Sunset silhouette

The two year old nephew is at a hard stage in his little life. He doesn't want to go anywhere, but then once he is there, he doesn't want to leave. Though I do think we all have a bit of that in us no matter our age. Cutie, sweetie boy.

Return

A few years ago, my family was vacationing in Florida and my back got severely sunburned. My sister was kind enough to apply aloe vera to it morning and night. But she would call me "sunburned babers" all the time.

Well folks, sunburned babers has returned. This time on my arms and legs.

Now I'm going to eat some more avocado with lime, pepper and salt.

Four month babers

Loves having a serious face. Loves his giraffe. Loves his fist. Loves having his chubalub legs free.

Cavallini again

city guides

bought myself this notebook since i was just in a few of those places.

wrapping paper

frames from florence :)

flash cards

I never ever get sick of Cavallini & Co. Never ever.

(i know i've blogged about them before - but i love them!)

Liberty of London

I hope you have a chance to check out Liberty of London for Target. Everything from bedding to swimsuits in Liberty floral prints. Kinda fun.

"Wait... I wanna take a picture"

My close friend is an artist and can do a little bit of everything. He didn't mind one bit when I would want to stop and take pictures in Europe, because he would do the same thing.

Paris streets

After a few hours of sleep we awoke to a quiet, foggy Sunday morning in Paris. It's a different city with shops closed and the streets empty.

Notre Dame

Apparently the French celebrate Christmas for a while...

I would not recommend doing the tour of Paris I did this time if you have never been before. Give yourself time to do things like go inside Notre Dame and watch a service. Look at all the art and the stained glass and the confession booths. Climb the narrow stairs to the top to see out over Paris and make friends with the gargoyles. Don't be like me and just stop by again to say hello to the dirty pigeons and massive building and take pictures and wish all the people would get out of the way so you could take a picture of the entire building without people in your picture. Just sayin'...

MGM Grand

This is where WPPI 2010 was held. And thus where we stayed. If you don't get the lion reference (they have real lion's inside as well) then go watch an old MGM movie. Or read here.

Dingy

I'm taking pictures of Notre Dame with everyone else in Paris when I notice all the pigeons hanging out. They are the seagulls of cathedrals all over Europe. I couldn't help but take a picture of one sipping water off the freshly wet stone.

I snapped his portrait and looked up to see Nick smiling at me. He knew I had picked the dingiest bird on the square, if not in all of Paris. Just keeping it real.

Battle of Britain and Dover's cliffs

The white cliffs of Dover where hiding almost the entire time we were there. We had to go on a treasure hunt to see them. The clouds were looming in such a way that one could not tell the sea from the sky or the cliffs. But you knew those famous cliffs were majestically standing above you all the same. With the sea air blowing as if it wanted to push us over, we went on a limb and found the Battle of Britain memorial by accident. We were the only ones braving the site with the British rain gently numbing our faces and our pants covered in mud.

I sat there and thought what it would have been like to be a coastal resident in 1940 England. Doing hard work at the docks or at a small house no doubt, when loud, low flying German planes come out of nowhere. It must not have been a pleasant feeling to see them suddenly above English soil.

After my daydreaming, I ran on the soft ground to see what was beyond the small memorials. I had found the treasure: a view of the cliffs. We explored a little more and found a great view right on the edge of one of the cliffs. You know when you see people overlooking cliffs towards the sea in movies? That's what it felt like. Rain wetting my face, the wind controlling my hair, and the clouds slightly breaking to uncover the grand white cliffs of Dover. Pictures do not do it justice. I wanted to stand there all day.