One Year in France

It's hard to believe that it's been over a year since we said good-bye to San Francisco and started our long journey across the country and back to the Midwest.  It's hard to believe that exactly one year ago today, after a very frustrating trip, we arrived in Montpellier, exhausted and scared without a place to stay.  Relatively speaking, a year is not that long, but in other ways our life before France seems...

Communication Breakdown

Since we've been in France for almost a year now (can you believe it?!), I thought I'd give you all an update on how our French is coming along.  It's been awhile since my last update, so maybe you think we're fluent now? Yeah right.  In a nutshell, here's how I'd describe our French:  meh.  It's a really difficult language to learn in your thirties.  I sort of feel as though we've hit a plateau...

Prague City Guide: Dos, Don’ts, Eats

After all the traveling that Michael had been doing (I think he was home a total of like, 4 days in the last month), we took a very relaxed approach to our trip to Prague.  We didn't go into the trip with any sort of agenda - we ate and drank, we slept in, and we didn't pressure ourselves to see a lot of "sights."  We didn't go to any museums (shocker!), we took a very different approach to our boat tour, and we...

Ahoj From Prague!

Ahoj! Just a quick note to update you all on two things. First of all, we're having an amazing time in Prague. It's odd, but the city feels like a perfect combination of many of the places we've visited over the last year, like Stockholm for all the bridges, Copenhagen for the bright green rooftop spires, Amsterdam for the winding cobblestones, and Annecy for the numerous Easter markets. We feel right at home...

Friday in France

A few of my random thoughts this Friday. Figgy's 7th birthday is on Sunday and Michael and I will be in Prague.  Fig will be with his second family, who absolutely adore him, but I am feeling oddly guilty about not being with him on his birthday.  Not like he knows, right?  Still, I feel like a bad mom. I'm pretty much completely obsessed with smoothies and someone probably needs to have an...

International Travel: Toddler Style

Some people might call her crazy, some might call her optimistic, but I call her One Brave Super Mom.  My sister-in-law J.J. courageously traveled thousands of miles to a different country with her 2-year old son, just to visit us in France!  Thanks to the (huge) help of her parents, the trip went smoothly and can officially be considered a success.  When I asked J.J. if she minded sharing some tips on traveling...

Dylan’s France

There is nothing quite like experiencing a familiar place through a new set of eyes.  Especially when those eyes belong to a 2 year old boy. We had such a great visit with Michael's family, and the highlight was getting to spend 10 days with our sweet nephew Dylan who, at 2 years old, is now his own little person.  My sister-in-law J.J. did a great job of showing Dylan pictures of us and Figgy as well as...

Four Stories for Your Monday

We've had a lot going on over here recently, bouncing around from one project to another.  Michael is working on a new game that requires him to spend a lot of time in Paris and I've been working on what I hope will turn out to be my first for realz writing assignment.  We're also preparing for a visit from Michael's family next week, including our adorable 2-year old nephew!  That's right, our 2-year old nephew...

Chocolate Chip-Nutella Banana Bread

This is going to sound strange, and may possibly cause some of you to lose mad respect for me, but this whole Chocolate Chip-Nutella Banana Bread business began with last week's episode of Jersey Shore. Let me explain. In last week's episode, Snooki and Deena get in trouble, and in danger of being fired, for completely blowing off their job and disrespecting their boss Danny.  The usual stuff, right?  But to...

The Popcorn of Your Dreams

Here's a funny fact about me:  I'm obsessed with popcorn.  When I was in high school, I used to eat one or sometimes two bags of microwave popcorn each day.  It was my favorite snack for after school and/or nighttime.  Since then, my addiction has subsided to a normal person's intake of a few bags a month, and certainly with every movie I watched.  It wasn't until a few years ago that I learned about the...