A Kiss on the Chic

So, do you want to see some of my "finds"???

I thought I would change gears today and show you some of the things you will be seeing in upcoming kits!!!

SOUND FUN???

Well, as I've already mentioned, this trip was SUPER FANTASTIC because we were celebrating our 20th Wedding Anniversary!  And that's quite a reason to celebrate right?  Well, this trip was also exciting (to me more then Lance ;)- because I wanted to see what I could find for YOU, my lovely Kit Club ladies!!!!!

Now I don't have some of my FINDS yet, because they were getting to much to carry and we shipped some home when we were in Venice, Italy and I don't have the box yet...  So the pictures here are just of the Paris finds!

I'm pretty sure I mentioned that I researched all the Flea Markets in Paris and came up with a few I wanted to hit.  Well, I only was able to get to the one within walking distance of our hotel, BUT that was a GREAT little one, the Postage Stamp & Card Flea Market! 

 

Here I am at the first stop...  We walked over here and thought, well... we'll be done in 5 minutes...  It was just a few random people displaying there goods on park benches!  It was very cool though and very "old world" and I LOVED it!  I bought a TON of postcards from this man and had a great time looking through his books! 

 

After looking at all the "park bench" goods, we looked further down in the park where this was and saw more sellers with there "booths" that we are all familiar with.  So I gathered these "park bench" people may have been the ones who didn't pay for a place in the market and were the "fringe" people... Either way, I LOVED it ALL! ;)-

 

Here's where the "real" vendors started and let me say, their prices reflected it!  These postcards were 3 Euro's and up and they laughed at me when I said I wanted them for less!  But, I caved and bought some anyways!  Especially after I saw a vendor had some Versailles postcards, including the VERY BEDROOM MARIE ANTOINETTE LIVED IN!!! 

 

At this point in the day, I was clueless that Lance was taking pictures of me!  Thanks babe, you know I LOVE to blog about this kind of stuff! hehehe...  I think I was clueless because I was so HAPPY about all these goodies!!!

 

Do you see how most of these are colored post cards?  They are really old, not sure of the dates on these but so beautiful!!  One even had been "glittered" in a few areas and I thought I may do that to all of these...

 

So after we had seen all of the vendors at this market, we were STARVING so we headed down the street quite a ways to the Jardin de Tuileries for my "croque monsieur"!  I don't know if you've ever had this sandwich, but it's well worth finding a place who makes a great one!  I tell you, we have it soooo good in the U.S. where we can find just about EVERYTHING we want in the food department but I was having a hard time finding my FAV French foods, in PARIS!!  So we asked our Fat Tire Bike Tour lady the night before and she told me about this Terrace Cafe in the park!  We were starving by that time since we didn't eat breakfast a lot of days and it was afternoon by then, but my salad and Croque Monsieur" was GREAT!  And they even went beyond the call of duty and our waiter made me one of their famous waffles, which they didn't start serving for a few more hours!  Gotta love that!  He even took our picture and was quite a lively French guy!

 

I took this of Lance, what a GREAT shot huh?!!  I love this shot with the umbrellas, the cafe sign behind him and the park setting!  Scrapbook page in the making... ;)-

 

This was really one of those moments on the trip where you go, "Wow, I'm really blessed to be on this trip!!"  We really enjoyed this lazy afternoon lunch together in the park!  Paris is such a beautiful place and it was a beautiful day!

So after lunch we found a taxi to take us to Rue Saint Germain to walk around for a while and shop.  We ended up finding our way back to the Seine and walked along all the path by the water where they have the vendors with antique etchings, books, vintage magazines, posters, postcards and all kinds of nick-nacks from new to very old!  I was IN MY ELEMENT ladies!!  We had a time limit because we had to get back to our hotel to change and get ready for dinner in the EIFFEL TOWER RESTAURANT, so you should have seen how fast I would search through each stall with eagle eyes!!

 

I hit PAYDIRT...

 

 

Do you see all the etchings hanging from the top?  They are sooo beautiful and I wanted to get one for everyone but these were the "real macoy" and cost up to 30Euro's for one!  Sorry ladies, I really wanted to but didn't think that was in the budget!

But I did find these things:

 

These are two Fashion Magazines from 1915 & 1916!!!  They show all the fashions of those days and the patterns for the dresses!

 

Isn't this GREAT!!

 

This was THE find of th day!!  This magazine is HUGE and has so many FABULOUS pages:

 

 

And then it have many pages that were actually reprints of famous paintings that weren't attached completly to the page but can be taken off and used!! (in scrapbooking!! lol)

 

LOVE THESE!!!

 

They had some childrens books I almost bought but they had to undo the plastic wrap and show me and then half the time they didn't have any illustrations, so I passed...

But here's the rest of the Paris finds:

 

Some fun vintage looking stickers for a childrens theme...

 

Is this cool or what?  Sorry ladies, this one is MINE and I'm thinking of framing it for my scrapbook room!

 

Oh, this is what was waiting for me when I got home!!!  These are the BRAND NEW Melissa Frances Bingo Albums!  They are thicker then I thought, with each page a chipboard page, but soooo darn cute!

 

Each page is a little different.  I'm not sure what month these will be in the kits, but had to share!

I've gotta run, the doctor said I could come in right now to get the stiches removed...  Hopefully all will go well this time!

Take care and I hope you like YOUR future kit goodies!

Hugs,

Laura

Oh darn it, I was going to do a GIVEAWAY!  I'll have to do that tomorrow...

Andrea Bocelli Concert and more...

Good morning ladies!  I'm still in that funky sleep pattern between time zones and am waking up at 2am and then trying to go back to sleep for a few hours.  I was somewhat successful last night but what's weird is I'm burning hot and the air conditioning is on and set to 73.  Not sure if my body is just reacting to this heat wave here in California vs. the cool temps in Europe or if I'm going through the "change"... hehehe...

But, I thought I would post some more pictures this morning before my day really starts when the girls wake up.  I've also got to try and get my stitches removed today so I have a couple days to take it easy before I go to Michigan.  I just pray this time its healed enough that it doesn't pop open again!

But back to the trip...

I think I left you with us leaving Venice, Italy!  It was hot, humid and swamped with people so I think my mood wasn't at it's best when I described Venice.  It is still a beautiful city and I would suggest going there one time in your life if you've never been!  (just not in the summer ;)-

So after Venice, we took the train to Florence, Italy and there we had the transfer company who set up all the Andrea Bocelli bookings, picked us up and took us to our hotel in San Gimignano, Italy!  So here's a few pictures from that part:

  

 

This picture is from right outside the train station and the only reason why I show this is because when we walked outside to the transfer van, I looked up and saw this sight and it just made me smile because I had such strong memories of our last time here with the girls in this beautiful city and I remember seeing this last time as our first sight of Florence!  Florence is a wonderful city with so much history and art but unfortunately, we didn't have the time to see it again other then this view and the view from our van to the hotel.  If we had it to do over, we would have skipped some other places and spent more time in Tuscany, Italy for sure!

 

Another memory that I had to capture.  We stayed in Siena as well last time and seeing this sign brought memories of our villa that we rented with Rosalba and Piero, a wonderful couple who lives in Tuscany and has such a beautiful home and love of their land and art!  If you EVER come to this part of the world, let me know and I'll give you their website information!  And the other reason I took a picture of this sign is because we were crazy enough to drive in this area and ALL the road signs are like this, with MULTIPLE choices at every turn! You REALLY have to been "on the ball" when driving in Italy!!

 

A view from afar...  Here we are going over a bridge in Florence as you can see the city-scape of this wonderful city!  They have a beautiful town on a river with bridges that they are famous for as well!

 

Here is a medevil town that is a walled city on a hill.  They have so many of these in Italy and they are so wonderful to take the time and explore.  I think this is San Gimignano, but not sure as we didn't have to time to explore.  We thought we might after hearing everyone talking about the walled city within, but the next morning we were picked up too early to have any time to wonder the town literally next door to our hotel!

So we got ready in record spead for the concert and waited outside our hotel for the driver to pick us up and take us to the concert.  The Andrea Bocelli concert was in his home town of Lajatico and everyone had to be shuttled to the town and then dropped off at the center of town where you then walked for almost a MILE (in heels) up to the concert venue!  I was forwarned about this steep hike and brought flip-flops in my purse to change into (thus the big clunky purse in the pictures instead of a lovely matching clutch ;)-

 

Here were are still at the hotel.  There were beautiful fields of lavender on the property and I wish I could just show you the countryside beyond!  It is breathtaking and you just want to sit and stare for hours on end...

 

There was another couple waiting for the driver so we took pictures of them and then they took pictures of us!  In fact, this WHOLE trip we did this and got everyones emails to send them the pictures we took!  (I think people were impressed with our nice camera and we were more then willing to snap off some pictures of people other then ourselves!!! lol...)

We couldn't decide which was better, pictures out in the sun or under the terrace in the shade??  I think this one may be better because we aren't so washed out??  What do you think??  I need some advice for my scrapbooking!!!  :)-

 

Notice the shoes ladies??  O.K. now look at the top of my dress where the neckline is...  See the halter part?  Well, it's round jewels that look almost like wood and for the life of me I didn't know what to where for jewelry OR shoes!  So I was trying all different shoes on and nothing really worked until my little fashion model, Victoria, looked in my closet and found these shoes!  I've had these for  years and they're really a cute pair of sandles with a wedge heal (good for walking on cobblestone) but I rarely wear them b/c I don't know what to wear with them.  But guess what, they went perfectly with the dress and I didn't even need to change into my flip flops after all b/c they were comfortable enough on the mile long walk up to the concert! And, the best part... they're from PAYLESS!!!  Ya gotta love that right??!!  Speaking of bargains...  I have to say I was in some of the MOST expensive places in the world, were women were dressed in Prada, Gucci, and you name it!  There outfits probably cost the amount of our entire trip!  But I would laugh and tell Lance how much some of my outfits cost (think Forever 21, Ann Taylor Loft and Cabazon Outlets) and I still looked just as good if I don't say so myself...  I guess it's because I grew up differently, I didn't just go anywhere and buy anything I wanted.  I had to save up for what I wanted, and wait for it to go on sale!  I know most of you know how that is...  I still have a hard time buying ANYTHING that's not on sale or pants that cost more then $20! (thanks mom ;)-  But anyways, all this is to say, you can still be fashionable AND look good with the "Monte Carlo" crowd, you just have to know where to shop, have confidence in yourself, and not really care about the "material" things in life! 

O.k. off my soapbox and onto more pictures...

 

Here we are at the reception before the concert.  They started this a little late and had us walking all over the venue trying to find it, but it was nice once it started and was good to get a little food in our stomachs and enjoy the scenery of this beautiful town in the Tuscan countryside!

 

Here I am talking to the girls on the phone before the concert started!  Isabella asked me right away if I have my pretty orange dress on! lol...  They LOVED this dress and thought I looked so "fancy" in it when I tried it on at home!  There's Andrea's trailors right behind me and I'm sure he was getting ready in one of them!  He didn't come to the reception like we had hopes he might, but we did see him at one point from afar... (Note the Coach purse, bargain #2 at the Cabazon outlet... 50% off and another 25% off on ONLY the day I happened to be at the outlets in Palm Springs!  I walked inside the store and it was a frenzy in there so I asked a sales lady what was going on!  She told me the sale and another 25% off of everything in the store was only that day!  Gotta love that right? )

 

That was the view off to the right of the venue!

 

And here's my cute hubby hanging out at our seats while I took pictures all around.  I have to say, we had GREAT seats and the place was PACKED!  The lady sitting to the right of Lance was so nice and we took pictures of her and her husband too!  In fact, we got to talking and she's from HOLLAND!  Nice couple and fun to talk to about my Dutch heritage!!

 

O.k. this is not for the faint of heart...

OUTHOUSES!!!  Yes, that was the ONLY restrooms in the entire place and I had to treck pretty far to get there!  unknown to me, Lance zoomed in on me getting OUT of the outhouse!!  I went with another lady before the concert started and I had NO WATER afterwards because I was NOT going back again!  I mean come on, an OUTHOUSE in ITALY, with a LONG dress and scarf!???  You can just imagine...  I had that skirt and scarf up around my neck so NOTHING would get on it!

 

So here I am, second from the left.  I was still putting down my dress when I was coming out of the outhouse and there was a GUY waiting in front of it!  See my scarf is still around my neck!  LOL!!!  But hey, it worked, I was spotless, unfortunately the other lady who I walked here with, was not spotless at the end of this... Need I say more?  :)-

O.k. now I'll get to much more pleasent things... Andrea Bocelli!  We waited for the first part to end before we sat back down, (it was some buddist monks chanting and we didn't want to interupt) and then we were waiting for Andrea to come on stage.  It was taking a while until we say this image right behind the stage...

 

YES, THAT IS HIM!!! ON A HORSE!!!  RIDING IN CIRCLES AROUND THE POND!!!

It was AMAZING!  Then he came onto the stage with the horse!!

 

AND STARTED SINGING!!!!

It was breathtaking, him all in white on a black horse!  I think I got a little moist in the eyes...

He was so GREAT and such a charming man, even though I didn't understand a word he said!

 

Here I am during the break.  See the lady on the stage with the turquoise outfit?  That's him mom!!  Funny but true story...

Before the concert as we were making out way to our seats, I looked up where the backstage area was and there were about 4 ladies looking right at me and smiling so I waved to them and said "Buena Serra" (good evening) to that lady and she smiled and said it back to me!  I didn't even know who she was until someone told me later!!  So during the break she was on stage signing autographs on peoples programs and Lance told me I should go up there so I did!  And, she looked right at me, smiled again like she remembered me and signed my program!!!  Pretty cool huh?!!  I'll have to take a picture of it and show you. (Lance say's she probaly noticed my colorful dress...)

 

Here she is on stage at the end...

 

Isn't this a GREAT picture!!?  He's belting it out onstage, with the fog in the background and the dark blue of the night sky!  LOVE IT!

 

And here is Placido Domengo, Kathryn Jenkins and the lady in the red I don't remember her name... and Andrea.  All singing and looking stunning!  That pink dress was sooooo pretty!!!

 

And the end to the magical night...  Lots and lots of colorful confetti!

What a GREAT night in Tuscany!!

This was definately a highlight of the trip and a TOP experience of my life!!

Gotta run and get back to the real life... I'll see if I can show you some more pictures tomorrow...

Laura

Love, Tuesday...

I am home.  I am tired.  I am not quite settled back in...

We had an AMAZING trip, it was one of the BEST times in our lives and I can't WAIT to share more pictures with all of you!  I am trying to get things unpacked, washed and PACKED again because I leave with the girls on Saturday for Michigan!  I know,  I'm CRAZY but it's the week of SERVE at my brothers church and it's Victoria's last year to be involved.  So, I decided to bring all the girls and we rented a cottage on the lake and Rebecca, Isabella and myself will get to play and have fun with Dawn and little Ella while Victoria works her "buttinsky" off! ;)- 

So I'm uploading all my pictures onto this computer and I'll see if I can share some with you before it gets to crazy!

Hugs to everyone, thanks so much for thinking of us while we were away, thank you for praying for our safety as we all were perfectly taken care of this whole trip and thank you for still believing in me and my little kit club!  I got some AMAZING things in ALL the places we went but I have to say PARIS was a goldmine!!  I had done some research on flea markets before I went and I found a "Postage Stamp and Card" market and it was within walking distance of our hotel!!!!!!!  We had an AMAZING day (well I don't know if Lance would say that :)- but I sure DID!

I'll be back soon with more details and some pictures from our trip!

Hugs to all,

Laura

Europe trip, part Tres...

Yes, I know I'm getting kind of corny with my email titles....

It's always late when I can get around to the computer and we've been walking or site-seeing all day!  We are now in Paris and we are enjoying it!  I am already feeling like we won't be able to do all we want to do and I'm bummed about that!  I will try to recap what we've seen so far around Italy and France and show you LOTS of pictures.  The only problem is I don't remember what pictures I've shown before and am too tired to look and see my old posts...

I think I left off in Bellagio, Italy (which I still would like to be actually) so after that we were off on a tour of Northern Italy on our way to Venice.  Our driver took us through a castled town on Lake Garda that was cool:

 

I think this is Seminole, Italy??? Not sure but it was a very cool medeviel town with lots of charm.

Then we were off to Romeo & Juliet's town!

 

Here is a Roman Collesium in Verona, Italy that still holds concerts and is I think one of the last arena's that still is a working arena for concerts and other entertainment.

 

 

Getting tired of picures...  But honestly, I really liked Verona and wouldn't mind spending more time there.  Here's our "tour guide", Enricho:

 

Nice guy, it was fun to have someone to drive us in an area we KNOW we would have gotten lost and/or not seen from again!

 

This is where he dropped us off and we were finally in Venice! 

 

Yes, Venice is this cool.  BUT, I REALLY SUGGEST NOT COMING HERE IN THE SUMMER!  It is VERY HARD to get the real feeling of Venice when it is crowded with people, hot & humid and not particularly pleasent smelling!  Come in the Fall or Spring where you have much less people and much better weather!  We did enjoy our time there and stayed at the Gritti Palace which is beautiful and another wonderful hotel we enjoyed for FREE with our Amex Miles!

Here's some pictures from our stay in venice:

 

 

 

A concerto that was a TOTAL SCAM!  We paid 70 Euros and got in this tiny "hall" that looked beautiful from the outside, and sat down in a cramped room with NO AIR CONDITIONING!  Lance made it through about 6 songs before he had to leave and I made it through about 3 more.  It was so hot in there with the heat and humidity that we were literally dripping sweat.  And all the people playing and singing had looks of hatred on there faces at having to actually perform in front of us! 

 

Yes, we HAD to do the gondola ride!  The good thing was, we did this ride about 15 minutes before it literally poured down rain and HAIL! 

 

 

I had to document all the Gellato we ate!  We probably had this 2 times a day it was so hot and humid, this was a GREAT way to cool off! ;)-

 

I SERIOUSLY wanted this bag but the shop was closed!  I {heart} Betty Boop!!

 

 

I found this place back girls!  Do you remember when we took pictures in front of this place last time?  Well this time it was open and I went inside!  It has beautiful glass from Murano that is made in their own shop over there and I bought Grandma something I know she will LOVE!

 

 

 

 

 

I did this last time on our trip in freezing weather.  I guess I'm a creature of habit...

 

We ran into this restaurant when it started raining and took a seat at one of those outdoor tables.  There were LOTS of people eating outside still as it was only sprinkling.  Then about 5 minutes later it started raining harder and we stayed in our seats b/c they were back towards the restaurant and it had a big awning.  But the awning could only hold so much rain and when it started hailing, everyone made a b-line for the inside of the cafe!  It was funny but we were all soaked!  The poor people who didn't get under cover or have an umbrella though, they were drenched to the bone!

Well, I wish I could upload more from or trip.  We went to the Andrea Bocelli concert after Venice in Tuscany and it was a VERY memorable night!  We LOVED the concert and I'll have many pictures to share from that night soon!  Then we rented a car and drove to Monte Carlo and stayed in one of the prettiest hotels, the Metropole, monte carlo. (check it out online, it's GORGEOUS) We didn't have much time in Monte Carlo since we got there late the first night since we went to Cinque Terra for the day, and then the next day was a laundry day and we decided to take the car back since we didn't want to DIE driving in Monte Carlo! (that's another story... )  But I have to say, Monte Carlo is one of THE most expensive places in the world!  Like Lance said to his friend, 7 Euro's for a water bottle, 6 Euros for two ice-cream cones, and 9 EUROS TO LAUNDER ONE PAIR OF UNDERWEAR!  We wasted 1/2 a day just looking for a laundromat or even dry cleaners instead of using the hotel...  Unknown to us though, there are NO LAUNDROMATS IN MONTE CARLO!!  And the dry cleaners looked at us like we were from outerspace when we asked if we could get it back the next day!  Oh, no... not for 4 days!! 

Even still, we are having a GREAT time in Europe and are enjoying these last days before we head home next week!  I have a feeling it's going to get crazy in Paris this weekend with the Tour de France ending right down the street from our hotel and thousands of people here just for that!  We are going to go on our own bike tour tomorrow with the same tour we did in London.  I'm hoping for better weather though b/c it's rained both days here in Paris so far.  Oh, I've already searched out the flea markets I want to go to and hopefully will get a chance on Saturday!  Wish me luck on that.  There's soooo many things we want to do here and no we won't get to all of them.

Miss all of you, hope everyone is having fun with there July kits and past kits!  Keep sending me some layout pictures when I get back so I can see what you've done!

Hugs to all,

Laura

Euro Trip, part "due" ~ Italian for 2, pronounced "doo-ay"

Hello from Bellagio, Italy!

It is very late here but I wanted to add some more pictures before we go to bed and then leave in the morning for our next stop...  We have paid for internet in this hotel so I figure I'd use it now in case we don't get it in the next hotel...

So I wanted to add more picture 1st from the rest of our London portion of the trip:

O.k. here's a picture for my mom and brother...  The sad news is that we were all excited to see a DUTCH pancake house and planned to eat there for breakfast the next morning.  So we get up before the Flea Market and go down the street to this place and it's not open until 11:00am!  WHAT???  A pancake house that doesn't open until lunchtime?  Come on!!!!  Oh well... Starbucks was the only thing open in the entire area...

Here's the beginning of the Portabello Road Flea Market.  Believe me, this street went on FOREVER and you can't even begin to get the magnitude of this market!  After a few hours, you haven't even seen HALF of it but you just want to run from all the crush of people and the smell and noise of everything...  I did get some GREAT finds though and will share those when I get home...

Here we are back at the hotel after the flea market...  I have to show you the most coolest room just about EVER I've seen in a hotel... Watch this all you glam girls...

Is this COOL or what?  And I swear I did NOT plan my outfit before we went in this room!  :)-  This room is off the bar area that is very "Englishmen's Study" so I guess they decided to do a ladies room too!  They said they have all kinds of ladies come here for baby showers, tea parties and wedding showers.  I can see why!  So I had Lance take about a dozen pictures of me from all different angles in the room!  (even though there were two very POSH ladies in the room at the time, I didn't CARE! hehehe...

(o.k. my pictures aren't wanting to load so I'm going to save after each one I can get to work...)

 

O.k. this ones for Victoria and Rebecca... Can you tell me where I am???  Does it look familiar?  This is where we stayed on our trip around the world in London!  Remember our appartment?  We found it back after we ate at Benehana's for dinner on Kings Road in Chelsea.  I thought our apartment was on West Chelsea Road, but it was actually on Cheyne Row and we found it back!  Pretty cool... Then we walked to the end of the street and took pictures by the bridge just like old times!

 

Oh and sad news, the bookstore/childrens clothing store where we got the Felicity book is out of business!  (But don't tell Isabella, I found more of them at Harrods! ;)-

 

And that weird lounge chair in our room, well Rebecca wanted me to take a picture sitting in it, so here it is...  It's actually not as bad as I thought it would be... Not sure I'd sit on it for long but just for a picture was fine...

 

Then we left on Sunday morning for Bellagio, Italy!!  We are still here now until the morning when we leave but I have to tell you, this is really the most BEAUTIFUL place I have EVER been in my LIFE!  I can't do this place justice with my pictures but I will tell you I CRIED like a baby when I was showed to our room!  And here is why:

 

This is a stinkin' hotel!  The Grand Hotel Serbelloni!  Check it out on Google Maps or Google Earth, it's RIDICULOUS!!  So we were shown to our room by a nice lady who opened the door for us into your very average Italian room, which by the way was fine to us because we didn't expect anything GRAND, as we paid for this hotel ourselves (only this and Pisa hotel were without A/X miles) and got the smallest room possible b/c it's BIG BUCKS to stay here...  So we get in the room, she opens our window to this:

 

And we go... WOW!  We could stand in front of this window all day, it's sooo beautiful, I can't show you the magnitude of this view, but it's a WOW moment for sure that we experienced!  BUT WAIT, there's more...

 

She OPENS A DOOR IN OUR ROOM TO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were given only 1 of 2 balconies in the WHOLE ENTIRE HOTEL because it's our 20th Wedding Anniversary and they just did it to be nice!!!  So this is what I looked like after that:

yes, I'm bawling like a BABY!  (I'm crying right now just thinking of it again, it's just way to much to take in...)

So we went a little crazy taking pictures from EVERY angle possible... i won't bore you with them all... See the window to the left o me, that's the window in our room, then the door to the right of me is the door to the balcony where we ate dinner tonight!  This balcony is really big with two chaise lounges, a table and two chairs and room to spare!  We are so blessed beyond words, it's not even possible to describe the feelings we have about this trip and especially about this more glorious place on earth!  We are planning to come back here with the girls and either spend a week or two during the summer in a little villa, rent a room in this hotel or buy a place and retire here.  I'm not kidding, it's a piece of heaven on earth!

Here's more from Bellagio:

 

Here's a gorgeous patio/pergola in front and to the left of the hotel that belongs to the hotel.  It's got excellent views across the lake and down into part of the town...

There are countless views from everywhere you look, numerous paths that lead to beautiful streets, stone steps, old gates and doors, greenery everywhere in pots, urns, baskets, and more!  It's just too much for you to take in in such a short time that we are here.  I know I will cry tomorrow when we have to leave this place...

 

 

Another gate, Bellissimo! (ya, I'm learning Italian now so I can return here.. lol)

 

 

These were all taken yesterday after lunch in an outdoor cafe.  We walked along part of the path leading away from the main "lido" where the walkway is with flowers and trees along the water...

Here you can see the pathway that is along the water with the road to the left of me...  This is a long path with small pebbles in the area I'm in with formal gardens in the middle with beautiful flowers, then the trees on each side and flower baskets hanging on the brick wall along the water!  Simply breathtaking!!!

 

Here's the cute hubby!! ;)-

 

Door #1...

Oh man, I want to show you EVERY SINGLE PICTURE, but it's after 1 am and we've take 100's of pictures already!  I've got to get up early in the morning to get packed and ready to go...

Here's just a few more before I sign off...

Last night we took a private boat tour of the lake and here are a few pictures from that... (we felt like we were famous people taking a boat to "Cannes Film Festival" or something, it was RIDICULOUS... ;)-

 

Us, living the "life"... for sure...

 

Us, not BELIEVING this is REAL!!!  (I LOVE this picture b/c it shows the pure JOY and LOVE we have for eachother and this moment that we  are in!!!)

 

 

 

 

 

Anybody know where this is from?  Here's another picture clue:

 

I'll let you tell me what you think this place if from... You have TWO choices that would be correct!

 

O.k. I KNOW this picture is way overexposed... BUT, I LOVE the movie-esque quality of it!  Does it not look so COOL!???    The driver took it of us and I know the top of the boat bounced the light too much but I still think this is a GREAT picture!

 

Here is Sir Richard Bransons Villa!!

And here were are leaving his villa after "High Tea" with Richard himself...

 

Just kidding, had to do it though because doesn't it look like our boat is leaving from that villa???  It really is Sir Richard Bransons Villa though!  And he has two other houses on the property, one for the Boatman, and one for the Gardener!!!  And those houses are bigger then any of our houses I can tell you!  lol...  Wild!

 

Although we  do have our eye on  a few properties on the lake...  This one is Lance's Fav... It's in disrepair so  maybe we could get it for a bargain at say?? 20 mil?? ;)-

This is my favorite!  You can't see it but it has a red&white awning and a beach cove!

Then afterwards, he dropped us off at Lenno, which is across the lake from Bellagio for dinner reservations at a hilltop restaurant called Al Vellu.  It has a gorgeous view of the lake and cove below and this beautiful garden entrance!

 

This is the view from our table...

 

The view behind us of our chef, preparing our fillet of beef with mustard sauce right out in the garden!!!  It is a family owned restaurant and the live there as well.  In fact, we arrived a little early and the whole family was on that veranda behind us eating their dinner before the restaurant opened!  The house has been in the family for generations and they all live there together!  What a different life they live... I asked the owner if he came out here in the morning and realized how blessed he is to live here and look at that view every day... He just smiled and said YES and especially he realizes it when he has to go away on business from here...

 

And I leave you with this last picture from TODAY!

We took a cooking class in another town across the lake, Varenna... It was at "Restaurante Il Camiletto" and you can google that and see what a WONDERFUL place this is!  Moreno was so great and Lance volunteered me to make the Gnocci which he said i would thank him later for the pictures for my blog!  hehehe...  Moreno said I did Bellisimo and kissed my hand when I was done so I must have been not too bad at it right???

I tell you, I want to share sooo many more pictures and I feel like this is so AMAZING to be able to share this with YOU and almost use this as a journal of my trip!  I will try to do this again but not sure if we will have much opportunity.. We will be in Italy until next Sunday but I will leave the places a secret for now...

Hugs to all of you!  Still keep us in your prayers.  Lance did not feel good today and we had to leave a little early from the cooking class, get back to Bellagio and couldn't get to the Villa I asked you about above which he REALLY wanted to tour so he must have not felt good for sure!  But, it's good because now he will HAVE to come back to see it, right??? ;)-

Tomorrow we go on a very long  drive through hills, mountains, lakes and more so pray for safety, dramamine to work, and no sickness!

Bona serra

Photo Heavy Post!

I have a few minutes to spare and thought I would share the first set of Europe photos!!  We had a FANTASTIC flight over on Virgin Atlantic and darn it, I don't know how you go back to regular airlines after that flight...

 

That footstool you see in front of me is really COOL and the whole thing changes into  BED at night!  They brought us a "bed suite" which was pajamas, a toiletry bag, hot towels after each meal, there was a MENU and the best part... Molton Lava CAKE!!!  Lance said when they took my order I was going to "start with the Molton Lava Cake, then have some Molton Lava Cake and then for dessert, you guessed it, have some Molton lava cake!  Come on people, this was RIDICULOUS!!  I didn't end up sleeping much but I still felt GREAT flying on Virgin!  Oh, you also get your own personal computer/tv that will show you just about any movie or tv show ON DEMAND, you can text message, IM other people on the plane and more...  Save your American Express points ladies, this was all FREE for us with our miles!!!

 

O.k. I'm seriousy not trying to brag here, this room was FREE too with our miles...  I don't know that I've EVER stayed in a room this charming, really!  You walk in and have to go down the stairs, and this is the bed and sitting area with a desk to the right which I'm at right now doing this blog post...

 

This is the other part of the room with a beautiful table with all kinds of treats on it, a very strange lounge chair I'll show you in a minute, a copper tub behind that screen and a whole closet area before the HUGE bathroom with another bathtub and shower too!  Jeepers, it's crazy!  I have no idea how much this room would cost if I had to pay for it, but I highly doubt I could afford it!

 

Isn't that strange?  We haven't sat on it yet, I suppose I should give it a try...

 

O.k. the scrapbooker in me has already fallen in LOVE with London!  They have SOOOO many gates, everywhere!  Lance took this shot of me in front of a gate right by where we ate dinner and I LOVE it!!  Here's another with the same gate, he just took it closer up,

 

So I'm now totally into gates and I have a feeling you'll be seeing a LOT more in my pictures this trip...

 

This door was just to the left of the fence above.  It was half opened like this and pretty cool so I took this shot of Lance in front of it.

 

Then today we took the Fat Tire Bike Tour!  (Thanks Chris) This is a MUST if you go to London!  In fact, we loved it so much, we plan to do this in Paris too!

 

And yes, I did JUST fine on the bike...  I don't think I've been on one in maybe 20 years but you do get it right back and this tour stops about every 5-10 minutes so you never get winded.

 

Here's our tour guide, Jack.  His smile is HUGE and his LOVE of London is just as big!  He had such an incredible way of bringing so much history to life and his joy for it was palpable.  GREAT guide and I highly recommend requesting his tour b/c the other two guides did NOT look to be as in "love" with their job as his is!

 

Did I tell you you'd see more gates?  Well this one is one of the many gates that go into the Kennsington Royal Gardens and it's another FAV picture thus far!

 

After the tour, we walked through the park looking for the Peter Pan statue for my girls, otherwise we would have been burned at the stake when we got home...  On the way, we found this beautiful area called the Italian Fountains.  Just beautiful with about 4 fountains, pools with lily pads and then this area which backed up to the Serpentine lake.

 

 

And finally, we found the Peter Pan statue!  This one's for you girls and for "The boy who never wanted to grow up"...  They are having a special Peter Pan day tomorrow in the park and are also doing the Peter Pan Theatre Show while we are here so we may go see that tomorrow night.

BUT, tomorrow morning we are going to try and hit a FLEA MARKET!!  I'm soooo excited, my first one in London and I hear the one we are going to try is one of the largest in the WORLD!  So wish me luck, I'm looking for all things "A Kiss on the Chic" ...  vintage buttons, trims, photos, vintage lace, ephemera, old jewelry, flashcards, old childrens books, etc. etc....  You got any ideas of things to look for, send me an email and I'll look for it!  I'm searching out these markets in every town we are going to!

Thanks again for thinking of us on our trip!  I know a LOT of you wanted to see pictures and especially the family, so I will try to put more up during our trip.  We have free internet right now but highly doubt that will be the case in all places...

Off to bed, it's really late here and I'm still adjusting to the time change.  Lance is out cold already... lol ;)-

Take care,

Laura 

Signing off...

I'm getting VERY excited now...  We are packing and getting everything together but I thought I would post real quickly and update you on a few things...

First,  a fellow Kit Club Member had completed her June Irene Tan Project Kit and did a YouTube Video of it!  I wanted to let all of you know about it so you could go check it out!  It's a GREAT video and I think will really help you with your album too!

Her Name is Nenamarie Pavitt and here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4B8-8hJ1AI

Go check it out!!

I've had some other ladies email me layouts from past kits but unfortunately, I haven't had time to post those.  I will try to do that when I get back!

I will NOT have much opportunity for emails on my trip afterall.  I can receive them on my iPhone BUT if they have attachments, I can't open them!  So please feel free to email me but don't send me any attachments.  I guess that's what costs so much over there so my phone will be kind of on "airplane" mode...

I wanted to share all the designs I made for Clear Scraps and their booth at CHA before I leave but I don't have much time so I'll just share some...

 

4th of July on the Lake.  It's their Arrow album I turned into a 4th of July album and used the Cuttlebug Number die on it and hightlighted the #4.

 

 

My 3 Cupcakes!  This is with one of their Jumbo shapes!

"Love that Giggle"  With another Jumbo Shape!

 

Such a Girly Girl - with Moxie and a CS Princess album...

 

A mini album with their Brand New Bell Shaped album!  I attached the 1st two together to create a "wedding bells" album!

 

You are my Sunshine with a "postage stamp" shape and lots of Tim Holtz inks!

 

A christmas banner ~ I Believe with all kinds of CS shapes!!

 

 

O.k. that's it for now!

Hugs to all,

Laura

Hello and Goodbye...

I'm finally back up with the Internet but have to turn around and sign off for a while!

I went and "unpublished" the Kit Pages because while I'm gone I can't ship anything out and didn't want to have anyone come here to purchase something and then wonder why I didn't ship it out!  So I will turn those pages back on when I get back from both trips.  I can't believe I leave so soon for Europe!  When did this trip sneak up on me?  I kept thinking I had enough time to get July Kits together, the Clear Scraps design commitments done for CHA, AND get ready for a HUGE trip!  Well, I'm going to give it my best!

I have almost everything shipped out, now it's just running around town getting things for the trip, getting everything taken care of here while we're gone, and making sure I don't forget anything I need to take or need to finish before we leave...

I thank everyone for all the thoughts and prayers for my leg!  It's healing nicely I think and even though I didn't want to take the antibiotics, I know they are necessary and just want to get them over with by Friday so I don't have to be sick to my stomach anymore.  I'm also not going to worry about how I look a little "plumper" then I wanted to thanks to all you! ;)-  I know I'll have a GREAT time reglarless of the fact I haven't been able to exercise and get off a few more lbs.  I did loose 5 lbs. and that's a good start.  Maybe all the walking and "real" food will help loose a few more on the trip!  (If I stay away from too many pastries... lol) 

Oh, we all had a WONDERFUL time with Ty, Dawn and Ella here this past week!  I don't think I've been on here since before they were at our house so I better fill you in on all the FUN!  We miss then already and had such a neat time with them in our house for 3 whole days!  I even got to babysit Ella for about 7 hours last Thursday and boy, that was a blast from the past for sure!  I had forgotten how all consuming babies are!  She was a DOLL most of the time but it brought back memories of those days when getting anything done was pretty much a pipe dream! hehehe...  I have a renewed appreciation for baby moms! 

So here is a little montage of pictures from our "Ella days"...

 

Here's probably my FAV picture of the "peanut" as Ty calls her!  She was still in her jamies and Rebecca was in hers too as she held her in this picture!

 

Then we got ready and went down to the water and visited some places.  Here is a HUGE replica of the famous picture in NYC of the sailor kissing the nurse in Time Square I think.  What's funny is it's one of Victoria's FAV pictures and had it in her room so she wanted a picture of her under it.  You can see the big Navy Ship behind it to get a feel for just how HUGE this statue is!

 

Here's the "buds" hanging out...

 

Who doesn't recognize this statue?  It almost made me cry when I saw the sign that commemorates him...

"Thanks for the memories...."

It was a salute to Bob Hope and all they he has done to bring joy to the troops stationed all over the World!  I know if he was such an inspiration to me growing up, I can only imagine what he was to so many service men and women as well! 

 

Such a fitting place for this memorial...

 

There's some beautiful trees right in this area so we got in a tree and played around a bit...

 

It was very windy down here but got a few cute shots of the new family...

 

 

Then we walked around the Gaslamp District which is a GREAT place for finding some food to eat, especially before a Padres game that's right at the end of the street.

 

We chose this place for our eating enjoyment!

 

 

 

boy I look tired!  Not enough sleep for sure...

 

and a little texting going on...

 

My FAV picture of Isabella that day!  Love the colors of the storefront and the angle of the camera!

 

Then we got Ella for the day on Thursday and we HAD to show her "wormy"...  Wormy is basically like a little rocking horse but instead, a bright and colorful worm that makes noises and plays music!  He WAS in storage up until about 3 months ago when Isabella wanted him back!  So we got him down, dusted him off and she was never happier!  So when we knew Ella was coming over, we had to put him in the bonus area upstairs so we could show her "wormy"...  She wasn't as excited to be on him as we were having her ON him, but oh well , we got one photo out of it!

 

And, while the cats away, the mice will play...  YES, Isabella held Ella,  whatcha gonna do about it Ty???  hehehe...  It looks like Ella liked it as much as Isabella!!

 

Look at the LOVE she has for her new cousin!  I just LOVE seeing this picutre and the excitement she had feeling like the big girl holding a baby!   She's a little bit faster spead then a baby so it can get a little crazy when you put a 4 year old and a baby right next to eachother but Isabella just fell in LOVE with Ella and still talks about how she likes her cousin and wants to have her come back to our house!

 

I think Ella likes her big cousin too!

 

She wasn't so crazy about her Uncle Lance though!  LOL!!!  It's so cute seeing him holding her, it really brings back memories of our babies and him trying to make them laugh with his sillyness.  It wasn't working with Ella though, I think she was trying to tell him.... "WHATEVER, MAJOR LOOSER"... (inside family joke ;)-

We miss them already and would be BAWLING FOOLS right now if we weren't going to see them in less then a month in their hometown!!!  My poor mom IS a bawling fool though as she won't get to have that priviledge and I'm so sorry for that.  I wish they could travel more and my dad was well enough to get around but it's just not the case at this time in their lives.  Thank goodness for video webcams though right mom!!??

O.k. switching gears a little,

I forgot to show you a picture of the Chatterbox Wood Album and stand my friend Cindy played around with so here's a picture of hers:

 

I have the small paper kit for this and a couple albums left, but not the stand.  If I have enough interest for the stand, I can always order more though...

And, last but not least...

I'm figuring out my wardrobe for the trip!

I thought I'd show you my technique for figuring everything out:

 

I lay everything out on the bed and then figure out what goes together, then put the jewelry and shoes by the outfits and go from there! But, I thought Isabella's way was MUCH funner...

 

So, here we have Isabella in a LOVELY dark blue top with a long white skirt that is layered with a slight "bohemian" look.  She's added a VERY FASHIONABLE red purse that turns this outfit into THE perfect outfit for the European Holiday, 4th of July!!! hehehe... 

 

Next we have a casual look that would be PEFECT for that nice stroll along the beach.  A very colorful pink top is matched with some STYLISH flip-flops.  Notice the silver on the top matches perfectly with the silver in the shoes?  Such a keen eye for detail, this young girl has!

 

And we CAN'T forget that protective "face wear"...  For all of our sun protection needs, the FACE HAT!!!  Yes, it's ALL THE RAGE in London, Paris and Milan!  You will see this on ALL the runways this FAll, seeing how the models just don't want to get their face damaged from the suns rays...  It also doubles as a paparazzi deflector.  You can go out all day and no-one knows who you are!!! 

Having a little FUN with the kiddos before we leave... Hope you will indulge my silliness...

I will sign off for now!  I am going to try and post again before I leave but if not, I am going to MISS all of YOU!!  Keep sending me emails and posting comments on my blog!  I WILL be updating the blog from time to time with pictures.  It will just depend on our internet in Europe.  I do know we have FULL Internet in London but I don't know much about any of the other places...    My iPhone WILL work over there so I can get all my emails and would LOVE to hear from you ladies!  I can't do everything on the phone like send pictures, or go on the interenet as we are only paying the HUGE $$$ to have one of our phones do that.  You have to pay per how much data you download so that can get VERY expensive, VERY fast! 

I would REALLY love any and all prayers for safety on our trip, for safety of our girls and both sets of parents who are so graciously taking turns watching them and that we can all enjoy our time apart and be reunited safely at the end of our trip!   I know a  lot of you have already expressed your thoughts and prayers for us and I TRUELY APPRECIATE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR PRAYERS AND WELL WISHES!!

Hugs to all,

Laura

Expect the unexpected...

Well, as I type this, I'm using my brothers MAC computer (which is pretty cool) to let you know I will NOT have internet until Friday!!!

This has put a HUGE wrench in my plans to ship the  kits OUT by Friday but I'm doing the best I can at this point...  We didn't have any internet this morning and I just figured it was something little and we'd have it when we got home...  Well, we went to Downtown San Diego with Ty and Dawn and Ella and had a GREAT time, but when we came back, still no internet!

My hubby came home and checked and sure enough, the power "something" is burnt out and we need a new one and can't get it until FRIDAY!!  Of course i started panicking and told him this was NO GOOD, so he tried to see if Radioshack had what he needed but no luck...

So tonight, I'm writing this from Ty's computer and I've also been trying to print as many shipping labels with his computer hooked up to my printer!  It's after midnight and I've done a LOT, but I still need to do a LOT more...

I have my iPhone, thank goodnes, but it ony goes back 5 days and there are some emails I need prior to that...  If you needed something, or wanted something and I didn't get back to you, I'm so sorry...

As far as the Travelogue Kit, there are NO more at ALL!  I wish I had more but I'm working on fumes with that kit... 

I think I have a very few Magical Wishes kits, a few Paris mini albums and a few Vacation Treasurebox kit... 

I wanted to show you the album Cindy did but that will have to wait... 

Oh, I went back to the doctor and after convincing them to stitch up my leg again, the did. This time with 6 stitches instead of 3.  That was a scary deal for me, seeing a gapping hole in my leg!  I will need to take it easy and keep the stitches in the whole time we're gone!  They did say I could go in the water in Europe, but to wait a little and bandage it  up pretty good.  So much for my vanity and not having a big bandage on with cute skirts and dresses!  lol... ;)-

So, tomorrow I am babysitting Ella and hoping for a fuss-free zone in the house!  She has been through a LOT and I don't blame her if she is one bit!  She did GREAT today in downtown SD and we had  quite ride home with both her and Isabella taking cat naps!  Oh, I took Dawn to see PaperTales in Point Loma and Michelle was so sweet and LOVED seeing baby Ella!  I even sent one of our Kit Club Members there yesterday while she is out here on vacation!  I looked for her today while I was down by the beach, but didn't see you Sandy!

Well, I'm going to call this day (or actually yesterday) a wrap and hopefully get some sleep before the morning.  Isabella has been waking up with a nightmare that bugs are crawling all over her since we were in Palm Springs and it makes for a FUN night...

I will try to keep you updated on things via Ty's computer but he is leaving on Friday morning and I'm not going to have internet until later that night. 

Say prayers that I can get all these boxes labels and shipped out by Friday so I can concentrate on getting ready for our trip!!! 

Laura