Paris

I don't know why it has taken me so long to write this -- it's not like I'm doing anything of real importance. However, typing things does cut into my reading and knitting time.

Anyway, this was the day that the tour really started. We got our wake up call at 4:45 a.m. I'm not joking. I, however, was up and ready to go at 4:30. I was officially over the probably salmonella I had the day before, and I was ready to be able to see stuff without worry about puking all over it.

We drove through Kent and went past Greenwich. On the way, we also drove past wide, open areas that were actually black death burial pits. They will never build on these.

We took the ferry from Dover to Calais, which was a 90-minute drive, and I managed to not get motion sickness. I was even brave enough to go out on the deck. I did make sure I was down in the seats before we actually moved though. It was a pretty smooth ride, and it gave me plenty of time to knit.


We had really wanted to do the Paris Illuminations dinner, but since it was close to Midsummer's Eve, we couldn't do it because it was light too late. We did get to take a river tour of the Seine, and we went under the Arc de Triumph after we ate. Jeremy was very excited to get to order a burger royale at McDonalds, and I had to point my way to a chicken and lettuce baguette. It was honestly one of the better sandwiches I've ever had. I was a little too excited to be able to walk and tear into the sandwich. America needs a fast food joint called "Le Baguette" that sells yummy sammiches.

We were lucky enough to see the Eiffel Tower's "sparkle show." This also meant we got to see a little bit more of Paris lit up. We took a quick drive past the opera where Phantom of the Opera takes place and drove into the Louvre's courtyard, which was an interesting feat considering the arches into it are very tiny -- basically barely wide (and tall) enough to fit the bus through.


It was another early morning the next day -- not another 4:30 day. But, let's just say we never slept past 7 on this trip. We started off with a tour of the city, which was basically a rehash of the tour of the night before. My complaint was no one pointed out the area that Hemingway liked. Oh well. The tour did include a ticket up to the second observation deck of the Eiffel Tower. I didn't look out so much during the elevator ride up, but I was fine when I got out there. We got some amazing photos of Paris, and I'm very glad I went up. I refused to go to the top, though.


It was then on to the Louvre; I was a little bummed because we did not get to see any of the really ancient stuff -- so no Code of Hammurabi:( However, they did allow photographs, which really surprised us. It was just a highlight tour, which meant we got to see Venus, Mona Lisa, and the Winged Victory. We also saw a few of the slaves that Michaelangelo sculpted for a pope's tomb (one of the Piuses, I think), and we got to see the rest of them when we saw the David in Florence. The big bummer, though, was that all of the "modern" art is in the Musee d'Orsey. This meant no Monet or Van Gogh for me. Had it not been for the fact that I got to see these classic works of art, I don't think I would have wanted to go into the Louvre. It was PACKED. I don't think they believe in following fire codes. It was enough to almost make me have a panic attack.




After the Louvre, we went to Monmarte, because it was on a hill -- we got another great view of Paris. We had lunch at a little cafe, and the birds here were insanely tame. Birds would fly in and out of the restaurant, eating crumbs off the floor. One actually clipped me in the head with its wings or feet. There were still a bunch of artists that set up shop in the center of this area.

That night, it was on to the Moulin Rouge. The food wasn't that great, and the show started to drag. It might have been helpful had it not be in French. We had no clue what they were singing about. During the circus portion of the show, there was a mini horse that looked like it was ready to escape. I hoped it would go nutty and do so, but no such luck.

This was really the end of our time in Paris, which was a really sobering thought. I really loved it and am ready to go back. There's just so much to see that we didn't get to go to -- like Notre Dame and the Musee de Orsey. It's a clean New Orleans, and it might have taken over New Orleans' spot as my favorite place.

More things to cross off that stupid list

What's this a picture of?

My DIY bustle.

I first attempted to do a one-point over bustle and then I got impatient with it and said screw it. So, now it is a bastardized version of an underbustle. Point is, it serves its purpose and isn't too hard to put up. Sorry the photo is not so great; this is what happens when Jeremy has the digital camera at work and I'm at home.

It reminded me how much I detest sewing. But, thankfully my grandmother attempted several times to teach me how to quilt, so I can do the basics every once in awhile.

I did find a favor box kit at Michael's, and it's going to be easy to put together. So Jeremy's going to be recruited to help put these together. The hardest part will be me trying to not kill the printer for the labels, which will just have a big "k" on them.

I also found a hairstyle I like. It won't be what I'm doing for my bridals on Friday, but I do want something similar for the actual day. This picture doesn't show it, but the tiara goes before the "bump" and part of it is under the part that's pulled back. The veil goes behind the "bump." I liked it because it was a little different but is still curly and is partially pulled back.

A roller-coaster week

This has been one emotionally crazy week.

Last weekend I realized that my dress was supposed to be done at the end of January. Being that it was a month later, and I hadn't heard from the alterations lady, I was a bit nervous.

Monday, I called. All I got was: You have wrong number.

I was scared out of my mind. Being six weeks away from the wedding, there was NO way I could order a new one and have it get here on time. In my panic, I started looking online for a back-up plan. Luckily, J. Crew had one that was very similar, even though it was twice the price of mine. Jeremy was nice enough to offer to pay for it if I did have to get a new one.

Tuesday, I rushed to Gulf Breeze to check on it. It was there; it was OK; it just wasn't done. She told me it would be another week. Rational thought returned to my brain. I celebrated by buying a new pair of Birkenstocks for my rehearsal dinner dress (although I did seriously contemplate buying a pair of black Rainbows for it).

Wednesday, I met with the reception hall people and set up the menu (chicken and pasta with sugar snap peas and a salad), so that was taken care of and was extremely easy and painless.

Friday, I realized I had a voice mail after school. My dress was done! I rushed back to Gulf Breeze, got it, rushed home, tried it on, and it's perfect! IT doesn't have a bustle yet because she doesn't ever do wedding dresses but did mine because it was plain and only needed hemmed. However, I have figured out a way to do it myself either involving a safety pin on the inside with the existing ribbon or sewing in another ribbon to tie it together. This wedding is really making me into Martha Stewart. But considering I will pay less than $60 for alterations and the bustle, which usually costs people about the cost of my dress, I'm quite OK with that.

Today I had my first run-in with using a new last name. We were at Barnes & Noble, and Jeremy decided that pre-ordering the last Harry Potter online wasn't going to work. So, as I started filling out the form, I realized that when it comes out in July, I will no longer be Beth Evans. Writing Beth Knipper felt really odd. It's going to take some getting used to ...

Serve it up

I managed to find a great deal on a Lenox cake serving/cutting set. It was half off, so it was a big savings over the really fancy Swarovski set. But it still looks decent. Plus, it gave me something else to cross off the list, which is always nice.

And, now I'm enjoying getting the rsvps in the mail. They're a lot more exciting than the credit card solicitations or the bills. The other exciting thing is that items have been fulfilled on the registry. So to whomever bought a crockpot and breadmaker, thank you. I'm now playing the game of "hmm ... who would buy this for me?"

Let them eat cake

We officially have the cake. We woke up early this morning and headed down to J's, where Jeremy promptly ate all the white icing off the sample pieces and I gorged myself on the cream cheese frosting. Mmm, frosting. Of course, i was a little caked out because of yesterday, and cake at 9 a.m. is smidge to early for me.

But, it didn't take long to get it all figured out. It will be like the picture I posted earlier with some tweaks. The bow on top won't stick up as much because there's going to be some cascading roses and calla lillies on it. The bow will also be champagne colored for contrast and it will have real icing, not fondant.

And Jeremy and I are discovering vendors like us because we know what we want and we don't take much time. The cake lady said she'll get people who have no clue what they want and it will take two hours to figure things out.

I'm just glad we weren't like the girl who was before us this morning. She had a HUGE binder with each page in a plastic protector and was going to have 400 guests. My binder has like three sheets in it and none of them are protected. Nor do I have anywhere near 400 guests. Personally, I like simple.

Yum, yum and more yum

I had grand plans to go get the cake contract done and over with Saturday. And, of course, there were no meeting times for Saturday -- it was a slightly selfish plan because it meant more cake for me on my birthday:) Anyway, I did get an appointment for Sunday ....... at 9 a.m. But, with any luck we will have a baker that will make us the one cake flavor Jeremy likes (so the groom's cake will actually be mine because I have a feeling I am going to need chocolate that day). And I will also get plenty of cake this weekend:)

Also, the rehearsal dinner will no longer be at McGuires:( They are not cool and don't like Friday/Saturday reservations. But, it will probably be at Hemingways, which has some nummy, nummy food too.

And now I've made myself hungry so I need to go find something that isn't chocolate frosting.

Now for the most important part

I am most excited about the cake. Of course, I'm a little sad that Jeremy only likes white or yellow cake with white frosting (although he has kinda agreed to try buttercream frosting ... mmm, buttercream). But still, it's cake, and I will be happy.
I've kinda let Jeremy take the reins on this part. Of course, part of it was by accident, but he got excited about it so I said OK.
We do know that we'll go with J's for the cake because it's the only place's cake Jeremy will eat (and this is why I won't make him cake or cupcakes anymore.). And, Jeremy even somehow managed to pick the look he liked while I was perusing some bio on The Knot. He liked it because it looks like a present. I really hadn't given much thought to what the cake looked like because I'm more concerned with what it tastes like.
Then, there was the question of a cake topper. I had liked the idea of having a "K" as one, but then, I got an even better idea while dusting last week.
As another nod to Jeremy's love of "Star Wars," we're going with Han Solo and Princess Leia figurines. The nice part about this one is that we just have to get the Han one, which I just found on eBay, because we already have Leia.
We may be geeks, but at least we're both geeks so we understand each other:)