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Hey there!

This is The Girl writing to you for the DCR weekly newsletter. As always, if this is your first time checking in on the newsletters, then you’re way behind, and need to go HERE to catch up! My gig here with the newsletter is to wrap up what has happened in the DCR tech world over the last week, as Ray is already too busy looking on to week ahead. So I took the reins on this one, and will provide you with as entertaining of a re-cap as any sleep deprived new mom can! If I’m having a really good morning, then I’ll tell you a few stories at the bottom of the newsletter in “The Girl” section.

On with the show!

It seems in this household, once we finally recover from one thing, another batch of crazy embraces us. I recently asked my dad how they did it with 4 kids separated by 4 years? He told me, “This is when you really become ‘fit’ and build stamina!” Woof, there are moments I really do feel like we are preparing for an Ironman again! Last week we started prepping for the Annual DCR Open House and Fun Run, which happened to be on the same weekend as the Corrida Noel 10km (Santa Clause run). This ranks amongst one of my favorite weekends of the year! Ray and I love getting to meet some of the readers of the blog, and now, we have seen some of the same people 3 years in a row, which is really nice for us! On top of the DCR weekend festivities, there were cake orders, and of course Ray’s continual “door buster watch” for sales that are taking place for the holidays. Apparently, Black Friday and Cyber Monday weren’t enough for retailers as they continue to extend sales and offer new ones. If you’re still doing some holiday shopping and sports tech is on the list, I’d keep checking this page as Ray is still updating any great deals he hears about!

Last week Ray continued his YouTube streak. I feel like there has been a lot of Ray-time spent on the DJI Mavic drone, so finally there is an in-depth video of that guy, along with a “high winds test”. As well, Ray thought you might find it interesting to get an update on the DCR Man cave. Or as I more loving refer to it as his lair, or as the place Ray goes and doesn’t emerge from again until I demand a sign of life. Usually I pair this demand with either the tantalizing smell of baked goods or an onslaught of text messages with choice words- not unlike the text message conversation I posted for you last week! Variety is the spice of life, no? In case you really have some time to kill today and are so inclined, you can find all of Ray’s videos here on his DC Rainmaker YouTube Channel.

YouTube wasn’t the only place Ray spent time this past week. Along with finally cluing up the DJI Mavic in-depth review, we also had a great afternoon fulfilling a 5 year Christmas tradition. While Paris still doesn’t feel completely like “Home” to me, this Christmas tree tradition certainly helps make Christmas not feel so foreign. In case you didn’t see those posts, they are all conveniently listed just below for you, along with the re-cap of the DCR open house events and the Santa race.

Now, if you’re still sitting there with time to spare keep on scrollin’ to the “The Girl” section.

It’s that time of year again!  Yup, time to run with a few thousand other Santa’s as part of the 10K race, Corrida de Noël d'Issy les Moulineaux!  We’ve been…

Third time’s the charm! And so it was – the 3rd annual DCR Open house this past weekend.  This year I had folks from not only all across Europe, but…

Since moving to Paris, it’s become a little bit of an annual Christmas tradition of ours to pickup our tree at the flower markets and then subsequently bike home with…

While the widely held assumption this year was that the GoPro Karma drone would be the hottest drone to get one's hands on, it’s quickly become clear over the last…

In Depth Thoughts from the Girl

I see you had more time to kill. Thanks for joining me down here below the fold! This week I think I have to “address” some things. Having enjoyed a weekend of DCR readers and getting to have lots of conversations with different people, it became apparent to me that a lot of you don’t know anything about me! I think I just assumed that you have all done my background check by now?

No? Okay, well I’ll just give you the quick rundown. I’m not THAT interesting so we will keep it short and to the point!

I’m Canadian, a Newfoundlander to be clear, and very proud of it! I made my way to the U.S. of A on a full ride soccer scholarship for university. I had four amazing years in the great state of South Carolina enjoying soccer at its best, non-Canadian winters, and trying to perfect my southern drawl. I made my way to Iowa on a scholarship for my master’s degree. Ironically, the program was sponsored by Polar, and I did an entire year of teaching Physical Education based on children’s heartrate efforts rather than sports skills. I sometimes joke with Ray that I taught him everything he knows about heartrate monitors! But that’s a story for another day.

After graduation I migrated back to the East coast to live with my sister and become a teacher in Alexandria, Virginia. I started back up in the soccer realm, trying my hand with a season in the semi-professional leagues, but a bad injury sidelined me and I decided it was time to retire from the team sports. I had discovered a love for running in Iowa, I guess I always had a love for running and fitness, but it was in Iowa that I discovered I was good at it! So now in Virginia I started actively training for races.

Insert Ray.

I met Ray at our local running store’s friendly running group. From there we became really good friends for a year before he had the nerve to ask me out for dinner. Many, many running races, triathlons, and Ironmans later here we are married, in Paris, with a baby and a dog in tow. I’ve managed to get myself on the podium of a 70.3 Ironman, 2x qualified for and ran the Boston Marathon, and my fastest 10km is still during the 3^rd leg of a triathlon.

Oh yeah, and somewhere in all of that I opened a cake shop in a foreign country.

And just like that in 322 words I’ve summed up everything you might have wanted to know about me! I guess I should also add that when Ray calls me “The Girl”, it is actually endearing, and has always been meant in good spirits. That question is more often asked of me than I can count, not sure what he would/could change it to at this point that would be any more adoring.

With that, have a great week. Thanks for reading.

~The Girl