Very busy December!

To all of those following my blog regularly, to those who follow it occasionally, and to those who pretend to follow it so as to not hurt my feelings... I owe you all an apology for letting my writing slip for so many days! It has been a very busy 2 weeks. A lot has happened, and there's more to come, but that's no excuse to leave my legions of fans in the dark!! (HA! that's a good one)

I guess the beginning is always a good place to start... so, let's commence there. The weekend of the 6th was Lisa's birthday party. I've been talking about it for a while, and if you've been keeping in touch with me, you know I was planning it for a loooooong time. As someone said, it seemed that we were planning the coronation of a king more than a 3 year old's birthday party. But hey, Lisa is only going to have one super awesome Colombian nanny in her lifetime, so she better get the most out of me that she can!
The party was a total success. After spending over 40 man hours cooking, papier-macheing, planning, shopping, and decorating, I was very pleased with the results! The pinata was beautiful, not because it was particularly appealing to the eye, but because it was a very unique experience for everyone involved. I don't know how many of you have ever had a pinata at your birthday party, but for me, it was a staple when I was growing up. The excitement of beating this thing with people cheering around you, the anticipation the little treasures inside, and the sugar high from the birthday cake make for a very singular combination and a guaranteed high. The kids and the parents loved it, but Lisa was the most proud, since she helped me make it, and was telling everyone who would listen.
Then came the birthday cake.. that Barbie creation that took me 5 hours to make and decorate; it almost felt like my baby by the end of it. I had to fight the urge to take the cake and run before the guests ate it and destroyed my masterpiece. All in all, the whole party was a hit, and I enjoyed myself just as much if not even more than the kids themselves.
After the party, my friend Chelsea came to visit for a week. She arrived here last Wednesday, and we've had a lovely week (albeit a little wet) together. She's doing her masters in London, but she won't be there while I'm in the UK, so she came to visit. It's been a nice change of pace, to have a "roomie". I've fully taken advantage of having someone around to do some fun things...
For example, Thursday night, we went to this bar in Vieux Nice that has "Ladies' Night". This encompasses paying 3 euro, and getting all the champagne you can handle for that until their bottles run out. This meant that for 3 euro, we each got 5 glasses of champagne... I don't think I've ever found such a deal anywhere else! Then, the live music begins. Wayne's is a great place because there's a lot of ex-pats and Anglophone tourists, so the band plays everything from AC/DC, to the Beatles, to Bob Marley. The best part about Wayne's though, is the dancing... See, there's no dancefloor, so people just get up on the tables and make those their dancefloor. I know, it sounds like something trashy that drunk girl in the too-short-skirt would do on Tequila Sundays at your local biker bar. But here, everyone does it... literally, there are 12 or 14 tables with people on them, dancing, talking to each other, and having a blast. That night, we met Australian and French guys, and it was a lot of fun.
Being the troopers that we were, we stayed until closing time, and woke up 6 hours later, with a heavy head as a reminder of the Champagne extravaganza of the night before, to go to Monaco. That day, was the ONLY nice we have had as far as weather goes. The pics are here if you haven't seen them:

Monaco was gorgeous as usual, we were able to mix with the rich and powerful, while basking in the sun, walking around the Christmas market, visiting the Prince's abode, and even making a new Canadian friend ( from ABBOTSFORD of all places! It's such a small world!)
The night brought a divine Christmas concert from the Nice opera, and dinner at an Italian restaurant.

The other days, we went to Cannes and Antibes, where I was able to show Chelsea some of the lovely beaches that we have in the Cote d'Azur. Too bad it was raining the whole time... we even had a small version of a hurricane while walking along the beach in Cannes on Sunday morning.We tried to be brave and took a bus to the charming Aix-en-Provence, home of Paul Cezanne on Monday. But that ended up being a bit of a disaster, as the rain did not let up, my boots let all the water in, and Chelsea developed a horrible sore throat and couldn't speak. Aix is really a gorgeous city, but it needs to be appreciated in the summer.

I'm going to be busy again planning Christmas and my impending trip to the UK, but I promise I won't leave as much time between posts as I just have!
I hope most of you have gotten my little surprises in the mail? Let me know when you do, I want to know that they got there okay!
Allez, Bisous!!