/ Texas Sarah

Christmas in Paris

It's hard to believe we're already 2 weeks into a new year! After two consecutive Christmases spent stateside, we headed to Paris this year for the holiday. It was a short but sweet whirlwind of a trip, and we left with full bellies, hearts and an extra checked luggage. Avienne is at the age where she actually grasps the idea of Christmas, so it was really fun to introduce some of my and Gui's favorite traditions with her this year.

We had our fill of all the traditional and seasonal French fare, including foie gras, cheese, buche de noel and of course way too much champagne. I really enjoyed not having an agenda for the trip, focusing instead on spending as much time as possible with family and relaxing whenever possible. Avienne played lots of games, baked cakes and indulged in so many goodies, it was hard to convince her to get on the plane back home!

We were able to catch up with some friends we hadn't seen for a good while, and the weather was so mild for December that we were able to spend a day out at the local Christmas market and a bit of time at the enchanting park where Amelie was filmed (that swan!). Paris is truly magical this time of year, and I know we're all pretty grateful that we get to bask in its magic from time to time.

parenting

Ice skating in Texas!

Avienne's been asking to go ice skating for months now, and I finally got around to taking her with some friends a couple of weeks ago. Whole Foods puts a rink up in their mezzanine area every year, and it was our first time checking it out. I haven't been ice skating since I was a kid and fearless enough to actually enjoy doing it. Even though she was super excited about going, I was a little nervous that she would be scared about falling or actually hurt herself and call it quits (which, sadly, is totally something I would do). But, to my surprise, she braved through a few falls and kept a smile on the entire time. I love that she saw enough joy in the activity to push through her fears, and her attitude was so motivating and inspiring to me. I'm also hoping this means that she inherited her papa's athletic genes because goodness knows I don't have much to offer in that department!

So, we spent some time in the mountains a few weeks ago. Some of our best friends from Austin were visiting La France and hooked us up with a slightly extravagant chalet tucked away on a hill in the Alps. I'm not much of a mountain (or nature) girl, but it's hard not to feel the magic that radiates from being in a valley full of sunshine surrounded by colossal, snow-capped mountains. Our visit there definitely brought out my inner hippie.

Being the city folk that we are, we opted out of any major physical activities and settled on sightseeing from the lift's drop-off points (and eating all the traditional cheesy, meaty specialties in the area, of course). We explored a bit once we reached a good point on the mountain and couldn't stop watching all the brave paragliders jump off of the mountainside with only an oversized umbrella on their backs. Although I opted out, Guillaume, Avienne and the rest of the group put on their big-boy pants and took an open-air lift across one of the mountains to get a good look at the great Bossons Glacier. The pictures they took were beautiful, but after seeing the flimsy little chair lift, I'm definitely glad I sat that one out.

Together again

It occurred to me last week that I'd been pretty vague about what we've been up to lately and the plans we've been making & following through with over the past few months. Even to close friends and family, I hadn't been publicizing our plans because the truth is, we weren't really sure how or if they'd all unfold the way we wanted.

Exploring Paris with a toddler is interesting. Avienne has a pretty hefty appetite for physical adventures and human interaction. She enjoys social settings so much, even if only to sit and observe others. Riding the métros, busses and trams all over the city with her by my side has been a much different experience than what I remember from my past solitary commutes. She treats everyone like someone she knows and it makes for a somewhat shocking experience for some Parisians. On our very first métro ride together, we sat across from a woman who made it known that she was very offended that I allowed my kid to sit across from her AND that I crossed my legs which she felt extended into her "territory." I couldn't help but laugh at the poor woman, but managed to keep my cool. Another woman sat down across from me who was extremely and abnormally kind to both me and Avienne, and I reminded myself that Paris is full of extreme personalities such as these. I mean, isn't the whole world somewhere between very kind and very rude? We've thankfully avoided other encounters with the rude since that last atrocious one, but I'm sure it won't be our last.

Besides our adventures on public transportation (and there have been many), we've been bouncing around from café to café in hopes of finding our new coffeeshop hangout. Our weekend mostly consisted of discovering new-to-me restaurants and coffee shops and enjoying delicious meals and beautiful places in the process. We spent most of Saturday writing on walls and admiring the Jeff Koons exhibit at the Pompidou museum. We found a nice brasserie [not so] nearby for a very French lunch, followed by a long walk through the Tuileries with a sprinkling of a mini brass band concert and some fountain-side sailboat watching. According to my iPhone, we walked over 9 km (over 5.5 miles) that day, and boy, could I feel it!

Mondayyyy

Well, it's bedtime for me and I just erased a 6 paragraph entry about how we spent a lovely Monday around Paris. For the past 8ish years that I've blogged, that's never happened to me. Like ever.

I don't even know how to begin rewriting it, so here's what I can remember in bullet points and pictures until I stop kicking myself and have the time to write about our next adventure.

We've been in Paris for a week now and it feels both like forever and just yesterday that we arrived.
I took Avienne to Cojean for lunch on Monday; she had pasta, I had risotta - it was as good as ever.
A few things she notices most while traveling around the city are cranes, berry bushes, bells, horns and sirens. And pigeons.
We spent hours going to and from Chateau de Vincennes to finish up a final few meetings for my shop.
I felt like we spent the whole day hopping from one mode of transport to another or walking around.
She made me carry her a few times, so I kind of feel like I'm working out again.
We tried to check out Coutume Lab, but it was closed, so ended up enjoying the warmth, smiles and people watching at Café Coutume instead. We will definitely be lingering around there often.
I had my first real coffee since being in Paris and Avienne had her first ever "babyccino".
We ended our 7 hour day with a hot bath, warm pasta and snuggled up reading in bed.
I'm looking forward to more Mondays.

...still kicking myself, though.

Family la belle vie NYC travel

Faux New Yorkers

We love New York. Really love it. I wish we could live there, but things like preschool and toddler soccer are forever wait-listed and just too dang expensive for us to even seriously consider living there. So, we go when we have a good excuse and let ourselves pretend like we live there for those few precious days.

Last weekend, Gui's mom and sister were visiting his aunt and uncle who live in the city, so we decided to meet up with them for a few days of their stay. We hadn't seen them in person since January, which feels like a lifetime ago. They Skype with Avienne nearly every weekend, so it wasn't a huge surprise when she saw them in New York and went a little crazy-happy with the hugs and smiles. It's the first time she's really been old enough to get excited about traveling and seeing relatives.

It was really cold for the first 2 days and rained cats and dogs on our last day, but the weather is part of what I love about New York, and for me, cold and rain just mean more time spent at our favorite restaurants and coffee shops. We stayed in a different area than usual and discovered some new great restaurants and neighborhoods. As creatures of habit, it's hard to get us to move out of our comfort zone, but we managed and succeeded in falling in love even more with our favorite Stateside city.