Happy February Everyone!

After a long silence from me, I'm finally ready to post. Before I get so ambitious as to provide anything thing like 'news' or novel information, I, too, need to recap.

In all of Brad's wonderful accounts of our fall adventures, he forgot to mention visits from three very special and important ladies, which I think cannot continue to go unnoticed:

1) In October, my dear mother decided hop a flight across the pond to pay me a visit. Brad and

I were both very excited to show her a window into our lives here (though I think my excitement trumped Brads...). During her all too brief visit, we enjoyed foliage which reportedly rivaled Vermont's this year, finally checked out the Musée de Grenoble for a casual viewing of

fine art, headed north to see Annecy in the rain, and hopped a Big Fast Train west to Paris. And of course, as expected, we enjoyed some ridiculously delicious food.

2) When I took my mom to

the airport in Paris, I actually did a a little switcheroo and picked up Morgan, who flew out from New York to get Frenchified for a few days. We hung out with Eileen in her cute little apartment, did what all Americans do visiting Paris (dress the same and make silly dance videos, obviously) and also drank the coolest cocktails ever. Next we took the Big Fast Train back to Grenoble and I reveled in my joy at being back in my livable home-city. We ate delicious fondue, bought some stuff and almostgot blown off a mountain before heading even further east over the border to Torino. Once in Italy Morgan blew me away with her tenacious grasp on the Italian language.

Thanks to her communication skills, we were able to makethe best of would otherwise have been just a really rainy two days. We went to the world's coolest museum (Musuo Nazionale del Cinema) and ate the most delicious fresh pasta which I am still dreaming about.

Finally, it was time to part ways and I headed back to Grenoble while Morgan pioneered on to a rainy Milan.

At the end of the visit, I asked Morgan "what was your favorite part of the trip?"

And she replied "You are going to be so pleased with yourself, I don't even want to tell you. The hike."

3) After spending all fall in Paris, Eileen made it to Grenoble to pay me a visit just before we both headed home for the holidays. Brad was wading his way through the thick of exams and still managed to be a great host to my dear friend from home.

While her visit was altogether too short, we had some beautiful weather and managed to make it up into the snowy dream land of Belledonne. We also had a delicious raclette dinner with my ladies english group; and drank some very tasty green chaud at the festive Christmas markets.

Next up on the visits list:

Carrie, Thad and Brian will be joining us for 9 days of skiing starting next week (it is also noteworthy that Carrie and Thad have already been here twice in January!!)

and

Julian who will cross two continents and an ocean to visit with us in April.

Thank goodness for French school vacations!