A Bit of France

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior! Several times throughout the holiday season, I intended to post, but just never got around to it! I guess I was having so much fun enjoying quality time with friends & family that I was too busy living life to write about it! Truman and I had a wonderful first married Christmas! I enjoyed some much needed time at home with my family, and all of the Christmas tradition that came with it! I am thankful that I was blessed to grow up in a family with many traditions, especially around the holidays, that hold sweet memories for me. In addition to all of the fun Christmas festivities like driving around town to check out Christmas lights, baking Christmas cookies and watching some of my favorite holiday movies, we ate a lot, played my brother's new Guitar Hero until our fingers were tired (mine at least, not Trumans!), and pulled out some old family movies (which Truman got a real kick out of!)

Another fun and unexpected surprise came of my time in Ohio! Back in 2001, I spent part of my summer studying in Europe. I saw 5 countries and numerous cities and loved every second of it! Paris was one of my favorite parts of the trip, though with only a couple of days, my stay there seemed much too short! The afternoon that I visited Notre Dame, I spent some time wandering along the River Seine and checked out some of the local artists that set up along the river to paint. I purchased a black and white oil painting on canvas from one of the artists to take back home. Since I was living with my parents at the time, I didn't have a place to hang it and we stored it in the basement with some of my other belongings until I moved out and had my own blank walls to fill with art. When the time came for me to pack up and move, we were unable to find my painting. I knew it was somewhere in the house, but even after several years it hadn't turned up. While I was home for Christmas, my mom came up the stairs and said, "I have a surprise for you...guess what I found?" It didn't even occur to me until I saw the rolled up canvas tied with a black ribbon that she had found my painting. It fits perfectly with the colors and decor of our new house and I can't wait to frame it and find the perfect spot for it!


The same day that my mom gave me the missing French painting, I headed out to finish up some last minute Christmas shopping. While searching for gifts, I happened upon this t-shirt and it was too perfect to pass up. This girl loves all things French & vintage, so it was an obvious must-have, on a very appropriate day!


I have some fun things to share coming up this weekend. I took a few before shots today and am looking forward to sharing the "after" shots tomorrow! I also have a little project I've been working on this week that I'm looking forward to blogging about. Stay tuned...