Paris, December 27th

The boulangerie was closed on Mondays. Booooo. We planned on seeing the France 1500 exhibit at the Grand Palais, so we walked over to the right bank and went to the first restaurant we saw near the Louvre. It was crappy craperton... also my cappucino was literally 9.5 euros... they said it was the best cappucino in Paris... reminded me of the movie Elf... also it was not the best cappucino in Paris. It was utterly forgettable. As we made our way towards the Grand Palais, we noticed that the line for the Ferris Wheel was not very long. Despite wife's objections to Ferris Wheels (I hate the ones where the seats rock), we bought two tickets. "Do you want to switch sides of the car?" husband asks midway through t

he ride, as he stares at the paralyzed with fear wife.... "um... no, you can look over your shoulder at the other side.

After the Ferris Wheel we headed to Laduree for some macaroons and champagne. God I love Paris.

The France 1500 exhibit was interesting. It was all artwork (mostly religious) from various parts of France that was produced around... you guessed it.... 1500. Tons of illuminated manuscripts, bibles, prayer books, etc. I have to say, I wasn't all that blown away by the exhibit. Not shockingly, everything produced in or around 1500 was religious and theme and, as it turns out, there isn't exactly a vast body of "events" to choose from to depict in artwork. I'd say that 95% of the exhibit was Annunciations, Baptism of Jesuses, Nativities, Crucifixions and Manifestations. They are pretty, no doubt, but it gets a wee redundant. There was an interesting Nativity where the cardinal of the day had himself painted into it as though he was there... that was a stretch of the time-space continuum, amongst other things.

For dinner we headed to Le Comptoir, recommended to us by Tony Bourdain. There are NO RESERVATIONS so we sat outside under badass heat lamps and shared a bottle of wine before they seated us inside. Oh, I know what you are thinking - how romantic... sitting french style outside an adorable bistro in Paris drinking wine...... YET... the French still smoke. Like Marlboro reds and like chain-smoke style. The couple sitting next to us had two cigarettes before their appetizer and another two in between the appetizer and entree and then another one before coffee showed up. Seriously people, smoking is bad for you... really bad for you. Stop already! Dinner, however, was pure awesomeness. We shared a plate of thin sliced Iberian ham for an appetizer and then husband had beef and I had the most amazing pork I've ever tasted.

Paris, December 26th

We landed in Paris after an uneventful flight where I watched the utterly forgettable "Eat, Pray, Love." The book might be more compelling, but the movie did not inspire any sympathy in me towards the character. "Oh my God! I'm so brave! I gained 10 pounds and am now only slightly underweight!!!!" "Oh my terrible problems, I'm glad I'm so wealthy I can take off a year of work with no fear and join my wealthy fellow Americans at exclusive ashrams in India!" Anyways... I'm probably being a bit harsh, but this was all that was available to watch on a long flight.

We were luckily able to immediately check into our hotel, the beautiful Hotel Pont Royal, beautifully situated 4 blocks from the Seine and 2 blocks from Eric Kayser, the boulangerie where I had croissant #1 out of 1000 of our seven day trip. We walked along the Seine near the Louvre and saw Notre Dame and St. Chapelle. We went for a crepe (sucre for me, nutella for husband) and went back to the hotel to nap. We arose from a very deep sleep for dinner at Chez Fernand, a second location (turns out the owner owns 8 restaurants in Paris). I had a phenomenal veloute of broccoli, the husband had terrine of pate, and we shared boeuf bourguinon for dinner. It was incredible! We mopped up every last drop of the sauce with bread. Then we had a gateaux du chocolat, which was also awesome and decadent, but my tummy was telling me (shouting, really) "STOP" Back to the hotel and fell asleep, only to wake wide awake around 2:30am. 4 hours of Harry Potter later, I fell back asleep and husband and I woke up around 11am.

Part 2: Paris, Texas

The rest of the time in Texas went something like this:

Saturday: Arrive Waco
Sunday: Depart Waco for Austin
Monday: Depart Austin for Waco, by way of Salado, dinner at Ninfa's with the Eastlands
Tuesday: Dr. Pepper Museum, shopping with Courtney
Wednesday: Tour unexplored areas of Waco (for husband)
Thursday: Uncle Dans for lunch, Ninfa's for dinner
Friday: Hardest workout ever, courtesy of JRM, cook like a fiend, Christmas Eve Dinner
Saturday: Christmas Breakfast, Depart Waco for Paris!

Highlights: Austin was great as usual, and Chris and Caroline are amazing hosts. After a devastating Giants loss to the Eagles, the gals headed to the Domain, this awesome outdoor mall in Austin (it was like 80 degrees that day) and the boys played some pool. We had dinner at Peche, a french restaurant downtown with pre-prohibition style cocktails (think no vodka, and absinthe). They were heavy on the gin, so yours truly was happy. The boys decided they decidedly did NOT like absinthe. Perhaps they didn't believe the girls when we said it "tastes like black licorice" as when they took their first sips, they each exclaimed "gross, it tastes like black licorice." It also looks like a margarita that's been left out overnight. Not really my cup of tea. Blood sausage and sweetbreads on the other hand? I'm your gal. Needless to say, we had a great night.

I was born and raised in Waco, Texas, am 27 years old, and until December 2010, I had never stepped foot in the Dr. Pepper Museum. It was interesting enough, especially from the perspective of the history of the bottling industry. Husband loved learning that the bottle deposit used to be 2 cents (on a 5 cent bottle), whereas now, it's like 5 cents on a $1.99 bottle - people had a much greater motivation to return them then! Below is a picture of "Dr. Schnee", the version of Dr. Pepper sold in St. Louis that husband drank growing up!

Christmas Eve was a lot of fun. We had a dinner of beef tenderloin, cheddar mashed potatoes, black beans and rice, jalepeno-cheddar cornbread, southwestern corn, roasted brussels sprouts with bacon and dessert of brownies, flan, cookies and pie. We were all stuffed, especially since I ate half of the cheese before putting into the potatoes AND we had to go out for one last lunch of Chik fil A before leaving Texas. Seriously Chik Fil A, open in the East. You'll make a killing. Off husband and I alone. I slaved away joyously in the kitchen most of the day (oh Texas and your big houses with two ovens and tons of counter space!). Husband hand-mashed the potatoes into the most silky smooth perfection you've ever seen. It was truly a work of art. We then enaged in my mother's fascist gift-exchange program, which lasts at least 6 hours, regardless of the number of people in attendance and number of gifts. Each person is given one gift at a time and we all have to watch that person open his/her gift and ooo and ahhh over it before anyone can dare touch another present. I'm not bitter. The finale was an etching we all bought my mother by an artist of some notoriety up East. Copyrigh laws, alas, prevent me from posting it here. You can view it here though, http:www.helenfrank.com/#179898/A-Glass-of-Guinness. The fella on the left is a spitting image of her father, my late grandfather.

Christmas Day we had brunch at my aunt and uncle's house and then headed to the Waco airport (2 hours ahead of flight, oh dear husband). We got through security and waited the 1 hr, 45 minutes until our flight to Houston. There were 6 people on our plane. Incidentally, ALL of our bags were searched. I mean ALL 6 of us. They didn't find anything. I think security at the Waco airport is just bored. Wouldn't you be? Also, news to me! You know board planes in Waco via a Jetway! Really moving up in the world :)

Part 1: Paris, Texas.... as in Paris & Texas, not to be confused with Paris, Texas.

On December 16th, the husband and I made our way (back home) to the Lone Star State. First stop, NorthPark mall where we ate P.F. Changs, my husband judged me for drinking a beer at noon (hello, we're on vacation thank you!) and we finally sorry Harry Potter 7, part un.

Random side story. Husband, until around December 10, 2010, had never seen a Harry Potter movie or read a Harry Potter book. "Trix are for kids" seemed to be his motto. Well, hesnapped out of THAT quickly. We watched a marathon of Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban and the Goblet of Fire on a Sunday. Man was HOOKED. By Tuesday, he didn't even wait for me to get home from work to watch Half Blood Prince, as he just "assumed because I saw it recently, I didn't need to see it again." Translation? I am hooked to the kids' movies and I can't wait two hours to watch it with you. I even got the following emails at work "When are Ron and Hermione going to realize they are in love?????", followed by "Wait, Snape is EVIL?" Anyhoo, to my great pleasure husband was chomping at the bit to see HP7p1 and now I have a fellow obsessive devotee to stand in line with me for the midnight showing on July 11, 2011. Oh, and now husband declares we have to see it in Imax too.

So anyways, after the movie we headed up to see Sarah and Matt. We saw their giganticapartment, played with a very riled-up Riley Cat and headed to Uncle Julio's to satisfy wifey's "fix" of mexican food. There are serious withdrawal symptoms when I'm away from this stuff my friends...... The next day husband and I traveled to Dealey Plaza and went to the museum in the book depository. We then toured homes in Highland Park, where husband is trying his best to convince wife we should live. STAT.

That night the "dance moms" and daughters got together for dinner and the Nutcracker at Bass Hall in Forth Worth. We had such a good time at Fondue we didn't realize what time it was and basically had to stuff the dessert fondue in our purses as we fled the restaurant for the theater. Seeing the Nutcracker brought back such happy memories of our childhood/teenage years. It's so wonderful that all of the mommies and daughters are still friends after 20 years :)

Sunday morning, husband met the mommies and daughters for breakfast and Sarah, husband and I began the trip down to Wacko. Oh Wacko.......

Next time on Paris, Texas: Austin, Texas, the Dr. Pepper Museum, and more Mexican food.