Post 35: Week Summary

Don't think that I forgot all about work.

Actually a lot has happened this past week on a professional level.
Ligne Roset, a French furniture company, is opening two showrooms in New York and are looking for design Consultants. It would be very exiting for me to combine my passion for design with the French culture, what could be better.
I also applied for a position in the William Sonoma Group for the first time in Scottsdale Arizona.
The Habitat for Humanity is experiencing some difficulties with the construction permits and therefore the project won't start like first announced end October. Even charities have to deal with administrative disagreements and delays. Instead I got my schedules for a fundraising even where volunteer with be wrapping gifts for the Holidays in a Mall. I signed up for a two hours shift, twice a week in December.

I just realised that my Post 33 was published in the wrong spot. The post are actually published in the order I saved them as a draft. So now it's misplaced and I don't know how to correct it.
So if you don't mind scroll down and get to it it if you haven't yet. Sometime when you play with stuff you don't fully comprehend "crap" happen. But if you just stay in your comfort zone you will never get to learn anything new. Just acknowledge your mistake and move on.

Post 34: Genes

Me as a baby with my aunt Halina; I liked her a lot, and she loved me back.

When looking at all those old pictures it makes me think about how funny genes are distributed.

My children are totally opposites, to the extend that actually amazes my daugther.

She doesn't understand how two siblings can be so different and we're not talking physical resemblances.

Christelle has my husband personality to the point it's funny, they understand one another perfectly, have the same interest in sports, are extremely competitive and ambitious. but she has my artistic flair and sens of style. She also is interested in spiritual, paranormal and religious things like her grand mother on Jean's side. As for her physical appearance I think she looks like my mom. She always denied it until she saw my mom's pictures as a young girl.

My son Adrien has my personality, he is more laid back, some time too laid back for my taste. I know how he is going to react before he does and sometime I actually use it against him, I try to figure what I would do in his shoes to get the reaction I want from him. It actual works pretty well.

Me...hum... let see, I do have a mix of both my parents. Like my mom, I can fix anything around house, I am a worrier and too sensitive. And like my father, I often have my head in the clouds and could spend my last $20 on a book and live on stuff left in the fridge for a week. I am not sure if this was a fair share.

And how to explain the fact that I love Russian sad songs, the smell of wet leaves or freshly cut grass, exotic food and far away counties. Why do I have a soft spot for India, almost like a forgotten love story from a past life.

Post 32: Memories

My father also surprised me with an unusual present.

When I told him about my project to organise all my photos albums, he told me about his own organising and sorting pictures. He wanted to give back to my brother and me our childhood pictures. As he said so himself; he got caught in the process and what was suppose to be a small comment became a paragraph and so on for each picture. The result is a small notebook starting with pictures of my parents, beautiful and careless like all young couples. Follow their wedding and my birth and pictures of me as a child in Poland with his memories.

I was very touched by this gesture. Some comments made my smile, some made me cry. Some details I remember and for most I was to little.

I often joke that we have no inheritance from my parents as they left Poland with a couple of suite cases, but I realise that memories are the most amazing inheritance of all and want now more than ever to do the same photo album for my two children.

Link to my favorite song in Polish http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQnOQYffskY

Post 31: Dad Day

When I visit my family in France I always have time set aside for my father. We are sharing a similar profession, he is an architect, so our outings always revolve around new projects, construction sites or artwork in Paris. like most men he doesn't speak much and this is our way to share a special time surrounded with thing we're passionate about.

Two years ago we went to see the exhibit on Rodin. This time it was Renoir, the impressionists paintings are my favorite, I even did my final paper on it during my Interior Design Studies.

After the visit we went for lunch on the Champs Elysees and he made fun of me, saying that only tourists wanted to have lunch there. But I do feel like one sometime and this is the most beautiful street in the world according to touristic guides.

No mater what we do it's always memorable and I intend to keep going with that tradition.

Post 33: I love Paris

I came across this Metro entance Designed by an artist.

I love Paris and it's always a pleasure to go back and revisit my favorite places. One of my hanging spot is the " Butte Mont Martre", with all the painters and tourists strolling around.

I get lost in the atmosphere and never fail to at list have a glimpse at it, this is exactly what I did this time; I had a waffle with chestnuts and whipped cream at the bottom of the Butte next to the carousel. I only had a day for myself, not much time for sigh seeing and souvenirs.

That day as a jock I got my seventeen years old son Adrien a set of three condoms with I love Paris on it. When I got home in the evening at my mother in law place. I was walking through the door unloading at the same time my little souvenirs when one of the condom flew out of the envelope. I went to put down the rest of the stuff in the living room and came back to pick it up but couldn't find it. Seeing me looking around my mother in law ask me what I am looking for and I show her the small package, of course she had no idea what it was, and I wasn't going to explain either.

So here we are looking aroud for this two inches square little package, when the couple of tenant walks in and seeing all the commotion inevitably ask what's going on. So I very seriously show them the package and none of them betray me and start to look for it as well. We couldn't find it for a while and finally my mother in low ask the inevitable question, but what it is?

No way around but to explain ...

Post 30: Decorating

Paris has the most amazing fabrics way more colorful and way less expensive than in the US.

European Home fashion is more avant garde and fearless than in the States.

I had the opportunity to help my mom with her bedroom renovation project.

In fact this all started almost two years ago when she was visiting my Design Studio and came across my window display with colorful pillows. She mentioned to me that she really liked them, so when I did the next window I sent the set of four decorative pillows to her as a present. She didn't expect it and said it was too beautiful for her. Nothing is too beautiful for my mommy, I said. But she wasn't ready to get rid of the carpet, wall paper at the time. Plus the unusual combination of colors made it difficult to select a palette. Not mentioning that we have a totally different taste, I often said during the process that she was the most challenging client to date.

After a lot of looking around, running and mind changing we finalised a project including a bed cover, carpet and wall covering, hopefully it will all get done within the next two years...

Post 29: French food

This is the result of our hard labor in my mother in law kitchen.

First an update on my mother in law health: in fact this intervention on her eyes will be conducted in three stages and may or may not lead to an operation. She did have to undergo a small procedure and depending on the response to this medication the doctors will decide on the next step. When I first arrived, I was surprised to find her not only in good health, but also in good spirit, her energy could easily outlast mine...

It's now a custom for me to cook "pierogi" a Polish dish that is very labor intensive with my mother and mother in law when ever I visit, everyone loves it but is too lazy to do it. I love to have this special time in the kitchen cooking with other women talking, laughing and having a good time, I find it comforting somehow, like a bounding experience: priceless.

Of course all Jean's family member and mine invited me for lunch, dinner or both surpassing them self in delicacies. I gained 2kg in a week, as much as I could spare myself the excess weight I wouldn't have missed it for a world if not for the calories certainly for the company...

Post 28: Home sweet home

Unfortunately this is not my house, but a beautiful "Hotel Particulier" on the Avenue des Champs Elysees in Paris.

I am back home! After an absence it's always good to see your kids, ( the husband was away unfortunately). When I got home in the middle of the day I was welcome only by my pets or rather the smell of the unchanged litter , on top of it Lady one of my cat peed next to the litter to punctuate her displeasure. Next I had to catch up with ten days of laundry, clean up the house and the refrigerator where I had an unpleasant encounter with a week old chicken, do groceries shopping, etc... Thanks good we have the jet lag so we can iron at four in the morning...

Post 27: Family Emergency

We had a phone call from France and my mother in law will have an eye surgery this week.

She is 82 years old and recently had a couple of health problem, she wasn't able to drive and feels isolated. She always had people living in her house, couples, singles. Family members or not they often spend months sometime years sharing her home. But at the moment there is no one.

Her daughter takes care of her, but she doesn't live close buy and has a full time job.

I offered to take care of her and keep her company for a while. It was a spontaneous reaction, no after thoughts, I am very happy to be helpful. She also lost a lot of weight and I am planing on fattening her up and cook all her favorite meals.

As a bonus I will be able to see my family too, and the best part I will have them all to myself...

Post 26: Be or not to be new me

There is another reason why I want to create a softer image for myself. Somehow I always had that image of someone with a strong personality, intimidating, inapproachable almost cold.

But this first impression was never me inside. I have to admit playing with it sometime. For instance people will never bother me in the street, I often have to give an opening for someone to talk to me. It is very convenient when you rather be left alone and you can also target people to whom you want to talk too. I am also reserved, if not timid. And don't give my confidence easily. But when you get to know me, I am the total opposite. I am a fun, loving person, who doesn't take herself seriously. Today after overcoming all the challenges life threw at me, I am confident enough to disclose the true me and be softer more approachable. And a soft casual look will help me in the prospect.

It will also help me on a professional level, as the first impression is the lasting one. If I get an interview I want my image to be of someone confident in her professional abilities, comfortable in her own skin, open minded and warm...

Post 25: Hight heels

Aside from diminishing my physical activities to non existent.

My back problem also affects my "Style". I can't were high heels anymore, or only for a very short time. And I pay for it the next day...Every one who knows me also know that I am a shoe lover, it is my favorite accessory and I have over a 100 pairs. There is certainly worst things in life than not be able to were your favorite pair of shoes. But at the same time it also affect who you are as a person, you need to reinvent a new Style with those limitations.

Since I am not working at the moment I also need to be more on the casual side, but I still want to be fashionable, how vain...It wouldn't be fair to mention that I enjoy the process. Yes you can be comfortable and fashionable at the same time. The new me will be softer, laid back and more approachable.

Post 24: Healthy back

To get back a healthy back, I have a plan.
Patience, perseverance and commitment are the key words. As you already know I do religiously every morning 30 minutes of stretch and abs. I know exactly what I need and increase the amount and difficulty I progresses. I hope to get in shape and be able to do Yoga and Plates on a regular basis, but also waking. Now I can only walk for about 20minutes, I love walking and enjoy nature and the outdoor. We discovered Utah and its beautiful red mountains and arches. In fact we loved it so much that we went back twice already and we bought a house in Arizona it also has a magnificent desert with cactus I've never seen before. I want to explore it through. See the sun set and the sun rise as we camp in the open. As a family we try to do active vacations ski, scuba diving, tracking, we even went rappelling in a water fall, last year. I want to do it again, and I will.

Post 23: Always hopful

One of my most important goal would be to solve my back pain.

If you never had back pain you can't understand the extend of the damage it does to life. The pain is always there and fluctuate from severe to moderate. If someone will see me they would never know that I am in pain. It doesn't prevent me from doing what I have to do on a daily basis, I just keep it to a minimum.

It all started almost a year ago. I went to different doctors tried different things. Each time it helps at somelevel and you gat hopeful. When you try something new you have to give it a couple of month to see any effects, that's why it's such a long process to find the one thing that will work for you. I don't want medication at this point; which will only remove the pain but will not solve the problem.
Someone said, when you tried a thousand things that failed you are that much closer to find the one thing that will work.

Today I went to see a rhumatologist, more test, more x-rays, I try to be patient. The doctor was patient answered my questions, there is nothing worst than a doctor in a hurry, generalising, not listening to you and rushing a prognostic. I will not relent until I found the right treatment for me, only hopping that I wouldn't need to try a thousand things to get there.

Post 22: Habitat for Humanity

Yesterday I went to a volunteer meeting for Habitat for Humanity. This somthing I had in mind for a while but never found a project close enough.

This charity takes old buildings and remodel them into affordable housing, with help of donations and volunteering work. Habitat doesn't give away the house the family have to meet some criteria. The families selected are hard working people with a full time jobs that would be able to pay for a credit. Habitat doesn't make any profit on the home, they sale it at cost. The family also needs to work on their own home for a total of 400 hours, they can get help from family members and friends. There is a huge demand for affordable housing in Bergen County and many families commit to these requirements and hope to own a house one day.

I know very well the house which was selected this time in Waldwick. I drove by so many times asking myself why such a beautiful home wasn't rehabilitated. It is a large house on a main street that was left to decay for years. This is the project chosen by the Habitat for Humanity comity and would be divided in four units. I saw the sign last week, and just knew that this was a perfect opportunity for me. It's funny how things work sometime...

I signed up for two days a week and I am very exited at the prospect to help a family in need.

All volunteers work under supervision of a professional and are not required to have any particular skills, just the time and hart to make this happen.

I am hopping to get my family involved if only for a day, you need to be 16 to take an active part in the construction.

Post 21: Fall blues

As we proceed slowly into fall, I feel a little nostalgic, fall always makes me fell that way.
If I had to give a world to each season it would be nostalgia for fall, stillness for winter, hope for spring and joy for summer.

I spend a lot of time in front of my computer reconnected with some long lost ones. It's funny how with some friends, even if you see them every couple of years, it always seams that you saw one another last week. The conversation is easy and there is so much to say... and with others you just drift apart...and what to say about those I have scattered all over the world during my expat years and have such slight chance to see again. I marvel at people who spent all their life in one place and have friends from middle school. But I have no regrets only souvenirs...