It was one of those days that was very fun but filled with multiple activities that kept me hopping all day.

Emily has a house in Troy, NY and moves up there for the summer. I always joke that we need to get our sojourns away from Alexandria in sync as I leave for spring and fall and Emily leaves for the summer. We over lap only a couple of weeks during the summer. Since she was leaving, I met her for breakfast at Éclairons. It was nice to have one last meet up before she left.

Éclairons is a nice French bakery but it irritates me every time I go. I had a tea and a chocolate croissant and it cost me over $12.00. The main expense difference is the croissant. At Éclairions, they are $5.95 (5.23 euros) where in Toulouse they are generally no more than 1.50 euros ($1.75). The tea costs is relatively the same but the whole cost in Toulouse would have been less than the croissant.

I went to the Wednesday service at St. Paul’s which is really enjoy. It is a small community made up of the same people (less than 20 most days and even less usually). It takes only 30 minutes and is a good time to focus and be grateful for all the good things in my life – my friends, my health, my ability to travel, my life in Toulouse.

I met Tom for lunch as usual. It is our standard Wednesday activity. It has been nice with modern technology that we were/are able to continue it when I am in Toulouse only on FaceTime rather than in person.

Tom is a good person (for more than one reason) but he helps we do some DIY jobs around my apartment. I needed to put up a new towel rack on the back of my bathroom door and a new under counter light under the sink in my kitchen. He helped me with both – I should say he did most of the labor on both. I did do one of the projects myself which was change out the glass knob door handle in my bathroom.

For lunch, we went to 815 Southside (a tavern restaurant) up the street from where I live. I went all American for lunch which I usually do not do and had a hamburger. It is not my standard fare. We, also, had a beer a piece. It is nice to be able to have a beer and not worry about going to work.

Later that afternoon, I met Vanessa for a run. Vanessa reached out to me and wanted someone to run with and get back into running. It works out great for me as I like running with someone and I only have that two days a week usually. We, also, meet at Belle Haven park which works out great for me as I can run down to meet her and for the start get a little more of a work out in. I think it will be great for both of us.

In the evening, I met Jesse and Jen at Unwined After Hours for a Willamette, Oregon wine tasting. It is great to go to these as I know most of the wine reps who are serving the wine so it is like being part of a family. The wine was great and as usual, I bought wine. I have been on a wine binge since I have gotten back. I found that my wine refrigerator was getting somewhat empty so I am filling it back up.

All in all it was a fun day but hectic.