For Japan with Love

My heart has been aching for the people in Japan.  I ache for the moms, daughters, dads, friends, loved ones, siblings who have lost someone or something in this tragedy.  It is times like these where I wish I could save the world.  But here is a small way to help.  Utterly Engaged and Ever Ours have so awesomely (is that a word?) put this together to go to the efforts abroad.  It has been an incredible success so far, I am just amazed at these women for putting this together.  Today is my day of silence.  My prayers go out to all the families affected in Japan.  God Bless.

http://www.forjapanwithlove.com/



Switzerland

Switzerland!  I love it.  It is such a beautiful place.  I think France is beautiful too,  but Switzerland is lovely.  This trip was my second time there and it was just as fun as the first!

If you are ever out this way, you must visit.  Definitely a must see.  Serious bummer they don't use euros, but we'll let that one go for now.  Here are some pictures

Coming into Geneva. They have signs like this for each city

Fondue with authentic Swiss cheese made by a professional chef in his house

City of Neuchatel, where we stayed

 This world clock in Bern, Switzerland is supposed to be much more than a clock.  It has all the signs (aquarius, leo, etc) and alligns with the planets.  We didn't actually see it move, but we'll just go with it.

The world clock in Bern.

Swiss watches.  Suuuuper expensive

Lunch in a plazza with my little man

Beautiful painting on the buildings

 Funny little story.  My aunt, who is now a French teacher (convenient for me!) left the states to work in France for a summer through a program. When she arrived in France with 7 dollars and a rail pass to her name, they told her they didn't have a position open for her.  A nice family took her in for the night and the agency found her another job in Switzerland.  She ended up living and working the entire summer in a little Swiss town called Twainn and made more money than she ever would have in the south of France.  The family she stayed with became life-long friends. A lot of my family, brother, cousins, aunts, mother, father, and friends, have passed through there house and it is so much fun to know them.  The restaurant below is where my aunt worked for the summer 40 something years ago.

A restaurant my aunt worked at when she was 20 years old, in college and learning French

a little castle/cafe right outside our friends house where we stayed.

In France on the drive home.  Breath taking views!

Well, those are some pics!  Hope you enjoyed reliving a bit of the journey with me!  I have a ton more pictures, but I didn't want to bore you.  :)  As much as I loved Switzerland, my dream destination is Greece.  I gotta make it there someday.  What about you guys?  Where is your dream destination if money and time was not an issue?  Well, in that case, maybe the world??

I linked up here:

Framed Menu Board

I have been wanting to complete this project for a while, but I didn't have any letters to finish it off.  Enter mommy!  My family is visiting me this week and so of course we must make time for crafts!  I just don't have as many resources here, so it is so great to have some brought in!

I started with a frame from Ikea, not the cheapest, I am sure most of you would be able to find some cheaper.  The tutorial I saw used burlap, wich is probably better, but I didn't have that so I used scrapbook paper.  It stinks because it wasn't the right size, but it works.

Supplies:

• Frame
• Something for backing (i.e. burlap, scrapbook paper, some other material)
• Letters or stencils
• Glue/gluegun
• Razor for cutting straight lines
• Cup of tea :)

 I used a different backing for the top, I thought it was cuter.  Once again, scrapbook paper.  The letters were from Michael's, $20 before the 40% off coupon. (It had all the letters with about 8 different fonts of each)

 Et voila!  I added the letters for the days, a little rope on the top for hanging, and I already had the hook.  I have dry erase markers from my son's easel and there were two black markers, so one is going toward the menu board!  You just erase it with a paper towel or tissue.  Super easy

Finished project.  Super easy, cute, and practical!  Of course my husband still isn't too convinced I will be using it.  I will have to prove him wrong! 

What do you all think?  Did I do okay for what I had?  Any suggestions or variations?

I linked this up to the linky parties.  Check out my linky page to view them all.

I won an award!

So I just got from Switzerland and I am pooped.  I will have to share the story with some pics a little later, but I figured I would tackle this before bed. 

Guess what??  I got an award!  Jennifer over at Vintage Gwen gave me a bloggy award the yesterday!  So I have to share 7 fun facts about myself and pass it along to 7 other bloggers!  So here is my attempt at the 7 fun facts...

1.)  I am 6 feet tall.  And yes, I am aware of it.  But thanks for letting me know.  "Wow, you are soooo tall!"  I actually love being tall (my husband is 6'7" so it's all good) because I can gain 10 pounds and no one can tell but me!  Unfortunately, that works the other way as well...

2.)  I love to travel.  If you didn't already know that! :)

3.)  I have a ginormous family and I love it!  We are kinda like the mafia, but a nicer version.

4.)  I live in France, you might have known that, but you might not have known my husband plays professional basketball here (hence the 6'7"!)

5.)  When I am living in the states, I run a makeup company with my cousin, Bliss Makeup Artistry.  We do wedding makeup and it is a ton of fun.

6.)  I am allergic to poison oak and one time when I was younger, I climbed a tree, which I did a lot, and it happened to have poison oak in or around it.  Yep, I got it on my face and my face swelled up and was like that for days.  Awesome.

7.) I played collegiate volleyball!

Wow, I am super boring, sorry all!  Now I need to tag some lovely other bloggers!

Babes and Sages

The Junk House

A Law Students Journey

Fashion meets Food

Running with Glitter

Vanilla Heart's Style

Write it in Lipstick

Okay I did it! Participate if you want to ladies, but don't feel the pressure too! 

Bloggy Inspiration ~ Eisy Morgan

I am reletively new at this bloggy thing and can I tell you?  I love it!  I have met so many awesome people through their super cool blogs and found so much inspiration through it all.  It has helped me in so many ways, I cannot even say.  My title, Ma Nouvelle Mode, means my new fashion in French. {I live in France}  It originally started as mostly fashion, but after seeing all the inspiration out there, it has evolved into something more.  It has evolved into my new style of home, fashion, DIY, decorating, beauty, you name it!  I thought it would only be appropriate to showcase some of my favorites.

The first bloggy inspiration shout out is to Eisy Morgan.  I am sure most of you know who she is, and if you don't you need to!!  She is a great mix of everything and offers so much inspiration, I am never bored on her site.  So check out what she had to say. And then check out her site.

1.) When and why did you start blogging? I started writing in mid December of '10 but didn't look for any readers or tell anyone about it till almost the new year. I was nervous because I had no idea what I was doing or where I really wanted to go with it. I started blogging as a creative outlet. I was bored being a SAHM creatively so I wanted somewhere for that and also with an aspiration to somehow make more money for our family income from home. I am still not sure what that will look like exactly but as I learn I follow those "leads"..if that makes sense:)

2.) What inspires you the most?  Where do you get your inspiration? Oh lots of things inspire me!! Things that I find most inspiring are things that are not always main stream, I like finding hidden nuggets that I think are beautiful and incorporating them into my life somehow. I get inspired from life and what I love to do, art, and beauty, my friends, necessity, other bloggers, music, and the most important, the Lord!

3.) What are your bloggy/etsy goals for 2011. (either/or) My goals are rather lofty, even if I haven't spoken them or written them "out loud" yet. I would love to have over 2000 followers by the end of the year. For some reason I have decided my number of GFC followers sets my standard of success, not sure why. Not only that but have an interactive blogging community. Anyone can do blog hops and get mindless followers who follow because you followed them, not because they are actually interested in your blog. Whenever I am tempted to join one of those with blogs that are not at all like mine just to up my numbers I remember I would rather have 5 people who read and comment on my blog then 10,000 who follow but never interact! I would also like to be making a little bit of money monthly through blogging. I don't have any set numbers for that yet.

4.) For fun, typical Sunday afternoon, what does it look like for you? Many times just home with my boys, but sometimes we have a Entermission meeting which is the group of people we are planting a church with! Always fun to see and meet with them and get excited about what we are all in Colorado for!



Ma Nouvelle Mode ~ Travel Edition

So I am leaving for Switzerland tomorrow!  Yay!  So I thought I would do a travel edition!  I am going to post a few pointers because the way I travel in my life, I should have some.  This travel edition is going to be just for a weekend trip, since that is what I am doing tomorrow.  Leaving Sunday returning Tuesday.  Okay, not exactly weekend, but same amount of days.  You guys are smart. You get me.  Right?

We will start with #1 packing.  Booooo I hate packing.  But it is a huge part of my life, so I have to embrace it.  Tomorrow we are driving and there isn't a lot of room for luggage.  Here are my two biggest pointers:

1.) Plan ahead!  Plan your outfits so you can still look cute without your whole woredrobe at your fingertips.

2.) Pack light.  One pair of jeans, two tops, one pair of shoes, and some accessories to throw it together.  We all know how we can make an outfit change with a shirt and accessories change.  {for the record, I am not always good at this one.}

  With these two tips, you should be good to go on a small carry on suitcase.  And if you are traveling by plane, you will move right through those awful ecurity checks!

Tip #2 bring snacks!  Whether you are driving, flying, or taking a train, there is nothing worse than being hungry or thristy without any way to satisfy it!  Pack a little water {we all know what happens when you pack the big one} and a snack that isn't too salty or sweet.  Then you might need another water.  And, well, you know.

Tip #3 Plan ahead! Again.  Print out boarding passes if you need them, have travel documents either in your purse or right next to them ready to go.  I once got all the way to check in and then realized I forgot my passport.  Thank goodness I have an awesome family who relayed it all the way to LAX.  So I learned it is good to plan ahead and get all your documents in order before (key word here) you leave.

Tip #4 Get your rest!  Which I am totally not doing right now.  Silly me.  Go to sleep!

Hope you enjoyed my tidbits!  Let me know if you would be intersted in some more, I can also get more specific.  I have flown internationally many times and most of the times I had a baby/kid with me and I was by myself.  But I also love/prefer to travel alone! :)

I heart Family

Today was a good day.  Today I got to see my parents who {whom?} I haven't seen in 5 or 6 months.  I love my parents.  My mom is my best friend.  It is so good to have them here and I love that my mom brought American sweets, and tons of magazines, and stuff for crafting projects!!  So beeee sure to stay tuned for some stuff in the future, I can't stinkin' wait!

But since she just got here and I have spent the last 3 or four days cleaning and organizing my house I don't really have anything interesting at the moment.  I do, however, have this outfit.  It was perfect for running around the house, cleaning, quick trip to the park, and picking up my parents.  A serious bummer was that I had a totally cute necklace to go with it, but when I was cleaning this morning, my hand got caught on it and IT BROKE.  Ugh. Like the biggest bummer ever, had a little meltdown, a few tears, a little pouty session, almost giving up on any fashion ever, while my awesome husband sits there trying to fix it {even though he knows I am being ridiculous} and then I was back at it. 

Once again, my 3-year-old took these.  I need to upgrade because he is getting pretty tired of it all.  That is why the one above to the left is blurry on the bottom.  I had to sit it on a car and take it because he was done.

Buuuut because my mommy is in town, she has an awesome camera! Maybe I can snag some pics from that one.... hhmmm

I thought I would throw in there a pic of our little Frenchie home.  You know the house where you are like 'who lives there??'  Ya.  We live there.

And I thought I would put these pics of my makeup I did today that took me all of 10 minutes, foundation and all.  I have a crooked smile.  I am just noticing this with all these pictures of myself.  Which I need to delete from my computer.  If someone looked on my computer they would think I was sooooo vain.  But I'm not.  I swear. 

Oh, and I forgot to mention!  My favorite cousin {sssshhhh, don't tell!} is here visiting with her mom!  So I have my parents, my aunt, and my cousin!  Whoop whoop!  She is super cute and fashionable and I am thinking maybe I could snag some pics of her this weekend...