Jackie du Monde

Today in Paris, it is cold .  Life must continue however, so I bundled up and ran around my neighborhood doing my errands.  As I walked out of the grocery store, I was greeted by snowflakes, big fluffy ones, lightly falling and melting as soon as they hit the ground.  It felt like Christmastime again.  In Colorado this year, we had snow on Christmas Eve which made the holiday perfect. I'm not happy about the cold.  About two weeks ago, I felt the days getting longer, temperatures were slowly creeping up and I thought we were over the winter hump.  But we're not,  a few more weeks of sweaters, knit hats, one of three pairs of boots on constant rotation and the desire to eat and drink endless amounts of hot chocolate.  So here I sit, bundled up in the house, watching the snowflakes fall quietly outside of my window and reliving one of my favorite winter moments - the Fête des lumières , or Festival of Lights in Lyon, eastern France. My London friend, Sharon, discovered and plan

Here we are at the crux of a new year.  The last few weeks have been filled with introspection, as they usually are for me.  I mull and muse over the past year - what it brought, what I learned and what is next. This year was a year of work - I worked hard and got my reward a few weeks ago when I was notified that I got a promotion.   However, that came with a price, which was mainly leaving little energy for what actually gives me energy. Sadly, the blog was neglected and it's a shame. I had so many beautiful adventures, but I feel they just sped by and I moved on, and I didn't share them. But I've been back in Paris for a few days, after lots of sleep and a good dose of home.  And the urge to write and to share and to tell has come back.  That's a good sign.  The sun was shining on new year's day.  That's a good sign.  I finally got my social security number after waiting 14 months - that's a fantastic sign.  I'm feeling good about 2013