Girls Gone Abroad

All the last minute thoughts and lists, go to the tailor, the dry cleaner, the eye doctor, the garden center... Wait a minute you ask, what does gardening have to do with France? Well, nothing really, but it is the right time here in Colorado to start the spring veggie crop so I have to get that done before we leave... As if I didn't have enough other things to think about! I guess fresh lettuce and peas upon return will make my Saturday plan worthwhile, but I would much rather be shopping for that last minute find to add to the wardrobe.

Sandy and Shan are getting psyched, it is finally feeling a reality, and those loose plans made while drinking wine a year ago are finally a reality! Of course, all of us are bummed a bit about the lousiness of the dollar value, but trying very hard to not let it get us down. Sandy emailed today, wondering if we should take a shuttle from the airport... She is so cute (and will be mad when reading this), but I had to reassure her that my anal-ness knows no bounds and I have our bases covered for getting from CDG to our apartment, not to mention all other transportation needs for the entire trip!

We have done our "practice pack" to ensure we can get to France with just a carry-on size suitcase, but somehow my stuff didn't fit. BTW, it was my idea to "carry-on" and now I am trying to sell the "check it" idea... I am justifying my extra stuff as "I have all the maps, guide books, internet info, apartment keys, yada yada yada, in my bags" as why I just can't manage to make the carry-on work. It still isn't totally decided, I have some compression bags to try, but I am really leaning toward not wanting to lug my suitcase around Chicago O'Hare for our 7 hour layover!

Sandy is practicing her 30 extremely important French words (hello, goodbye, how much, where is the bathroom?, etc) and Shan is winging it (i.e., planning to speak Spanish and hope someone understands!), while I am getting ever increasingly nervous that my highschool french and the last couple years dabbling with the tutor will get me through!

So, I don't think anything really remains to be done, yet it seems that EVERYTHING remains to be done! I don't think we'll stop shopping for things to bring or wear until we are stepping on the plane in Chicago, but that has been half the fun of planning the trip, at least for Sandy and me, Shan would probably say it is stressful! This is it then, the last seven days, I hope the trip is at least as much fun as we have had planning this adventure for the last year. If nothing else, it has given us copious times together drinking wine and enjoying each other's company!

Finally, I have been trying to get some pictures of Sandy on the blog, but the ones I have are too big (man I could make a joke here about Sandy's attitude...) so you will just have to wait to see our threesome!