Drunk Pumpkins

We are totally doing this on our front entry way for Halloween. Funny...! This way with all the pumpkin guts already splatted out on the stairs, we won't need to worry about any teenagers snatching them in the night and splatting them on the street.

Le Panier - Very French Bakery

My good friend at our ad agency brought in a very French surprise for me today during our weekly project status meeting, to welcome me back from vacation. She found those amazing French macaroons right here in Seattle at Le Panier in Pike's Place Market. I've heard of this French bakery before, but never put two and two together that they would sell the amazing macaroons. It was such a fun treat. I had my favorite "Pistache" one, as well as a orange curd one. YUM! This was very thoughtful and unexpected. I even saved half of them for Holly. Mai Li, thank you! That was very thoughtful of you.

Not So Green

I'm the proud new owner of a monthly parking pass down in South Lake Union for work. I decided to take my division executive up on her offer for a monthly parking pass & stall. My building already has a wait list, but she held on to two stalls for "unforseen issues and growth." Apparently, there has been some behind my back gambling on how long I'd last taking public transportation. The bets were that I'd last 30 days tops. A colleague in my office won $30.00 since she stated I'd last for one quarter and have a "Dan Meltdown." I guess my colleagues know me all to well since they spend over 8 hours a day with me. She was right, I lasted three months and 3 days on public transportation and am VERY MUCH looking forward to the convenience of the car and driving into work again. Holly will also benefit from this, as we'll be commuting in together and she'll also get to fore go taking the bus to/from work. I guess we will have to minimize our carbon footprint by some other means. I am completely fine with being high maintenance.

Chateau Versailles

First off I need to say that the day trip to Versailles was amazing, and I loved it. In the hall of mirrors, the only thing I could concentrate on...was my intense desire to have some outlandishly expensive and gaudy suit on, and a powdered wig four feet tall off my bald head, so I could run around and admire how I looked in all the mirrors, and bark orders at all my servants. All the while, thinking about how many candles would have been in this place, and out running any angry Parisians who wanted to chop my head of in the make shift guillotine in the huge court yard.


The very impressive Chateau Versailles.


Holly and I, Steve and Kelly overlooking the Orangerie.


The King and Queen of America looking ever so dapper...


Beautiful sculpture, a huge topiary of sorts.


Beautiful manicured gardens.


Romanesque columns and architectural accents, very beautiful.


More sculptural shrubberies.


Holly in her royal chariot.


Doing the epitome of American Laziness, by strolling around the gardens in the rented golf cart. Once we all figured out how big the impressive palace gardens were, we all thought..."There is no way in H, we are going to walk this all on foot!"


Steve's noggin, and Kelly laughing.


The King and Queen of America reprise.

Chateau Versailles was amazing. After a few train direction mishaps, we finally made it, and it proved to be one of the best experiences from my perspective that we had. Spending 30 Euros on a golf cart rental was the BEST expense of the trip.

France Vacation, Day 11

I've been "forbode" from giving a day-by-day recap of vacation, so I'll skip RIGHT to day 11. This would be the day we went through rolls upon rolls of toilet paper. The food poisoning gods unleashed their horror on Kelly after a less than favorable chicken schwarma experience for lunch. We all ate it, but for some reason she got sick from it. The last few days in Nice were chalked up to "too many people, not enough things open on the sabbath, and lots and LOTS of trips to the restrooms." I had a bit more mercy with my bowels, but Kelly by far gets the award for using the most toilet paper. I'll need to think of a fun prize for her.

Experiencing Art

We were able to go to some great museums and some not so great while in France. One of which of course was the Louvre. I must say it was quite the disappointment. The outside was great, the lobby was promising, but as we followed the signs to the Mona Lisa things got progressively worse. Once we finally arrived to the top floor all the lighting was harsh and florescent which made it hard to see the artwork and really hard for me to concentrate at all. Basically we saw 2 things and left spending no more than 1 hour.





Of course it didn't help that we had a very long day leading up to the Louvre. Our feet were so tired!



So, after that let down, I was excited that we were able to go to Versailles and see some unexpected and fun art. Of course when you think of Versailles you think of the hall of mirrors and some old paintings on walls. Well, I was surprised and so pleased to find an exhibit there of modern sculptures by Jeff Koons mixed in and around the old and ornate rooms. I loved it!







I also really enjoyed the brightly colored walls in each of the rooms.




The Rodin gardens were also one of my favorite spots we visited.







While we were in Nice we went to the Matisse Museum. I really enjoyed this, probably so much because Nice had been such a disappointment so far. The town was so touristy it was nice to take the bus away from the main chaos and immerse ourselves in art.






Another of my favorites had to be the Picasso Museum in Antibes. I loved the outdoor sculptures the most.







For as disappointing as Monaco was they did have a good art moment. Outside one of the casinos was a piece by Anish Kapoor who I'm a big fan of.



I also found art on the streets which is one of my favorite things about Europe.

The Food of France

I love taking pictures of the fabulous meals I'm able to enjoy as we travel. Take a look at some of my favorite bites.

This is our first meal in our Paris apartment.



At the Rodin Museum. That's a yummy piece of citron cake that was eaten with that cute tiny spoon.



Other goodness.





Okay the next two are not "food" but they are related :)




This is Socca the Nice specialty. Basically it is a Chickpea pancake with olive oil and salt and pepper. It may look gross, but it's really good.



See. Kelly likes it.



(And no, those of you that are freaked out by the Day 1, Day 2 posts, we will not be giving a blow by blow account of what we did. From now on, consider these the highlights!)