It's been a while

So it's April now. It's been a while since I blogged. All is good, I'm so happy to report.
My trip to France was wonderful. My husband I had a great time. With a few adventures a long the way.

So we got into Paris and it was snowing! So thankfully we had our winter coats on as we got off the plane and then made our way to the TGV. On the TGV we headed down to Avigon. It was a beautiful ride and though we slept most of the way, watching the snow fall on little villages was beautiful as we made our ride south. We got in and the minstrals were blowing! It was pretty chilly.

We rented our little car and headed down to Gordes. Finally we arrived to my belle-mere's house. We were tired, wanting to shower off the airplane smell from us, and a bit hungry. There we were standing at the door so happy to have finally arrived. And we put the key in the door and ....uhhh nothing. No turning. The whole key wouldn't even go in the key hole. Yep..we were locked out! With his mom living most of the year in California. Getting the correct key from her was not a possibility.

Thank goodness my cell phone works in Europe and we called some of his moms local friends. We drove over to the her friends, chatted, and then they found out the did not have the correct key either. So they called a local locksmith for us and we headed back to his mom's house. The locksmith worked his magic and yahoo! We were in there!! Throughout it all, my honey and I remained calm as I was saying.."we our locked out of a house in beautiful Provence, I'm not going to get frustrated."

We got in the house and it's so beautiful, magical, inviting. And a bit cold! Those solid old walls are not something we have here in America. And they sure kept the cold in. So we turned on all the heaters, turned on the water heater and took a cold shower that night. In the morning we woke up to church bells and chirping birds. The house was warm and I got up and took a nice hot shower. From there on we had had a wonderful time. Some of our Swiss friends came to visit us for a few days and we just drove around to little villages, ate lots of cheese, sausison (my fave) and drank great wine, and played batonc.

I really can get use to that lifestyle. We really slowed down and it was nice.

After about a week we headed back up to Paris for 2 nights. Paris was great and when we got there it was sunny, and warm. We didn't even have to wear coats while walking around the city. I did a little shopping and just walked everywhere. Paris is such a fun city and I could people watch for hours.

Back at home now, all is good at here. Spring is trying to break though the cold spells. Peoples gardens took a beating from the chilly nights. And I'm ready for a seasonal change again. I love the winter and fall. But I say bring it on spring!

I have many peoples blogs to catch up on so I'll be reading away. Ps. .. I recommend watching The Secret, to anyone that's interested. Oprah had it on her show. And I happen to see the tail end of her show as she was talking about it. Well I bought the dvd. I'm sure others can rent it. I can say it's great and I learn something every time I watch it. So check it out!

Best to all!!!

France Here I Come!

I'm so excited. My husband I booked our tickets last night for our trip to France in March. We stay at his mom's in Gordes for a few days, then at the end of trip we go to Paris ! I'm so excited. Just so, so excited! It's been 2 years since we've been in France and it's been too long since I've been away.

I'm also happy to report that I've been keeping up on my laundry and staying organized!

Feeling a bit like Frankenstien

Well, the trip out to Salt Lake City, Utah, was so fun and it really came at the right time. It was great to see my sister and see her living in her new town. And it was great to see my parents. Time with your loved ones is so important. And I so glad that I did not hesitate in asking for time off from work.

So I stayed up with my family in Park City, where the ski resorts are. Downtown Park City is a quaint. We had fun walking around looking at the book stores, clothing stores, art galleries and restaurants. The ski resort, The Canyons, was beautiful. They had many ski runs and at times it felt like we were the only ones on the mountain. I went snowboarding and mind you it's been about 6 years since I went boarding last. I wasn't too bad actually. However, during my last run down the mountain I had a hard fall on my bum and I landed right on my tail bone. Ouch!

Fast Forward a few days now and my neck is so stiff. I can barely turn my neck side to side. Uhhh. I've never experienced neck pain like this. And I feel so bad for people that have chronic neck pain. If this is what it feels like all the time, I would go crazy. I hope it will heal soon. My honey booked a massage for me this Friday. So I know I have to let the masseuse do her thing and I'm sure there will be much pain involved why she works out the kinks. But I have to let happen. Right now when I turn my head like I'm Frankenstein! Stiff city!!

I will say, it was all worth it. The fun and the memories I had will always stay with me. It was so great to see my family and I'm so thankful that we could all be together!

Free

This past week had been a very long week. Friday finally came and went I was ecstatic. 2 weeks ago I put in my resignation for a fun little part time job I had on the side And although it gave me a bit of extra fun money..it wasn't worth it in the end. I would end up having to go to this job almost straight after my corporate day job and then this second job wouldn't get me out until 9p.m.! So that was enough of that! I did not like coming home late at night and feeling as if I had just walked in the door only to get ready to go to bed. I worked my second job for about a year. But I think leaving it was the best thing for me now. On my last night, Friday, I locked up the place and I was just happy to be done with it! I worked with some really great people so the whole experience was not too bad! But I just feel like I'm free! Yeah!

I'm going to Salt Lake City, Utah this coming week. My sister just moved out there and my family is visiting her. I've never been there so I'm looking forward to it and I'm looking forward to snowboarding too. I haven't been on the slopes for about 5 years. So I'll basically be a beginner on the board. Oh well I'm sure I'll give people a good laugh if they watch me.

Snow ~ here I come!

So much...

Let's see I've asked for a raise at my job last week. We'll see how that goes. I have been training more. I've been good about doing my laundry and keeping my purse clean of clutter....oooh it's so nice! I feel good about how things are going so far. I've not been great these past two weeks about blogging. But it was a bit crazy with work and all and I've been tired. Anyway it hasn't kept me from reading the blogs I love!

The baby fever still persists. I have a fitness competition to do first and that's in August. So first things first. I also want to make time for my creativity. I want to use my sewing machine that's still in the box from last year! First, I have to learn how to use it :) So I think a friend and I will got to a sewing class.

I just have to make sure to not put too much on my plate. But rather finish what I start. That's
something I can always work on! But hey! I've been getting my laundry done..start to
finish..even folding it and putting it away! wooohooo!

Brrrr...it's cold outside!

Ok..maybe it seems like I'm always talking about the weather. But the temperature is always fluctuating. Last week I'm wearing flip-flops and I'm turning on the air conditioning in my car. Today there's frost followed by slow flurries..and I'm wearing three layers all day! What in the heck! I really think it's global warming. Some would object and say it's a mini ice age coming our way. Well I'm all about the snow. I love cold weather! So bring on the snow!

I got a crock pot today. Sounds a bit old school. But I can't keep my oven on all day while I'm at work. So I got the next best thing to a dutch oven, I guess. I'm very excited to use it. First meal with it shall be beef stew. I'm looking forward to this whole concept of throw it all in the pot and come home to a yummy smelling house. I dig it! I'll report the taste later.

American Idol is on tonight. Although I don't watch every episode. The audition process is pretty humorous!

Ciao for now

Je suis chill'en

(My blog is acting funky and It's cramming all my paragraphs together.)

This morning I woke up kicking the covers off because it was hot! 65 degree out side! Thank goodness some cooler weather is headed our way this Tuesday. Now it's raining and I'm a happy girl. I don't mind the rain, except when I'm on a Caribbean vacation!

My honey and I dropped off our Christmas tree at the park to be recycled. We put it with the other trees. I told the tree we'll never forget it. It was kinda sad to see all the other Christmas tree's piled up on concrete. But I know they will be put to good use, mulch I guess. We came home and had a lunch. Then I watched Venus Beauty Institute, c'est film de Francais. I hope I wrote that correctly.

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Anyway, I enjoyed the film. It helps me with my French. And any love drama movie is good for this chicky! After that I got on the computer to read the blogs I fancy.

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On the other blogs I love to see the beautiful photography and pictures of oil paintings. And of course I love the cooking blogs. I want to take more pictures. But I would love to learn oil painting. There's so much I want to do. I often get lost with all the things I want to do. So many interests I have and once I start on something I get interested in another thing. I don't think anything is necessarily wrong with that. However, I do think I get a bit crazy sometimes and lose my focus when my interests change all the time. Hmmm, note to self, need to work on that too.

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Bonne Nuit

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ps..I can't take credit for some of the pictures on my blog. Thanks to Flickr.com I find pictures I like and post them. So thank you to all the Flickr photogs out there that will remain anonymous.