Thursday, July 23, 2009

Vegas

Mark and I went to Las Vegas at the end of June for Amy and Dave's wedding. Mark and I went to Auburn with Amy and she ended up here in Memphis and met and fell in love with Dave...and they got engaged last Christmas and started planning their wedding in Vegas. Dave is a doctor but loves to fly and loves airplanes - and owns several. Mark spends some of his free time out at the airport hanging out with the guys - it's just a fun group of people that have expensive toys! About 55 met out in Vegas to hang out for several days around this wedding. Mark and I made it out there Saturday morning, the day of the wedding, and stayed through Monday night. It was a great trip and a gorgeous wedding!

Saturday night we stayed at Planet Hollywood which is right across the street from The Bellagio - where the wedding was. Planet Hollywood was really nice, very modern and chic....loud and young.

Our private cabana for the day - everyone hung out here through the day before the wedding

The flowers in the garden area off the lobby at The Bellagio were gorgeous!

The lobby of The Bellagio

The area to the right of the picture is where the wedding took place



Amy and Dave getting married - and if you notice, we were right off the water where the fountain show is....as soon as they were pronounced husband and wife, there was a special fountain show for them. It was really cool!

View of Vegas from Amy and Dave's suite






When Mark and I got back to our room....this was down the hall....I guess he had a little too much of Vegas?




Mark was in Civil Air Patrol in Maryland with Alisha and she now lives in Vegas with her husband, Mike and their 2 kids (and one on the way). We met them for dinner at Paris and sat outside and enjoyed the wonderful food and had a front row seat to watch the fountain show across the street and people watch - Vegas is the best place to people watch!

The coolest thing in Vegas - they go off every 20 minutes and dance to a different song each time. The last show is midnight and it's always to the Star Spangled Banner


Sunday we moved down the strip to The Venetian - very nice!!! The rooms were incredible - 3 flat screen tvs and very plush furniture and comfy bed. I could have stayed here for a long time!



Madame Tussuad's was museum was connected to The Venetian and they brought MJ outside - he died just a couple of days before we were there. People were lined up to take pics of his wax body - when we walked by, no one was there, so we stopped for a quick pic

Our trip is over...heading back to the airport and back to reality!

Mark left about 6 hours before I did....so I got to watch them taxi and takeoff


Monday, July 20, 2009

Honfleur...a perfect and quaint little town!

We spent the entire morning and afternoon in this quaint little fishing port called Honfleur. It was perfect! The weather was wonderful - very nice and cool and a gorgeous day to walk around and experience this perfect town in the Normandy region. Many painters have captured this town on canvas and is familiar in art galleries around the world. After Eric (our tour guide) showed us some of the highlights of Honfleur, we were on our own the rest of the day. Many of us took our time walking in and out of the little shops and found some great things to bring home with us. It was a perfect day!
Pont de Normandie - cable-stayed bridge that was opened in 1995 to connect Honfleur with Le Havre. One of the little shops that sold Calvados - an apple brandy that is made from apples from the Normandy region. Eric arranged for us to go inside and the owner had a sample for anyone that wanted to try....I have pictures of some of those that tasted, but I won't incriminate them just yet. Mark and I have a pork chop and apple recipe and we might try adding some of this while the apples are sauteing - yes, I bought a bottle.


Carousel built in 1900 - it was lovely!

This hotel was right at the edge of town and had a gorgeous view of the town - I could have stayed there several days!
Cathy and Mandy in Honfleur
This church was built at the end of the 15th century by shipbuilders. It still remains France's largest wooden church.

Mom, Cleo and Faye enjoyed their seafood lunch here



This shop was incredible - filled with lovely linens and china, light fixtures and door knobs. It kind of reminded me on Anthropologie - which is why I probably loved it so much.


Another gorgeous day in France!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Paris

I am finally getting around to posting "some" of my Paris pictures. It's so hard to believe that this trip has already come and gone. It was a wonderful trip with fabulous ladies and I can't wait to plan our next one!!
A windmill tucked behind some trees on our walk up to Montmarte
Sunset from Montmarte - it was truly stunning that night
Sacre Coeur - one of the things that Montmarte district is well known for. It's also considered one of the most famous night club districts and it's extremely well known for all the famous artists that have lived and worked in this area - Salvador Dali, Picasso, Monet, and van Gogh.
The Ritz Carlton Paris - where Princess Diana stayed
The tunnel where Princess Diana's car crash happened

Notre Dame



This was our first day - we dropped our things at the hotel and headed straight for the Louvre. I thought Savannah and I looked pretty cute after being awake for so long and flying all night....