New in France

Second weekend away in France. To Cordebugle. A place of debauchery and fun, chaos, confusion, and struggles. Welcome to France! Thankful to have friends and my Teddy to help me along as I find my way here....

Pictures by the amazing Annie Yu

Arrived in Paris. Just moved to France.

We arrived in Paris on Monday around 11:30 am. Jetlagged and nervous to see the pets, I was annoyed with each person that got in front of E and whom he let in front of. There's the New Yorker in me -- aggressive and assertive. Finally got through customs and ran around to the other side of the baggage to see Teddy and Milkdud in their cages. Milkdud was facing an agent, who was talking with him. Teddy was facing me and as soon as I saw him I ran over saying, "Teddy! Here I am!"

I let him out of the cage, after asking the agent if it was okay. He was fine. But excited.

Summertime and the living is easy....

 For the past two weeks I was able to luxuriate and learn the meaning of "slowing down" as I drove from the hub of Paris into the lush green countryside of Normandy and then along the jewel-like ocean water coastline of Brittany. While my cares slipped away with each kilometer, I settled into what would be a new experiment for me--relaxing. This was a new concept for me and I had no other choice as I was about to experience the true meaning of "French Holiday" in a foreign land, speaking a foreign language and meeting new people (all foreigners)! I realized that this New Yorker was so used to schedules and timetables and rushrushrush that I was going to have to learn how to live in unstructured time. ...And learn I did. Waking up with no agenda and meandering downstairs for breakfast of coffee and crepes, sometimes I'd get a walk into town to check out the little market or just sit in the sun in the hydrangea-infused garden before lunch at 1:00. Some days we'd ride bikes into town, down to the beach or drive to another spot along the coast to amble on the famous granite rose rocks. Growing up for a part of my life in Skaneateles, the smallest Finger Lake in Central NY, I was used to chilly water for swimming, but nothing compares to the ice-cold waters in Brittany. Every day my friend's aunt and neighbors would "take a bath" in the frigid manche. And I'd never seen the tide go out such vast differences. Just like in picture postcards with little dingys sitting on their rudders, waiting for the end of the day when they'd finally get to rest again on buoyant waters. Driving through little towns on little windy roads past hedges and hedges of hydrangeas, quaint little stone houses and churches in town squares, I was beginning to imagine myself in a different life altogether.

Family Style Fun

Swinging out of June on some spaghetti at Sambucco's on June 30th, I dined on massive family-style dishes with Tery Spartaro (MindArrays.com), Brad Paley (http://didi.com/) Renee Edeleman (Edelman PR) and Mike Meyers (NowPublic.com). Not only were the conversations swirling around enlightening topics and the mundane, but the food was delicious! Check out the food write-ups and pics on DailyEats.com too!

Stop the Smoke!

 Living in cities challenges anyone to learn how to deal with difficult people and situations. I have been dealing with a cigarette and pot smoke situation that hasn't been resolved for over four years. I am learning how ineffective our city's 311 system for Citizen Complaints has been dealing with this addictive and rageaholic superintendent and an ineffective landlord. Smoke filtering from the basement of my building into my apartment forces me to run an industrial air filter continuously. It's proven that second-hand smoke can cause lung cancer in non-smokers and as an asthma sufferer it's doubly dangerous. Not only do I live with the constant annoyance of cigarette smoke from my super, his teenage son and their cronies also smoke pot at least twice daily. Incidentally, they also think they're in a band and practice their instruments, which is an entirely other annoyance. So, it was a great coincidence to get this link -- http://www.banish.com/ -- from my Austin, TX connection Michael Foster as I was also investigating Ash.org. While my goal is to get the smoking to stop in the basement (which is another building code violation), this product might help him smell better when I have to pass him in the hallway! If anyone else has any other suggestions, please let me know! Thanks!