the armPITT of america

wow it's been a while! i have been very busy trying to enjoy every last moment of free weekends before tomorrow starts weddings through september, yikes. last weekend i went down to pittsburgh to celebrate one of matt's best friends (kevin) birthdays! it's always fun getting away for a weekend with matt :)

this is the first view you get straight out of the tunnel. it's a pretty neat view of the city and a great first look at it! although i have some things against this city and it's horrible terrible no good very bad street systems, it really is a pretty neat town!

pretty city lights.

(left) i got to try this yummy ice cream place called oh yeah! it was sooo tastey! i had butter almond ice cream with nutella mixed in. they are known for their ice cream, coffee, and waffles! they have about 10 ice cream flavors and then tons of mix ins with everything from cookie dough to beef jerky. (middle) this is the tunnel in west virginia that you go through on the way to pittsburgh. so many neat tunnels on the drive from ohio to pennsylvania. (right) it was a beautiful day on the ride home so i took a picture of my red toes-ies up on the dashboard as the wonderful matt drove us safely home.

we had breakfast at this really awesome place called pamela's. it was a little bit of a walk away from kevin's place but totally worth it! they are known for their crepe style hotcakes (picture below). they taste like funnel cakes! i had croissant french toast with carmel maple syrup. yumm!! 

the birthday boy! it's actually funny because i'm used to his ridiculous mustache but i forget that others still find it quite hilarious so it's hilarious when we are in public with him and someone goes "whoa!" or " nice stache!"

ummm... i think there was a fly on the beer pong table? haha clearly alcohol was involved.

it was such a good weekend and on sunday after we drove home i got to spend the whole day in columbus with matt and end with a nice masterpiece mystery miss marple. we may have dozed off in and out of it but it was the perfect ending to a exciting weekend!

je voudrais être en france

in the summer of 2005, i had the amazing opportunity to go to france with a group of 30 girls ( oh, and 2 boys! :) ). it was one of the most spectacular things i have experienced in my life and i hope i can do it all over again with friends and family and something other than a disposable camera. i went back and looked at the photos i took on the trip and am truly amazed at some of the shots i got ( even if they were taken with one of the crappiest cameras made. i know some of you are thinking umm you became a photographer but yet you went to france with a disposable camera? yes, yes it's true. and i'm completely okay with how it happened. i love me some film grainy images! ). it just goes to show, the camera doesn't make the photographer! i studied french for 7 years throughout high school and college ( 2 more classes and i would have had a minor in college! ). i love the language and i miss speaking it! it's amazing what i can still remember though, i think i would be much better now as communicating there than i was when we went.

i remember the night at sacre coeur. it was one of our first sight seeing adventures and i was completely in awe of it's vastness. sacre coeur means "sacred heart" in french and is a catholic church. it's located in a little town of montmartre and is the highest point in the city. it gives beautiful views of paris.

we spent all of our evenings at dinner in groups at long tables eating whatever they put in front of us an gleefully drinking wine ( we were only 16 at the time, such rebels! ) this is the group of girls i spent most of the trip with and they are some of the most amazing ladies you will ever meet! i think this night i remember we ate lamb stuffed in a stomach. needless to say, i think quite a few of us went to bed hungry that night!

the breathtaking sainte chapelle, a gothic chapel. it's quite a feat that the structure is still standing when so much of it is made up of stained glass windows. it is such a sight to behold.

when i think of paris, this is the typical image i think of, that typical french café on the corner. i love this image and i remember taking it secretly hoping it would totally capture what i imagine when i think of paris.

our chaperone ( madame strader ) insisted we wear money belts and carry our backpacks on the front when we traveled par mètro. looking back i know it was a smart thing to do but we felt so ridiculous and like such TOURISTS when we had to do this. hello americans!

i wish streets looked like this around ohio...

this is the whole gang in front of château de chambord. it was a hunting lodge for françois I and it had 84 staircases and 2 of those are separate intertwined staircases that you could go up three floors without ever meeting the person on the other staircase.

we also visited monet's home. how could you not be inspired by this amazing beauty he was surrounded with!

we ended our trip in nice and like they say, nice is nice! their rock beaches are fabulous! my first experience with a topless beach... interesting to say the least, haha. we were there during fête de la musique which was such a cool thing to experience. there are literally musicians set up all over france just singing, playing, jamming from all sorts of countries. we were particularly attached to an australian group who played american favorites :) 

i absolutely LOVE this photo. we were so excited to set foot in the mediterranean.

we also visited monaco briefly one day. it such a lush city!

* the title of this post means "i would rather be in france"