Keeping Up With The Joneses

Trevor has a great job; he makes great money. I am so thankful for his secure job and his wonderful boss who is so wonderful and generous. Going to Paris has been a fabulous experience, and I am so glad that Addison and I got to join him. This Paris part of our vacation is not actually a vacation for Trevor for the most part. During work hours he has been working at his company’s booth at the Paris Air Show. At night we have been able to be together as a family and be by ourselves with the exception of a wonderful cruise down the Seine on Tuesday night that his company put on.

So during the day all the wives of the men did some sightseeing and touristy stuff. This vacation for us was supposed to be a cheap one. You ask how we are supposed to take an 11-day vacation to Europe for cheap? Well I’ll tell you. Our flights were paid for by frequent flier miles. Our $612 per night room at the hotel in Paris was paid for by Trevor’s company. All Trevor’s food was paid for, and mine was too when I was with Trevor. Our transportation was paid for when I was with Trevor. Thank you Anixter for such a wonderful vacation! The second part of our trip is/was also supposed to be cheap. We have not gotten to that point yet, so hopefully we can keep it cheap. We are staying with my brother and sister-in-law in London, so lodging is free. We are going to try and eat in at their place as much as possible, so cost of food should be kept to a minimum.

The Paris part of our trip was not so cheap. You see, the coworkers that are here with Trevor are all VPs of Anixter, which means they make considerably more money than Trevor. Why does this matter? Because the wives of these men spent money without hesitation. (They even joked about bowing to the Louis Vuitton store when we passed it!) So dining with them and going to all the places that they went was not so cheap for me. Remember that my food and transportation are not covered by Anixter when I am not with Trevor. So our daily excursions cost quite a bit more than we had hoped to spend but they were very memorable and I wouldn’t change them for the world. I just sat back and watched the other ladies spent hundreds of dollars on art and other things just thinking and being thankful that I am in the place that I am, that my husband has a great job (especially in this economy), and though we don’t have a mansion, we have a beautiful new(er) house that we love, a happy family, and everything that we need to survive. I am one blessed woman. Stay tuned for more details of our actual vacation and more pictures.