Tuesday Travels: Viva Las Vegas

Oh Vegas. You are always a good time. Today's Tuesdays Travels is from a trip we took for my friend Kim's 30th Birthday in January 2010. I had been to Vegas twice before, but this was Jason's first time. We had a pretty good size group and had an absolute blast!

We stayed at the beautiful Bellagio and had great views of the fountain from our room.

The Birthday Girl! 

Not quite as cool as the real thing but still pretty!

Stay tuned later this week for updates on the house! They started the siding today....so I mean I'm a pretty happy camper this week!

Jason+Urinal=1 Ashley=0

Well, Jason and his urinal in the mancave win. I folded. We went and purchased the darn thing. Jason was wheeling that cart around the store with a big grin on his face. I wanted the automatic flusher for the urinal....I mean go big or go home, right? Jason wouldn't spring for it. He said the manual flusher was just fine. Lame! He is always the sensible one I guess. (Well wait, I guess anyone who requests a urinal when they have a perfectly fine toilet two steps away isn't really THAT sensible, huh?) As we left the store I told Jason I would start the cleaning lady search now and have her lined up for after we move in because I am not touching that.

We finally ordered the stone for the front of the house. I think I have changed my mind three times on this. After this last "decision" I told the guy at the lumber yard to just put the order in so I don't change my mind a fourth time. The very next day I had to go into the lumber yard to look at the shower heads for the master bathroom and caught myself yet again looking at different stone. I had to literally force myself to walk away. Certain things for this house I have had a clear picture in my head of what I want and can pick out and make a decision instantly. Kitchen cabinets, siding, windows....easy. This stone and the shingle colors...evidently not so easy. I'm scared for the day I have to decide all the paint colors.

I really like this tile for the bathrooms. It's a light gray with streaks of cream. I think I want to do this in long rectangular tiles instead of the square. Oh here we go again...another decision. 

And can you tell I'm really into gray? In tile and in the book ;)

Tuesday Travels: Rome

So here is the last leg of our Europe trip in June 2010. Roma, Italia. (So am I the only one who never knew they call their city Roma...and not Rome?!) We had a blast in Rome. Since it was the last city we visited in Europe we definitely went out with a bang. Lets just say I was a bit hungover as we made our way to the airport for the flight back to the United States. Make sure to check out the video at the end of this post. It's pretty entertaining. 

The Colosseum

Inside the Colosseum 

Inside the Pantheon 

Outside the Pantheon

Outside the Vatican and St. Peters Basilica 

The Spanish Steps

The Trivedi Fountain

The Roman Forum and ancient Roman Ruins

Dinner In Rome 

And you can never forget all the yummy Italian food!!!

I miss the Gelato the most!

   

An American Flag hanging in a bar in Rome. 

Teaching some Australians and Italians how to play flippy cup in a bar in Rome.....Yep, we even keep it classy when we travel. HA!

    And last but not least the video of Jason singing one of his favorite Italian songs. You see, Jason and I took an Italian class in college. Our professor always played these Italian songs and for some reason Jason had a mild obsession (I have no idea why) with this song and knew every word to it. So when we decided to go to Rome he was a little too excited to look cool and sing this song in Italian there. Well the hilarious part was when we told the waitress (who he is singing with in the video) about it she started laughing at him. She then informed Jason that the singer of this song was the gay icon of Italy and it would be like him (a 27 year old male) being excited to sing Ricky Martin's ""Livin La Vida Loca or something! Ha! So you would think Jason would then be embarrassed for knowing such a lame song. Nope not my husband. He belted that song out in perfect, okay maybe not so perfect, Italian for the whole bar to hear. 

So that was Rome. And sadly that was the end of Europe for us. Ciao! 

Construction Update

     A lot has been happening at the future (hopefully very near future!) home. The roof is on, exterior doors are in, the mancave is framed, one of the staircases has been built, and the fireplace wall has been framed. Last night Jason and I met with the electrician and tonight we met with the plumber. They are getting started so that we can begin hanging sheetrock in the next three weeks or so. So here a few pics to show the progress!

windows in the great room

Front door and entryway

The stairs that lead to the 2nd floor bedrooms. No more climbing up that stupid ladder! 

View of the great room from the kitchen with the tall fireplace wall they framed out. 

That's all for now. Hopefully we will have more to show soon!

(Sorry for the crummy quality of the pics...I only had my iphone with me)

Tuesday Travels

PARIS: June 2011

When we talked about going to Europe I can't tell you how many people told us "don't waste your time going to Paris, everyone is so rude there and it's so dirty." Thank God I didn't listen to those people! I mean seriously what part of town were they in?! Paris was beyond beautiful!! Yeah sure the French can be a little rude and snotty, but I secretly I loved that about them!

Picture from the top of the tower

Hanging out with these guys at the top of Notre Dame Cathedral

Inside Notre Dame Cathedral

So I knew the Eiffel Tower was going to be amazing. But I had no idea how awesome it really was. I could have sat in the park and watched it all night. I'm so not one of those "gushy" girls that can sit and watch a sunset and say oh its so breathtaking blah blah blah. But no joke this thing made me get pretty darn close to gushy and girly! It was that pretty!

Can you have too many pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower? Cause if you can then we probably came dangerously close to hitting that limit.  

The Arc de Triomphe

Yep 284 stairs to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. 

No one told me I should have cross-trained for this trip.  I seriously considered asking for an oxygen mask at the top of this thing. 

The Venus de Milo

The Louvre

Leonardo DaVinci's "Mona Lisa" at The Louvre 

Palace of Versaille

The Gardens at the Palace of Versaille

OH the FOOD! I love French food! But French food in French I mean France....even better! 

Escargot

Frog Legs

Wine, wine, and more wine. Even their table wines can put ours to shame. 

Jason with his Cappuccino...cracks me up watching him drink out of those little cups!

Oh just taking a shot or ten at a bar.

After a show at the Moulin Rouge. I saw more boobs that night than I ever care to see again! Holy nakedness! I mean I get it's a cabernet show but come on! How come Christina Aguillera didn't make it legit in her Moulin Rouge movie and show the sisters off?? 

At Dinner

And last but not least a video of when the Tower lights up and well, sparkles I guess, every hour .

(So a few of these photos I have to give credit to Karen. Thank you for sending my some of your awesome pics!)

And that was Paris. Next Tuesday.....Rome!