Life Goes On...

That’s a picture of me in Paris back in February at the Orangerie enjoying the 360 degree Monet canvases…absolutely gorgeous and enlightening (the Orangerie also boasts a dazzling selection of Renoirs that were pure delight on that cold Sunday afternoon). I was in Paris for work, then spent the weekend. I also visited Napolean's Tomb and the Catacombs -- an underground labyrinth of buried bones and skulls from Paris cemeteries, put there around 1810 during the plague....ghoulish!

So much for my vow to keep up with the blog….it’s been a crazy past few months. Let’s see…what to say, what to say...well, I had a boyfriend for about 5 months, but he broke up with me. Hmmm, wonder if there is a connection between boyfriends and not blogging. Or, me having boyfriends and them breaking up with me….but I’ll save that discussion for later.

Anyway, I think I’m ok and am on the path to emotional recovery with, what else: more travel plans! My friends Kate, Alyson and I have plans to spend Easter in Marrakech (Morocco), a place I’ve always wanted to go. Then, I have (another) weekend planned in Barcelona for my friend Stefanie’s “not a bachelorette party” weekend. I’ll probably be back in NYC for a few days again in April for work, and there is also talk of work trips to Copenhagen and Hamburg in April as well, so it looks like I may not be unpacking my suitcase for a full month. Which is ok by me.

I was back in NYC for two weeks last month for work in what was the coldest two weeks in NYC that I can remember. I stayed at my friend Rosanne’s apartment in Hell’s Kitchen (she was in Paris while I was there). In exchange for my room and board, I took care of her little doggie Totoro. We got on quite well. But I must say, doggies are a lot of work and responsibility!

After freezing my butt off in New York, I went to sunny Orlando, FL for a couple days for a workshop I was leading for my client GE Money. It was kind of fun being there (everything in Orlando is so fake and fantasy, I love it). We stayed at the Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Studios, which feels like Hawaii….it was sweet. I had a day free to myself before I left, which was spent at the Mandara Spa at the Portofino Bay Resort where I got an amazing massage which put me in good form before the plane ride back to the U.K. It was a crazy busy two weeks away, I was glad to get back.

It just so happened that the day my boyfriend broke up with me, my friend Kate was in town from Amsterdam and staying the weekend, and I had a party planned at my flat for Saturday. So that was a good built-in cheer up! The party Saturday was rockin’ – my best one yet. About 30 people were jammed into my little flat, the music was pumping, lots of food and wine and a great cross-section of interesting people from all over…it was really quite fun. Kate and I also partook in some retail therapy at Topshop on Saturday (I seriously need to lay off the shopping) and had a nice breakfast at Paul on Sunday, the French bakery around the corner from my flat in Covent Garden. They have the BEST eggs.

Things on the work front remain good. Last month, my team in New York launched “The Celebrity Pasta Lovers’ Cookbook” for my client Barilla. Ten A-list celebrities offered up their favorite pasta recipes, and star chefs Mario Batali and Giada De Laurentiis made them over for the online cookbook. Then, for the month of February, for every person who downloaded the cookbook, Barilla donated $1 to (my favorite charity) America’s Second Harvest – the Nation’s Food Bank Network -- up to $100,000. We made our 100,000 download goal at the beginning of the month and the cookbook went over very well with tons of excellent media coverage on TV, in print media, and online. Barilla is such an excellent company and it was so fulfilling to be involved with the project.

In addition to Barilla, I have been working with GE Money on a global project, and just worked a couple days with Chemistry.com – an online dating service owned by Match.com. There are more exciting things in the works, which I will report on later, but it looks like I will once again be extending my stay here in the U.K., at least until the end of the year. It really has been an adventure so far and I am still very happy and fulfilled here, despite any recent romantic misgivings. ;)

Oh, and the friends keep pouring in from America (it’s an invasion of sorts). My friend Lindsay recently moved here from NYC (we used to work together) to join her boyfriend Mike. And my friend Alyson (also from NY) is here on a 6-month work assignment with Morgan Stanley. I have another friend moving here this summer. So really, I don’t see the point in leaving England when all the people I know are moving here….. ☺

My friend Kim recently moved back to NY from London though, so that was a bit sad…but I think she is adapting back to life in Gotham pretty well.

I think that’s all for now. I have discovered a new outpost from which to work – a Starbucks I just uncovered on St. Martin’s Lane. It’s totally comfy. It doesn’t get much better than blogging from a chic venue in London on a purple cushy couch while indulging in a Cinnamon Dulce Latte. Totally yum.