FUN TIMES OUT WEST (and why I should probably never fly again)....

Did you think I was gone forever?

For some reason, it felt like it, and it's taken me most of the past 3 days to get caught up around here, back in my Upstate NY home.

Not that Wink didn't do an OUTSTANDING job of keeping things running smoothly (which pretty much meant cleaning out the cat box a trillion times, sweeping up cat litter and dog treat crumbs and, oh yea, arranging for the house to be shown 3 times by realtors, which just cracks me up, as I don't think it's been shown more than twice in the past year! That'll teach me to leave town!).

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So, this is how it all went down:

Caught a few Southwest flights to the San Francisco Bay Area with our Little Miss Thing (she's headed back to Berkeley for her senior year)...

Was picked up by my husband's wonderful parents, and shuttled to their gorgeous, hillside home in Mill Valley (Marin Country, north of the Golden Gate Bridge)....check out their morning view from their living room!.........

Abbie's grandparents treated us to a wonderful dinner at Tyler Florence's/Sammy Hagar's new restaurant in downtown Mill Valley, El Paseo. Gorgeous, gorgeous atmosphere AND food!

The next morning, we headed over to Berkeley, where we moved all of Abbie's stuff into her new housing, then had lunch with my favorite Uncle Joe....such a funny guy!...

Next, we headed up to my parent's home in the central Sierra Mountains (almost 4,000 feet elevation), and were greeted by their funny dogs.

One dog, beloved Buck, is a gorgeous Golden Retriever...beautiful, but normal looking, by any dog-lover's standards...

And then there's JAKE...you've probably never seen anything like Jake...he's a Chinese Crested, which means he's almost hairless...super freaky looking, but super sweet...my nickname for him is sometimes "Mosquito", and sometimes "Gnat".......

(My mom has to actually put sunscreen on him, daily, when he's not wearing a t-shirt!)

Just want to show you some photos I took from around my parent's home...my dad is a most excellent gardener.....

amazing flowers on his decks.......

Berries, grapes, pears and tomatoes, everywhere...



My folks live on a small lake, and lucky them...they have Canada Geese there, too!...

The path around the lake...very peaceful and green....

But believe it or not, the real reason we were there was not just to take photos of the flora and fauna....we were there to CELEBRATE my parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary!

So fun to get all dressed up....here's the original Nelson familia....

(yes, I do in fact own shoes, and that's my brother Andrew to my right)

All of the "elders", messing around--those are my husband's parents, Al and Marilyn, on the right....(pretty crappy photo of the four of them, but that's alls I gots, people!)

My baby brother and my baby girl (who borrowed my Old and Everlasting dress for the evening)....

NOTE: I don't know what my problem was on this trip, but I have NO photos from the celebration itself at a very swanky restaurant, NO photos of my visits with my beloved cousin Joe, NONE of my fun breakfast with BFF Lisa, and NO photos of my stay with my Aunt Jan.

BUT, I do have this amazing photo I snapped while driving across the Golden Gate Bridge one morning....please don't tell my husband that I did this!....

Yup, that famed San Francisco summertime fog is for real!

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I wish that I could blame my lack of photography on just having TOO good of a time, but instead I fear it was because I just wasn't feeling too well a lot of the time.

And losing my entire bag of medications for 3 days didn't help matters any.

I also acquired a horrid e-mail virus, which basically locked me out of my e-mail account, before I left for California, which added to my off-kilter feeling.

And if you want to know why I should probably never fly again...WELL. I would just suggest you never, ever take a trip with me, because for some reason I am jinxed. The past four cross-country excursions I've taken have ended messily, with cancelled flights upon cancelled flights, the spending of nights in some strange hotel in some strange city, and then being told to be back at some strange airport at 5 a.m.. for a flight that is, surpise!........cancelled!

Did I mention that I'm not a great sleeper, even in my OWN bed? Or a great flier?

Why am I not on Xanax?

Regardless, I really had a great time on this trip...maybe next time Wink can actually come, too! (he had to work...I mean, somebody has to!)......

I think I'll be doing some Pinterest recipe baking over the next few days for some very special, deserving  people...and I'll be sure to share!

till then,

Leslie

XXX000

OOPS! One more little thing...please check out my newest Autumn creations in my itsy bitsy little Etsy store, located in the top right hand margin of this blog...sales have been terrific, so thank you, dear customers!

A SILLY CELEBRATION CAKE AND MY BIG HOT MESS....

Received Abbie's grades from her spring semester in Paris the other day, and then decided to make my girl a cake to celebrate, because that child up and earned herself all A's and maybe one little B+ on her report card. Which is impressive enough....but lest we forget,...her classes were all taught in French!

I would have flunked out, day ONE. Just sayin'............

Our celebration cake, fancifully called the "Parisian Peppermint Cake" was really just a white cake (from a--gasp!--box!) with some peppermint extract, and homemade buttercream frosting. I found these little cupcake decorations while wandering the streets of Paris last spring, just itching to spend my money on souvenirs.....(note: I did not see even one primped Poodle in Paris)....

Most people spend their money on postcards and t-shirts and such when they travel.....not me! I always seem to come home from wherever we've been with something for the kitchen....

By the way, the inside of this cake? Well, I tried a trendy little food coloring technique my daughter calls "Ombre", or something like that....it's just graduated layers of color....really pretty, I think!............

So pretty, I had to eat a huge slab.

You'd best believe that I fell into a deep sugar coma after eating this last night. And then proceeded to punish myself extra hard on the eliptical this a.m......

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By the way, I'm feeling pretty darned good in my own skin these days; Finally reached my "goal" healthy weight, and have been maintaining it by religiously binging, then purging.

Not really...just eating VERY healthily (is that even a word?), watching portions and working out as my energy allows.

Because if I've learned one thing in this life, it's that diets NEVER work....and lifestyle changes do. I'm never going to allow myself to fall into that dieting insanity trap again ...just trying to remember to eat when I'm hungry, and to stop when I'm full.

I'll let you know how this all works out, 5 years from now when I'm 350 lbs.

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When you pack for a trip, does the floor of your bedroom or office look like this?

Like a bomb blew up in your closet?

I always, always bring waaaayy too many clothes, every time I travel. And this time, I fear, shall be no exception.

I mean HEY...how is a girl supposed to go from the foggy coast, up to the dry and hot mountains, and then back to the coast and NOT bring layers and options, options, options?

We're talking HUGE temperature changes here, folks.

Not to mention the fact that we are doing all of THIS:  getting pretty dressed up for my parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary party, and then hopefully doing some hiking in the Sierras with my brother. And maybe going berry picking with my mom, and then moving our daughter into her new senior year digs, and then maybe going wine tasting in Napa and/or shopping for pillows and rugs in Marin with my Aunt Jan, and then getting some Mexican food in Palo Alto with my cousin. And Chinese food in Berkeley with my Uncle Joe. And eating at Tyler Florence's new Mill Valley restaurant with my in-laws.

Like I could do all of that with just a carry on bag.

Did you take note of how much we'll be eating on this trip?

Maybe elastic-waist sweat pants are in order for my trip home.

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One more little thing.

Day after tomorrow, August the 15th, is Wink and my 25th Wedding Anniversary. Yup, this is a big year for my fambly...50th for my folks, 25th for us.

We've got the whole happy marriage thing DOWN!

Let's get the champagne a' flowing!

Happy Anniversary, Wink! And remember, we'll always have Paris!....

See you all in a few weeks!

Leslie

XXX000

THE WILLARDS TAKE PARIS, PART TROIS!

(Is she smiling, or frowning? I wish I could have gotten closer for you, but I am telling you now that you should be VERY impressed that I got this photo at all--the crowds were horrific, so this was taken by reaching my arms up waaay over my head, going heavy on the zoom, saying a prayer to Nikon and snapping away!)

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Today I was 23 minutes into my hellish 45 eliptical workout when (horrors!) I realized that I hadn't finished up my very famous THE WILLARDS TAKE PARIS series--so sorry to leave you hanging like that!

I've been a bit hyper-manic lately. Springtime does that to me.

 So much to do!

May is going to be busy, busy, busy:

Little Miss Thing will be coming home for summer, mid-month.

We have an Open House tenatively scheduled for Memorial Day weekend, which will hopefully result in an offer on our home (please oh please!).

LMT's and my summer job as the official gardeners to the STARS (for the business my husband runs) starts up again in a few weeks. Which involves a ton of work, but is so much fun I can't stand it.

I know there's more on that list. I just can't remember right now--heck, I can't even remember what I had for lunch, not 2 hours ago.....

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There is a lovely blog here on "Cyberspace", you know, the "World Wide Web" (I say that just to irritate my kid) that I stalk on a regular basis, and it's named The Cottage Nest. A darling, darling spot in the Universe. You can get there by clicking HERE. The blogstress, whose name is Jen, is traveling to Paris to celebrate HER anniversary soon, and asked me to give her a few pointers for a smooth trip.

That just cracked me up. Because "smooth" travel is SO not what I'm known for!

Well Jen, we were only there for 8 days, but we did in fact have a pretty smooth trip this time (well, except for the crappy weather towards the end, but hey, waddya gonna do?), probably thanks to some wonderful advice given to us by friends and family. Here's what worked for us:

***Learn the very most basic French. Oui. Non. Merci. Bonjour. Bonsoir. Au Revoir. Parlez Vous Anglais?

***In most restaurants, in my limited experience, the toilettes are located in the basement.

***When entering a business, ALWAYS say Bonjour or Bonsoir. It shows respect and courtesy, and is expected.

***Our daughter taught us this one: when sitting down at a cafe, always ask for a caraffe of water (Un caraffe de eau), which is free. Otherwise, you will end up paying a bundle for bottled.

***Gratuity is always included at restaurants (and taxis, I do believe)--LOVE THIS!

***Do not drink or eat on the Metro--a major faux paus, I'm told (no wonder I got such dirty looks with my Starbucks!)

***On the street, do not attempt to smile at or say "hey" or make eye contact with the locals--I guess this is VERY typical American behavior, and they will think you are a big old geek. (I had a very hard time with this one!)

***On your first day or two in Paris, take one of those touristy double-decker bus tours (you can pick it up at Notre Dame)....these are really the best way to get a good, overall view of the city, and you can jump on and off whenever you want to, all day long. Well worth the money!

***The boat tours on the Seine are also a very convenient and inexpensive way to get around the city.

Hope those few tips help you, Jen!

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As I mentioned before, the last few days of our trip were chilly and rainy (totally brought the wrong clothes!), but before the rains really started, we took the Metro to the Montmartre neighborhood. Which is the hilliest area of Paris, complete with incredible views of the whole city............check out the "funicular" that takes lazy-butt girls like me up to the top of the hill.............

And here's what is at the top...the famous Sacre Coeur cathedral.........

Amazing city views.......



The lovely streets of Montmartre..........

The Moulin Rouge!.......................

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Of course, we could not leave Paris without visiting some of the museums. Our daughter is so fortunate: included in her tuition is FREE admissions to all of the museums in Paris! One day, she took us to the Musee D'Orsay, which is housed in a grand old train station. I don't have any photos inside this museum, as they weren't allowed, but OH the joy of standing mere inches from Van Gogh's self-portrait! From Monet's Water Lily Pond!

Words cannot express how very VAST and overwhelming the Louvre Museum was...we picked a rotten day to go, as it was rainy outside and every single tourist in Paris had the same idea, but oh well. Here are some shots from when we were waiting in line to get inside...truly breathtaking!............

The famed I.M. Pei pyramids, up close.....

Endless hallways of art, jam-PACKED with art lovers!.............

Here's a little friend of mine, named Venus. Venus De Milo, to be exact....

Egyptian antiquities, galore...........

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OOPS!

Hey Jen! There are a few things I forgot to mention earlier......

***Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, in France drives teensy-tiny cars, because gas is seriously about $10 a gallon there. So if you rent one, find the smallest car you can, like one of these.........(I am not kidding when I tell you that we did not see ONE SUV over there, not even one!)............

***Another great way to get around is to "Velibe"-it. Velibes are bicycles that you can find to rent for the day on the streets, and they are cute as can be! Just watch out for those crazy cab drivers!

Well, I do believe I've shared the best of our travel photos...hope you've enjoyed your little virtual trip to Paris with me!

I'll be back soon with some wonderful new recipes to try!

XXX000

Leslie

THE WILLARDS TAKE PARIS, PART DEUX: THE EIFFEL TOWER, PARISIAN CAFES AND VERSAILLES!

Well now, guess I can check THIS one off of my bucket list, now can't I? Seeing the real Eiffel Tower, that is. Except I'd already been to the Eiffel tower, the REAL REAL one, just last spring, right?.............

Wait, wait...which came first, the faux Eiffel tower in Las Vegas, Nevada, or the faux version, in Paris, France???? Because I took both of these photos, and now I'm kinda confused..........

Bucket List? Check, check, check!

Oh my goody goody gumdrops I love my life sometimes!

Here's what you get when you ask a complete stranger (I secretly suspect she was sort of drunk) to take the Willard family's Christmas card photo....this photo seriously gives me vertigo! And just look at Wink's face! I don't think I'll be using this one, come Christmas, 2012...............

Here's what the underbelly of Le Tour Eiffel looks like, just in case you've never seen it from this perspective....BTW Wink wanted to take me to the top, via elevator, and propose to me, all over again,  just like Tom Cruise did with Katie Holmes when he oh-so-famously/romantically proposed to her a few years back, but the line was 3 hours long....SO not worth our precious time, we collectively decided............

Okay so that's enough of THAT tourist trap...now onto the MAGNIFIQUE street cafes of Paris, for which I have a huge crush! LOVE just sitting outside under wonderful space heaters, just watching the world go by. I've always dreamed of such places.......The first two, in one of our two favorite neighborhoods (the other being The Marais), St. Germaine.....



And here's where stuff gets funny: We've all heard about the notorious rudeness of French waiters....well, this guy just LOVED Little Miss Thing...even kindly paused to pose with her..........Hmmmm.....I wonder if he's single?..........

How cute is this?..............Je T'aime France!.........



Wink, ever the American, chooses beer--Me, bring on the French Chablis!......

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On our third day in France, we took the train out to see the Palace at Versailles........I think I must have said something stupid (or embarrassing) on our 30 minute train ride out into the French countryside...what do you think?

The Palace at Versailles....there are just no words. So over the top...so much gilt and gold and glamour and glitz (and the gardens! my favorite part!)...so I'm just going to let the photos do (most of) the talking...........

Here's what happens when we try to catch a jump-shot, mid-air..........just ends up looking silly!.............Cuz that's how we silly Willards ROLL, baby!..........

This is all REAL gold--I swear on a stack!..............

(We interrupt this regularly scheduled programming to introduce the Princess of Versailles, Le Petite Mademoiselle Thing! Isn't she lover-ly?...........)

And the  King (we were promptly kicked off property, shortly after this photo was taken at the cheesy Versailles gift-shoppe).........



The Hall of Mirrors, where the Treaty of Versailles was signed--which I do believe ended World War II (or was it WW1?)............

And now to the gardens..........truly mind-bendingly beautiful!.......Check out the tulips...

Here we fooled Abbie into thinking she was kissing the actual BLARNEY STONE--I love tricking our gullible American youth!........



The "backside" of Versailles....

LMT thoughtfully picked us up a picnic lunch of fresh fruits, cheeses and baguettes at her local Farmer's Market, which we thoroughly enjoyed, lakeside...........

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Here's to 25 MORE years of happily wedded bliss...LOVE you MORE, Wink Willard!.......

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See you soon for Part 3 of our fantastic Parisian adventure--including the Gardens of Luxembourg, the Montmartre neighborhood and, of course, the Loerve for a little bit o' Mona L.!!!!

XXX

OOO

Leslie