Little known fact: The day we officially closed on our dream, we hopped on a flight to Paris, France. Crazy, but true. It wasn’t exactly planned that way, though.
The hubs had a big birthday this year (one with a “0”)… and, as a surprise (that was revealed early so he could get excited… and get time off work…) we went to France to see Le Tour de France and do some sightseeing.
In the weeks leading up to the trip, we started “casually” house-hunting – our mortgage broker and realtor will both laugh OUT LOUD as they read this. We figured it would take a few months to find the right house, wade through the paperwork and actually seal the deal. Well, our Dream had other ideas and stumbled into our surprised little laps way earlier than expected. That meant a rush of wading through paperwork and a deal sealed just in the knick of boarding time.
We were quite relieved and grateful to have Dream keys before our trip. We could relax and enjoy France! And we did. Except there was a lot of Dreaming going on. And France found a way into the Dream… here’s how:
Cafe’s. Restaurants. Bars. Stores. Chalkboards. Are. Everywhere. We knew one had to come home with us. It took some searching. (Our suitcases were only so big.) But we did find a chalkboard at a cute home decor store in the last city on our trek, Lyon.
She now graces a wall near our kitchen, proudly displaying menu items for the evening – and an occasional love note.
Here’s the dish she advertised on this particular day.
(A Rachel Ray 30-min meal fav in our Dream.)
The best part of our trip – the Bourgogne Region. We spent three fabulous days and two great nights in Beaune – and we can’t wait to go back. We…
One thing we noticed in that area is that no cork went to waste. Each wine shop/store/tasting room had huge decanters filled with corks. As mentioned in an earlier post… We’d been saving wine corks and collecting them from family for a while. So, we were ready to implement this French aesthetic into our dream.
The candles are from Ikea. The jars were wedding gifts – something I apparently couldn’t live without while registering. The candles are the same size. The jars are not. So, I had to get a little creative to mask the height issue…
Now, with that little dilemma solved, what better place to place our corky creation then atop our bar?
LOVE the cork idea! Love the bench too! What a great find! And the few pics from France … fun, fun! Can’t wait to see you guys!!! TWO TIMES IN ONE WEEKEND! YIPPIE!!
Yippee, indeed! I’ve got to channel my “inner Martha” this weekend to make sure the house is acceptable for you!
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