Wow...just Wow

Sooo.... here I thought John was going to do something with this blog... but it looks like its laid dormant... so sorry bloggy.... I'll have to see what I can do to help...

Til then, Love Yas!!
~Ren

Karen got a spin-off??!!

Hey everyone! In case you didn't all know it, I've gotten a little crazier than usual. I've decided I need my own blog for my crafty stuff, so I started one. I'll post here from time-to-time with things that are happening, but I'll try to keep the frilly, girly, crafty things to the other one.
http://www.renshappyplace.blogspot.com
See you there!
-Ren

Well...this is far from daily...

Okay, so I had intended to put entries in on a more timely basis. You know what they say about good intentions. Oh well.

Its funny that the last time I put anything in the blog it was right after a geekitude Rock Band party at our house... and what's happening this weekend??? A Rock Band Party with the geekitude folks at our house. [Resist all temptations to yell out, "Play Free Bird," please]

Okay - lets see if I can do a four month wrap-up in a concise amount of time...

John bought me a Cricut Create from Michaels on Thanksgiving day - so my scrapbooking has gotten prettier titles and embellishments!! Thanksgiving itself was a lot of fun. We visited and snacked at Aunt Sharon's house. It was a blast watching baby Breezie playing with everyone.

December brought festive holidays, Christmas tree decorating, and lots o' lots o' yummy snacking!!! I really enjoyed it. I got to spend time with a lot of our friends, John and I got a lot of good time together shopping and goofing off...it was great! We hope we let all of our friends and family know how much we appreciate and love them very much.

January was kind of strange for both of us. The new year started off wonky because John wasn't feeling too well... its no fun watching the Rose Parade and being sick. So after a couple of weeks of working through the ick he started to feel better, but the month just wasn't a winner for us...have you heard the story of the external hard drive crashing... arrgghhh.... so we spent lots of time hoping that it wasn't a hint of what the rest of the year was going to be like... luckily with a lot of fun time with friends and family we pulled through the worst of it and the month ended well. We celebrated our 6th anniversary different from how we had in the past couple of years, but it was still fun! It was a very needed jolt of happy after some bleak weeks.

Just as February was starting to look like an awesome month; we had all kinds of fun activities with friends and family planned, I came down with a scary batch of bronchitis...it was so bad that I couldn't talk for two days!!!! You know its bad when... Luckily I pulled out of it and got better to take a trip to Vegas with Vonda, Big John, and Gram & Grampa Laff. It was such a nice getaway...we just missed our co-horts Nic and Jen tremendously. {All the more reason to plan another trip!!} We finished off the month with John's birthday weekend. It was full of giggles, lots of love, and of course goody bags, and yummy food!

So here we are starting March! A few fun things to look foward to: Scrapbooking this Friday, Rock Band on Saturday, St. Patrick's {& Nic's and Anita's Birthdays} Day, time with Vanessa V., hopefully a playdate with Edana {REAL SOON!!}, and we're looking foward to weather that will allow us to get out and start walking again! I never realized how much I enjoyed walking until I couldn't get out to do it.

Happy Days to all!! Blog at ya real soon, hopefully... :)
- Karen

Are U Ready 2 Rock!?

So we had a bunch of folks over from Geekitude on Saturday night to play Guitar Hero and Rock Band. It was freakin' awesome!!! I think everyone had a great time, I know I did. I got to be Roadie, Band Manger, Caterer, and Venue Manager - it was pretty fun. I am looking foward to having another party again soon!
-Karen

Rant and Roll!

So here we are, November - wow! So we've decided to turn our travel blog into an everyday blog to keep people up with what's happening - or you can just check in on things we find interesting or want to rant about. Hopefully you'll find it entertaining.
I'm not really sure what to talk about right now, but I am sure I'll find something! {wink!}

If I haven't told everyone yet - I finished the wedding scrapbook!! Yeah! It's 106 pages!! Ask about it next time you visit!

I am on page 75 of the Paris book - and not through the first full day yet... eek!

Chat with all of you later!
-Karen :)

For the LOVE of Art

Okay...so yesterday John and I went to Barnes & Nobles to look for books that I could get some information on the trip of the places and things we've seen to help me with filling in some information once I start scrapbooking the trip tomorrow. (I had tried the Library - but the only book they had on the Louvre was copyrighted from 1972 and it wasn't very helpful - especially since the pasted in pictures of the paintings had come unglued and were falling out!)

While I was looking in the bookstore; which had a deplorably sad amount of selection on the Louvre [and nothing on the Orsay] to choose from, I came across this book - 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die - and I thought, "okay, I'll look through it to see how many of them I've seen now." After all, we did go to two of the biggest museums in Paris and even though we didn't see everything, we saw a lot. So I peruse the book and count only 12 paintings that I've seen in my lifetime. I felt this overwhelming sense of incompleteness. It was so sad.

Then I started to think more about it and I have to disagree with some of their choices. Now, I know there is TONS of artwork out there and whittling it down to 1001 had to be hard but there is so many others that they didn't include.
And then I started to get a little confused. I was noticing where they were saying that the artwork was located and I thought that I needed to make a few trips to the different museums in the world...but here's where I had to say they were a little crazy...some of the paintings are listed as "private collection" well what the heck??
How am I supposed to see the painting before I die if its in someones private collection and I have no access to it?

Am I crazy for thinking this?

Do I find out who owns it and call them to make an appointment? Wait, I can't do that because it doesn't say who owns it or where in the world it is...nope - not at the Uffizi, not at the Metropolitan...not at the National Art Museum in Washington, DC...well then what do I do?

So I'm beginning to not feel so disappointed and incomplete. After all, how can they not include Van Gogh's Lillies or even one of Picasso's blue period works... I am just happy to have seen 12 of their 1001.

Although it would be nice to make a trip to the Met, or Uffizi, hhhmmmm....maybe we should think about a trip to Italy someday...did someone say Sistine Chapel??

So after having found my happy place and starting to head out of the bookstore to go home I pass the section with television and movie books and what did I see... 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die... I walked away and didn't even pay it any attention. If their taste in movies was anything like their taste in art...I decided to ignore it.

-Karen

Pardon the Interruption

Okay, we've been home now for almost two weeks and I haven't finished the blog of the trip. I apologize that you have been deprived of the last two days of our trip. For those that don't know John got sick on the last day of the vacation (good timing) and I got sick on the plane ride home. We apparantely picked up a version of the flu that our bodies aren't used to - so it hit us pretty hard. It was a good thing that we had four extra days after the trip to recoup before having to get back to work, otherwise I don't think we would have made it.

So here is a Reader's Digest version of our last day...sorry that it isn't as detailed as I'd like.

Tuesday September 16, 2008
John woke up feeling a little green. I didn't want to rush him because he'd been so great about the trip and letting me pull, push, tug, shake, squeeze, and jog him all over the city so far. I think he has enjoyed it very much - as for me I've loved so much of everything we've seen that I think I'll burst sometimes.

When we got going we made our way to the metro to head over to the opposite side of the town to make our way to the Marmottan Claude Monet museum. It took two metro trains and a little bit of negotiating the crowded trains and stations, but we made it out of the underground within about thirty minutes. We've been so impressed with the mass public transit, we've talked about wether or not we'll remember how to drive.

As we were taking a leisure walk to the museum John started getting a little pale and shaky. We found a bench alongside a park to sit and rest on for a little bit to let him get settled. I know he was probably feeling worse than he was letting on and he probably wanted to go back to the hotel really bad but didn't want to let on how miserable he was because I'd been looking forward to the Marmottan all week, especially since we had skipped the Orangerie earlier. We sat and fed the pigeons at the park and rested a bit. The weather was agreeing with us since it was a little sunny but still cool. After a while we got up and started making our way to the museum again. We passed a couple of international embassies. We passed Gambia and we believe Afghanastan, they didn't really have a lot of signage out in front of their buildings except for some flags and small plaques by the fences. It was a little bizzare, I expected to see a little more - something. When we had passed the Chinese embassy the other day it was cordoned off and had French police guarding the front gate, so these were a little less conspicuous.

We found the museum and went inside - my one piece of advice to anyone visiting it is, "Watch your step," the doorway is short and there is a portion on the bottom that sticks up and will trip you if you're not careful. Once inside you HAVE TO check all bags, cell phones, and cameras. They don't allow any pictures AT ALL. I was a bit disappointed about this not only because I wouldn't be able to get photos of the artwork, but the building it is in is beautiful too, even the courtyard - and wasn't able to capture any of it. But other than that the museum visit was fantastic!!

There is a lot more in the museum that just the Monet paintings. There was a room full of illuminated manuscripts. They were so beautiful! I could have stayed in that room for hours. Down one hallway were paintings by some of Monet's contemporaries and students. Renoir, Pizzaro, and a small Manet were included. The basement houses some of his most famous works. I don't remember all of the ones that were there; they have about thirty to forty of his works there including some of his characatures, but a good amount of the important ones are there. A Japanese Bridge, lots of Waterlillies, the famous Rowboat, one of his Cathederals, and lots of impressionist murals. I found my new favorite The Roses, I was moved to tears by it. While we were there I kept moving back and forth looking at the artwork and how it shifts from angle and space - it was magical. I started weeping from all the beauty that was in that room and was emotional because I felt so privledged to be able to see it in person. The German tour group that was there probably thought I was crazy, but I didn't care. I was so impressed with everything there.

By the time I was ready to move back upstairs John wasn't looking too good, and I was starting to worry more about him and his comfort level - so I ditched the rest of the day's plans and asked him if he wanted to go back to the hotel - I know that he wanted to stay out and do things for my sake - but he truly wanted to go back and rest which I insisted on anyway. I was really starting to worry on wether or not he was going to be okay on the metro ride back, but we really weren't going to have too much choice either way - so we started the walk back to the metro and made our way back to the hotel.

When we got out of the metro station I told him to go on ahead to the hotel and that I was going to go to the Supermarche to get him some food that would be easy on his stomach. We were close enough to the hotel that I wasn't too worried about getting lost, so we split up so he wouldn't have to suffer through the shopping.

I had a hard time finding all the things I wanted to get him to help him feel better. The staff at the hotel were wonderful when I explained that I couldn't find soup for him they said that if I picked some up at the market that I could heat it up there in their kitchen. They even got me hot water for tea for him. I don't know what I would have done without their help. So I went up to check on John but he wasn't ready to eat yet, so I went out and did a little shopping to try to find some last minute gifts.

It was a interesting experience to walk around the foreign city on my own. I stayed within about a four block radius of the hotel. (The blocks there are totally different from the city blocks at home) I found a few things to take back home including the wine that Mom had asked me to try to bring back. I had found an adorable toy store that I wanted to buy a lot of things from - but thought better of it. I had even found another bead shop just about a block from our hotel, but kept myself in check. After about an hour of walking and shopping I stopped back into the supermarche and picked up some tea and soup for John. I made another quick stop at Miss Manon; the boulangerie we'd eaten at a lot the last week, and picked up croissants for John. I got back to the hotel just in time as John was starting to worry about me - perfect timing.
He felt a little guilty that he had gotten sick but I told him not to worry about that and to just get better - I was feeling guilty that he might be uncomfortable on the plane. We ate dinner and then got ready for bed. I had started packing earlier in the day to make our morning easier, so I stayed up a little longer to get more done, but eventually got tired enough to go to bed myself.

The Next Day - Wednesday - September 17, 2008
Not too much to talk about for our trip out back home. John truly was sick, and I felt so sorry for him. Then to make matters worse, I got sick on the plane. I could only imagine how miserable John was. The flight was eleven hours long. I managed to watch three movies: Amelie, Maid of Honor, and The Bucket List. By the end of the third movie I was so done. I spent the past nine or so hours either laughing or crying or doubled over with stomach cramps...not a way to travel - I don't suggest it. The only Pollyanna thought I can put on it was that I was glad we got sick at the end of the trip and not at the beginning, but then again our excitement and adrenaline was so high that the first part of the trip I think we were too up to get sick, who knows.

We got into LAX around 8pm - We had to go through immigration, get our luggage; for a while it seemed like we weren't going to get our luggage - that's what took the longest to get through the ordeal, then we had to go through customs, we were surprised at how easily customs was. Luckily Nick and Jen had just walked up to the terminal when we stepped outside. The trip was fabulous but it was so good to be home.

There you have it folks! Eleven days of our first international vacation. I call it a success - even with getting sick. All I can wonder now is...when are we going back???