Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Happy Christmas

Yes, I said "Happy Christmas".  Why?  Well, I just watched The Holiday, and I just feel like being British today. 

I just love that movie. Every Christmas I watch it and try to incorporate some of it's taste level into my home. But I've already blogged about the movie here.

Here's my house this year.  I've linked with Tip Junkie's Holiday Tour of Homes.  Click and enjoy lots of other homes!







Okay, okay.  I'll be true to my roots.
Merry Christmas! 

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Paris part trois

Ok, here are my lovely pics from Versailles. I could've spent a week there! I loved it so much. Some day, I'll go back when it's all pretty like this.


Then I'll frolick, like this.

Except, without the large amounts of blond hair piled on top of my head. Because mine is red.

OK, but that's the future. Here's the recent past.

Hubby in front of the big house. It's so big, it doesn't even fit into the picture.


This is the front gate. We almost walked past it, because I was looking for something like the picture above. But then we realized that a guilded gate had to be Versailles. Cause who else would have one? By the way, I'm having mine installed this spring. No, I'm just kidding. Anyway, for those of you who go, this is where you buy tickets and stuff.



This is a chapel, which is the first thing you see on the tour. My house could easily fit right in there, and there would still be room to worship.


A hallway with statues of the famous French. I didn't make the cut. Probably cause I'm not French. Or famous.


The scale of this "home" is ridiculous.


And look at the detail work. In every room!


Recognize this from the movie? It was Marie Antoinette's bedroom.


Pretty decadent, huh?

I took a picture of this, because I had already used it in my blog. It was pretty exciting to see it in real life. And the one below was in the movie.



The Hall of Mirrors where they signed the Treaty of Versailles ending WWI. I didn't know that even when they signed it, they knew it would lead to war.



This is the view from the Hall of Mirrors. It reminded me of that scene from P&P, so I snapped a pic. It always comes back to Jane Austen, doesn't it?



A bust of Louis XIV, the Sun King as he called himself.

He built Versailles to thumb is nose at the horrible regents and guardians he had while he was young. He came to the throne at the age of 5 and his mother and he were virtually imprisoned at the Louvre (which was then a palace, not a museum) while others reigned in his stead. When he came of age, he started building Versailles. He hated Paris.


Hubby in front of Petit Trianon. It was originally built for Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV's mistress.


Here's the room that captured this moment.


Still, the Petit Trianon.

Hubby and some dishes. Of course, they didn't have anything as de trop as a kitchen, heating up the house. (Look at me and my French words!)

A bedroom at the Petit Trianon.

I have a million (ok, like 20) more pictures, but you get the drift. I can't wait to go back, though I don't know when that'll be. Until then, at least I have Sophia Coppella and her version to keep me company.

And the Award for the worst Blogger goes to...

...well, me, of course. I can't believe what a bad blogger I've become! That's just crazy. I didn't even finish my Paris posts! What have I been doing?

Ok, well, the only thing I can do is pick myself up and move forward. Here's some pics from Halloween. I made all the girls costumes this year. I've never ventured that before. You can get alot more done once all the kiddos are potty-trained, I've found.








My oldest was an angel, the redhead was Giselle from Enchanted, and my youngest was Thumbelina, as interpreted by Barbie.

Recently, we went to the So You Think You Can Dance tour. Or as I like to call it, Shooby Dooby Dooby Dance, because that's what it sounds like they are singing. (Honestly, that's what I thought they were singing for years, until my daughter pointed out that that were actually singing the title of the show. Which makes more sense.)







Here's some pictures that I just liked.
My poor, poor redhead fell off the Alpine slide while going down with her daddy in Utah this summer. This was taken right after, while I was trying to console her. She just looks so miserable it makes me tear up. Obviously, you can't fake that type of misery.

My youngest is the spawn of the devil! Wow! If looks could kill. I'm glad I wasn't the one behind the camera!

Here she is looking much cuter.

I just like this picture and how we match at a football game. Unfortunately, we weren't wearing the team's colors. In fact, we were wearing the opposing team's. Oops! Oh, well. Form over function, I always say.



So, there it is. My first blog in about 9 months. I could've had a baby and y'all wouldn't've even known about it! I didn't, though. I'll be better. I promise. See you in another 9 months. Ooops. I mean, a couple of days.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Paris part Deux

So I was all set to talk about museums today. Hubby and I have never been to so many in one trip. We averaged over 2/day. I had so much to tell you and share. And then I took a look at our pictures. We have like, maybe, maybe, 10. From all those museums! How is that possible? I blame hubby. I mean myself, letting hubby be in charge of the camera for an extended portion of the trip. Note to self: be in charge of camera when planning on blogging about what is being shot.

OK, enough complaining. I'll do my best, and maybe supplement when needed.

First off, The Louvre.


Looking at pictures of The Louvre before we went, I never understood what was going on with the pyramid thing. But it's really cool. Where you buy tickets is in the basement, so the pyramid is basically a huge skylight.



So, the museum is huge. People tell you that before you go, but you have no idea. We actually went twice, and still saw only a miniscule portion of the artifacts. We basically just ran around and saw the major stuff.


Mona Lisa

Madonna of the Rocks

Winged Victory which was my favorite.

Egyptian Sphinx

Venus de Milo

The Coronation of Napoleon which happens to be the biggest canvas in the museum. I know I'm going out on a limb here, but do you think that Napoleon had a Napoleon complex?

Another question: Did you know that the Louvre was a castle, then palace where the kings lived in Paris before it was a museum?


Wow! Maybe I had more pictures than I thought. Here's where the sparseness begins...
The Rodin Museum

This was his actually house, though I'm not clear on when or with whom he lived in it. Hubby kept chanting, "Don't ban Rodin!" If you went to BYU during '97-'98, then you know what that means.

The Thinker


The Orsay Museum

It was a train station built for the 1900 World Fair converted into a museum.


You can look through the back face of this clock. It's very cool.

And we saw art and stuff. (Portrait of the Painter's Mother by Whistler)

Army Museum
No pics. It was WWI and WWII from the French perspective. Very interesting. Did you know that Charles de Gualle won the war for the Allies? And did the British fight in WWII? Cause you wouldn't know it after going through that museum!

The Orangerie Museum

This was my favorite. I'd like to show you some pictures of their downstairs, but I was too distracted at the time of viewing to take pics. Hubby had just informed me that he had cancelled my cancellation of my oldest's piano lesson.

Upstairs are two large oval rooms where there are huge curved canvases of Monet's Water Lillies. They were commissioned by the museum. And the rooms were designed specifically for the paintings.

Monet worked on them for 12 years. They are considered the first art installation and a step toward modernism. They're so beautiful. This was my favorite museum, just for this. Monet died before the installation was finished. How sad.

I think that's it, except for the museum in Versailles, which I'll post all about tomorrow. If any of you are thinking about going to Paris, make sure you get the Paris Museum Pass. I think the only thing we paid for was the Eiffel Tower. All of the museums and most of the sites, including Versailles are covered by the pass. It's a really great deal.