What Ana Does

I finished the Bea Johnson book and have found a bunch of neat blogs about going zero-waste. I even started mining through Pinterest for ideas. Now, how can I get started? The key is to start slow and tackle the low-hanging fruit. I already bring reusable bags everywhere I go, and have been for years, so ...  Check! And we avoid buying plastic water bottles, instead using the assortment of reusable bottles we already own.  Check! So, I ask myself, what makes sense NEXT for my current household? The answer, I think, is reducing single-use plastic (including packaging) in the kitchen. Here's my game plan: Bulk Nuts and Chickpeas in  My Reusable Bags Buy Bulk!  I discovered two (maybe three) of my neighborhood markets have a bulk section, so I've been bringing home the granola, chickpeas, couscous, nuts, dried fruit to test on the family. Bonus, they happen to be healthy snacks and meal-building items! The prices? So far, they are the same or better than buying prep

Our first guests will be here in just a few weeks, so I'm focused on getting our guest room up and running . Did you guess which bed we picked ? I had fun looking through all the options, but went with the upholstered grey and white bed. It's neutral enough but has a little pizzaz. It's nice to give a guest room a little personality. And the walls are grey, so it all ties in well. It's Sorta Houndstooth, But Not It was easy to assemble and felt sturdy. It's cute!  Now, the mattress is another story. I ordered it from the same store at the same time, but the delivery man didn't have it on his truck when he dropped off the bed. So .... as of today, it's MIA. (Gah!) And it's been challenging to find a customer service person who speaks English.  View from the Door. The Rower Will Need a New Temporary Home, Too The rug looks pretty cushy, they could sleep on that, right?! Just kidding! I still have time to get it here. I also need to pi

The Père Lachaise cemetery is on all the major Paris sigh-seeing lists. Mainly, I always thought, because it's free and you can find the tombs of the rich and famous. Visiting was never high on my list of places to see but some friends invited us to join them on Sunday afternoon, so we made the trek to the 20th district, on the opposite side of the city, to see what's there. In my mind, I imagined flat, grass covered tombstones and trees covered in moss. You know, like the ones in the States you spot from the highway. This is NOT that. Yes, there were a lot of tombstones but there are a lot more telephone booth-sized mausoleums. They lined the "avenues" like a stone shanty town. Some are very plain and others are works of art. Most acted as mini-chapels, so just the right size to open the little doors, kneel and say a prayer for your departed family member. Up at the Top You Can See the Back of an Avenue With the Mini-Chapels There are maps you can downl

Lately, I've been brainstorming my 5-year goals (that post is forthcoming) and as part of this, I've been digging into topics that I get passionate about, and researching them for potential goals to add to my list. One topic I get super-jazzed about is the idea of living a "sustainable" or "plastic-free" or "waste-free" lifestyle. From early on, I've always felt guilty about what I'm throwing away, knowing that garbage dumps are just rotting piles of trash that grow, produce methane and will eventually take over the planet. It depresses me just thinking about it. And we're SUCH a single-use, throw away, consume more, throw away, world. And I've always tried to take steps to reuse and recycle as much as I can. (Like, in 2014, I talk about it  here  and I did a post about  what I reuse,  or  what I make from scratch .) But, there's so much more I can do. So, for the last few weeks I've been diving into this culture and t

In Paris, Alice got the smallest room. But it has the best view ... of the park and the Eiffel Tower (until Spring comes and trees obstruct her view). She also got a closet and an *on-suite shower/sink room.  It's a pretty sweet room! When we moved in, she took hours to set everything up perfectly. She had to arrange her photos, clothes and stuffed animals. And she badgered us until we hung up her dry-erase board and curtains. I recently "helped her" clean it, and took a picture to document the adorableness of this space. Alice's Bedroom in Pars * This apartment has two on-suite shower/sink rooms. What is that even called in real estate terms? Anyone know? 

Now that we've mostly gotten our apartment settled and our weekly routine (almost) under control, plus the weather is improving bit by bit, it's time to explore this incredible city that we live in. So on weekends, we're making an effort to get out and walk around. The French even have a word for this wandering about, it's a verb, "flaneur." And that's the aim of these days out. So I've started to put together a list of "off the beaten path" type places and neighborhoods that I read about or see in Instagram accounts I follow. And we try to include a restaurant, too. This plan is only in the early phases, and we've had a rocky start. I picked a really popular restaurant one Sunday morning (in the rain) and the line was out the door! It made for some hangry/wet/cold family members. We abandoned the day altogether. Also, the French have dedicated a day to close up shop and visit Maman for a big dinner/lunch. (You gotta love a coun

I've never lived in a 115-year-old building, so I'm a total nerd when it comes to the little clues left by the original builders and owners. For example, in our kitchen there's this nice-sized cabinet that hangs into the courtyard of the building. It's got this vintage little lock on it and sits under one of the two kitchen windows. Windows Are Frosted in Kitchen Because the Courtyard Area isn't Pretty When we were getting the pre-move-in walk-through, the real estate agents joked we could use this cabinet until we got our fridge delivered. Because, yes, this was early refrigeration. A Look Inside Maybe it's because it's winter and the weather has been freezing, but the inside of this cabinet is definitely colder than the rest of the room. The glass and ceramic items we keep in here are chilly to the touch when we pull them out. It would have been a great spot to store cheese, wine maybe, and maybe cream. I'm just guessing. And, sure, I con

Shopping for beds in a foreign land, when the only store I know is Ikea, has been a challenge. But the guest room needs a bed, so I've jumped in with both feet. Just for fun, here are a few of my options. Shop Name: La Redoute  They're currently having a big flash sale on mattresses, so the prices are not bad. I really like this mod-looking upholstered bed called Semeon, see it here . It's Not Chevron or Houndstooth -- Sorta Between Shop Name: Maisons Du Monde Then there's this pine bed that's also has a mod-feel with those great paperclip legs. And you gotta love the extra storage beneath. It's called the Cody, see it here. Eve Last, there's this British startup that sells a mattress-in-a-box, similar to those we have in America (Casper, I think is one) and all the ads I see for them -- I've always been very curious about them. I'm terribly drawn to the bright yellow color, especially with the grey bed frame you can add on,

You guys, it happened. I blew it up. Two things, actually, in ONE DAY! Background: When we were packing for France, I was very strict about not bringing items that needed to be plugged in. Specifically lamps and kitchen appliances. (Why we didn't have any light in our apartment for the few first days.) Why? Because I had read the voltage, which is higher here in Europe at 220-240 voltage, could damage/kill the item. So, I specifically didn't pack them. I DID pack my one-year-old sewing machine, thinking I would just take the chance. It was worth the risk to have it with me. It was new, so maybe the engine had something to protect it again power surges. And the converter might help it, right?  Wrong! I tried to use it last weekend and it blew. It's now a very large paperweight. Sigh. A few hours after I killed that beloved appliance, I plugged in the drill battery to recharge, and that blew as well. In fact, it nearly started a fire. So, yes, I was completely justi

We are SOOO fortunate to have a fourth bedroom in this apartment, which we'll use as a guest room. And an office. And a video game room. Here's the space just after we moved in when it acted solely as an office. See my calendar made from shipping paper on the wall? BEFORE: The Guest Room As Office Before we moved, I had a plan for all of the rooms, except this one. I was pretty sure it would be a guest room, but I didn't pack any furniture specifically for it. In hindsight, I wish I did, but there just wasn't time to consider it before the movers arrived. It took a few weeks to put together the right strategy. At first, there was talk of getting a daybed or a convertible sofa. But ultimately, we decided to make it as comfortable for guest use as possible and put a nice full-size bed in the corner. But also buy some light-weight chairs for when we don't have guests and want to use it to watch TV or play wii. Dave went to Ikea and got some Poang (iconic and

The first week the kids rode their scooters (or les trottinettes) to school, I was a wreck. They careened down the sidewalks, going to fast. They just missed knocking over people on the sidewalks, or would follow so closely to people walking ... it would drive me crazy. "Leah! Slow down!" "Alice, Be Careful!" What is the social expectations of kids commuting to school on scooters? Who has the right of way on a busy city street? But than, after about a week, I started to chill out. So what if they speed past pedestrians? Or messed with traffic patterns while trying to cross the street?  The girls are getting cigarette smoke blown in their faces every time we go out. (Blargh!) They are being force to halt as people just stop to window shop or look at their phone. Or walk their scooters over cobblestoned streets and huge sidewalk cracks. Not to mention swerve to miss dog poo left on the street. This is a small village in a residential district of Paris. A