ah! also, cheers to the first day of spring. yes, yes, yes its finally here!

last minute, happy hump day. hope its been great.

"there  are  86,400  seconds  in  a  day.  its  up to  you  to  decide what  to  do  with  them"  -jim  valvano

if you are a college hoops fan in any sense i encourage you to watch espn's newest 30for30 "Survive and Advance," about the nc state national championship team of 1983. we are huge wolfpack fans, so obviously we loved it, and i think even being from raleigh or an acc sports fan and getting to re-live those moments of history was great for anyone watching! its a wonderful story of a team that overcame so much and a charismatic coach who never gave up on them. if you don't know much about jimmy v, it will also give an insight into an extremely inspiring man. i'm sure as the current state basketball team was watching they had a new fire lit under then as the ncaa tournament approaches. anyways i thoroughly enjoyed this documentary and although i'm definitely biased i would highly recommend it!

to make you smile. happy hump day.

a friend from england (whom i met while traveling in new zealand) often sends me music suggestions as we discovered we have similar likes, he is always spot on, its wonderful. tonight, fresh out of the shower feeling calm but in a bit of a sad way i pulled up this new song he sent me today. i felt the tears well up but i didn't let them fall. funny how music can do that to you sometimes.

for the most part, today has been one of these days. 

i think i've been desperately needing spring.

"but remember that you have to move on, somehow. you just pick your head up and stare at something beautiful like the sky or the ocean, and you move the hell on." -james patterson

uh olivia palermo, can i be you?

"everything will change when your desire to move on exceeds your desire to hold on" -alan h. cohen

... happy march!

wanted to stop in and say i am safely home from paris! i went to visit one of my very best friend's who is au pairing there now and had what i can easily say one of the best trips i've taken. i mean how can you not fall in love with paris? it was the perfect trip, a great mix of touristy things (as i hit lots of museums and all the hot spots) as well as getting some of the "off the beaten trail" experiences. don't want to bore you with all the details of my days so i'll post some photos, but really every day as i walked around this amazing city i couldn't keep a smile off my face. it may have been freezing and snowy but it (again) was perfect.

day 1:
arrival, hang out with christina and the kids, walk through sevres (the suburb where christina lives), night trip to the effiel tower!

day 2:
on my own, arrived in the tuilleries, orangerie museum, orsay museum, national assembly, les invallides/napoleon's cathedral, rodin museum, dinner at kelly's apartment

day 3:
versailles and marie antoinette's palace, dinner @ a small taco delicious hole in the wall restaurant, walks around the canal, bel plaine's concert

day 4:
first real french meal - crepes, walking around notre dame, oldest tree in paris, hotel deville, shakespeare and company, dinner @ al taglio (pizza)

day 5:
fresh chocolate croissants, opera, gare saint lazare (train station), bastille, food truck (awesome american owners and amazing burgers!), concorde, grand palais & petit palais, pont alexandre, champs elysses, arc de triumph, rue cler and cafe e'clair (photo posted favorite cafe of the trip), house warming party at Jordan's

day 6:
lunch @ annie's cafe, sacre coeur, walking around montmartre, raclette dinner @ christina's family home

day 7 (chocolate coma day):
smith's bakery, gerard mulot (salted caramel macaroon), luxembourg gardens (snowy grounds), pierre hermes (bitter chocolate macaroon), saint sulpice cathedral, walked around st germain des pres, cafe de flore (famous literary cafe, best hot chocolate in the world -- no lie), st germain des pres church, laudree (vanilla macaroon), love's lock bridge (the official one), saint michelle fountain, shakespeare and company round II (a moveable feast/the great gatsby - with a gorgeous cover), notre dame worship service, conciergerie (marie antoinette's holding cell), happy hour @ la panfoulia, walked through place de voges in the rain, pomidou -- dali exhibit, pizza @ le favorite

day 8:
monet museum + marie laurencin exhibit, walk through tuilleries down to river all the way to notre dame, dinner @ candeleria's

day 9:
louvre, last dinner @ bo zinc

day 10:
arrived at airport, discovered i was supposed to fly out wednesday (day9), cried to the french lady working, luckily got a seat on the flight i thought i was on made it right before plane left, was last person to be called for standby flight to raleigh -- as dad said, all's well that ends well. extra day in paris for only $150? i'll take it.

probably took about 2,000 photos while there, these are a few brief highlights. all in all, i fell in love with a city that i hope to one day be able to return to. thank you paris, for everything!