Bon Appetite - beware - you will be hungry after reading this POST!

Bon Jour,

I'm home from my French General - French Adventure, getting back in the swing of working, trying to sleep based on my time zone, and missing all the French Food!!

One of the first questions my friends and family have asked since I've been back is "How was the Food?!?" One word - AMAZING. The Chef's at the Chateau were incredible, making each meal better and more special than the next. I thought I would share the first set of my meals for this first post on France.

Bon Appetite!

Our first evening at the Chateau was such a nice welcome. We arrived from Paris on the train to Montabaun and arrived at the Chateau as the sun was setting. The rest of the ladies were enjoying wine and cheese on the balcony when we joined them.

Our first course was a trio of cold soups from gazpacho to a mint soup and mango with a onion puff. So tasty.

The main course was roasted vegetable, potatoes and a stuffed pork dish.

Dessert was a nice cap to the long travel day. Berries and cream. Mmmmm.

At the Sunday Farmer's market in St. Antonine there were many vendors with fresh fruits, (the strawberries were little pieces of candy they were so sweet!)

olives,

foi gras, and the below delicacy L'Aligot, which was like a cheesy mashed potato. Very rich, and pretty tasty!

After the market and a stop at a Brochante (much on these later) we went to a beautiful park and had a picnic lunch near the lake.

Lizzie (owner of Chateau Dumas), Renee (one of our brilliant Chef's) and Ollie (our resident do it all guy), set up a lovely spread for us.

The main spread included duck, onion tart, roasted vegetables, green beans, potatoes, and more.

The dessert was a flaky and sweet fig tart.

Dinner back at the Chateau was on this lovely set up out front.

We started with creamy hummus:

Then dinner was surf and turf, however I opted for a little more duck vs the beef. The roasted garlic spread was SOOOO good, luckily all of us ate it :)

The dinner was topped off with fireworks from a small town nearby, it was quite a show!

Breakfasts at the Chateau were easy and relaxed. Everyone woke at their own pace and joined in on breakfast when they came downstairs.

One of my favorite things was the muesli. It is hard to explain what exactly it is, but a kind of cold oatmealish cereal with fruit. I used to eat it all the time at the Corner Bakery in Chicago, for those with Corner Bakeries nearby! Of course there were croissants on the table each morning, along with a special dish each day. This day's dish was a cheese omelet.

The little chive just added such a great flavor to the omelet.

I realized I have MANY more photos of meals to share with you, but I figure I have made you hungry enough from this post, I'll wait to share more with you soon!!

Until then Good Eating!!!

-Rach

A Few Updates before my French Adventure!

Hi Everyone,

I have been so behind in my updates, it is terrible!! However I will be missing most likely for the next couple weeks still since I leave TOMORROW for FRANCE!! Yes that is right France.

It doesn't quite seem real. I signed up for this adventure last fall, and now in about 12 hours I will be boarding a plane to Chicago then onto Paris. It will be a little Planes, Trains and Automobiles. There will be four of us taking the Train from Paris to the South of France to meet up with the other gals for our week long stay at the Chateau. Then Jeanne, Jackie and I will be back to Paris for a few whirlwind days packing it all in!!

Check out the adventure that I'll be on if you'd like at the French General.

In the meantime I thought I'd share a picture from my Californian getaway back in May to attend Jenny Doh's Crescendoh Launch Party. It was a Blast, and so good to catch up with my Brave Girl's.

I'll share more about the wonderful weekend once I return.

Until then Bon Jour! Is that hello and goodbye?! I really should've learned some French!

Hello Helpful Phrase Book!

Rach

Mary Engelbreit Workshops

Hi Friends -

The weekend in St Louis was so great. It was relaxing, engaging, inspiring, and so enjoyable with Lisa and Kara. It was fun to see many other familiar faces too - Claudine , Charlotte, Kaari, Shelley, Jemelia, Peggy, and more!

I drove down to Kansas City on Wednesday night, it was pretty late once I finished up enough work to take off a couple days. I stayed with Kara and Thursday morning we took off down the road to St Louis. When we arrived we checked into the Hotel Indigo which was just a block away from the Chase where the workshops took place. It was a great deal and had fun bright rooms.

Kara and I walked over a few blocks for our Mary Engelbreit studio tour.

Mary's studio is located in the Central West End of St Louis which is a cool fun area.

The tour was really interesting, we saw Mary's office, and her work table where she creates her artwork. There were fun "Mary" touches all over the space - even the restroom!

The front desk was colorful and bright.

Here is Mary's desk, and all the amazing colorful markers and pencils she uses for her artwork.

Great colors!

I took note of Mary's computer which held the quotes she looks at each day:

"There is no failure except in no longer trying"

"until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have"

"never pass up a chance to keep your mouth shut"

"It's hard to learn from a mistake that you don't acknowledge making"

After our tour we met Lisa who drove up from Oklahoma to join us for the weekend.

As we walked into the welcome reception we ran into Charlotte Lyons, one of my favs! And this little lady was just hanging out saying hello to people as they entered....Yeah that is me with my arm around Mary Engelbreit. She is so cool and really approachable.

I was also excited to see Shelley who I just met the weekend before in Savannah.

Kara, Lisa and I had dinner after the reception at a fun Italian restaurant, I think it was called Bar Italia. We sat under a big white tent outside. As you know, I love love love outdoor dining. The host was very friendly and you could tell he thoroughly enjoyed his job and making everyone feel welcome.

Friday bright and early started the workshops. 8am Kara and I took Wendy Addison's Glitter Chandelier class. The project was amazing....however the nearly 2 hours of cutting chipboard with a knife was a little much for my poor hand...but it'll be well worth it once I have a studio to hang the piece in!! Wendy was sweet and amazing. I loved hearing how she came to love and search out German Glass Glitter. Lots of history there!

My second class on Friday was with Charlotte Lyon's, who I have met at Silver Bella in years past. Charlotte is not only uber-talented, but her warmth is what really draws you in. Friday we made cuckoo clocks out of chipboard. (If you visit her blog, my clock is red with white polka dots and is featured in her post) Very fun.

Saturday started with the awesome Kaari Meng's class on Millinery Flowers. She brought her gorgeous fabrics for us to choose from and we went to town. I made two flowers. The one below was my favorite since it coordinated so well with my outfit :) I wore it on my belt. I can imagine these flowers being fun to add to gift packages, to bags, and many other ideas. I can't wait to make more while we are in France at the Chateau Getaway in July :) So excited about that!!

My last class on Saturday was again with Charlotte and we made traveling folding trays out of a cereal box! What a totally green idea. I love mine and will use it on my dresser to hold change, rings, earrings, etc. I need to take some pictures of all my projects and I'll share those soon.

As we left the hotel to grab a final dinner in St Louis' Central West End we stopped to take some pics before it got too dark.

The fountain was along the main street with beautiful houses across the way. There were wonderful restaurants to choose from too!

Lisa and I were so happy to be at another art event together that we signed up for SPARK 2 Friday night!! We are both really excited to see Margie again and hopefully more girls we know, like Elena.

It truly wouldn't be an art event without a cupcake. I think they go hand in hand. I am not sure if it is a law in certain states, but I don't want to take the risk, you know what I'm sayin'?

So being the law abiding citizens that we are, we stopped at The Cupcakery, maybe twice - just for good measure...

The whole weekend was a treat. I can't wait for the next one!!

Thanks to Mary and Barbara Martin for throwing such a wonderful event!!

-Rach

Petticoats and Parasols - Day 3

Hi Everyone -

I am anxious to post about my weekend in St Louis at the Mary Engelbreit Workshops, HOWEVER - I have yet to finish my posts on the Petticoats and Parasols event in Savannah from last week. Was it just last weekend??? It seems so long ago, I miss being there and the new friends I made there!

So let's dive back into the ol' South and look at Day 3!!

We arrived at the Ford Plantation Saturday morning as the rain/drizzle poured down. The rain however did not dampen the day. Below check out part of the backyard of the main house. So beautiful.

Jenn had a nice big tent set up for us in back that kept us dry, but able to enjoy the beautiful scenery next to the river.

The tables were set wonderfully with our three project kits laid out.

We first began with Jenn's project, a parasol covered with fabrics and embellishments of our choosing.

We stopped for lunch early in the afternoon. We went inside the Main house and had the most delicious free range roasted chicken I've had for a long time! Jenn turned a lot of us onto Amaretto Sours, pretty tasty!

Once lunch was over, Christine showed us how to created a petticoat on a dress form.

This will be fun to hang jewelry on! I used some of my vintage feed sack materials, along with some materials on hand from Christine and Jenn.

Our final project was a framed silhouette collage with Tiffany. She provided us all the materials, and we brought our own frame. Even with the same materials, all participants' finished products looked unique.

During the whole weekend you couldn't look around the group of gals and NOT see at least 2 or three women taking pictures. I LOVE THAT! Can we get a Woo Woo for digital photography?? Just saying.

I caught Tiffany and Jenn taking photos at the same time as I walked into the main house for a cookie break...which lead into a mini Photo Shoot.

Then on the way back out I caught them pouring over their photos in each other's cameras!!

What a fun and fabulous weekend!!!

Exhausted but so inspired we left Sunday, back to reality. The weekend was over but with us we took a piece of Savannah and all the Belle's in our hearts!

-Rach

Petticoats and Parasols - Day 2

Hi All -

Day Two in Savannah, GA began with a walk around town looking for a breakfast spot to eat. We finally found one and I ordered a great breakfast sandwich. It took a little longer that it should have, but in true Southern hospitality, the manager came over later and brought me a little cookie treat! Nice.

I will be doing a separate blog post on the lanterns/lighting and all the architecture, but as a quick tease here I am in front of a nice hotel/inn with a great light fixture.

Jen and I then set off to see more of Savannah's squares, and some of the hot shopping spots.

The Paris Market was a MAJOR stop of the day.

I could've spent half the day in this shop with all the things to see and look through! I will share with you some of my purchases later, however here are a few shots of the shop. The PARIS letters that light up in the back are TO DIE FOR. I want letters like that that say RACH! Really I do, note to self: must stalk ebay for those....

Of course we couldn't turn around in Savannah without bumping into more SUGAR!! (ok eating healthy was gonna have to wait.)

Again with the cool signage, the METRO sign in front of the stairs to go down to another area with fun old books, photographs, etc. Had I not worried that my bags were going to weigh so close to 50 lbs as it was, I would've purchased some of the old books for projects...alas I just picked up some old photos, some cool news giftcards, some Washi Japanese Tape, and a cool blank journal....and it seems like other things that I am forgetting at the moment....(FYI - the unpacking hasn't quite finished, or really started let's be honest!)

The Paris Market was so awesome!!

After all the shopping we were hungry so we took a break to split a cupcake to give us the energy boost we needed for a little more shopping and sightseeing. We then headed down to the Riverwalk to find some real food.

We waited for an outdoor table on the balcony at a restaurant on the river. It was such a nice day, it was great to eat outdoors. I love eating outdoors when it is nice out!

We headed back from shopping to relax and get ready for the Cupcake Party/Vendor Night at Back in the Day Bakery. We boarded an open air trolley and took the journey across town. Jen and I didn't quite have the full Southern Belle attire, but this was the best us Midwesterners could do!!

As you'll see from the below pictures, many of the girls went all out and looked so gorgeous in their Southern Belle attire!! Tiffany has such great style every given day, and her SB attire was perfect! She looked very cute!

Our hostess Jenn had this dress custom designed! Wow! Shelly also looked wonderful all Belle'd up!

Our other instructor for one of our three classes was the wonderful Christine! She looked adorable!

The night was full of shopping and fun and CUPCAKES. The Back in the Day Bakery certainly had some tasty desserts!

After the last dollar was spent, Jen and I shared a cab over to the Six Pence Pub with Jodie and Karen. What a FUN night we had. Dinner, drinks, and laughs with new friends! Our waitress looked and sounded just like Berta - (the woman in pink - eyes closed :) from Two and a Half Men. She was so funny and nice!

Great Day 2!

I totally forgot to mention the night of Day 1 we had a Ghost Tour of the city! Those pics are on my other camera that are not yet uploaded....that is a whole other post in any case!!! More to come....

- Rach