Paris Ponderings

Once upon a time, nearly 14 years ago, I lived in Paris for seven weeks one summer.  Doesn't that sound fabulous? It was.  Well, mostly, as with all places it took a bit to adapt, but once I did I was forever smitten. My mom asked what I would send someone (possibly her) to see if they were only in Paris for a few days.  These are slightly geared to my mom's tastes, but here is what I decided on:

1) Musee D'Orsay-- Yes, less famous than the Louvre, but more light filled, and I love it.

2) Il Saint Louis -- this is the Island next to the island where Notre Dame is.  It is totally different, quiet, and perfect for musing and observing life.  I spent a lot of time here or on the facing shore of the Seine.

3) Pere Lachaise -- My mom likes cemeteries  history, and interesting gravestones.  This is the best and the resting spot for some of her favorite composers too.

4) Notre Dame (Ile de la Cite) - Cliche, perhaps, but I love it.  For the architecture, for the history, tradition, for the holiness.  I went to mass there more than once as my school was just across the river.  I think possibly I was the most connected to Catholicism when I was abroad.  I like that I can walk into a Catholic church anywhere and be at home.  Also, if you go just a few blocks south you can see the Sorbonne where I studied.  Technically, my classroom building was closer still, just across the river and up the block about 1/2 way.

5) Find a cafe you like and sit  for a long time with chocolat chaud and a pastry. People watch.

6) Get up early and wander.  Watch the water run down the streets to clean the edges.  Sit in the park, any park really, and soak it up, how it is different and the same. My favorite is Luxembourg Gardens, but Tuileries Gardens, and  Place des Voges are lovely too.  The very first garden I visited was Jardin du Plantes---seriously.  It is a bit less artsy than some, but interesting.  (NOTE: I lived and studied in the 4th arrondisement so many of my favorites are there).

7.  Take a boat tour or dinner cruise on the Seine.  This takes you past lots of sites like the Eiffel Tour without having to walk as much.  If the cruise is at dusk, so much the better. Pay attention to bridges.

8.  Eat lots of bread, pastries, and cheese --- pain au chocolat, pain au raisin, Paris-brest, etc... Try bakeries - English will work, but be brave and try french too.  Wander a grocery story.  It is fascinating to see how they are the same and different.

9. Le Tour Eiffel and Champs du Mars / Trocadero, the Louvre--- I do sort of think that if you don't go you will regret it and may be feel like you haven't had the complete experience.



I've been to Paris again since that first long trip, but neither time did I make it to the Rodin galleries, and that is where I plan to go next time.

The bus/metro system are your friend.  You do not have to walk everywhere.  There are TONS Of metro stops and you can buy a pass there that allows you unlimited trips on the bus and train for the period you are in Paris.  It "may" seem tricky, but I suspect with a smart phone or other technologies it will be even easier than when I was there. 

December Daily 2018: Days 13, 14, & 15

Believe it or not, I made it all the way through Dec. 31 by the 2nd!  I'm going to add the images three days at a time here as I like to both share and have a digital record.  Above is the 13th, which was crafts and cookie season intro with the girl scouts. 

This is the two page spread

The 14th was the final phase of "Project Care" B went to Faithworks with his team and helped deliver the gifts they had purchased and lead around the kids who were participating.

Day 15 was our HUGE Christmas Open house party so there are a lot of photos!

I went with a big collage for the second page complete with this overlay.

The party included up to 80 people, lots of friends, family and neighbors.  We met a lot of new people in the process.  We had SO much food and lots left over. It is a really fun event and a lot of work, but I am so glad we have made it part of our family traditions. 

December Daily 2018: Days 10, 11, & 12

 Day 10: We had a lot of home work and Chores and things today so I felt like we needed a little merry at the end of the day and handed out the Christmas PJs.  This is pretty much how it goes. I have a list of things I plan for December, but often don't assign them to a particular day so we have some flexibility as the schedule evolves.

 Here is the two page spread. It seems really weird to have identical style pages next to each other.  I am thinking of adding an insert of B with his first day of braces too...

 Day 11: B's first band concert.  Having this the same day he got his braces was a bit crazy and extremely unintentional. He persevered and did better than I expected.  I also took a bit of crazy driving around the Edmond North parking lots to get there so was a little wild transit, but a lovely concert. Grandma joined in the fun and a good time was had by all .

Day 12:  I came to the stunning realization after the concert that it was almost Santa Lucia's day and, unlike these other random traditions, I didn't have the appropriate food on hand so I madly ran out and bought orange rolls before the store closed. M, Grandma, and I made them in the morning and properly crowned her with lights.

 This is one of my favorite moments of Advent ad needs a few more photos so these pages flip up.

 The lower page lifts to show the whole crew at early breakfast with our orange rolls and hot chocolate.

 Here is the double page spread.

I made this base page in November based on a similar page of Ali's and I very much love it.  It is purely an art piece, but lovely and elegant and a good match for the day in the end.  This actually also is E's 1/2 birthday so an accidental celebration of that as well. 

December Daily 2018: Days 7, 8, and 9

 Day 7 - We thought there might be a snow/ice event this weekend so we went to Target right after school to buy gifts for our Angel Tree kids.

 As usual, we picked kids of similar ages and each of our kids got to shop for them.  We try to buy each a book, hat, gloves, socks, outfit and toys.  It is pretty fun.  Then we wrap them up (well, most of them, B's was for a group that asks that they be unwrapped).  We dropped them off at church and, of course, there was no snow or ice :)

 Day 8 --- this is why everything got delayed. It is always hard for me to figure out how to document the tree decorating. I want a zillion photos and have so many thoughts.  In the end I made a collage with lots of photos this year and did just a little journaling on this central tag.

 Freely admitting I wasn't at my most creative this evening but tried to be Ok and just go on.

 I do sort of love this bunch of photos with just a few rubber words on them.

 As I did these out of sequence the back was blank so I added this simple graphic tree page from a prior kit.

 Day 9:

 This was my first time at the neighborhood ladies PJ and ornaments party.  After a busy Saturday full of chaos and decorating and Sunday with church and more house stuff I was really glad to just relax with neighborhood friends and enjoy food and conversations.

Simple and good!

December Daily 2018 Days 4, 5, & 6

 Here is what the days 3-4 spread looks like.  I ended up with a small insert + a full page.

 Day 4 was all about cookie making/testing.  We didn't really have the appropriate ingredients so we just made 3 small batches with the ingredients we had on hand. It was lots of fun1

 The back of the insert card is just patterned paper from a prior year plus the date.  I l love the layers even though I know my album is going to be huge later, but crafting is 1/2 the fun.

 The full page is this overhead shot of all three kids putting dough on the sheets together.  I love it. One thing I've definitely learned from Ali is to go ahead and make/use the big prints in these books. I always love it when I make it happen. (Thanks to Brent for patiently helping me through making this originally horizontal image work in a large size).

 The two page spread looks like this.

 Day 5 was about Christmas card making and processing. We are sending more cards than ever this year and I'm so excited that they are all ready to go!

 Day 5/6 together-

Day 6 - 6th Grade Winter Fest -  First a 3x8 page with B and his friend Jack as the party wound down.  The party included games, inflatables, food, dancing, photobooth, etc... lots of 6th graders running amok.

 The back tells the story.  The sweetest part was that when it was over he wanted to go get snowcones just the two of us.  It completely melted me. I could tell as the party wore on that he was getting kind of bored/frustrated/over it and all my middle school angst came right back. I was so touched that his proposed recovery was a little date out with me.  I also love that he looked for a way (consciously or not) to turn his mood around.

 Two page spread.

The top photo is hard to see, but it is the dancing. B is somewhere in the middle of it. 

I was really grateful that I'm friends with more of the moms now as it was good to have people to go to with questions and/or talk to while we waited around.  It also seems to be helping build up B's friend base a little. Middle school is weird, but there is no one else I'd rather walk through it with again. He is doing awesome!