And Burba arrives...

*Note: my friend's name is Jennifer Burba, but I've never been able to call her by her first name. I've tried, but it's impossible. Most of her names begin with Burba, sometimes they are morphed into Burbinator, Burbalicious, Burbaaaaaaaa, Burbs and the new ones Burbadactyl, and Burbalina.*

Yesterday I woke up at 6:30am to check my email. Burba was in town and has a Blackberry, so our communication would go very well. When Seanna came to visit me, she had to go to a store to get a phone card and find a payphone to call me. For this reason, I love Blackberries. My intention was to meet her at 7:30am at Opera where to Roissybus stops off, then rush home to get Zac ready for school. Well she wrote to say that the immigration line was long so that we would have to find another time to meet. Hmmmm. After a bit, she wrote to say she was on the bus. I timed it where she would be at Opera at 8:30. Perfect!

Thursday night I had a talk with Zac about getting himself ready in the morning. I set the alarm on my watch for 7:40am to wake him up. He loves my watch so this would be an incredible incentive for him to do it. I laid out his clothes so that he could get dressed. All of this was done in case I was late from getting Burba at the bus stop.

The race was ON! I got to the house on time to see Zacharie all dressed for school and eating his breakfast. What an incredible boy. I told him that I was so proud of him and he said "But Connie I don't have my breakfast completed", which I told him was okay since I had to make him lunch. He brushed his teeth and ran into his room and began some homework. What??? I told him that we didn't have time and that he would have to do it on the metro. We ran out of the door at 8:15am to race up line 8 to Opera to get Burba. He did do his homework on the train. This kid has talent. He was so excited, "Connie we get to see JENNIFUH BUHBAH today!" We made it out and had to run across about five streets. In the middle of one, I looked to the right and saw Burba running across to the other way. Ahhhh! We hugged, then ran back to the metro to take Zac to school. We did it and he was actually a minute a late, but so were the teachers.

We walked home so that she could see the sites and my usual trek that I take on a daily basis. She was tired, as it was actually 3am for her back home, and she still had a full day ahead of her. Before going to my apartment, I went to the boulangerie to get a tradition(baguette) and she got an almond pastry that I highly recommended. We went back to my flat and I set up the table for a frenchie breakfast. It was really relaxing to sit and talk over some great food with good company. It's been over ten months since we've seen each other, but time hasn't felt that long.

Jasmin called to say that I could come over to pick up my lens cap for my camera and my Shanes cd. I knew it would be a good opportunity for Burbs to see Trocadero and around the area. We headed out there and took some pics and tasted the fresh, cool, almost Spring air.


At TrocaderoThese are some performers and I wasn't quite sure what they were doing, but it was a good show for about two minutes. They did a combination of dancing and miming. Interesting.
We jumped on the metro at line 6 to where Galeries Lafayette is. Burba mention that she might want to by a Longchamp like mine. We went in and she was definitely in awe like I was when I came for the first time. She didn't end up getting a Longchamp today, but oh, she will! There is a perfume that has been advertised all over Paris lately and I just had a feeling I would like it. Don't ask me why because I normally hate perfume because it's too strong. I've just always opted for body spray. Well I went over to the booth, which by the way was so poshy posh, and they gave me one of those little ribbons with a sample of the perfume on it. All I have to say is oh my gosh. I LOVE this perfume. The first time I have ever said that. It's Chloe and it smells so good I just want to bathe in it. We walked around for just a little bit, then went to the Terrace up top so that she could see the view. I won't post many pictures of it since I just blogged about it a couple of weeks ago. Burbs loved it. It is such a fantastic view of the city and of Opera.
Afterwards we were on search for food. In fact, we were on search way before that. I told her that I had to take her to a Starbucks and she gave me the "Are you kidding me?" look. We went to the one across from Opera and bought some coffee and a sandwich. She understood why I had to take her there when she walked in. It has to be, by far, the greatest Starbucks in the world, with no exaggeration. I stand by that statement with confidence. These are just a couple pictures. Maybe another time I will take a picture from the entrance. This is just a view from our seats.
We hopped by on the metro to head towards Zac school. We needed to go to a grocery store to pick up some more caffeine for Burba, since her eyes were beginning to do weird things without her knowing. Jet lag was taking over! I also found the Lady Gray tea which is my new favorite. On Wednesday I was at Zac's best friend's house. His name is Kourous and his mother's name is Andi and she happens to be American. While I was over there, she served some Lady Gray tea. I've never found a tea that I really loved and finally she introduced me! There you go...one week I found my tea and my perfume.

We left the grocery store and walked a few blocks to Zac's school. He loves to play with his friends after I pick him up and I don't mind letting him. It's a good release for both of us. He plays, I talk. At one point, Alexia and I look at him playing with Adrien and we freaked a little bit. Adrien is usually always beating up on Zac; either hugging him or swinging him around, I think Zac just went coocoo and took out some frustration back on Adrien.
We went home and I started Aladdin for Burba and Zac to watch. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep. Balthazar came home and wanted to help me with dinner. When the family goes to Greece this summer, he's been put in charge of the meals. Because of that, he wants to learn more dishes. He is usually the one that helps me with tasting the meal and telling me what extra ingredient in needs, but he usually doesn't know how to put it all together. Last night was steak hache and potatoes grandidine. We were going to do a bechamel sauce to pour on the potatoes instead of their original sauce, but Balthazar couldn't get it whipped fast enough some it turned into something that resembled mashed potatoes. I stepped in and made a sauce that would substitute and all went well. Burba tried my tzatziki entree which the kids LOVE. It's different, but really good. She was also able to meet the kids, which no one from back home has been able to do, and to see my interaction with them. I am pretty sure she was able to see what how great we all get along.

After work, we went back to my flat and I cooked up some spinach and goat cheese tortellini with basilico meat sauce. Yum. We had some white wine with it. I think I found my new favorite wine now that I mention it. Don't be jealous but it only costs 3 euros here. I still can't get over how cheap the wine it. Dessert, some oatmeal cookies that I baked on Thursday night...

We finished watching Love Actually and we were out! I haven't been that exhausted in a long time, and I think I safe to say the same for Burba.