To Do Lists......

TO DO:


1. Buy a car
2. Find a new apartment
3. Learn French


Now that J is back and we've relaxed a bit we've begun working on the "TO DO" List.


This week....buy a car.


Neither of us have owned a car for at least 10 years, so this should be interesting.  Let alone dealing with the French roads and rules!


We have a list of needs.  J wants an automatic with AC and power everything he can get.  I want 4 doors and room for three in the back seat with plenty of leg room.


J is in love with the Mercedes A Class but we're sticking with a budget of 8,000 euros. Unless we go to Germany to buy our car we probably won't be riding in one anytime soon.


So we looked up used car lots and decided to head there first to see a few different makers and sit in each to narrow down the field.  We also didn't know where to get insurance or what we needed to actually buy a car in a foreign country. We figured we get some info from the salesman.


So, we all jumped on a bus across town and landed at a big lot full of possibilities.

The kids had tons of fun on this adventure.  Hold on you two, those keys will be yours soon enough.

I thought the Fiat Punto had a snazzy enough interior and room in the back.
Even the bright blue exterior wasn't too bad.

Then the Renault Clio snuck in...watching them on the streets I wasn't much of a fan.

Ends up, I like the Renault Clio as well.

Both of these were in our price range, but lacked the one important thing on J's list...they were manuals.  It seems that only about 1 out of every 10 cars in France is an automatic.  Hmmm, seems like this will be a longer search than we thought.


Stay tuned......

Four Lives in 10 Boxes.....

And the countdown begins......


James booked us on a flight back to France for May 2nd.  Now that the date is set we figured we should get a move on clearing the apartment and all of our needless "things."


So, we put up an ad on Craigs List offering all our goods.  Saying basically, "if you can see it, it's for sale."  Well, within one week we've been picked clean of most all our furniture and quite a few kitchen things.  I'm currently sitting on my big comfy sofa giving it a cuddle since it will be leaving the family in a few short days. 


Already Taylor's bed, our dressers, the dining table and chairs, my desk, and our office cabinets have gone, along with lots of shelving.  Taylor handled it really well once we discussed how difficult it would be to take his bed on the plane.  The other big pieces are leaving us this weekend.  What will remain for the next three weeks is our mattress, Emm's toddler bed and the TV shelving unit.  Crazy!  We'll have to have family picnics on our bed and watch movies on the computer. :)  


So......the 10 boxes have begun development.  As a reminder, we had a moving company give us a quote to move half of our furnitue and belongings to France and he gave us a price of $13,600.  We decided against that, obviously, and chose to ask UPS how much to send boxes.  It came to $100 for a 20lb box, $150 for a 30lb box.  So we set ourselves a goal of 10 boxes.  (With wiggle room of course.  Cause as I've said before, I'm a packrat.)


We moved all the things we thought we wanted to keep into the bedroom and all the things we didn't want to keep into the living room.  We ended up with 13 boxes in the bedroom.  We also gave Taylor and Emm each a box to fill with their favorite toys. If it fit it could come to France. T ended up putting some things in Emm's box and she didn't seem to mind since she plays with them too.  They ended up with three once I added their books and cuddlies.  One box is kept in mind for my favorite kitchen items, the cutlery/knife drawer and the cooking utlensils.  Yes, I'm sure France makes these things, but I'm partial to my dodads. Then add in a couple boxes for linens, love my down comforter and cover and have priced them out there.  Might as well spend to send.  So, we start with about 20.

Now, we'll spend the next week or so narrowing down these boxes to try and get as close to 10 as we can and then the final week of packing the 4 suitcases we'll bring on the plane.  Whew.  


Now I'm starting to get a wee bit anxious. Cause time will go fast and as much as you think you have it all under control, the day creeps up to you and you find you're scrambling.  And there are soooo many things to do before we leave, people to try and get together with, and dentist appointments, and doctors visits, and..................

The Plans....the glorious plans

Since returning back to the USA, James and I have gotten a chance to reflect on our 3 month "trial" of living in France. Do we dive in or do we alter our plans a bit?

Well, the lease renewal was slid under our door yesterday. We looked at each other, now confronted with HAVING to actually make the decision, and opted NOT to renew. OK, diving in, sink or swim. I'm not really nervous about it all cause I've come to the comforting idea that the USA will always be here for me if I/we want to return to it. Barring any horrible natural disaster that may sink it to the bottom of the ocean.

So, now married to our adventure, we sat down and hammered out our ideas of what our plans for living it would actually be....

1. Live in South of France, but maybe not Nice. I seem to be feeling I want something a bit smaller, more laid back. Antibes? Biot? Juan les Pins? Villefranche? So many options within kilometers of Nice.

Villefranche sur Mer

I think the small town Midwestern girl in me is starting to state her case. Since I was little I felt I was a city girl and have always felt at home in a big city. When I landed in NYC in 1992 I felt I was home. Even with an 8 year Chicago detour I couldn't wait to get back. LOVE the ease and accessibility a city offers.  It gives one independence to do what they want when they want. But... lately I've been craving a little more laid back environment and a big backyard for the kids to run around in while I sit at my table in the sun drinking coffee and reading the paper. Ok, most likely a gossip mag. :)

Villefranche sur Mer

2. For the winter months of December and January we run away from the cold to Miami or the Keys in Florida.  Nice is STILL a wee bit cooler than we want.  Sun-chasers we are.

Antibes

Reasons: escape the cold-NONE of us likes the cold, get a dose of America so mommy is happy and the kids always have a good understanding of the comparison of USA to Europe, and friends and family can come visit easily and less expensively.

Antibes

3. For one summer month, say the hottest month (sun-chasers we are but let's not go crazy), we take off and live in a different country each year.

We want to see the world and give our kids the fullest picture we can. And we're lucky because our jobs are very portable, OK James' more than mine, but if we save during the year we can feasibly do this.

We are excited by this plan. We are getting a bit giddy over it. Because of this we know we are making the right decision. Now, let's see if we can make it happen....

We invite you on our journey, the door is always open!!

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Thanks!

The Jet-Set Life

Schedule for Monday February 28th.....


Breakfast in Nice, France


Lunch in Munich, Germany


Dinner in New York City.


Ahhh, such a life.  But considering it was in airports and on 14 hours of travel with no sleep, maybe not the life we all dream of. :)  Thank goodness the kids and the dog were in good spirits.  They kept themselves busy and even slept for a few hours.  Daddy got to work and mommy got to watch 4 whole movies only mildly interrupted.  So it all it turned out alright.  Luftansa is GREAT!

What 2 euros will buy, smiles for the kiddies

Entertainment in Nice airport

Plane change, waiting for the stroller in Munich

Unpacking in NYC

and off to bed.......


It's always such a good feeling to return to your home after a long vacation.  Even if we are building a home in a new place and this one will soon not be our home, it felt real good pulling up to the building and walking into our apartment.  We've been living the vacationer's life in other people's homes in Nice so it hasn't felt like OURS yet.  I look forward to having this feeling in France when we finally find our own apartment, furnish it our way, and make our permanent home there.

7 Days and Counting...

Well, after many considerations of how we could magically transport our necessary belongings here to France without the WHOLE family flying again, it has been decided that indeed we all need to return to the good ole US of A for the month of March.  


Besides, I don't really trust James to pack the necessities but to rather throw it all out and claim a flash flood took it all. :)


And now, I've suddenly direct-booked two jobs in NYC that shoot the middle of the month and I REALLY want to get that other bunion chopped off so I can finally wear cute shoes.  I only have insurance until June 30th so better take advantage! Plus, my 90 day tourist visa runs out on the 28th and apparently getting work papers isn't as easy as we were led to believe. Hmmm.


So there you go, seven days 'til take off and so much to do.  Have to secure housing for when we return to France, make sure it has internet and phone for James to work, make sure T's school holds his place, get Grandpa securely situated in his new apartment -so we can then take his old one :), convince his landlord to put us on the lease, get a bank account for me, and get in some good sun before being thrust back into the cold NY March weather.


Oh, Nice sun, I miss you already!


See you soon NYCers.....

Opening Remarks....the Backstory

Hello folks and welcome.  James came to me about a year ago and said..."Maybe we should move to France."  You see his dad had sold his house in London and was moving to a sunnier climate.  James always has the itch to move around but I was happy in New York.  I was a commercial actress and print model and doing quite well.  Not many of us can do that and not supplement with a waiting or bar tending job. I was comfortable and scared to leave a job I loved doing and move across the world to a place where I didn't speak the language.  And the French are very particular about their language.  


But the idea was intriguing and I had always wanted to live in Europe, although I never really thought it could become a reality.  Thank you stars for sending James my way!  Finally I relented and gave in, not that it was that hard to do.  Sometimes you just have to decide that life is more important and the world is a big wonderful place that should be seen and experienced.  


So, here we are.  As of December 1st we are living in Nice, France.  And no, I still don't know the language.  Which proves very frustrating at the grocery store when I can't find the right kind of deodorant.


I decided to share my experience with anyone who wants to have a peek into my life, or to simply do a bit of a vicarious traveling.  I'll share our trips to fun villages, cities, other countries, the markets, a simple grocery store run gone bad, as well as the pressures and the fun of life as an Expat.  There will be videos, photos, and sometimes just plain text.  I have a bit of a backlog to get the story straight, so bare with me as I get the old video edited and start from the beginning.


Soon....promise.  When you get a minute come back.  Promise there will be fun things to see.