June

I see I didn't manage to post anything in June.  It was a busy month, in mostly good ways.  I spent the first day of June in Paris, in an apartment near the Eiffel Tower with my mother, and I spent the last day of June in a hotel room overlooking Niagara Falls with my boyfriend ( I worked in between there, don't worry!)

Paris was, as it always is, wonderful.  It was a special treat to take my mother, who had never been there before.  I was last in Paris 8 months ago, at the tail end of a trip with friends that started in Rome and wrapped up in Paris.  I have done most of the touristy things, but was happy to do several again, for mom's sake.

We rented an apartment, since we were there for 8 days, and we would have killed each other in a hotel room.  Also, she snores.  She will probably come on here and deny it, but she does.  So does my boyfriend, but where you are allowed to kick your boyfriend in the middle of the night, and force him to roll over, one is generally expected not to do so with one's mother.  I figured separate sleeping areas would be the best solution.  An apartment really does give you the feeling of being a resident, if only for a short while.

I chose a place in the 7th arrondissement, as it is fairly quiet, and well connected.  The building was probably 19th century, and it was just what you'd want.  We were on avenue de la Motte Picquet, near Invalides, but also very near the Eiffel Tower and rue Cler.  It was a breeze to walk over one of the nearby bridges and be on the Champs Elysees, or to go the other way and be in Saint Germain des Pres.

We had amazing weather- much hotter than one expects in Paris.  I brought several outfits that I simply couldn't wear, but luckily had some skirts and sandals.  This week, I'll post some stories and things I learned, but for now, here are a few photos.

Our 'hood.

Mummy waving Hello

Mummy at the Flore

 

Morning Routine

A clock in Brussels... not too useful!

I have never been a morning person.  Literally never.  As a kid I didn't want to get out of bed; by my last year of high school, when people saw me at school before second period, they'd greet me in the hall with "What are you doing here?".  It didn't get any better in university.  For some reason I took a Psych 100 class at 8:30 AM in first year.  I went so infrequently that one day I decided to call the professor's office because I had an inkling a mid-term must be coming up.  It was that afternoon.  You can imagine how well I did, but at least I learned never to take a class before 10.

I even maintained some level of comfort with an early job at a bookstore; I made my own hours, so I often scheduled myself for 10-6:30 or 12:30 to 9.  I miss that... I don't miss the flimsy paycheque, however.

As I advanced (a bit) up the corporate ladder, the ability to sleep in has slowly evaporated.  Despite that, I still get to sleep in longer than most people.  I don't have kids, and my commute is an enviable walk of 15 to 20 minutes.  No traffic jams or public transportation to deal with, just the occasional downtown crazy homeless person.  A small price to pay for extra sleep!

The thing is, I have always envied Morning People.  They seem so together, so organized.  While they are calmly reading the paper and having a healthy breakfast, I am scrambling to find matching shoes and counting the toothpaste I swallowed as a breakfast food.  How do I become one of them?

Ideally, I'd like to get up about an hour earlier, which would give me enough time to hit the treadmill and eat without having to do it over the sink.  

I picture something like this:

6:30 Wake up, have water with lemon

6:40 Get on treadmill

7:10 Hit the shower

7:40 Have breakfast

8:15 Leave for work

This seems ridiculously easy; I'll bet 99% of the (5) people who read this get up by then.

For comparison's sake, here's my typical morning:

7:20 Hit snooze button

7:30 Hit snooze button

7:40 Turn off alarm but still don't get up

7:45 Jump out of bed in a panic and run to the shower

8:15 Leave for work with wet hair.

Surely this can be improved upon.  If anyone reads this, and has somehow managed to change from a Night Owl to a Morning Person, please let me know how!