Our Juicy Life

2 Long Stay Visas - check

2008-07-22T14:50:38-07:00

Today was a great day. We went down to the French Consulate - for the 2nd time, if you missed the post 2 long stay visa - almost, check it out. When we went in May, everything was approved except that we were too early, they told us to come back in July. So we brought everything back with us today hoping for the same approval. When we all were in the room waiting to be called up the manager said to us that our cell phones had to be turned off and if a phone rings we will be asked to leave and our passports RED stamped. Yikes. Luckily we never carry our cell phone with us so we were ok.

We were called up and asked a couple questions and then paid for the visas and then had to move to the next window to give them all our paperwork. Everything went smooth - had all the required documents and we left with our visa's. YEAH!!!!!

It was so sad though because everyone else in the room - about 10 people had to leave and come back because they didn't have the correct paperwork. Some of these people live in other states and had to either drive or fly in for their appointment, which is such a bummer. I'm glad we live in LA, only 10 minutes from the consulate. It's such a relief that we have finally have our visa's, it is so stressful.

Augie, Dad and ashes

2008-07-19T17:31:35-07:00

The past 2 weeks have been the hardest of my life. It all started with just a bit of stress…we had to move out of our house in 9 days. I knew it was going to be busy and stressful but I knew we could handle it, it’s just a move. Then came Augie.

He had been going downhill for a while and we had actually tried to put him down a month ago but couldn’t do it. But he wasn’t the same dog anymore, he was disoriented, confused, anxious and when I looked into his eyes he wasn’t the same dog I knew. I knew it was time. I also knew this would rip me up and break my heart. I have had Augie in my life since he was 6 months old, he was 16 when he passed away. He had a great life, everything he wanted and loads and loads of love. I didn’t want to let him go, but knew that as a pet owner I could not be selfish, I had to think of him, of his quality of life. So the Friday we moved into the apartment we put him down. It was very peaceful and fast, he passed in my arms, with me kissing his head. I cried and cried. That night we spent our first night in the apartment, we only had our mattress there, but both of us knew that we didn’t want to stay in our house anymore, it was Augie’s house and it would be too strange without him. Augie was the greatest dog ever…I know everyone says that about their dog, but it’s true. I will never get another pug, I just couldn’t do it. There will only be 1 pug in my life. He was my shadow, followed me everywhere I went. Bruce used to laugh because he gazed at me, seriously, he would sit on the couch and gaze at me. He loved his momma and I loved him so much. Today his ashes were delivered to us. He’s home now and he will go to France with us.

Then last week my Dad died. I left on Wednesday morning to go back to Michigan. I say Michigan and not “home” because I don’t consider Michigan my home anymore, I was born there, but it’s not my home. I have been in Los Angeles for 17 years and was in New York City for 3 before that. Home is with Bruce, be it in Los Angeles or France. My mom is doing as good as can be expected, they were married 53 years…that’s a long time! It was good to see and spend time with my sister Anne. She’s one of my best friends and her kids Matheiu and Gigi are wonderful. My dad’s passing was very hard on Mathieu (he’s 9) so I spent as much time with him as I could, playing the WII…I got beat on every game. It was also good to see my brother, his wife and their kids.

On Saturday we drove to the Country Club of Lansing (above is the clubhouse and the course), where my Dad was the head pro for 30 years. There I was in the back seat with my Mom and my Dad’s ashes were between us in a baggie. It was strange. We scattered his ashes on the 18^th hole. Started in the rough and then I told my mom “not in the rough, Dad wouldn’t want to be in the rough” and so we moved to the fairway and then put some in the sand trap and then on the green. He’s home too.

I only get back to Michigan once a year, it had been 14 months since I was home. Now, I don’t get along with my oldest sister who is 6 years older than me (if you are thinking a fight…you are right). There were many incidents that happened during the week, many disrespectful things she did that on Friday during dinner after the memorial service I couldn’t keep my mouth shut any longer and we got into a huge huge fight. I don’t feel bad about it, except that it hurt my mom, but all the things she did were disrespectful to my Mom and I couldn’t sit back and ignore it. From the moment that I arrived in Michigan I wanted to go home. I missed Bruce so much on this trip, when he picked me up at the airport I cried.

Life sucks sometimes, this I know. But I am the type of person that moves forward and that’s what I’m going to do. It’s time to get back to being excited for France, our new life...because life does go on. We leave in 65 days. Stay tuned.

When it rains it sure does pour

2008-07-10T12:50:46-07:00

Edward A. Rosseter, Jr. "Al"
(May 10, 1928 - July 8, 2008)

Passed away Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at age 80. Al was born in St. Petersburg, FL on May 10, 1928, the son of Edward Albert Sr. and Erin (Wever) Rosseter. Al was a varsity basketball player at St. Petersburg High School but golf was number one. He was a member of the winning golf team at the Univ. of Florida, graduating in 1950. Al then became the assistant golf pro under Skip Alexander at Lakewood Country Club in St. Petersburg, FL until 1960. It was then that Al accepted the position of head professional at the Country Club of Lansing. He served the club and its members until 1979, becoming the longest serving pro in the club's history. He was instrumental in starting the Country Club of Lansing Invitational. Al was a lifetime member of the PGA and received a letter of commendation for being a member for 50 years. After leaving the Country Club, Al purchased a number of Arby's Inc. franchises. Al is preceded in death by his parents and a sister Jeanne Hudson. Al is survived by his wife of 53 years, Betty, his children Amy Rosseter, Mark (Jennifer) Rosseter, Anne (Marc) Norcross and Alisa (Bruce Anderson) Rosseter and 4 grandchildren; Maggie and Dane Rosseter and Mathieu and Gigi Norcross. The family wishes to thank Tammy, Rita and all the caregivers and staff at Alterra for the care they gave to Al. A Memorial Gathering will be held Friday from 5-8:00pm at the Palmer Bush & Jensen Family Funeral Homes, Delta Chapel, 6020 W. Saginaw. Memorials can be made to the Boys and Girls Club of Lansing, A.S.P.C.A. or Hospice Advantage in memory of Al.

I am back in Michigan until Sunday. My Dads memorial service is Friday. Saturday night we are sneaking onto the private golf course where he used to be the pro and we will scatter his ashes on the 18th green, that where he loved to be, on the golf course. I'm tired, drained, don't have a dad anymore and miss Augie the pug. It's strange.

Our favorite three weeks of the year!

2008-07-05T12:44:11-07:00

We are pretty laid back, relaxed and casual people...but today all of that changes! Today is the start of the Tour de France, the amazing 21 day bike race through France. For the next 3 weeks we will be getting up at 5:30 am to watch the race LIVE...then we'll Tivo it and watch it again when we come home. We are slightly obsessed with the tour and we so excited that next year we will be in France to watch it...in person. Sadly, stage 8 will start in Figeac and end in Toulouse so that means it will go right by the house we are renting, but we won't be there! Our good friend Jacques will be so excited, we'll have to look for him on TV.

So, this morning we wake up all excited to watch Stage 1 from Brest to Plumeac...we turn on our new cable (that just got installed 2 days ago) and the only channel we said we really wanted was "versus" which covers the tour.....we hit 267 and nothing. It's black. No tour, no picture, nothing. WHAT! We call the cable company and are informed that they are having trouble getting the feed. So, I know who won, but we haven't be able to watch it yet. so bummed.

It's going to be a strange tour this year. No clear favorites, no favorites for me. Ivan Basso, my favorite rider, he won't be back until next year, the Astana team can't race this year for the craziest reason, so that leaves our Leipheimer and last years winner Contador, Tom Boonen.....not in, because he tested positive for cocaine (not while he was riding though), Ulrich, retired, Armstrong, retired.

Winner of Stage 1: Alejandro Valverde

So much scandal. I hope this year will be different and nobody will get kicked out for testing positive or for not telling their team where they had been training. I hope that it will be a clean race and also an exciting one. Stay tuned.

The start of Book II

2008-07-02T21:00:00-07:00

Thursday was Bruce's 39th birthday...he said is was one of the most forgettable birthdays ever, because we were in the middle of moving out of our house, our home for 8 years and were stressed about Friday.

Friday the day we had to put Augie down, a day we will both never forget. We had to let him go, let him pass and let him be in a place where he can see, hear, play and be who he used to be. Being a dog owner you can't be selfish, you have to think of your dog and his/her quality of life.

We moved quite a few boxes on friday afternoon after our morning of working camp. We both wanted to move the mattress, not really saying why to each other. But over excellent persian food that night, we both realized that we didn't want to stay in the house anymore...not without Augie. The house is full of many Augie memories, so many things he has done in that house, smelled in the backyard, etc... By bringing the mattress over, we had to stay in the new place, we are both glad we did.

It's been 5 days since we let Augie go and I still think of him every day and I have cried every day. I have done this before - last year it was Daisy (she was only 8) and the year before Hemet (he was 13 and Augie's best friend). I'm tired of having to put down a dog, it's so sad so hard and so emotionally draining, even though you know it's for the best. Dashell is almost 4 and Stella is 2 today (happy birthday Stella), so hopefully we won't be putting down a dog for a long time.

We both feel that we are starting Book II. We have finished Book I, starting the business, buying a house getting married, adpopting dogs and now moving into the apartment and loosing Augie, that's the end of Book I and now we start of Book II. It's been hard getting used to apartment life. The dogs no longer have a dog door, so we have to take them out in the am, afternoon and pm. Dashell (the sensitive golden) had loose poops and messed on the new carpet (the beige carpet) I haven't had carpet in 20 years....of course, we are here 2 days and he poops on the carpet in the middle of the night, poor guy he felt so bad, he's never pooped in the house. I spend the day researching how to clean poop off carpet. Thanks to Heloise for the answer. I also had the screen door to the balcony closed...a dog walked by and Dashell ran through the screen to bark at the dog. Holy crap - day 3, broken screen. What the hell!

We ordered in or went out the first 3 nights and finally I cooked on Sunday. It was hard getting used to such a small kitchen without all my stuff, but I did OK once I got going. We both know that things will be OK and since we are finally unpacked we are hoping that this weekend will be relaxing and stress free. We are looking forward to our summer at the new pad. The last couple days we have taken an hour in the afternoon to go hang by the pool and de-stress, that's been nice...really nice.

Book II will be amazing, We both know it, living here in the Marina for the summer, driving across the country, moving to France and living there for a year. But the first couple chapters are showing some of our struggles, we all have struggles, they will pass. Stay tuned for more chapters.

RIP

2008-06-28T17:13:40-07:00

Augie

1992 - 2008

words can not express the pain in my heart...

90 days

2008-06-24T19:57:56-07:00

The countdown widget says 90 days until we move to France....I can't believe it's here, only 3 months. The days are going so fast. We are in the middle of Camp #3, next week is a short week because of July 4th, after that we are 1/4 done with camps, only 8 more to go. It's crazy how fast time goes.

Our house is basically all packed up in the POD, except for our couch, mattress (minus the box-spring, clothes, kitchen stuff and stuff we are taking to France). The POD is a great thing, it sits outside your house and lets you load it at your leisure, so much better then the crazy rent a truck, load it, unload it day. We will move into the new place on Friday. I'm actually really excited to move into the new place, it's smaller than our house, but it's like a hotel - pool, fitness center, free wifi, dog park and 1 block to the ocean. Too bad they don't have housekeeping!

Camps are going great and Travis (who is taking over the studio for us) and Alyssa (our new assistant) are fantastic and the kids love them and I feel great leaving our business in their hands. I know that while we are gone classes and camps will be just as good (maybe better).

Things are going really good. I'm not stressed at all, things are moving right along and I'm really relaxed. I'm excited to pack up the house, excited to move to the new place and so excited to move to France. 90 days and counting.

How to move out of your house in 10 days!

2008-06-19T20:32:40-07:00

This is our house in Los Angeles. We bought it 6 years ago and we love it. This is the house we will be renting when we are in france. We decided to use a property management company to handle finding tenants, doing credit checks. collecting rent, paying our mortgage, property tax and renters insurance and taking care of anything that breaks since we will be pretty far away. We also decided to see if we could rent it now instead of waiting till the last minute, which would totally stress me out. But what we didn't expect was to find someone 2 days ago who not only qualified and will be great tenants, but want/need to move in July 1st. July 1st, that's in 10 days! We thought about it and decided that we'd go for it, we would rather get this done fast and furious instead of waiting till September.

This will be our new home for 3 months. It's called Archstone and they are about 10 all over Los Angeles. They do temporary and long term housing. There are not many places that will let you rent for 3 months. This place is 1 block from the beach in Marina del Rey (1/2 mile from our house) and it's great. It's a 1 bedroom apartment, on the ground floor, it has a patio, dog park, pool, fitness center, wireless internet and it will save us about 800.00 a month in rent/mortgage, that's just paid for our new voiture. It's like we'll be on vacation for 3 months (hopefully). So we are moving June 30th. Saturday we are getting a POD delivered. A POD is a storage box that gets delivered to your house and you pack it up at your leisure and then they come and pick it up and store it for you. That's the only way we can move in 10 days, since we are busy with camps all day. So, each day we'll pack stuff up and put it in the POD. Then on the 30th of June they'll come and take our stuff away for the year we will head over to the new digs. The only things we are taking to the new apartment is our mattress, sofa, television, dog beds, linens, towels, computer and some plates, silverware, cups, pots and pans and my Le Creuset (of course) and we'll bring everything we have in the fridge, and dog food, oh and the bikes, can't forget the bikes. Everything that will be going with us to France will also come. We have a big trash bin that was just delivered and we are going to go through everything and get rid of so much crap, things we don't use (golf clubs, haul bag for rockclimbing, old doors, etc...). When we leave in September we'll just take the couch, tv and sofa to our POD and put it in. Easy, right? Tell me it will be easy.

I'm a ~~little~~ alot stressed but Bruce said "it will work out, don't worry". He always tells me that things will work out and it always does, he never seems to get stressed. We didn't expect to be moving so soon with such short notice, but what the hell. We'll get it done, out of the way and then relax over the summer in our new pad and count down the days until we leave.

If I don't post for a bit you'll know why. Wish me luck!

Notre Nouvelle Voiture!

2008-06-17T17:46:23-07:00

This is our new car, in France. We just bought it...haven't seen it in person, but trust the individual selling it to us. He deals with quality used french cars. You contact him, tell him what you are looking for and your budget. Then he finds the car(s), sends you pictures and if you like it you purchase it. We will mail him copies of our passports and our lease on the house we are renting and then he will send us a purchase contract and a copy of the "Carte Grise" which is the car registration. After we receive the documents we will wire him the money and the car is ours and will be waiting for us in France.

It's a 1985 Peugeot 305 station-wagon. This car comes direct from first-elderly-(maniac)-owner. It's an incredibly well maintained car in mint condition and garaged all it's life. It has 126.000 original kilometers only. New tires, new battery and spotless interior. We loved it the minute we saw it, it's perfect for us. We can throw the bikes or the dogs in the back and off we go.

That's one more thing we can take off our "to do" list. Many thanks to J e ne regrette rein for the referral!

True happiness

2008-06-16T17:10:53-07:00

Neil at Citizen of the Month started The Great Interview Experiment on Jan. 18, 2008, after deciding, ”We all should be interviewed, at least once.” So I signed up and interviewed the next person to comment after I did. I was interviewed by Becky at Deep Muck big Rake and in her opening about me she said "Reading through her blog, I was struck by how happy she is. Turns out one meaning of her name is “great happiness.” It fits.

You can read my interview if you are interested.

Then last week I was at the dentist for a check-up and was reading an article in a magazine called "Let the Joy Shine Through". It was written by the best-selling author of "happy for no reason", Marci Shimoff. The writer starts the article telling us how after decades of hard work, her book became a number one New York Times bestseller, she married her prince charming and they bought a lovely home. She had every reason to be happy...but she wasn't really happy inside. She noticed that most of the people who were really happy didn't "have it all". She was determined to find out what their secret was. She found 100 people who's happiness was not dependent on external circumstances - she calls them the happy 100. She says that they are not always euphoric - they might have anger, fear, pain or sadness. But they still experience the underlying peace and well-being that's the essence of true happiness, where you bring happiness to your experiences, rather than trying to extract happiness from them. She learned that these people weren't born happy, the learned to be happy by thinking and living in a particular way. Habitual thoughts and behaviors create specific neural pathways in the wiring of our brains, the way water flowing downhill creates a groove in the earth. When we think or behave a certain way over and over, the neural pathway is strengthened and the groove becomes deeper. Unhappy people tend to have more negative neural pathways - their minds are literally stuck in a rut. Research shows that when you repeatedly think, fell and act in a different way, the brain actually rewires itself. This means you can change your happiness set point. Here are 5 key things she learned from the happy 100.

#1 - Don't believe everything you think. Oh boy, can I relate to this one. Your brain is so powerful and can trick you into thinking your thoughts are correct, but they are not correct 100% of the time, especially if they are negative thoughts. We have an average of 60,000 thoughts per day - about one thought per second during every waking hour. And of those 60,000 thoughts, 95% are the same thoughts we had yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. How crazy is that! And for the average person, the majority of these habitual thoughts are negative. We are hardwired for negativity: If you get 10 compliments and one criticism, what do you remember? But you can change the wiring. Best way to do this is to nip it in the bud. I have done this trick and it works. If you have a negative thought, stop and write it down, then counter it with a positive thought. Use words like "your silly....or that's so untrue, or are you kidding"...and then counter it with the positive. You will train your brain to think positive and you'll be focusing on the positive and not the negative. Don't let negative thoughts paralyze you.

#2 - Notice the happy things in your life - no matter how small. Stop and notice everything good that happens to you: any positive thought you have, anything you see, fell, taste, hear or smell that brings you please. Once you notice something positive, take a few moments to savor it - making a habit of feeding happiness.

#3 - Choose the happier thought. Be a glass-half-full person. The next time you are faced with a challenge that gives rise to negative thoughts and bad feelings, find an equally true thought about the situation that makes you feel better and lean into it. You don't have to deny the negative thought - just pay more attention to the positive part of the truth.

#4 - Tend to your relationships. Having good social relationships is one of the strongest predictors of happiness. That doesn't mean you need to have 100's of friends, you could have just 2 friends, but these friends are healthy and support your happiness. My grandmother "Oofie"...we called her "Oofie" because her name was Ruth and my cousin couldn't say "ruthie", it came out Oofie and stuck. Anyway, she was a wonderful woman, she passed away 4 years ago at the rip old age of 106. She passed in her sleep. She lived on her own until she was 103 and had many close friends that she did many things with. She was a widow for 25 years and was so active with the Jr. League, volunteering, traveling with friends, socializing and playing bridge. I think it kept her young. Then she remarried at 82 and had a lovely 2nd marriage with a man that made her very happy. She lost him 10 years later, but that never stopped her, she always kept going, doing things, being with people, laughing and being happy.

#5 - Find a passion and a purpose. Sometimes we have to do things that are not so fun. Like us cleaning out the garage or the house getting ready to move. But the Happy 100 bring a sense of purpose to any activity. Don't find all the negative things about the project, make it positive. "we are cleaning out this garage because we are moving to france". This will boost your happiness. My passion when I was younger was gymnastics, I loved it for 10 long years, that's all I wanted to do. I didn't find another "true" passion until I took up pottery 7 years ago and I totally noticed that it changed me.

I am a happy person - I have some down moments, like last week! But it came and I dealt with it and worked through it. Sometimes negative thoughts can blow you over, but don't let them. Counter with a positive, look at each day as a new day, a new 24 hours to be on this earth, stop and notice things during the day, don't just let the day go by in a flash. When I get to france I am going to keep a journal (something I have never done) and I am going to focus on all the positive, beautiful things that I see and do each day in France. Maybe I'll blog about them too.

So....dites-moi, are you a happy person?