Introducing...Adrielle, Nan & Scotty's baby girl

Look at this little pumpkin head baby! How cute is she? Oh my gosh, she is so cute! As were the words I kept saying over and over when I met her. She is adorable, happy, and looks a lot like her mommy. We spent a night with Nan & Scotty on the way home to Sarasota from Charleston. They live in Fernandina Beach, Florida where Scotty has an AMAZING restaurant called 29 South, named after the address. So, if you are ever in town, you have got to eat there and make sure you order the dessert Doughnuts and Coffee, which is a Krispy Kreme doughnut bread pudding drizzled with caramel sauce and served a la mode with coffee ice cream. Oh, yeah, and it's as yummy as it sounds.

I was so excited that Nan and Adri were able to make it to or wedding. We sure missed Scotty, but the life of a chef required his presence at his restaurant. We lingered over our delicious dinner at 29 South, and talked about the possibility of them coming to visit us in France in May 09. Scotty hasn't been to France in a few years and he thinks a trip here is due. Well, Yann and I are really hoping for them to come, as we would really try to show them a great time and re-pay them for their kindness at their restaurant. That darn Scotty; the guy is TOO generous. Anyways, Yann & I fell in love with Adri from the start; she is a charmer and we want one just as cute as her!!

Charleston Trip

So, when we arrived in Sarasota we took a day or two to relax and then we hit the road for a trip up to Charleston, South Carolina to check out the town. For those of you that I forgot to update, we are planning on moving to Charleston in 2009 (probably sometime in the summer) There is the US's 4th largest marine shipping port located there and Yann hopes to find a position on the port. We both had never been to Charleston so we had lots to see when we were there. We ate at some great seafood restaurants and stayed in a nice little inn in the downtown area. Charleston's downtown is a bit smaller than Asheville's so we walked everywhere. We did some Christmas shopping on King Street and walked around the historic homes district, in awe and envy, because the antibellum era houses are so fantastic! We took some pics, which I've posted below, but they cannot do these homes justice. It's really a sight you should see for yourself because it's such a city full of American history. I only wish I could take tours of some of these homes; they have been meticulously restored to their original state and most were decorated for the holidays. We also checked out the Mount Pleasant area, because that is where most young people in Charleston buy homes. We even checked out a few with a realtor, just for fun. Also, Yann got an early Chrsitmas present that is a smaller "power kite", so we had to try that out. We went over to Isle of Palms and found the kiteboarding beach and Yann died and went to heaven. Even though he hadn't brought his kite and board, we watched a few kiters and the conditions were amazing. Yann chatted to a couple guys and he got the local scoop; that conditions are best in the spring & summer and they were even kiting most of the winter. The water there never gets too cold, as it does here in Marseille, so it's a year round sport. Anyways, Yann and I had fun playing with his new little kite. It actually has a lot of power and it is 3 meters in it's span, so theoretically we can use it for snow kiting and for skateboard kiting. So, all in all, we loved the area and we are looking forward to moving there this year! Ok, well, I'm on to my next post!....

Snowboarding

So, here we are at Puy Saint Vincent ski station, a 2.5 hour drive from Marseille. We were there on December 13th and we literally had the place to ourselves. In fact, there were probably about 20 other skiers on the mountain with us. There was zero wait for the lifts. It was just one of those rare days where there was the most amazing conditions, crazy snow fell for 3 days before we arrived, and there was no one there. That adds up to a day of fun, fun, powdery fun! It was a blast as you can see from the pics. Check out the little video clip at the bottom too, I was up to my waist in powder. It was a really cute little ski station, and there was a restaurant where we had lunch and hot tea. A nice way to spend our last day in France before departing for vacation in Florida for the holidays. And I love the saying that is etched into the side of my snowboard...'A Day Well Lived"

Catching up on Christmas Eve...

Well, Merry Christmas Eve to you. We are getting over colds, our bellies are stuffed, and we are sitting in a pile of shredded wrapping paper. How are you feeling? Dinner was great with Yann's parents and my family; lots of translations going on, but everybody understood one another somehow. We are tired tonight, but looking forward to slowing down and enjoying Christmas Day tomorrow. I wish you a Happy Holiday!!

If this doesn't get you into the Christmas spirit, what will?

From Last Christmas

So, I thought that because I don't have any holiday-ish pics yet from this year, I could pass some time by posting some from last year.  So, here they are...Christmas 2007...

Sugar cookies I made from last year...

They are pretty 'Martha', eh?

The Christmas crew last year...

Some how we are going to have to cram even more chairs around the table this year!

Pop's carving the turkey; please check out my dog in this picture.

Ain't no puppy like a snow puppy...

Well, Hello holidays...

The size of the cat compared with a large leek.

My chocolate cake with Carmel Fleur de Sel Buttercream frosting

Can you believe how close Christmas is!? Well, we are just very excited that in 5 days we are boarding a transAtlantic flight to the ol' US of A for the holidays!  I cannot believe how fast they are coming this year.  It's cool to be in France and see this holiday season unfold from a different viewpoint in the world.  I've only known Christmas from Sarasota, Florida.  Where we had to crank down the AC in the house to 50 degrees so that we could become cold enough to want to light a fire in the fireplace.  In fact, I never understood why houses in Florida are even built with fireplaces...one of life's mysteries, I guess.

So, from my vantage point here in Marseille, I can see they have put some Christmasy lights up around the Vieux Port, and they have installed fake Christmas trees that have been dumped with some bizarre white sticky material to look like snow.  It melts and gets all gooey when the sun is very hot and bright.  See, a Marseille Christmas is not so unlike a Florida Christmas.  I found out this the hard way when the girls and I went to do a birthday photo shoot in front of these trees for Malou's b-day and we began making fake snowballs.  Well, Laila actually touched that stuff, not me.  But I did get it all stuck to the bottom of my shoes and people we staring at my feet for the rest of the afternoon.  Laila should have probably washed her hands after making her snowball, because I'm pretty sure the snow was crafted from some horrible chemicals.  

Marseille also has installed little wooden holiday cabins, or booths where people sell all kinds of pure junk.  I was searching the cabins this weekend to find some 'Frenchy' Christmas gifts for people, but unfortunately all they had was some ugly carnival/county fair glass figurines and plastic wind chimes.  So, sorry Family, you will not be getting any Frenchy gifts this year, but you will thank me for it.  There was a parade around the Port too.  It consisted of one truck with a band on it and a man on a mic.  He was singing English Christmas carols, with a heavy accent, and was totally hitting on all the ladies from the float.  It was a little pathetic but still a good effort to conjure up some holiday spirit.  France is slowly being influenced by our American holidays.  I already told you about the tiny but growing presence of Halloween celebrators.  

But now, Christmas commercialism is catching on and they too now have a Santa at the mall for pictures with the kids.  However, here Santa Claus is lovingly called Papa Noel.  I for one, am a big fan of the title Papa Noel and I plan on using it when I'm back in the States.  It just brings a smile to my face to know that somewhere in the South Pole, there is Papa Noel's 'betterhalf' , Madame Noel, who is busy stoking her woodstove and baking gingerbread cookies all year long.  

So, now I leave you to tend to my cabbage soup that is bubbling away on the stove.  I hope you are all catching the holiday spirit, wherever you may be in the world and whatever holiday you may celebrate.  Now matter what name you call Santa Claus, I hope you enjoy the next few weeks leading up to Christmas...