#4. Indulge in crepes and champagne in Paris

Nutella crepe. Champagne and strawberries. Boom.

Ditto the first line of my last posting: I've been bad at blogging since graduation. I blame it on the fact that, between putting about 3,000 miles on my car and a handful of plane flights, I have barely been home. I'll be better, I promise, because I've actually accomplished quite a few of those things over there on the right, and I'm excited to write about them.


So...Paris. Lovely, charming, magical, romantic, exciting, devastatingly beautiful, mysterious, sensational Paris. Putting this on my list was a major, major move, because I honestly can't believe I spent over 29 and a half years never having experienced it. It was amazing.


Rather than get into the day-by-day, I thought I'd just write a little bit about my overall experience. If I find myself particularly inspired (or bored) one day, I might write about some of the specific stuff we did. But when I described what I wanted our trip to Paris to be, I think the most common thing I said was: "I just want to be in Paris." Meaning, rather than hustle ourselves around with an itinerary, I wanted to have the tourist-y stuff we did sort of fit into the bigger picture of walking around, exploring, just existing in Paris. And I think we managed to accomplish that quite well.

Yo, that thing looks familiar.

First off, I must give a special shout-out to my travel companion, Andrew. From introducing me to my first (but not last) Lauduree macaroon to simultaneously falling asleep on our Seine boat cruise to accidentally breaking a tacky plastic snow globe at a Champs Elysee gift shop, we laughed about everything. Our jet-lag induced napping habits may not have been in sync, but our level of desire for French carbohydrates sure was, and that's really all that mattered.


In thinking back to my impressions of Paris, I think of one word: beauty. Our apartment in the Marais, with its carved wooden ceilings and windowed doors with a view of the neighborhood below, was beautiful. The French men and women sitting outdoors at the cafe next door to our apartment were beautiful -- just looking at them made me feel tragically unfashionable and uncultured. The architecture was beautiful, and I'm not just talking about places like Sacre Coeur or the Eiffel Tower (which are, of course, beautiful). I'm talking about the normal apartment buildings all over the city, the bouquinistes lining the banks of the Seine, the narrow alleys in Ile St. Louis, the Metro station in Montmartre. The food was beautiful (and delicious -- more about that later). Hell, even the graffiti in Paris was beautiful. 

Sacre Coeur. Way pretty.

The other highlight of Paris was, obviously, the food. A tip I got from several friends before we left was not to waste money on crepes at restaurants, to just buy them from street vendors, because those were the best anyway. You guys were not kidding. Andrew and I made a point -- nay, had a mission -- to eat at least one crepe per day. I think the best one I had was from a jambon et fromage one from a cart across the street from Notre Dame, that I devoured shortly before climbing the 382 marble steps to the very top of the cathedral (definitely, definitely worth doing). As I mentioned before, the Lauduree macarons were SO GOOD, and a must-have (even though they've now ventured State-side). Berthillon ice cream was unreal -- we made the trip to the outpost on Ile St. Louis, even though it seems like a lot of other places sell it. The truffled cashews we got at the Bon Marche food market were probably the best single item of food I've ever eaten. And I'd without hesitation recommend Hotel du Nord for a meal. Andrew and I enjoyed our last meal in Paris here, at the recommendation of several of his friends, and it didn't disappoint. The food was great, but beyond that, the atmosphere was stellar. It was one of the warmest (in disposition, not temperature), most charming and lovely places I've ever been. Plus, the waitstaff was way hot.

Great reason to make the climb up Notre Dame:
this dude, up close and personal.

The picture of me with my crepe up above was taken on our 2nd to last night, when we made the long trek from the Marais over to the Arc de Triomphe. I told Andrew on the walk over that, when I came up with this list item many months ago on my couch with Renee, I had this picture in my head of enjoying my crepe and champagne at a cafe on the Champs Elysee, with a view of the Arc. He was happy to indulge me, and even though our particular cafe was tented and thus our view was limited, and even though the glass of straight champagne I'd imagined was replaced with some champagne/strawberry puree concoction that the waiter promised me was better, it was perfect. I spent the whole trip thinking about how lucky I was to be in this amazing city; but that particular evening at that cafe, I felt that sentimental, sometimes silly, but always warm-fuzzy feeling of pride for having an idea -- no matter how big or small -- and making it happen.

Lauduree: I want to go (back) to there.

The other thing I loved doing in Paris -- and something I must eternally thank Andrew for being so patient with me about -- was photographing stuff. And by stuff, I mean EVERYTHING. I think all told, I took about 680 pictures in a 4 day time span, about 70 of which I uploaded on my Flickr page. As the fashion industry has shown us, beautiful things photograph easily, and I found Paris to be no exception. I hear the "it's not the camera, it's the photographer" adage a lot, but in the case of photographing Paris I'd say, "it's not the photographer, it's the city". I wish I'd brought my tripod (nerd alert!) to have really captured the "lights" part of the City of Lights, but hey, a hankering for some night photography is as good a reason to go back as any, right?


Okay, I am beginning to realize I could probably write 15 more of these about my trip, but I'm going to stop myself for now. I'll conclude by saying this: to everyone who made suggestions, thank you so much. We took a lot of them. And to everyone who is as captivated by Paris as I now am, or who wants to be: I'm ready to go back.

(Also, one last shout out to our apartments' proprietor, Amandine, who not only helped us with this amazing apartment, but also had fresh croissants, pain au chocolat, baguettes and wine waiting for us after a loooong overnight flight. She's got a pretty cool business going in Paris, so if you have occasion to go, definitely check her website out.)

#8: Get a graduate degree

Hooded n' tassled.
Maybe that should be the title of a rap song?

I GRADUATED!!!


First up, though: recognition on my part that it's been a long-ass time since I've posted a blog entry. In addition to graduating, there were also a LOT of pre-graduation celebrations and general cavorting. Like, two weeks of it. Then, almost immediately after graduation, I headed to Paris (blog entry to come) and then made quick stops in NYC, DC and Maryland before heading back to the Arb. So here we are!


So, this entry on my list was one of two "freebies" I gave myself (the other being wedding officiating) -- meaning it was something I knew was going to happen, but wanted to recognize and include anyway.


What an amazing weekend it was. My parents arrived the Thursday before, and that evening we did a lovely, tame dinner at Mercy's at the Bell Tower Hotel, after which they dropped Kate and I -- in their Toyota Sienna minivan -- at Rick's (also, can we talk about how "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers is the music on Rick's homepage?!) for a lovely, not-quite-as-tame evening of drinks and fun with friends. Friday night was a fantastic dinner at the Quarter Bistro with my parents and my second set of parents. And then Saturday was the big day -- rainy, but fantastic just the same. I think I basically blacked out when they called my name and I walked across the stage because I don't remember much, but there are photos and witnesses that can verify.

Graduation shoes!

Saturday night to celebrate, Josh, Ariel, Ilana -- also fellow graduates -- and I hosted a backyard BBQ at Ilana and Ari's place, which was by all accounts a fabulous success. We had all the trappings of a good time: ridiculous amounts of food (including 80+ Chicago-style hot dogs, straight from Chicago), Jello shots, flip cup, a fire pit with s'mores, bumpin' beatz, kitchen dance parties, and great friends and family. Hell, my MOM took a Jello shot -- her first! -- so you know it was a good time. 


It still hasn't sunk in that I've actually graduated, despite the fact that I've been in Ann Arbor this whole week and the closest I've come to campus was a lunchtime trip to Sadako on South U. I think I'm okay with living in this weird half-reality for now though, where alarms don't need to be set and laying out reading old US Weekly's is totally acceptable Monday afternoon behavior. 


With all this time, I should be better about updating my list, too! Next up, my post (or perhaps posts plural) about Paris before I depart on my southern road trip (#2). Stay tuned!

Help Needed: Paris Planning!

Paris is way ugly.

It's hard to believe that it's been over 5 months since Andrew and I booked our tickets to Paris last November. Now, here we are, 24 days away from saying à tout à l'heure (my French skillz are mad strong) to the U.S. and bonjour to baguettes and dudes named Henri (my French stereotypes are also mad strong).


As I wrote before, this will be my very first trip to Paris. I went to France once, in high school when I was living in Germany and my friend and her mom and I went to the south of France. That was quite a lovely trip, and enough to give me confidence that the whole "the French have amazing cheese and perfumes" racket is actually based in truth. However, in the years and years of French classes I took through middle and high school and college, nobody ever really talked much about any place other than Paris. Oh, and sometimes Morocco. Once I think we talked about the Ivory Coast too, but I could be making that up.

A French dude named Henri.
This one happened to have
discovered radioactivity.

Regardless, I learned a lot about Paris in my French classes. Like, beaucoup -- the history of Les Invalides, the structure of the arrondissements, the meaning behind the Arc de Triomphe. All these lessons were accompanied by textbook pictures, but it was hard to get a feel for the actual layout of the city, the design. I remember a couple of years ago, watching the final part of the Tour de France when they all ride into Paris and thinking "huh, so that's where all that stuff is".


So now that this trip is rapidly approaching, I've started to freak out a bit. There's so much to do, so much to see. Andrew has been to Paris many times before, so he's very easy-going about what we do. So now I turn to you, my many friends who have visited or lived in Paris...


What should we do?
What are your absolute, non-negotiable, must see places?

The Rodin Museum.
Can you say, le eye sore.

We have about 4 full days and 5 nights, and I think we both would like to do a mix of tourist-y standards along with some fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pantalons neighborhood wandering/café  sitting. There are seemingly a million museums in Paris, but I think we've settled on doing the Museé Rodin, the Museé D'Orsay, and of course, the Louvre. And we are staying at an apartment in the Marais, quite close to Les Halles.


If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them. Bonus points if you have access to or know a tour guide named Henri. 


Feel free to leave a comment, email, Facebook, text, whatever -- and a big, big thank you (I mean, merci) in advance!

#10. Put together a weekly flower arrangement for myself, for one whole month.

Week One: $3.99 bouquet from TJ's.

I've learned a lot in grad school, but one overarching concept that we learn both in classes and at our internships is that of self-care. This idea certainly is not rocket science, but it was still foreign and unfamiliar to me when I first heard about it. Self-care, at least as it relates to social work, involves the idea that you can't be a good practitioner unless you yourself are sound mentally, physically and emotionally. 


In other words: be nice to yourself. 


Or, as they say on Parks & Rec, treat yo'self.

Week Two(lips).

(disclaimer: I highly recommend being nice to yourself and watching that video because it is amazing and you will laugh and then probably want either a mimosa, a cupcake or a crystal beetle brooch)




"Be nice to yourself" is something I first started saying to my therapy clients, and then began saying to some of my friends, especially when they started getting hard on themselves about stuff like work, relationships, even dieting. Be nice to yourself. Don't be so hard on yourself, you're a good person, you tried. Compliment yourself, value yourself and when you deserve it, reward yourself. 

But then I had to remember all this, too.

Week Three: happy yellow flowers.

I added this item to my list for a few reasons. First off, flowers are pretty and smell nice, and those are both good things. Secondly, I have somehow accumulated a weirdly high number of vases that occupy a rather neglected shelf in a kitchen cupboard. And third, sometimes you just have to be nice to yourself. And when it doesn't always come naturally, sometimes you have to add it to your to-do list...

Week Four: $5.99 bouquet from TJ's.

...but big ups to grocery stores,  for putting their fresh flowers right when you walk in -- a couple times it slipped my mind, but ambushing me with bouquets as soon as the doors open certainly helped remind me. Also, if you're looking for affordable flowers that won't die before you get them back to your house, I highly recommend Trader Joe's.

There's not really much to say about this item, except that I'm glad I did it. Every time I look at my flowers in my no-longer-relegated-to-the-dark-corner-of-the-cabinet vases, I smile. As I prepare to move from the world of social work potentially into a more corporate setting, I plan on taking this idea of "self-care" with me, and making sure the people around me take note. It may not be practical or cost-efficient to always have fresh flowers around, and I get that. 


But every once in a while, you just gotta treat yo'self. 

The Quest for #1: On my way (at least technically...)

Basset Hounds running...what greater joy is there.

So, this whole time I've been talking about running the Marine Corps Marathon, I've sort of neglected the fact that I actually have to register for it. I'd heard it was a competitive race to get into, so in typical me fashion, I penned the registration date into my calendar, and kept a close eye on the website when the day came. As soon as registration opened I zipped through the process and $93 later, I had my confirmation. Long story short...


I'm registered for Marine Corps Marathon 2012!


Last year's race sold out in 28 hours. This year's race sold out in 2 hours and 41 minutes! Soooo trendy.


I so appreciate the people who have congratulated me when I tell them this news, especially those who have run the race before and have nothing but positive things to say about the course and the overall experience. But hearing those "congratulations" only reminds me how much work is going to go into the next 218 days, 16 hours, 7 minutes and change, and of course the 26.2 miles after that.


So, as a first-time marathoner who at this moment feels GROSSLY unprepared to run even a 10k, let alone over 4 times that, I have decided that I am going to use this space to keep track of my training efforts. School is almost over, I'm not sure where I'll be or what I'll be doing come this summer, so right now I'll focus on what I can control: become less grossly unprepared.


I'll start with a confession: I hate running. I hate the way I think I look when I'm running. Sometimes I get frustrated when my iPod switches to a song I don't like and then that reminds me how tired my legs are and then I just want to stop. I sometimes catch glimpses of how fast other people are running on the treadmills next to me and fall into a deep shame chasm. One time, I even convinced myself not to go to the gym because the treadmill TVs don't have closed captioning and I really wanted to watch the next episode of House Hunters International (disclaimer: this show is on HGTV no fewer than 14 hours a day). I could go on, but I think you get it.


Here's another confession: I really want to love running. So far, I love the feeling I get after I finish running. Crossing the finish lines of the races I have done are waaay up on my list of best memories. Right now, I run for the finish line, for the "Workout Complete" message on the treadmill. But my goal, my hope, is that somehow along the way, I'll become a runner.