Day 1- Paris

Tuesday afternoon we arrived in Paris. Our hotel was just a 5 minute walk from Trocadero which offers a great view of the Eiffel Tower.


We quickly unpacked and headed towards Trocadero and some food.. the airplane tuna pasta salad wasn't all that good..

Instead some of the softest chicken I've ever eaten.. yummm...

We couldn't walk straight through, policemen waving us the other way, so around we went, wondering why..

Got around the building and caught our first glance :)

Also figured out why the diversion.. the World Cup football. Huge screen and France playing against the hosting South Africa.

Sadly France lost that game and was out of the cup.. main news on every single news channel that night. Football is a big thing in France.

There were smaller Eiffel towers everywhere.

Wow.

A quick glance to the river Seine..

..and then looking back up.

Hmmm.. I still think it looks like it's been built from meccano toys :)

Well...18,038 pieces of iron and two and a half million rivets anyway...

The Eiffel Tower was originally built to be a entry archway to the 1889 World fair, it was supposed to be temporary.
It is 324 meters tall and I must say quite impressive seen live.

(Saara took this pic)

We continued walking on along the Seine.


Loved the rooftop gardens.

..it was windy and we walked for quite a while.. LOL!

We crossed the river along the Pont Alexander III, gorgeous bridge.

More prettiness.

Every building has so many amazing details.

We turned left and while wondering on what street we were on, we came across this cute parisian.

(the Finns reading this will get a giggle out of this restaurant name)

By this time I had realized we were indeed walking on the Champs-Élysées.

A cool detail in the Disney store.

Crossing the avenue saw the Arc de Triomphe.

We crossed the street for this.

Apparently you are not allowed to take photos inside, but I had no clue. And nobody told me to put my camera away. Lucky me.

Amazing pastries is what you'll find inside.

We picked up a little something for later.

The Louis Vuitton store had a line outside, not that I wanted to go inside. I'm not keen on overpriced luggage with someone else's initials all over them.

But the window was beautiful.

Did I mention every building was beautiful?

See, that sounds just so much better than "Subway".

I've never seen so many Smart cars and scooters, crazy traffic and even crazier parking. Or as many men in suits in the metro, or scooters. My favorite was a guy in a very smart suit on a black scooter wearing a pink Hello Kitty helmet :D

Is this a weird key or what?

So what did we pick up?

..mmm.. macaroons...

Now to edit some more photos... :)

Our Disnelyland day next.

We're back!

We had a great time.

Once I get around to going through my nearly 700 photos, I'll give you a day by day account of our goings on.

For a taste I give you this night time photo of the Eiffel tower...

..and just how many photos can you take of this landmark?

I'll tell you.

Stay tuned :)

Inspiroidu #113- breathtakingly beautiful

For me that was the amazsing frist that lingered on and on last winter..

I finally got a chance to use that My Mind's Eye rub on title I've been hanging on to :)

Inspiroidu #112- go raid the kitchen cupboard

..for some materials, that is :)

-sweetness-

I used paper muffinliners and baking paper on this page.

..and some glitter..

*grin*

Happiness is...being on vacation

Like it?
See it?
On the window...

I got the vinyl text sticker from Etsy. I thought it was the perfect tongue in cheek thing to have in our sauna :)

Happiness is also a pile of freshly ironed napkins.

I confess in being a self proclaimed napkin geek.

Pretty things in bloom.. I've waited for this baby to bloom for two summers and finally!


Saturday brought us stormy winds.
The flower petals from my horse chestnut tree were billowing in the wind like giant snowflakes.


Saara came home from camp. It all went well, she made new friends and passed her classes so her confirmation is now officially on August 7th. Which coincidentally is our 17th anniversary. We have a big party to plan. I need to send out the invites before our flight..

10 minutes in the door and she was on facebook :P

I bought something fun the other day..

glow in the dark paint!

Julia's been over a few times. She's now practically running around the place, can say no while shaking her head (which consequently makes everyone laugh) and loves playing peek a boo with her cousins who compete on who can make her giggle the most.

She also discovered the joys of toy food. She spent time happily stirring small pieces of wooden pasta in a pot and seasoning it with ketchup..

She's also a big fan of the matriuska dolls we have.

This is what I have been waiting for all week..

It was open this morning!

And yesterday I cought this neon green little bitty bug on my first peony.

The weather's been cool and rainy, but I've used it as a good time to make minis for the fair in July and caught up on the 1st season of Flashforward.

The flight?

yes, I've also been busy planning our trip to Paris :)

We leave on tuesday.. our hotel is five minutes from the Eiffel tower..

Inspiroidu #111- tissue or crepepapers

The title this time is a word play in Finnish with a reference to a movie title.. really hard to translate..sorry :)

I used some turqoise crepe paper for a pretty trim under the title..

Last week

Was insanely busy.
The last week of school always is.
Busy, BUSY, b.u.s.y., stressful, you have a million things to finish/do/remember and usually your brain comes to a tilt about 11am.. flatlining from there on..lol!

We had class trips (took the 1st graders for a nice picnic), rehearsals, rehearsals, rehearsals, we got to see a 3D Moomin movie, divine service, rehearsals, rehearsals, rehearsals, spring parties, graduations..


During all that I managed to forget my nice jacket not once but TWICE! On Tuesday to a department store dressing room (remember what I said about brain function after 11am?), luckily they found it and I got it back, and on Friday to the afternoon club..


I didn't have energy to cook or do laundry..

I was so happy when my friend called and asked if she could drop by and show me her new fish-eye lens.. ooohhh.. what a fun toy! Hi there, it's me and my shadow :)

We even had a visit from my bro's family and Niina and Julia had a peek a boo game. The little one learned to walk last week also!

Saturday meant the last day of school. The girls got excellent report cards, I got some pretty flowers and even a bottle of bubbly (now there's a mom who knew what I'd like). Sang our last choir performances and exited the building.

I had several friends from work come by for a barbecue and we had a grand old time laughing, eating and drinking (bubbly, naturally).

I will leave you with an image of my new badge of honor :D

25 days edition six

1. 7_5, 2. 8_5, 3. 9_5, 4. 10_5, 5. 11_5, 6. 12_5, 7. 13_5, 8. 14_5, 9. 15_5, 10. 16_5, 11. 17_5, 12. 18_5, 13. 19_5, 14. 20_5, 15. 21_5, 16. 22_5, 17. 23_5, 18. 24_5, 19. 25_5, 20. 26_5, 21. 27_5, 22. 28_5, 23. 29_5, 24. 30_5, 25. 31_5

Inspiroidu #110 - toys

-fairy tales-
(click to see bigger)

..and yes.. apparently I put on that quote label on crooked.. ha! I might fix that.. or not.. you never know..

Niina's favorites right now are the Littlest Pet Shop animals. Even with their disproportional big heads they are way cuter that the Bratz dolls ;)
And apparently she doesn't have enough of these.. kind of like I don't have enough nice lenses for my camera.. I can relate.

I used one of my favorite old KI Memories papers on the background.
And Niina even let me have one of her LPS stickers for this page.