living the dream

this whole trip i have had a little dream. you know, one of those silly fantasies that you think would be totally awesome but are, for the most part, highly unlikely? this dream was one of those, and it was silly enough that i haven't shared it until now. let me tell you about this dream: i thought it would be fabulous to be kissed in front of the eiffel tower and have it captured on camera. ridiculous, right? well, on our first little eiffel visit i shared this little secret with my girls, mostly joking, but a little serious. i am pretty sure james and i promised each other that if we didn't find someone we actually liked we would grab a random guy and make it happen.

fast forward a few weeks. no luck finding any worthy candidates so we head to the eiffel tower to look for randoms. don't worry i totally wimped out and even though james and i found a (surprisingly) few options there was no way i was going to do that. and so, as of this morning i was still eiffel tower kiss-less. and i had accepted it. 

after church we decided to hit the eiffel once more. not because i had any hopes of making this dream a reality, but because it is just seemed an apropos place to spend our last afternoon in the city. we invited some new friends from our temple trip and all headed on our way. 

once we arrived at the eiffel, james started acting a little weird. we were all just sitting on the grass in the sunshine and she kept saying, oh i just love the eiffel tower. oh i just love paris. and then she grabbed my camera and continued to love taking pictures of the eiffel tower. i started to get suspicious when she stood up and said we need some pictures in front of the eiffel. mads, get up and pose! 

but i decided to get up and go along with it. then nate, one of our good ole' ward buddies, and a totally fun guy, walks over and joins me. at this point i don't even know what to think. i can't lie my heart started racing a little bit. and then he turned to me and said "so i hear you have a little dream..." and since a picture is worth a thousand words, we'll let that tell what happened next... 

...the foot pop was totally natural. 

yes. jamie talked to nate when i was not around and sneakily told him about my secret wish. nate really did just all of the sudden dip me and plant a fat one on me in front of the eiffel tower, and it was captured on camera. i didn't even know what to think. dream come true? i guess so!

unsuspecting before,

zoom in on the after.

crazy days right? even crazier that i am blogging about it. but hey, an eiffel tower kiss definitely counts for a daily adventure. and the picture turned out pretty great. haha. i am still kind of in shock that it all happened. (all thanks to jamie and her sneakiness.) thanks for looking out for me and making my dreams come true james. 

other news. it was our last time at church

allison and i remade our first picture our first sunday

 me and sneaky james, after it all went down.

allison works the beret too

 when i got home em and i decided to go for a last walk around le ves.

i couldn't resist making a little daisy chain

 it was a perfect day, the colors were amazing, and the sun was shining

 so green

 hippie at heart

 yes, i really do live here.

couldn't get enough of all the gorgeous flowers.

 or the ducklings!

 more

 more

 pure whimsy.

 how could i not miss this place?

 we came home from our walk to find nannick enjoying the sunshine

 girls in the jardin

 oh how i will miis my chere nannick!

 she had hung our laundry out to dry in the garden.

awesome.

 our last dinner!

 our last tarte a pommes!

 eating outside

 our little french family.

today was my last full day in paris. that is right, i leave this city tomorrow. it is my last time sleeping in my little room. oh how i will miss it all. c'est la tristesse! i cannot believe that it is actually time to say goodbye. and i still cannot believe i got an eiffel tower kiss. i guess all i can say is dreams really do come true! this whole trip has been a dream, and that just topped it all off. bisous!