So... it has been a long time since our last update. But with good reason. Our lives and future have been a bit up in the air!! We learned in November that our time in Paris would be winding down soon. But where next? Still a mystery!After interviews with several companies in several locations, we have learned that the Rothman famille will indeed be decamping our beloved Paris toute de suite for Bath, England. Jeff will be working for Cow and Gate, an exciting and relatively new baby food and formula company. So no more yogurt for him, but hopefully lots of new challenges. We visited Bath last week and decided it was definitely a place we could picture ourselves... it's a quaint, historic, yet vibrant community. Bath has existed since Roman times (they built, well, baths on top of a natural spring) and was extremely popular in Georgian times (see: novels of Jane Austen) and remains a lovely, near-to-London-but-less hectic place to live. Lots of cute, windy streets, good shopping, etc. We're excited.
But let me back up a bit and cover the last 6 weeks or so. We had a lovely December -- Josie was for the first time really present and excited about Hanukkah. We had fun treating each other with little gifts. In the midst of the Festival of Lights we celebrated the Festival of Mommy, heading to London for a birthday bonanza weekend! I had never been to London - can you believe it - and fell in love! We shopped, drank good beer, went to a fancy dinner, shopped some more, saw the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey (both fabulous) and took the Eurostar to and fro, which was very exciting and tres comfortable!!
We headed to Michigan to celebrate Xmas with Nam and Bee-pa, which was great fun as always, especially making everything special and fun for Josie, which everyone near and far (Andy and Emily and Becca) worked hard to do! We caught up with lots of friends as you'll see in the pictures - Annie and her daughters, Amy and her children, Jeff Hannah and his wife and new-to-us baby. We celebrated the Solstice with our neighbors and Josie performed a 30-minute one-woman show (see video!) We celebrated Christmas night as tradition with the Fonts, and Josie hopped right up to harmonize with Uncle John.
Then it was on to New Jersey for the New Year - we checked on our house in anticipation that we might not return in the spring, and the new renters are caring for it beautifully. We saw MORE friends, went into the city to see the Fleisches, visited Travis and Neil and their new baby Ethan, and had a slam-bang New Year's Eve dinner and celebration with Hannah, Papa, Roger, Jaxi, Manny, Jake, Hilary, Todd, Delila and Scarlett. Josie just had a blast being with everyone (and so did we).
And back to Paris, where we determined to "accelerate the fun," knowing our time is short. We've been going to fabulous dinners, at L'Affriole, Le Restaurant, Les Fables de Fontaine, and some of our old faves. I've hit the sales in earnest, stocking up on gifts and little things for myself. My endless search for a new bag ended at Nice Day, Nice Things on Rue de Commerce: a lovely, deep green number that fits all my necessities plus entertaiment and nourishment for Josie and the latest copy of New York Magazine.
Jeff wrapped up his flurry of interviews and after visiting Bath we made our decision. We stayed right in the Royal Crescent, near the circus, both very famous architectural wonders you can see in our photos and any website about Bath or architecture. We even found an apartment! As you'll see, there's plenty of room for visitors:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-28332587.html
While we will really miss Paris, we are also very excited for this new adventure! We have until the end of March to soak all the fun from France, and after some touring around North America we'll return and move in towards the end of April. Cheerio! So more very soon as we wrap up La Vie Parisienne! Meanwhile, LOTS of pics in 2 new galleries to the right!
