COURCHEVEL, FRANCE

Last week the owners of Fat Tire Bike Tours, David & Kelly, treated all of the European managers and spouses to a wonderful excursion in the French Alps. We stayed in Courchevel and were able to ski three full days. It was an AMAZING trip and Jack is already trying to find out how we can go back again soon. We had perfect weather and were with a wonderful group of people. 

I'm almost as white as the snow

Courchevel has three valleys. We stayed in the portion of town called Courchevel 1650 (named after it's altitude). The area was used to accommodate several of the Olympic competitors from the 1992 winter games in Albertville, France. On our way up the mountain to our apartment, we drove right past the ski jumping stadium that was used.

Making my way down...slow and steady wins the race

I have been skiing probably half a dozen times in Colorado, and Jack only twice, but it's been six years since either of us had been on the slopes. To help us ease back into it, we both went to ski school for a few hours on the first day. Neither of us impressed our instructor. He quickly told Jack that he was the worst in the group, and that I simply couldn't ski the right way. Luckily, we are both pretty athletic and improved from our initial evaluations quickly, especially Jack. By the end of the week Jack had moved on from the easy green slopes to the steep reds with the rest of the veterans in our group. I didn't go with him on any of the advanced runs, but everyone said he did great.

Jack on the gondola on the way up. Our lodging was at the base of the slopes just feet from the lift. So great!

With the Robinsons

Graham, David (London Manager), Jack, & David (Jack's boss) - (L to R)

 Liam (left) & David (right) - London managers

Grabbing a drink at a local pub with Amanda and a few others. 

Graham (right) & Weston (left)

Leigh with David & Kelly's daughter, Caroline

Every night we would take turns making dinner. Everyone's favorite was when we got to use the Raclette. You take a wheel of cheese and melt it with this lamp. You spread the melted cheese over a plate of mixed cured meats, boiled potatoes, and grilled veggies. It's the most hearty meal you can imagine and is perfect after a long day in the snow.

We've been dying to travel since we moved here in October, and couldn't have asked for a better first trip. We already have Valentine's Day circled for our next adventure. I can't wait!

Joyeux Noël!

Merry Christmas from Paris. Jack and I have had a truly incredible day. It all started well before sunset (6:30am), as I woke Mr. Louis up to make sure he knew it was Christmas morning. After a quick pot of coffee, we were settled up next to the tree to get the festivities started.

Our tree is so sad...notice how dark it is outside when we are set to open gifts!

Our loot! I got a gift card to Zara and some cooking items! Jack's showing off his new watch, gloves, and oyster tray.

I didn't know about the Louis tradition of coffee cakes until a few days ago, but I quickly learned. Jack's grandmother and mom have made this for years, and I was instructed that it's not Christmas without it. Jack and I spent the majority of our Christmas Eve tending to his family recipe. We baked an incredible cinnamon sugar treat from scratch that we will be baking yearly from here on out. We had heard of so many last minute complications, and it was really involved, but for our first one ever, I think we did pretty good job! It was sooo good!

Along with the coffee cake, we had a great Christmas breakfast feast! After we ate way too much, we reclined on the couch for a movie before heading out for some fresh air and a walk through the city. We strolled through the Latin Quarter and into the Luxembourg Gardens. Today was the first day of sunshine that we have had in a while. It snowed earlier this week, and the gardens were still blanketed in pretty white.

A little window shopping...

Luxembourg Gardens

Bundled up...

Happy to find an English speaker to take our picture

It took us a while to warm up after our few hours in the 20 degree weather. We eventually began getting dinner ready. I know we write a lot about our meals, but this was our best ever. A sweet friend bought us a great bottle of Champagne for Christmas, and Jack used his new oyster tray at the raw bar around the corner. A plate of foie gras finished our starters off. Sooo French, huh?

After several phone calls from my family and Jack's (there's a lot of them), we were ready for the main event. Herb encrusted, beef tenderloin; potato gratin; and a mixed salad with pear, walnuts, and goat cheese. Bon appetite!

You will notice that the photos in this post are far above average from our normal work. My mom & dad treated Jack & I to a great new camera for Christmas. We love our new Canon Rebel! Check out the new slideshow feature on the right side of the blog for more high quality pictures of our perfect first Christmas together!

(also, though Christmas is coming to a close, I had to share my new favorite Christmas music: The Glee Cast Christmas Album to the right....Joyeux Noel!)

This and That from Jack

To say that I have been feeling the heat from the senior editor in chief of the Louis Ledger would be putting it lightly. Apparently when she made the move from Alabama to Paris to take over this publication, she thought that she had at least two contributors.

So, this week I bring to you an incredibly random collection of nothingness that helps me pass the time on the internet. Let's be honest, that's why you are looking at this blog...to simply pass the time.

---
We spend a lot of time following the triumphant campaign of Cam the damn man. Below on Letterman after picking up some hardware in NYC. 

---

I stumbled upon an incredible online radio station a while ago and have listened to it nonstop at work. It's called New Normal Music. The station started off by playing 50,000 songs in a row - none more than 12 months old, mainly indie rock. Some representative bands featured on the station include The Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, MGMT, Of Montreal and The Black Keys.

Click here to give it a listen on iTunes

Two of my friends blogs have great compilations of the best music of 2010. Bookmark these blogs. Taylor and Katy have some really rad stuff on there regularly.

www.goldrang.blogspot.com  and a-la-mode-kt.blogspot.com

or the professionals picks here, or my personal list which includes the Black Keys, Mumford and Sons, the National, Broken Bells, and the Gorrillaz (photo above from last months show in Paris) to name a few.

---

For all you mommy bloggers out there, I found this while surfing the interwebs yesterday. www.pregnantchicken.com. Amazing. 

---

Not a lot of Miller Lite and bourbon floating around Paris. I have taken a liking to Cognac, Armagnac, and Calvados in the interim. The middle bottle above is a 1987 bottle that I purchased at last months independent wine makers expo. Haven't opened it yet, but can't wait.

CHRISTMAS IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER

**We have some of our favorite Christmas songs to the right to help you get in the mood**

On Friday, we celebrated Christmas with friends and had a little cocktail party at our place. Our apartment hit a new record and can hold about 17 guests in our den area and that is pretty much max capacity. The highlight of the party was for sure the white elephant gift swap game. The Frenchies in attendance participated and I really think they enjoyed it, though normally the game takes a lot longer to play because everyone is stealing each other's gifts. I am not sure everyone grasped the rules. Jack was shocked. The French love to steal everything, including his bike (twice), but they were more interested in opening new gifts from under the tree on this night. We scored big time... ended up with a great Starbuck's coffee mug and a pizza cutter. I was happy. We will have to post pictures of the party later because we were to busy playing hostess to take any pics of our own. So, when we are able borrow (steal) pics from others, we will post them. In the meantime, here are a few holiday decor pics that I've captured around town.

Front entrance of Galeries Layfayette - one of the big department stores here.

Metro sign in front of Galleries Layfayette.

Our tree, which we bought the day after Thanksgiving. The French do not put their trees in tree stands with water. They use the cute little logs as stand, which I find really charming. The down side is that our tree is now dried out. Apparently, the French do not buy their trees until mid-December. In an attempt to keep our tree from drying out, we literally took the tree and put it in our shower for a 20 minute watering session. It didn't really work.

Jack putting the lights on the tree. It took all of 10 minutes to decorate.

The final product....our first Christmas tree!!!!

NOUVEAU CASINO PRESENTS BEST COAST

Friday, December 3 was my first GNO (girls night out) with two new friends, Amanda & Katy. We went to see a girl rocker band, Best Coast, at a really cool venue called Nouveau Casino. None of us had heard of the opening band before, but they turned out to be surprisingly entertaining. Spectrals is a British band with a lead singer that has a striking resemblance to Carrot Top in his teen years. They kept us entertained for about an hour and then Best Coast hit the stage. The lead singer sounds great live and we had a great view from the front row. I will not even attempt to give a real review of either band - I will leave that to the professionals. 

Getting ready for Best Coast to take the stage.

Leigh & Amanda. 

Leigh & Katy. 

Best Coast. 

Two New Markets

MARCHE AUX PUCES DE CLIGNANCOURT

Monday, I had a nice day with some great gals - Katie, Amanda & Suz. We explored a antique/flea market on the outskirts (by outskirts, I mean rough neighborhood) of Paris. We enjoyed exploring the stalls all containing unique items - suits of armor, chandeliers, pieces of furniture that go in that one room in your house where your Mom forbid you to sit in the chairs, creepy dolls, theatre props & costumes, silver bowls, paintings, Chanel tweed jackets...you get the point. I plan on going back with Jack when it warms up a bit around here (so basically not  until May). I was only able to get one pic from this adventure because many of the booths would not allow you to take pictures. There was actually a "no photo" sign, but I did not see it until after the below picture was snapped. Scouts honor!

Lot's of great finds here.

CHRISTMAS MARKET

Later that day we decided to head over to one of Paris's many holiday markets. Quite a large one was set up along the Champs Elysee. Booths lined the street and we managed to walk through the entire market and much to Jack's liking I'm sure, I did not purchase one thing! 

Amanda, Katie & Suz all sipping on vin chaud (mulled wine) in an effort to keep warm.

Champs Elysee with the Arc de Triomphe in the background. 

A giant vat of tartiflette, which is a hearty French dish perfect for this time of year. Jack and I made it several weeks ago and it is NOT low in calories.

Soaps.

X-Mas decor. 

SALON DES VINS DES VIGNERONS INDEPENDANTS

Last Sunday we went to the ultimate wine tasting. It was a ginormous wine expo of different independent wine makers from across France. We were joined by our partners in crime, Graham & Meredith Robinson. We tried wines from several different regions and the boys dabbled in other beverages - Armagnac and Cognac, while Mere and I stuck to wine and Champagne. We had a great time and it was the perfect way to spend a cold (and I mean cold...already snowing here!) Sunday afternoon. 

This pic does not do the expo justice. The building was huge and was made up of rows and rows of wine makers. No, we did not try them all. 

Jack getting his swirl and sniff on. 

Graham & Meredith Robinson.