Je t'aime Paris

So we are back from our trip and I have to say that it was my favorite to date. Paris is everything it lived up to be. In winter it is romantic and relaxing. We stayed on a quiet residential street right off the Champ de Mars park just south of the Eiffel Tower. We were a within a couple blocks walking distance of the Eiffel Tower and could see it from our street. There was also a metro stop just around the corner making it so easy to travel anywhere in Paris. One block away was Rue Cler, the cutest neighborhood street market. There was a butcher shop, cheese shop, produce market, bakery, flower market, chocolate shops and several restaurants, cafes and creperies. Every morning we walked over and bought croissants and other pastries at the local bakery then walked or hopped on the metro to get to where we needed to go. Michael took this picture of the street we stayed on, Avenue de la Bourdannais and as you can see, there is the tower lit up at night in the distance.

I love eating in Paris. The food was amazing. How could you not love croissants, baguettes, cheese, foie gras, duck...the list goes on and on.

I love Paris in winter. Fewer tourists. I hate tourists. I hated the crowds in Italy and Greece. It was suffocating the crowds. But Paris felt like home. Few tourists, few lines, quiet streets. Just us and the city and sounds of french speakers everywhere.

I love the Paris metro system. It takes you everywhere and anywhere cheaply and easily. It's considered the best in Europe and rightly so. I even love the performers on the metro and the fact they always play my favorite song (Michael and I's first dance song at our wedding) La Vie En Rose. And they even play When the Saints Go Marching In...which makes me think I'm in New Orleans.

I can't believe our trip is over, and I can't wait to plan our return. :-)

C'est si bon!

Coeur de Pirate Comme des enfants from Dare To Care Records on Vimeo.

In the spirit of tomorrow's travels...

Aggel Flaggel Klabbel - Snurp!

So, Susan had her first visit to the zoo last weekend. Then, this weekend, my parents came for a visit. We have had such a good time!

She is getting so big. She likes peas, hates green beans, and the verdict is still out on sweet potatoes.

Brian and I had our first date since Susan's birth. We went to see Slumdog Millionaire and then had wine and cheese at a local French Bistro.

Oops, she's calling. Gotta go!

Love you guys,

Bon

Fidelity Video

Love this video...
"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

Recipe Club

So last night was my first recipe club event. Michael and I hosted. We only had 8 people show up, because its Valentine's weekend and many couldn't come. We did Italian food so it would be easy for everyone. It was a success. People who have never cooked, went all out, with the help of Google of course. Michael made Toscana soup, his version of Olive Garden's sausage and potato soup, one of my favorites. I made Frutti di Bosco Zabaglione...dessert. I baked a from scratch buttermilk pound cake, chopped up the cake into chunks in a wine glass. Chopped up berries with some sugar syrup. And topped it off with some home made zabaglione - an italian whipped custard. Yum. Suffice it to say it was a hit. And Michael and I tied for first place. :-) The prize was a bottle of Prosecco - an italian sparkling wine, so we just poured it for everyone to share. The evening was capped off with a hilarious game of password. Since everyone left late, and we were exhausted we went to bed before cleaning. Which we never do. So now we have a kitchen full of dirty wine glasses and bowls. Yuck. And we're out of dishwashing soup.

But before I clean I'm going to get dimsum with my family. Hopefully they don't ask to come over...Talk to you all soon.

After 6 years of no Colombia...here we go!

So, for Valentines weekend Tom decided we should go to Colombia.











Now that i can travel, things will change a bit even though we intend on fully exploring America First! But now we can fulfill our many plans and dreams of going to African and helping distribution of our Insecticide Treated Tents, we started a Non Profit called "NET A BED" we are trying to fight against Malaria in some areas that have been neglected by the UN when dealing with distribution of tents, there is a strategy as far as fighting Malaria, which is interesting, but it is slowly spreading south and there is just so much need for these tents. I am primarily interested in Togo, that country makes me really curious. I'll devote a blog entry on this later. Anyways, Tom's brother is currently in Nairobi, Kenya in one of the southern slums, Dagoretti Corner, helping AIDS patients. The stories are heart wrenchingly sad...

We are making plans to try and do a yearly trip that is solely devoted to volunteering, whether it be in a Mexican orphanage or in Cambodia. But we are sticking to it. Currently, we decided to try and focus on our community, since I didn't have a work visa. The program began this month and we were all assigned a mentee between age 15-18, they are coming out of the Juvi detention Center and they are so sweet. I want to take them all home. Tom and I taught a music class and we are also teaching a running clase. These kids are soo so sweet. We don't know jack about the music they hear, but we are slowly learning! ;) , they are just kids and then you see a bullet wound and you realize the types of lives these kids have been living.... no opportunities, no parents, their gangs have been their parents...we are pretty excited...there is a trumpet player in the class (beth I thought of you!) so we got him a trumpet!

I'll keep you posted. I'll meet my mentee this weekend Latavia is her name...she has the cutest smile ever!!


So, COLOMBIA. We are going Feb. 26 til March 1st. We are SUPER PSYCHED! I get to see my granma and show Tom all the things I talk about when referring to Colombia. It will be an experience, even for me. It has changed a lot but we are super looking forward to it!!

I'll let you know more about wedding plans and stuff later... a lotta changes coming, moving to the beach with the europeans....Dante is starting Day Care...

Hope everyone is doing awesome!!!!

love u and miss u.

Countdown to Paris

So I have been planning our trip in the evenings now for the past two evenings. Because we have so little time over there I decided we needed a meticulous schedule that would make the most of our time over there. So I revived the itinerary - the one I used for the wedding and turned it into a trip planner. I am nothing if not detailed. Scheduled by the hour, taking into account estimated times between metro stops and allotting time in each destination based on Rick Steve's guidelines. I even put down potential restaurants in each location for every meal, by cross referencing with my Pudlo Paris book. I don't want to waste my time eating overpriced touristy food. And I also don't want to waste time wondering where we should go. And with the Garmin, finding places should be easy. It served us well in Italy and Greece. Now I realize some of you may be thinking that having such an exacting schedule would not be fun because the whole fun of traveling is wondering around and getting lost. Not to worry though, I scheduled in some very low key exploring the city activities. Of course they come with maps and specific picture points, but we can always pretend to be lost. :-)

Now of course I am a little bummed. Weather in Paris and London hasn't been so good the past few weeks. I'm tracking the weather daily. I had imagined myself in Paris in a very particular way - as you can see by the picture. But I suppose I will have to reinvent that image. We didn't want to look like tourists, but I suppose there is no getting around that now considering the weather. I am a little hopeful though, some of the days look like they will be in the 50's. Yeah!