What I am most excited about..

We should be moving around January 15th ! :)
There are many things I am looking forward to, here is a short list :

(picture of last Easter with my sister and my nephew, and people's legs in the background... I wish I had more pictures of the whole family!!)

#1 Family lunches/dinners.
Moving to France means visiting family members way more often! I am glad that our family has good relationships. Sunday lunches at my parents are great! My sister and her family come over, and sometimes my cousin Irene and her family too. I can't wait for it to become a new habit! I hope we can go around once a month.

#2 Inviting people over.
I can't wait to receive friends and family members for great american food :) Yay for social life!

#3 Travel.
Europe is small. :) We can drive to Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Italy in a few hours. We can take planes all over the place for a few dozen euros! Those are all week end options!

#4 More fun outings.
We can also visit around in France. So many beautiful cities, the smallest village will have 3 historical monuments. And we'll live by the banks of the Loire river, on of the last "wild" rivers in Europe...

#5 Markets, bakeries.
We can go get food at the local farmers' market, which is not some hype thing to do in France, but just a regular way to go shopping.. And you can go get fresh bread every morning for breakfast tartines. You can also go get some sweet treat for afternoon snack :)

#6 Getting a job.
I am not thrilled about going to work everyday, but I'm just thankful for the opportunity of being allowed to work. If I get to bring home some money before baby is here, all the better!

#7 Hands me down.
In France we'll have plenty of family/friends to give us stuff every now and then. Doesn't look like much but it can help a lot! :) Right now both my sister and a cousin are pregnant. It would actually be funny if we had a girl amongst all those little boys... :)

#8 Food.
I know many points in this list can refer to food, but I'll add it once more anyway. Cheese. The possibility to get REAL cheese. I guess I'll stay away from brie for an other few months, but really all pressed cheeses are fine otherwise. And fresh goat cheese :) And fontainebleau, and faisselle! :) (cheese strained?? some places translate it cream cheese, or cottage cheese, but definitely NOT cottage cheese in my opinion). All kinds of local specialties like crepes, choucroute, cassoulet, foundues, tartiflettes... YUM! I made myself hungry with this one!

#9 Culture and museum buddies.
I love America, but I also miss France. I miss going to the library and getting French books, I miss listening to French radio (Mr L has a iphone app to get french radio, but we haven't in a while). I am not too much of a visiting the latest exposition person, but sometimes I enjoy it. I think USA has very good opportunities for culture too, but I don't get the motivation here. For example when I call my mom she tells me about which movies or exposition she would like to go see, even if she never gets around to see it she makes me want to go along.. :)

I don't have a number 10! The things I think about most often are family and lifestyle. how great it's going to be when we go for those family gatherings! :)