The hurrier I go, the behinder I get!

Anyone else ever feel this way?  I swear it was just January last week and now the calendar is telling me it's freakin July!  Well all I have to do is step outside my door to know it's July in Atlanta also known as Hotlanta.  It's 99 in the shade and yes I meant the Bon Jovi pun for those who know me too well. 

Vacation was amazing and we had such a great time.  It was nice to just relax, lounge around and explore every square inch of Boppard, Reims and Paris.  I did send us off on a wild goose chase looking for a needlework store that Alma from Blackbird Designs mentioned on her blog about her trip a couple of years ago.  I wish I was kidding when I say that we walked 7 1/2 miles in one afternoon and never found it.  We were armed with the iphone map and it kept telling us it was just around the corner but as soon as we made the turn it would send us off another way.  Mark kept his spirits up just making fun of me huffing and puffing but determined to find it.  After a couple of stops for lunch, dinner and lots of wine, I finally admitted defeat so we headed back to the hotel and I was content to stitch away the freebie design that I downloaded from Alma's blog as a tribute to the trip.  As we were walking back to the Arc de Trimphe which was right beside our hotel, Mark said "Hey I hear a band playing at the Arc" and this will tell you who tired I was because I replied "It could be Bon Freakin Jovi and I wouldn't stop right now".  Still a once in a lifetime trip and it really makes you appreciate home when you get back!

I did actually make it to the Paris flea market and was so disappointed. I made sure to get exact directions so I didn't go to the swap meets thinking it was the Fleas as the French call it. I think before the world of internet shopping the fleas was the biggest thing ever but now I could find everything I could possibly want online so I was disappointed. Not as much as Mark who had made arrangements to have stuff shipped home and changed subway trains 7 times with me just to get there. But I can now say be there, done that and mark it off my bucket list. Now that's not to say that I came home empty handed....don't despair my friends I still brought home treasures just treasures that I could carry on or pack into Mark's suitcase.  There was a great antique street fair close to the hotel so I spent more time there than anywhere else.  I managed to score the stool and 2 pewter porringers from a guy for about $60, the two coffee grinders were $40 for both and the yellowware bowl, chopping board and wooden mallet were quite a bit more I'm afraid.  But all of it fit in my suitcases along with a few other small things I bought like 3 pillows and a huge slate cheese platter.  Mark was about to kill me after lugging all that "old wood" as he likes to refer to it all thru bus trip to airport, thru Paris airport, thru Atlanta airport and finally the marta trip home.  I was afraid he would throw them off the train tracks when he realized that the elevator was broken so we had to carry the bags down the stairs.  What a guy!  Now I just need some time to play with my newest treasures and get them displayed properly in the house.  I promise more pics after all the fluffing is done.