Nathalie Anne Isaac

My BEAUTIFUL, tiny, sweet, 6th niece was born YESTERDAY! (I had to hold it in until it was "officially" announced.)  


Kristin did it ALL NATURAL (go girl!) and Mom & baby are doing great!  It was a joyous day that I am immensely grateful I was able to be a part of.  By the way, the name was announced yesterday after she was born- No one knew except Kristin & Nolan- I really like that idea! That way you dodge any judgements, unwarranted advice, or "I knew someone named XYZ and they were SO ANNOYING...etc,etc."  Sounds like a pretty good plan to me! 


Without further ado, here she is :) 


Nathalie Anne, 8 lbs 9 1/2 oz, 20 inches, born 9/28 at 10:20am.  
*For the record (not that it matters) I LOVE her name! Especially Nathalie spelled the French way :) 

Chateau Hautefort (From Ever After!)

Last week we went to Chateau Hautefort with some family friends that were staying at The Colorado.  Although it was only supposed to take an hour and a half to get there, we managed to get lost for an hour.... at least we got lost in cute small French villages :) Once we arrived, we quickly realized it was well worth the drive! 


A tiny history lesson from my pamphlet: Chateau Hautefort was first inhabited in the year 1000.  It wasn't until the 15th Century that it took the Hautefort name.  Around the 17th Century it became a chateau of leisure rather than a chateau for battle and defense. In 1968 it suffered a terrible fire and the widow of the owner (The Baronness de Bastard) made it her life mission to restore the place. THEN.... In 1998 Drew Barrymore shot scenes for "Ever After" at this location. (A very important landmark in it's history!) 


Here are a few pictures from our day. My FAVORITE were the gardens.... They were absolutely beautiful and blew me away... It was like I was on the set of Alice & Wonderland or something right out of a fairytale.  








(The proof from "Ever After") 

5 :)

This is the APARTMENT edition!!! (without pictures so far...) 


1.  We FINALLY (after 5 weeks of living out of a suitcase) got to move into our apartment on Tuesday!
2. The renovating in the kitchen is now officially done and we shared our first breakfast this morning at our cute bar on our stools :) 
3. I found our bedding this week which means no sewing a duvet cover for Abby- hip hip hooray!
4. The big question was if we would get internet from our place and I am happy to report that we do!!! This means easier blogging, emailing, tweeting, etc. 
5. I am out the door to go pick up our COUCH!!! It has storage and a pop out full sized bed :) Visitors welcome! 


Home tour coming soon....  Hope you have a GREAT weekend. This time, next week I will be with my BFFL Alexis - yippee!!!! 

Source: etsy.com via Abby on Pinterest

A Day at the Farm

It is officially FALL here in France.  The weather has been in the 50's and it dips into the 40's after the sun goes down. I LOVE this time of year! 

This past weekend we were invited to have afternoon tea at Chris & Diane's newly renovated home.  They are British couple (thus the afternoon tea) and have become very good friends with the Misegades. Three years ago after Chris retired from the military, they bought an old farmhouse property here in Egletons as a "project."  They have been renovating it (full time) ever since and it is finally done! I cannot even begin to explain to you how BEAUTIFUL their place is. I could honestly live there forever- it was Anthropologie meets Pottery Barn meets Abby Drooling. 


They also have chickens, pigs, a vegetable garden, and grow their own fruit.  Their goal was to be 100% self sufficient on their farm, but unfortunately they said it is nearly impossible, but they are semi-self sufficient.  I will be sure to go back and ask permission on if I can take pictures of the inside of their home and post about it - but for now I will show you a few pics from around the property followed by a few hilarious videos of Ryan and the chickens :) 

5 :)

Happy Friday everyone! Here are a few of my finds this week.  

1. Fall Fashion - Blazer meets floral meets stripes! It somehow works and I love it. 

2. The NEW Coldplay song Paradise... I am not sure, but it sounds like Chris' good friend Jay Z may have had an influence on the sound of this track- I absolutely love the beat! 

3. What an ADORABLE gift idea- Great for a birthday, housewarming, Christmas, or wedding party gift! 

4. I saw this on my favorite blog A Beautiful Mess and I cannot wait to try it on either my desk or our coffee table! Cool idea huh?

5. Wisdom.

Happy Weekend! TODAY officially marks our 1 month anniversary of moving to France!!! In some ways it seems like we have been here longer, but in other ways it has flown by.  In the next 2 weeks I should be starting my French lessons and Alexis and Charlie are coming to visit us at the end of this month- We cannot wait! 

Gimel: The Video

Hope you guys aren't getting sick of these videos :) They are fun & easy to make and I feel like they sometimes give a better perspective of our surroundings than a static photograph.  By request, this one was shot in normal mode (not the 8mm App) and has more shots of me haha!  (My Dad got onto me last time with the Chateua Murol video because I wasn't in it at all and he couldn't visualize the setting because of the special effects.) 


Enjoy!

A Day Trip: Gimel

Gimel is only a 30 minute drive from The Colorado so yesterday after serving lunch we went to explore.  The town is known for its Medieval Castle ruins and waterfalls.  Unfortunately I did not prepare for HIKING and was wearing my go-to Maxi skirt and Target sandals.... most people on the trail were in work out attire with tennis shoes... Stupid American Tourist. Here are some some pictures of our day. Hope you enjoy! 

We had SUCH a fun day and definitely got our exercise and subsequently realized how out of shape we all are! When we got back Logan went to pick up Kebabs at this AMAZING Turkish restaurant in town and we scarfed them down and crashed.  

This week is a SLOW week at The Colorado with very little clients, so we are hoping to make serious progress on fixing up our new place.  We still have to prime and paint the walls, attach the trim, and do a few more aesthetic fixes before I can start my decorating, but that hasn't stopped me from gathering ideas! I cannot wait to show you our progress so far. :)