Officially one year closer to the Dreaded Teens

So today my gal turned twelve. I'll be a week away from moving back to America when she hits thirteen. And I'll be hitting the ground running. She has already finished school and I knew she would want to be out and about on her birthday. I felt pressure. Lunch was a must and she mentioned that she wanted Subway. Zac is always talking about it and Verena loves anything American, so that's where we went. But first we had some time to spare.

I asked if she would want to come to my flat to watch an American movie since my DVD player can play all zone discs (yes I'm a hacker). She jumped on it and was at my place is five minutes. She chose The Devil Wears Prada. I do love that movie! During the movie, there is a scene that takes place just two streets down from Subway so I told her to remember that scene.

We caught the 63 bus to Dante, then walked a short bit to Subway. It was so incredibly full of Americans. They spoke to Verena in English and it shocked her. She wanted to speak French, but it seemed almost impossible. The place was so full of Americans that we decided to leave. It just didn't seem right. Incredibly bizarre. We walked across the street to Notre Dame to find a place to park it for a bit. She loved Subway. I've got two kids down as converts now.After she ate, we crossed back over the river for a quick trip to the street from Devil Wears Prada. She didn't recognize it. Then I walked her to the pole and that's when she got it. "That's so cooool!" were her words. Just for the sake of keeping a fun memory, we got a pic of her swinging like Anne Hathaway did.We walked back over the river and through the tourist area to Hotel de Ville so that we could catch line 1 to the Champs Elysees. I had a surprise for her, but just kept her in suspense the whole time. At Hotel de Ville, they have set up a temorary garden with an outlandish about of species of plants. There is are ponds even! Yes, usually it is all concrete in front. At Christmas there is an ice skating rink, and now look, a full garden with ponds!Verena kept saying, "Oooh, can I take a cool pic?" any time she wanted to take one. Cool pic, cool pic. She was so proud of this picture that she took. But I guess it is nice to have photos with Paris in the background.
My surprise was taking her to the Virgin Music Megastore for her to pick out a cd. She was so excited, but asked if she could buy singles instead. I said yes but told her that she will only get 5 songs instead of a full 12 or so. Whatever. She could buy them for 0,99 centimes on iTunes, but she reminded me, "Connie, it's my birthday right?" I meant to take some pictures of us while we were there, but I only remembered when we were in the metro. I was shocked at how grown-up she looks in this picture. Almost like 12 going on 18, yikes.

The lighting is always so perfect at the entrance of the couryard of our building, so I figured that would be a great place to take some official "Verena is 12" photos. She has no qualms about being my model. I was able to experiment a little, too! There are some things I liked and some I didn't, but at least I we got some great ones.

Posing with her new music.Behind the Big Blue Door.
TWELVE!
We got home at 3:00 so that her friends could surprise her. She knew they were coming but pretended she didn't. Later in the night she arrived home and showed me the presents they gave her. I was SHOCKED! They chipped in and bought her a Giorgio Armani phone which looks like something from the year 2023, a pair of headphones that cost more than my weekly salary, and a nice Swatch watch. Can you believe that? Verena is an incredible generous girl though. She LOVES to give. She thinks for months about what to buy for friends for their birthdays. One of the most thoughtful girls I've known. I love her!

It was a fun day with this girl. She and I have a good time when the boys aren't around. We don't normally get this much time together and it was honestly a fantastic day.