My birthday party at the Café de la Préfecture was a blast. A lot of work, but so worth the preparation. And I have photos! Tout a fait! My friends who came made it an event to remember. And all those wonderful kisses! I like to think that our many-exchanged cheek pecks will continue to improve France-U.S. relations.

In attendance was Philippe, an informatacien who works at the Trésor Public building near the café, Laurent, a French painter/restorer, Daniel, a French government finance employee, and Julie and Carla, Sylvie's helpers at the café. Nicolas came, who works next door at the clinic, and sisters Astryd and Ingrid, Jennifer and Cam's teenage daughters, also came. Fluent in French as well as their native English, they both stood close to the food most of the evening, ensuring nothing went to waste. They are very fun, independant girls, and great dancers, too! JP and Alicia arrived late, just having gotten back from the US after visiting their families for 10 days. JP is the other Fulbright scholar in Dijon who Jeff met at the Fulbright meeting at the US Ambassador's home in Paris last October. Jennifer and Cam, Canadians living in Dijon for four years now, and our first English-speaking friends here, seemed to enjoy themselves. Lynn and Steve, American lawyers in their previous lives and now living in Dijon, also helped me celebrate. Lynn and Jennifer are credited for finding all the English-speaking people in Dijon. They have an uncanny radar for English, able to hear a single English word muttered softly and quickly amongst a horde of French. Of course Sylvie was also there, adding fun to the atmosphere.

After everyone relaxed, the dancing began. The dancing fanatics, hands-down, were Philippe and Sylvie. Watching the two of them dance was really quite something. Whether dancing individually or together they were always entertaining. Wish I had the moves. Oh well, I danced anyway! I also had the pleasure of dancing with Nicolas, who surprised me by swaying his hips and getting into the groove of many songs. Nicolas, who I knew to have one love: fishing.

We played jazz music, club music, hip-hop music, classic French crooners, the whole enchilada. Astryd and Ingrid went home for some dance music after their eyes began to glaze over from "all those oldies". When they returned, they had the music for the Macarena and the Bird Dance. Oh, and of course, The Locomotion! Reminded me of my wedding, when I requested these songs NOT be played, but were anyway! So Philippe, Nicolas, Astryd, Ingrid and I choo-chooed around the café while most of my guests remained safely ensconced in booths. Philippe told me I was surely French because I was dancing. He thought it was "dommage" (too bad) that not everyone was up and moving to the beat!

Once we managed to get everyone gathered together with their cocktails in hand, Jeff gave a little toast. He thanked everyone for coming and wished me a happy birthday. I was "sante'd", "chin'd", and "cheer'd" by everyone. We drank from champagne flutes filled with a cocktail of Cremant, gin and grenadine. Sylvie even applied a pink sugar rim to the glasses. I had prepared a bunch of food, and everyone ate throughout the evening. I brought two kinds of sausage: rosette du jambon (ham sausage) and Son Lorrain Fuseau Mi-Sec, a delicious pork sausage. We served four cheeses, brie (which was forgotten in the kitchen until clean-up), comte, chevre, and a semi-soft morbier. Then we had the hummus Steve made for the party, lots of different breads that Jeff and I picked up earlier from my favorite bakery, a selection of the most amazing olives from "the olive lady" by the market, roasted peanuts and pistachios, and the American classics: chips with onion dip, vegetables with ranch dip, and for dessert: Nestle Toll-House Chocolate Chip Cookies and my grandma's No-Bake Chocolate Cookies. These items were made possible by a package from my mom sent and everybody loved them! My french friends oohed and awed over the dips and the cookies, and were amazed at my apparent kitchen prowess. My prowess, which included mixing a dry mix and crème fraîche together! Trés dificile!

Nicolas kept telling me to open the presents, which I was surprised to have received considering I told everyone NO GIFTS! Secretly, I was thrilled. I finally relented to his request (that's what it looked like-actually I was dying to know what I got). I started with the café group gift, which started with a card. It was an over-sized Snoopy card, and all my café friends had written me short happy birthday messages. I was touched. The gift that accompanied the card surprised me: a piggy bank filled with money! Five hundred francs! Sylvie told me they all wanted me to have the money to get what I wanted. WOW! I know already what I will get. French Pictionary and some books! Next I received playing cards with the Ducs of Burgundy on them from Lynn and Steve, I got some Flavigny bon-bons from the friends (said to be aphrodisiacs), some homemade orange confiture from Nicolas' mom, and a French CD of Renaud from Nicolas that was wrapped in medical green paper and masking tape(he works at the clinic, remember)! I listened to the CD already, and like it. The music is nice, very calm, and the singer Renaud has a clear voice that allows me to follow the French. Alicia also brought me some chocolate chips from the US, so I can make more cookies in the future! And Jeff didn't forget me. He surprised me earlier in the day with tickets to a concert. His presentation of them was quite clever. We were walking down the rue de la Liberté, and he suddenly said, why don't I give you your present right now? I said "Now?" "Here?" "Yes, right here." OK, sure. He handed me an envelope and said "now look straight ahead". I did as I was told, and finally realized he was referring to a poster taped to the building we were next to, announcing a concert Friday given by the France Violinists. Opening the envelope, I found two tickets for the concert. It's at the stunning Dijon cathedral, and I've very excited. On the program is our wedding song, Canon in D by Pachabel. The acoustics will be fantastic. I was stunned at Jeff's ingenuity. He'll never cease to amaze me!

I am so happy, and lucky, to have made friends in France, and I will certainly remember this birthday forever. Tout le monde, merci d'être venu. Vous m'honore avec votre amitié.