Weekend Shenanigans: Checking things off the To-Do list

It wasn't an overly exciting weekend for us but we did get some things done around the house.  Friday night, my parents had everyone over for dinner.  Dad made ribs and potatoes and they were delish!  It was really nice to have the whole family together and I know we are blessed to be able to rally the troops on a Friday night to all have dinner.  And it's just another added perk that my grandparents now live 5 minutes away and that they can join us too!

Saturday I enjoyed brunch with Ally and Tracy at

in Edina.  It was seriously so good!  And I am loving this new tradition of having brunch with the girls every few weeks!  It's the perfect chance to catch up!

Then after brunch I stopped by my grandparents house as my grandma was hosting all of her bible study friends at her new home.  I have heard so much about these ladies for years- Grandma has been in this group for 27 years (note that most of these women remember when I was born!!!).  And I know that they have all prayed for several things throughout my life too.  It was so nice to have the chance to meet them and it once again reminded me how lucky I am to have my grandparents! 

Saturday afternoon Ryan and I decided to tackle that dumb dresser that has been living in our basement for quite some time now and has made it's way onto this blog a few times.  It was finally time to start staining!  So husband was wonderful and stained all of the drawers on Saturday and finished the dresser on Sunday afternoon.

Doesn't he look thrilled to be doing this project?!  Aw- love you babe!

Saturday evening we went to church with my friend Danielle and her daughter Alyssa.  Danielle and her husband Mike are buying a house in Chaska so it was nice to introduce them to our church which will be close to their new house.  And after church we went to Jake O'Conners in Excelsior for dinner.  If you haven't been there before you definitely should go- all of us loved our meals and let me tell you how tasty Alyssa's mac and cheese looked!  Yummy!  After dinner Alyssa got a hold of my phone and seriously can this 6 year old work an iPhone!  Holy moly!  She had fun to say the least... and could she be any cuter?!!

We finished Saturday with a bon-fire at our friend Tim and Ellie's house- a great way to cap off a busy start to the weekend.

Sunday was more work around the house- raking, cutting back hostas and lillies, staining the dresser.  I snapped a picture of my grandparents too for their Christmas card- I think it turned out beautiful!

We picked up the fooseball table at my in-laws house too.  It will be a great addition to our basement!  Thanks Dawn and Ross!

Ryan and I capped of the night with homemade tacos!  They were so good!  You know that feeling when you are SOOO hungry and anything tastes good- well that was this moment but they were really actually good!  I devoured 3!  Yikes!

Oh and before I forget!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MUM-IN-LAW, DAWN!

Today is her (insert your guess on age) birthday!  I love her lots and am very very thankful she is my mother-in-law!  xoxo love you Mum!

Hope you had a good weekend too!  Up next on the blog- our Bordeaux wine day!

Our European Trip: Bordeaux, La Villa Chaleemar

I have decided to split Bordeaux into two parts as I think La Villa Chaleemar Bed & Breakfast deserves it's own post.  So back in the planning process, Liz stumbled upon this adorable place and I quickly jumped on it and contacted the owner. I quickly corresponded with Leena, the Villa's owner and we had two nights booked.  I was beyond excited because this place looked like a page out of Pottery Barn.  All of the reviews spoke very highly of this place so I knew we would enjoy our stay here!

 After staying here, Liz has decided to redecorate their master bedroom to this style.  So cute right?!

Our bedroom

The family room

The adorable outdoor seating area... unfortunately we never took advantage of it :(

The YUMMY breakfast we were served everyone morning!

The really cute details and decor!

The sitting area in Dustin & Liz's room

If you ever find yourself in Bordeaux, France I highly recommend 

La Villa Chaleemar Bed & Breakfast!

A very comfortable stay, great location, and friendly host!

Up next, our wine day in Bordeaux and the St. Emilion region!

Cheers!

Making Adjustments and Juggling

Ryan and I are very very lucky to have 1. parents who help us out whenever we need it and 2. parents who live very close by.  So when we went to Europe Dupree was lucky enough to stay with Ryan's parents for a few days and then with my parents for a little more than a week.  I hate the thought of kenneling him.  I know I sound like a ridiculous mom and over-protective parent but for real- do you realize how small he his?!  He only weighs 6 lbs. and I don't want him to get trampled or LOST!  Yikes!  I would be pretty distraught if something happened to my fur baby.  Thankfully I don't have to worry about those things because these awesome puppy grandparents always step up to the plate and dog-sit when Ryan and I need to ditch Dupree.

So this past week my parents vacationed in Florida and they had asked that we stay at their house for a few nights with their dog, Gracie.  Originally I said yes but the more I thought about it, it is just SO much easier to be at your own house right?!  We would only be with her for the weekend and then I was supposed to send her to the Canine Club and Spa.  Sounds nice right?!  It is!  Theraputic beds, heated floors, separate big and small dog play areas, pool, yappy hour, bed time stories, and bath to send you home. It's a REALLY nice place and Gracie has been there before, 

it's just been a while- so I caved :)

But I just couldn't do it.  I couldn't drop her off at the kennel so my wonderful husband agreed to have Gracie stay with us for the week.  Yikes!  Two dogs + hardwood floors = possible disaster!  The puppies were actually really good.  No running in the house.  No playing ball inside.  Actually our floors don't seem to be too much worse for the wear.  But it was DEFINITELY an adjustment having two dogs.

Did I mention Gracie is a golden retriever?!  

 She has the SWEETEST personality and the BIGGEST heart!  I absolutely love her!  My mom has trained her to be a therapy dog so all she knows to do is love you!  She always wants to snuggle and always wants to be pet.  It's just who she is. 

But when you are used to snuggling with this...

Gracie really added to our mix!

Two sets of puppies paws to wipe off, two separate bathroom breaks,  two meals to prepare each time it was time to eat, two leashes to walk, and two puppies to snuggle at night.

I know Dupree will be really bummed not to have a daily playmate at home but this puppy mama is happy we don't have two dogs!  Again I can't say it enough that I love Gracie- 

it was just double the work!

 

Two happy friends!

Happy Thursday!

Our European Trip: Paris, day 2

We started off this day with breakfast at a cute bakery/cafe right in the middle of the busy streets of Paris.  It might have been here where we learned that when you order coffee, it's more like a shot of espresso and the croissants are amazing in Europe!  Yummy!

From breakfast, we walked to a beautiful church (shoot! I don't remember the name!) and found the small street vendors all over.  When we got to the church Liz quickly explained how the vendors on the street are pretty aggressive and to just ignore them.  It was pretty hard to ignore them since they seriously had a line of 5-6 guys that you had to get through to get up to the church.  They would grab your wrist and try to put a bracelet on you and sell it to you.  I think Dustin and I got past relatively easy- just ignoring them.  I know Liz yelled at one of the men and he told her not to be rude!  Rude!  They were rude, they were grabbing my husband's wrist and trying to sell him a yarn bracelet!  Ryan did get stuck a little more than the rest of us- which seems funny since he is the tallest and biggest of the group.  Perhaps they thought he would love yarn braceletes?!  :)

Anyways, we made it up to the church and it was beautiful!

You couldn't take pictures inside this church but I bet you can guess what the inside of the church looked like- all the other churches in Europe!  They are beautiful but seriously once you've seen one, you've seen almost all of them.  There are a few that really stand out- Notre Dame (just waiting I'll tell you more about that later in this post), and Doma in Italy and of course anything at the Vatican!

After walking around the church we wondered behind the church just to see what else was around and we found the most beautiful, quite, secluded garden.  

The perfect place to take a few kissy face pictures :)

                 

After getting all snuggly, we headed back to our hotel but not without a few more pictures of the church - the architecture is incredible, and the town- which is so freakin' adorable!

 Fun camera settings!  Isn't this rose beautiful?

I believe from the church to the hotel there was a stop at McDonald's- don't judge!  

And it tasted amazing!

We cabbed from our hotel over to the Louvre Museum.  The Louvre Museum is HUGE and to actually tour it would require at least a full day and really probably a full week!  So instead we/Ryan took a ton of pictures  of the outside.  Did you know the Mona Lisa is inside here?  I think we heard there was like a 2-3 hour wait just to get in the museum.  The line was insane!

From the Louve Museum we headed towards Notre Dame.  We walked along the river and made a stop at the Locks Love Bridge.  Dustin & Liz sealed their love here.  They put a lock on the bridge and then thru away the key into the river.  A pretty sweet tradition.  

Ryan and I didn't have any spare locks- too bad!

We finally made it to Notre Dame.  At this point though we had all of our luggage (backpacks) and I personally was getting cranky from all the walking with my backpack so Liz and Ryan went into the Notre Dame while Dustin and I hung out with all the luggage outside of the church.  But Ryan snapped some awesome pictures and they said it was beautiful inside.  

I believe it- the pictures are great!

 This is the door going in.  Pretty impressive huh?!

From Notre Dame we got a cab, made it to the train station and hopped on our train to Bordeaux.  It was a nice train ride because the four of us had our own little square.  We played cards and were actually able to hang out and relax a bit.  When we got to Bordeaux we cabbed it again to our Bed & Breakfast- the most adorable place ever- La Villa Chaleemar (stay tuned for the next post to see pictures of this place)!  We were starving so we walked to the one of the town plaza's and had dinner at Le Carre!  We couldn't read anything on the menu except hamburger, spaghetti  and Ceasar salad.  So guess what we ordered?!

Liz was trying to translate the menu!

Next up, Bordeaux and our wine tour day.  Who's jealous?!  

Cheers!