I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack

OK. So I know, I know, I know… it has been two months since my last confession.. ummmmm I mean blog post… so here I am to make amends. But I have to throw a few excuses out there as to why I had not posted – the first being; things became so normal and day to day here in Paris that I found it hard to share anything exciting. The shopping, the food, even the unreal crazy folk on the metro became just ordinary. That was until I realised that it is slowly creeping up on the end of my contract for my job here in Paris and I needed to spice it up a bit because well I just have no idea what my life is going to throw at me in the near future and I want every single memory I make before my return to the US absolutely amazing (maybe that is a high expectation but a feel it is a totally worthwhile expectation). So I can be totally honest and say that over the past few weeks I have done much more than I normally would have during a regular week in Paris. After spending almost a month back in the states – with no real leads as to what I am going to be doing next – I thought it would be really hard to return to the City of Lights and my life here, but I was dead wrong. It all fell back into place seamlessly and now to be honest I find myself questioning what the hell am I doing?!?!!? Now many of you know that I also made the same kind of comment about wanting to stay here knowing that my family and friends are back in New England and that there is a huge draw to want to be back, but why oh why can’t I just mash the two up? I mean is it so much to ask for a job that would allow me to spend 75% of my time in the US travelling and the other 25% back here in Paris? So if any of you have a brilliant idea or two about how to make that happen, I am all ears, literally, spill them. I feel it would be the perfect solution for me. But enough waaaaaahhhhhh about having to move and real life choices, let’s get to the nitty gritty – which include all of my adventures since I returned to Paris at the beginning of April. Let’s see – I have seen street dancing, Science Museums, been to my favourite Vietnamese restaurant with my two favourite children and the partner in crime, spent an entire day reading in front of my favourite window in my apartment while drinking REAL espresso (I had no idea how much I missed that liquid sunshine until I had my first sip when I returned), finally managed to bake up a tasty treat with all of the conversions done in French (did you know they don’t have measuring spoons here, just use a soup spoon or coffee spoon?),  eaten falafel with the best spicy green chilli  sauce ever, travelled on the TGV to the Loire Valley, visited my first real winery, four castles, saw the French countryside and was asked to be on a tv show… and those are only the things I can remember right now as I type. As always there are LOADS of photos and I plan on taking sometime this week to share my favorites and tell you (if anyone is still reading this silly little thing) about all of my adventures. Actually for the first time in a while I am incredibly excited to write about these little tid bits and share them… so I hope you are ready for this :)

Lots and Lots and Lots has happened ...

It has been awhile again… I really have to cut down on these hiatus periods. It isn’t like nothing happens, its just that I can’t seem to A. Keep my eyes open when I am finished to write about it, B.Take a ten minute break in front of my computer to write enough to give whatever it is I am writing about justice, or C.I just don’t stop… ever… that is what it really feels like lately. Wow actually as I am writing this I can’t even remember the last juicy Parisian details I shared… and let me tell you what the last 2 weeks have been JAM-packed. I have done everything from go to a rugby game at the Stade de France, make it up to the 2^nd level of the Eiffel Tower (finally- 11 months later), fly to the states on an American airline (I will admit, I am a snob, I fly Air France and I love the free champagne and wine, it truly helps my sleep for the 7 hours) met a whole new side of my crazy family, got my butt kicked in a few hands of Pitch (a sweet card game you play in teams and try to collect points, I used to be the master champ.. it has been awhile), met two angelic little babies and was able to spend time with some of my best friends and enjoy all the baby babble,  took square dancing lessons (not so much a champ at that) and celebrated 10 years of friendship with my love Miss. Ashlee Carter, had a mini family photo session after a lovely Easter breakfast, and upon my return to this lovely ville I ate Pakistani, Lebanese and Moroccan in a three day period, said good bye and good luck to my boss, mentor and friend (while eating Moroccan),  baked chocolate chip cookies for the first time since my arrival and had a lovely picnic with two of the most amazing kids I have ever met. PHEW – I am tired just from typing that… I think a photo review post is in need to help document all of these delightful things ….   

And we are back in action...

This entry is dedicated to my friend Nina <3

It has been brought to my attention that I have been a serious slacker on this little blog of mine and I need to change my bad habits and get back on updating it. Especially since the last month or so has been one of the most intense I have had since I have arrived in Paris. Not only is this small documentation interesting for anyone of my family and friends to read, but I am hoping that one day I can print it all out like a nice little diary and have it to look back on. So again with that said… it is time to get back into the swing of things. In order to quickly recap the last month I will do a Top Three most interesting things list… starting now:


1. Riding Elephants in Kuala Lumpur – while in Kl for an Alstom University event, we had the opportunity to spend a weekend there and travelled out to the jungle to visit an elephant reserve. Not only did we get to meet the elephants, feed them and ride them, we were able to take a quick dip into a river (which on any normal day I would have said HELL NO to going into) where the elephants rolled over with us on their backs and we got to play and splash around with them.


2. Exploding Curling Iron – So after many months here ( I can’t believe it is at almost 9 to be exact) I decided that I needed a little change in my hairstyle, mostly because it is getting really long and I am sick of it being all boring and straight. So I purchased a nice little curling iron from the BHV (the one stop shop for ANYTHING you could ever need). I immediately took it home and plugged it in ready to play around. About ¾ of the way finished with my hair – it was delightfully curly and cute- I heard the most awful popping sound and felt quite the surge in my hand and all of this happened as every light in my apartment went out and all of my music stopped. After spending about an hour trying to figure out just how to turn my electricity back on I managed to find a small orange knob that had to be turned behind the multiple fuse boxes in my apartment. Needless to say the curling iron was shot and so the remaining straight hair was tied in a knot on the top of my head to be hidden from the curls. No worries the burning smell in my apartment was taken care of with a splash of perfume and a nice breeze from the windows and my date had no idea that I had almost electrocuted myself just an hour before he picked me up.


3. Disneyland – WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO that pretty much describes that one in a nutshell. My lovely little sis and her boyfriend came to visit for a week and aside from all of the normal sightseeing we did – we dedicated an entire day to acting like 5 year olds at Disneyland. It was beyond awesome. Although the park has many similarities, it is a bit smaller and the colors a bit brighter – I have been told this is because the sky is always gray so it is to make it look more appealing. Space Mountain 2 at Euro Disney – can not be beat though. I would and will be going back as soon as I can…


Other super interesting things:


Singapore – this city is unreal and I highly recommend that if you have a chance you make the bes to fit and go. I will be returning for some vacation time… there is such a great mix of cultures plus for me being American I had everything I could have ever missed – Burger King, Hooters, Tiffanys, Palm Trees and beaches all in one place. Not to mention the airport, which you could spend an entire weekend in getting massages, shopping and eating. Try it out.

Catacombs – Creepy yet really interesting. This underground city of bones is really just something that you should do at least once. The story behind it will give you goose bumps.


Falafel – No matter how many times you eat it, going a Sunday without some is tragic ; )