I'm still here...

The blog is back. I know it's been a while since I posted but I've been busy and then whenever I thought of posting, I realized I'd have to recap everything and I didn't have the energy. But at that pace, I'd never post again so here I am.
Happy New Year to all!

Here's a quick recap since early November...

I spent 10 days in France for Thanksgiving while Eric stayed home and worked 22hrs/day. On my way to France I also served as an iPod & iPhone mule :-)
Despite catching the flu, I got to see my goddaughter, my cousins, and I spent 2 days at my friend Sylvaine's in Paris and had fun with my godson and his brother. Of course, there was a strike going on (wouldn't be France without one) and there was no train between my hometown and Paris so my dad drove me there and picked me up. We only live 45 minutes away so it's not so bad but I missed out on seeing Carole & Pierre Alain and was very bummed about that.

I spent most of my time volunteering at the animal shelter with my mom and my brother. I walked dogs, lots of dogs, and cleaned all the food dishes and cat litter boxes of the shelter... Fun stuff! I fell in love with a rottweiler puppy that I was dying to bring back home. Good news is that he's just been adopted recently.


I also walked our dogs Quentin & Kate. They're so cute together.
And soooo spoiled too.

Kate & Ben:



Kate:








Kate & Quentin on their new pillow:



After that trip, I came home for 4 days (2 of which were spent in Boston for work and another at a conference), didn't even have time to do laundry before flying off to Copenhagen to visit Carine.
I had to connect in Paris and when I arrived in Denmark, I was told my bag was still in Paris. I got it back 30hrs later and went on a shopping expedition at Air France's expense while I waited for my luggage.
Another thing I lost was my voice... and I sounded like Marge Simpson while it was coming back.

It was so great to be back in Copenhagen and spent time with Carine and her family. Lots of fun! We shopped a lot... The holiday decorations put me in the holiday spirit. Carine & Julien got me addicted to cactus-flavored Lakerol pastilles and to Chanel products. Both are an issue: I can't find Lakerol here and my supply is running low and the Chanel addiction will become expensive :-) Julien, thanks again for all the goodies!
Denmark pictures

After Denmark, I headed to France for 3 days and spent most of the time at the animal shelter and in the woods with Quentin & Kate. On the day before I left, Kate ran away and was missing for 5 hours. My mom, dad and brother and I were looked everywhere for her. It was raining and getting dark so as time went on, the despair increased. We called the cops, the fire department, the animal shelter, and we drove around for 4 hours. Ben was soaking wet from riding his motorcycle in the rain. Mom even took Quentin to see if he could smell her and lead us in the right direction. We finally got a call from the shelter to let us know that someone had called to say that they had found a black lab and we ran over to their house to see if it was Kate. And it was! She had already made herself at home. She had been fed, she had taken over a cushion and made a new friend (their male boxer). We were crying because we were so relieved and she knew she was in trouble. She actually didn't stray too far from the house, just a few blocks, and we had somehow managed to miss her even though we drove down that street dozens of times.
That sucked all the energy out of everyone. Lesson learned: Kate now wears her collar all the time with her name and phone number. And everyone has to be super careful when opening the gate.

I got home only to find out that Eric had been in a car accident and the car was totalled... Eric was fine. He hurt his arm but nothing serious. So my little VW Golf is gone :-(

Ben came over for 2 weeks to help Eric with work and it was great to have him over. He'd never been in NY around the holidays so we took him to Rockefeller Center to see the tree.




And George was thrilled because she LOVES her Uncle Ben:







Eric & I spent the holidays at home, for the first time in 10 years. On Xmas morning, we got up at 5am to open our presents live via webcam with my parents and brother.
Then we went to Eric's sister's in NJ for Xmas dinner.
We also spent time with Eric's sister from Atlanta and her family who were visiting for a few days. We also bought a new car. We're now the proud owners of a brand new Nissan Murano. It's gorgeous! silver with charcoal leather interior. Did we need an SUV... nope. But did I mention it's gorgeous :-)
Can't wait to go on a road trip!



I think I've caught up!!! Not as painful as I thought!