2012: The Beginning

Happy New Year everyone! We had a very nice, low key evening celebrating New Year's Eve at a friend's house, raclette style.  Raclette is a semi-firm, cow's milk cheese that is melted, served with slices of meat and boiled potatoes, and eaten with white wine.  I've only ever seen raclette served at restaurants using this table-side, electrical contraption: Little did I know that you can buy your own...

2011: Year in Review

It's hard to believe that another year has gone by since last year's Year in Review.  I had a rough start to 2011, but it was an important reminder of my mantra, no day but today.  As 2011 comes to a close, I feel very grateful for how this year has turned around and I'd like to share my thoughts with you all. I am grateful for my family.  For my family by blood, my family by marriage, and my family of...

Ciao & Auguri!

And we're back!  I hope you all had a lovely holiday with friends and family.  Michael's office is closed this week, so we've been taking it easy, relaxing and recovering after our 8-day, nearly 2,000 km road trip through Italy.  We traveled along the Cote d'Azur to Riomaggiore, up to Firenze, back down to Siena, and then up to Torino, before heading back to Montpellier on Christmas Eve.  I can't wait to tell...

Marché de Noël: Christmas in France

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas over here! I'm really enjoying how festive the town has become.  We've been going on a tour of the Marché de Noël, or Christmas markets.  About a week and a half ago, we visited the small, beautiful town of Annecy on the border of France and Switzerland and had a lovely time at their Marché de Noël. This past weekend, we visited...

A Thanksgiving-Birthday Weekend

Hello all!  I hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving full of lots of good food and friends.  We had a nice, quiet celebration over here for our first "official" holiday in France (Easter just doesn't really seem to count!)  We definitely realized that Thanksgiving is a lot more fun and exciting when you get to spend it with all your family and friends, but we still managed to have a great day.  We even had our...

A Thanksgiving Guide In France

It's Thanksgiving Week!  It's Thanksgiving Week!  Hooray!  As you probably know, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.   To me, it really marks the beginning of the holiday season and I love everything about it:  the food, the festivities, and the thanks.  Usually, we celebrate an Orphan's Thanksgiving in San Francisco with 25 or so of our closest friends, but this year we'll be doing things a little bit...

French Bed Beard: Fig’s Diary

Hi Everyone! It's been awhile since my last diary post, so I asked Mom if I could take over the blog today.  We've had a lot going on here and, to be honest, I've kind of had a bad week.  First, my best friend Sauce moved back to Montreal. It seems like all the beautiful women here leave me.  First Teti, and now Sauce.  Sigh. Actually, Sauce is more like an annoying little sister who never left me...

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone is having a spook-tacular day!  France doesn't exactly "celebrate" Halloween, so we're not really in the spirit here unfortunately.  Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Quite frankly, I love any occasion when I can dress up in a costume.     Guess we'll have to do a better job for next year!

A New Season

Earlier this week, after a long day of travel returning from our trip to Stockholm, I sat down in my apartment and realized that our lives here in Montpellier are changing.  Seemingly overnight, the brutally hot summer days have been replaced with crisp morning air and fall leaves.  The bins in the fresh markets that once held peaches and almonds are now filled with chestnuts and squashes.  The throngs of French...

Vacances!

Hello Friends! Back in January, I wrote this post, about living in the present, after my 18-year old cousin Amanda died tragically in a terrible accident.  Last week would have been her 19th birthday and as I've been thinking a lot about her and that post, other unfortunate events occurred that have really made me reflect on my mantra of "no day but today."  Lately I really feel that I've been spending so much...