Fall feels like change.
Fall 2014: My mom tells me she’s getting re-married.
Fall 2013: I spend some wonderful last weekends with my dad (Halloween, Thanksgiving). Unbeknownst to me the change that is to happen soon.
Fall 2012: I get a new job, and a change in my career I will forever be grateful for.
And this fall, I came back from a wonderful vacation with more change at work than I could have ever imagined. It was all good news for me, but still a lot of change.
I’ve written before about the only constant in life being change, focusing specifically on my Fall 2014 change. But for some reason I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.
As much as I love fall, it also makes me melancholy and nostalgic, probably due to Fall 2013 change. And also because fall brings in the season of holidays, a wonderful time of year, but also a time of year where we really miss the ones who are no longer with us.
I miss my dad. I really, really miss him. I really missed him this weekend when husband and I ate at Waffle House and I remembered the first time I ever ate at a WH was in high school because my dad was appalled I’d never been and insisted we go. I really missed him when we got back from vacation and I couldn’t tell him all about Oktoberfest. I really miss him every.single.time I see a Jeep Grand Waggoner “Woody” because he thought his was so cool and I thought it was so embarrassing.
Change is hard. But the thing is, you can’t stop it from happening and you just have to deal with it. You are where you are for a reason. Whether it’s opening up to a new family, dealing with grief or learning a new job, you have to accept the change and be determined to make the best of the situation you’re in.
Or you can just follow my new life mantra –
That works pretty well too.
Either way, YOU determine how you feel and YOU determine how change will affect you. No one else can do that. So I say, embrace whatever change fall has brought you.
Or, just drink a lot of wine.
xo xo
[Wilkommen to Deutschland! What an amazing surprise from my friend Bobbi Joe, waiting for me at our hotel. Dirndl and all here we come, Oktoberfest!]
[I can’t even describe how amazing of an experience this was!! Something we will never forget!]
[So much food! Pretzels, two hens, pork knuckle and the best potato salad I’ve ever eaten!]
[We were in the Augustiner beer tent for 5 1/2 hours, and by the end, everyone was standing on their tables dancing and singing, without a care in the world.]
[Beautiful day exploring the city – Glockenspiel and Marienplatz]
[Michael Jackson memorial outside the Bayerischer Hof Hotel, where he stayed several times and other celebrities stay in Munich.]
[When in Munich … eat pizza? Strange I know, but it was incredible because the meat is just so good on anything you put it on.]
[Early night in after a late night previously and a long day of walking. But of course, still laying in bed drinking beer.]
[Lunch at Hofbrau Haus!]
[Another beautiful day walking around the city and enjoying beautiful gardens.]
[Rainy days are for museums – first up, Museum Brandhorst with an amaaaazing Warhol exhibit!]
[Next museum, Pinakothek der Moderne filled with everything you could imagine such as furniture, the first Apple computer and Dali’s!]
[The BMW Museum was so cool, inside and out! And of course the MINI exhibition was my favorite.]
[We were looking for a place to eat dinner, and we just couldn’t pass up the meat cooking in the window. It was seriously the best thing we ate in Munich (and as you saw, we ate some great food). The pork knuckle and sauerkraut was incredible, and the flaming apple fritters were awesome.]
[Our last day in Munich we spent shopping in the morning, and then relaxing and drinking beer all afternoon at our now favorite beer garden Augustiner-Keller.
[Arrived in Paris to a beautiful day and another adorable (Rick Steve’s recommended) hotel – Hotel Des Grandes Ecoles. This was the cobblestone pathway that led to the hotel behind closed doors from the street, and the adorable patio/garden where everyone sat and drank wine every afternoon. To say I could get use to this would be an understatement.]
[6-course French wine + champagne tasting]
[Dinner at Louvre Ripaille – mushroom risotto + beef bourguignon (and a creepy husband)]
[Moonlit stroll home with Notre Dame + Love Locks]
[Our favorite thing about Paris was just walking around, exploring and these gorgeous views.]
[One of the last remaining original metro signs]
[We didn’t go in the Louvre, but we did stop by for some photos]
[Wine in our hotel patio/garden. Like I said before, I could get use to this.]
[It was a looooong walk to the Eiffel Tower after an already long day of walking, but these views sure were worth it. <3]
[Cappuccinos + croque monsieur at Le Descartes]
[Strolled through the gorgeous Jardin du Luxembourg]
[Laduree was a dream! And the macarons were amazing! 
[We stumbled upon this pop-up art museum and had to go in. Turns out it was an Hermes exhibition that was one of the coolest things we saw in Paris. We felt like we were in Alice in Wonderland!]
[This hole-in-the-wall bar in Montmarte served us the best duck we have ever tasted. It seriously melted in my mouth, and was my favorite thing we ate on the trip.]
[Loved seeing a show at the Moulin Rouge! So much fun!]
[The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles was stunning!]
[And so were the grounds – wow! Versailles was so impressive. There aren’t even words to describe it.]
[We loved you, Paris! We will definitely be back!]
[First impression of London – I mean, WHY can’t our taxis be this adorable?! I already love this city.]
[Kensington Palace and Gardens was huge and gorgeous. We spent our first afternoon strolling the park, people and swan-watching, and finding the Peter Pan statue! #NeverGrowUp]
[Then, the unthinkable happened. I took this picture literally minutes before a drunk homeless guy came over and spilled his alcohol all over my pants. Like, I’m not kidding you when I say I reeked of alcohol and my pants were drenched. Long story short, it led to new pants from Zara and … ]
[… finding this place, The Cockpit. We ended up missing our pub tour we’d booked, but instead we found this pub that was so quintessentially English it was amazing. There were no tourists, Rugby World Cup was on the TV and most importantly, the beer was flowing. Probably our favorite place from the entire trip.]
[Pub stop #2. We just decided to make our own pub tour.]
[Tower of London, Crown Jewels and adorable husband – check!]
[And awesome views of the Tower Bridge – check!]
[My favorite thing we did in London was the Sunday afternoon church service at Westminster Abby. The choir was PHENOMENAL. I’ve never heard anything like it before in my life. Also, I couldn’t stop thinking about how Will + Kate got married here, sooooo that was pretty cool.]
[Favorite photo from the trip! Thanks random strangers from Chicago. <3]
[Next up – The London Eye. Which I did not like. So I promptly rewarded myself with ice cream. And as mom later reminded me, she always use to reward me with ice cream too.]
[Waiting with thousands of other people for the changing of the guards!]
[And the wait was totally worth it. Next time I have to go in Buckingham Palace!]
[Churchill War Rooms was Kyle’s favorite thing from London. It was literally the secret, underground bunker Churchill used during WW2, and it was fascinating.]
[Lunch at Red Lion Pub and our first fish and chips, which we LOVED.]
[Tower Bridge selfie on our hop-on, hop-off tour bus! We loved this. It was a great way to see the city and fun to sit on top!]
[Dinner: The Thomas Cubitt
[Kew Gardens was just gorgeous, and the weather was so perfect. My pictures don’t do it justice (and of course I took like a million.) But I had to share this one of the peacock that just walked right in front of me on the path – it was incredible! We were like, where are we?!]
[Mid-morning cake + cappuccinos.]
[One thing we did not get to do that I really wanted to was go to Notting Hill (I will just have to re-watch the movie and go back!). This was the closest we got – Churchill Arms, a famous pub full of flowers and plants inside and out that also served delicious Indian food.]
[JK, we’re not going to Paris, we’re headed to Hogwarts!!]
m.davis xoxo 