a little bit of me.

{boo!}

Toby loves halloween.

As evidenced here...

Hope everyone has a great night with lots of treats.  :)

{soccer players with afros & other interesting details from my week}

it's been a busy, busy week.

which is probably why i'm resorting to posting at 1:18am on saturday night.  really its 2:18, but it seems that my super-smart computer has already bumped it's time back an hour.  gotta love falling back for d.s.t. ;)

completely ready for halloween on tuesday.  as in i bought SEVEN bags of candy.  although... i have sampled 6 of the 7 bags.  hehe.  back from festive a halloween party at a friend's house tonite.  eric was decked out as a barcelona soccer player with an afro and seventies glasses.  a bizarre combo of costumes-past + european vacay souvenirs, yet really funny once it was all put together (...to me at least.).  i was catwoman.  fun, fun.  somehow i didnt take any photos.  but not to worry.  eric will be repeating the costume on tuesday night, and pictures will DEFINITELY be taken... :)

got to have margaritas & dinner with kristi on tuesday night...  which always = fun.  and because i had been out earlier in the day taking photos of this little guy...

...(album --> HERE), i had my camera with me & was able to capture a little bit of our happy hour fun...

...we are currently considering doing a tour of minneapolis mexican restaurants, and taking photos in each wearing some sort of their decor and/or sombreros.  i think it's an awesome idea...

and one final thing to report...  started RIPPING APART my scrapstudio space late on friday afternoon.  i think that i finally just had ENOUGH of all the crap that seems to have piled up in there....  threw away 3 garbage bags of stuff...  have moved everything out of the room, and have recruited eric to help paint tomorrow....  going with a warm cocoa color...  the official name is behr's "sweet georgia brown"...  whatever that means....  i think it'll work nice with the other colors in the rooms on this level of our house, and with the pink accents that I already had in the studio...  cant wait to see it all finished...  :)  ((...stay tuned))

{Paris}

Paris pictures can be found --> HERE.

I had so much fun looking back through the (many) shots that I took, to select a few to post.  Thoroughly enjoyed every minute that we spent in Paris.  LOVED the ultra-sophisticated feel, and attitude of the city and it's people.  Was in awe of the food, and the hipness of being able to eat every meal outside in a sidewalk cafe.  I definitely, DEFINITELY want to go back.  definitely.  :)  ...and here are a few quick, random thoughts about the city...

Most Bizarre moment in Paris: Having our server rip away our placemats, silverware, and napkins in a big huff, after we (only) ordered baguette sandwiches for lunch.  But we only wanted baguette sandwiches....!  I grabbed the napkin back before he turned away - ha!

What we LOVED in Paris:  Our hotel near the Arc, walking along the Champs-Elysees at night, visiting the Louvre - although it was a super quick visit with only the mona lisa & venus de milo in mind(!), watching the Eiffel Tower's hourly nightime light show while drinking champagne in a sidewalk cafe, Finding the perfect cafe on the Champs for mussels and fries at midnight, Lounging in the gardens outside the Louvre, & tasting authentic crepes.

So glad that: We opted to take the chunnel from London to Paris...  such a convenient, easy trip.

What made me laugh: ...Getting full-out yelled at by the Paris McDonald's worker for taking pics of their parisian operations while we were ordering cokes...  still, i LOVE those pics... :)

PS - Most photos were taken with my Canon Rebel xTi & 28-135mm IS lens.  A few shots were taken with our little Canon A620 Powershot Point & Shoot.

{brrrrrrrrrr...}

it's cold.

really cold.

so cold that it's snowing.

and it's still only october.

i tried to make toby go outside today and he told me that he'd rather go back to florida... ;)

...he spent 3 weeks with the parents there while we were in europe... 

and now he's s-p-o-i-l-e-d!

hope everyone's staying warm!

{Chicago-Weekend)

I'm interrupting my regularly-scheduled reviews of recently-visited European cities to talk about my weekend...  :)

Was lucky enough to be able to spend the weekend in Chicago, with Eric, and a lot of extended family, for the wedding of these 2 incredibly beautiful people...

 

...Brooke & Aaron.

We all had a blast.

And...  as a little bonus, got to hang with Kelly and her bf on Saturday morning (all though I know that they mainly just wanted to see Toby....) ;)

Another Bonus of the weekend = Chicago Food.  Cheese Fries from Portillo's + deep-dish mushroom pizza from Lou Malnati's makes me a happy girl.  :)

(...my canon 50mm 1.8 lens was used for these shots...)

{London-In-Review}

And, finally, here is my London recap…  Photos can be found here ---> London PHOTOS….  Enjoy :)  (Paris, Barcelona, and Venice up next!)

-------

Overall, we spent 3 nights (2 on the front end, and 1 on the back end of our trip) in this fabulous city, which Eric and I both agreed reminded us most of NYC, with a TON of history thrown in… 

Most Surprised By: The fact that London “Fish and Chips” = ONLY one (large) piece of absolutely-amazingly-delicious and super-fatty fried fish…  While explaining to one of the charming cab drivers that US Fish & Chips = multiple pieces of said fish, he thought this was equally as crazy…  :)

Moment I’d Most Like to Forget:  The shutter on my poor, poor digi-rebel breaking while snapping photos atop the Double-Decker Bus Tour that we were on…  (R.I.P. Rebel)…  *Long-Story-Short. = I am now a proud new owner of a Canon 400D – the overseas version of the 3^rd generation Rebel.  Happy Birthday, Hanukkah, and Christmas to me all in one...  But I have to say that the 10.1 Megapixels on this bad boy totally rock my world…  :)

So Happy That:  We had the chance to meet up with Ben & Skye (friends from B-School) for a fabulous dinner on the last night that we were in London.

What We LOVED:  The saying “Mind the Gap”, Touring Westminster Abbey, The Double-Decker Bus Tour that I insisted on taking, Banana-Caramel Frappucinos at Starbucks (I consider myself a frappucino connoisseur, and I’m pretty sure this delicious concoction is 100% original to London), Our hotel on the back-end of the trip = The Cumberland (such great London location and also super-modern), Seeing the Tower of London and Tower Bridge at night, Spotting all the fun Product-Sponsored-Cabs in London - the Jelly Belly and Tiffany’s cab totally tied as my faves, Pret Sandwiches (why don’t they have these in the US?)...  and so much more!

{4 Cities & 3 Countries in 4 Days}

...

Friday morning i woke up in venice...

Saturday morning i woke up in london...

Sunday morning i woke up in philadelphia...

and FINALLY...

This morning (monday) i woke up in my own comfy bed in MN.

We're home.  :)

We had an AMAZING trip.

I'm going to post a little recap of each city along with photos.  London is first on the list...  it'll be up sometime this week :)

...and, if anyone has any typepad info/know-how on how i can get the thumbnail covers of my photo albums to list out on my sidebar - i would so appreciate your help - seems i'm a little technologically challenged in that area ;)