Je suis Parisian

that's right.

i ride the metro.

all.by.myself.now

i love taking the metro!

i feel so parisian 

:)

i will just never get used 

to the pee smell.

another WTF

(welcome to france)

p.s..all my photos are taken with my camera.

i'm missing all kinds of gadgets and chargers

for my Nikon.

this one was taken on my way home

on the metro tonight.

:)

City Girl

A lot going on here.

Last weekend we went into the city...

it's only about a 20 minute drive from our rental 

out in Chaville. 

Saturday we walked up the steps to Sacre Coeur.

I hope to never take the beauty of Paris

for granted.

I have a friend back home..

in NC who just lost her husband yesterday.

I had lit a candle for them there.

You are still in my prayers Dianne.

Sunday we drove back into the city

and watched the Tour de France.

So cool!

We were able to meet up with Steve's cousin

Bob while he was traveling in Europe on business.

Later that day we got to meet up with some friends

from NH.

ahhh...to meet in Paris.

How lovely is that??

Well...not so lovely, is that

we've had to move out of our beautiful

rental house in Chaville.

A few nights back we were "attacked"

by swarming termites! Ewww!

After deciding to leave the rental

as we weren't sleeping...we've checked into 

a hotel in Paris. 

I must admit..

it's wonderful being here in the city.

I think I will enjoy being a city girl.

Lost

The kids and I drove to Versailles today.

It's about a 15 minute drive from our rental house

here in Chaville.

I will admit...I'm a nervous driver.

I can barely drive around my home town 

with out getting lost..

let alone a foreign country.

Thankful for GPS.

However, even with GPS

I seem to find myself lost.

But,

it's ok to get lost sometimes.

And

Versailles is beautiful.

Guest Blog: Hannah :)

Bonjour! 
It's Hannah..
So the other day my mom showed me and my brothers a comment that one of her followers Fanci wrote her.. it said that her kids (meaning us) should "guest blog" our views on the "views from my kitchen sink" and tell everyone how we feel about this change... so I am going to do just that.. 

ok.. so far this has been sort of an emotional roller coaster.. for the whole family... I mean come, on we are not used to this yet. There is the fact that we are all together 24/7!!! IN ONE HOUSE ALL THE TIME!!! AHHHH so yes it gets stressful. And me, being the only girl, I feel like I need a brake from my brothers... Stephen, Will, and most of all Griffin....

There is just too much family time... TOO MUCH!! I miss my girlfriends... and I know I have mom... but as much as you think it might be the same, because-you know-she is a girl.. its not... I'm 14.. and she's older!! sorry mom.. love you <3 

so yes I hate to say it, but this week hasn't started out good.. but I have faith.. and I know it will turn out good.. and looking back I will be able to say to my kids what a great experience this was for me and my family... 

and I bet they wil be jealous!! ;) 

yep!! and as my mom said to me.. a few meltdowns ago- the good times will definitely override the bad times.. we have all had our little mental breakdowns but, it will get better and we will have such a good experience...and I know it will be such a great adventure :)

Thanks for listening to my view...

Love Hannah <3 

Saying Goodbye

The night before we left

a few of our neighbors had us for dinner.

I can't express how thankful we are to have had

the neighbors we did for the past 4 years.

That night after dinner,

the adults stayed back and 

9 of the neighborhood kids

ages 19 down to 3

piled in a car and drove 

to FarFars for ice cream.

The next day

as we drove away ..

on to our new life in France,

our street was lined with mini-French flags.

And they were there

waving goodbye.

We miss you already!

In Another Woman's Kitchen...

We've been here for 5 days.

Last night I cooked my first meal here.

It's hard to navigate your way around another

woman's kitchen non?

But, like everything else, I'm learning.

I made a salad with a simple dressing...

with my new dijon mustard that came in the 

cutest little pot. :)

Pan fried chicken with herbs

a little rose'

and a baguette, of course with 

the most delicious butter.

Oh the butter.

J'adore!

My New View

We are settling in.

Our rental house here in Chaville is perfect.

We will be here for a month until we can move into

the Paris apartment.

I should make it known that it is NOT

all glittery Eiffel Tower lights and macaroons.

No.

We've had some meltdowns.

And it's to be expected.

As lovely and romantic as it sounds

to move to Paris,

it has also been stressful and emotional.

For all of us.

Today I can look back on yesterday and laugh.

I made a complete fool of myself at our local grocery store

and then got lost driving home.

WTF

(Welcome To France)

We Are....

Home. 

Au Revoir!

We move to Paris in two days.

And

it would be a wicked understatement to say 

things have been a bit nuts here.

In the past two weeks we've...

...vacationed and said goodbye to our family 

on the Vineyard.

...put the house under agreement.

....sold two out of the three cars.

....dealt with a breast biopsy that came back benign yesterday!

....had the movers/packers here since Saturday.

And that's just a few of the biggies.

But...we are ready.

Ready to take on this next big 

adventure in our lives.

And we are blessed.

To have in our lives

the people we call our friends and family.

We will miss you!

Au Revoir!!