Scenes from Paris (finally!) - May 2, 2009
6:14 PM | Author: Misty
As I think I mentioned in my previous post, we went to Paris for our honeymoon, and it was WONDERFUL! Seriously, it was probably the best honeymoon I could have asked for. We flew out of Atlanta on Sunday, March 22, and after a horrendous (and unnecessary) trip through customs in Amsterdam, we made it into Paris and actually took a really long nap. Oh, yeah, and on our flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam, we got some special treatment from KLM Airlines once they found out it was our honeymoon! This is us drinking champagne on our flight:


We got up that evening and did some walking around near our hotel (Hotel Bastille de Launay), which was near the Bastille. We had dinner at a nearby restaurant, and it was DELICIOUS:

We had cabbage with different types of pork -- a couple of sausages, some really thick bacon and ham. There's also a random potato on there. We also had some pate (I don't know how to do the special character over the e), bread, a kir (a wine drink) and a Bordeaux (red wine).

For dessert, we had the most delicious creme brulee either of us had ever had!

The second day we were there, we were a lot more mobile, so we headed out in search of a market, which we never found. But we did have a pretty decent steak-and-potatoes lunch. I was irritated about not finding the market, so Bobby took charge and decided we'd go see Notre Dame. We figured out which Metro station to stop at thanks to our handy Moleskine Paris Guide and ended up almost right at the doorstep of Notre Dame. We ducked in a little patisserie for some tartlets (Bobby had a chocolate banana tartlet, and mine was white chocolate raspberry -- delicious!), then examined the Hotel de Ville before walking on to the cathedral. Bobby had said he wouldn't mind only looking at the outside, but I told him we had to walk through. He ended up being glad of my insistence. Here are some of my fave pics from inside Notre Dame.


And a few from the outside of Notre Dame (the first one was taken by Bobby):


Yeah, he had to lay down on the ground to get this shot, but it looks awesome!

We were amused by the statue (we think of John the Baptist) holding its own head and the one angel that looks like it's going, "Oh, it's OK, John the Baptist." The other angel looks like, "Stay away from me, headless freak!"

Picture of us taken by a Japanese tourist. He did a great job. Hint: Always look for the touristy guy with the biggest camera. Bonus points if he speaks English.

Shakespeare and Company book store, which is apparently pretty famous (though I'd never heard of it) is just across the river from Notre Dame, so we headed there next. I definitely think this was one of Bobby's favorite places we went, and I really liked it, too. It's an English book store with one floor of books for sale, another floor of reference books and a sort of dorm where writers can come and stay for free while they work.

Top is Bobby outside the store, middle is some of the books on the reference floor, and the last is Bobby sitting in one of the reading areas, looking out the window at the Seine.

We had dinner that night at one of the best restaurants we visited on the trip: Ambassade D'Auvergne. The food was tremendous, the restaurant itself was beautiful and the service was outstanding. Bobby had the world's best mashed potatoes and chocolate mousse (along with some other stuff). We also had a bacon and lentil salad that was very good.

We spent Wednesday at the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. I'm going to skip the pictures from the Louvre because there are a whole bunch of them, and this is already ridiculously long. Actually, if I were reading this, I'd probably have skimmed through the pictures and already left the site!

So on our way to the Eiffel Tower after our Louvre visit, we strolled along the Seine, stopping to take pictures along the way. We even talked a French woman with a dog into taking our picture in front of the tower.

Then Bobby tried to hug the Eiffel Tower and proceeded to take a great picture from the top:


The rest of our trip included lots more food and a trip to see the Arc de Triomphe and a stroll down the Champs Elysees.
There are so many more details about the trip, but given that it's taken me over a month to get this far, I think I'll just let you enjoy the pictures. You can see more on my Flickr page: http://flickr.com/photos/mistybell.
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Long overdue update (and the wedding) - April 14, 2009
3:06 PM | Author: Misty
It's been so long, and so much has happened since I updated! I hope to at some point come back and share some thoughts from journal entries from my wedding/honeymoon weeks, but for now, I'm going to settle for sharing some pictures!

The wedding day started bright and early with a trip to Southern Reflections Salon in Ozark. My cousin's fiancee, Amanda, agreed to do my hair for free. I was a little scared about how it was going to turn out at this point:


But thankfully the end result was much ... tamer. My bridesmaids also had some interesting hair experiences:

But theirs also turned out really pretty:


After we got our hairs did and I got a sweet early morning text from Bobby, we headed back to my parents' house to finish getting ready. We were running a little late, so we hurried and still ended up being late for pictures.


Here I am leaving my parents' house for the last time as a single woman:


Bobby and I had a few moments alone before pictures since we decided to do the pictures before the wedding. We met in the sanctuary of the church (Sykes Creek Baptist -- my Meemaw's church). It was really special to walk into the sanctuary in my wedding gown and see him standing there in his tux. We exchange hugs, kisses, encouraging words and I love yous. There may have been a few tears involved.


And here are some faves from before the wedding (captions below photos):

This is the entire wedding party. Far left are my sisters Kristy and Amy, then my dad and my mom on the bottom row. The top row on the left is my bridesmaids Lauren, Ashley and Holly. Jerred and Sarah-Grace, my niece and nephew, are in the front. Bobby's parents are bottom right, and behind them (from right) are our ushers Chris and Brian (Elmo) and Bobby's groomsmen Chris and Bobby. We're in the middle, and our preacher, Matt, is standing behind us.

Me with my niece and nephews. Drew, the one on my lap, wasn't in the wedding, but he wanted to sit in my lap for a picture.

Bridesmaids? Or secret agents/angels?

Apparently this came from a movie. It was our photographer's (Stephanie's) idea. It turned out really cute, even if I have no idea what movie it's from!

Bobby: I'm going to make a goofy face at your flowers now. Me: Quit messing around!

This shot was Bobby's idea, and I think it turned out hilarious.

This is probably my favorite shot of us.

Me and Drew in between the formal pictures and the ceremony. We were having a good time!

And here are some from the actual ceremony (captions below photos):


That's my dad giving me away. Yes, that is a tear. Bobby and I both pretty much alternated between laughing and crying for the entire ceremony.
Bobby was doing a lot of giggling. I don't think either of us could believe our wedding day had finally arrived and we were really getting married.

Bobby had a little trouble getting my wedding band on my hand. And I laughed at him (then helped him, of course).

Having learned from Bobby's ring issues, I used both hands to guide his ring onto his finger.

Then there was the kiss. We got some catcalls. Bobby said later that he figured if he was going to kiss me, he might as well do it right and make it memorable!

Matt did a wonderful job with the ceremony. We had tons of people tell us afterward that it was one of the best weddings they'd ever been to. We wrote our own vows, and we also each sent Matt a write-up about why we love each other and wanted to get married. He preached a sermonette about this and tied in Bobby's pursuit of me with the way God pursues us --
even when we don't think we want to be pursued, he's persistent.

We had the reception in the church's fellowship hall, so after our recessional (Mna Mna -- people didn't quite know what to think, but it was so us!), we headed over and formed an informal receiving line. We hugged a whole bunch of people and then headed in for some cake and food.


Here are a few other shots from the reception:


Some members of the old T-town crew were able to make it: Matthew, Jessica, Holly, Lauren, Bobby, me, Renee, Dianne, Chris and Austin. Wish more of that group of friends could have come, but we're spread out all over the country now!

A handful of folks from Vineyard, our church in Tuscaloosa, made it, too. This is Katie, Ashley, me, Bobby, Benji and Rob.

Lauren caught the bouquet and was very happy about it.

Brian (Elmo) caught the garter and was not nearly as happy.

And finally, we were off. In our nasty car. Courtesy of Beau Freakin' Rainwater. Thankfully Rob and Benji came to my parents' house and washed it off while we were changing clothes. I don't think we can thank them enough for that!

After Bobby and I changed clothes at my parents' house, we headed to Georgia for the evening. We ate dinner at a restaurant in Griffin, Ga. (where Bobby used to live), before checking into our hotel. We were exhausted! We got up the next day and piddled around for a while before heading to the airport to catch our flight to Paris! I will post some pictures from Paris soon, but that'll definitely be for another blog entry!

Looking back on our wedding day, I'm really amazed at how smoothly everything went and how stress-free the day was. When people ask us about it, that's the biggest thing Bobby and I remember about the day -- we never once felt stressed. Nervous, yes, and excited. But it was a beautiful day, and it was really everything I could have hoped for.

By the way, if you want to see even more pictures, they are posted on my flickr account, http://www.flickr.com/photos/mistybell/.
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