Lights, Camera, Action!

Since moving to Mary Kay, Kevin has had some many new and exciting opportunities! He uses his love of public speaking to conduct trainings (and even gets to mix in a little humor and comedy while he's at it!), uses his language skills to work with their subsidiaries in Europe, and has even gotten back into acting.

I say BACK into acting because he acted in several plays in high school.  Legend has it that Kevin absolutely stole the show his sophomore year portraying Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes thriller "Hound of the Baskervilles."

Back to present day.

Kevin was asked to be the Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Laws," a legal training video produced for Mary Kay's annual beauty consultant conference called Seminar. 

This was no slap job training video done in his office - oh no!

It was done in a production studio with hair, make-up, props, a stage, and a full camera crew including a director.

I can't help but laugh when I see this picture!

He is even wearing a prosthetic nose!

Amazing!

Long Live the Exfoliators!

A few weeks ago, Mary Kay was invited to put together a team and play in a corporate fundraiser dodge ball tournament.  Since some team members got injured prior to game day (non related to dodge ball, of course!), I got to play too! It was so much fun!  

Kevin came up with the team name!

Warming up!

Just like in the movie, we needed to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge!

We played five three minute games that were surprisingly fierce and quick! We only won one game, but we are going to rock it next year!

In the last game, I ended up being the last person going against three guys. One hit me in the face and it really hurt! Since it was a head shot, it didn't count but it really ticked me off! Of course they ended up getting me out, but I didn't go down without a fight!

Paris / Normandy

On our last day in France, we took a tour to the beaches at Normandy. We decided to use an organized tour and loved it! Our guide was adorable and was so knowledgeable of WWII and the battles in the area.  Being there just after the 70th anniversary of the invasion and right before the Fourth of July was really special.  

In front of one of the bunkers at Pont du Hoc. I learned so much about the invasion and the war from our guide!  

Pont du Hoc is a cliff in between Omaha and Utah beaches that housed five German cannons. On the morning of June 6th, 1944 225 Rangers were assigned to climb the cliff and disarm the cannons that had a range of over five miles and could fire on both Utah and Omaha beaches.  Unfortunately, the Rangers landed at the wrong location that morning and by the time they reached the correct cliff, the Germans were no longer as surprised.  

It is said that the Rangers were struggling to climb the cliff with the enemy firing down on them, so the Rangers used their knives to climb it in just 15 minutes.  This memorial commemorates their bravery.  Sadly, only 90 of 225 Rangers survived the battle.  

Our next stop was to Omaha Beach. 

With the tide in, we weren't able to get the full effect of the extensive sand that the soldiers had to fight through carrying heavy packs, but as you look at the yellow buoys,  you can see to where the tide recedes.
So many brave men died here. They died to protect our freedom and the freedom of others.  We were honored to visit their final resting place and pay our respects.

Our final stop was to the American Cemetery.  

Visiting Normandy was really special. Our guide was amazing and was so reverential towards the veterans that fought and died there. She volunteers to take care of five graves and even dresses up in reenactments.  In fact, it seems that all of the local people feel just like her - as you drive through the small villages near the beaches, you saw the American and British flags flying right alongside the French. 

As we were walking along Omaha Beach, we saw two girls swimming and our guide was visibly annoyed and told us that they were clearly tourists because no locals would ever swim there - she explained that to the people of Normandy, that is hallowed and sacred ground where you would never swim.

After our tour we headed back to Bayeux and had just enough time to see the Bayeux Tapestry. I was so excited to see this amazing piece of history! The tapestry is actually an embroidery on linen cloth and depicts the Norman Invasion of 1066 by William the Conqueror.  It was made in the 1070s and is nearly 70 meters long! It was in immaculate condition considering its age!

The audiotape included with the entry told the story and explained each scene.  I was totally nerding out as we walked through and discovered each scene!

We were only able to briefly walk through Bayeux, another adorable town, before we had to return to Paris to return our car.

So cute!

Back to Paris we went and we had such a great evening with the Crawfords!

We went to an adorable cafe on Rue Cler and even though it was raining, it was the perfect end to a wonderful vacation!

The Crawfords treated us to amazing gelato.

Check out the shape of my cone - its a flower and every petal is a different flavor! 

Genius, and so tasty!

The best thing about good friends? It can be years in between visits but it always feels like you have never left when you get back together!

We couldn't leave Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower one last time!

What a magical, fairy tale vacation!

Paris / Mont Sainte-Michel

After a fabulous breakfast at our B&B, a debacle finding and then paying for gas (nobody was working at the booth to take our cash and they didn't accept our non-French credit cards! Thankfully, after several failed attempts at communicating our problem, a group of helpful teens on motorcycles drove us to a gas station that did take our money!), we drove several hours to Mont St Michel.

Mont St Michel is a medieval tidal island fortress barely off the coast of Normandy with a beautiful abbey on top of the pyramidal shaped land. When the tide comes in the mont is surrounded by water, but when the tide is out the island is accessible.  Of course, there is a bridge there for our use today!

Coolest place EVER!

In fact, the head designer on the Disney movie Tangled is French and patterned the royal castle and town on this magical place (with some elements drawn from Chenonceau as well!)

See it?

 

(both pictures obviously not taken by me!)

We loved walking up the spiraling cobblestone streets to the working abbey - there were many shops, restaurants, and even hotels!

The tide was out when we arrived and had just come in as we were leaving.

  

This wheel was used to bring supplies up from the bottom of the mont - ingenious!  

There were many warning signs discouraging people from walking on the sand, but we saw several people down there nonetheless.  I don't know about you, but the threat of quicksand is enough to keep me away!

I love this man!

We were in awe of the difficulty of the construction of this 11th century abbey. I would love to know how on earth they managed to build it!

Watching the tide slowly come in...

Our only regret is not allotting more time on the island!

Our next B&B was located just a few kilometers from the Mont, Le Clois de Sainte Gilles, and it was so charming!

Behind me you can barely make out the Mont - swoon!

The couple who owned this property renovated it from the ground up and designed and cultivated these gorgeous gardens. It took them six years! She showed me the pictures from their renovations and I am amazed at the transformation. They started with a crumbling building and a weed field and they created this!