Who knew?!

I know I have posted random thing's I've come across before... but here are a few more.  Before I post them, I wanted to update on my New Years Goals so far. 

 My blogging has been successful... minus the days we were in Paris. 

My read the Bible in one year plan is on track... I just have to catch up one day. 

And my working out 5 times a week goal has gone down the drain already.  Why does that always happen?!  Aiyaiyaiya.  Well... I pulled a muscle in my side last week... definitely not an excuse, but I hope to get back in the gym once it heals.  Hopefully.  :)

Ok.  First things first.  Being overseas you are constantly presented with the introduction of new people.  With that, comes traditions and culture.  Do you kiss one side of the cheek?  Which side?  Double kiss?  Triple kiss?  Shake hands?  Hug?  Nothing?  Ahhhhh!  I feel like its always awkward.  Most often, you find them greeting by the double kiss. 

Then you have the situation where you meet new Americans overseas in countries that double kiss and they want to greet you the same way.  What the?  :)  Marshall gets really frustrated with this.  He is like WE ARE AMERICANS! We don't do that!  Haha... I don't really mind how I greet people as long as I know what is expected before.  Anyways, I wish there was a book of world greetings that was universal to avoid bumping noses.  :)

Do you know how many plastic grocery bags I have purchased in one year?!  Too many to count.  In Malta we have to buy our bags.  And then I save them in the pantry in anticipation of stuffing them in my purse next time I go grocery shopping.  Although I NEVER remember to take bags with me.  I even have the reusable ones and forget those as well.  So I always end up buying more.  Annoying.  I don't know what I'm going to do when I come home and someone bags my groceries for free for me!  That just seems so weird.

I also randomly carry around ketchup packets in my purse.  This is just weird and kind of gross but when you have to buy them for like .50 each ... and then don't use them all, I just toss them in my purse for next time.  My family used to always ask me if I wanted to eat a little chicken with my ketchup so maybe that's why this is a big deal.  Maybe.  :)

Ok... so I am sure this is old news and since I'm still learning how to cook... I am still googling random tips about preparing food.  Garlic.  Love it.  Hate the smell that radiates from my fingers after.  I am sure there are different methods but I tried the one of washing with soap and water (obviously) and then putting some salt on your fingers... and washing them again.  It worked!  Thank the good Lord.  I read the stainless steel stones work really well too so maybe I need to purchase one of those.

Onions.  I always cry.  It's actually not hard to make me cry but the onion is a guaranteed striker.  So a friend of mine was telling me that if you breathe out of your mouth while cutting it, it wont make you tear up.  Wouldn't you know it worked!  Like really worked.  I was shocked...and definitely excited to find this out!

This past week my stomach was really upset.  I wasn't really sure what was wrong and it lasted quite a few days.  Well one morning I woke up and my tongue was BLACK!  I was freaking out.  Couldn't think of what in the world I ate or did to make my tongue black!!  I tried to remember if I had some late night oreos maybe... but I knew I didn't.  Then I remembered I took Pepto before I went to sleep.  So I got on google and saw all these posts from other people about black tongues after taking pepto.  I was just happy it wasn't some random disease!!  So now you know if it ever happens to you!

(I googled black tongues from pepto to get a picture not thinking about how disgusting they would be.  No, definitely not posting those.  Gross!) 

I hope everyone is having a great week!!  Time for this girl to get some sleep!  XOXO



Paris Part II

On Sunday we woke up around 7:30 to get ready for the day.  We had to fly home that evening and wanted to make sure we made the most of the time we had.  Originally we were going to take the double decker bus tour around to the sites.  The two options available just didn't suit what we were looking for, so we opted for just walking and taking the metro.  

We had an amazing breakfast consisting of extremely fresh croissants and then headed out.  We were a little early for shops to be open and since it was Sunday, virtually none of them were open.  I was pretty bummed about that because I wanted to do a little shopping, but we still managed to find some touristy shops to browse through.

Love love love the streets of Paris.  So stinkin cute!

We had fun window shopping at all the different stores.

We walked through the Jardin Des Plantes which was nice... but just like any other large park.  They did have some crazy greenhouses though!

We popped into this cute little place for some hot chocolate and to warm up.

Our hotel was like a ten minute walk from Notre Dame.  It is an absolutely fascinating church.  I would have to take like ten pictures to show you the whole thing.  I'm still amazed thinking about how they created all the details and statues on all the old cathedrals back in the day. 

We found this ice skating park surrounded by gigantic old buildings.  I sometimes wonder how those things can really be filled up... and for what?!

And we made it to the Lock Bridge.  I was so excited to do this with Marshall.  If you have never heard of it, you write or engrave the names of you and your loved one on a lock and lock them onto the bridge. 

He is hooking onto mine... looks like he is stuck now!! :)

For me, it was really special and memorable.  I'm so excited we were able to do it.  I will stand by this man forever...

And then we threw the keys into the river!

The Lock Bridge...

Next, we made our way over to the Louvre.  We didn't end up going inside...mostly because neither of us are really museum people.  I know it would have been cool to see the Mona Lisa and other famous artwork,  and I sound like a complete snob right now... but for us, we prefered to spend the time roaming around instead.

There was a period of like ten minutes that the sun came out.  This picture makes it look like we actually had a beautiful day!

Ok... so to me this story is kind of sad.  To shorten it... there are many guys who hang out around the Louvre selling little Eiffel Tower statues.  I'm not sure if they are African, French, migrated, citizens, whatever... but they are just trying to make a living.  Well anyways, we were standing in the middle of them and all the sudden a cop comes flying past us on a bike. 

The guys all start to run...but like crazy fast.  Most of them stuck together in a pack.  The few smart ones broke off and went their own way.  Well the cop ended up tackling this guy onto the ground and taking him away.  I know its illegal and for that its not right, but living in Africa and countries where they really struggle to find money for food... my heart just went out to this man.  

He even dropped his collection as he was running away!

Hahahah... I loved this! :)  Isn't it true girls?!  It pretty much can brighten any day!

One last thing... as much as I love my European friends... I dont know if I will ever be trendy enough to understand your fashion.  I mean why is this man wearing teal pegged pants?!  Aiyaiyaiya.

Much Love...XOXO

"America is my country, but Pari is my home."  -The Devil Wears Prada

I have no idea where to even start this blog, but I will say Marshall and I had an AMAZING weekend in Paris.  Writing a blog about our trip seems almost a bit overwhelming.  Mostly because I took way too many pictures and can't decide which ones to choose. 

Here is how the first day went:  (Sorry in advance for all the pictures)

We arrived at the airport around 6am.  I took a picture just to show you how small Malta's airport is!  This is it.  And after you go through a tiny security check, you enter the one big room with like ten gates.  You can definitely bypass the 2 hour early arrival here.

I'm surprised our eyes were even open!  We were up late the night before and had like 2 hours of sleep!

I don't know where you come from, but where I come from...this is NOT breakfast.  Gross.  Especially all the juice in the bottom of the pan!  Granted it was from an airplane, but still.... I do remember the food used to be edible!

So once we arrived in Paris, we had to take a little hop on hop off trip to find our hotel.  We first needed to find a bus at the airport to take us to a train station.  Once we found it, we needed to get tickets beforehand.  Well we didn't have enough coins to buy them or a euro card so we were like ummmmm.  It cost 14 euro which is close to 20 dollars.  Who carries that in change?!  So I asked the next people who bought their tickets if they would charge ours to their card too and I would just give them cash.  Thank goodness they were kind!  This is the first stop that we had to get off at from the bus.

I've learned from traveling that you waste waaaay too much time trying to figure things out on your own sometimes.  Especially when you don't speak or read the language.  So I always just ask someone.  When we entered the station above it was a bit confusing so a sweet french man helped us figure out what to do.  We then took this metro to another stop to switch lines.  And then 2 more times before we arrived at our final destination!

Our quaint abode.  Not exactly what you would get in the states for $170 a night... but I guess its to be expected in Paris :)  It actually was perfect.  A soft bed to crash in and a hot shower in the morning.  Location was great and we were happy! 

We definitely enjoyed eating and drinking our way through the streets of Paris.  This was our first lunch.  Marshall ordered the Croque Madame and I ordered the Croque Monsieur.  The only difference was his came with the egg on top and mind didnt.  Inside was a thin slice of ham (they definitely don't load up on the meat like we do), and on the top was a decent piece of gruyere cheese toasted.  They were delicious!  :)

There is something so happy and adorable about little streetside food stands.  They just make me smile and want to order something because...well why not?!Surely I need some cotton candy or to drink a hot chocolate while we walk!

And we found it!!  Walking towards the beautiful, iconic tower...



We walked around and took lots of pictures...



And of course here...

While we were waiting to enter the tower for dinner, we decided to find a cafe and warm up.  I just love outdoor cafes... especially this one with the heat lamps!!  I'm going to miss these when we come back home.

Marshall ordered a coffee and I ordered a diet coke.  This is what he got...which turned out to be delicious desserts.  We laughed at him for having to drink out of this tiny tea cup.  :)

Paris is really expensive!  For Marshall's "coffee" and my "coca light" it cost 15 euro which is close to $20.  The entire time we were there, my diet cokes never cost less than $5 each.  And they were the tiny little glass bottles!  Crazy!

We had a little glass of mulled wine before dinner.  There is a cute little cafe up in the tower where you can sit and have a drink.



Our special dinner up in the tower!  

Marshall ordered these drinks for us before dinner.  Its the restaurant special called Tour Eiffel.  I'm not too sure but I think it was something like blue curaco on the bottom, then champagne, and then some sort of sorbet on top.  They were really good!!

This was my starter I chose.  Smoked Salmon...and off the top of my head I'm not sure what else.  REALLY good though!

Marshall's Jumbo Tiger Prawn with an incredible guacamole, grapefruit, apple slices, and tomatos.

Althought I definitely didn't want to order chicken, I somehow picked it anyways.  For what it was, it was prepared really well.  The mixture of it all and the sauce was great!

Marshall's salmon and butternut squash.  I would say presentation ranked a bit higher than the actual food, but all in all we were really happy!

My dessert that I chose and ate...after they sang happy birthday to me.  Thanks babe.  :)  I'm not sure how to describe it.  Its a french dessert... its like a soft, chewy biscuit kind of thing with ice cream and whipped cream inside that was totally different than what we are used to.  So I'm not sure what it was... but I enjoyed it!!

Marshall's was more of a nut tasting. Similar, but not.  And the stick leaning on it was like a white chocolate stick.  Different but good.

We still had a great view from our table, but if you wanted right next to the window, you have to book 4+ months in advance!!

It had been raining and was super windy and freezing when we finished dinner!  We walked around, took a few pictures, and then made our way down the tower.

So like 5 times a night... on the hour... for ten minutes, the tower has a light show.  It was maybe my favorite thing!!  Apparently this is the last year they are doing it too!  We just watched it in awe...  I don't think it would ever get old.

After dinner we went to the Arc De Triomphe and then walked down Champs Elysees.  It was just magical to me to stroll through the streets with my man.  The only downer was having to walk in heels!!!! 

The stunning streets of Paris...

I'll post the second day of our trip tomorrow!!  Hope you all had a great weekend!!  XOXO