Show Them The World!!

PARIS

Taking a group of young kids who have NEVER left the country and showing them Europe for their first time was one of the most satisfying experiences of my life!! This was an amazing group. Seriously, other teachers were running into problems and issues with their kids and mine were all complete angels (as far as I know) and more than that, they were completely fun to hang out with. They had me laughing and on the go for the entire trip!!
Here they are in the Louvre. They got my own special tour that I used to give to visitors when I lived there so long ago! It was so much fun to run amuck through this ancient palace with them!!

Always camera ready, here are some of the kids in the group, I had 15 total!
We were on a boat tour of Paris just in time to see the Eiffel Tower light up. It's hard to believe that it is right outside my window as I type this. Life is TOO good to me!

We all put in such LONG days and averaged about 10 miles a day of walking (according to my high tech pedometer!) As soon as we got into the bus each night to go back to our hotel rooms the kids just zonked out!

MILAN
Within five minutes of being in Italy I had a gelato in my hand...how life is supposed to be. Once the kids saw that it was totally ok to eat gelato five or six times a day, they were totally on board!!
Outside the beautiful and famous Scala Opera house there was a huge demonstration for the Arts. In Italy, like America, many art programs are being cut from school curriculum and these ballerinas and opera singers were showing the beauty of their craft.
This couple was amazing, doing a whole ballet for us!
Of course the hot Italian police were nearby to stop any madness that might happen. The Italians are a people known for their passion!!
Lunch time! We filled an entire sidewalk cafe!

FLORENCE
The beautiful duomo, it's been about 11 years since I climbed this tower with Holly long ago!
My favorite statue in Italy (and probably the world)
When the girls and I got tired we sat on the steps and then rated Italian men. Is was the best pasttime EVER!! We found a 9.5, if he had been a few inches taller I would have given him a ten, but you can't have it all. Although, I must say that Italian men DO know how to dress!

PISA
It really leans, in case you were wondering.

TUSCANY
Doing her laundry on a sultry day.
I got three scoops of gelato here and it was THE best I have EVER had, they deserved their title!
I did spend a pretty penny on one souvenir for me, I usually get one nice one per trip. I got a set of three handmade vases from this little pottery shop tucked away in a high corner of the little Tuscan village. She is SO talented!

ROME
I've got Italian blood. I really do.
One of the best moments with my kids...reinacting the assassination of Julius Caesar with them on the very place that it actually happened. I taught each of these kids this play during their 10th grade year and how amazing to actually go and witness first hand the old ruins of the Roman Forum!! (I was Caesar, just about to get it!)
Eating gelato, yet again, on the Spanish Steps in Roma!

VENICE
The never ending arches of San Marco Square




And my final act in Italy? I put a wish on Yoko Ono's wishing tree in the gardens of Peggy Guggenheim. This was one of my favorite days in Europe. I would highly suggest visiting Peggy's collection!

Antlers...need I say more?

That's right, during our weekend in Jackson Hole, April and I ventured to the ANTLER RENDEZVOUS (does the word RENDEZVOUS hold no more beauty and charm!)

An Antler chandelier to light your finest dining adventures.

A nice antler lamp for the library, to read stories of hunting and espionage.

Want a lovely, romantic, candlelit dinner for two? Nothing says romance like a nice matching set of Antler candlesticks (and yes, I believe that stuffed raccoon IS holding a cracker jack box).

Want to cut your pizza with finesse? Any Antler cutlery will do!

Wine + Antlers = Decorating Bliss!!

Frame that family photo in the frame that keeps on giving.

Nothing says "Celebrate the Holidays Wyoming Style" like an Antler wreath.

No need to cut down greenery for a Christmas Tree. This Antler reusable tree is green enough!

Oh dey foof!!

I used to speak French like a native (well, close to it) and now I fear that I speak French like Joey from "Friends".  It will be quiet interesting to see how I get around Paris this week. Hopefully, I'll be able to get my quiche, baguette, and chocolat chaud without any problems!!

I've been trying to read blogs and get caught up before I leave, but to no avail!! I promise to get all caught up with your beautiful lives when I get back!

Paris, here I come!

Keep Mediocrity at Bay

The Tango--passion, lust, heat, love, all combined in ONE dance.

 Va-Va-Vooooommmm!!

You gotta fight every day to keep mediocrity at bay
Gotta fight every day to keep mediocrity at bay

Well you're going through the motions and they can't hear a word you say
Well you're going through the motions, they don't want to hear a word you say
Got to keep boredom at bay and keep mediocrity away

Van Morrison

Buenos Aires---a sneak peak with some low quality digital photos. I took my trusty old Canon, shooting with film (I adore it so much more than digital!!) but I won't get those developed until I make it to New York next month...then a big blog with photos to blow you away will be forthcoming.


This trip was full of highlights and amazing adventures!!

1. Hopping into various cabs and having awesome 80s hits greet us in a loud manner....we heard "Come a Come a Chameleon" SEVERAL times.  Pet Shop Boys, Roxette, Pat Benatar. THE BEST!! Ah yeah!!!


2. Eating empanadas and chocolate blanco caliente (white hot chocolate to DIE for!!) each morning. I will try and post a photo of this, it was DIVINE! And my Spanish wasn't bad either, Alejandro, our driver to the ranch, said I had a PERFECT accent. I don't know if it was my blonde hair or my accent that really merited that compliment, but I will take it. And I WON'T let Michelle forget about it!! (inside joke laugh insert here)

3. Singing Evita outside the Casa Rosada!! Andrew Lloyd Weber would have been so proud of me, I do a mean Madonna impersonation. I looked all over for an Antonio of my own, sadly, none to be found.

4. All the sightings and almost attacks from feral dogs and cats (what BA is known for)...and again, lots of dog walkers. It's a city known for ALL the dogs with owners who have NO time to walk them. Watch those sidewalks, they don't clean up so well.

5. Spending the afternoon on a ranch with real guachos and eating four different kinds of beef in ONE meal! Don Juan, I miss you! Good horses, good food, amazing conversation, and a foosball table from the 40s that I played a game on with Michelle. And yeah, I was the champion, I sang and danced and rubbed it in her face, cause that's how I roll folks! Ah yeah, I rock the foosball table! Seriously, so old and vintage, if I could have brought it home with me, I would have. The photo I took of it will be amazing.

6. Going to the oldest city in Uruguay--Colonia on a Burquebus! Then  finding the most amazing handmade scarves and mittens and yes, LEG WARMERS!!! The 80s are alive and well in Uruguay my friends. The handmade windchimes were SO beautiful, as well as the jewelry of deep blue stones.

7. The antiques at the San Telmo market, I bought an old silver locket, a hat pin, and a Grace Kelly 1950s vintage black hat...what a treasure! I know who I am being for Halloween!

8. Hurricane Ike causing quite a stir, cancelling our flights, making it so we thought we would have to move to BA and I would have to learn how to make empanadas and be a guacho and get a job on a ranch herding cattle.

9. The fact that Michelle and I can spend 5 days together, and then when we get home, we still have things to say to make each other laugh on google chat...seriously, THE. BEST. TRAVEL. FRIEND. EVER!!! If you guys ever need someone amazing to travel with...take Michelle. And that girl can RIDE a horse. I may have kicked her butt at foosball, but she is the true cowgirl!

10. People, colors, smells, sounds, and culture of Argentina!!!

Recoleta Cemetery--Ava Peron's final resting place.

Singers in San Telmo on market day.

Michelle learning the Tango in La Boca.



One of the only surviving photos of the two of us. Michelle was a victim of theft! Crowded market, busy streets, distracted by empanadas, camera in coat pocket...something was bound to go wrong! We have the exact same cameras and usually just take photos of each other and then trade after the trip...so many of me and Don Juan (the guacho I spent the afternoon with at the ranch Los Dos Hermanos) are ALL LOST!!! Woe is me!  This is us on La Caminita


The streets of La Caminita in La Boca---personalities as bright as the colors!


Madonna and Child. I LOVED this statue in La Boca.

With the robbery of Michelle's camera, most of the photos of me and of the two of us together are lost (sniff, sniff)--however, I got this one on a random moment yesterday as we were walking through Recoleta!

And yes, when I got home today, my annual white cake was waiting for me. I've eaten some of the most amazing desserts that the world's countries have to offer, and yet, there is something about plain, white sheet cake with a raspberry filling that is perfectly delightful to me every year in September!

New York State of Mind

Sweat. Lots of Sweat.

Stairs. Lots of Stairs.

Sore Muscles.

Laughter. Lots of Laughter.

ABBA. Lots of ABBA.

Agua. Lots of Agua.

This week I spent mostly in Harlem moving Chelle from one walk-up apartment in Harlem to another. In the middle of July. Without much air conditioning. In the middle of July. This might seem like one of the most horrific forms of torture ever put upon a person....but it was actually one of the best weeks I have had all summer. I don't know how to put it all in words, so I will put it in little snippets that stood out in my mind setting this trip apart from the others!


1. On Wednesday Michelle and I saw two Broadway shows. I witnessed history seeing the newly Tony awarded actress, Patti LuPone, sing her heart out in Gypsy (pictured above). Later that night, Miss Flight Attendant herself and I went to see the new play Boeing-Boeing (with the delightful Christine Baranski most recently from Mamma Mia!)



2. No trip is complete without a stop at Magnolia Bakery for the best cupcakes in the WORLD! I am NOT kidding you folks! Michelle and I wandered over to the Sex and the City hot spot that is Carrie Bradshaw's front porch in the series. It's always beautiful to walk along the brownstones of Perry Street in the West Village....perhaps one of my favorite spots in all the city.

3. The very sweet middle aged woman who stopped me on the street and asked if I would sign her petition.
"Well, what's it for?" I inquired.
"It's a petition for equal rights for Vampires."
"Really? Are you a Vampire? Are you being treated unfairly?"
"Yes. Yes."
"What right's don't you have that I enjoy?" (You know me, I don't like inequality for anyone, I just didn't know there were older women out there who believe they are Vampires AND being unfairly treated for it. So, I googled it, and sure enough, there is an Amendment being pushed by the Vampires (who might really just be suffering from Tuberculosis? The symptoms are very similar, the night sweats, the pasty pale skin...etc.)

4. The young Jewish man who stopped me on the streets of Harlem to ask:
"Are you a Jew?" (um, you guys have seen me right, I look like I just got off the boat from Bavaria!)
"Um, no. But for the right man I'd convert."

5. The other man in Times Square who asked me, "What part of Germany are you from?" (Seriously, a lot of random men asked me a lot of random things on this trip.) I mean, I wasn't wearing the traditional fanny pack and sneakers that set so many Americans apart, but neither was I holding a bratwurst and beer stein in my hand....What ever happened to traditional pick up lines?

6. The evangelist who pointed to the only white girl on the streets of Harlem and yelled, "You there, White Girl, you are a RACIST!!!!!!"

7. Taking in the view from a quiet seat that I discovered years ago and people watching in Union Square Park

8. My quarterly trip to Sephora...which I fully believe is a bit of heaven on earth.


9. Laughing, shopping, singing to Mamma Mia soundtrack, driving through Jersey City, going to a late showing of Batman at the Harlem Movie theater, eating Vegan dumplings, and a million other fun moments I had with my friend Michelle!

10. Hopping on the subway at the same time as a Mariachi band heading for work and having them seriously come and stand around me and serenade me with a song. My face went bright red, but it was one of the most adorable moments of my life.


My life is simply magical.