Chicago

Okay. So one of my favorite things in life is exploring new places. Whether it be eating at new restaurants in SF or traveling to new countries, I am a sucker for new adventures. So, when I got asked to go on a business trip to Chicago, I freaked. Keep in mind I have never been to Chicago...so, of course, I was freaking OUT. I literally had half of a day to explore and get as much out of it as I could--so I did!

The best part about the trip? It was 80 degrees....in Chicago....in March. So I spent a lot of time exploring on foot, venturing to Navy Pier, Millenium Park, Marilyn Monroe statue,  architecture tour on the river and met my long lost study abroad friend for dinner and a night with the locals. Oh, and of course had a Chicago style hot dog :)

I can't wait for another business trip and to go back to Chicago! 

Chicagooo!!!

hot air. sunkissed hair

MY SUMMER

I'm gonna be that nerd and spell out my summer in letters {if that even makes sense} but I guess you'll get it in a sec. :)

M

stands for:

Minne Mouse in Disneyland! My dad's entire side of the family went on a 4 days trip to Disneyland. It was a blast to be there with so many people. Its always a wonderful time at the "happiest place on earth!" 

Y

stands for:

Yummy food and drinks. All summer long I have been eating and thats about it. Oh and drinking. :)

S 

stands for

Sun Valley. Our adventures on Bald Mountain. 

U

stands for

Up in the South Hills camping. I LOVE camping.

M

stands for

My friend I've known since I was 3 got married! I loved being in her wedding.

M

stands for

Memories at Bass Lake.

E

stands for

Enjoying a beautiful hike in the South Hills.

R

stands for

Reading Reading Reading. First of all I was introduced to the amazing website called goodreads.com & then it was history. I've read some great books so far: The Hunger Games, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Water for Elephants, Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, The Source of All Things, Hector and the Search for Happiness, You Can Heal Your Life, Eat Pray Love, Something Borrowed {it was ok}, A Reliable Wife{not good}

haha but the rest were great!

So there you have it! A little recap of my summer although its not over yet...My next trip is to McCall and then I am headed on a road trip to San Francisco which will become my new home!

Ciao!

Katie

Provence

{our little house}

{the neighbors}

{lavender ice cream..incredible stuff right there}

 

{Gorde}

Ahh the land of lavender. One of the best smells in the world. Am I right? YEP. im right.

So we arrived in Provence and immediately went to a little town called Rochegude where we settled in to our little lavender house. SO adorable! All the houses were once again...AMAZING! All of them had colored shudders and colored doors with flowers in their windowsills. I wanna live there so bad!

We took a bunch of road trips around the area and MY main mission was to find blooming lavender fields. Thats literally all I wanted to do. So we searched and searched, drove all around the countryside and finally we came upon magnificent lavender fields and man was I happy! What a beautful sight it is to see an entire field of purple {instead of green} for a change! Wow...totally fell in love with the area. 3 of my favorite places we went in Provence were Gorde & Vaison la Romaine & Sault (great little towns).

Overall the trip was incredible! We stayed for 4 days and then headed back to Paris to catch our flight back to the US of A and of course to our wonderful state of Idaho :)

Alsace region

After 5 days in Paris we adventured on to the Alsace region of France. Here we met up with our foreign exchange student (Jean) and his family. We had a WONDERFUL time with. They took us all around the countryside, made dinner for us, took us wine tasting at an authentic french winery, and took us to an auberge on top of a giant mountain. 

The architechture here was incredible --it looked like Disneyland or something--but it was all real and people actually lived in these towns {blew my mind}. One of my favorites was Colmar, which had a place called Little Venice. We got to ride on a little gondola down the river to view the town.

I totally totally recommend visiting this area of France--totally beautiful and worth it all the way!

Next stop: Provence region!