Wrap it up. I'll take it.

Great news... for the most part. I have received word that a woman I had been wanting to work with has agreed to consult with me for my tour. Wahoo!!! The only bummer is that I will have to keep her involvement "under wraps" which puts a damper on the plan I had to access her readership for word-of-mouth advertising and tour sales. I had also wanted to access one of the publications she works for to get some exposure.

Oh well. I'll do it on my own with her on-the-ground help in Paris.

Man! The more I think about it, this secrecy thing really stinks. I was hoping to use her involvement as "leverage" for getting advertising money and as a sales point for potemtial clients.

This is just more fuel for me to do this on my own. I am happy to have her help, but I don't need "outside" support to make my dream come true. This has always been my tangle with getting this tour off the ground in the first place.

Time to shift it into high gear and boost myself up as perfectly capable of pulling this off.

Yay me. ;-)

Baby steps. Must keep going.

It's hard to get a lot done when your 9-month old is learning to crawl and doesn't sleep a lot. It's 8:41 right now and I've been ready to go to bed for a half an hour.

That being said, I'm getting a lot done. My budget is coming together. My neighbor very generously has designed the look of my soon-to-be launched web site for free and she's going to do my business cards. How wonderful is that? (It looks great too! I'm thrilled)

Let's see, what else have I gotten done?

_________

I actually just leaned my head back to think about how to answer that question and fell asleep.

This is going to be hard. I will be an excited and excitable stress ball until I get home from the tour in March.

See, not only do I have to worry about getting everything up and running for the sale of the tour (and then of course the actual tour), I need to worry about how in the hell I am going to do it with my baby girl in tow. I already have my dear friend coming as my nanny and assistant, but I'm just really worried about the time I will be away from her when we are there. We spend so much time together now that I'm afraid it'll be scary for her. I know it will be for me. I trust my friend absolutely, but I will miss my girl so much when we are there. I just wish she could be with me the whole time and experience everything we will be doing. I'm not sure my guests will be down for that, huh?

Oh well, she'll become accustomed to all of this over the years. IT could be worse; spending time in Paris with your mom and dear family friend a few weeks out of the year, every year when you're growing up.

Oy! It's 8:50pm. Off to bed.

I found the dream apartment!!

I LOVE the apartment I just found for my tour. I just sent a request for information hoping that they will allow children and that they can arrange the rental of a crib for the babes. The kitchen ROCKS!!!! The location ROCKS!!!!!!! The price is AWESOME!!!!!!!!! (even with the exchange rate!!!!)

I am so jazzed! I was going to wait to move forward with anything until I heard from my Paris contact, but I realized today that I don't need someone there to be my contact. It would be awesome, but it's not necessary. Anyway, if it doesn't work out with her, there are plenty of people living in Paris looking to get paid for exactly what I'm looking for in an on-the-ground person. I just really want this gal. I like her style, I like her writing, I thing she's got a good heart and will lead us in the direction that I'm hoping to take this tour.

I'm building an empire here, people. One baby-nap at a time. Come hell or high water, I'm doing this tour Marsh 22-26, 2010. It's about God damned time!!!!!!

YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!!!

Looking out for me

Someone is. "They've" gotta be.

I went on a walk today with the baby and found myself out at The Ballard Locks. It's a small park with big old trees, the locks (of course) and a small road that makes just one loop around the grounds. I decided to follow my nose around that loop just one time and then move on. Just as I was finishing my turn, I passed a smiley blond woman, with two teacup versions of some kind of dog, as she bopped up the hill. We smiled and she asked jokingly,
"How many times are you going around?".
I said, "I don't know. How many are you?"
"Eight!" she proclaimed.
To that I said, "Sounds good. Let's do it." And on we went on our opposing laps.

As we approached each other at the half way point, she asked if she could join me. And so she did. She was sweet and chatty. She told me about her business (home appraising) and the long path she took to find herself where she is today; moved from California to get sober, met her husband in AA, waited tables, managed restaurants. Now, on top of her business, she sponsors people in her AA group and teaches spinning classes at her, and other gyms.

Long story short, except for asking her questions, I really kept my mouth shut and let her talk. She was hitting on every sore spot I have right now; insecurity, sloth, fear of failure, and worse, fear of success. She was like an angel. A perky, recovering addict, dog-walking, inspirational angel. I kept asking myself things like, "Where did she come from?" and, "Those who don't know, speak. Those who know, don't."

She hugged me when we parted ways. We swapped phone numbers and are meeting for another eight laps next Tuesday. I'm to report a business-related accomplishment when we meet. Nothing in particular. Just something.

I like that.

To top it off, I got a great workout out of it. Feel the burn!!

______________

I had a new idea for the tour today. Scavenger hunt in Paris at the end of which I will have prepared a great meal and will serve bubbles.

Workin' it out. Workin' it out.

______________

A word of advice to parents: no matter how much your baby wants to be held while you are making them a bottle, PUT THE CHILD DOWN if you have to open a new can of formula. Those lids are razor sharp and it's impossible to peel back the lid with only one hand.

If you'll excuse me now. I need to go change the dressing.

Today

This is a good day. It's a hot summer day in Seattle. The breeze is blowing. The markets are brimming over with summer berries and tomatoes, and I just signed my child support agreement. Lorelei and I are celebrating with tartines de jambon et brie, salade de tomates et basilique, and lemon-marinated olives. Ok, ok, Lorelei had bananas with pears and mangoes with a side of champagne grapes, but that seems pretty celebratory to me, huh?!

I am also having a great little effervescent wine, Fâmega, 'White Vinho Verde' (as opposed to a verde vino verde, ???) from Portugal. Yum!! It is perfect for a day like today. Run, don't walk to The Ballard Market, or wherever you think you can find it. It is PERFECT for a hot day like today.

I will be truly relieved when (and if) I receive the first child support check, but until then, I see this as a great step forward for my baby and me.

Anyhoo, I've had one too many glasses of Fâmega and I'm having a hard time concentrating. Off to grab a glass of water or three and make some dinner for my beautiful baby girl. My special, special gift from God.

The Motherload, and DAMN!!

I receive e-mail updates from Budget Travel. Today I received an e-mail that had a list of 10 Top Paris Food Blogs. I, being the sucker for anything Paris, clicked on it immediately and began to hear the angels sing. I am getting so fired up about getting back in to researching for my own tours that these listings and their contents will be the source of so much great information, I am thrilled.

I was encouraged and worried when I saw that David Lebowitz is doing a tour that is set up very similarly to the format that I was planning; an all included, week-long tour of Paris incorporating other already-established food professionals, tours and classes. It was encouraging because someone is doing it, and his tour is sold out. Discouraging and worrisome because I had not seen any tours like mine, until today. There were just NO week-long tours in Paris to be found, at least not easily. Maybe that in itself should be encouraging. If it's not easy to find then that means that there is a market for it. I say that because I know I'm not the only fool looking for something like this.

Anyhow, I have a lot of reading to do... if the baby will let me.

Here are some of the blog sites I found. Chances are that, if you are anything like me, you have already seen and love a couple of these sites if not all of them. Either way, enjoy!!

David Lebowitz
Meg Zimbeck
Chocolate & Zucchini
Dorie Greenspan
Simon Says is cool for a few reasons, one being that there is a list of restaurants by arrondisement in Paris.