! I was so impressed with her AND the boys. Genna actually followed their commands!

William shows Christopher how it's done...and Genna gets a bit impatient

Christopher's turn! Look at that skill!

And now for William's turn!

Genna actually alternated which boy she brought her ball to so they could take turns!

hmm, do you think we can actually make this swing work?

Christopher wasn't quite heavy enough. Each time he tried to swing, this is what happened!

William got it down!

team work!

Hattie was tired by the end of the day (sorry, had to throw this in)

I had to sneak this one through the crack in the door. Look carefully to the lefthand side. That's Genna sleeping with William. She slept there all night!

Farmers' Market Day!

Lil Donut time! Cinnamon sugary goodness...who says Aunt Katie doesn't let anyone have junk food?!

The boys love their Uncle Russell...and Uncle Russell LOVES sticky donut fingers!

MMM!

Testing out the water

so adorable!

Swim Time At The Walmart Fitness Center

before taking the plunge

I think this translates to "don't take my picture"

Don't you just want to snuggle him up?!

Look at him go!

Backwards scooting takes skill!

Do I look like a real mom in this picture?

Crepes!

The boys had their first crepe experience at the Crepes Paulette food truck just off the square. How do you think they liked it...they said they weren't so good and they needed ice cream...these photos paint a different picture!

Mommy and Daddy Are Back!

Posed little family shot

What the weekend really looked like

Big Happy Family!

Here are some pics from my phone that chose to stay at the bottom of this post no matter how many times I tried to chronologically place them...

Park time! We met Mary Cervantez and Sophia at the park. William LOVED climbing!

Christopher was a little concerned about the kids who came to play. He did not want them to get in his way so he was telling me that they should be careful!

Bathtime! William and Genna unexpectedly became best friends. It was so sweet to watch their relationship develop and gave us hope that Genna just might like our kids one day.

Colca Canyon: One of Our Favorite Places in Peru

2012-08-15T17:54:00.001-07:00

Today we had about 3.5 hours of driving to do to get to Colca Canyon. Once getting out of the dusty, cramped city of Arequipa the drive was BEAUTIFUL! We began the day at about 65 degrees and by a little over midway through the drive we were standing on top of a snow covered mountain! We had beautiful views of mountains, volcanoes, rocky and grassy fields and TONS of lamas, sheep, alpacas and vicunas, which are the "wild" ancestor of other Peruvian camelids. In fact, vicuna fur is even softer than alpaca, but due to conservation efforts (as well we continued customs carried on from the Incas) the vicunas are only sheared around 1x every 2 years in a big ceremony.

Let's play hidden picture...can you find the Vicuna?

Vicunas in action

and more!

alpacas

See the snow on this mountain?! This is the highest point of our travel!

more!

coming into the town

Although the drive was beautiful and engaging, we also frequently feared for our lives- seriously. The road is windy and does not often include barriers at the edges, not to mention the squiggly roads, large busses and occasional black ice. Never fear, we made it alive and well to this beautiful place.

This is the city!

our resort

Las Casitas Del Colca was one of our favorite places to stay. The room was so cozy, the staff friendly and the scenery beautiful. We also loved our excursions, the animals and the food!

our casita

bedroom/sitting room

porch and plunge pool

best bathtub ever that overlooked our herb garden

Day one was just a relaxation day for us. My favorite thing about this day was feeding the baby llamas and alpacas! We actually tried to feed them every chance we got (3x a day!). Look how cute they are! We also walked around the property where we got to see the goats, guinea pigs (Cesar offered to let us go pick one out to eat for dinner one day, which we declined), rabbits, chickens and their organic garden.

this is a giant hummingbird!

observing the alpacas and llamas from afar

resting!

feeding time!

highlight of my day!

I want one...or two :)

so cute!

sunning after lunch!

a little laundry time before dinner!

The next day we headed out early with Paulo aka Pablo aka Paul (nice guy, but he asked a few awkward questions; plus, his description of how one of the Pre-Incan Colca cultures used to sacrifice babies by removing their hearts and smashing them onto rocks was a bit graphic) to the Condors Cross. This little excursion was filled with more death defying driving and beautiful scenery. Here's what we saw:

the beautiful hotel grounds

the canyon

low clouds

aww

Check out this terracing! The whole canyon/valley is terraced and it was all done in 40 years!

little tunnel

Russell is on top of a rock, on the edge of the deepest canyon in the world waiting for a glimpse of the condors...yikes!

Check out these GIANTS! Their wingspan is over 6ft wide!

On the way back from Condors Cross, we stopped briefly in the small town of Maca where we were treated to a quick tour, a photo opportunity with a domesticated eagle, and a couple of "Colca Sours", which are the Colca Canyon cousin of the famous Peruvian pisco sour.

This man makes Colca Sours all day...they weren't really for me.

Check this guy out- he's a 20 year old eagle!

This was the "corn museum" There was a ton of corn in all different colors...

...all on this table and pretty much they just wanted tips to come see it.

We went for another walk around the property:

This horse (as all horses) hated me.

view from the trail around the property

Hey baby goat!

I want a baby goat too...

The guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens AND turkeys!

green houses where tons of our food came from!

That night we enjoyed an included cooking and pisco sour class! Much to Russell's enjoyment we learned to make Lomo Saltado, a sauteed beef dish made all over Peru that has become his new favorite dish! We also learned how to make sea bass and trout ceviche which was surprisingly simple and so good!

hard at work!

lomo saltado with cheesy quinoa...cannot be beat

ceviche made with the trout from the pond!

learning all about the different types of pisco

the finishing touch

enjoying our piscos!

As for the pisco sour class, I still am not a huge fan of them (very similar to margaritas), but it was fun to take a stab at being Peruvian mixologists. Plus, Las Casitas had a few of their own house-made piscos with various infusions (ginger, coca, mint, etc.) that made things a little more exciting!

Day 3 we went on a 3 hour hike with a hotel guide. We were worried that choosing the 3 hour hike equaled the "baby" hike (there was a full day 6 hour option and an overnight into the bottom of the canyon option) and we would be bored. Let me tell you, 3 hours was all we needed! The altitude had turned us into heavy breathing wusses! Our guide, Patricia (who apparently also works the front desk as well as in the spa), took us on foot from the hotel through the nearby town of Yanque all the way to some Inca/Pre-Inca ruins called Uyo-Uyo, which are basically a mini Machu Picchu.

In this valley, people let their animals roam free for most of the day.

...I also want a donkey

with our guide learning about this church

another pretty cathedral

our stray dog buddy...I wanted to take him home too

learning about the aquaduct

view from our hike

another one

beautiful ruins

takin' a break!

more ruins

this was a great little old town, believed to be used as a school

more terraces...these were so cool to us!

On our last evening, we took a bread making class to learn to make outstanding carrot bread. Its not like dessert carrot bread but like carrot rolls. We will be having them at our house soon!

It's worth pointing out that we also met an interesting Texas family during the cooking class. They were a bizarre mix of friendly and loud....very typically American tourists. And, well, they were clearly loaded as they talked about all the places they'd stayed, the success of their family construction business, their private driver to take them all over Peru, etc. Plus, as an added bonus, during dinner they enjoyed a rather overly loud, pointed conversation about Christian oppression of women. We struggled to stay uninvolved at a couple of points and found ourselves consciously trying to balance friendliness with distance as it was clear that the other guests weren't their biggest fans!

We ended this leg of the trip with one last llama and alpaca feed, a leisurely breakfast and a farewell to the concierge Cesar. He was one of our favorite parts of the resort and he was also leaving the resort for a new job that day. Casitas del Colca will miss him!

Our little kitty friend on our back porch on our last day. She really wanted to come inside!

Transfer Day: Great Market and A B&B

2012-08-12T19:16:00.002-07:00

One great thing about staying at Aranwa Sacred Valley with a Groupon was that we had included transportation to the airport. This is important because the airport is a little over 2 hours away from the hotel making for a very expensive transfer if its not included.

Olyantatambo: the largest city in the Sacred Valley

Our driver and guide telling us about the region

beautiful view

these views never got less exciting for us to see

... and another one

We opted to pay our driver extra and leave a little earlier so that we could experience another market. The market we visited was called (........). It was by far the best market we had visited to this point. Many markets we had seen in Cusco and Aguas Calientes were overwhelming in size but underwhelming in product- lots of factory made mass market goods. Of course, we wanted to bring home something more authentic.

a little video of the market and my blanket choosing

This is "the one"

This market definitely fit the bill. While there were still some mass market goods, the shopkeepers were very honest (at least we think they were) about telling us what was handmade vs. what was machine made as well as the materials each item was made from. We walked away with a beautiful antique tapestry (which I have no idea what we will do with it), a handmade blanket, handmade throw pillow covers and some very soft, yet machine made, alpaca blankets and scarves. It was fun to bargain with the shopkeepers and it became quite interesting when we ran out of money!

Since we ran out of money so quickly, we had a little more time on our hands than we expected giving us an opportunity to visit Cusco once more. In Cusco, we hoped to make one last visit to Greens Organic but weren't able to because we were too early. Instead we were sell outs and went to Starbucks on the Plaza de Armas (which I swore I wouldn't visit earlier in the trip). Here we had a great view of a celebration/parade/festival (not really sure) which was entertaining to watch.

The parade!

Seriously, the only picture we got of these dancers was this girl fixing her bra...darn.

From here our trip was uneventful until our arrival in Arequipa.

We were greeted at the airport by a friendly driver and taken to our hotel for the evening, a bed and breakfast called Casa Arequipa. It's a cute little pink mansion on the edge of the downtown area. We had the balcony room which was very comfy and where we hoped to spend some time people watching. Unfortunately, there was a very foul smell that kept us indoors instead of on the balcony.

Upon arrival, the woman at the front desk quickly greeted us and offered to make us dinner reservations at a restaurant called ZigZag. I had done a lot of reading on the plane to determine a place to eat that evening. While I read great things about ZigZag, I also read it was a little pricey and a little fancy. We had already decided we wanted to have a low key dinner for 2 reasons: there were many great mid-priced restaurants listed in Lonely Planet AND we didn't want to change clothes for dinner. So, we thanked her and told her we'd let her know where we'd like to eat for dinner after we settled into our room.

Before we headed out to walk to the Plaza de Armas (yes there is one in every city), we let the woman know we'd like to eat at Crepisimo, the sister restaurant to ZigZag. She immediately followed that with, "that restaurant is probably closed since it is Sunday. I will make you reservations at ZigZag." Luckily, I had my Lonely Planet book with me and could show her that the restaurant we wanted to go to was actually open on Sunday. She was a bit disappointed and we could tell that the hotel obviously had a partnership with ZigZag.

Our walk up the the Plaza de Armas was a little spooky- there weren't many people out except for a few street performers, literally they perform on the crosswalks, and most of the businesses were closed and barred since it was Sunday. Once reaching the Plaza, we discovered that Arequipa does have one of the most beautiful main squares and it was very bustling.

Plaza de Armas shops

LOVED these foutains

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We continued on to dinner a few blocks up at Crepisimo- overall thoughts: great beer selection for Peru, yummy crepes and appetizers, lovely atmosphere, oddly cold and impersonable wait staff...I mean, I wanted to hug her and tell her to perk up.

We ended our night early as we were a bit uncomfortable with our surroundings- several drunks out and about at 7:30pm! We watched We Bought a Zoo, which I highly recommend, and then attempted to sleep through the very loud car horns, busses, dogs, chickens, and sirens just outside of our door accompanied by a bright orange street light shining directly into our room. As you can imagine it made for a lovely night's sleep.

our adorable little room

The Sacred Valley Where We Never Left Our Hotel

2012-08-07T05:47:00.002-07:00

(Russell writing)
To be honest, the main reason we decided to go to the Sacred Valley was because we bought a discounted package deal for both Cusco and the Sacred Valley on Groupon. (As a matter of fact, our entire trip was strung together using discount travel sites like Groupon, Jetsetter, and Luxury Link...otherwise we never would have been able to afford it!) In any case, our stay in the Sacred Valley was a unique one if nothing else.

Our travel Groupon included 2 nights in the Aranwa Cusco Boutique and 3 nights in the Aranwa Sacred Valley Hotel and Spa. We absolutely loved the Aranwa in Cusco, so we had high hopes for our next stop.

Well, first things first. After we pulled into the train station at Ollantaytambo we had to get a taxi to the hotel, which is located just outside of Urubamba. However, we had no clue how far away it was! After 45 min in the van with a driver who spoke no English (and we only little Spanish), we started to get a bit paranoid as we drove deeper and deeper into the middle of nowhere. Once the driver finally turned of the road into some dirt side street, we were convinced we were goners for sure!

Fortunately, the taxi did indeed know where he was going, and we arrived at the hotel, which is guarded by an enormous, Jurassic Park-esque gate.

Our first impressions were marked mostly by pure astonishment. The lobby was filled with fine art, high ceilings, a gorgeous stain glass window, among other expensive flourishes. The rest of the grounds were no different. I have never seen a more luxuriously appointed hotel of this kind, and in some sense it felt like it should be a part of some high-end Disney World resort.

Peacocks, macaws, and alpacas roamed the property. The facilities included the biggest spa in South America, a cinema, a museum, an historic refurbished hacienda, a library, 3 restaurants, a sushi bar, an orchid garden, an orchard, a beautiful chapel--the list goes on and on--, all surrounded by the beautiful Andes Mountains!

front lobby

Stained glass in the front lobby

fireplace and more art in the front lobby

breakfast and snack cafeteria (we never went "for snack" since there was so much food at meals)

pet macaw

This is a little tour of the main buildings of the property...a little shaky but gives you a feel for the place.

The chapel- part of the original property

orchid garden (there were only 2 orchids blooming)

Russell's favorite: lomo saltado

one of the only things I could eat: pasta with sauce.

However, we quickly discovered that all was not well in paradise. Aranwa Sacred Valley does many, many things right: their facilities--as mentioned--are world class; their staff are extremely friendly; and the setting is gorgeous. But our general takeaway was that Aranwa's upper management has clearly missed the mark on two critical points: their operational expertise and their general vision/model for what Aranwa Sacred Valley Hotel and Spa should be.

On our last evening we learned that there were only 19 guests staying at the resort which could have contributed to our feeling that they need some operations coaching. If we understood correctly, there are usually about 100 guests at any given time during high season and we were just there on an off week. Not sure if that's true or not...from what we've read from other people's reviews on Trip Advisor, many guests feel like they're staying in a ghost town!

Part of this ghost-town vibe is the result of the grounds being so enormous. But some clear operational issues affected this as well. As a quick example, the hotel has huge time windows for when guests can eat meals. Dinner runs from somewhere from 5pm-11pm. At most places we stayed, dinner was between 7pm-9pm, which allows the kitchen to be much more efficient in meal prep and helps to create a more bustling atmosphere for guests since everyone has to go eat dinner around the same time. At Aranwa, however, you are almost certain to be the only couple dining in the hotel's gargantuan dinner restaurant since the large time window allows for guests to spread themselves out in terms of when they eat...it's a little unsettling!

Plus, the many stores at the hotel (Kuna, etc.) never seemed to be open during their stated hours of operation. They'd instead be open randomly when you least expected it. We think that some of the hotel's amenities, features, etc., are provided only when the occupancy rate is high enough.

(Katie writing)
One thing we didn't realize, as stated before, was that Arwanwa Sacred Valley was somewhat in the middle of nowhere. We envisioned our hotel being in or very nearby a town so that we could come and go as we pleased but this was not the case (note to self, do a little more research). Because of this, if one were to leave the grounds, a hired driver was required and the only way to get one is through the hotel concierge. Annoyingly, you need to plan much in advance for this AND the price is well over average market price. The only way to hire reasonable transportation is to get the card from your taxi driver from the train station and if you forget to do that, you're just out of luck.

While in Cusco, we had read about great rafting in the Sacred Valley and began making plans with a small rafting company to meet up with them and go on a little river run. When explaining this to our hotel concierge, he immediately tried to reroute us to one of the hotel's planned rafting trips that was not double, but triple the price of the rafting we had already scheduled. When asked about hiring transportation, he gave us a bit of a run around, quoted us a decent price and then came back with a final price that was over double his original offer. The more we negotiated, the more difficult the transportation became logistically so sadly we ended up canceling rafting altogether. (Side note: the transportation negotiations lasted for much of our first full day at the resort. At one point, when trying to contact the concierge, we learned that he could not be reached because he was receiving spa services! Many other times we called his desk extension to receive no answer or answering service. Very frustrating.)

Since our rafting trip was cancelled, we ended up with much more time on the hotel grounds than we originally planned. Not only that, but we decided not to go on any excursions because we viewed them as overpriced and/or things we could do in Arkansas (such as ride 4 wheelers for $300 pp- seriously?!). Because of this, we got a little bored and a little homesick, although we had plenty of time to roam and explore...

one of the peacocks

beautiful landscaping around the property

one of the many fountained courtyards in the original hacienda

the orchard

the orchard entrance

our alpaca friends!!

don't you want to just cuddle them up?

having a little chat

garden maze

pretty little alleyway

another courtyard with a beautiful fountain

The last day we were there, we decided to try out their "world class" spa (largest in South America). Again, the facilities were beautiful and the staff very friendly, but we found that our spa experience was our least favorite (and most expensive) of all the places we had stayed. Our package included time in a dry sauna, wet sauna and jacuzzi tub but the temperatures weren't quite right- saunas were too cool and jacuzzi was scalding hot. The massages were ok but there were often moments when Russell and I both thought, "does she know what she's doing or is she making this up as she goes?" We think this was the result of having an overly exhaustive spa menu (3 pages of services, including 30 minutes of walking while escorted by a "personal trainer")) with only a few masseuses on staff. There's just no way they can be great at everything. All that said, we can't complain too much about spending time in the spa, but we feel Aranwa might want to rethink the spa's operational model!

For dinner on our last evening we were ready for a change of scenery so we opted for a private dinner in the colonial kitchen. This is the original kitchen of the original hacienda from the 1800s. We got to chat with the chef and assist in making clay oven pizzas. This was by far our favorite activity of our stay! The chef was friendly, the atmosphere cozy, and the pizza was a welcomed change from the delicious, yet heavy, Peruvian cuisine. And Russell even set up the iPad for a little jazzy dinner music :)

A quick pic with Bruno, the chef!

mmmm, I never would've thought I would think of pizza as "lighter" fare. After all the food we'd eaten, this actually seemed like a less heavy option!

This big oven is from the 1800s!

Waiting and chatting

C'mon pizza! The oven was having trouble heating up because it was a particularly chilly and windy evening

The finished product!

Overall, we recommend Arwanwa Sacred Valley Hotel and Spa (beautiful setting, some solid cuisine, and friendly staff), but we can't help but feel that the resort's operational model makes it fall short of what it should be. Also, you should keep the following in mind: get in touch with an outside, reputable excursion company in advance (check Lonely Planet for advice); travel with a group or be prepared for some down time (if you're there on an "off" week, the ghost town effect will be in full swing); and get contact information from your train station transport driver.

I'll Have The Machu Picchu With A Side of Huayana Picchu, Please.

2012-08-03T06:28:00.001-07:00

Tour guide: (holds up a card with a bird on it) "This is a ____ in Spanish it is called a _____ in Quechuan it is called a _____. You might see one here."

(People on tour with binoculars: desperately search for birds and see nothing but the Peruvian equivalent to the robin or maybe wren.)

Tour guide: (stands without looking through his binoculars for birds...or looking for birds at all...or pointing out things tour members might like to see)

(3 minutes pass)

Tour guide: "Ok, we will move on"

...and this repeated for about 3 stops until Russell and I ducked out of the tour.

Last minute we decided to take the bus up the mountain on the recommendation of a friend since I was still recovering from "the bug". Beside fearing for our lives as large tour busses zig zagged up a mountain and narrowly passed each other for the 20 minute ride, it saved a ton of time and energy. The energy part was especially key for me since I'd pretty much eaten bread, crackers, water and coca tea for the past 24 hours.

We began our Machu Picchu adventure around 8:45am. The sun was up and most of the clouds had cleared so we had beautiful views of a most spectacular place. We opted not to have a guide so we are certain we missed out on much of the history and legend told about the ruins but we decided it was nothing a documentary wouldn't tell us (so we plan to find one when we get home).

I can't say that the Machu Picchu ruins are a particularly easy or safe excursion yet there was a retirement home "field trip" and several toddlers-5year olds tromping around. The poor retirement home folks were sitting down for a rest every 10 minutes...and were not properly informed about attire. Many were wearing the equivalent to ugg boots, keds, and even ballet flats (no traction at all). Then there were the "fancy" people decked out in designer jeans or track suits with make up, fixed hair and all sorts of ridiculousness. Different strokes for different folks, I guess!

Around 10am we headed to the ticket line for Wayana Picchu, described by Lonely Planet to be an easy trek up a hill that may not be worth one's time. Well, I will say it was probably the most difficult, scariest thing I have ever done. ever.

The good news is- nobody died. The bad news is, I had a bit of a break down at the top and cried in front of about 50 people. Nice. I felt like such a grown up. Enjoy the pictures!

Machu Picchu

Our first look at Machu Picchu. Check out the heights and the drop offs. Remember, I'm afraid of that stuff!

We arrived as the clouds were lifting

The size of this place is unbelieveable!

Perfectly angled and leveled terracing that was once used for agricultural purposes.

This is supposed to be one of the best places to get your picture made...I think the guy who took our picture got a little too close!

More terracing, it really is incredible!

This is like the "junk yard" where they put left over stones. Don't worry, it does have a steep drop on the other side where you could fall to your death :)

Notice the difference in the stone work on this building. It's the sun temple which was one of the most sacred. These blocks have been cut to fit perfectly together with no mortar.

a lone tree

millions of tiny steps!

This is the courtyard where the town came together to listen to live music and have picnics in the summertime (j/k but that would be a great place for it).

a close up example of the precisely cut stone

and again

This is foreshadowing: "Wow look at those two mountains over there. I'd hate to climb that tall one."

Incan homes. They used to have thatched roofs.

Their equivalent to the alley

My favorite picture of Russell. Probably one of 3 good pictures I took the entire trip (my talents do not lie in photography).

A little video to show you the scope of this place!

Huayana Picchu

Realization that we had been looking at the wrong mountain. I am not happy.

This is my fake "I'm scared" picture

In the video above when Russell talks about the old people, there they are coming up behind me as I give another dramatized frown.

Here we go! Up the mountain one tiny, slippery, uneven stair at a time.

Still going! I'm doing ok at this point. Just watching the people in front of me and not looking down, back or to the side of me.

Here we are at an overhang. You can't tell from this picture but that white spot behind us is Machu Picchu. This picture was followed by...

...the break down. Yes I am crying here. Once I stopped crying and could speak above a whisper, I sent Russell up the rest of the mountain.

This video gives you a feel for where I stopped.

The following videos are Russell's play by play through the remainder of the climb. He did this so that I could see what I missed. Let me tell you, even watching these videos makes my blood pressure rise!

yes, that patch on the lower right hand side of the picture is Machu Picchu

Dumb lizard- why did you come all the way up here?!

That arrow says "walk this way so you don't die" not really, but it should.

There I am on that little ledge in the turquoise shirt, reading my Kindle and trying not to look like a total loser.

Whew! He made it back alive!

Trying to stand up after I've been sitting statue-still until Russell returned!

We then headed back down the stairs that we came up which was much more terrifying than going up and probably took us longer as I clung to the occasional railing ropes for dear life.

After our trek, we headed back to the hotel for a much needed massage in the little spa. It started raining while we were there which made for relaxing background noise (like a sound machine but real life) and put me straight to sleep.

Finally we boarded another train and headed to The Sacred Valley.

Aguas Calientes: The Town That Is Unavoidable on Your Way To Machu Picchu

2012-07-31T06:45:00.002-07:00

We took the train (pretty much the only way unless you choose to hike in) to Aguas Calientes. Russell scored awesome seats in the first row of the train so we had an up close, panoramic view of the scenery during the trip. Unfortunately, I felt horrible the whole time so I spent much of the train ride in the fetal position.

trying to survive the bug

the greatest part about the train is that it traveled at about 10mph which made it easy to take pictures!

look at those rapids

a small town on the edge of the tracks

our panoramic view from the train

can't beat views like this!

Aguas Calientes, the town at the bottom of Machu Picchu where the train arrives, has a unique charm, but is no doubt the most touristy place we visited- a giant market and rows and rows of backpackers hotels mixed with restaurants peddling hamburgers, pizza, spaghetti, and mexican food...odd.

We stayed in an amazing place, Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, which was a much needed respite so I could recover from my "bug" (literally) in comfort. All Inkaterra hotels are based on eco-friendly values and they are very sustainable. At this hotel they have a tea farm and fruits and vegetable farm where they get most of their produce for their restaurant.

our casita

living room/bedroom

yes, that is a glass shower to the left, beautiful views of nature!

"the" place for my afternoon recovery rest

our plunge pool and patio

After a rest, we decided to go on a little tea farm excursion. We learned how tea is made from harvest to the tea cup.

Angel is showing us the perfect tea leaf- you only pick the baby leaves that have just sprouted

mmm, smells like a fresh plant...not like tea

searching for the perfect leaf

Russell's working hard

keep working Russell! I have more leaves that you!

This is a tea tree berry where tea tree oil comes from

some of the leaves I gathered

The tea hut- where the tea magic happens!

the first step is to make a tea leaf mash

finished product! From here the leaves are cured and then slowly dried over a fire pit

Then, the dried leaves are sifted to remove any large leaves or stems...

and now its time to make the tea bags!

It's tough work!

concentrate!

He did it!

and so did I!

Success!

We woke up early for a bird watching excursion before we headed up the mountain. Unfortunately the excursion was a bust- I don't think our guide was into leading a 6:30am tour. First, he left us for being 30 seconds late and second, the tour went something like this:
tour guide holds up a card with a bird on it: "this is a ____ in spanish it is called a _____ in Quechuan it is called a _____. You might see one here."
people on tour with binoculars: desperately search for birds and see nothing but the Peruvian equivalent to the robin or maybe wren.
tour guide: stands without looking through his binoculars for birds...or looking for birds at all...or pointing out things tour members might like to see
(3 minutes pass)
tour guide: ok, we will move on
and this repeated for about 3 stops until Russell and I ducked out of the tour.

Get excited for our next post about our Machu Picchu excursion! I was going to include it in this post but with all the pictures it would just be TOO LONG!

Cusco or Cuzco or Qusquo

2012-07-30T05:25:00.001-07:00

Cuzco- a bustling city, mish mash of gritty charm and kitchy tourism. We loved this little city! We stayed at the Arwanwa Cusco Boutique Hotel just a few blocks from the iconic Plaza De Armas. We were in walking distance to everything we wanted to see (although each little jaunt felt like a marathon due to the altitude). With only an evening and one full day, we had to be strategic about what we saw and did.

Our first evening was spent exploring the plaza and ducking in and out of shops trying to figure out the worthwhile souvenirs vs. the mass produced Cancun-esque crap. We found a wonderful little art shop where I got a little water color of a llama, several alpaca stores and a tapestry store that we would revist the next day.

Upon the recommendation of a friend, we made reservations in advance at Ciciollina, a Peruvian fusion restaurant. It did not disappoint! Probably our favorite meal so far. We loved the decor, the ambiance, the staff...and the food was AMAZING! A sweet French couple, Henry and Margo, was seated beside us and we offered them the rest of our bottle of wine (the altitude does a number on your ability to consume safely). We then struck up a conversation and had the best time- I bet we sat for an hour chatting! Luckily, the guy new English very well. His parents used to send him to English speaking countries for school semesters so he could practice his English, crazy right?!

The next day, we decided that the best strategy was to follow the Lonely Planet's walking tour. It was a great way to hit the city's high points (and low points). We'll try to expand on the tour mostly in pictures:

Plaza de Armas in the daylight

view of the hills

windy streets

first stop on the walking tour- this is the arch of a female saint...at the moment I can't think of her name!

San Pedro market- this market is for the locals. Consider it their Walmart

juice bars- just pull up a stool and get fresh juice!

our juice lady

finished product! Strawberry, banana, orange :)

This masked man, along with his other masked amigos stand in the middle median and whip people for not minding the cross walks...it's sort of scary and pretty darn funny!

very old pedestrian alley with Incan walls

A lookout point in the smaller Cathedral on the Plaza de Armas

another view from the church

another view of the Plaza de Armas

on our way to the sun temple (I think)

Stop for lunch at Greens Organic

using my STELLAR Spanish skills to order lunch

trout ceviche

very refreshing chicken soup

grilled alpaca wrap

Spanish built courtyard

Kindle Fire saved us many times! Handy access to maps and Lonely Planet!

another beautiful view of the city

there's that plaza again!

The Spanish destroyed this Incan temple and built over the top of it, you can see the Incan walls on the bottom and the Spanish influenced cathedral on the top with the colonial style buildings to the right

terracing

more terracing

On our way up to San Blas, the artist district (where we found no good art)

We ended our day with another round of shopping and dinner at Marcelo Batata (doesn't rank among our favorites on the trip).

I can't believe we actually did all of that in one day! The next day we would be off to Aguas Calientes and then on to Macchu Pichu!

Side note: I won't expand because it's quite disgusting, but after our long day of walking, seeing, and eating, I discovered I had contracted a bug. After a little WebMd, ask.com, and wikipedia searching I discovered I had contracted Giardia. If you want to know more, just look it up...I had every symptom. It's gross. The greatest part is, it takes a minimum of 3 weeks to run its course even with antibiotics, which luckily we carried in our pharmacy arsenal!

Here's a little gem to keep you laughing:

After forcing me to take this picture (and obviously giving it the best smile they've got), the little girl to your right had the nerve to tell Russell and me that the generous tip (if you calculated time spent vs. money earned) we gave her wasn't enough!

Welcome To The Jungle, The Amazon Jungle

2012-07-22T19:51:00.001-07:00

Puerto Maldonato- The Jungle

Getting to Puerto Maldonado was mostly uneventful except for the parts in Lima where airport security was laughable, all announcements for our terminal were made from one desk, and there was no organization for getting onto our plane. I take that back- we were shoved into a bus and taken to our plane. We did get an awesome snack on our way to our stop over in Cuzco- cinnamon roll and a dinner roll stuffed with meat and cheese- take that USA, in Peru they feed their passangers!

The Cusco stopover was supposed to take just long enough for the deplane-ers to deplane and the new passengers to get settled but instead all of that happened and then we ALL deplaned and the reason was "for your safety we need to deplane. Cusco passengers on the left and Lima passengers on the right" we all stood in line for about 30 minutes and then got back on the plane only to find out that "for our safety" we would be sitting on the plane for at least another hour. All in all the ordeal took over 2.5 hours. Luckily, whatever they did for us got us to Puerto Maldonado "safely".

not so patiently waiting for luggage

bus ride to the receiving lodge

We were greeted by a member of the Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica staff and taken to their lodge while they processed our passports. We got to walk through their little butterfly house and had some tasty refreshments.

receiving lodge

butterflies eating plantains- these butterflies have blue wings when they are open!

butterfly house

From there, we took a bus through the town to the port where we boarded a fiberglass flat bottomed covered boat and embarked on the Amazon river for about a 45 minute ride to our lodge.

the golden gate bridge! j/k

the port where we headed out to our hotel

get a feel for Puerto Maldonado

life jackets on for safety!

ray of sunshine, our driver was.

Inkaterra Lodge is amazing! They have about 35 rooms and have a carbon footprint of zero! It kind of felt like going to camp. There's a main dining space, an information/guide center and everyone has a cabana outfitted with hammocks, lounging chairs, and a mosquito net covered bed. There are no glass windows, only screens which brings me to the downside of limited privacy, you could hear your neighbors coughing.

first meal at the lodge

the beginning of Russell's love affair with lomo saltado

fish soup

chocolate yumminess

much needed mosquito netting!

lots of space for relaxing

the view from our porch

"electricity"

water bottles to keep the hotel netting carbon footprint of zero!

bucket-o-sand to put out fires- just in case!

educational lodge to meet for and learn about excursions

Our first excursion was the Amazon a night. We took boats out with a guide, helmsman, and spotligher and we were off to see what we could see on the riverbanks. Unfortunately most of the boat trip wasn't fruitful. We'd see a white cayman here and there just barely sticking out of the water. Just as we were losing interest and getting hungry for dinner, we hit the jackpot! The way you see the cayman's in the dark is to look for their eyes glowing when the spotlight passes over them. Suddenly it looked like glitter on the riverbank. We had found a whole litter ( I am positive you do not call a group of baby caymans a litter but you get it, right?). The crazy thing is, there can be up to 40 babies in one litter. The best part of the whole thing was that we found them just down the bank from our cabanas- like if you walked 50 feet from your cabana door, there they would be!

Disgusting! This is a snake we could've seen out and about...good thing the only place I saw them were in these jars!

the night tour

if you look very closely slightly to the right of center, you'll see a slightly bent line...that's a baby white cayman.

We headed to dinner and then to our first sleep in the Amazon jungle!

Day 2- we had a little wake up knock at 5am. I was already awake because I dreamed frequently throughout the night that there were critters in our bed. Poor Russell was worn out from me waking him up to get the imaginary creatures out of the bed. Needless to say we both had trouble getting up and moving! Today we were headed to Lago Sandoval. We loaded back on the boats and searched for wildlife on the banks during the trip. I was SUPER excited when we spotted a family of capybaras. I had been dying to see them! We also saw some cute little yellow faced monkeys jumping through the trees. Once we reached the reserve, we had about a 3km hike through the jungle with lots of mud, bugs and some beautiful birdsongs. We even got to see some red bellied macaws! Once we reached the lake, we boarded paddle boats and headed out to see what we could see. There were 2 other groups on the lake the same time that we were and I was worried they'd scare away all the good stuff before we got to it, but everyone spread out and we saw some great stuff! More bugs, kingfishers, herrons, oven birds, ugly chicken bird things, giant black caymans (our guide, Glhemm said they were possibly 3m long), and a family of howler monkeys! Once we parked our boat we were back on the trail for the long walk back.

a new meaning to bright and early

another beauty

my favorite picture of the day

another excited helmsman

our guide Glhemm

Angie and Jackie from England- they had just finished a 4 day Inca Trail hike...they are 67 and 75!

This is a family of capybaras (spelling is wrong probably). They're the biggest rodent!

They weren't kidding when they said "watch for the thorns"

Glhemm explaining the changes the river experiences

Watch out for that mosquito!

we're off to Lake Sandoval

Big Tree!

still walking!

These leaf cutter ants are CRAZY!

muddy boots!

loading up for our lake tour

push Glhemm!

Glhemm giving us an educational lesson

beautiful view

and another

way up in the top of the tree( think left of center top 3rd of the page) is a howler monkey and her baby...much cooler through the binoculars!

leaf cutter ants! There's a video of them earlier in this post

These guys carry wood for 3 kilometers sludging through the mud to build new bridges and docks.

a TINY praying mantis

It's HOT

After lunch we were back out again for the canopy tour. We saw the research center where the Inkaterra guides and researchers from around the world come to conduct research on the jungle and canopy. How cool is it that a tourist lodge keeps a focus on reasearch?!

We would be climbing a 100 ft tower and then making our way across 6 suspension bridges. Yes, you read right, the girl who had a break down on the Eiffel Tower was headed to walk across the jungle canopy. Glhemm gave us a great overview of how the canopy system works, the birds we could see etc. and we were off to walk across some very narrow hanging bridges. Guess what- I did it and I didn't freeze, I didn't freak out and I walked across all by myself!

off to the canopy tour

you want me to climb that?!

Here I go!

...and up

view from the top

we made it!

Glhemm is actually a bird expert! He studied them and college and is working on his masters!

For those of you who know my fear of heights- this was a big deal for me!

Russell wasn't scared a bit!

If you want to feel in on the action, watch this video

back down safe and sound!

On our hike back to the lodge we saw huge lemons, learned more about the fascinating jungle ecosystem, saw a strangling fig tree and learned how beetles burrow into coconut seeds and lay their eggs.

Strangler fig- it strangles its host tree until there's nothing left!

I had a little taste of this coconut like thing- sometimes when you crack them open there are larvae inside. Lucky for me, no larvae in this one!

This tree can move inches in the span of a year depending on where it can get the best sunlight

After a little break we were off for our final excursion of the day: the jungle at night. Russell and I were both a little uneasy about this since he doesn't love spiders and I HATE snakes, both of which could have been seen on the walk. We saw a tarantula, hoards of army ants, some crazy looking spiders, and one little yellow frog. Overall it was a let down aside from the fear we experienced from walking through the dark jungle. We were crossing our fingers for owls and sloths (and the rest of the group for snakes). Oh well ,the jungle IS elusive.

resident tarantula- she lives in a tree by the lodge

these ants were insane, there were literally millions of them!

and another creepy crawly

and another....

In this video you can see just how dark it really was in our night walk!

and another! Did I mention that Russell HATES spiders?

The next morning we awoke at 5:30am. That's right, we got to sleep in! We were off on our most exciting adventure yet- Piranha fishing!

(Russell writing)
This was something I was extremely excited about. Although we had fun the previous day (particularly, in my opinion, doing the Canopy Walk through the trees), I felt that overall the day was somewhat underwhelming in terms of the wildlife we saw beyond the unsettling swarms of mosquitos! The piranha fishing excursion, which cost a wee bit extra, was about 2 hours up river at Lago Valencia. We were joined by our guide, Ghlemm, and a lovely couple we'd made friends with the day before, Mike and Bethany from San Diego.

When we weren't sleeping on the boat ride on our way to the lake, we were taking in the absolutely gorgeous views. About halfway, the boat turned off the main river and onto a little tributary towards Lago Valencia. It was here that things started to get a bit exciting. We saw TONS of birds as well as an absolutely remarkable sighting of an anteater walking around in a tree. Very very cool.

Once through the tributary we entered onto the main lake and started our attempts at fishing for the catch of the day: piranha. Although neither Katie nor I are particularly adept fishermen, piranhas fortunately, if nothing else, have no trouble being tempted by a bit of red meat on a hook. The problem is that they tend to be pretty good at nibbling your bait up without you ever even knowing it. Much of the day was spent "feeding" the piranhas rather than catching them!

After enough attempts though, you're bound to catch something! Katie, as it turned out, caught one of the three biggest fish of the day, while I--although I caught a lot--ended up mostly with little piranhas that might pass for a fish stick at best in terms of size.

taking off bright and early!

My first, and largest catch!

look at the eyes on that thing!

big one!

The better to gobble you up, my dear!

One of Russell's many catches!

It's Big Mouth Billy Bass after dentures!

taking a break for outstanding empanadas!

baiting the hook

another good one!

We finished up our fishing with--somewhat frighteningly--a quick dip in the lake just a hundred or so yards away. We both were actively crossing our fingers that our splashing around wouldn't attract the remaining family members of the now-captive piranha we caught, perhaps seeking revenge! Fortunately, the swimming was mostly uneventful except for a quick "feat of strength" challenge where Katie and I raced each other around the boat. We evidently are both pretty slow swimmers.

we decided we should go in together so if the piranhas attacked we'd go down together!

he survived!

and now for the racing feat of strength. Russell wins, I presumably get a mouth full of water.

Following the fishing, we set ashore at a little area owned by the lodge and enjoyed an absolutely fantastic meal prepared by one of the chefs who had accompanied us. The table was filled with different meats, h'ors doevres, etc., as well as a great many beverages including beer, wine, and champagne. Oh yeah, and a whole lot of piranha that we had just caught! It's actually pretty darn delicious, although I was partial (as I've been the entire trip) to the lomo saltado that was on the table. Beef in Peru is just phenomenal. One of the best parts- it started raining during lunch so the sounds were beautiful!

lunch table

fried up and ready!

tasty!

beautiful view

and another

hanging with Glhemm!

cheers to a wonderful day

and another good one

and another

little hand wash after a "pit stop"

look at that!

Once back at the lodge, the rest of our day was mostly spent relaxing since we were absolutely exhausted! A brief sloth and macaw sighting as well as a yummy dinner capped things off. Tomorrow our trip sets off for Cusco! So long mosquitos!!

These little guys ran around all over the lodge grounds!

We're off to Peru!! Lima

2012-07-20T07:15:00.003-07:00

We're off to Peru! First stop, Lima. As a bit of context, Russell and I decided we needed to take advantage of the free time we have before Russell starts work full-time at Walmart in August. This is sort of a "last hurrah" vacation since we will never has much time as we do now again to do this sort of thing!

Our travel there was very non-eventful so I won't go into too much detail. Really, the only thing of note is that upon bag weigh-in at the airport, I tallied only 19lbs. for 3 weeks worth of travel. That's got to be a personal best for me.

We landed in Lima on time around 11:00pm and thought it would take us max 45 minutes from plane side to taxi...2 hours later we were finishing up in customs. Yipes! We arrived to our hotel, Miraflores Park Hotel around 2:30am where we were kindly greeted and shown our room (a junior suite) where we fell into bed until the next morning.

I'll have to let you in on a secret- we used Luxury Link and Jetsetter to book the majority of our trip which means we were able to score some great hotels and some great rooms for less $$$ than lower ranked hotels and basic rooms. So far, they have not failed us!

Day 1:
We woke up bright and early, stuffed our faces and headed out to find Bike Lima where we would be taking a 4 hour bike ride through Miraflores, Barranco, and Churillos (I think). Of course we started the morning off on the verge of getting lost (flash back to our Paris trip earlier in the year) but thankfully we weren't too far off track!

We biked with 4 other people (2 Americans and a couple from Hungary) and a great guide who was very friendly and had great stories! Highlights included: beautiful views, school children who wanted their picture taken with us, the wishing bridge, the diving monk, the park full of abandoned cats and almost getting hit by taxis multiple times (making us thankful for purchasing trip insurance).

one of the look out points during biking

Our tour group

lookin' cool, rockin' the helmet

Our tour guide with lots of stories. He had a knack for asking questions and answering himself.

Beautiful haunted cathedral in Barranco

School girls in Barranco who asked to get their pictures made with us

Another look out point. Would you like to live in this condo complex? You can't! It has to be torn down because it was built illegally through governmental bribes.

The diving monk. Below is a video of him diving. Watch for his crazy climbing skills! There are many citizens who reenact the legend of the diving monk who killed himself out of heartbreak.

After our bike ride we were a bit hungry and very tired so we headed off to find a coffee shop I'd read about in our Lonely Planet Peru Guide (also an invaluable resource). Once again, we got a little lost and I got to practice fumbling through my Spanish phrases asking for directions. Without a doubt, I should've paid more attention in my 4 years of obligatory second language classes.

We did find Cafe Z and as Lonely Planet suggested, they had great food and the world's most uncomfortable chairs!

We took a break at the hotel for massages and then headed to dinner at Panchita. A trendy Peruvian restaurant. At this point of the day, my Spanish had gotten so bad it was comical but we somehow made it through! Panchita had THE BEST rolls we have ever eaten- if heaven has school lunch rolls, this is what they would taste like. We split Peruvian chicken noodle soup and a third of a roasted suckling pig for dinner. The soup was outstanding but, a little mushy and too fatty, the pig was not for us.

We then headed back to the hotel to prepare for the day to come.

Lima Day 2:
While we felt as if we had planned and planned and planned some more for this trip, we realized we hadn't planned enough. Our second day in Lima was totally open. I woke up early (too early says Russell) to figure out what we'd be doing and how we'd be getting there. After much deliberation...and a considerable amount of help from the concierges (who were fantastic)...we decided to visit two museums, take in the Plaza de Armas, go paragliding and experience chicharones and ceviche. We decided to hire a drive for the day so that we didn't have to worry about repeatedly locating "safe" taxis throughout the town.

First stop (name of museum) . This museum is in a colonial style mansion in Barranco. It's small art collection by the artist (name) is a little like a bad dream but whimsical and interesting to look at. The art critics Russell and I are not meant we were in and out in 30 minutes. We were supposed to follow this trip up with a little paragliding. Unfortunately there was no wind which made it unsafe and virtually impossible so we skipped that part and were off to Plaza de Armas in Lima's old city center.

We arrived just in time for the changing of the guards at the president's mansion (their equivalent to the White House). The ceremony lasted over 30 minutes. There were many soldiers performing a highly choreographed marching routine but sadly and comically many were out of step.

We then visited the cathedral where we had a very informative tour learning of the history of Catholicism and the Spanish takeover in Lima.

Me, squinting to read my Kindle to determine where we would be eating. That man beside me is our hired driver, Ronaldo, who awkwardly followed us around the city and made us feel like he was in a hurry.

Upon leaving the square we headed to a slightly rougher part of town to eat lunch at a sandwich shop. Russell had the chicharrones, a Peruvian specialty of fried pork.- it was amazing! We also tried Cusquena beer which is known to be the best around..it's pretty much like a Bud. Our penchant for craft beers in the states makes us a little snobby when it comes to having beers abroad.

Our next stop was the Museo Larco, a ceramics museum, where we learned of the native Peruvian cultures including their formation of societies, agriculture, spiritual beliefs and rituals. We loved this museum and spent over 2 hours there!

NOTE: Ok, so a large portion of the Museo Larco is dedicated to "erotic" Incan pottery, etc. It's, well, a fascinating experience if nothing else. You will see your fair share of...um...creative displays of human, animal, and deistic affections.

We didn't take pictures inside the museum but there was beautiful bougainvillea on the outer walls

Upon returning to the hotel, our cab driver awkwardly tried to get (unsuccessfully) more money out of us leaving a sour taste in our mouths but that was really the only hiccup in our day.

We ended the day with an out of this world seafood/ceviche dinner at La Rosa Nautica where we also experienced the infamous Pisco Sour which almost put us under the table. Seriously. It's sorta like a margarita designed specifically to knock you out for the count. Efficacy on us? Strong to quite strong.

Random: The dogs in Lima seem bigger and boxier than dogs in the USA. We saw several labs, german shepherds and even mutts that seemed much more substantial (not fat) than US dogs. Also, many owned dogs in Lima wander freely during the day or sit outside of their homes with no leashes. In addition there are many strays in the city center. They all had such sweet faces and they just sleep in the middle of the sidewalks.

Overall Thoughts on Lima:
The scenery takes getting used to- the gray/white skies, crowded buildings, and lack of city planning or cohesive architecture gives an initial unfavorable taste of Lima. When you look closer though, it is a city with so much character and individuality. We grew to love our cloudy, almost dreary ocean view contrasted by the crammed city. All people we met in Lima were warm, friendly and patient with my horrible attempts to speak the language. The food is spectacular, the history interesting and we loved our hotel.

Stop number 1 of our Peru adventure has been a success!

Floors and More!

2012-06-07T07:54:00.000-07:00

I've lost count of the days, but here are some highlights from last week!

Floors are in progress! The guest room was added on at a later time- half of the closet is concrete from the garage. This meant building up the floor with glue before the wood floor could be laid.

Oops! Looks like Genna got curious!

almost ready!

While we were waiting on floors to be finished, Russell worked diligently to "bug proof" the screened porch. This meant hanging screen underneath so bugs couldn't attack from the floor. He has also installed weather stripping at the base of the door, patched a hole and put in a screened dog door for the dogs. Russell's becoming so handy!

Finally! There's floor space in the multipurpose room...still lots of work to be done in here!

Upstairs guest room. Check those beautiful floors! Still lots of finishing touches (notice the tiny rug under the bed- we'll need a new one) left to make this room comfy!

The office (also new beautiful floors). Looks like we're very hard workers judging by the size of those desks! Those desks were just about the death of both of us. It took a rented dolly, many tries and lots of patience to get these desks from point A to point B but we did it (with only minor injuries to the door frame). This room still has a long way to go as well!

....busted! We just transferred a bunch of stuff from the multipurpose room into this closet!

Oh happy day! There's no more bed in the dining room! Can't wait to get those walls painted!

Downstairs guest room. This is my favorite room in the house so far!

note the new floors...and the crooked blinds :)

It's coming along and beginning to feel like home! Nothing exciting has happened this week, so I'll spare you the details. Next pictures will be of freshly painted walls!

Truck 2

2012-06-05T11:57:00.003-07:00

Days 7, 8, 9

Day 7: I did a little tidying up- finishing up some open projects and cleaning a little. Russell arrived later in the evening and we had our first dinner together picnic style on the screened porch. At this point we have no tables!

Day 8: Russell and I ran errands and bought a new mattress! Leslie and her boyfriend Hunter (I know confusing, our brother's name is Hunter too) came over to hang too.

Day 9: The movers arrived from Memphis. Unfortunately, no one called to tell us they were coming so we weren't prepared for them at all. They were slow and careless with many of our things. Pretty much if it was antique and irreplaceable- they broke it.

Here are just a few examples of broken stuff:

the beginning of broken furniture- they must've thrown this chair out of the truck

another broken place, same chair

Russell's grandmother's piano- took a little wood off here...

and the whole leg fell off here. Notice where they lost a piece!

this is our antique dresser where they broken the edge and glued it back like we wouldn't notice

Our new bed! King sized!

more boxes added to the pile...and cute little chairs in desperate need of new upholstery

Bedroom furniture!

and more bedroom furniture!

Kitchen table! We now have a place to eat!

dining room furniture...

still mixed with guest room furniture!

The living room that was once livable is now piled with boxes and rugs.

another angle

The screened porch now looks like a storage facility

At this point we're now feeling like we have too much stuff! Look forward to seeing how we put all of this stuff away.

More Moving

2012-05-30T06:28:00.001-07:00

Days 4, 5, and 6

Not too much happened during these days as far as unpacking goes (or at least not a lot that I took pictures of!). I had a lot of computer work to catch up on so I spent much of my time doing that.

Day 4: I headed to Hot Springs for my "baby" cousin's graduation from high school so nothing was accomplished in the house

Day 5: The specialty movers unpacked the tv and hooked up the washer and dryer, AT&T U-Verse was installed and my brother finished up pulling carpet. His sweet girlfriend came to help so we arranged furniture AND pulled lots of staples out of the floor! Followed by the first dinner cooked in the kitchen! I also arranged the laundry room and storage closet this day but it's too hard to take pictures of it.

Day 6: I spent much of the day running errands and getting our class reunion invite ready to "go live", moving boxes and packing paper to the garage and I spent A LOT of the day staring at paint first on the computer and then from the chips I picked up from Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore.

temporarily arranged living room

The specialty movers came to unpack the tv today AND the U-Verse lady came to set up cable and internet.

That's right, I organized all of these paint chips according to color and shade. From there, I cut out the colors that were definite nos and then walked away for the day.

Prioritize to Organize

2012-05-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

Day 3

Today I went on an unpacking and organization spree. I seriously unpacked from 7am-6pm and from there went grocery shopping. Somehow I didn't get home until 9pm!

Kitchen cabinets all organized with my aqua and white dishes! I'm feeling extremely lucky that they look so great in our kitchen since there's nowhere for them to hide!

New Refrigerator!

coffee bar in the right hand corner, baking station in the middle, barware on the left hand side and what you don't see is a ton of organization in the drawers and lower cabinets

beginnings of glassware and microwave station...yes that is a ton of booze- it took me awhile to figure out what to do with it so it sat on the counter for a few days!

semi organized pantry

again

beginnings of bathroom organization, you'll see similar pictures for a few days. this was a toughie for me!

beginnings of organized towel closet

what do I do with this?!

beginnings of organized master closet

suit and dress organization

not making much progress on Russell's side!

towel etc closet looking better, pile in the floor looking worse

...and worse

ahh! but this looks better!

and so does this...

and this!

box pile is getting smaller- all of those closet in tupperware containers are out of season clothes

and these are things waiting on drawers!

So many boxes!

2012-05-29T08:29:00.002-07:00

Day 2

What a day it was! Our amazing movers arrived at 8am on the dot and began unloading the truck into the house. Luckily, our truck driver remembered where much of our stuff went so I didn't have to do too much directing. I had also labeled each room with painters tape so they could navigate box placement better. In addition my brother, Hunter, arrived to begin removing the carpet from the "kid" bedrooms. As clean as the family before was, I just can't do someone else's carpet.

As soon as the movers finished (by 11:30!), Leslie and I went on a search for the perfect refrigerator. It took some looking but the refrigerator was found! You'll see pictures in Day 3.

Here are the pictures!

Nermal wasn't sure what to think about all this stuff!

So much packing paper...this is just from the dishes box! I dove into unpacking the kitchen as soon as the boxes landed. I can't live without an organized kitchen!

That's right! That's a bed in the dining room. We decided this was the best place for it since it will be the guest bed but that bedroom has no floors at the moment!

bedroom minus carpet

another bedroom minus carpet

embarrassingly, these boxes are all clothes (except for the 2 flat ones on the right hand side)

It's hard to believe all of these boxes came from our small apartment!

A special thank you to my brother and sister for all of your help! So nice to be close to you both!

If Walls Could Talk

2012-05-27T19:14:00.002-07:00

So...I'm a little behind schedule in posting what has been happening in AR. I was going to try and summarize the week in one post, but it's just not possible! Look forward to many more posts in the next few days!

Day 1

I arrived around 9pm with my little sister. Russell was still in Memphis waiting on phase 2 of moving trucks. I was really thankful Leslie came to stay with me! Russell and I were so fortunate to have bought a house from a very sweet family. Walking into the empty house, I felt like the house missed it's family as much as the family missed it's house. I know this house holds memories of lots of happy noise! I immediately promised it that we would fill it with lots of love, a new family and many visitors.

You'll notice lots of light in these pics because I actually took these on the morning of Day 2 before the truck arrived!

I am now realizing I haven't actually taken a picture of the outside of the house! Use your imagination- white siding, shaker shingles, black shutters and black front door. Lots of trees :)

Here's the tour...

from the front door, take a right into the dining room

from the dining room, you walk through into the kitchen (that's Nermal in the corner. He's the previous owners' cat who stayed with me for a week)

pantry

from the kitchen take a right and another right, it leads you to the laundry room and storage closet

if you take a right then a left, then its guest room. Here's the closet

...guest room bathroom

guest room- I LOVE the windows in here!

If you would've taken a left from the kitchen, you would've entered the living room...

door to kitchen

fireplace, bookshelves, and door to the sun porch

paneling and fireplace

french doors to screened porch

view of the yard

view of the house from the porch and you can also see the deck

continuing through the living room and back to the front door you find the staircase

and under the staircase is this little powder room

at the top of the stairs to the left is the multipurpose room

multipurpose room closet

just past the multipurpose room is this "kid" bathroom

hallway to the bedrooms

"kid" bedroom 1

"kid" bedroom 1 alternate view

next door is "kid" bedroom 2

at the end of the hallway is the master bedroom

through the door you can see in the master bedroom is the master bathroom

and inside the bathroom is the master closet

master closet pic 2

master closet pic 3

We truly love our new house! Get ready to view the chaos in the next few days!

Time Flies When...

2012-05-14T13:13:00.000-07:00

Our moving truck came today.

How is this possible? I feel like we just moved in but two years later it's time to move on. What a mix of emotions this day brings- excitement for what is to come, pride for what has been accomplished, sadness for what- but most importantly who we're leaving behind.

Russell and I could not be more fortunate to have spent the first two years of our marriage growing in the Fuqua community. We had no idea what we would find when we made the 13 hour move from Memphis, but what we found was a cozy town, great food, a pile of friends and memories that will last a lifetime.

I have enjoyed watching the transformation of Russell. He's finding his drive and loves the world of business. I'm so proud of him and all of his hard work and dedication poured into getting his MBA. He has learned more than either of us could have imagined and is walking away with not only a degree and a great job, but new knowledge of his potential for success in the "real world" whether business or otherwise. I know big things lie ahead for his career and I'm looking forward to watching that path unfold.

Our family has grown by one dog child. We love Hattie so much and she has become great friends with Genna. Genna has grown up a bit herself! She takes naps now and even follows commands :) They have no idea what is coming for them. They're going to thank us for their new yard!

I have had the opportunity to search outside of my speech pathologist background by taking classes in nonprofit management through Duke continuing education as well as running a fantastic club at Fuqua (Russell's school) called MBA Games which is the largest contributor to Special Olympics of North Carolina. In addition to nannying for some great families and volunteering through Fuqua Partners.

Russell and I have become reliant on each other, made friends that are "ours" not mine or his, developed our home that will go with us where ever we may be, and have had lots of time for fun vacations. We've built a foundation for our future that is strong!

This is the day we say our final "see ya laters". It's going to be tough and we're going to miss this place where we have grown so comfortable. Part of me, though, is ready to turn the page and begin the next chapter- No homework, a house to call our own, a new town to explore, and seeing more of our families. I think we're in for many more great stories!

Stay tuned for the excitement to come...think fabric, paint, flooring and furniture!

Silk Marvelous Mornings House Party

2012-04-25T19:41:00.001-07:00

Somehow I found houseparty.com or they found me, I don't remember. Anyway, you should check them out! It's a super-fun way to host parties and promote new products. After a few applications for different parties, I was chosen to host a Silk Marvelous Mornings party to share their new Fruit & Protein drinks!

I was so excited that I had been chosen, I started planning right away! Russell and I are avid Silk Almond and Silk Almond Dark Chocolate drinkers. Russell can't have dairy or a lot of soy so this is a great alternative (not to mention that Silk Almond touts 2x the calcium and about 2/3 the calories of skim milk). Although Russell won't be drinking much of the Fruit & Protein drinks, I was excited to try something new!

House Party is great! They give you tons of party resources including recipe ideas, party games, a social network, AND a party pack. Here are pictures of my party pack:

"I'm so excited about my party pack!"

This is what I saw when I picked up my package!

a little gift for me: Silk reusable cup- perfect for smoothies!

another little something: Silk glass tumbler for my Fruit &Protein!

Now the big stuff- goodies for my guests!

My party was this past weekend and we had a great time! Of course, the party centered around food since I LOVE to cook! We had a noontime brunch with about 14 girlfriends. My dear friends Emily and Katelyn came a little before to help me cook and get ready.

Here's a picture of the spread. I tried my best to use Silk products in ALL of the recipes. I succeeded in almost all of them! I also made everything bite-sized so there would be lots of sampling.

part of the spread!

favors on the table

part of the tasting station

Katelyn trying (and loving) a yummy Green Monster Smoothie

food and fun!

me trying a plate full and a little Green Monster :)

The Recipes

Peach Mango Fruit & Protein banana muffins with granola.

Recipe:

(since I made this up, it might not be exact but I'm going to try my best)

1c. all purpose flour

1c. whole wheat flour

1/4 t. salt

1 t. baking soda

1/2 c. butter

3/4c. brown sugar

2 eggs

1t. vanilla

1 mashed bananas in a liquid measuring 2c. measuring cup.

Peach Mango Fruit & Protein poured over the mash banana to the 1 3/4c. line

3/4c. oats (I use Quaker Old Fashioned)

granola of your choice

Preheat oven to 350.

1. sift together dry ingredients

2. cream butter and sugar in stand mixer for at least 2 minutes, add eggs and vanilla

3. gradually add in dry ingredients

4. pour in Fruit & Protein

5. add oats

Now observe your batter. It should be thicker than cake batter but not so thick that it won't easily drop from a spoon. If it's too thin add a little more flour. If it's too thick, add a little more Fruit & Protein.

You have the option to serve this as a breakfast bread or muffin. I chose mini muffins. It took about 20 minutes for each mini muffin batch to bake. I think it would take about 30-45 minutes for regular sized muffins and for bread loaves 1 hour.

Before baking add granola on top of the muffins/bread!

Yields about 65 mini muffins (they freeze well)

French Toast Waffles (recipe from Silk)

Recipe:

1 c. Silk Pure Coconut Vanilla Coconut Milk

3 eggs

1/8 tsp. salt

1 tsp. maple syrup

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

8 slices of day old French bread or sandwich bread. I used this yummy oatmeal bread that I found at Kroger.

1. stir all ingredients (except bread) together

2. coat preheated waffle iron with cooking spray

3. dip bread into egg mixture so that it is saturated but not so much so that the bread falls apart when you pick it up

4. add bread to waffle iron (my iron could hold 4 pieces at a time) and cook until browned, 3 to 5 minutes I think.

5. I (actually Emily Sadlow) cut the bread into triangles to make it easy for the buffet table (and super-cute).

Whole Wheat Silver Dollar Pancakes with Blueberries

Recipe:

This recipe is easy to double or divide!

1 c. all purpose flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

2 T. ground flaxseed

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 T. sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Silk Almond Milk (any flavor would probably work but I used unsweetened)

pastry bag with medium to large round tip.

1. sift all dry ingredients together

2. in the same bowl add sugar eggs and vanilla

3. slowly pour in Silk Almond Milk as you stir until the batter is the consistency that it thickly coats a spoon and may drop off in blobs. You don't want this batter to be so thin it drips from the spoon or runs in a stream (hope that helps)

4. fill pastry bag with batter

5. in a pan preheated to medium medium/low heat (spray with nonstick if your pan needs that) drop pancakes with your pastry bag. I did about 4-5 per pan.

6. do not flip your pancakes over and over again. Once there are bubbles scattered across the top, flip your pancake once.

I served my pancakes in stacks of 3 with a toothpick through the middle that held blueberries on top and syrup on the side. I found that putting blueberries in the batter did not work since these pancakes were small.

Puff Pastry Omelet Bites

Recipe:

8 eggs

1/4 c. Silk Almond Unsweetened

4 pieces bacon chopped

1/2 carton pre sliced baby bella mushrooms

3 c. baby spinach

shredded mozzarella to taste

salt and pepper

2 sheets puff pastry

shredded parmesan cheese or hard cheese blend

Preheat Oven to 400

1. beat eggs with almond milk and set aside

2. in a preheated pan on medium heat add chopped bacon until it begins to brown

3. remove half the grease from the pan

4. add in mushrooms

5. once mushrooms soften add spinach

6. when spinach is wilted pour egg mixture over the top and stir to make scrambled eggs

(this recipe is great if you stop here and eat the scramble)

7. add shredded mozzarella and remove from heat.

8. on a floured surface roll out pastry dough, not too thin as it has to support the egg mixture. Basically just roll it out to remove the creases from where the dough had been folded and to even out the thickness across the sheet.

9. move one of the pastry sheets to a jelly roll pan (lipped cookie sheet) that has been sprayed with cooking spray

10. evenly distribute egg mixture across the top of the pastry sheet leaving about 1/2 inch border around the edge

11. lay 2nd pastry sheet on top of the egg mixture. Roll or press the edges to seal in eggs. Sprinkle top with parmesan cheese.

12. bake for 10 minutes and check to see progress (I don't remember how long I baked mine but I know it was at least 10 minutes). Pastry should be golden brown and cheese should be toasted.

13. when pastry begins to cool, use a biscuit cutter (or cookie cutter) to cut into rounds (or whatever shape you want). I used the second to smallest biscuit cutter in my set- maybe 1 1/2 inches?

Makes 18 rounds

You could also cut this into larger squares or triangles to serve plated at a sit down brunch!

Baked Brie in Pastry with Onion Jam/ Baked Brie with Honey

I'm not really sure that a recipe is needed for this. I used skinny brie logs that I found at Kroger. I wrapped one in puff pastry that I had spread onion jam on before rolling. The second log was just baked on it's own and drizzled with honey. I served them both with crackers.

Fresh Berries

Another dish with no need for a recipe. I used strawberries, raspberries and blackberries

Fruit & Protein "Shots"

just straight from the boxes :)

Green Monster Smoothies (recipe from Silk)

Recipe:

1 c. Silk Fruit & Protein Strawberry Banana

1 banana (frozen if you have one)

1/2 cup sliced strawberries

2 c. baby spinach leaves (I added more to enhance the green color)

1 T ground flaxseed

1/2 c. ice

Place all ingredients in blender with ice on top. Blend until smooth. I served these in 2oz. shot glasses with straws that had been cut in half and they were adorable!

Mimosas

2/3 champagne

1/3 orange juice

splash of grenadine

Playing the Silk trivia game and finding out what kind of Silk we represented was a fun little game :) The majority of guests were Strawberry & Banana and a few were Mixed Berry. Emma Finley walked away with a win with 9/9 correct on trivia and won a half gallon of Fruit & Protein to take home!

Here's a pic of part of the gang with their favors! I also included recipe cards of the recipes I used at the party.

It was a success! Everyone had a great time and the consensus was that Silk Fruit & Protein is a good addition to breakfast or even post workout drinks!

Paris Day 8 or Looking at Old Stuff

2012-04-22T09:30:00.001-07:00

Picking up where we left off at the flea market...

We woke up, grabbed our morning pastries and headed back out to the flea market at the Porte de Vanves (on the southern outskirts of the city). Russell couldn't stop thinking about the beautiful antique piece we saw the day before. After talking to his parents about the logistics of shipping furniture, the quality of the piece etc. He was pretty sure we would be taking it home.

We perused the flea market for awhile- I was looking for lace for my mom, skeleton keys and maybe a vintage couture find and Russell was fixed on furniture. I found some beautiful vintage jewelry but we couldn't get the lady to go down in price (being American and haggling isn't fun), no lace to speak of and an overwhelming number of keys. I ended up getting no keys because I couldn't decide on which ones I wanted or what I would actually do with them once I had them!

Russell decided that we would definitely get the buffet. I'll have to say, it IS beautiful and we're really excited to put it in our new house (that I will be blogging about very soon). Ms. Lawrence, a gravelly-voiced character who smoked like a chimney was a very kind woman and a hard worker. When we told her we were "in" as long as we could get a reasonable shipping price, she called shippers for an hour until she found the best one! She was so excited to sell the buffet, I don't think she often had pieces of this quality in her "shop" (aka van) and this was a very big sale for her. We were beyond happy to give her our business!

Here's a picture of the beauty! It's a King Louis the XVI? (or one of those Roman numerals)

From this flea market, we traveled to another...the biggest market in Paris, I think, at the Porte de Clignacourt. We, of course, got lost but this time we got lost on the edges of the Paris ghetto. It was a "little" scary...ok, it was pretty significantly uncomfortable. We got off the train one stop early and then got lost walking blocks to places that looked like they could be flea markets.

This underpass was filled with sketchy folks peddling fake Rolexes
and who knows what else!

Once we finally found it, we had to walk through this counterfeit goods market...the kind of counterfeit goods that are a total joke (think Cancun tourist markets). There were sketchy men thrusting perfume and watches in our faces, loud heavy bass music playing and sketchy patrons buying fake Nike tshirts. I was pretty stressed and overwhelmed trying to get out of there. It was the strangest thing- once we got to the edge of this madness there was this invisible line drawn where you entered into this quiet antiques market. You could feel the "exhale" when you crossed that line. I definitely loosed my grip on Russell's hand and we were both smiling again.

We could've stayed in this market for DAYS we didn't even scratch the surface! There were antique chandeliers, clocks, furniture, clothes, dolls, fabrics, buttons, figurines, art, windows, I could go on and on...beautiful things that are so hard to find in US antique stores and flea markets. It was amazing what good condition much of it was in and just how old it really was! I walked away with some beautiful lace and if we were bazillionaires, we would have outfitted an entire house!

After our long day looking at old stuff, we headed back into the main part of town to wrap up our trip...

First to Sainte Chapelle. It's undergoing quite the refurbishment process. It was beautiful!

Pic by Trey Ratcliff (you should follow him on Google+)

And then to the Pompidou Centre, a contemporary art museum that is AMAZING! For some reason we didn't know anything about Pompidou and Russell had never been there on his previous trips to Paris. We probably should have spent more time here but we just didn't know. This was a place where our museum pass DEFINITELY came in handy. Upon arrival there was a ridiculous line just like at the Louvre. We saw a sign that said "pass holders this way". We couldn't believe it possibly meant that we skipped the entire line of people, but it did and we saved ourselves at minimum an hour of wait time!

One of our favorite works at the Pompidue Center

Outside view of the Pompidue Center

I will have to say, I don't have an appreciation for all modern/contemporary art but I do love some of it. I especially loved seeing the van Gogh paintings- that's right real van Gogh!

Unfortunately, my hunger monster emerged after about 2.5 hours and we had to go find food! We headed to the Marais District because it's one of the only places that is actually open on Sundays. Since we hadn't planned ahead, we were just going on looking at menus outside of restaurants and quickly checking their trip adviser reviews. We had the case of "the next one might be better" and we ended up walking much longer than we really needed to.

We settled on a steak restaurant that got good reviews and had a cozy looking atmosphere. They had a huge wood fired oven in the back of the restaurant and a little basement area that was super-cute as well. We decided against sitting by the fire (it was too warm for us) and headed downstairs. Our service started off great with wine and a cheese plate. I'm pretty sure everyone in France thought we were bizarre for always ordering cheese as our starter instead of as a dessert course. From there we seemed to have been forgotten about and it took forever for us to get more food. Not the perfect last dinner in Paris, but not horrible!

Before we headed home to pack up and get ready to leave in the morning, we decided to make one last visit to our favorite creperie, Little Breizh! Not a bad way to end our wonderful vacation!

Paris Day 7 or Shop Til We Drop or How Rude!

2012-04-08T18:37:00.004-07:00

Today was shopping day. We wanted to go to a few flea markets and see what they were all about. We found a great market on the Paris Trip Adviser app and headed that way. Well, of course we went the wrong direction when getting of the train, why wouldn't we?! Once we finally got to the market, everyone was packing up. We were super-bummed but were there long enough to see really great things and know we needed to come back the next day. As we were leaving, we saw a beautiful buffet table and Russell fell in love with it. This story continues later...

Back to home base we went to do a little more shopping.

Apparently Paris rarely has sales and we happened to be there during the biggest sale of the season. EVERY shop has markdowns. Unlucky for us- many markdowns are only for Parisians. We figured this out after aimlessly wandering around Bon Marche trying to figure out what the stickers and key tags meant.

We were looking for the sales person who wouldn't hate us too much for being American so we found a dude in the men's department. He was nice about explaining that the sales (and I mean they were crazy good deals 50-75% luxury designers) were only for Bon Marche card holders. We first thought, "Great! We'll just apply for the card, use it while we're here, pay it off immediately and then cancel it." It didn't work that way either- bummer. You had to have already had a card and I'm pretty sure he told us that only the French are approved for the cards. Oh well!

From there we were off in search of my souvenir. I'm not much of a purse girl in that I don't frequently change out my bags with my outfits or lust over LV, Dior or even Kate Spade. I will say though, I like my bag to look nice and reach further than "just another purse". We found this place called Upla earlier in our trip- conveniently one block up from our apartment. We took a peek inside, I loved what I saw but I couldn't commit. We went back this day and we found out that many of the bags were on sale...and we qualified for the sale! When I say "many" bags were on sale what I mean to say is "every bag in the store was on sale except for the color I wanted". So I tried on every sale bag and they were "fine". Probably if I hadn't been looking for just the right yellow purse for the past 4 years, I would've liked every sale bag in the store enough to have one of them. But, the perfect yellow purse kept staring me in the face. After many bag on shoulder, turn to the side, cock one knee, pose in the mirror moments, the two beautiful French sales women going back and forth on whether the tan purse would be a great compromise or whether I should stick to the yellow, Russell pleading with me to make a decision- I decided I wasn't ready to decide and off we went.

We took a break for lunch at another great creperie up the street, ducked in and out of amazing home furnishing stores (we brought home all of their brochures only to find they don't ship to the US), perused a pen and ink store, and stared in windows at baby clothes- that I wanted to buy so badly for "one day". I was still thinking about the purse.

I knew what would help me make up my mind- Go home and put on my good brown boots to make sure the tan of the boots matched the tan of the purse that I only sort of wanted that was on sale. While home, we took a minute to call our parents and weigh in on the purse decision (like they cared) and while talking to Fran, we remembered that we still hadn't found her hair combs.

Have I told you about the hair combs? I can't remember. My mother-in-law has beautiful curly hair that I'm crossing my fingers is passed on to our babies. She wears it short and often wears tortoise shell combs in it to keep it back. Who knew those combs actually could only be found in France?! Each time they visit France, Fran buys all of the combs she can find. She was running low so we'd been on the hunt for the past 3 days. I was so stressed- I didn't want to mess up and buy the wrong ones (those suckers are expensive...and I'd be sad if they didn't work). Once both of our mothers had tried to convince me that the yellow purse was the one I should get, we were off to find more combs!

But not before I made a decision on a purse. I just knew an Upla bag was right for me. Oodles of storage pockets, durable leather, no big logos or flashy metal- just functional and pretty. I was getting tired of waiting on Russell (I don't even remember what he was doing) so I marched myself over to the store, held the two contending bags (the tan bag did mach my tan boots), took a deep breath and went with the YELLOW! The two sales women laughed at me and were happy I finally made a decision (and they made a sale). We had a little celebration in the store, I closed my eyes and signed the receipt and met Russell for the comb quest

in this color: Jonquille

picture this purse

We'd found the right size but the wrong color, the wrong size but the right color over and over and over again. Today was our lucky day though because we went back to the only drug store that we could find that carried them and the Bon Marche and the BOTH had combs! Woo Hoo! This was probably one of my favorite shopping days- ever!

For dinner we headed to a place that was highly rated near The Louvre. I'll make this long story short by telling you that it was closed- surprised? no? We had gotten to be quite the Paris Trip Adviser experts so we were on the hunt again for another restaurant.

We stumbled upon some beautiful store fronts and a big square with a giant statue in the middle of it and ended up on a street we'd be on earlier in the week after realizing another restaurant was closed. We went back and forth between a Vietnamese restaurant and Le Souffle (a restaurant that only serves...souffle). We chose the Vietnamese restaurant which oddly wasn't very full on a Saturday (we later realized that people eat late on Saturday and the restaurant was much more full by the time we left). The food was quite good and a change from the heavy Parisian food we had been eating. We decided to go for dessert at Le Souffle. They were busy, but there was no wait so we let them know before we sat down that we would just be having dessert, it was 9pm so we thought it wouldn't be a big deal.

Little did we know, we were about to have our first sterotypical Parisian vs. American experience. We seated by the kitchen (we didn't mind that), were given menus, no water, and very little interaction from our waiter. He was quickly back to hurry us through our menu and place our order. We both ordered champagne and told him we'd order our souffle when he came back. When we told him we would be splitting one he flat out told us "it's not possible (in French)", we laughed thinking he was jovially telling us that the souffles were too good to share one- he wasn't. He was serious. He wasn't going to serve us unless we ordered two! We complied because we didn't want to leave, the souffles were the tallest we'd ever seen, and ordered a raspberry souffle and a nutella souffle that we were pretty much hassled into getting. The raspberry souffle (which we willingly chose) was A-MAZING and the nutella souffle was, well, fine.

We were shortly handed our bill, which we paid without leaving a tip (which apparently isn't common practice anyway) and we were on our way home, chatting about our great finds and planning our last day in the city of lights.