8 posts tagged “birthday”

I just bought a round trip, non-stop flight from Paris to New York for 334€, or less than $498. That is an unbelievably good deal. In September I flew through Reykjavik, on a really nice flight with Iceland Air, and thought that $515 was fantastic, but this is ten times better since I don't have to stop.

I am very, very excited. The assistant headmaster at my school, who is awesome, gave me the green light to take an extra week of work off before winter vacation in February so that I can extend my time in New York. I really wanted to go for longer than just 13 days or so, and now I'll be there for a full 18.5 days! I'll have to make up the hours, of course, but I have plenty of time to do so.

Mark your calendars, 'cause I arrive February 15th and leave on March 5th. There will be a BIG party for my 30th birthday. My birthday itself is the 19th, which is a Friday this year, but it's Presidents' weekend. At least, I assume it is cause it normally is. That means that it's more likely my New York friends will be out of town, but also more likely my non-New York friends could make it in.

Regardless of if I have the party the day of or the week later, I am super-excited that I'll be able to celebrate my birthday with my family this year. I haven't done so since I turned 26, and it's been a bit sad and difficult each year. And it's especially nice since this is such a big landmark year. I still can't believe I'm going to be 30.

I realize that my grammar is not quite up to snuff in this email, which is hopefully permissible given that it's almost 2 am. I just wanted to get it out there that I'm heading back to New York in 3 months and 1 week. Or exactly 100 days. Let the countdown begin!

In other news, I just got back from 10 days in Krakow (liked it) and Budapest (LOVED it), am heading to London (whee!) on Friday, and oh, I think I might have a boyfriend.  

Thursday was my birthday, and despite my worrying it was a wonderful day. I was really, really sick for about 10 days beforehand, and had been concerned that I would spend my whole birthday in bed. But I guess my lungs got the message, and I was up and about.

On Wednesday night Lauren, Pauline, Anna, and I had a celebratory dinner, followed by homemade birthday cake at Anna and Pauline's house:

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Candles

Last night I met up with Steve, Lauren, Sam, and others at a bar in the 5th that has a real guillotine in it. That was a bit strange . . . Not the company, which was a lot of fun, but rather sitting next to a killing machine. It had been a long time since I'd socialized, due to my nasty cough, and the time went really quickly. I have to make a mental note to get out more in March.

I leave tomorrow afternoon for a week in Spain. It's my birthday present to myself, and I'm really looking forward to it. I've been wanting to do this trip for about two years now. I'll be traveling in Andalusia, visiting Cordoba, Granada, and Seville. The weather is sunny and warmer than Paris, so I plan on soaking up as much vitamin D as possible. I'm going alone, and staying in youth hostels, so wish me quiet nights and hot Spanish men!

While Halloween 2008 was sadly costume-free for me, I did spend most of the day with kiddies, and that, to me, is just as important as the candy.

Okay, who am I kidding? I want candy corn and those chocolate-covered marshmallow things and I want them NOW!

Lee Ann is back in town, visiting her old haunts and Parisian friends. I haven't seen her since May 2007, and that means that I never got to meet Mateo, her exquisite 16-month-old son. I have been tracking Teo's growth through Lee's blog and flickr pics, and am truly sad I missed his roly-poly baby stage. He's a full-fledged toddler now, and still pretty damned cute. See?:

And now he's blowing his nose:

Using baby sign language to ask for more:

And reading a book with mama:

It's pretty obvious that I'm smitten. Seeing Lee and Teo so completely in love with each other is just beautiful. Being a single mom cannot by any means be easy, but Lee is raising a smart, loving, and very happy little boy!

And by the way, Lee, I may have cropped you out of that picture (you know which one I mean), but I still have it on my hard drive, so don't cross me or I WILL use it. ;)

I did day five of the Shred, and some exercises are getting easier, while others are getting harder. I no longer have sore abs, which I think is not a good sign, since Jillian says our body only changes when we put it under stress. But I'm doing the crunches and the reverse crunches and the oblique crunches and the bicycle crunches! I'm doing them! Just maybe not correctly? I dunno.

I'm really pushing myself on all the lunges and cardio exercises, and am definitely feeling a difference there. Crap, those side lunges are hard. What I really like about this workout is that it goes super quickly. Even if I don't really feel like doing it, I know that in 30 minutes I'll be finished and in the shower. I can handle that.

I probably undid lots of my work with tonight's dinner, unfortunately. My cousin Martin turned five on Monday, so tonight we went out to celebrate at a great resto in the 17th, l'Accolade. I highly recommend it. For a prix fixe of 32€ I had the tartare of bar, magret of duck with pumpkin purée and girolles, and a banana dessert that was a bit too heavy. My taste of Gerard's langoustine tempura was amazing, but nothing can top watching a five-year-old boy demand to order the oreilles de cochon. That's pig ears.

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I simply cannot even begin to imagine an American child ordering, eating, or enjoying crunch little bits of pig ears. Of course I had to taste them, and they were fine. Salty, crispy, but not much more than that. Maybe they just remind me a bit too much of a doggie chew toy?

I've known Martin since he had his very first coke, at age 18 months, so realizing that he's now five is weird. But it was a great dinner, and I feel really lucky to have family here.

Well, on day 2 of the Shred I woke up a bit tender in my abs and between my shoulder blades, but other than that, nothing. Which makes me think I wasn't doing it right. Shouldn't I be in pain? I picked up the intensity for the second workout, but had to take care of my knees during one lunge-y move. I really do wish I had a mirror to check my form . . . The only move I couldn't finish was the very last one, the bicycle crunch thing. It made my back hurt, which I don't think is good, so I rested part-way through. Other than that, though, I guess I'm in better shape than I thought? I don't get out of breath or have trouble keeping up the pace or feel like I'm going to die, which seems to be abnormal among other Shredders. Or maybe the rest of the people using this DVD are just big fatties.

I only have four hours of tutoring this week, since most of my regular clients are away for Toussaint vacation, so things are a bit slow in Sophie-land. I'm still sending my CV to any and every semi-appropriate job I can find, and while I've had lots of interest, nothing has actually come of it. Obviously this is like the single worst time to find a job since I've been alive, or at least since I turned 16, but come ON people!

To reward myself for starting a bold new exercise regimen, I bought some flowers. I'm really happy with how my composition turned out:

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Last night my Italian friend, Alessia, celebrated her 25th (??) birthday. Alessia and I met on the plane from Paris to Venice, at Christmas 2006. Somehow, we've managed to stay in touch for the past two years, and I had such a good time at her birthday dinner. Her friends are from all over the place: Spain, Italy, France, Germany, etc, and they were all so friendly and open and interesting. Somehow I was there for over 4 hours, and the time just whipped by.

Alessia lives in a CROUS, the equivalent of a dorm for grad students, so dinner was in the communal kitchen. There was a huge table full of snacks and drinks, and Alessia cooked up the most delicious, enormous pot of gnocchi with leeks and some kind of creamy sauce. It's pretty impressive what she pulled off in that completely un-equipped kitchen. I know she snapped some pictures, so hopefully I'll get a peek at them and put some up.

Today, day 3 of the Shred, my abs are definitely more sore than yesterday, but I still feel ready to do a workout. So, off I go!

It's a rainy night, my evening plans fell through, and I'm all caught up on my TV. So what's a girl to do? Upload photos!

Two of my dearest friends in Paris recently had birthdays. Anna turned 24, and Lauren turned 30. Here's birthday girl #1, at her really delicious and totally reasonably-priced dinner at Le Bastringue:

Anna's 24th birthday!

This past weekend, we fêted Lauren's dirty thirty at Au Rendez-Vous des Amis, which was unfortunately very hot, due to the crazy Indian summer we're having now. Standing on the sidewalk, though, turned out to be a great idea, as there were beautiful fireworks in the sky over Montmartre.

This coming Friday I'm having a housewarming party, known in France as a pendaison de crémaillière. That literally translates to hanging the hook that holds a pot in the fireplace. In Medieval times, when people used to cook over open fires, the last thing they would do in a new house is put this hook in place, so that they could make food. That was a sign the house was ready, and friends could come over. Interesting, no? It's definitely much more picturesque than the English version.   

Sidenote: Is Indian summer now politically incorrect? I know that Indian giving is a no-no, and we don't sit Indian style, we sit with our knees crossed. Thoughts?

Seeing as how I'm leaving tomorrow for my April vacation in Italy, I figured I should finally write about my February vacation in Spain. So here's the 4 days I spent in Barcelona with my mom. She completely spoiled me with cabs and (way too many) good meals, not to mention staying in a nice hotel as opposed to a scuzzy hostel.

Arriving on Sunday afternoon, we walked down Las Ramblas before a typical Spanish siesta. We had dinner at a really good tapas place. We ordered way too much food and wine, and proceeded to eat it all. The very funny waiter told us that we had red faces from all the booze! We were sitting in a window seat, and a man stopped on the sidewalk, gave me a thumbs-up and kissed his fingers at my beauty. My mom pointed out that with the amount of cleave I was showing this was not surprising.

Here's a funny door knocker that reminded me of the intercom face in Venice:

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Monday was my 27th birthday, and it was beautiful out. We visited the Sagrada Familia. I can't wait to see it one day when it's finished. Right now it's probably the world's coolest construction site.

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We walked through Park Guell, getting terribly lost. I was mopey that my birthday didn't feel birthday-ish, and my mom tried to tell me that I need to grow out of that. Why? I like parties and presents and cake and presents and celebrating my existence. And presents. Why do I need to stop all that just because I'm 27?
The birthday girl:

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The woman who gave me life:

isn't she pretty?

We had lunch at a divey tapas place, and when my mom informed the waiter that it was my birthday (by singing happy birthday and pointing at me) he brought out our dessert with a candle in it. We walked down the fancy shopping street to La Pedrera, another Gaudi house, and saw the Manzana di Discordo houses.

After a special birthday siesta, we had dinner at Roig Robi, a fancy Catalan restaurant. I had delicious rice with the most expensive prawns ever, but I have to say it was worth it.

Tuesday, after a bit of shopping at a famous espadrille store, we walked to Santa Maria del Mar which was breathtaking. Something about the simplicity of the lines and the proportions of the space really moved me.

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We walked through the Ribera neighborhood, which is where I would want to live if I lived in Barcelona. There are lots of tiny streets, cute stores, fun restaurants, and it had a gritty but nice atmosphere. After the Picasso Museum, which I give a big "eh," we had what was for me the best meal in Barcelona at Cal Pep. It's a tiny place with a counter and a few tables. I recommend the counter, cause watching them prepare your food is half the fun. We had a plate full of pimentos,

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and tons of seafood, including these delicious shrimp that were so delicate all I did was rip off the tail and head and ate the rest whole. They were a bit crunchy and salty and sweet . . . I want more! Other highlights were sweet sea bass with garlic and hot peppers and these tiny clams with butter and salt and garlic. I ate pretty much the whole plate of clams and left my mom the mushroom and pepper plate. Mixed in with my shrimp was a lone little crab. Here he's talking to his friend the shrimp:

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Dessert was two tiny cups of home-made mousse, one crema de catalanya and one coconut. Seriously, if you go to Barcelona you have to eat here.

We went to the Music Palace but couldn't get inside, so hopped in a cab to Casa Battlo. It is very expensive (something ridiculous like 12 euros entry) but I have to say it's definitely worth the money, if only for the hilarious audioguide. The man on the guide kept announcing that everything we were seeing was the most amazing thing ever. As in, "the fireplace in front of you is the most inventive fireplace in the world" or "you have never seen a room as beautiful as this one" or "Gaudi is an unparalelled genius." He was so over-the-top and British it was hilarious. Besides the audioguide, the house is really gorgeous. It's all curvy and under-water-y.

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We walked back to the hotel before collapsing for an hour or two. My mom and I definitely got into the whole siesta thing. I think it was this day that around 9:30 at night we looked at each other and said, "should we think about going to dinner now?" In Spain everyone eats so late, and it worked for us.

Wednesday was dominated by a cooking class. We had a guided tour of La Boqueria by our chef for the day, Ignatius. There was an incredibly annoying know-it-all couple from Chicago with us. The guy, who never blinked, was the kind of man who says "Gesundheit" when someone sneezes. Thank god another 27-year-old New Yorker girl showed up! Sarah and I helped ourselves to the wine and realized around 4 pm that we were drunk. Oops. She and I were in charge of the tomato soup with cheese and nut/parsley/oil mush. See us working:

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My mom ended up making the seafood paella which was interesting since we have a kosher house. She's never prepared shrimp or cuttlefish before. Here's her genius reaction to Ignatius' instruction to poke out the cuttlefish beak and snip off the shrimp eyes:

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But because she's a trooper, she did it:

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See all the excess eyes on the cutting board? Beurk.

Our finished product, with a smiling Ignatius:

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It was really fun, it a little long. I think the whole day was about 7 hours, including the Boqueria tour. After all that wine and food I of course needed another siesta, before dinner at Ca l'Isidre, suggested by the chef at Cal Pep. It was amazing. I had a yellowtail tartare with salmon eggs, followed by foie gras and truffle ravioli in a port wine sauce. Instead of ordering dessert I had another starter, artichoke hearts with porcini and more foie gras. Mom had warm prawn and scallop salad and a porcini and truffle fettucini. It was an unbelievable meal.

We attempted to go hear live music, but got to the venue just as the set was over. So instead we accepted that our time in Barcelona was food-focused, rather than party-focused, and slept off the meal.

Thursday was our last full day in Barcelona, and we decided to forego the hotel breakfast and try Pinotxo, a stand at the Boqueria. It was so good we regretted not going there every day. We had ordered boring tortillas and then noticed all these amazing dishes around us, so got a plate of chickpeas with balsamic mist and olive oil. Matt, that is one you have to make for me!

I took tons of pictures of the food, preparing to make a sort of fresh produce series. We headed up to the Miro Museum and then tried to do some shopping but honestly all of the stuff was ugly so we gave up. Since my mom and I can ALWAYS find room for more food, we stopped at this nice cafe whose name I forget and I ate an obscene amount of prosciutto on croissants. But I had a Diet Coke, so it's okay.

Dinner that night could obviously not compare to our previous meals, so I won't even mention it. But the pianist was hilarious. He kept playing these super-cheesy songs, like "Killing Me Softly," "Lara's Theme," and "Imagine." It was a little sad, actually.

On Friday we headed for the airport together, mom to fly to Paris and connect to New York, and me to continue on alone to Madrid. Saying goodbye sucked, since I knew I wouldn't see her again until May 30th, more than 3 months away. But on a happy note, here's my favorite quote of the whole trip:

me: So, tell me how wonderful I am to travel with.
mom: Well, you're fun. Except when you're not.

Next up is my time in Madrid. Stay tuned to see if I can get it done before leaving for Tuscany.

First of all, congrats to those of you who actually spied the "April fool's" tag on the last entry (ahem, all two of you). The rest of you, shame! While I do indeed want a French boyfriend/lover/sugar-daddy, I have not yet found him. Where the hell is he?! I'm leaving soon!

But, because sometimes wishing can make it so, I did take a ride on the back of a scooter with a zexy Frenchman yesterday. The hot pilot invited me for a tour of Paris, and we zipped around the Champs de Mars, les Invalides, Pont Alexandre III, Place de la Concorde, Place Vendome, Palais Royal, and la Madeleine. I was wearing a skirt, so he offered me his rain pants so that I wouldn't flash the rest of Paris. After it got a bit chilly he offered me his giant yellow windbreaker, and said "what do you call them, the men who go in space?" and I had to teach him "spacesuit" and "astronaut." Still, it was a lovely, lovely day that ended with hot chocolate in a cafe before tutoring Benjamin. He had stayed home sick, so I asked why he hadn't called to cancel and he said because it was the last time to see me before vacation and he didn't want to miss it. Aw. He then quizzed me on why I looked so nice and why I didn't kiss the man I was on the scooter with. When I said I don't think it's romantic, he said "you're a girl, you know if he likes you" and then "if you're interested you should have gotten close to him on the scooter and said 'I'm so scared!'" so I said, "but Benjamin, I wasn't scared!" and he rolled his eyes and told me that's not the point. Have I mentioned he's 15? It's like they're born with a completely different skill set.

This past week was very busy, as my last guest from the States was here. My Trinity friend Jaynemarie spent 6 days in Paris. We first met in 7th grade and lost touch after high school, so it was really nice to spend some time together. I also spent Friday, from 9:30 am to midnight, translating for one of the companies I tutor at. I have never worked such a long day. I decided that I'm going to use the money from that day (translating pays VERY well) to bankroll a trip to Croatia in May.

Sunday was my cousin Gerard's 55th birthday, and we had a delicious lunch at his house with an obscene amount of alcohol and the most delicious Scandinavian salmon ever. Here's his son, Martin, showing me how much he loves the birthday cake:

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So today I had quite a scare in class. After teaching (yet another class) how to say elbow, eye brow, and toe, I split the class up into partners. They had ten minutes to write a dialogue between a doctor and patient, and when the first group went, something went terribly wrong.

Ikrame, playing the doctor, had just asked Mariame what was wrong. Mariame answered that she had a headache and didn't feel well, and then collapsed. For a second we all that it was part of her skit, but quickly realized that wasn't the case. She fell back, smacking her head against the glass cabinet behind her, and then banged her head on the ledge of the cabinet as she fell down. She slid to the ground, and I was already out of my chair, yanking the classroom door open. Lea, my favorite in that class, ran to the hallway and turned around to look at me. I told her to run for the CPE, the kind of guidance counselor whose office was next door, and then to the nurse. Unfortunately, while I was talking to the CPE Hecham, the only boy in the class, picked up Mariame in his arms and carried her out. I would never have allowed him to do it if I had seen, but it was too late. Everything happened so quickly  . . .

Hecham carried her to the nurse, who had brought up a wheelchair. This whole time Mariame was still out cold, which is a really long time to be unconscious. While I'm really worried that Hecham might have done more harm than good by picking her up, I was very impressed with how quickly and seriously the class responded. For fifteen-year-olds they really took it quite well. Ikrame gathered up Mariame's things and took them to the nurse's office without being asked, and then everyone got right back to business.

I have to say, I was really shaken up by the whole thing. There was absolutely no warning! I have a fainting disorder, vasovagal syncope, but I know my triggers and get a few moments of warning before I feel a fainting spell coming on. It's not much time, but enough to sit down and tell someone. Mariame didn't even have a second. She was in the middle of her sentence, and then out. The rest of the class told me that this has been happening a lot lately, and I really hope her family takes it seriously and gets her a round of tests at the hospital.

I had a really nice lunch with Gerard, my cousin, at Le Grand Cafe, and then picked up my TV box at the post office. Supposedly this will give me free cable, but I don't know if I can tackle installing it just yet. There are so many cords, and I'm still recovering from the WiFi nightmare.

Brittany, my favorite model ever, was back in town to shoot the spring catalogue for Loulou de la Falaise. We met for a really yummy dinner at an organic vegetarian place, and caught up. It was really nice to see her, and I hope she continues to get work that'll bring her to Paris.

But the most important thing that happened today is that my mom had a birthday. I'm really bummed I wasn't there to celebrate, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY mom! I love you.

PS My weekend in Strasbourg, with lots of pictures, is coming soon . . .