Homeland Highlights Part Two

Time zoomed forward quickly as I bounced back and forth between Connecticut and New York City. I was planning on heading back to Paris right after New Year's Eve, but a massive visa glitch resulted in me quitting my job and extending my stay for some much needed reflection. Happily, this also meant that I could add a few more adventures onto my already exciting roster...

NEW YEAR'S EVE

I haven't been fortunate enough to spend NYE at home in the States for several years now. Most of the time it is a rather obnoxious holiday in the Big Apple and I prefer to take advantage of the time to frolic about in a new city. This year, however, I coerced some of my bestest besties into having a small party in Brooklyn. Well, first I coerced my piano-playing NYC bestie into offering her apartment for the rendezvous. In the end, her boyfriend had a gig and many mutual friends had previous engagements so it was mainly my friends partying at her house. Fortunately, most of my friends know and adore each other so it worked out well. We had some lovely cocktails and chatted the evening away in pretty dresses and festive props. I got to ring in the new year with some of my soul-mate friends and momentarily leave the past few months of limbo and indecision behind.

 

 

 

 

 






NYC PROMENADE

I often heckle my brother and sister-in-law about the fact that they are hardcore true-of-heart NYC pedestrians. They love a good leisurely walk around town, whether it be a short romp to the subway or a miles-long ramble on a beautiful weekend afternoon. This time, however, I hitched onto their bandwagon and took advantage of a gorgeous sunny day to see some of the local sights. Brooklyn is an amazing borough, filled with art and culture and diversity. Our ultimate destination was the Brooklyn Bridge and a quick lunch at the oh so yummy Shake Shack. En route we saw a variety of quirks ranging from the Morbid Anatomy Museum to an small out-door diorama of the the Brooklyn/Manhattan crossover to the very stunning city skyline itself. An unplanned wander through the world is one of the very best ways to stumble upon life in the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

POUGHKEEPSIE

My college theatre ladies are some of my best and most ridiculous friends of all time. When the four of us are together, we can't help but create endless absurdity both on and off camera. That being said, our obvious destination for a mini-reunion, now that two are married and one has a baby, was Poughkeepsie, NY, home to pretty much nothing other than a university and a culinary school. Upstate New York certainly has its beauties and if it wasn't January we may have been able to experience them. Instead, we had a hilarious overnight in a completely normal chain hotel. We spent our afternoon pillaging a local mall to find accessories and props we could use to take ridiculous photos at the one local treasure: "Walkway Over the Hudson." Of course, by the time we got there, it was already closed and we were privy to what looked like a police officer scoping out a potential drug scene. Awesome. We did, however, have an excellent dinner at a local inn slash farm across the river. More importantly, we laughed all the live long day via nostalgia, current events and wine. There's really nothing better than a good ole fashioned gossip with friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


PHILADELPHIA

One of my good NYC friends from Ruth's Chris and Nespresso days recently moved to Philadelphia with her new husband. As I was unable to attend her wedding and don't always get to see her when I'm home anyway, I made sure to head down to Philly for a night and see what I could see. She and her new hubby took me around to all of the tops sights, from the Yards Brewery to the Liberty Bell to the Magic Gardens. It was a wonderful chance to see a city that is really up and coming, filled with art and culture and endless history. It was also nice to see my dear friend happy and healthy and enjoying a city that is so much more in line with her goals and dreams. Not being a fan of living in NYC myself, I could definitely picture Philadelphia as an intriguing option for living Stateside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


PIRATE MINI-GOLF

The final main attraction during my time at home was an outing with my sister and beloved nephew. We were in charge of his care for the day so that mama and papa could have a few hours on their own. Luckily, there just so happens to be an amazing mini-golf center nearby with a piratical theme. Kids are even encouraged to don pirate garb, resulting in a discount. It was a Sunday afternoon so the wait time was long, but our rambunctious wee lad was as patient as you could expect under the circumstances. When we finally got going, we are rewarded highly by all sorts of digital wonders, piratical scenes, and even a Brooklyn-themed ending. It was a bonny day at sea, swash swash buckle buckle! And a lovely lasting memory for adored nephew and two of his aunties. I headed back to Paris with a quick stop in London just a couple of days later, ready to take on the challenges to come. Aye and avast, till next time, America!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homeland Highlights Part One

As time passes and it is now already March of 2017, I feel inclined to highlight some of the best parts of my trip back home for the holidays. A two-week stay ended up being a month long and I didn't get back to Paris until the end of January. February flew by amidst one dramatic feat after the next and so now I sit and wax nostalgic for a few minutes before moving forward...

ANNUAL STEAK DINNER

For the past few years, a selection of my gal pals from NYC and I have engaged in a traditional New York steak dinner. The core of the group has been myself, my NYC piano-playing bestie, my freshman college roommate bestie and Piano friend's friend who has the same name as me. Since she is a brunette instead of a blonde, we have a perfect good angel/bad angel bond. Other years we've had additional NYC lovelies but this year it was just the four of us. We decided to check out Keens Steakhouse in midtown and were not at all disappointed with the decision. Two of us met early in the bar and kicked off the martini trend which resulted in a severe bout of tipsiness as the night wore on. But all in all, we had some succulent steak, some sumptuous sides and a grand ole time catching up.

  

  

 

CHRISTMAS EVE

Christmas eve continues to be one of the highlights, not only
of my time at home, but of my whole year. I get to frolic with some of my favorite family members, drink eggnog and indulge in mountains of kielbasa.... Ooooh, kielbasa. My polish ancestral treat. The only thing I really know about my cultural history and a tasty delight that I only get to have when visiting home. My uncle and cousins are fantastic cooks so we always leave quite full to the brim with food and libations. This year we all decided to contribute to charities in lieu of gifts. Well, mostly in lieu. We made a point to include a small token to open so that we retained the usual gift wrap fanfare around the tree, but with the added bonus of knowing that we were helping many important causes in this day and age. With young nephew dancing around piles of gifts by his side, I hope we were preserving our future all around.

 

  

  

  

  

 

CHRISTMAS DAY

This year, Christmas day was at my own dear mommy's home sweet home: the house I grew up in and where I stay whenever I am back in Connecticut. The siblings and I spent time decorating the tree, making cookies, cupcakes, and generally preparing for the day ahead. In the morning, we traditionally head over to my dad and stepmom's house so that we can get spoiled rotten even more by whatever Santa dropped over there. We then came back to help my mom, my baby sister, and the dog and cat get ready to receive our extended relatives. The day ended up being relatively calm and drama-free. Family members got along with family members, we ate and drank mimosa (my mom's idea) and celebrated the day. It ended up being the last time I saw one of my cousins, who we had just learnt was diagnosed with very advanced breast cancer just before the holidays. Sadly, she only lived a few weeks after Christmas but I am glad to have the memory of a merry holiday with her to cherish.

  

 

MARK TWAIN HOUSE

Growing up in New England meant living in a historically significant part of the United States. My hometown is almost exactly two hours to Boston and two hours to New York City. Connecticut itself has tons of historical spots worth exploring. And so, our schools would often take us on field trips to local landmarks such as Sturbridge Village, Mystic Seaport, the Noah Webster House and the Mark Twain House, which is only about 20 minutes from my town. Since I haven't been to any of these locations in easily a couple of decades, I wrangled my sisters into an afternoon at the Mark Twain House. It's a beautiful colonial building, very well-preserved and maintained. Guides tour you around the building and tell the tales of one of the United States' most notable authors. From Tom Sawyer to Huckleberry Finn to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain was a master of fictional accounts. We had a lovely time jumping back in time for a few hours and most particularly, donning the period clothing available to wear in the adjoining museum.

  

 

NEW JERSEY

It becomes harder and harder to get friends together when people start moving away, getting married and having all the babies. I was therefore super excited when two of my Connecticut besties and I managed to get together for a night in fancy pants New Jersey. These are the ladies I went on a cruise to the Greek Isles with a few summers ago, one of them is Dancer Friend (not able to fly home from Ireland this year) and all of them my dearest oldest friends on the planet. One of the ladies lives in CT and was fantastic enough to take a night away from her young son and drive me down to NJ for a ladies night of fun. This particular gal and I have a knack for chatting away and getting lost en route to meeting the others (it happened once before in Ireland), so it was not very surprising when our gracious host greeted us several hours later than planned. Fortunately, she had her cutie baby girl to keep her company and was more than ready for a lovely night out. We had a delicious dinner out on the town, several fabulous cocktails and they finally got me to watch Bridesmaids. I don't think I could have really imagined a better night with friends.

Back In The Unicorn Saddle Again

Goodness gracious, it's been a while! Ladies and gentleman, it seems it has been approximately 6 weeks since last I wrote, having skipped all of January to boot. Well, Happy New Year! Just like many Americans and other cultures around the globe, I spent the turn of the year indulging in holiday mayhem and romping across the ocean. I also spent a good long period of time mourning the election of Donald Trump and subsequently trying like hell not to unleash the fiery flames of Mordor from the depths of my soul as, every single day, we are treated to new and unnecessary dictates by childish, inept and thoroughly self-serving new leaders. But I digress... (not for long)...

Over the past 6 weeks, I have been to the US, the UK, and back to France. I spent a month in the States, bestowing most of my time on NYC and Connecticut, but also wandering over to Poughkeepsie, New Jersey and Philadelphia. I had a ton of dinners and drinks, saw dozens of friends and family and generally made merry as often and as much as I possibly could. It was actually a surprise to find myself staying home longer than the originally scheduled two weeks, which was in and of itself a milestone since I've never gone home for that long before.

But when I stepped off the plane at JFK airport, I finally received the news that my long-awaited visa- the one I had so stressed over for months, not being able to travel, not having enough work, not being able to get a new job or new apartment, and being carelessly ignored by my employers- had not come through. Why? Well, because the application had never been received... Mute... No words to express other than to say c'est la vie and sally forth! Live and learn. Quit your job, start fresh, take a couple more weeks at home, stop in London on your way back, and return to Paris as a tourist.

I now have 3 months to figure out what to do about a visa, a job, an apartment... a life? Nah. One step at a time. First I meet with lawyers to decide on a new course of action. In the meantime, I seek private students and jobs willing to hire me. More importantly, I actively focus on my writing career and get as many balls in the air as a magical princess of fantasy-speak can possibly manage. Visa will come, money will come, and then of course new apartment, fantastic travels, and the heart of living abroad will all settle back into place.

I do plan on backtracking and elaborating on some of the highlights of the past 6 weeks of my life. Because no matter what the drama or turmoil, I am a pretty lucky gal who basically got to have an unplanned vacation with those I hold dearest for longer than anticipated. "Love is love is love is love..."

And so I come full circle. Back to Paris and back to the beginning of a new adventure after being kicked down to the ground for a little while. I am American, this is a new feeling we all share. We were shocked and disappointed, scared and overwhelmed. Now we stand tall and fight for what we believe in. My little magical bubble won't ever compare to the chaos that is currently ensuing back home. But while I sit back in my Unicorn saddle, I know that the kind and true and moral and good will all band together to conquer evil.