'Merica

George and I met in college. It was not the typical college romance, there were far more people involved and love triangles to count but it was a perfect match. We knew by 2 months dating that we were "it" for each other and the peace and confidence in our relationship only grew from then on. Right after I graduated, George proposed and we got married 6 months following. (How original right!?! Haha) 

George was in school for pharmacy and so we committed ourselves to South Florida. This was a hard pill to swallow for both of us because we had wanted to live abroad. Pharmacy is a very local and permanent degree which is not only specific to the country but the state. Now, permanent and myself don't mix. I think it's not only a condition of my childhood but also our generation. The idea of being stuck and tied to one place is terrifying, perhaps that is why I love Europe so much. The possibilities to travel and see so many different cultures and hear hundreds of languages all within a 5hr flight from London.  But I digress, while in pharmacy school we were looking into our options to get over to Europe. We were instantly discouraged and frustrated. So we set our sights on Seattle. Now, your probably laughing at us right now, I am too... But it was a great option so I looked into a grad degree in Art History and George looked into pharmacy jobs. 

Our Seattle plans were halted by our expected (but not so quick) pregnancy with Kenzington. We then decided to stay in South Florida (again not near family) to have our baby. Fast forward 9 months after our little, sweet, girly, Kenzington was born and I was pregnant with her little sister Sutton. (Again, an expected but an unexpected surprise) Sutton was born a mere 18 months after Kenzington's birthday and I was tired. 

My mom came to help watch kenz while I was in the hospital and her kind but motherly advice about my toddlers eating habits was a slap in the face. My toddler was eating a fruit packet for breakfast, a hotdog with a cheese stick and grapes for lunch, and Mac and cheese for dinner (or a quesadilla). Even to my dismay, this is actually accepted and served to children in our country. 'Merica has a serious issue with food and our authority culture; so after my moms visit I realized that we needed to make some changes. I had read a lot of books on toddlers and parenting but I was so tired from the pregnancy with Sutton that my laid back nature had given way to an unhealthy (both physically and emotionally) household. 

I saw "Bringing up Bebe" by Pamela Druckerman on my kindle store recommended list, read it, and found it to be the exact medicine I needed to reinvigorate our house. My style of parenting and just our lifestyle in general has always been a bit more Europhile than most. I LOVE a minimalist/Scandinavian design sense, clean good food, (at this point I and been a vegetarian for 10 years) small spaces with lots of light, good Northern European Renaissance Art, British children's literature, tea, and any BBC tv show.  I had always been looking for a way to make our life more European and here it was! "Bringing up Bebe" was the precipice of our changes. I spent a week or two setting up the our meals, (making meal plans, schedules, cute signs and notes with the rules, finding recipes etc) and I have now spent over a year implementing and adapting them to our needs. I have also immersed myself in more Francophile parenting books. I have now read all the books on the subject my kindle will allow and I have found more joy in making our home a European oasis than I expected. I have even taken this opportunity to practice my rusty high school French and add some yummy new recipes to our mealtimes. This blog will be where I share our home, trials and errors, methods, rules, recipes, and book reviews on the Francophile mealtime and parenting books I have read.   

*note- I have never lived in Europe or even France for that matter. While I have visited Europe before I haven't been able to truly experience the culture in the extreme detail that the authors of the Francophile mealtime and parenting books have. This is simply my account, opinion and implementation of their firsthand experiences. So please don't hate. Haha 

- Bon Chance Mon Ami!