Picnic

Photo by Karen at French Skinny

It's beautiful in Southern California right now so 5 and I decided to have a Picnic.

The idea: Pack some healthy French Skinny snacks in a little bag, take a leisurely French Skinny walk to the park a mile away, lay out a lovely blanket and watch my darling son play while I relax.

The reality: Once I packed the food, drinks, plates, napkins, blanket and camera, I looked like a tourist going cross country. 5 just got a razor scooter so I had to do the Parisian power walk with all my items yelling "RED LIGHT" to slow my kid down. Once we got there, I laid the blanket under a tree, then had to move it around 3 times because the tree's roots were invading my underside. I took a breath and quietly ate my cheese and a few bites of cucumber. As soon as I started to feel a little relaxed the ants started to descend upon us. We ate fast, packed up, and moved to a park bench. Then it was time to go home. I suited up with all our stuff and couldn't wait to get home.

What I learned: Eat before we go, bring a snack, forget the blanket, eat at the picnic table. Wear running shoes to catch up with razor scooter kid.

I know Shaboom would do this all in 4 inch heels, ending up at the Eiffel Tower eating roasted chestnuts and drinking French lemonade laughing coquettishly into the night. (Sigh) I will endeavor to keep trying. I have cast off my hair scrunchies, sweat pants and old clothes. But still working on my ce' la vie and my je ne sais quoi.

"Buddy, please don't use my heels as a ramp for your Hot Wheels toys, okay?"

The French Skinny Finale!

My French Picnic

All photos by James Reese Photography

I had never considered putting up photos of myself for the FSE. But there were so many comments about it, you all changed my mind. I couldn't bring myself to show the before picture. Just pick one of these and imagine it blown up like a helium balloon.

I figured if I was going to do pictures let's have some fun. So I hired James Reese because he is incredibly talented and I knew he would shoot something special. (If you need pictures for anything, he's AMAZING!) I wanted it to have a French vibe so we started at the flower mart in Downtown L.A.

I had never been there before.

So much fun.

I bought a ridiculous amount of flowers.

Remember those black stretchy J. Crew pants?

Wearing them!

Then we were off to my house.

I found this dress at "It's A Wrap."

Somebody wore it on the show Big Love.

I threw on an apron my God daughters gave me.

4 was very shy.

Then we went in search of my boyfriend at Monte Carlo.

He wasn't there.

I waited and waited.

He broke my heart again.

We moved on to shoot some head shots.

This is Hubby's favorite.

At some point James asked me how I felt about The FSE.

This was my answer.

The last thing was My French Picnic above.

It was a spur of the moment inspiration and I think my favorite.

The French Skinny started out as an experiment but has become my lifestyle.

I want to thank all of you for your amazing support.

Merci Beaucoup!

*Oh yeah, I lost that last pound.......One week early.