Good News!

GOOD NEWS

("Rainy Day" Paris Notre Dame - artist, unknown)

As you know, while we were in Paris (last October) mom, Peter and I were already planning our return trip. The first thing that we did was reserve our lovely little rental apartment with Suzane (the owner). She quickly said yes and, w/ that peace of mind, when we returned home we put our 'return plans' on the back-burner. Well, now that my Spring Semester is over @ BenU, I've begun to plot in earnest our return to Paris. I'm extremely thrilled to announce that we will be returning to the city of light and love in October 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know that it's been a good long while since I last blogged. As per usual, my life has been incredibly 'full.' But the months of April and May are, for me, especially frenetic. The children's summer sports have already begun and its the busiest time of my teaching semester (last few weeks of classes, grading final papers, tabulting final grades, etc).

Right now the only obstacle is airfare prices - they're incredibly high, @ $1K. Multiply that by 6 and you'll understand when I say EEK! But I'm expecting the fares to drop over the next month or so - Goddess please! But, believe it or not, airfare is the priciest part of our trip. Everything after that is cake (or, rather, gateau). You would not believe how cost effective it is to: a) rent an apartment, instead of staying in a hotel. b) renting an apartment with a full sized (and fully equiped) kitchen - being able to cook literally cuts total expenses in half (maybe even more). So, never fear, SistahDiva is working all the angles and is on the job ;)

But there's other interesting Paris news as well...

Sistah-writer

Me in my element

10 July 1994 was the night that my beloved elder sister - Rory - died. She was only 24 years old (I was 23). As I sat vigil over Rory I watched a particularly gorgeous sunrise, through the large picture window beside her hospital bed. At that moment, I vowed that I would live life to the fullest; that I would squeeze every ounce of life from every moment that I had left in this world. I'm proud to say that, for the last 15+ years I have remained true to that vow. Over that time, my horizens have expanded - now to present day...

I've reached out to a few of my magazine/publishing contacts and am trying to get a contract to write a short-to-medium length feature story on Paris. My aim is to not only write a feature article to be published, but to have my photographs be published along with the article as well. While I've been writting for awhile (academically) and working as a free-lance photographer (for the last 3 years), this is the first time that I've tried to marry the two professionally.

While the fantasy was slow to develop, it has slowly but surely coalesced. I would love to dedicate a slice of my life to being a travel writer/photogapher. Am I formally trained? NO. Do I have any cronies or contacts in the business? Well, maybe. All I know is that I want to try. But what I do know is that my sister would be proud of me. I can hear her, in my ear, saying - go girl, get it. So I'm gonna do exactly that.

I'll let you know what happens.

So, while I've been away for a long while (too long), I just had to tell you the good news.

Vivre, de rire, de l'amour,

Temple