6 posts tagged “party”
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.
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:
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!
Last Friday I had a housewarming party at my new place, and it was, in my opinion, a lot of fun. There were roughly equal parts French and Americans, and guys and gals, and nothing was broken. What more can you ask for?
A few of my old students showed up, which was both fun and funny (kids these days drink A LOT of vodka!), as well as a few friends I haven't seen in ages. We ate, and drank, and danced, and I finally kicked the last people out around 2:30, after they'd made a few pots of pasta.
Early on in the night, my little cousin Martin ate all the tarama while no one was looking:
My trip to the sauna, while enjoyable, did nothing to ward off my cold. I missed two days of work this week, and slept more hours than should be allowed. I still have a pretty nasty cough, and am congested, but I think the worst is over. I hope.
While the cold slowed me down, it did not prevent me from hosting my first-ever cocktail party. Or I should say, my first-ever party that I've hosted alone, in my house. My apartment in New York was so small (180 square feet) that I could never have many people over, so my parties were always in bars or lounges. And my going-away party last year was at my parents' house, but my parents helped out a ton.
So I was nervous. I worried I wouldn't have enough food, or alcohol, or guests, or that the music would suck. But as Anna said, "None of those things are going to happen. Because you're not lame. You're super cool. And those kinds of things only happen to lame people." And she was right! I AM super cool. And the party was lots of fun.
Even with a few last-minute cancellations there was a very good turn-out. About 25 people, maybe? The food was all gone by 12:30, so maybe next time I'll make more, but I don't think anyone left hungry. And my goat cheese-fig jam spread with nut bread rounds was fantastic. Yum. I have plenty of booze left over, thanks to Claire's bringing a magnum of champagne (thanks again, Claire!). I had bought creme de cassis, and drank kir royales all night. Amazingly enough, I had zero hangover. I guess cause it was good champagne?
And now, it's time for some pictures:
The night ended with us rolling up the rug and dancing, as all good parties should end.
There was not a peep from the neighbors, perhaps because I warned them ahead of time and the building has super-thick floors and walls. The last guests were out by 1:30, and I'm not really sure what I did until 3, when I finally went to sleep. Whenever I'm drunk I do the weirdest shit, like reorganizing my bathroom shelves. Useful, I suppose.
I spent several hours cleaning up yesterday, and still have to recycle all the empties. I was planning on staying home and recuperating, until I had a faint memory of Steve inviting me to something fun. I couldn't remember what it was, but I know it sounded good at the time. And that's how I ended up singing "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" on stage, with back-up dancers, for a crowd. Story and photos to follow.
The Paris sales started Wednesday, prompting a shopping frenzy that clogs the sidewalks and empties the wallets. Last year I went a little crazy (I bought multiple cashmere sweaters, a handbag, 2 pairs of sneakers, etc etc), and have no urge to repeat the madness this year. There are a few things that I need: black boots, gloves, a bathrobe. But those are practical purchases, not spur-of-the-moment weaknesses. And so far, I'm sticking to my shopping list.
What's surprising, however, is that I have no desire to window shop. I love beautiful things, and even though I have an extensive wardrobe, I can normally justify one more sweater or dress. Right now, though, I just don't care. I walk into and out of my favorite stores in seconds. I just can't be bothered to browse, and it feels weird.
Instead of blowing my money on clothes, I've joined a gym. Last year I gained about 15 pounds while living here (a HUGE amount for someone my size) and worked off about half of it by joining a fantastic gym in New York. This was the first time I actually used a gym membership, and I loved it. So I planned on joining up as soon as I got to Paris, but the prices were ridiculous! Literally 5 or 6 times what I was paying in New York, and I just don't have the cash for that. So I've waited, and oddly enough found myself actually missing exercise. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a lazy fart, so this is a Big Deal.
So what changed? Why did I suddenly join a gym this weekend? Because I was just hired to translate a book! I'm spending my salary in advance, and am happy to do so. I'll be translating one in a series of middle-grade fantasy novels into English, so that the French publishing house can shop it around to foreign markets. I'm very excited. I did a trial translation of the first two chapters before Christmas, and they loved it. The translating is fun and interesting work, and the editorial director I'm working with is super-nice. So all in all, good news.
More good news is that my friend Grant is getting married! He proposed to his girlfriend, Jennifer, right before New Years. Congratulations! Here's the happy couple, the night of their engagement:
Instead of feeling guilty about not having posted for the past 19 days (eek!) I'm going to simply tell you all about what a glorious day I had. I'll get around to the past 3 weeks (Barcelona, Madrid, Amsterdam, etc) sooner or later. Probably later.
Anyway, today was Pammy's last day in Paris. After her jaunt to Sainte Chapelle, we picked up a sack of choquettes and dunked them in our cafe cremes at my favorite cafe. Pammy found the perfect French dress to wear to tomorrow's wedding, and then we lugged her crap to the train at St Michel, and said goodbye. It's funny, but we really didn't know each other that well before this trip. I mean, we met at Club Med 3 years ago, and had a great time, and since then have gotten drunk together with Matt and Craig multiple times, but we've had EXTREMELY little one-on-one time. Here's all of us at Turkoise in 2004, back when my bod was rockin', enjoying sunset cocktails:
Seriously, check out that six-pack. Nice, right? Too bad France happened to it.
Here's me and Pammy, also in 2004 :
I think it's pretty cool that all of us (including Grant, who was probably taking the picture of the 4 of us above) are still friends, despite the fact that we live all over the world, from Nashville to Singapore. So when Pammy decided to pop her Europe cherry by visiting me, I was psyched. We ended up being very good travel partners, and I'm looking forward to hanging out lots more when I'm back in NYC. Here's a (not so great) pic of us taken at le Dix, after 4 days of partying. We're a bit pooped!
After she left I met up with Anna for a picnic on the banks of the Seine. There's a little park right off Pont Neuf that sticks out into the water, and it was packed with people lolling about. We packed a picnic blanket, bottle of wine, a baguette and cheese, and a bit of dessert. Two and a half hours later I had tan lines and pink shoulders! It was the perfect way to spend the day. See how happy I am:
