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Our Skiing Trip 2015 - Chamonix, France

2/22/2015

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Sam and I learnt to ski as adults and this is our third year properly skiing (i.e. skiing on anything other than the nursery slopes). On the last two occasions we have been with a group but this year our adventure to the mountains was as a couple. In the spirit of #frugal2015 we stayed did the whole trip on a tight budget -this resulted in us staying in a very memorable hotel attached to a very loud Apres bar, populated entirely by Swedes••. 

•• if you are in Chamonix want really excellent food, like the Swedish accent and don't mind some pretty heavy beats then you could do a lot worse than the Hotel Gustavia.

Returning to the skiing - I am not a natural. I am dyspraxic (a long blog post to follow about this at some point) and instinctively very cautious, but I love the mountains, the feeling of complete solitude and oneness with your surroundings and the physical exertion that skiing offers. I have therefore put quite a lot of effort into mastering the basics of skiing. I ended last years holiday competently (but slowly) skiing red runs.

My skiing this holiday had its ups and downs. On day one I was very shaky and nervous but after a few hours with a very lovely (and terrifyingly young) French ski instructor (Luc) I had my ski-legs back. Sam and I spent the rest of the holiday skiing together and were comfortably skiing red runs (and even one black run!!!) by the end of the holiday. Despite a few falls, I even sped up a little and grew considerably more confident, thanks to my husband's unending patience.

For me the highlights of the trip were threefold:
  • Le Tour - Chamonix is a ski-resort made up of several smaller resorts, Le Tour was my favourite of these. It has lovely wide runs, gorgeous views and was drenched in glorious sunshine the day we went. 
  • Verbier - Sam and I purchased 'Mont Blanc Unlimited' ski passes and these give you a day's access to beautiful Verbier (an hour and a half from Chamonix, over the Swiss border). I had injured my knee in a fall the day before and was a little nervous about Verbier but I shouldn't have been. It is as close to heaven as a ski resort comes: beautiful crisp pistes, an incredible network of lifts, great snow and the best tartiflette I have ever tasted, accessed by a whimsical winding little run. The Tombses will be back!!
  • Valentines Day - the last day of our ski trip was Valentines day and we had already returned our skis to the hire company. We made the very most of our last few hours in Chamonix though with lunch at Hameau Albert 1er, a 2 Michelin Star restaurant. It was the perfect contrast to a week of meals at the Hotel Gustavia. I have never been to a really 'fancy' French restaurant in France before and I could certainly get used to it. The service was impeccable - in spite of the fact we were only there for their very reasonably priced set lunch, they made us feel very special. - and the food was delightful: perfectly cooked rich little morsels including a delicious lobster terrine And the cheese trolley - oh, the cheese trolley ... A perfect end to a very happy week of sun and snow.



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February Goals

2/1/2015

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Goal setting is a topic close to my heart. I firmly believe life is precious and in order to live it to its full you have to know what you want and make a plan to achieve it. What has become increasingly clear to me over the past few years though, is that it is incremental steps that lead you to a meeting a long held goal; for example saying 'I want to buy a house' doesn't work, but breaking down each of the steps you need to do so - for example, 'define an area where we want to live', 'get a realistic valuation' of our current house' -does.


Thus, at the beginning of the year I work out what I want ('big picture goals'), and then carefully plan out the steps I need to take to get there ('incremental goals'). I set incremental goals month by month and I thought it might make me more accountable to write them down on here. So here goes:


Travel:
  • Enjoy our skiing holiday -  and maybe ski a black run!
  • Plan girls trip to Glasgow at the end of this month;
  • Book all accommodation for our March/April trip to Vietnam trip.
  • Get jabs for Vietnam trip.



Spiritual:
  • Start reading the Torah in English with commentary;
  • Keep up gratitude journal;
  • Don't let Hebrew lessons slip, even if I am busy with work (Sunday afternoon homework!)



Work:
  • Two work blog posts a month;
  • Get two clients' cases off my desk;
  • Use the CRM task function to delegate efficiently.



Life Admin:
  • Update my Ipad software (which dates back three years!);
  • Phone the Student Loans Company and work out where I am with my repayments;
  • Book my first driving lesson;
  • Book a 10k for the Spring.



Blog: 
  • Write 2 blog posts about things that make me happy.






3 Comments

    Zoe Tombs

    Living in a Victorian house that overlooks  the most beautiful city in the world; I love my corner of North London, Cornwall, my wonderful husband and our cat #poirottombs

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