Winter Warmth

Winter has finally come - I can feel it in the air in the mornings, I'm beginning to need gloves, the heating is on for the first time... I intend to embrace rather than moan about winter this year. I want to take photos of its stark beauty and I want to wrap up warm and drink hot tea!
I would love to go skiing and drink mulled wine!
I have realised that I have far too few winter clothes though. When working at [large corporate law firm] I hardly felt the cold because I was in a big glass temperature-regulated building all day (and sometimes all night too). It feels the same whether it be summer or winter. But now I walk 10 minutes from home to the metro and another 12 from the arrival stop to my work, twice a day. I feel the seasons and I see them - it's spectacular, actually. I'm going to post pictures of my walk to work so you can see. I know I keep saying I'll do this but I can't seem to do it in France - so annoying! Here are some pics of the woollens that I want to purchase at Hobbs. Pumpkin might be my new favuorite colour. Just as well my winter coat from last year is that colour. Love it!

Blogging joy

So, about a month ago, when I started this blog, I wrote down a few of the things that I hoped to get out of it. However my biggest satisfaction from blogging so far has derived from the interesting people and lives I have read about - the very thing that was not on my list. I have been inspired by recipes, gorgeous stunning recipes, other MBA aspirants, blogs from my own community that I didn't know existed.
One of the blogs I have most enjoyed, however, is 'Party of Six' about a delightful family, and that of NieNie.
I am a Jewish girl and I would consider myself close to my faith. How I relished reading about these bloggers' Mormon faith, however, a faith I knew relatively little about.
I am literally bowled over by the love and passion with which these women mother their children and their passion for family life. It jumps right out of you - a bursting irrepressible passion. I am humbled by their love and creativity.
I am also a working person: I am fascinated by business and at 25, working in a corporate law firm with a boyfriend, my life hardly resembles those of the women I have read about, many of whom were mothers many times over by my age. And yet I feel so akin to them in some ways. I love their values, their pride, their motivation, their creativity, their peace. I hope to emulate some of that one day. Their posts spoke to me, awakened a side of me that I know I have but that might not be apparent on the outside. I look forward to letting it blossom one day.
It is amazing how lives so different from your own can inspire you. That, so far, has been my greatest blogging joy.

Ima is here!

My wonderful precious mother, Ima, is finally here! I wish I didn't have to work so I could be with her all day! I love her so much and rarely get to see her as we live in different countries. So precious, this girl time. On Monday I take the GMAT and on Tuesday we are off on our trip to Boston. I cannot cannot wait. We're going to eat gorgeous food, buy lots of Clinique and Benefit cosmetics, I'll go to Harvard Business School, she'll go to her medical conference, and we'll be together. Can't wait to try my new camera on the fall scenes! Yay for Ima and mother-daughter time!

Fabulous Kate and a new camera

I had such a lovely weekend! My best friend Kate came to visit me in Paris and we had such fun walking around and chatting and eating lots of gorgeous food in Ladurée and other places. We went to Saint-Germain, walked across the river to the Louvre, headed to the Marais and ate on the Champs Elysées, from where we walked home to a stunning view of the Eiffel Tower. We had a picnic as well, and I generally loved our girlie time - precious.

Kate brought with her the new digital camera I ordered from Amazon. It is the D40, an SLR, and I am excited to take lots of shots and improve my photography skills. I bought it in anticipation of next week's trip to Boston to visit HBS. I want to catch some gorgeous fall leaves!

Tomorrow my Ima (mother in Hebrew) is coming to Paris and I can't wait to see her! We'll have a few days here in Paris, on Monday I take the exam and on Tuesday we fly off to Boston. I can't wait!!!!!

Aviation lecture and week ahead

This morning I attended a fascinating lecture on the state of the aviation industry and what its prospects are in light of the upcoming US elections. To be absolutely honest, I think that the lecture contained a significant amount of propaganda. It was at the France-America Chamber of Commerce, and the speaker was Marion Blakey, the President and CEO of AIA and former administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. She was clearly massively knowledgeable and it was certainly encouraging to see a woman in what is a very male dominated industry. And yet I find it hard to believe that Boeing strikes, cancelled orders and delayed deliveries - not to mention the catastrophic state of airlines, the strain of oil prices and impending competition from China, Japan and Russia - are not going to have a negative effect on orders and revenues. Still, interesting, and I wish that I had the business knowledge to back up my doubts.

I also realised today that I am not very network-minded. The networking thing isn't in my blood, but I realised today that I would have to get better at it. Today everyone had business cards and went round the tables. I am in a different position, being on sceondment. My law firm has provided me with business cards, but I was at the lecture in the capacity of a secondee so I'm not sure it would have been correct to hand them out. And yet, excuses aside, it hadn't even crossed my mind that I might need them. Business school will be an eye opener in so many ways!

GMAT GMAT GMAT

So after a last minute glitch my new date is the 20th! I am SO sick of this now, I really am. I hate to write a whiney post, I really do, but I am just not getting any better at this. My maths is just not that great. But I'm rockin' the verbal section, so I'm hoping that with a bit of luck and concentration I might just swing it.

Happy Friday!

So another week is over and I haven’t posted much, mostly because there hasn’t been much of note to report. I did manage to sort out my lack-of-lighting situation, so it is certainly more pleasant in the apartment now, and I bought all sorts of things – a lovely tablecloth, some nice plates and a lovely cosy blanket. I love decorating and it’s amazing how the little things really bring things alive sometimes. I thought I'd post a pictire of a gorgeous bedroom! The material on the bed in called Toile de Jouy and it is a long-term love of mine. One day...

This weekend I am going to cram as much math into my brain as possible, whilst enjoying company! We’re going to take a walk to the Eiffel Tower, which is just around the corner, and eat in a wonderful restaurant which we reserved months ago – more to come. I’m not allowing myself to visit or post about the website or I’ll look at the menu in advance, and I want to enjoy choosing when I get there.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!