madcation

  

the Madison farmer's market blows my small town one outta the water.

I think that every year around this time of summer, I write about how I don't want summer to end and I don't understand how other bloggers can be writing about fall fashion and fall baking and soups -- things that are the furthest from my mind. I try to hold onto the end as tight as I possibly can. And if that means escaping two hours south to Madison for the weekend then that is what I have to do.

Our weekend in Madison was the exact ending to summer that we both needed -- it was full of food, drinks, television, naps, walks, bike rides, pictures, exploring, and driving together. perfect.

p.s. If you are my facebook friend or follow me on instagram, you'll have already seen my other Madison pictures. But, if you are interested: instagram (@projectsimplelife) #madcation

his + hers: christmas gifts

Before we wrap up 2011, put it behind us as just a memory, and start rolling in 2012, I wanted to share what Chad and I got each other for Christmas. Because...it's eerily scary how similar we thought when buying these gifts for one another.

Chad and I don't do Christmas gifts big and plentiful -- usually it's just one gift that we share or one gift that I buy for myself and one gift that he buys himself (see last year's: kitchenaid mixer and new golf clubs). Nothing too complicated or expensive because a) we like simplicity and detest standing in lines in December and b) I'm a working college student living on a budget.

This year's gifts reflected our trip to Paris and London that we took in July/August. We made so many memories during this trip and took plenty of pictures, too. But we each (unknowingly to the other) chose something special from the trip to give the other.

Hers to him: On the first full day we were in Paris, we had dinner with my cousin and her husband who live in Germany and work for the Air Force. Before we left the states on our trip, we arranged to meet up with them somewhere to have dinner. Little did we know that we would meet at Chez Georges (which is a fancy restaurant in close distance to the Lourve // read an npr review here). We ate incredible cheeses, drank French wine and ate entrees that were covered in béarnaise sauce.

After spending several hours talking and drinking, we knew we didn't want to leave them so early, so we jumped at the chance to spend more time together and took the train down to the Eiffel Tower. This was the first time we had seen the Eiffel up close, so Chad and I were pretty giddy. We took turns with the camera and Chad took the above shot.

For his gift, I blew it up to 8 x 10, changed it to black and white and set it in this thrifted frame I found at my favorite local thrift store.

His to her: That same cousin of mine told me that while we stayed in London, I should try a Strongbow and Blackcurrant. Of course me being the tourist who is easily impressioned ordered one the very first night we were there in our hostel above the pub. Then a tradition was born -- every night after we were done wandering in London stopping at all the sites, we would come back to our hostel, change into our comfy clothes and go down to the pub where we would watch cricket (or attempt to understand cricket), eat pizza, charge our phones, and plan for the next day. Every night we did this -- I would always get a Strongbow and Blackcurrant while Chad ordered whatever interesting ale or beer that he could find.

Chad wanted to surprise me with  this drink for Christmas and set out to find some in our local stores.Well, funny thing about Blackcurrant -- you can't find it in the United States. (Well, maybe it just doesn't exist in Wisconsin). He found some on (where else) Amazon and told me if a package arrives not to open it. Then, one day after work, I come home and Chad tells me to sit down, close my eyes, and take a sip of something. I was pleasantly surprised to find my drink... my London drink, sitting right in front me just as if we were sitting in our pub in London.

Do share: what did you get your mister this Christmas? And what did you get from him? :)

a very london giveaway.

On the second-to-last full day we were in London, we did a little shopping. The morning was spent at Buckingham Palace wiping tears away when staring at Kate Middelton's dress (truly...does that make me the biggest sap in the world?). But, the afternoon was spent doing a little shopping on Regent Street -- which is exactly what Chad wanted to do! ... kidding. (I'll explain our deal in a later post.)

We started walking down the street looking for one store in particular -- Liberty of London:

Is this the very first picture of our trip that I'm showing you all? Eek...must remedy that soon.

This street is right in the middle of a shopper's dream (near Picadilly Circus and Oxford Cricus) and has the best of the best when it comes to quality shopping. Which means, of course, that we went to two stores and stayed in the 'affordable' section. Right when you walk into Liberty, they have all the stationary + notebooks. (Then you walk through the doors and they have the really expensive stuff -- the vintage Alexander McQueen and the Stella McCartney). I overheard one girl mention that she thought this area was "the Liberty of London gift shop". Girl, you might be right, but I was still squealing to Chad: "Look at this notebook!" "Oooh, look at these adorable stamps!"

But while we were there, I picked up some things ... for you. I wanted to find some souvenirs while we were over there not only for myself + Chad, but for a blog friend as well!

Call this giveaway what you will: a belated birthday giveaway, a beating the post-adventure blues giveaway, an almost-end-of-the-summer giveaway, a 101 followers giveaway, or a culmination of all four. It's my way of spreading the vacation joy to one of you. And to say, "Thank you for coming by my blog!" Here's what one lucky blog reader will receive:

From Liberty of London:
01. Two rolls of polka-dot masking/washi tape.
02. Eight studio pegs designed and made by Sarah Hough.
03. Two mini notebooks, back to school style, by Cavallini & Co. (very similar to these.)

In addition to the goodies I snagged in London, I wanted to find a little more Liberty love. So when we got home, I scoured etsy and beefed up this giveaway a little bit. The winner will also receive:
04. Liberty of London fabric pack (from alice caroline supply).
05. Liberty of London fabric magnets (from misschief).

This bundle of 5 pretty sweet goodies will be sent to one of you! If you are interested, please comment with an answer to a question of mine:

How are you spending these last few weeks of "lazy-crazy-hazy days of summer"?  

This giveaway is open until Monday, August 22nd and the winner will be announced Tuesday, August 23rd. As a special thanks to my readers -- if you are a follower, you can leave an additional comment letting me know you follow. :)

P.S. The question was inspired by this clip of Gilmore Girls. :)

post-vacation jumble.

I honestly have no idea where to start. How does one bounce back into the daily grind and the 9-545 schedule after a trip like the one I had? So many people have asked us "What was your favorite part?" or "What did you like the best?" and I really don't know how to answer that. How can I make the answer simple enough so that it doesn't have traces of "haha, we went on a trip and you didn't"?

Because to us, we are still in post-vacation fog. It took us four complete days to recover from jet-lag, and blog/mail back-up. We are finally feeling like we have a handle on our daily life -- instead of having sensory overload like we did when we darted in and out of museums every day.

We still have the topic of recaping to discuss. So many family + friends (and you!) have been asking about the trip and the pictures. 1029 pictures doesn't seem like it would be that fun to rifle through, photoshop, and do a write-up of each picture. I don't think I have the energy to clock in all those man hours. But I do want to show you all. I want to go through all the pictures and tell you about the amazing experience that we had.

I just don't know how to go about it. How would you recap a trip? Tons of pictures + posts or edit it down? What do you want to see?

Later this week come back for a very London giveaway...

my bags are not packed, but I'm ready to go...

 

 image :: samuel owen gallery

 

I should have my bag packed. I should already have those darn cardigans washed. I should have my to-do list wiped clean and be satisfied and ready. I should spend the night going through the travel books highlighting the places of interest and learning a few more French phrases. But I'm not.  Instead I dyed my hair darker and painted my toenails cherry red last night. Instead I am spending my precious 35 minute break writing this post. Instead I'm soaking up the last day of the job before our vacation with my children (who love looking at our world map and pointing out where Miss Amanda's going to go). Instead I'm going to dinner with two fabulous + lovely girlfriends who will make me stress-free + help me giggle my stress away. Instead I'll be packing tonight into the late night with Chad and Cheers on Netflix.  Call me a procrastinator if you'd like...but it's how I roll. And that works for me :)

// An annoucement: Since I'll be gone for two weeks, and I would like you to stop by and visit my blog while I'm gone, I have some guest bloggers coming by and keeping watch over my blog. While my in-laws are picking up my mail and watering my plants, twelve ladies will be blogging on here. The theme of these guest posts will be: a traveler's love letter.  And after reading through all of them, I must say -- you are in for a treat! Get ready to travel around the world (first post goes up tomorrow!)

Au revoir, my beautiful friends!!

in disbelief.

The past several weeks when doing errands or just simply hanging around our living room, Chad and I have thought "at this time in Europe we'll be (here)" or "we'll be doing (this)". It really hasn't 'hit' either of us that we'll be sitting there, looking at the above monuments, taking our own pictures after one short week. (No more typing into Google 'Eiffel Tower' and copying + pasting the picture into a post, we'll get to take our own pictures.)

What we do know is that every time we talk about getting the chance to visit international cities in the next two weeks, we always recognize how lucky + blessed we are. It's easy for us to be excited (duh) but it's more difficult for us to remember that God is the one who provided us the funds + time in order to spend two remarkable weeks abroad.

We've been talking about when our trip will really hit us. When we'll really feel like "yeah, we are going to Paris and we are going to actually be standing there staring at the Mona Lisa". Could be saying good-bye to his parents on Saturday afternoon, could be sitting in our terminal in the middle of our pre-flight beer. Could be waiting in line at Heathrow for customs .... who knows. All I know is that right now, as the countdown is getting shorter, we are still in disbelief that we. are. going.

Will it ever truly hit us?

top five and a sidenote.

For as long as I've know her, Meghan at The Perfect Compilation Tape has created a little brightness at her space on Thursdays with her Top 5 Thursdays. This Thursdays topic of Top 5 Dream Vacations was too tempting to pass up, so I'm linking up to her.

I think the dream vacation that we are going to at the end of July (eek!) is about as dreamy as can be since we will be staying in Brussels, Paris, and London during our 10-day journey. Regrettably, we did have to cut some locations that were just too far away for us. We couldn't justify spending our precious hours on a train or plane for that long.

So if we had more time (and more money for that matter) here are the Top 5 European Vacation Stops We Would Add to Our Dream Vacation:

Rome, Italy

Berlin, Germany

Edinburgh, Scotland

Prague, Czech Republic

Vienna, Austria

You see?! There is no way we can get to all the places on our must-see list. We are so blessed with the chance to go on such an incredible honeymoon (as Chad likes to call it).

Link up with Meghan if you wish and share in all the wanderlust...

Sidenote: Before I close on this fun topic that Meghan dreamed up, I wanted to send out prayers to all those in the South who have had to go through this devastating series of tornadoes. (Click here for the full story from CNN.) I have never had to go through a weather-related experience like this, so I can only sympathize will all those who are without power, food, and a home today. Makes me all the more thankful to God that I do have these things today.

the one with the honeymoon recap

We're doing the wedding + honeymoon recap "Pulp Fiction" style {as Chad would say}.We'll start with the honeymoon and work our way back. We went up to Door County, WI and stayed in a charming little town called Ephraim, about a four-hour drive away from our city.

Before I start, here's a little throwback to my childhood {watch up to 0:30}:

I watched this with Chad last night, and he was giving me the "have you lost it?" look because I was laughing so hard. I used to say this to my sister whenever she would talk about her honeymoon :)

Starting off the picture reel is one of Chad and one of me, happy as clams. The whole week, you could tell we had just gotten married: we couldn't stop smiling. And it wasn't just "pose for pictures" smile that we had for some of the wedding pictures, it was "wow, we're so giddy and happy and in love" smiles.

Here are some shots of the signs around Washington Island that we saw while walking around. Yes, walking around. When we were boarding the ferry, we couldn't believe all the people that were paying 25.00 dollars to bring their cars on the ferry. Well, next time up there, we're going to be shelling out that car fee and doing the Washington Island experience right. The island is about 35 square miles and we just thought we'd go to the center of town and hang out there. The center of town consists of  the school, the senior center, and one open restaurant {which we of course ate at since the 2-mile hike there exhausted us}.  That almost 5-mile hike in nearly 8-year-old Puma sneakers caused the biggest blisters on both of Chad's feet. {Sorry if that felt like an over share, but hey, I want to give you the unedited version.}

Next I give you two of the most beautiful pictures I took there.
1st: the sun setting over Peninsula State Park.
2nd: the most calm lake I have ever seen in my life.

Note: we did more on our honeymoon than what these pictures show. We took 3 of our disposable cameras that weren't used up from the wedding, so a lot of our pictures are being developed right now. So in addition to this, I'll have to show you the most amazing pizza we ate, the quaint little coffee shop we went to, the fish boil we experienced, and the view of the trip up there.

Our four days in Door County was everything that we wanted out our honeymoon. Low-key. Relaxing. No Agenda. Jim Rome. Togetherness. Amazing views. Exactly the right time away. Fiestaware. Good Food. An easy first four days of married life.

Love,
Mr. & Mrs. H.

gorgeous.

The picture above has nothing to do with the words above, but I saw it when checking my reader this morning and couldn't stop staring at it. 

After an hour and 40 minute delay in Milwaukee this is all the oomph I can muster today.

The trip was unbelievable and I'll share some of our favorite pictures next week. If you'd like to get a recap sooner, check out Chad's twitter feed where you can see all of the beach, the sun, the eating, and the city.  I've still got to edit and delete some pictures this weekend, but I'll share them soon.

Right now, I'm thanking God that He allowed me to have both my afternoon classes be canceled (unfortunately both teachers have illness) so that I can catch up on homework, papers, lesson plans, and getting back into the swing of life.

I'm loving it here. {Note: I posted this the day before we left...I knew that I would be having a wonderful trip.}  I also know that I don't want to go back to Wisconsin and live like a snow bunny for the next month.

God's handwriting

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

For some reason, I can't stop looking at this picture today. I took it in August during our trip out West.  I love that the sunlight is peeking through the trees. Those trees. They filled me with such wonder and amazement when we were there. I remember this place being filled with peace+quiet. A place for us to stare and admire all that our Creator made. Many thanks go to Marta for finding Ralph's words and sharing them with all of us.

P.S. Laura, by the time you guys visit again, there will be a flash drive filled with our CA pictures waiting for E. 

our next voyage.

Has it really been that long since I last posted?! Three days might not seem like a long time, but after seeing everyone's New Year's resolution posts {which I loved reading, by the way} I feel like it's been ages since I last shared something with you.

I'm actually not at my house right now--instead I'm tucked away at my grandparent's house in MN until tomorrow morning. With this mini-vacation that I've been treated to, comes some unruly weather. In this part of Minnesota, the snow has been blowing and the wind has made the house creak as it passes through. It's just been a typical January here in the Midwest.

So why do I have pictures of a giant inflatable slide and a resort on this post?

Because at the end of February, Chad's family and I are taking a trip to St. Pete's Beach, FL for five days.  We're considering it a pre-honeymoon {albeit, with family} and a way to beat those dreaded mid-winter blues.

Now, you might think that this is a post all about how I'm going to be in Florida for five days and you're not...but I do have a genuine question:

Yay or Nay: Tanning Booths?

I've never been inside a tanning booth {or as Chad affectionately calls it-a "cancer coffin"} but I don't know of another quick way to darken my pale, pale Wisconsin skin...keep in mind, we only see the sun three months a year.

What do you guys do...lotion, booth, sprays? Do tell!

Up next for the Countdown to Sunshine: finding a new bathing suit {in the middle of winter}

P.S. Those pictures were copied from the resort we are staying at...we're insanely excited to go on the slide.

taking another trip

Recently, Chad's family has talked about taking a trip at the end of next February. They are looking into a resort right on the beach in Key West. I am totally on board since winter always seems to drag on at the end of February and spring hasn't arrived yet. It seems like the perfect time to go because it's right before spring break (when the beaches will be full) and we can have our own 'spring break' right before our wedding day. These beach images get me more and more eager to go:






top image from it's pretty good
middle image by htatephoto
last image by bomobob

sneak peek

I have so many pictures from our California trip (over 400), but I'll definitely put up the link when I'm done editing them. Here's a little sneak peek (I'm especially fond of the first one).

Cali-four-neeh-ah

We are going to be in California tomorrow! Try not to miss us too much, but while we are gone you'll get to enjoy some scheduled posts of mine {hopefully}. For right now, though, please feel free to enjoy the images above.

{Some more CA inspiration:}
*I'm definitely going to read "how to take better travel photographs".

*Sooo inspired by her. Especially her San Francisco category.

*Maybe when I come back, I'll be so inspired, I'll have to create a painting likethis.

*Something like this would be perfect for the car rides with baby U.

during the week

Have you ever taken a vacation during the week? I highly recommend it if you haven't. Two weeks ago, I along with my friends Shannon and Danielle, I went on a Wednesday afternoon and visited our friend Jenny. She's getting married in a little over two weeks and we all wanted one last girl sleepover before her wedding. It was so wonderful to eat Jenny's yummy peanut butter chicken stir fry, catching up and talking about weddings and marriage, spending the day at Elkhart Lake, and just simply being a girl and talking to some of my closest friends. You know you missed a great time when you look at these pictures I snapped:







Shannon, I can give you a copy of the last picture if you want:)