Our Juicy Life

in a funk!

This village was the 1/2 way mark on our 3 hour bike ride last September.  There is only 1 way in and 1 way out...the climb was brutal, but the village lovely and the ride fantastic.  I need to remember that I will see it again soon.

I'm a happy person, relatively.  I don't complain much, wake up happy, go throughout the day happy, see the glass 1/2 full, look forward to my nap, love working with kids, love the sun, love to laugh and bike and cook, I love adventure too...but something has happened to me over the past week and I don't know what's going on.

I'm not happy.  I'm a bit depressed.  Why?  I'm moving to France for a year.  But...not until September.  It seems so far away.  There is so much to do but so much of it can't be done now.  I'm a Virgo, I want things done now, organized, tied with a ribbon and tucked away...finished, complete...done!

This is Villefranche-de-rouergue, 6km from the house we are renting.  The Thursday market is fantastic and I will spend every Thursday there buying fresh produce, great wine and fantastic fish and duck.

We finished our after-school classes today...we won't start them up again until September 9th.  This whole week has been strange.  Most everyone is saying "goodbye", "Avior" "we'll miss you"...and then I say "we don't leave until September 22nd, we'll be here for the first 2 weeks class".  Then they say "so, are you all ready to go?"  "are you excited?" and that's when it hits....NO I'm not ready to go and actually I'm not excited Why am I not excited I ask?  I'm taking a sabbatical..to do nothing...to re-charge...to take cooking classes, pottery classes, travel, bike, relax, nap, etc...

Maybe it's because of the week, because of everyone asking if I'm excited and me realizing that I don't leave for 4 months.  Not sure.

We put our house on the market to rent, I wanted to do it sooner than later, we have a place to go, so if it rents now that would be great...I would rest easier knowing it's rented and our mortgage payment will be covered.  We have to sell the car, but can't do that until September.  We have to clean out the garage, which includes Bruce's painting studio and my pottery studio.  What am I going to do with my kiln, wheel, tables, clay, slab roller, glazes, etc...haven't decided that.  We have surfboards, golf clubs, stuff that we'll just give away.  It will be a big job and we just got one of the big bins from the city for the trash.  Now we just have to get out there and do it.  

I also have to train 2 people at the studio..we hired two assistants so that we will always be covered in case one is sick.  I've been doing my job for 10 years and it's not a job that comes with a job description.  I do things without even thinking and now I have to think about every move that I make, every thing that I do and write it down so someone else can make sense of it.  We also start our summer camps next week.  12 weeks of 4 day camps.  Our schedule completely changes over the summer, instead of working in the afternoon's and all day Saturday, we work 8-1 Tuesday-Friday with 3 days off.  I don't like the summer schedule, even though we have 3 days off, so it takes me a couple weeks to get used to it.   Our assistants and Travis (who is taking over Bruce's position) will be working camps with us, so we also have to train them on how we run camps and do projects, etc... I feel overwhelmed.

I want to be excited but I feel a heavy weight on my chest.  I want to be done with everything, but I'm not.  I want to take care of everything, but I can't.  

My rock, my better half, my love...he hears me sigh and says to me "don't stress love...it will all work out, it always does".  I know he's right.

Henri, le chat

 

Thanks Heidi.

Sliding Doors

Has anyone seen this film..."Sliding Doors" with Gwyneth Paltrow?  Here's what it's about.

Arriving at work one morning, Helen discovers that she had been unjustifiably

 sacked from her PR job. She is returning home when an amazing thing happens, time reverses

 itself for a few seconds and a second version of herself is created. In one reality Helen catches

 the tube train, meets James and arrives home to find her loathsome Lothario lover Gerry cheating on

 her with his ex-girlfriend Lydia. In the other reality, Helen misses the tube train, gets mugged, goes to hospital and eventually arrives home to find Gerry alone in the shower. The two realities move forward in tandem; in one Helen leaves Gerry and forms a happy, new, loving relationship with James; in the other Helen's live becomes more and more wretched as she takes on two jobs to support her worthless, cheating boyfriend as he supposedly writes his novel but in fact carries on a torrid affair with Lydia.

I loved this movie and I realized that every day,  we could make a different move or choice and our fate is changed.  Poor Helen, just a couple seconds changed her life...just by missing the train.

What made me think of this movie is lately all of our customers are asking us about the move to France.  I think because next week is the last week of our afternoon-classes, they don't start back up until September 9th.  We have told everyone we'll be around the first 2 weeks of September, turning things over the Travis, but they don't remember.  Some thought class ended this week and were starting to say goodbye.  I tell them to relax...we'll see them in September.  I tell them what we have done and what we have yet to do and how we are counting down the days.  They ask "can you afford to go for 1 year?"  "what about the business?" "what about your house?"  "what about your friends here?"  "what if you don't like it?"  "what if you miss home?"  "what is the business doesn't do well while you are away?"  "what if....?"  "what if....?"  "what if...?"

One of our customers said to to me "you and bruce and living the dream we all dream of....except you are doing it, you are really doing it".  I think what we are doing scares so many people, they either think we are nutts or are secretly jealous.  They would never think of putting their job on hold or quitting their job or having someone take over their business like we are doing.  But why?  Life is too short to do the same thing every day over and over and over.  I don't want to do that...I want to explore.  Yes, we can afford to go for a year....it will be tight but we can do it.  The business will run fine, Travis is taking over and it's just art.  We'll rent our house out for the year.  Our friends can come and visit.  What if we don't like it - I can't even answer that question.  We won't miss home...guaranteed.  If the business doesn't do great the year we are gone, we'll come back and fix it...it's only a year.  Those are all questions we had, but we don't dwell on the unknown. Things always work out.  Maybe not exactly like you expected, but they work out.  You have to be flexible.

I found a blog called La Vie Echangee - they did it...a family of 5 (Stasha is the mom) from Arizona swapped their house in the states for a house in France for 1 year.  The took their kids out of school and enrolled them in school in France.  I commented on her blog today because I'm so proud of them for doing it.  I know it's harder with kids, but what a life lesson living in france has been for the family..a great experience they kids will never forget.  A bold move!  

I admire people who do, instead of complain or say "i wish i could do what you are doing"...they always follow that with a BUT...anyone can do it...anyone can live a different life and get themselves out of a rut, for 1 month for 3 months, for 6 months for a year or for longer.  You just have to go for it.  Don't look back, just forward.  Catch the train like Helen.

What is it about cupcakes!

I'm not sure what's going on, but lately all I seem to see or read about are cupcakes. It started a couple weeks ago...we were drinking our coffee in bed one morning (something we always do) and we were watching our morning news show (KTLA) and they were talking about a cupcake challenge that was going on and they decided to have their own cupcake challenge, what news anchor could make the best cupcakes. I realized that the last cupcake I had was at our wedding reception on 11/11/2007. We were married on the beach, just the two of us, our friend chris (to take pictures) and our friend Elizabeth (who married us). Our reception was at a super cool restaurant called Beechwood and they had this trio of cupcakes (devil's food, red velvet and banana), we figured it would be so much better than a boring cake. After I saw the cupcake challenge on the news I started seeing the cupcake referenced in some of my favorite blogs and around town.

 

First is was non,je ne regrette rein, I pulled up her blog one morning and there was a picture of some cupcakes. She spoke about eating cupcakes at Saint Cupcake, about the different types of cupcakes, and the different frostings - telling us that the hot fudge topping is the best! She describes the inside of Saint Cupcakes - the pink walls with gold and cocoa colored designs. I realized again, I haven't had a cupcake in so long.

Then on May 27th I pulled up another great blog I love to read la belette rouge and what is the picture on this post - a cupcake. Her post isn't about finding a great place to eat cupcakes, or about the frosting, or the types of cupcakes..it's about Small Indulgence Syndrome and the symbolism of a cupcake. She doesn't really want to eat a cupcake, hmm?

One day last week I saw a blog called Half Baked...I had to check it out, if only for the name...so I clicked over and what's is the main picture on her blog...cupcakes! A beautiful picture of cupcakes with lavender flower frosting.

The today I pull up another lovely blog that I read every day - The world according to b...I didn't see a picture of a cupcake, but 1/2 way through the blog, there is was, a reference to the ever popular cupcake. To quote from her blog "I might also be simultaneously baking cupcakes and taking swigs off a bottle of Jack Daniels."

Then this morning while we were walking the pups, we walked by this bake supply shop, they sell baking supplies and they have everything you could every need or would ever want. A big sign on their door said "cupcake decorating class". Is there such a thing? I guess so...cupcakes are HOT right now.

I got to thinking maybe I should make some cupcakes, maybe try making red velvet or just white with chocolate frosting, or maybe white with a lavender frosting like Half Baked has on her blog...after thinking about it I figured I'd leave the cupcakes and the reference to them to my blog friends, I made a lemon pound cake instead.

 

images from:
debbiessoulfulsweets.com
blogs.menupages.com
baby-shower.yeahbaby.com
sarahcandies.com

Naps

"You must sleep sometime between lunch and dinner, and no halfway measures. Take off your clothes and get into bed. That's what I always do. Don't think you will be doing less work because you sleep during the day. That's a foolish notion held by people who have no imaginations. You will be able to accomplish more. You get two days in one -- well, at least one and a half."

--Winston Churchill

15 years ago I would never have thought to take a nap during the day.  I was a different person back then.  I was an account executive for a large software company with a territory that included southern california, arizona, new mexico, nevada, utah and colorado.  I woke up at 5:00 every morning and either went for a run (if I was going to be in town) or put my power suit on and drove to the airport to catch a plane to some city in my territory.  I was lucky, I worked from home, but I worked all day...I didn't nap.

If I was in town for the day, I would usually spend a few hours in my home office catching up on paperwork, checking in on clients and making phone calls. I would usually have 1-2 meetings per day and normally a client lunch.  If I was out of town for the day, I would be gone from 7:00 am - 6:00 pm.  I would fly to Denver for the day and once I even flew to Vancouver BC for lunch!  Of course, I was married to another man back then, who was a president of a large corporation...he was very driven, very professional and a workaholic like me.  We NEVER took naps together.

Then I met my man...my current husband (my new husband...because we are still officially newlyweds since we got married in November after being together for 11 years.)

I was still in sales for a year after we starting dating (and living together) and i was still living the workaholic lifestyle.  There was loads of pressure from corporate, tons of stress, no time to do anything but work, flying here and there, etc....  I remember the first day that I was home and Bruce was home and he said "let's take a nap".   WHAT?  are you crazy...I don't take naps, naps are for babies...I'm a high powered sales rep, I must never quit, I must go and go.  I think he went and took a nap without me and I continued to work.

He was always happy...from the day I met him.  He didn't have much, in fact he didn't have anything, he was a professional rock climber and an artist (2 very low paying jobs).  He had enough stuff to fit in a backpack and that was it.  But he was happy.  I wasn't.  I had loads of crap, loads of money, but I was confused and restless and tired (but not tired enough to take a nap!).

I think it was about a year of me going and going and he not going and going and seeing him relaxing and taking it easy and napping and happy and enjoying life that I started to change.  What was I doing - there has to be more to life than just working?

 I quit my corporate job 11 years ago....at an airport...my boss thought I was nuts, but I didn't want my life to be work work work, I wanted more, something different.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but decided to take a couple years off and learn to meditate, relax and enjoy life - to live in the moment....to nap!     I started to become a daily napper about 10 years ago...it was hard at first, I felt guilty to taking it easy, not working, not doing something..but now I love it and if I miss my daily nap I'm bummed out! I feel  so much better during the day after a short 30-40 minute nap.  I sleep better and night and have more energy during the day.  

every day we take naps...it's a ritual at our house.  Bruce and I work together, live together and nap together every day...so do the dogs.  Owning the studio and having classes in the afternoon gives us loads of freedom, we bike, run, or workout in the mornings, then I read a bit (usualy out in the sun) and then we take a nap...everyday.  It's pretty funny, we turn out the lights in the living room and kitchen and go to the bedroom, all the dogs follow us, because they are nappers too and it's also part of their daily routine.  We snooze for 30-40 minutes, if we have had a hard ride (40-50 miles in a day) we nap for 1 hour - it's great for recovery.

In France it's still vogue to nap...which is good for us!  We wouldn't miss ours for the world.

2 long stay visas...almost

This is how we felt today, except we didn't have benches to sit on.

Today we had our appointment at the French Consulate. We had our huge packet of papers that were required per the website.

3 applications
3 copies of our passports
our original passports
3 additional passport pictures
3 copies of marriage license
3 copies of birth certificate
3 copies of letter from police stating we don't have a criminal record
3 copies from our health care provider stating we will have coverage in france
3 copies of lease for Les Costes (house we are renting in france)
proof of income, which for us means 3 copies of tax returns, since we don't get paychecks from our business
3 copies of bank statements for last 3 months
3 copies of brokerage accounts
3 copies of letters written by us stating that we will not work in france while we are there.

....is that it? let me check.....oh and our original document that we had to print out when we made the appointment. It clearly states on there if you don't have the document stating your appointment time/number you can't get in. And it states in bold letters - PLEASE ARRIVE ON TIME, IF YOU ARE LATE FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT YOU WILL NOT BE LET IN.

I went through everything this morning...making sure we had it all, yup!

So we got to our appointment at 11:15, right on time. The consulate is only 15 minutes from our house, we found street parking for free and went inside the building looking for suite 115. We were told it was around back. When we went around to the back of the building (basically in the alley) there were a bunch of people just standing around outside, I'd say maybe 20. Now, the sign clearly states that they close at noon. We went inside to this tiny little room with the security guard and checked in. He said "are you married", yes we said "OK, then you can go together and I'll call BRUCE when we are ready, go wait outside". So we turned around and went outside with the rest of the people. There are no chairs, stools, benches, nothing..and it's freaking hot - like 85 here today and no shade. The people who must have been waiting the longest were across the alley leaning against this wall, because it was in the shade (we finally got our turn towards the end). We waited....and waited...and waited. People came out and people were called in, not in record speed though. The people next to us had been waiting 1 hour - their appointment was at 10:45 and it was now 11:45....12:00, 12:30, 12:25, now there were 6 people waiting outside (counting us)....the security guard comes out and calls all of us in, takes down the "VISA" sign that was outside by the door and herds us into the hallway. "We'll make sure all of you get taken care of today". At around 1:10 it was just Bruce and I and the security guard Randy, super nice guy, talked our ear off! He told us that one of the employees got a flat on the freeway and was late and that is why they are so backed up. They usually close at 12:00, done for the day, but today they will close later. So, at 1:15 someone comes out of the "main" waiting room (not the hallway we have been standing in) and Randy says "you're up". We go into the waiting room and it's full...maybe 10 people in there....oh crap, we have to wait more! But we are told that these people have already been seen, but they are waiting for "I don't know what"....we sit down and in 3 minutes or so are called up to the window. YEAH...we are almost done!

Eric (the supervisor...Randy told us that), helps us. Here is how it goes. "Long stay visa application"......yes, "can I see your passports and new photos"....we give him our passports & new photos. "I need 1 copy of the application for Alisa and 2 copies of the application for Bruce"....now I had all my stuff in (3) packets, remember the 3 copies of everything. So I had to dissemble all the packets to pull out only 1 application for me and 2 for Bruce. "1 need 1 copy of Alisa's passport and 2 copies of Bruce's passport"...again I have to go through each packet to find the passport copies. Eric says "do you have sufficient income to cover you while you are in France?"...yes we do! "OK, the fee is $155.00 for each of you, total of $310.00, we accept MC or Visa". He staples our new pictures to the application, charges our credit card and then says "when are you departing?" October 4, 2008 we say...."oh, it's right here on your application, I don't know how I missed it...you are too early, we can't issue your visa today" WHAT! He says "you have to get your long stay visa within 90 days of your travel date, which means you can come back after July 4th" I never ever saw that on the website....he says "I hope you haven't travelled from far away". No we say, just 15 minutes away. He says "you will get your visa the same day, so no worry..you could even come the day before you leave". He credits my Mastercard and gives us back all our paperwork and says "see you in July".

We were so close...almost there....but NOooooooo! We go to leave and tell Randy that we have to come back in July or August. Randy says "here's a tip - make the appointment now on the website and go for a Tuesday or Wednesday, first appointment of the day 8:45 and you'll be in and out in 10 minutes. Cool, thanks Randy.

So, after all that waiting we came home empty handed. But, what I was amazed at was the website has all this required paperwork you need to bring and then all Eric wanted was 1 copy of the application from me, 2 from bruce, copies of our passports and new photos. He never asked to see anything else we brought and only asked if we had enough money to cover ourselves in France for the year. I'm sure if I was missing something, they'd want it, so I'm glad I had it all ready. Now the file is tucked away waiting to be pulled back out in July or August for our next appointment. We were already approved, just a bit early...so I'm confident that our next appointment will be our last and we'll come home with this in hand!

Some key purchases

I live in Southern California. Warm weather, the beach, blue skies, very little rain (maybe 5 days a year), never snow....if it gets down to 50 it's considered freezing!

So, I live in these...(have them on right now). These are my born sandals...I love them and wear them every day (I'm kinda a creature of habit). I even bought a 2nd pair because my first pair I have had for almost 2 years, but this is when they are great. They are broken in, a beautiful dark brown leather and so comfy. My new pair is OK...why is that....why is it when you have something you love and you buy another just like it, it's just not the same as the broken in one. I'm going to take both pairs to france, but I'm sure I'll wear my old ones until they fall apart.

Now, we are moving to France in September. Our region the Aveyron isn't Southern California, it has seasons. Seasons! What are seasons? I haven't lived anywhere with seasons in 20 years. Will I survive? Not in these sandals I won't. So, one of the most important things I am purchasing for our stay in France are clothes and shoes for the cold/wet months. I get cold, really cold, really easily - my blood is very thin. So, I was looking at what clothes I have for the winter....well, I don't have any. I don't ski or snowboard or go anywhere that is cold. Bruce and I used to rock climb and I mean seriously rock climb, we travelled all over US, Mexico and Europe climbing, back then I had warm clothes , but we stopped climbing 5 years ago when I injured my arm and those clothes are long gone (some lucky ebayer bought them). So, I picked up a few items that I know will make me a happy girl in the winter.

The first is my new North Face jacket. It's warm, wind & rain proof...I'm sure this will keep me toasty.

The 2nd item are my Sorrel's.....the house we are renting is in the country (not in a village) and it's on 5 acres and we'll be hiking and roaming around with the dogs and I needed something to keep my feet warm and dry and I had a pair of these back when I was a teenager and loved them. These are a good purchase for my tender feet that get cold even here in LA.

The 3rd is another pair of UGGs.. I have a pair here, but they are on their last leg. In the winter I need something to put my feet into on chilly mornings, chilly afternoons and chilly evenings. I need to keep my feet warm (there is nothing better than these), because once my feet get cold I can't warm them up unless I put them under hot water, seriously. I can also wear these to the villages, out and about, etc...great purchase.

The 4th item(s) are layers. We will be hiking and biking and I need layers that I can take off if I get over-heated or put on if I get a chill. SmartWool products are awesome and so I got a couple of these long sleeve layering t's, they are wool but not itchy and so nice and soft.

The 5th item is a new mountain bike. My bike that I have and will take to france is a LeMond road bike. Cycling is our passion, we have taken our bikes to France 2 times. I was worried about the cold months where we couldn't ride our road bikes...I am an athlete, we ride about around 100 miles a week here, if I can't ride in France I'm going to be bummed and that's not a good thing. Where we are going is chock full of mountain bike trails and in the winter when it might be raining, or slippery and we don't want to take out our road bikes, we can certainly bundle up and go for a long mountain bike ride. So, both of us bought new mountain bikes, we will be taking 4 bikes with us to france. I can also ride the mountain bike to the village and not worry about it, it's much much cheaper than my road bike.

The nice thing about taking the QMII is that you can bring as much luggage/things as you want on the ship. If we were to fly we'd pay 200.00 per bike, 150.00 per dog - that's over $1,000. Then I'm sure our luggage will be over the weight limit and we'd have to pay extra for that. The boat doesn't charge you anything extra, we just need to make sure we all fit in the rental car...it might be a bit tight, but we'll make it. We are not taking many clothes, probably just 1 piece of luggage each. If we find we need something, we'll buy it over there.
I'm cleaning out my closest and drawers and getting rid of so much stuff, I even found something with the tags still on it - pathetic!

I think these things will help me make it through the cold winter months in france. Keep your fingers-crossed!

May I have this dance?

I'd like to introduce you to Sophie (or "sofa" as her mom sometimes calls her). Sophie is the first dog that Dashell ever met at our dog park. She is a golden retriever and the sweetest dog in the world. Just look at those golden retriever eyes. Lorette is Sophie's mom and dashell LOVES Lorette. He can be on the other side of the park and if he hears Lorette's voice he'll run to her. You must think that there is a special bond between Dashell and Lorette and there is....

It's Mr. Ice Cream Cone..Dashell's favorite toy in the whole wide world, the only toy that he will play with. Lorette introduced Dashell to Mr. Cone, she created our monster! This is Dashell at the park with Mr. Cone.

We saw Lorette the other day at the park and she was telling us about this woman who dances with her dog. She sent us this youtube clip and I had to share it with all you dog lovers (even if you are not a dog lover..gasp!...you still have to check it out). Lorette said that she swears that the dog was leading at one point. If nothing else it will bring a smile to your face.

Dancing dog

french lessons x 2

For 3 years Bruce and I have been taking French lessons. We started with private lessons from Sylvan (he's from northwest france), 1 day a week...and since neither of us had taken french before we started from the beginning. Then after 6 months we decided to take a group class and joined Savoir-Faire language institute. We would have a 2 hour class every Monday with Ouihaba (she is from Algeria) and 10 other students, it was total immersion, no english spoken. "je ne comprends pas". We had the class for 1 year and learned tons and got more comfortable with speaking. Then we went back to Sylvan for the summer and did only conversational which was great practice. We went back to Ouihaba in September but for privates this time, just Bruce and I. The hard part for me is that I have never taken a language before...there I was at 41 trying to teach my brain to learn french. Bruce took Spanish and really has a gift when it comes to learning a language, so he is much better than me.

I don't want to rely on him in France. I have decided that I will do the shopping alone, will take a french cooking class alone and take a pottery class alone. I need to use my french and not look at him for the right answer. So, I have decided until we leave that I will take 2 french classes per week. Bruce and I will go to Ouihaba on Thursday for our private and then I will go to Sylvan by myself on Wednesday. All Sylvan and I do is speak...he'll say something to me in English and I have to translate my answer back in french (using the same tense), then he'll say something in french and I have to translate and respond in French. It's great for me, gets me speaking and thinking faster. I know my tenses: Present, Imparfait, passe compose, conditionnel and futur....but it's the speed that I'm lacking...my brain isn't fast and I'm sure that I will get better as the year goes on, but I don't want my first couple months to go something like this: someone says something to me... I translate it (tick-tock, tick-tock), figure out what to say back (tick-tock, tick-tock) get everything sorted out (tick-tock, tick-tock) and respond. But it's too late...they gave up long ago and left!

Buy now or wait...

So we only have 20 weeks until we leave for France. Things are getting sorted out very nicely. Long stay visa, rental car, boat, renting of our house, Travis taking over the studio, buying a car in france (thanks kim) etc...but one thing is still weighing heavy on our minds....the euro! We are going back and forth about buying our euros now (for the year) or waiting to see what will happen in the summer. Last week the euro/dollar was at 1.53 the lowest it has been in while. In March it went up to 1.60, some people say that it could go to 2.00. Our rent is payable in euros and I don't want to be stuck with a much higher rent. So right now we are in the process of opening an account with Credit Agricole and we have opened an account with HiFx which is a foreign exchange service. They don't charge a fee (most banks and places like American Express can charge up to 4%) nor do they charge a commission to transfer money to our account in france, they get low rates because of the high volumes of trading and we can lock in a rate for as long a 2 years, if we want. But today the euro is back up to 1.55. My head is spinning. If anyone has a crystal ball handy, do you mind checking out the future for the euro/dollar and letting me know what it's going to do between now and September? Thanks.