Our Last Days in France

Adam and I decided to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary by going down to the Dordogne, to a small village called Beynac for a night. We drove south for about 3 hours through beautiful hillsides to the river Dordogne. The photo above was the view of the village from our car, we were soooo excited to arrive before sunset in time for a long walk up the hill to the castle.
Below is a view of the village. We stayed in a place along the river... it was fantastic! After a 5 course meal we were so thankful for French food: foie gras, pumpkin soup, cote de boeuf, a whole cheese course, and creme brulee! Oh and don't forget the wine!!!
We stayed in the hotel shown below, our room was above the bar... with a view of the river, amazing!

Our walk to the castle....

Chateau were everywhere! They dotted the hillside, and we couldn't even figure out which was which! The one above was occupied by the French during the 100 Years War, the one below in the foreground was occupied by the British during the same time. They never really had a "battle" in the area... they just spent their time watching each other from across the river :).
I love seeing Adam climbing the hills on our walk below, it was so fun to have the whole village to ourselves... I definitely recommend traveling in November!

I can't help but post a few photos of our fashion shoot... I love Adam in the background below, waiting on the women! I think it was all worth the wait!!!
Amanda... you are amazing :)!
We were so thankful to Linda for her hot water bottle, she kept Amanda warm throughout the photo shoots, you can see the top of it in the photo below... I always felt so guilty taking it away from her, like taking her baby away :).
We leave France on Monday, sad to leave but thankful for all the great memories... we will be back!

Oh how we love France!

Adam took this shot of Amanda (our model) in Paris, I am in the crowd somewhere taking photos, but she lost track of me amongst all of the flashes! It was amazing to see everyone gather around us everywhere we went... we were quite a spectacle! Below is the photo that I shot at the same time.

We really had fun at night, poor Amanda was freezing... these are a few of our photos... we have shot almost 10,ooo so far, wow!
Arriving at the chateau was heaven, just what we needed after the craziness of Paris! Thank goodness for great food, beautiful scenery and perfect weather!
We have been sitting outside as much as possible, as it is actually warmer outside than in! Linda has made us some amazing bouquets for our wedding setups. I loved how she went off on her bike to find everything... we are so thankful for her creativity!!
Our first night at the chateau was our first of many feasts... accompanied by Cognac and Pineau.

This was one of my favorite days so far, Amanda looked amazing, and the whole feel of the shoot was perfection... Midsummer Night's Dream in France!
Once our friends Michelle and Claude arrived we headed down to the caves, we were able to go farther under the property than ever before. Usually they are flooded, but this time we actually walked almost 1 mile underground! Amazing... and scary!


Chateau life is just so great... I can't get over the light here...

Even I got to play dress up :)... Thanks to Erin for all the amazing makeup and hair, she is so talented!!!
Below on the left is a sarcophagus from the Merovingien times... there are actually bones inside still! So cool!
We girls had so much fun playing dress up... with wigs and all. I felt like I was a little girl again!
Erin was fantastic, I think she should consider a career in modeling!
Thank goodness for our guys, putting up with our fun... what good sports they were... LOVE Michelle's afro :).
It was a treat to have Michelle and Claude drive over from Switzerland, they brought chocolate and real fondue to share! It was amazing!!!!!!
We went to the market today and tried wine and cider (at 11:30am). When in France...

We picked out squash, and leeks for our soup... and we are having escargot and frog legs tomorrow!

Our First Day!

Today we had a great first day in Paris! It was such a beautiful day we decided to wander to our favorite park, the Jardin du Luxembourg. On the way we stopped for yummy espressos for Adam and I and hot chocolates for Michelle and Jackie.
The fountain above (La Fontaine des Medicis) is a favorite of mine, and with all the leaves and fall flowers it was as beautiful as ever, I still can't believe we're here again!

It is so nice to have friends around to take photos of Adam and I... we don't have very many of the two of us! Thanks Michelle :) (check out her blog for more photos of Paris and our first day.)


The tree above was so cool, it was being held up by the wood support on the left... and still growing strong.
After our walk we stopped at another cafe for drinks and treats. Jackie got the yummy Manhattan above and it was so good we decided the extra orange rind was the perfect twist.
Now we are sitting around our studio apartment listening to great music... thanks to Rob for letting us borrow his Bose!!!
What a great day... J'aime Paris :)

Going to France

Yippie, we are in Paris.... here is a photo of our last moments in Seattle. Poor Maddie could tell something was going on, and she wasn't too happy about it. Thankfully she is in good hands with my parents, and Adam and I had a fantastic flight (our first non stop trip to Europe and now we never want to do it any other way!)

Darcy, Grant and Hazel

Adam and I had a great day... we got to meet Hazel, Darcy and Grant's one month old little girl. They came to our house today for Hazel's first official photo shoot, it was absolutely amazing to see them both as parents. I couldn't stop taking pictures :)

I met both of them at Willamette, Darcy and I were "pair partners" (I rowed right behind her) on the crew team, we shared many early mornings together.

Maddie constantly wanted to lick Hazel, it was so cute... and I loved Grant's hands holding Hazel's little head.

Thank you both for sharing this precious time with us, congratulations!