Also?

I'll have you notice I hit 100 miles yesterday.

picturesof.net

Wednesday Weigh-In

Well, I guess I can just eat croissants every day and go to paris whenever I want. Hee hee hee hee

Loss: -1.8
Total loss: -42.6
Feeling: Tres fin

All of the photos!!!

Paris 2011

Back Home. C'est la vie.

Back to the real world. Sitting at my desk in my overly-dusty classroom. Trying to motivate myself to work.

Saturday at the Rodin Museum pictures to come. It was a lovely museum with beautiful gardens and perfect weather. I very much enjoyed the sculptures and took many pictures.

After the museum we walked over to find the crepe shopped closed for the holiday weekend, so we ate at a cafe near the government center. I had a risotto that was yummy and a capuccino. We then took the subway over to St. Sulpice and St. German-de-Pres churches and checked them out. Very lovely. In St. Sulpice we saw some interesting things that were a part of the The DaVinci Code. Also on exhibit was the Shroud of Turin. Interesting.

We had a beer in a cafe nearby then caught the train back to our apartment. We rested a bit while a thunderstorm flew by and then went to Cafe De l'Alma for dinner. I wish I had eaten the steak, but I went with the roasted chicken for dinner - it was still delicious. We had some gelato at a nearby place after dinner, then went home and packed the rest of my stuff!

Sunday morning Mom rode with me to the airport and I enjoyed some coffee and my last croissant in the business class lounge (THANK YOU TODD) and then had a VERY enjoyable flight in business class. Seriously, if you are rich why would you EVER EVER EVER ride in coach? It was seriously ridiculous how much better it is in business class. Ridiculous. They served us fois gras in business class. Seriously ridiculous. I felt like an imposter.

Back home, the boys picked me up at the airport and were excited to show me their new robot dance and their bike-riding abilities. They had a few disagreements over who should hold the light-up Eiffel Tower I brought them, and declared the shirts I brought them "too itchy." Oh well.

Hopefully I will have time to upload some pictures tonight.

Where did I leave off?

Friday was a gorgeous day in Paris. The weather this week has been unbelieveable. I can't believe the blue sky and spring weather. It's perfect. Yesterday, the weather was beautiful and warm and sunny again. Mom and I went to Pere le Chais, a cemetary that "houses" some famous people. We saw the graves of Edith Piaf, Chopin, Rossini, Moliere, and some others I can't remember. Pictures to come, as this was a beautiful cemetery and I took a lot.

After the cemetary we jumped on bus #69. Rick Steves book says that bus 69 is a tour of Paris because it goes everywhere. And it just convieniently enough stops near our apartment. We got off closeby and stopped in a little store for a crepe since we skipped lunch. Banana and chocolate! Delicious!

We came back to the apartment to rest a bit, and I went and sat out by the Eiffel Tower to finish a book. It was very nice out and only 2 people came to me to ask me something - one was selling water and the other was selling something for deaf people. I finished my book and headed back upstairs to get ready for a visit from Mom and Wilma's friends. We had a yummy American meal of meatloaf, potatoes, salad, and cherry pie. And a lot of wine. After their friends left, we played Hearts and I got killed again. I need to redeem myself but I am afraid there is no hope.

Today we are heading over to the Rodin Museum to see "The Thinker" and other sculptures by Rodin. I am looking forward to it. Then we will probably eat another crepe.

I head home tomorrow to see my cute family and give them hugs and kisses and chocolate.

Good night and day

We had a very nice time last night. We met Mom's friends Madeleine and George and they took us to a cute little place for dinner. The dinner was prepared with spices traditionally Corsican, so there was a nice taste to everything. I had Canelonni, which was good, and ham for an appetizer. We shared some strawberries for dessert. After dinner, the owner of the restaurant gets up in his chair with his guitar and mic and starts belting out favorite songs. Everyone seemed to know the songs, so we tapped our feet and pretended. :) Then he switched to English. A woman came in and sang "Fly me to the Moon" and then he started playing "Wonderwall," and looking at me, suggesting I come sing. I had had enough wine, so I did. I got up and sang "Wonderwall" and then "Your Song." It was fun. The restaurant was near Sacre Cour, which is a stunning place, and it was packed with young people having a fun night out. George and I walked up the loooooonnnnngggg staircase (we earned our dinner!) and the other ladies took the cable car thingie. Un bon soir!

Today we have been busy bees, shopping around for new sandals because our feet are hot, and checking out the Beau Marchet for clothes and other things we can't afford. We had a nice lunch on a busy road with a nice waiter. I had a salad (after my croissants in the morning, which my lovely weight watchers leader reminded me are 10 points each I can't manage to eat toooooo many pommes frites for lunches) and some light wine. Then we wandered over to Napolean's tomb at Les Invelides. We didn't go inside because the line was long, but we admired from outside (Mom has been in many times).

Then I went for a run along the Seine - it was very nice. The sun was hot, and there were people everywhere, but it was a nice run. It ended up being about 2.9 miles.

We went to a concert tonight that was stunning. The picture left is from my phone, so not great, but you can kind of get the idea. It was a Vivaldi and Pachelbel concert by a string ensemble in the Saint Chappelle chapel. This chapel is unbelievably beautiful. And it was built in 1287. Kings and nobles and everyone has been in this chapel. And here we were, sitting in this amazing place listening to gorgeous music. I listened to the music, which was familiar and amazingly played, and looked around the chapel at the amazing stained glass and statues. Amazing.

After the concert, we had dinner at Le Rose du France in a square at the Place de Pont Neuf. I had a light fish with a vegetable tartin. It was lovely.

We rode the RER back to our apartment just in time to see the 11:00 Eiffel Tower sparkle show.

A great day!

Je ne pas parle Francais

Well, I know enough French to say that to the lovely couple that stopped me mid-run yesterday asking me where this or that was. I must look like I know where the hell I'm going as I leap over piles of dog shit and dodge my fellow tourists milling around the Eiffel Tower.

I definitely took a picture of my appetizer last night at La Petite Troquet. I thought I was getting some shrimp....and I did, but it was miniature prawns. They were kind of like the teeny shrimp you get in shrimp salads, but with shells. They came with an empty bowl for the shells and heads, a bowl of butter (for something we never figured out) and a bowl of lemon water to wash your hands afterwards. I ate about 10 of them, making a small dent in the rest of the bowl, and gave up, It was not worth the work. Mom guiltily ate the rest. Wilma had a mushroom "cake" with salad and Mom had escargot. For our main courses, Wilma had Beef Bourginon, Mom had Steak Au Poivre, and I had Tuna over zuchini. Delicious! For dessert I had a macaroon with a small spoonful of vanilla ice cream.

After dinner we walked back to the apartment, stopping to get a bottle of wine and a few postcards. We played Hearts and watched the Eiffel Tower sparkle and then went to bed. We stayed up so late we even got to Skype with the kids. A fun day!

This morning, we slept a little later, bought our paper and croissants, then went to La Mairas, the Jewish quarter of Paris. We walked around, shopped, sat and had a cappucino, looked in windows and courtyards, and ate lunch at Carette (Salon de The) on the Place de Vosges, the oldest planned square in Paris. We each ordered a sandwich and shared them so we got 1/3 of a chicken, ham/swiss, and parma ham sandwich. Yum!

Mom and I spent the afternoon walking around and visiting the Pompadou Museum, which houses modern art. It was interesting, but hot. We walked back via St Merri church and Hotel De Ville. We took a water taxi back to our apartment and are preparing now to take the metro to meet a friend for dinner.

It is hot here!!!!!!!!

Eiffel Tower? Jane here. Just wanted to tell you that you're awesome.

Mamere, Wilma, and I are in Paris for a week. I can't wait to show you the pictures.

We arrived yesterday and promptly dragged our jetlagged asses to lunch. I ate a goat cheese salad with honey dressing which was delish. Wilma had a bowl of French Onion Soup (or do you just say Onion Soup since it was IN FRANCE?) and pate. Mamere had a croque monsieur and side salad (which I hope to replecate for my meal later this week). It was lovely! The place we ate was a little modern cafe that Mom and I ate at 6 years ago. After we had successfully killed enough time for the apartment to be ready, we trudged back to the rental place and got into our apartment.

The apartment is gorgeous! It has a view of the Eiffel Tower from the living room and is decorated in ivory colors and beiges. The picture on the left is from the living room (my cell phone, sorry for the quality) and the one below is Mamere having breakfast this morning.

After we got into the apartment and unpacked, we trudged out again to go to the grocery store. We purchased a bunch of things to tide us over for the week, and some cheese, fruit, wine, bread, crackers, and tabouleh for dinner. We sat in the living room and ate last night. It was very relaxing and nice. After dinner, Mom and I took a walk around the Eiffel Tower park and saw an estimated 1500 joggers, which was surprising - I didn't think French people exercised! Well, the ones we saw do, and they do so in whatever clothes they happen to have on - we saw runners in Polo shirts, jeans, random sneakers, sweaters, etc. Odd. After our walk, we made it back to the apartment in time to see the twinking Eiffel Tower show (I took a phone video for the boys!) and then we fell asleep instantly.

This morning, we woke up to some kind of bird cooing outside the window and Mom and I got up and walked to Rue Cler to the street market and bought grapes, oranges, and strawberries. Then we stopped in a shop and bought some cheese, then another shop for croissants and palmiers. We came up and had our coffee and breakfast and then got ready for our adventure!

We walked all the way to a friend's apartment for lunch where we had a yummy risotto and bread and visited for a while. We stopped on the way at La Madeleine, which is a church Napoleon built. It was huge on the inside. Then we continued our walk (and bought some sunglasses por moi) to Notre Dame on the Ile de le Cite. The line to go in and to go up the tower was ridiculous, so we just walked around, rested on a park bench, and then visited the Deportation Memorial, which is a memorial that honors the victims of the Holocaust from France. The lady at the entrance told us we could take some pictures but we weren't allowed to post them on facebook. :)

After this, we walked back to the left bank and walked by the river. It was a long walk back to the apartment. After we got in, I went for a short run around the ET and then ate an orange. I decided to use Map my Run to figure out the mileage of our walk today and I was surprised and delighted when it told me we had walked over 13 miles! Plus my 3 mile run! Well, I'm an "idiok" because it was in kilometers. So, we walked about 8 miles and I ran about a mile and a half. Oh well. Still a lot.

We are getting ready now to head out to La Petite Troquet for dinner (Mom's favorite restaurant) and hopefully have something delicious.

Abientot!

National Zoo in pictures (because I'm too lazy to write about it)

Wednesday Weigh-In

Perhaps I should wait to claim victory on the first 40 pounds because of my upcoming trip to the Croissant/PommesFrites/SteakauPoivre/CrepewithNutella/redwine/baguette/cheese capitol of the world, but I finally did hit the 40 pound mark tonight. We'll be skipping weigh-in next week because we'll be busy roaming the streets of Paris, so hopefully I can keep the croissants off my ass for my weigh-in in 2 weeks.
Weight Lost: -3 pounds
Total Loss: -40.8
Feeling: heureux, mais prudent

Official pic!

You can see all the rest of my pictures (and video!) here

before/after

My PE Teacher  asked me for some before and after pictures today and I thought my face looks so much skinnier in these pictures that I'd share with you, too. :)

Lo Hicimos!

I was thinking of Dora when I wrote the title - "We did it! We did it! Lo Hicimos!" Todd, E, and I ran the Monument Avenue 10K this morning. We did awesome, and I finished under my goal of 75 minutes by 40 seconds or so. :) It was a great run, with bands on every corner, lots of people in costumes, and lots of crowd cheering. I had a great time taking in the sights and sounds, and especially loved running with E. Here is a pic of us at the start, and then a pic of the starting line. Lots of people!!!! Another cool thing was running around the VCU campus with all the black and yellow signs and shirts because of their Final Four game tonight - exciting!