adventures of an american housewife in the south of france

French Bed Beard: Fig’s Diary

Hi Everyone, Figgy here!  Mom is getting ready to go to a Royal Wedding After Party at the French American Center, so she asked me to update you all on how I am adjusting to life in France.  All I know is, after we left San Francisco, we were in a car for a really long time.  Mom did her best to keep me comfortable by folding up my favorite UW Badger Snuggie for me to lay on.  Mom and Dad were drinking all...

My Greatest Invention to Date

Today has been a relatively uneventful day, but I do have 2 exciting things to share with you.  The first is that we met with Aneta, our relocation agent, to discuss a plan for finding our new home.  She did not seem super optimistic about the amount of options we'll have, but we're aiming for a house with a yard (or garden as it's referred to here) that is on the tram line.  We really want to make sure we have...

Hump Day: What We’ve Been Drinking

With all the craziness going on, it's been a few weeks since I've done a Hump Day post and I'm excited to bring it back!  We've been having fun with the whole drinking-during-lunch-thing they have going on here in France, and I thought that instead of focusing on one specific drink, today I'd tell you about some of the wines we've been enjoying here in Montpellier. I've shared with you our struggles with French...

Adjusting to Life in Montpellier

After nearly 4 days in Montpellier, we’re starting to create our life here.  The biggest challenge for me right now is that I hate the hotel where we’re staying.  The location is fine (although it would be nice to be a bit closer to the main part of town) and the staff is super friendly and nice, but the hotel itself is somewhere between a Motel 6 and a youth hostel.  And if you know me at all, you know that...

The Long, Sometimes Frustrating, But Definitely Exciting Journey to Montpellier

Like our Road Trip, our journey over to Montpellier was smooth sailing until the last leg of the trip…and a little bit beyond.  We started off at Cleveland International Airport.  My parents had to rent an SUV to hold the 4 of us, our 10 bags + a dog, but we arrived in record time and checked in with no problems.  The woman at the counter looked at us like we were crazy when we handed her 7 bags to check, but...

The End Of The Road

We made it.  We are in Montpellier!  Although it was not without its challenges, most of the trip went smoothly.  But before I get into how we got to France, I want to tell you a little bit about the rest of our road trip across the good old U.S. of A. First, we spent 2 days in Wisconsin visiting with our adorable nephew, Dylan, eating my father-in-law’s incredible homemade pizza, and visiting with family and...

The Almost End of an Epic Road Trip

After four straight days of driving, we finally made it to our first extended stop in Wisconsin.  The road trip was looooong and at times, painful, but we really lucked out with weather and traffic.  No problems!  We got a late start leaving San Francisco on Thursday and didn't get to our hotel in Salt Lake City until 6am.  Ouch.  Lots of 5 hour energy was consumed and I did my best to stay up all night with...

Leaving (a piece of) My Heart in San Francisco

Dear San Francisco, How did six years go by in the blink of an eye?  It seems like only yesterday I arrived - hardened and slightly bitter from my two years on the east coast.  It was my second time moving to a city sight unseen and, unlike my first attempt, I instantly fell madly, head over heels, hopelessly in love with you.  With your majestic cliff sides, sparkling bay, countless parks…you were like...

The Road Trip

Our time in San Francisco is coming to a close.  Tomorrow we pick up the truck to pack up and then Thursday morning we are hitting the road!  After much debate, we decided that it just isn't safe to tow a big U-Haul trailer through the mountains in my Camry, so we are renting a 16 foot truck (whoa!) and attaching the Camry in a car carrier.  So, I will not be driving.  At all. After spending some time in...

What A Weekend!

We've gotten a lot accomplished in the last few days.  In addition to making almost 4 times the amount we estimated at our garage sale (what a success!) we also had a BLAST at our going away party Saturday night.  A huge thanks to our besties, Shawn and Kate for hosting the pre and post parties - what troopers! The other big news is that our visas have been approved!  But as The Hub says,...

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