{ musings }

Dance Dance Dance!

This makes me unbelievably happy!

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Life's A Beach

Ok, so yes, it sucks to be me right now.

NOT!

I feel guilty rubbing this view in your faces...for about a minute.  Then I remember the shit that life has dumped on me for the past five months and I realize i've EARNED IT!  I've done the work.  I've debraded the wounds.  I've explored the depths.  I've embraced reality.  I've said goodbye to broken dreams.  I've found an amazing volume of answers.  I have come full circle...back to my authentic self, ready for the next leg of this wondrous journey!

For the last week I've stayed up late, slept in late, ate too much good food, laughed until my sides ached, drank a few too many margaritas, ridden about 20+ miles on my beach cruiser, fallen off a skateboard several times, played frisbee with my dog on the beach, puttered around the channel on a boat, played poker, read two books, daydreamed about trips to wineries, sent TOO many text messages, caught up with old friends (and some new ones!), put on a bikini for the first time in MANY years, giggled & snuggled with my punks, worked on my tan lines, played in the surf, gotten sand in places where it shouldn't be, taken a ton of photos and generally SAVORED the richness which is life.  

Really, when I look at my life right now, I realize how incredibly BLESSED I am.  A few people have told me that I candy-coat it too much...that I should *embrace* my pain more...but I really don't buy it!  I tried it - and it just isn't my style.  I AM a "glass half full" girl and my glass is actually overflowing!

Reality will come soon enough when I return to the desert...but guess what?  I'm ready!  BRING IT!  But for now?  I am going to savor every last bit of this!!

Taking A Field Trip

I love the silly daily affirmations and messages I have delivered to my in-box.  I am almost always able to apply the message to something current and meaningful in my life.  This one I just received was especially meaningful today, as tomorrow the punks and I are crossing the desert to my most favoritest place on earth...the beach...MY BEACH!  Yay us!  I am SO excited to feel the surf pounding again...to feel the warm, granular sand squish in between my toes, to smell the salty-moist air...AHHH!  No place like the beach!!!

March 9, 2009
Capturing Life’s Flavor
Taking a Field Trip

When we were children, few words were more exciting to hear than the phrase "field trip." Field trips were a break from schoolwork and an opportunity to go on an adventure with friends. Now that we are grown ups, taking a field trip can be just as fun and memorable – if only we were willing to sign our own permission slips so we could go on one.

Allowing yourself to get stuck in your routine can make life seem boring. Adding a touch of variety to your life in the form of a field trip can break up the monotony of your days and lead you to adventure. Unlike the jaunts that were regulated by teachers or monitored by parents, taking a field trip as an adult can lead you anywhere you want. You can go on a daylong retreat or spend just a few hours at your destination. A field trip can be an opportunity to explore a new landscape or discover something about yourself. Taking a day trip to another town or visiting an unfamiliar spot in your neighborhood can be educational and fun. There is also much to be said for finding a beautiful spot under a tree where you can read a book. You can even go to one of your favorite spots and allow yourself to experience it as if you were visiting there for the first time. Going on a field trip is as much a state of mind as it is a change in the scenery.

During a “grown up” field trip, schedules, clocks, and duties are put aside so you can focus wholeheartedly on mindfully enjoying yourself. Planning a field trip can be almost as fun as going on one. A field trip is an excursion to look forward to and an experience to be savored after the fact. Wherever you decide to go and whatever you decide to do, going on a field trip can add much pleasure and excitement to your life.

Omaha Photo Safari

So many things to tell about Silver Bella and our magical long weekend in Omaha, but I thought I'd start early in the trip.

Early Thursday morning, while the rest of the Prima Bellas went on a junking antiquing road-trip, Charlotte, Cori and I met my good friend and AMAZING local photographer, Becky Novacek.  I had the pleasure of getting to know Becky quite well at Silver Bella 2006, and we've kept in touch over the past two years, while I watch her blossom into one of the most amazing photographers I know!  Needing new head-shots, and DREADING having my picture taken, I knew there was nobody I trusted more than sweet Becky to lovingly capture some images for me.  If you take photos for a living, you KNOW how hard it can be some times to put your trust in someone else's hands...but in Becky, I knew I was safe and loved!   I  can't wait to see what she came up with!

Anyway, she volunteered to pick us up from the hotel and in spite of a light drizzle of rain, we four managed to explore lots of fun and funky "locations" in and around the Old Market area.   Anything rusty, overgrown or brick-covered were our backdrops of choice, and we had a blast shooting photos of each other and of the group!  SO MAGICAL to be around another photog who shoots SO MUCH like me! Here are a few I snapped of HER in action (love you, Becky!!):

If you are ANYWHERE near Nebraska (oh heck, even if you aren't!) and need to have some photos taken, you really MUST chat with Becky!  She is so easy-going and personable...you can tell by these snapshots of her at work that she is one heckuva great gal!!!

If you want to see more of the photos from our safari, look here.

Oh...and here is one last one of my pal Cori...love it!

France, By the Numbers

• 4 crazy crafters part of the time, 6 crazy crafters another part of the time, and 7 crazy crafters the rest of the time
• 24 boxes shipped to Paris (for the three of us teachers)
• approximately 1000 class kits shipped
• 6 round-trip international plane tickets and one round-trip UK-France plane ticket purchased
• 7 large checked suitcases to France, 4+ carry-ons
• 3 cozy Brookstone blankets and 3 cozy Brookstone travel pillows purchased in the airport
• 2 Mac laptops
• 4 working international cell phones
• 1 live Skype experience
• approximately 4 packs of gum chewed
• approximately 45 text messages shared between Pam & Cori
• over 700km driven
• 36 EUR paid in toll road fees
• 87 EUR worth of diesel fuel
• 4 nights in a darling B&B in Amboise
• 4 nights in a 3-star hotel in Vincennes
• 2 nights in airplanes (ugh!)
• 8 chateaus exlpored
• approximately 18 postcards mailed
• over 400+ photos taken by each person
• 2 berets, 2 soccer jerseys, 2 "princess" doll figurines, assorted chocolates and 4 scarves purchased
• 2 pitchers of margaritas consumed
• approximately 30 bottles du vin consumed (our closest guess)
• approximately 30 fresh baguettes consumed
• approximately 20 liters of bottled water consumed
• approximately one fresh croissant per day consumed per person
• approximately 18 cups of "cafe au lait," 18 cups of "the," and 8 cups of "chocolat chaud" consumed
• approximately 12 "jambon" sandwiches consumed
• 3 fresh crepes consumed
• 3 pints of fresh strawberries consumed
• 30+ 1-way metro rides
• about 50kg+ per person of checked luggage on the return trip

Day Ten: Time To Go Home!

Monday:  8am wake-up call once again came too early, but it was a welcome respite from the 6am wake- ups of the past few days.   I jumped in the shower first, then Cori, and we met the other girls downstairs for breakfast at 9am.   Upon peeking out the window, we noticed about an inch of SNOW on the ground and roof-tops.  Yes, SNOW!  Can you believe it???

Tena spoke to the front desk and arranged for a 10am pickup by two taxis for the four of us and our MOUNTAINS of luggage, and Pam and Amy would depart slightly later at around noon.  We trundled all of our suitcases downstairs one at a time (elevator was inconveniently broken) and filled up the lobby with our tired bodies and copious baggage.   

Tena and Laurie departed in the first taxi, leaving Cori and I to catch the second at around 10:15am.  Lucky for us, it was a huge Mercedes sedan, so we rode in comfort and style.  The driver was really nice, and once again, he spoke Spanish so he and I had a nice little chat.  Apparently the snow was the first of the season...and rather odd for city center.  Heck, it didn't even snow last year when we were here in the dead of winter!!!!!

We arrived safely at the airport with plenty of time to wait in the torturously long lines at US Airways.  Tena and Laurie were about 30 people ahead of us, so we crossed our fingers for them when they tossed their bags on the scales.  Sadly, Tena had to pay the over-weight charge on one of her bags, but we kinda expected that as she ALSO had to do it for the trip TO France.  When it was our turn, one of my bags was about 2kg over, but the gate agent was super nice and let me put both bags on at the same time and split the difference.  Whew!  Apparently Pam and Amy didn't fare so well later on Air France, but after some re-packing, they got away with Pam only paying 150 EUR for an extra (third) bag, which is what she had anticipated doing, anyway.

In the airport, Cori & I burned off some left-over Euros at the duty free shops.  I picked up a couple of tins of French truffles for my girls, plus a small bag of rich, dark salted-butter caramels for me.  Also stocked up on some necessities from L'Occitane and Cori grabbed her hubby a nice shirt and the kids some tourist swag as well.

The flight from Paris to Philly was painfully long as Cori-long-legs and I didn't get our usual lucky bulkhead seats, then the old lady in front of Cori reclined her seat for most of the trip.   I switched seats with her at about the half-way mark (made it easier for me to get out for my traditional 100 bathroom breaks), and apparently poor Tena & Laurie had it just as bad as they lucked out and got the row of seats that didn't even recline.   I watched two movies...Juno and PS I Love You...liked them both...glad to get to watch them as a double-feature as I doubt The Hubs would have really wanted that much "chick-flick" action in one sitting!  ;-) The old people in the row in front of us were quite demanding throughout the entire flight (even asking the crew for gum!) and there were four young, drunk, French men in the row behind us who had serious issues with credit cards declining for cocktails - ha!  No sleep for me or Cori...not even our cozy Brookstone blankies brought us any relief!

On our layover in Philly, after going through immigration, customs and re-checking our luggage to  Phoenix, we dined in the little Italian restaurant right next to our boarding gate.   We were giddy to order large, leafy green salads and share one final toast to a great trip.   Probably the best part of the meal was ice.  LOTS and LOTS of ice in the drinks.  Oh, and free drinking water at the table (easily pleased, sometimes!).

The flight from Philly to Phoenix was equally long (even though we DID get our lucky bulkhead seats)...just over 5 hours in the air plus an unexpected one hour delay on the tarmac where we waited for about 20 other planes to take off before us.  This, of course, totally mucked up our plans to have Hanifa and the kids pick us up and the airport in Phoenix at a reasonable hour, and poor Hanifa had to drag three very sleepy little people along for the ride.  Cori was able to sleep a little bit on this flight, but I wasn unable to get more than a few winks as I was just so tired of sitting. 

We finally arrived in Phoenix almost an hour later than expected, and were greeted by Laurie's hubby, Jim, and Tena's dad.  The funniest (ok, not so funny for him) part was that Tena had told her dad to pick her up at the wrong airline and terminal...the same mistake she had made onthe way TO France....everything came full circle!  :-)

The End, originally uploaded by bebe beaux.

I finally got home, kissed my sleeping babies, took a quick shower and got in bed at about 11:30pm Monday night.  After just about 24 hours of no sleep, I was pretty much asleep BEFORE my head hit the pillow.  Glad to be HOME!  :-)

(is it too soon to start planning a return trip?!?!)

(Be sure to check HERE for tons more photos!!)

Day Nine: Final Day of Version Scrap

Sunday:  Ugh.  Even though we got to bed at a reasonable hour, it is getting harder and harder to get up so darned early!  All day on my feet teaching and being "on," coupled with the excitement and non-stop adrenaline rush is just exhausting me!  I'm trying hard to keep my strength up, am taking my vitamins, drinking tons of water and am taking several packets of Emergen-C each day.  I am really starting to crave fresh veggies and fruit.  I'd pretty much give my right boob for a few fresh apples, a basket of berries or a plate of lightly steamed veggies right now!  We were so spoiled out in Amboise with all the fresh produce we had!!

After a nice soak in the tub (gosh, I could have stayed in there for a hour!) I knew we had to hit the road early because last night we were informed that this morning the Paris Marathon would begin right outside of the Chateau du Vincennes, which happens to be right between our hotel and Parc Floral.  Just our luck!   Dreading the long walk with bags full of "stuff," we were thrilled to hear at breakfast that if we hurried quickly, we might be able to have Claire drive us there as long as we did it before the police blocked the streets off for the 8am start-time of the Marathon.   As we scrambled into the car, dear Clarie ducked and dodged through traffic, narrowly missing several gendarmes putting up barricades, but got us there in the nick of time!  Whew!  She won a resounding round of applause from me, Tena, Pam and Jan, who was going to spend a brief bit of time with us at the show before she had to cut out to catch her flight home to the UK.

Day three began at a much more leisurely pace, as most of the attendees hit the same roadblocks and traffic as we did due to the Marathon.  My first class began at 10am, which left some time for some sad goodbyes with Jan.  Before she left, Jan let me take a few photos of her with her camera....a huge challenge using equipment I was totally unfamiliar with, and I am only hoping that when she sends me the images, they will be decent.  After a teary good-by, I was able to spend some time visiting with the other instructors, and set-up my classroom at a leisurely pace. 

This day I was lucky enough to be joined by more amazingly talented artists, and finally got to meet my new friend Safo, whose work I have long admired on her blog and on Flickr.  Isn't she just the cutest?!  We don't speak more than 10 words in common, but got along just great!  :-)

I keep forgetting to tell you about one of the most interesting parts of teaching here (both this year and last).  In almost every one of my classes there were students who spoke both French and Spanish, and with those students, I was able to have decent conversations in Spanish and actually give them instruction without Eugenie's help.  It was odd, but neat to be able to then, in turn, to ask THEM to help me translate to their friends in French.  Strange, but cool.  It made me feel a whole lot better about my improving fluency in Spanish.

Anyway, classes ended at around 3:30 and Tena, Pam and I packed up our remaining class kits and tools and tried to figure out how the heck we'd get ourselves back to the hotel.  After great debate, we took the little choo-choo train to the Metro stop at the outskirts of the Parc, then slowly (and painfully) trudged our way to the hotel.  Poor little Pam had the worst of it, I think, as her large duffel bag was clearly bigger than her and probably weighed moor than her as well.  I am hopeful that THIS did not cause a re-injury of her back:

After some crazy back and forth texting with Cori, Laurie and Amy begging for their help, the three of them finally located us here, where we all celebrated the end of a successful event:

Ahhhhh!  Relief!  We managed to get all our (s)crap back to the hotel in fairly decent shape and then began the daunting task of figuring out how to pack it all for a return to the states.   Of course, another bottle of wine and some nibbles helped us along, but it was still pretty crazy.

After packing, Cori, Laurie, Tena and I decided to find a recommended Japanese restaurant for dinner.  Sadly, after walking several blocks in the frigid rain and cold (it was about 4 degrees Celsius), we found closed, but lucked out to find another Asian restaurant open another block down the street.   It truly couldn't have worked out better, as we warmed our tummies with some hot Thai soups and shared some good Chinese and Thai entrees.

Back home at the hotel relatively early, we said goodnight and planned a 9am breakfast rendezvous before our cab rides back to the airport.

(more photos here)

Day Eight: Version Scrap Day #2

Saturday:  Oh man!  That 6:15am wake-up call came WAAAAY too soon, again!  Damn!  Oh well...this is what I came for...to teach!  :-)

After breakfast with Tena and Pam (we also met some of the other French girls at breakfast, too) we again hopped in the car with Claire for day number two of the big event.   Smarter today, I asked the event organizers for a bucket of water with which the students could fill/dump their water cups (for paint) instead of sending poor Eugenie three cups at a time to fill them up at the bathroom.   Today we were all MUCH smarter about how we set up the classrooms and also how we paced the classes, learning from our mistakes the previous day.  It is really QUITE different when there is a language barrier, and the fact that my classroom was particularly noisy didn't help matters. 

Version Scrap Day Two 028, originally uploaded by bebe beaux.

Everyone today seemed much "looser" and more in the flow of things, so I enjoyed teaching three more rather intimate classes.   We were able to spend a little time in-between classes helping the other instructors set-up and also visiting with our French friends.   From time to time one of my new French student/friends would pop in just to say good morning or hello, and several were kind enough to offer to bring me a coffee or a bottle of water.  Some of my sillier French pals from last year even brought me a gift - calling me their "bling bling American friend" (yes, they were mocking my love of all things sparkly and glittery) and gifted me with a cheesy pink tourist t-shirt with the Tour Eiffel all decked out in sparkles!  hahahaha!   Such a bunch of smart-asses...especially this one ----->> (ha!  love you girl!)

Really, their kindness and their overwhelmingly warm welcome made my heart sing!!!  :-)   I tell ya....if you ever hear any Americans saying that the French are snotty or don't like us Americans...I say that I NEVER, EVEN ONCE felt this way!  Everyone I came in contact with was kind, patient and warm.  Seriously...nothing but nice here, folks (but then again, you get what you give, eh?!)

Eugenie and I were an even better team today, on day two, and I am enjoying her company immensely.  She is a writer and also quite talented as an artist herself (although she will deny it).  She loves to scrapbook and volunteered (yes, no pay) to do the translation for me for these three days!!!   We American instructors hooked her up nicely with all 12 of our class kits and I brought her a gift of a Flip Video all the way from the States as a way of showing her how MUCH I appreciated her help!  She was FLOORED, and I am excited to see the videos she sends to me as my new French "pen pal."

All of the classes were well recieved (I hope!)...my favorite to teach is probably my "Funky Found Journal" class simply because it is totally free-form mixed media.   I have a bunch of photos of the amazing work done by the students here...each one created their own, totally unique masterpieces!  I must thank Hambly and Bazzill for their support of this class, but most of the materials were recycled :-)!!  The other classes, "Our House" and "The Sweetest Things" (both sponsored in large by Daisy D's and Bazzill Basics) also rocked, and the students and I loved playing with the delicious goodies from Maya Road and LUXE Designs in my "Grant Me A Wish" class.  Truly - the students really made ALL of the projects their own...and this is exactly the part  I love best about teaching paper arts!  :-)

Here's a brief video of one of my classes:

Meanwhile, Cori, Jan, Amy and Laurie trekked all over greater Paris with Amy leading the hunt for fabulous Flea Market (marche puse) treasures.  Apparently the prices were ridiculous, and coupled with the pathetically weak US Dollar, my girls came back with very little.  They did, however, buy me some cute teal letter-press letters that spell "k-i-m" and a GINORMOUS duffel bag in anticipation of all the leftover class-kits I will be bringing back to the states.   (You can read more about their adventures on Jan's blog, and probably also on Laurie's and Cori's blogs in the near future)

Since we had previously agreed that we were all WIPED-OUT and would need a quite night "in" on Saturday, the girls made a trip to the local market and picked up MANY bottles of wine, a few loaves of bread, some salamis, cheese and water.  When we exhausted "animatrices" returned from our day of teaching, Cori and the girls had a picnic of sorts spread all over Cori & my bed - it was such a welcome sight!!  I kicked off my shoes, put on my jammies and we began the 3+ hour happy hour!

After drinking MANY (ok, ALL the) bottles of wine, having some amazingly "deep" chats and some not-so-serious naughty behavior caught on my Flip, we called it a night around 11pm.  Not sure if you'll ever see THOSE videos, though... he he he!

(Be sure to check HERE for tons more photos!!)

Day Seven: Version Scrap Begins!

(My journaling only, from now on!)

Friday:  The 6am wake-up call came WAY too early for my tastes, but after crawling out of bed I filled up the nice, deep European jet tub with as much hot water as I could.  For those of you who have never been to Europe, the standard is bath-tubs without wall  mounted shower heads....rather, you get a bath-tub in which you sit, and a hand-held shower head with which to rinse, etc.   No shower-curtain or enclosure, but easy enough in a small bathroom to contain the splashing.  Being a bath lover, this felt GREAT to me, and after a nice long soak, I washed my hair and rinsed off the dreck of the previous day.   Trying not to wake Cori, I used the crappy wall-mounted hairdryer which, while hotter than hell, barely puffed out more than a whisper of air.  My hair was a disaster and, of course, my face decided to go completely adolescent on me and there were zits everywhere.  Niiiiiice.

Met Tena downstairs for breakfast at 7am, where we noshed on fresh croissants and bread, cheese, yogurt and I had my own delicious pot of cafe au lait.  While they brew their coffee MUCH stronger than I usually prefer, I love how they serve the milk steamed in a small side pitcher, and with the addition to a cube (or two!) of sugar, it is delightful.  I also love the French yogurt that comes in petite glass jars...mmmmm!  I had one Vanilla yogurt that was so yummy...you could even see the vanilla seeds sprinkled throughout!

At 8am the lovely Claire drove Tena, Pam and I the 10 minutes to the Parc Floral for the event.  Our first classes began at 9:30, so we wanted to get there early enough to re-arrange our rooms and transport the boxes with day's class kits to the rooms.   It took about an hour to get it all set up the way I like it, and while I had probably the largest room (thank you!), the walls are simply screens (like cubicle dividers, only sheer) and my classroom abutted the "cafe" area where all the event attendees ate their meals and snacks.   This, combined with the high, convention hall ceilings and cement floors made for one LOUD situation.  The upside was that my French pals Céline and Titelaine shared the classroom right next door on one side (lots of comic relief there!) and some really nice ladies from Creative Imaginations on the other side.  Tena and Pam had classrooms just down the hall.

As I excitedly awaited the start of my first class on Thursday morning, I also anxiously awaited the arrival of my darling translator, Eugenie.  I KNEW I already adored this sweet girl, but meeting her in person was even better than I imagined!  Not only EXTREMELY smart and organized (the event planners at NOREXPO were astounded by the efficiency and accuracy of her translation of my written class instructions), but she is absolutely beautiful!   Petite and as sweet as they come, I couldn't have asked for a better or more capable companion for the three days at the event.   Although she had a tiny little voice, she bucked it up and pulled of some amazing translations in the face of some very large and noisy classes.  In fact, by the end of the first day I imagine SHE could have taught the classes by herself, allowing me a much needed nap!! ha!

It was also a delight to see so many faces I remembered from last year's classes.   Of course, I loved seeing my friends Céline, Karine and Emma again, but to see so many familiar and friendly faces in my classes made it really wonderful for me.  The French ladies were so patient with me and the difficult of working with translation, but I think (I hope!) they enjoyed the projects.  I think my teaching style is a bit different than what many are accustomed to (I prefer to provide my students with the supplies, techniques and ideas, then let them work their OWN magic) and I am QUITE sure my personality was quite a bit more "over-the-top" than they are used to!  :-)  But, I think they liked it and if the warm hugs and sweet notes they wrote in my journal are indication, I think it all worked out beautifully!

Version Scrap Day One 024, originally uploaded by bebe beaux.

The classes themselves (for the most part) were rather poorly attended, likely due to the high price (about 55 EUR per class!), poor translation of class descriptions on the web site AND lack of detailed photos on the web site.   I did put all of this on MY blog AND provide all of this to the even coordinators well in advance, but for some reason, they did not see fit to include it.  Anticipating low registrations I even made and shipped large banners for each Pam, Tena and myself, showcasing 12x12 photos of our classes, along with the class names, etc to hang at the entrance of the event in attempt to boost registrations, to very little improvement in registrations.  We were hugely frustrated by his and many of the French ladies were saddened by this, as they said they surely would have registered for more of our classes had they known how cool the projects really were!   :-(  Bummer...but out of our control.    I will say, however, that it was nice in several cases where I only had 5 out of 40 seats filled, as I was able to offer a more intimate experience with the ladies and it was delightful to get to "play" one on one with them.

At the end of the first day, we trundled all of our supply boxes back to the locked "headquarters" in the convention hall and hopped aboard the little park "choo choo" train which ferried us to the Metro stop at Chateau du Vincennes, a short 5 block walk from our hotel.   

Exhausted, we arrived back at our hotel at about 6:30pm to find Amy, Laurie and Cori also exhausted from their big day sight-seeing in Paris.  Reluctantly (we were SO tired), Cori, Laurie, Tena and I headed back out to the Metro to meet Céline, Karine and Carine in Paris for a dinner together at a funky restaurant Celine had chosen for us.   The ride was about 45 minutes, with one change of trains, and we finally found it after some confusing turns and twists (as usual) in our map interpretations.

The restaurant, called Tokyo Eat, is located in the "Musée National des Arts Asiatiques-Guimet."  With spectacular views of the Tour Eiffel at sunset, the restaurant offered eclectic, and relatively inexpensive gourmet food in a hip-funky atmosphere a "club" ambiance.   Cori, Tena and Laurie each tried a risotto with asparagus and I ordered a yummy vegetable curry dish.   The three French girls ordered a yummy looking shrimp dish, and we shared three bottles of good wine and an assortment of tasty deserts.  MAN....the French know how to do their desserts like NOBODY!  We had lots of good giggles with Celine and the girls...they are hilarious and so sweet. 

Probably the coolest thing about this place was the wacky bathrooms.  They had these cool revolving doors and each "stall" was a 2-seater.  Really cool wash basins and fixtures, too.  Here is me & crazy  Céline yukking it up.--->> 

As we were walking back to our hotel from the Metro, out of a Brasserie a block away from the hotel pops my dear, dear friend Jan (whose arrival from England we'd been anticipating) yelling something akin to "hey you hot American chicks!!."  The little cutie pie flew over from the UK to spend 2 nights with us in Paris, and her flight had only arrived at 10pm that evening.   SO happy to see my dear friend, I sat with her as she finished her late dinner, paid the check, then we returned to the hotel for a quick exchange of gifts (she brought me the most AMAZING bundle of vintage letters and I sent her home with some gourmet chocolate and some sweet Spring outfits and a Barbie DVD for her wee-punks) and a brief visit.   Being BEYOND exhausted, we said our good-nights and promised to catch up more tomorrow.

Bellies full and eye-lids drooping, we hopped back onto he metro for the long ride back to Vincennes, where I think my head finally hit the pillow at almost 1am.  That wake-up call is going to come tooooo early tomorrow! 

(Be sure to check HERE for tons more photos!!)

Day Six: Au Revoir to Le Vieux Manior

(Much of this journaling was done by the trip historian, Laurie, with my edits and additions here and there!)

Thursday:  Very sad...woke up knowing we had to pack up and leave our "home" in the Loire Valley.  Gloria offered to sell this magnificent place to us for 1.7 million EUR (she and "Baaaaaahb" feel they are getting too old to manage such a tremendous property and business)...we seriously considered it until we did the conversion...heck we seriously considered all chipping in despite the weak dollar...as it included most of the furnishings and incredible antiques!!! We shared a few final hugs with our delightful hosts, took a few quick photos (Gloria couldn't stop pinching Bob's butt!) and said adieu to our new friends and this beautiful place! We will miss it and YOU!

Slapped Margeaux on the dash...jammed, squashed and stuffed (literally) our bags in the trunk...and then we were (sing along now)..."On the road again..."! Friend Tena...with some Ambien still on board did a "Laurie nap" as we drove! Laurie, meanwhile, tried to catch up on journaling. Kim kept Cori entertained...her specialty.  We make a good team!   

We passed miles and miles of beautiful yellow blossoms...which we now know to be the flower which produces rapeseed oil.   Seriously...these meadows went on forever - just gorgeous (Kim made Cori pull over to take a photo!).   As we sped along the autoroute (toll freeway) we realized how much you really miss by taking the freeway.  Every time we passed a sign for a new little village, we wished so badly that we could have pulled over and explored each and every one of them.  Oh well...next time.

Still shocked that we still haven't filled up the VW with petrol (diesel, actually) despite the fact that we have traveled about 700km (about 435 miles) already. We are gonna see how far we can push it...need to get as close to Paris as possible before we fuel up so it will appear full when we return! This, of course, happened about 20 minutes outside of the greater metropolitan Paris area, where a full fill up cost us about 87 EUR (about $137 USD, ouch!). We were happy, though, to fill up at a Parisian "super pumper" complete with decent bathrooms and a nice convenience store where we purchased sandwiches, sweets and drinks for the rest of the ride into town. Also checked out about 2 dozen pretty hot French military boys...so cute, but alas, young enough to be our offspring, sigh!

The trip to Paris seemed pretty fast...actually. Driving through the city (Vincennes) was a little (okay a lot) more nerve-wrecking than driving in the country.  We clearly owe Cori a few stiff shots when we "arrive to destination" for her bravery!  It's pretty much every wo/man for themselves in the center city streets and on several occasions I think ALL of us had our eyes tightly closed, breath held, silently saying novenas for our safety! When we finally found the hotel (after several loop-de-loos around the tiny one-way "rues") we did a Chinese fire drill maneuver to get all of the bags out of the car ASAP in the narrow, one way street during rush hour with no place to park (and French people honking at us from behind)! AACK! Cori After all of our big bags were safely out of the street, Kim jumped back into the car so she could help Cori return it to the airport.

Tena and Laurie got checked into the room and then met up with one of the other teachers (Pam Garrison) and her friend Amy Hanna and walked over to Parc Floral (where the Version Scrap event was to take place) to make sure all of the boxes shipped with class kits and supplies arrived safely. We walked...(umm, kinda took the long way)...considered climbing a fence at one point when all the entrances were locked (sharp pointy spears at the top of fence made us think twice). Finally used a number of hand gestures to communicate with a guard who showed us the way in (missed Cori and her ability to communicate in French).  Inside, the box count was a two thumbs up, which allowed Tena the opportunity to take her first deep breath in five+ days.  Some of Tena and Pam's printed instructions were missing but looks like everyone was, for the most part, good to go!

Meanwhile...Kim and Cori were have their own adventure returning the car. Getting back onto the express way was equally as nerve wracking as getting off it, but we did it and set Margeaux on track for "EuropCar CDG" (which was scary, since the GPS listed about 3 options with exactly the same name, but with different directions). Traffic was bad (think of 5pm rush hour on the 405 at Wilshire Blvd, for you CA peeps), but we made it to the general airport vicinity in about an hour, right on track for our scheduled 2pm drop-off. Between Margeaux's crazy directions and our own attempts of de-coding the French airport signs, we twisted, turned and u-turned our way through the HUGE airport to what we THOUGHT was the correct destination of a big parking lot full of EuropCars. The only way we could figure out how to get into it was to go into one of the parking garages and wind up and down he narrow lanes to what we thought to be our destination. Sadly, though, there was no entrance. I (Kim) hopped out and went into a little kiosk where a sweet older lady (EuropCar employee), who seemed to be taking her afternoon nap, told us (at least I think she told us) that we were in the wrong place. I drug her out of her little kiosk to Cori (who at least speaks a tiny bit of French) and between the three of us we managed to discern that we needed to mack a left, a left, a left, a left, a left, a left, a left, a left, a left, a left, and then another left...then we'd be there. HUH?????

OK...so we did it and voila! We're there! Cori and I emptied the rental car, re-checked the trunk, the door and seat back pockets and VOILA! Guess what I found????????? THE FLIP!!!!!!!!! It was jammed so far under my seat and hiding behind a map that you couldn't even see it! HOORAY!

Here's our little video message to Gloria & Bob who were worried that perhaps it had been stolen from our room durign our stay:

Excited, we bundled up our two bottles of wine, misc. cookies and maps and headed towards the restrooms. After a quick visit to the loo we had to go BACK to the little car to retrieve my final two postcards which I'd inadvertently forgotten on the dashboard. Drat! The car had been moved (aack!) but the cute little French lot attendant had retrieved them and either said he was going to mail them for me (?) or call us on the telephone number on the rental agreement. Very thoughtful!   

We made our way into the terminal and now had to discern how the heck to find the Air France buses that offer (relatively) inexpensive transfers back into the city.  After a few more wrong-turns, we finally made it to the bus stop, paid our 38 EUR and hopped on board with a bunch of not-too-good-smelling people and rode 45 minutes to Gare du Lyon (<<----This the bus - This us inside the bus ---->>).  Off we jumped (thankful NOT to to be carrying all our huge luggage) and quickly oriented ourselves and found the Metro entrance.  Purchased a couple of one-way tickets and rode the quick few stops to Chateau du Vincennes exit, just a few blocks from our Hotel.

(<<---This us inside the metro train.  Are you sick of self-portraits yet??  We had some time to kill!)

We arrived at the hotel, retrieved our key and loaded up the VERY small elevator with one bag at a time (3 trips) to our floor.  We dumped the luggage, text-messaged the other girls and popped open one of our bottles of Amboise wine for a much needed happy hour in our room.  The rooms were/are a far cry (space-wise) from our place in the country, but they were MUCH better than last year, well appointed (except for the dish-towel sized bath towels and the fact that we had to share a double bed), smoke-free and clean.  After our little snack, we all headed out for our first dinner all together (the 6 of us).  Of course, we wanted to head into the city center, as this was Laurie's first visit to the city of lights and the views would no doubt be spectacular at dusk on this cold, but gorgeous day.  Rode the Metro into town and stopped to see and take photos of Notre Dame first. Wow, as always! Being the only Paris newbie we were laughing that Laurie spent most of the time with her chin on the ground - so wonderful! The history...the grandeur...the size...the beauty...totally blows us all away!  We bought a couple of scarves (a must have fashion accessory here) and souvenirs then headed out in search of a place to eat!

Here's a brief video of what we saw when we got off the Metro in Paris:

You seriously won't believe where we ended up for dinner...take a guess?!?!! Doubt you got it... Mexican! Bwaahahaha! See...told you! We sat outside "La Perla" freezing our asses off for about 45 minutes waiting for a table (drinking FROZEN margaritas of course).

Remember how we recorded some of our favorite Da Vinci quotes in a previous post? After walking through the city with these silly girls (seeing Notre Dame, the Seine, etc.), we now have a couple of choice quotes (without attributing these quotes to anyone in particular, to save them from embarrassment! ha!):

"It's so real it looks like a movie set."
"My father shows his love by serving fat!"

We were laughing so hard...and the girl responsible for these little gems KNOWS we adore her for her hilarious and quirky sense of humor!  She kept us in stitches, for sure!!

We finally got tired of waiting outside in the cold, we shoved our way into the crowded bar and got a table...well, two tiny cocktail tables pushed together, actually.  We think they were just tired of shoving their way through our little group with cocktails and plates of food! ha!  Somehow, however, our tables came with a sketchy grad student from University of Maryland named Edvin.  He was supposedly working on thesis and quadruple major in European language studies (yah, right)...I (Kim) wasn't buying it...he couldn't even translate simple menu items from French, so I doubted his "fluency in 6 languages."  He and I managed to have a decent conversation in Spanish and English....he was entertaining, at least, but a total bullshitter and I think he was somewhat disappointed that we didn't invite him on to the next part of our adventure (blech!).  Food wasn't half bad, probably in part due to the two pitchers of margaritas (yes, with real tequila) and several cervezas.  Chips and salsa were decent and I think my (Kim's) dish probably won the prize (chicken mole).   I suspect it was from a jar, but at least it was tasty.

Headed back on a long (40 minutes) Metro ride back to our hotel after the feast and tried to turn in early so the our teachers would be fresh and ready to go in the morning. Of course...We all talked a little longer than we should have before lights out, but that is what makes traveling with a BFF so much fun!   So NOT ready for that 6am wake-up call!!

(Be sure to check HERE for tons more photos!!)