Seasonal Pajamas

Back when I lived in the city I used to get these L.L. Bean catalogues and in them would be these really unattractive photos of women wearing flannel nightgowns and pajamas. Some even had matching slippers. I used to simultaneously laugh out loud and cringe because those pajamas were sooo ugly. I wondered who in the world wore those things? Clearly women who had given up!

It's only when we moved out of the city last winter, that I realized who actually wears flannel pajamas....everyone and anyone who lives in a house and wants to stay even remotely warm!

When you live an apartment temperature variations are pretty limited. Therefore you can wear your sweet cotton nightgown pretty much through out the year.

When you live in a house it's a whole different story. It's cold!!!! It's drafty!!!

I still haven't given in to the flannel option but I'm not looking much better thanks to the four layers of clothing I wear to bed! I'm talking long sleeve t-shirt, cotton pj's, smart wool socks, sweater and scarf! Last night I even tried leg warmers (remember those?) It's not attractive.

What's a city girl to do?

Here my solution. This Winter season, I'm asking Santa for some cashmere PJ's and matching socks. They're warm, they're stylish. A year in the burbs and I'm still not ready to give up but I seriously need some seasonally appropriate PJ's.!

Food for the brain

Last night, I popped over to NYC to hear a lecture on the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that is responsible for most of our decision making.

The lecture was fascinating mostly because I'm always in awe of how much we still have to learn about the brain and its capabilities.

But the most interesting quote of the night was this: "dissatisfaction with the status quo is a pre-requisite for creativity." The speaker went on to say that most people are fine with the status quo, some moan about it and do nothing and others are so upset by it that they create great things to disrupt the status quo.

How liberating is that idea?

I think I smiled the whole way home. Based on this idea, it's ok for me to feel dissatisfied with the status quo of suburban life, and given my high level of dissatisfaction, chances I'll be more creative as a result. Maybe I'll write more (blog or book) and start my own business ( Personal Coaching)!

For all of you out there who have felt like they didn't fit in, didn't agree with status quo, take charge and do something about it! Be creative, don't just moan about it!

The Magic School Bus

After a glorious summer by the beach in Westport and in the countryside in France, it's back to school. Part of me felt very homesick for NYC , our friends, our school. But truth be told, getting everyone ready for the first day didn't really leave me much time to be sad.

Going back to school in the burbs is pretty much the same as in the city. But the one major difference of course is the mode of transportation the kids use to get to school. In the city it's walking, subway, bus or cab...out here it's the school bus. It seems quaint and sweet on the outside but it's anything but!

My youngest son started Kindergarten this year. That's a stressful experience unto itself but add the school bus to the mix and you're looking at possible therapy!

First of all the school does not tell you what bus your child is on, you find out on the general education website or in the local newspaper the week before. Less than ideal if you ask me. Then they only list the morning times, you have to estimate the arrival time in the afternoon based on dismissal time. 

So here's a summary of our first week. I'm warning you it's not pretty. 

On Mondays and Fridays my kindergartener has a short day. That means in the morning he takes the #21 school bus with the rest of the kids on the street. That hasn't been a huge success. The idea of getting on a bus with a stranger as his driver and not being a 100% sure he'll make it to school, and doubting that even if he does make it to school he'll find his classroom, has made this a daily challenge. That's the morning.  In the afternoon he has to get on the Green bus (while the rest of the street kids get on the Red bus, no one can tell me why they split up our street and why my son is the only one on other bus) without his friends or his brother. 

Summary of the first day bus experience.

He doesn't get on the morning bus because he's too scared.

In the afternoon I wasn't at the right bus stop because I had checked with my neighbors and had assumed he would be on their bus. So the bus arrive, the rest of the kids get off but not my kid. I ask the bus driver who informs me that he isn't on the bus and he has no other information. I dash home with my 2 year old in my arm to call the school. They don't know either.... a few minutes later I get a phone call from a bus monitor who tells me she has Theo, that he's very upset because no one was at the bus stop to pick him up!!! She kindly agrees to bring him back a the end of the route instead of bringing him back to school like she's supposed to!!!! He gets off the bus and his sister and I hug him like we haven't seen him in 6 months! 

On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday afternoons he takes the #21 bus home with his brother and his buddies. That would be great if I didn't have to wait 45 minutes at the bus stop because they still can't tell us exactly when the kids will get there!

So yes the schools in CT are great but the quaint yellow school bus I could do without!

 

Renewal

I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post! 

Life happens (kids' birthdays, taking classes at NYU, taking the boys to Paris for a few days). This being springtime (supposedly) it's time for renewal so let me get this blog going again!

As you know we moved here in November so I've been focusing on all of the work inside the house. It's been a lot of work, gone are the easy days of apartment living. Now that Spring is almost here I've noticed that there is also a lot of work to be done outside! Yeap, I've been slowly discovering my new backyard. 

What I discovered were a lot of dead plants and weeds. I have grand visions of blooming cherry blossoms and roses so I decided to get to work. 

Armed with my apartment-bonsai-gardening kit I went to tackle the weeds and dried up plants that needed to be trimmed. It took me a whole afternoon to trim a couple of bushes and my hands were covered in bloody scratches!

Needless to say that I promptly went to Home Depot and shopped my heart out.

Whatever  I lacked in expertise was made up by my enthusiasm to get my garden into shape!

I really thank the Home Depot folks for answering all of my very basic questions and not laughing at me while I was still in ear shot! An hour and $200 later I left with gardening tools, seeds, and flowers.

I've been making very slow progress but it's very gratifying. I planted daffodils that have just started to bloom. I planted other flowers whose name I've already forgotten but I love to look at them from my kitchen window. My son and I even tackled the vegetable garden today and planted spinach and lettuce. 

All in all the work is worth it. I've surprised myself by how much I love getting my garden back into shape. Maybe it's because earth day is around the corner and I like participating in this way. Maybe it's because it's my very first garden. Maybe it's because I get to spend some time chatting and hanging out with my kids while I do it. This is definitely an upside to living outside of the city (not that I didn't greatly appreciate the work of the gardeners at Battery Park who made our park beautiful). Today I was moved to tears when I planted my city geranium into an outdoor pot. That geranium has been with us on our apartment window sill for over two years. When we planted in its new home today, my son said "he's been inside for a long time, he deserves to be free." Something new is really beginning.

Seeing Red

Living in a city, very often means living on an island of blue. For example, living in NYC for the last 5 years has meant that no matter how crazy the Republican regime got I was surrounded by fellow Democrats with whom I could commiserate. It gave me the opportunity to have a daily sanity check.

When we moved to Connecticut I was a little scared about our town's political leaning, after all Connecticut is not known for its liberalism, and they have a Republican governor (a woman mind you, but still a Republican).

I found a few reassuring signs. I saw an Obama sign in our neighbor's yard. People smiled when they saw my kids wearing their Obama t-shirts around town. I found a group of people to celebrate Obama's inauguration with. My son's elementary school even showed the inauguration live in their auditorium.

My sense of relief came to an abrupt end last Thursday, when I went to pick up my youngest son from school. On the back of the Lexus in front of me were two stickers; The first was just your average, McCain/Palin sticker. That just made me ponder why you would have that on your car four months after losing the election. But the real show stopper was the SOLO Palin sticker! What person in their right mind gets a SOLO Palin Sticker? I didn't even know they existed!

Where does this sighting leave me?
Well I don't speak as freely about politics as I did in NYC. I just don't know for sure who's in the room, maybe there are a couple of democrats but there might be that person who truly believes Palin would be a good option for president?! Truth be told, I am just glad that Bush is no longer in office because it would not be humanely possible for me not to voice my opinion in public given the gravity of his stupidity. And then who knows I might have been thrown out of town back to my blue island.

Paris, CT

I'm originally from Paris, France. And although I've spent more years living abroad, I'm very attached to its culture and customs. My desire to keep that link to France was increased tenfold when I had kids. One of the fun parts is sharing with them my favorite French treats and holidays.

When I was very young and living in Paris one of my favorite memories was going to a boulangerie and getting a warm pain au chocolat before or after school. Living in NYC made it easy to pass on that tradition. The kids and I had a couple of bakeries to go to after school to grab a pain au chocolat. We did it almost everyday.

Another tradition close to my heart is sharing a Galette des Rois in early January. You get to eat this yummy cake called a Galette des Rois and who ever finds the figurine inside the cake, gets to be king or queen (see below for a longer explanation of this holiday). Living in NYC, made it easy to pass on this tradition. There are two great places for this cake in NYC, Financier and Bouley Bakery, both downtown.

Of course when we moved to CT, my challenge was to find a decent French bakery. Well let me tell you, it's been really hard. I kind of though French baked goods were mainstream by now. But the truth is that I've been desperately searching for a decent pain au chocolat and a real baguette, let alone a galette des rois, ever since I got here!

Just when I was feeling terribly guilty about the fact that my youngest would never know what a real croissant looks like, I found a little bit of Paris in CT.

Last week, I stopped at this place called Isabelle and Vincent, in Fairfield, just to see. I wasn't holding out much hope. I thought it would be another sorry excuse for a French bakery. It turns out the owners are actually French and their names are actually Isabelle and Vincent! They used to have a boulangerie in Strasbourg, France and moved here 3 years ago on a whim. This place is heavenly! Not only do they have amazing baguette and pain au chocolat, the day I walked in they were making an extra batch of Galette des Rois!

Although it was a month behind schedule the kids and I celebrated La Fete des Rois with the most amazing galette I've ever tasted. Hubby couldn't believe how delicious this cake was. And thanks to Isabelle and Vincent, I'll be able to keep the traditions going. Just today Bella and I stopped in for a pain au chocolat after her gym class.

Here's their address in case you're in the neighborhood: Isabelle et Vincent, 1903 Post Road, Fairfield, CT.

“La galette des Rois” (the cake or "wafer" of the Kings) is a cake celebrating the Epiphany and traditionally sold and consumed a few days before and after this date. In modern France, the cakes can be found in most bakeries during the month of January. The cake consists of flaky puff pastry layers with a dense center of frangipane.

Tradition holds that the cake is “to draw the kings” to the Epiphany. A figurine, which can represent anything from a car to a cartoon character, is hidden in the wafer and the person who obtains this trinket “la fève” (literally the broad bean) becomes king for the day and will have to offer the next cake. A paper crown is included with the cake to crown the "king" who finds the fève in their piece of cake. To ensure a random distribution of the cake shares, it is traditional for the youngest person to place themselves under the table and name the recipient of the share which is indicated by the person in charge of the service.

Formerly, one divided the cake in as many shares as guests, plus one. The latter, called "the share of God," "share of the Virgin Mary," or "share of the poor" was intended for the first poor person to arrive at the home.

The other natives

I'm a very specific kind of nature lover.
I love the beautiful things in nature. I love the flowers, the birds singing, the sunlight shining through the leaves of an apple tree, and above all the amazing colors nature comes up with.
I've never been into the animals, the bugs, the snakes and rodents that inhibit the outdoors. Ever since I was super young they always elicited a "yyyyyuuuuck!" response.

Now that I've moved to the burbs I'm noticing these creatures all around me and I can't say I'm enjoying getting to know those natives. This is a two part problem. One I don't like them and I don't want to like them but more troubling is that I can't even identify what they are!

One day I was jogging back from the beach when I saw a four-legged animal trotting towards me, I just assumed it was a dog. As I got closer I realized it was a fox, a real live fox. It stopped looked at me and I tripled my jogging pace!

Last week, at the break of dawn I was enjoying my first cup coffee when I looked out my window and saw a coyote crossing my backyard. That's way too close for my comfort level. Plus, it's one thing to see a coyote from the kitchen window, what if I had been outside when he crossed! Would he have ignored me? Would have I stayed there frozen with fear? Would have I woken up the entire neighborhood with my scream? I guess we'll have to wait for the spring to find out?

My latest sighting was yesterday. I'm on the phone with my brother when I spot a gray, furry creature waddling around my neighbor's deck. I can't even tell what this thing is...is it a ferret, a mole?...it kind of looks like a squirrel but it's so fat and wide that I can't imagine it climbing a tree (which is kind of a prerequisite for a squirrel right?) So I ask my brother since he's way more knowledgeable when it comes to animals than I am...his best guess and I'm sure he's right, is that I was looking at a very pregnant squirrel! Who knew? not I.

I secretly hope that most of these creatures will ignore me and do their thing when I'm asleep or running around living my life. I don't mean to sound unfriendly but I really don't want to meet them.