I’m An Aunt!

And isn’t she adorable!

After so much anticipation (there may or may not have been multiple phone calls home from France to check on the baby status), Dana and Ray welcomed their daughter Cassidy Rae Geimer into the world and to our crazy family on September 21.

I got the news while at work, about to leave for Minneapolis, and immediately broke down in happy tears. My sister was finally a mom and I was now an aunt…we were officially the three amigos! And on Sunday I finally got to meet the little girl.

As expected, she is perfect in every way with a calm personality (just like her mom), full head of hair (thanks to both mom and dad) and pouty lips that will drive the guys (and subsequently, her dad) crazy when she gets older.

I can’t wait to see her grow up and provide the same guidance and memories my crazy aunties provided to me: playing drunken Barbie, telling her funny stories about her parents, teaching her how to use make-up, taking her to her first pedicure and providing insightful advice into dating and men, These next few years are going to be fun…Watch out Cassidy!

An Eating Tour of France

I must preface the following with a few confessions: 1) I don’t really like the French (or at least the Parisians I have met so far, 2) I don’t really like French food or even their wine and 3) I haven’t been proper camping –tent, coleman grill, shared bathrooms camping – in at least 8 years…so why I thought that a driving tour through France, eating French Food (albeit primarily cheese) and drinking French wine for a week, followed by a week of camping on the beaches of Biarritz, all for my 30th birthday was a good idea, I am not quite sure. However I am sure that, looking back, it was one of my favorite trips to date. It turns out that I really don’t mind French food, I LOVE their wine and cheese and we were greeted by nothing but friendly French people, willing to work with our limited French skills. That, and I kind of like camping.

The following are the stories from the road (and beach) and as always, are posted on the date of occurrence, so read up from the beginning (Aug 28th).

Happy reading and bon appetite!

On a side note: while I had a general idea as to what we would be doing during our trip through France, I had no idea what the specifics were. Martin, being his amazing self, planned the entire trip, everything from where we would go, where we would stay and what we would do…it was absolutely perfect!

Packing Up Camp

Camping in bad weather and rain is one thing. Packing up camp in the rain to head back home is a completely different story – all except for one aspect –we managed to laugh through this experience as well as the previous storm.

We woke up to rain again on Thursday morning, the day we had been dreading all week, the day we had to leave. Like all other days, the rain was off and on, but unlike the other days, the rain didn’t eventually stop…in fact, it only got worse. So while Martin ran to get coffee at the restaurant (we couldn’t make our own due to the rain) I tried to busy myself by packing up the inside of the tent and hoping that we would get a break in the weather to take down the tent. Unfortunately for us, the break never came.

Instead of prolonging the inevitable, Martin and I set about to take down the tent in the pouring rain…or in reality, Martin took down the tent and I rotated between helping and running for cover in the car when the rain got too heavy. In the end, what could have been a 15 minute project, took a little longer.

After a hot shower we were finally in the car and at least physically ready to go home…and thankfully we were still laughing about the rain and continued laughing after realizing we had an umbrella that we could have used. Being able to laugh together was a huge testament to just how great the vacation was.

Just three days later, I was back to work in San Francisco, but my mind was still on that beach, enjoying the evening sunset with Martin.

San Sebastian and Biarritz

With the weather not absolutely perfect for the beach on a few days, we took the opportunity to take in the surrounding towns with day trips to San Sebastian and Biarritz.

On Monday we headed south and over the border to San Sebastian, Spain. After being in small towns for 2 weeks, we were just slightly overwhelmed being back in a city. We somehow found our way around the city center, down the main shopping street, out to the beach (great for being in a city, but nothing compared to our one back “home”), through a few churches and a stop for lunch, a unique dining experience where plates were lined up on the bar and we individually selected what tapas we wanted. With most of the shops closed from 1:30-3, Martin and I agreed it had been a thorough tour and headed back to our beach in time for an afternoon swim and surf.

On Wednesday we headed north to the small, but slightly ritzy beach town of Biarritz. With Martin’s expertise we walked along the beach, stopping to watch the surfers (beginners and pros alike), hiked up the hill to get views from the lighthouse (closed for the day due to weather), another stop to watch the surfers and then a quick stroll through the main shopping street. Similar to San Sebastian, we accidentally timed our trip during the afternoon break, so most shops were closed…yes, our timing was impeccable, but we weren’t too fussed. After a few days camping we had already got into our routine and were content to stay on our beach, doing nothing.