Choices, choices, choices,

I've really got myself in a dilemma! After attending Cordon Bleu open day last Saturday Paris, I did a personal guided tour of  cordon bleu london......



And now I'm torn!

Both have pros and cons and I'm spending a lot of brain power trying to reason which school would be the best and which City has the most to offer.

Paris has the history, the markets and of course the French!

London, which was the second cordon bleu school outside Paris has decidedly better facilities, French chefs and I can speak the language.

so, you can see my decision is not easy,

Yes it could be, I could just go to Cordon Bleu in Sydney , but what's the fun  in that?

So maybe you can help me......


If YOU had to make a decision where would you go.........

Stay tuned.....

Letter from Paris

I can't get any photos to load on via the iPad, so I am going to treat you with a letter from Paris...

Pictures will come at a letter date.

Dear Diary,

Today I arrived in Paris!  This is my about my 6th visit and still the excitement remains when I see the Tour Eiffel, symbol of Paris.

I'm here to attend an open day for

Le Cordon Bleu Paris cooking school  in preparation for my grown up gap year.

My sister is my support person, because you need someone to be your unbiased eyes and ears for things like this.

The weather is brilliant much warmer than I expected, I suppose I could blame climate change for that! :-)

We are staying at a lovely hotel on the Rive Gauche, which describes me to a tee,a bit left of centre!

We are going to do the hop on hop off bus, a comedy show and visit some sites, so,I'll close this letter now and will write another day.

Love gg

Friday on my mind....

So I've come to the end of my second gap year week and what did I do?

The answer is...
nothing much!

I worked at the hospital on Monday,  but the rest of the week was totally devoted to
my birthday celebrations!

I also had some more gap year planning on my to do list,

and now that's done I can reward myself with a fabulous girlfriends lunch date today in a lovely location HERE, in the southern highlands

Part of my gap year planning involves a reconnaissance trip to Europe in September to attend an open day at Le Cordon Bleu for prospective students, to check out the rental apartments in Paris and to go and see my sister who has moved to Amsterdam. I'm also doing a side trip to London to see my niece her new baby and some more family. Favourite first daughter from NYC is flying over to visit with me in London as well, and we plan to do some Westend shows, and some day trips to Bath, Oxford and Stratford Upon Avon.

Oh, and I might have done a bit of op shopping too this week, and I cannot confirm or deny that I might have purchased yet more furniture, but I'll save that reveal  for another day.

I'm out to lunch, so enjoy your Friday!

Making up for lost time.....

Once upon a time, there was a woman who did everything she was expected to do: got an education, got a qualification, got married, ( maybe not in that exact order) had a family, worked hard and raised that family and then.....

what happened to her?.......  ( ...insert thoughts here)

 I think I need to go there!

Well, it's not going to be me!








NO!

Because I've made a decision to take a GRAY GAP YEAR ( although I'm not gray, but if I said a blonde gap year what would people make of that? You'd all think I'd gone all Paris Hilton etc, etc....)
and spend some time, doing nothing much, .... ( insert pregnant pause here)


and then something I've always wanted to do and never thought I could/would do *

(* you have to read to the end to find out).

My significant other found out about my decision on Facebook (as we do these days), when I decided to quit my very well paying corporate job and swan around at home.

To his credit he did not question my decision and fully supported it  (might be due to the fact that he gets to partake in my gap year as well)



I seem to have missed out  on a of a lot of things, that are now considered a right of passage.



like schoolies, (wasn't invented when I left school)

The swanning around  university doing nothing much or being involved in student politics, (I went as  mature student with 4 children)  so,  I was not doing much swanning around or drinking free beer with the student association. Plus I hate the smell of beer.

Free tertiary education, (I got an education and a  HECS debt too!)  paid now!

Baby bonus.
I thought that was the baby you got to take home from hospital!  Not the money for a flat screen TV, so you watch TV and don't have the time or inclination to make more babies!

Family tax credits, (I credit my family with staying together and providing 4 new taxpayers for the economy)

Child Care Subsidy, when the aforementioned flat screen TV fails to work and you have another child, just old enough to mind the younger one!


so you can get my drift...
so

now the big news... ( insert drum roll...)

Glenquarry Goddess is going global!

I'm off the Europe in 6 weeks time for some sister time  (my sister had moved to Amsterdam for work, she is the  BIG TIME corporate gal!)  and to spend some time with my sister in law whose daughter is going to have a baby in mid/late September and then do some free time travel to check out my gap year haunt*

For those who do not know, (and there is only a handful of you left)  I'm going to live in Paris for 4 months next year and study at  Le Cordon Bleu,

if you're not aware of it,   you might have seen the film "Julie and Julia"  well I am studying at the same place Julia Child did!

So I will be a post modern version of Julia Child with an Australian accent!

so, my new blog is going to be all about

Minding the Gap! (Year)

So please mind the gap, and stay tuned.....