A Home Away From Home

Time to find a Home

It’s 2013 – this is the year I plan to move to France. I’m so excited! As I am making my plans, finalizing budgets, and getting organized, I started looking at apartments to rent.  What fun!!

At first I searched the Internet for short-term private apartment rentals. I was pleased to find many options to choose from, and was glad that they also had reviews from travelers who have previously rented the apartments, with comments on their experience with the process, the apartment and the neighborhood.  The only drawback I found was the rental fees make it a little pricy for just one person, unless I just rent a studio, which I’m certainly open to.

Last night I was watching a Rick Steve’s travel program, and he mentioned renting a room in a home as an option for accommodations.  I hadn’t even thought of that.

So today I started searching the internet and found

(http://www.appartager.com/)

The basic membership is free, and you can set your search criteria for a specific neighborhood, duration of stay, type of room-mate (age, male/female, student/professional, smoking/non-smoking, etc.), and type of accommodations you require. So far I found quite a few potential rentals to choose from.

Now I can’t wait to finalize my actual travel dates so I can confirm where I might be living!

Have you had any experiences with renting a private apartment in Paris (or other European cities) for an extended stay (3-6 months) or have you rented a room or otherwise shared accommodations with a private party?  If so, I’d love to hear your feedback as I continue my planning for my  exciting sabbatical.

Ten Songs: Keeping Paris on my Mind

I am just thinking about Paris, wishing I was there right now. Usually when I’m in one of these moods I listen to a French playlist I created on iTunes. This time I decided that I’d listen to some English language songs that are about Paris.  Many of these videos have great photos to go along with the music. Enjoy!

1. “A Rainy Night In Paris” by Chris De Burgh

2. “By The Seine” by The Crookes

3. “Down In The Seine” by Style Council

4. ”When Paris Was A Woman” by Melissa Manchester

5. “Bonjour, Paris” by Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Kay Thompson

6. “From Baltimore To Paris” by Go West

7. Paris Je T´Aime – I Love Paris by Cole Porter & Ella Fitzgerald

8. “The Metro” by Berlin

9. “Parisian Cafe Blue” by Scrounger

10. “Summer In Paris” by DJ Cam

All Aboard: Amtrak’s California Zephyr

I’m so excited! I just booked my tickets to travel from California to Denver on the California Zephyr Amtrak line in early July. I’ve flown across the country several times, but the vantage point of being down on “ground level” should be an incredible way to see the US countryside.

As I mentioned in my “Fake it ’till you Make it” blog post, this is one of the experiences I want to have in the United States before moving to France.

I always take trains when I’m traveling in Europe, but I’ve only ever taken the US rail system up and down the State of California, or on a short journey in Illinois — but no more than a four or five-hour trip on any occasion. This trek will take 30.5 hours and I’ll be taking photos and documenting my journey along the way.

Even though I’ll only be going as far as Denver on this excursion, I plan to take the train from California to New York city later this year, perhaps in the late fall or early winter.

Don’t worry

Keep this in your pocket at all times, and refer to it often:

Keeping the Dream Alive

In day-to-day life, it can be difficult to stay focused on your dreams. Between work, family commitments, and those little things that come up along the way, you can lose track of time and before you know it you’re looking back over the past day, month or year, and wondering – Where did the time go?

As a person with two pretty large dreams (finishing my novel and moving to France), it’s very important to do something daily to stay focused.

I try to write something daily, whether it be a chapter, a paragraph or just some ideas to enhance my characters’ personalities. But on those days when things come up, i.e., migraine, unexpected visit from an out-of-town friend or relative, or just pure exhaustion, I have come up with a few things that keep the project in mind.

As far as the move to France goes (now just over a year away), I can’t necessarily do something every day to move me closer, but I can do something daily to keep it on the top of my mind.

The new Vision board – Pinterest
For my novel, a historical fiction piece taking place in 1889 Paris, I find and “pin” pictures from that time period (clothing, hairstyles, furniture, etc.), or even pictures of people who look like my characters, then I refer to these pictures as I’m writing. With Pinterest.com, this is now very easy and there’s always something that keeps me inspired.

Music
I love music, so for both my novel and my goal of living in France, I have made iPod playlists I can listen to while driving, doing house work or just relaxing. I have about a few hundred French songs from many different era’s and listening to them immediately get’s me dreaming of Paris.

Movie Night
When I am just exhausted and don’t have the energy to do much else, I watch French films or period pieces (sometimes both in one film). I love listening to the language and I learn a few new words each time. The period pieces are great because they usually have great costumes and they remind me of the way people spoke and interacted back in those days.

Reading
The other thing I have been doing a lot of is reading books that were written in the 1880′s and by French authors. This immediately transports me to the time period I am trying to keep at the forefront of my mind.

For my move, I read books written by people who have already done what I want to do. It’s inspiring to learn what it took for these authors to make the move, and read about the adventures they had (or are having) living in a foreign country.

Do you have a big dream? What do you do to keep yourself inspired and focused?

A little bit of Paris in San Francisco

On Saturday, my good friend Wendy took me and a couple of girl friends to see the Jean Paul Gautier exhibit at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. In a word, it was AMAZING! Not only were the ensembles gorgeous, but the manner in which they were presented was ingenious. Gaultier partnered with the Montreal-based theater company Ubu Compagnie de Création in the design of 30 animated mannequins who talk and sing in playful and poetic vignettes ~ and whose eyes seem to follow you.

The show: The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk will be on exhibit at Herbst Special Exhibition Galleries at the De Young Museum from March 24, 2012 through August 19, 2012.

This dynamic, multimedia exhibition includes 140 haute couture and prêt-à-porter designs created between the mid-1970s and 2010, along with numerous sketches, archival documents, fashion photographs, and video clips that spotlight Gaultier’s collaborations with filmmakers, choreographers, and musicians, most notably Madonna.

Dubbed fashion’s “enfant terrible”, Jean Paul Gaultier launched his first prêt-à-porter collection in 1976 and founded his own couture house in 1997. Emerging as a designer in the 1970s, he developed his own dress codes that reflected the changing world around him. Despite the gritty and sometimes controversial context of his collections, the clothes remain beautiful, superbly crafted with the finest dressmaking and detailing skills.

Gaultier, who enjoys mixing the historical with the avant-garde in his fashions, used similar tactics with his dresser made of luggage and a highboy made of attaché cases.

 

I would definitely call this a MUST SEE Exhibit. My friends and I left inspired and planning a trip to the fabric store to purchase some materials to try our hand at designing something fun.

Visitors are strongly encouraged to purchase tickets in advance. Tickets are neither refundable nor exchangeable.

For Tickets and Information
Adults $20, seniors 65+ $17, students with current ID $16, youths 6–17 $10, members and children 5 and under free.

Setbacks and Roadblocks – You won’t get me down!

Really?

Has this ever happened to you?

You set a huge goal, and work towards it daily. You make great strides. You just know you are going to accomplish it very soon. The sun is out, birds are singing. You are happy!

Then all of a sudden you hit a roadblock. A setback that could seriously take you off course from achieving your dream. A dark cloud appears. Then a downpour. And you left home without an umbrella.

Well, this just happened to me and my France Project!

As I was preparing my taxes last week, I found out that instead of getting a refund, I actually have to pay! And not just a couple hundred dollars, but thousands! UGH!

Well, I am determined NOT to let this hamper my dream of living in France. I just need to figure out how to save a lot more money over the next year, in order to cover this unexpected financial setback.

So I’m looking for money. Anywhere. And everywhere.

I’m scrutinizing my budget and searching for areas I can skim a little here and there to increase my savings account, all the while enjoying my life and not becoming a complete recluse. A girl still needs an occasional glass of wine with friends. A movie night. An ice cream cone. Happy hour.

I have thought seriously about cutting off my cable TV or at least cutting out premium channels, and just having basic cable.  I will call Comcast and see how much this would save each month. If it’s large enough, I’ll do it. And it shouldn’t be too painful, I just need to find a friend who has Showtime and AMC  so I can watch Nurse Jackie, Dexter, Breaking Bad and Mad Men.

Then I had an Aha! moment. As I analyzed my budget and spending habits, I found the sneakiest money suck in my life: Dining out. Almost daily.

As a single person, I eat many of my meals at restaurants with friends, order take out or have something delivered.

A typical day looks something like this:

Breakfast

Stop at Starbucks on my way to work and pick up a Grande soy latte and a bowl of oatmeal ~ $6.60

Lunch

Pick up a burrito bowl and an iced tea at Chipotle ~ $9.27

Dinner

Meet a friend for dinner at a neighborhood Bistro or get take out Chinese ~ $20.00

That’s $35.87 a day! Not to mention this also costs me a bazillion calories!

Even if I only eat out during the work week, and eat my weekend meals at home (doesn’t happen) this is still costing me $179 per week, and a whopping $9,326 a year! (Not to mention the groceries I still purchase.)

YIKES!! That’s an eye opener if I ever saw one!

Well, it’s time for a change.  Enter my new dining plan.

Breakfast: Healthy and Yummy!
This tip came from my colleague Robin: Make a pot of steel-cut oatmeal at the beginning of the week, then spoon single serving portions into small plastic storage containers, and keep them in the refrigerator to eat during the remainder of the week.  At breakfast time, just add a small amount of hot water, stir and add frozen blueberries (or other fruit) to make the cereal more interesting, and heat in the microwave.
Cost of Oatmeal per serving: 33¢
Cost of fruit per serving  20¢
Coffee from work – free!
Total: 53¢
That’s a savings of $6.07 per day for breakfast

If I want to switch out my breakfast with another cereal or eggs every other day, the cost is about the same and I get some variety.

Lunch : Welcome back little brown bag!
Turkey sandwich with tomato and lettuce ~ $1.48
Piece of fruit or veggie sticks ~ 25¢
Cookie or granola bar ~ 20¢-50¢
Make iced tea at work – free!
Total: $2.23
That’s a savings of $7.04 per day for lunch.

Dinner: Where’s my apron?
This one is a little tricky for us single folk, but with a little creativity, we can keep these costs down, while not eating the same thing every night or tossing the leftovers.

I decided I will shop for and cook four separate meals, each serving 4, at the beginning of the week. That’s where those handy-dandy plastic containers come in again. Portioning out into single servings, I can freeze half of the containers and keep the other half in the refrigerator, ready to eat. That’s two weeks of prepared meals, including two I can take to work for lunch, instead of a sandwich.

I’ve averaged out the cost of creating meals like:
* Chicken and rice with vegetables
* BBQ Steak and vegetables
* Spaghetti with meat sauce

* Tacos or Burritos
* Salad
* Stew
* Chile
* Soup

These meals average about $3-$5 per serving.
That’s a savings of over $15.00 per day on dinner.
For a grand total of $27.61 per day savings on these three meals.
An annual savings of $7,178.60 - over eating out five days a week.

When you look at it like that, it makes perfect “cents”!

What have you done to save money or curb your spending habits? I could use all the suggestions I can get!