Of procrastination

Hammock time!
Originally uploaded by Kate is in Paris

I have had a nice quiet week this week. I have not left Paris in nearly a fortnight! I spent the weekend between quiet dinners and parties and got to sleep and relax. I cleaned the bathroom until everything sparkled. I have spent just about every night this week at home on the couch, mainly indulging my newest addiction and watching Hugh Laurie on House DVDs.

What I have not done is to get on top of my resume and get up to date on other various chores and tasks. I have long known it but I have become particularly conscious this week that I am a massive procrastinator. Anything that can be put off often is.

And so I have decided that it has to stop. I am officially going to make a big effort to end all the delaying, postponing, the procrastinating in short.

It is going to stop.

Tomorrow ;)

Full

Pre Catelan dessert
Originally uploaded by Kate is in Paris

I am feeling quite full. I got back last week from a week in the Burgundy region with my parents and cousin Bec. We seemed to do nothing but drive around these beautiful areas in the car and eat and drink before stopping again to eat and drink some more. We had some great meals and some excellent visits including Dijon, the Cote d'Or, Chablis and Beaujolais (especially Fleurie).

I cannot seem now to get back to normal. I have forgotten where the gym is and the weather is trying to make things harder by being horribly cold and rainy so that I crave hot, fried foods... The noises my stomach continues to make seem to have become second nature!

Thankfully, this week should bring things back on track a bit hopefully. I have started pretty sensibly and plan gym returns in the evenings, fixing my resume up for other progressive planning things and then finishing the week in the Alps at Musilac to dance for three days to a bunch of bands by the side of a lake. I can't wait!

In the meantime I am having telepathic cocktails for J to celebrate his birthday and quietly getting very excited about a certain fun filled trip to Chicago in just over a month to help Miss Gabi celebrate a milestone.

So, comme d'hab (as usual as the French would say), I would like to finish by sending pleasant thoughts to you all. Much bises.

Blogging uphill

Checking out a henge
Originally uploaded by Kate is in Paris.

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was forced for eternity to continue pushing a rock up a hill which would fall back to the bottom every time he got it to the top as a punishment (thank you Mr Internet).

It has been beginning to feel a bit like that with this blog. Whenever I feel like I am back on top of the hill, a number of months just vanish and you are none the wiser to all of my activities! Here I am back at the bottom of a steep hill it feels like faced with trying to update on all my goings-on since I was last here.

I have just been very good with the photos so click away, go enjoy them while I collect my thoughts to blog anew.

There are some pictures of EuroDisney, Porto, Moscow, Montmartre and the UK among maybe some others. All of these trips were great, Moscow too crazy almost to talk about at times. I have yet to put up some pics of our adorable cottage Christmas festivities in the UK. I will try and do so soon.

As I expect you all know too, I am just back from a whirlwind trip to the four corners of the world. I have crossed almost every time zone and gone from 37 degrees to minus 7 degrees! As always though I can't complain although, who am I kidding, you all know me and you know that I most likely will!

This not being Greek mythology but something more like real life, I will try and get out of the uphill mindset and come back again soon. In the meantime, go and check out the link to Gab's blog. She is great and she even talks about what I have been doing, much better than I ever could!

Seriously though, love to all as always. Bises.

High on a hill were some not so lonely goatherds

Alpine girls
Originally uploaded by Kate is in Paris.

The weather in Paris is already going down hill fast. I sat in the sun today at lunch time but secure in the knowledge that it will not be for much longer. The heaters are starting to be switched back on and the closed toe shoes are coming back. I am starting to actually vaguely appreciate the filthy sticky heat in the metro even occasionally!

With that in mind, I have been looking back to the pictures of the walk I did in the Alps at the end of August and the lucky spectacular weather we had. We were graciously welcomed to Tignes, our point of departure, by our host and organiser Cedric. Who then bore the full brunt of complaints through the trip like an absolute trooper. Which was necessary certainly from my point of view. Between leaving Tignes in snow! In August! The "quaintness" of the refuges we slept in and reluctantly forced ourselves to shower in. The pain of many unused and formerly unfamiliar muscles. The climbs, oh God the climbs.

In the end however a fabulous time was had by all and I was almost reconsidering my numerous flat refusals to ever again participate. We managed to end the weekend with one of my best French/Aussie lunches ever at Nick's Dad's place in Chambery. A five hour, charcuterie, salad, BBQ and cheese amongst other things, seven bottle of wine and glass of Chartreuse affair.

If you click through to the other photos on Flickr, you will witness the above Alpine lasses after the lunch rocking out in the back of Nick's car.

As for now, I have just found out that I will not be heading to Argentina as had been planned for this Sunday. I am very disappointed as it would have been my first time in South America and I was really looking forward to it.

Thankfully, when one door closes another one opens and I may be off to Moscow in November instead to judge. I will as always try and keep you posted.

Yodel on kids.

The Birthday partiers

The Birthday partiers
Originally uploaded by Kate is in Paris.

Well I am now back from Oz and settling in on the couch for a rest before going back to work tomorrow.

There are a whole set of pics on Flickr of the evening for you to have a peek at. Hope all are well. Bises

Nick and Celine

Nick and Celine
Originally uploaded by Kate is in Paris.

Well, they are officially leaving me. Nick has already gone off to London and Celine is off in a month to Brussels.

Thankfully we managed to squeeze in a fab farewell party for them on the weekend which was great fun.

Not long until I am off home for a couple of weeks and I have to say that I cannot wait. it is going to be so nice to see all the people back there.

Hope you enjoy all the new pics I have posted of Ljubljana and Slovenia, Toledo, Lake Como and the party.

Until next time. Party on dudes.

Vino Ljubljana

Vino Ljubljana
Originally uploaded by Kate is in Paris.

Check out the fierce level of concentration here! This is me recently in Ljubljana judging in a wine competition there.

I had a great week over there. It has been a while since I was able to add a new country to my list. It is a really pretty place and it was just a shame that the weather did not perform for us.

Other than that, life continues hectically. My Mum and Nana get into Paris today for the week which will be nice. I was in London all too briefly on the weekend with Celine helping Nick move his stuff over. It was quite some road trip as the weather has suddenly gone very hot and sticky here. Thus, spending over 6 hours a day squeezed into a van was not the best way to go. On the plus side, I was very impressed with the Eurotunnel system where you take your car through the tunnel in a big train.

The weekend before that was Ljubljana and before that Milan. That was a great weekend and I will post some pics shortly as I now have them developed. I can then comment those rather than do so here. Let's just say that much fun was had and copious amounts of gelati were consumed.

This weekend I will be in Paris. Thank heavens! It is going to be a quiet one for me trying to get my house in order a bit. I won't have another weekend here until the end of July!

The big conference in the Rioja starts on the 25th and I fly down there next Saturday. A week in a 5 star hotel with a pool should minimise stress from the lengthy week of work and social programme. As always, I will try and keep you posted.

Bises