Hi!

Hello friends ~

I kind of love that I haven't been posting on this blog because it means that I've been LIVING!!!!! And living is fun!!!! 

Our trip to the States started off with a fabulous bang at the Normandy Hotel in DC. Happy early Christmas to me and MBA from my parents! After laborious and tiresome travel, it's so nice to have such a lovely place to rest your head. This hotel checks all the boxes --- amazingly comfy bed, beautiful interiors, fun bath products, wine & cheese in the evenings and lovely continental breakfasts in the morning. The next morning, mom and I were off to NYC for a long and super fun break to see my sister Hilary. The front desk clerk at Normandy Hotel even sent me off with a stack of brand new magazines for our trip to the Big Apple -- including Architectural Digest, National Geographic Traveler, Newsweek, Forbes -- not that Forbes is my favorite, but I love a hotel that goes the extra mile.

My trip to NYC was above and beyond what I could have imagined the trip to be like. It was fabulous on every level, and I'll share more about that later. 

I've also been sick. 

Ick. Not fun to be sick while I'm in the States. Not fun to pay an American doctor or to pay American prices for medicines. Not fun for the sickness to be lingering after I've taken the full round of antibiotics. 

But --

I've still been living. And having fun. And trying to seize every last moment out of this trip. 

Meanwhile -- I've just turned on one of my parent's fireplaces with a remote. 

A remote!!!!

Yesterday morning I asked my grandmother what my Grandma Ida would have thought about me moving from America to Europe. My grandmother informed me that Grandma Ida  (my great-grandmother) would have thought I was crazy. Grandma Ida escaped the "old country," and she had had enough of it, enough of London, and enough of Paris. Once she landed in America, she never wanted to leave. And Grandma Ida hadn't even experienced a remote controlled fireplace!!!!!

I'll share one book that I've been chipping away at:

Anyway - I'm going to get back to living and back to enjoying my family. In the meantime, I hope you're enjoying your holidays!!!