Countdown: 4 Weeks

Holy shit, we're moving in a month. For the last few weeks we've been stuck in this weird place where we know we're moving, but it's just a little too early to start packing things up.  However, we're starting to realize that we need to Start Doing Things.  And oh my, is there a lot to do.  We've started selling off our furniture to friends and Michael's co-workers and we have boxes upon boxes of things to...

A Day in Provence: Aix

We've often heard that the best parts of Aix are outside the confines of the city, and I think this is probably true.  A year ago we may have visited the region to go wine tasting and have a fancy dinner out on the town, but those kinds of trips have been put on temporary hold.  Instead, we decided to spend the afternoon walking the city center and eating a quick lunch while Ramona napped.  It had been a long...

Ramona Rose at 4 Months

Four months.  Already.  I think I'll be using that word a lot.  I never knew time could move this swiftly. We have a very happy, smiley baby girl these days.  And quite the little chatterbox! She literally spends hours babbling ooh, ooh, agoo, agoo, gah, bbrrr, ahh!  One time she even sighed, Ohhh yeaaaahhhh.  She loves it when we mimic her sounds and "talk" with her.  I think we're in serious trouble when...

Countdown: 6 Weeks

Thank you all for your well wishes!  It's really happening.  We really only have 6 weeks left until we move back to the U.S.  When I think about it in those terms, it feels overwhelming.  How will we pack up all of our stuff, tie up all our loose ends, and squeeze in a few more trips, in just 6 short weeks?  I'm not sure, but somehow it will get done.  Oh, and flying across the world with a baby and a dog and...

Onward

On a cold Ohio evening in November 2002, I signed an offer letter that put me on a path to where I am today.  The letter that I signed that early winter morning promised me to a city I knew very little about.  A city I'd never experienced.  A city that, for a small town Ohio girl, seemed as far away as Siberia and as foreign as Tokyo.  But it was neither of those places - it was Boston.  Signing that letter was...

Pont du Gard: Day and Night

The Pont du Gard, located about 80 km from Montpellier, is a 3 tiered Roman aqueduct built in the 1st century A.D.  Since it was on our way home from Avignon, we decided to stop there and check it out.  It was getting to be late in the day and we arrived at dusk, which turned out to be a pretty cool time to see the Pont du Gard. We had heard about the outdoor concerts under the bridge during the summer,...