La Cotentin

Just found out that our new neighbors are not going with us to Normandy this weekend.  Oh, have I mentioned I'm going to Normandy this weekend?  Well, La Cotentin...same difference.  I thought I would have to be running after 2 boogers this weekend but now its just one!  And Marie-Césare never wants me when mom is around so this could turn out to be an excellent weekend after all!  No, we probably won't go see any of the touristy things that I would go do if I was going with friends, but I'm still happy to get out of Paris for a couple of days!  

Great news.  I was talking to Genevieve (Manon's mother) about it at the park today and she said they went in August and it was "insupportablement froid" aka, very freaking cold.  She did say it was pretty, but there were some days the wind was so unbearable they couldn't do anything.  So, I am hoping for the best of weather in the middle of October.  

Now, to rummage through my medicine box for a dramamine so that the 4 hour car ride smushed between Gaspard and Marie-Césare's car seat is bearable.  

Purée of ....?

Tonight I was rummaging around in the freezer trying to find something to feed Marie-Césare.  There was ham and chicken, pasta and rice, but no vegetables other than an orange, a potato, and some scallions.  So, I resorted to the tride and true Picard purée guessing game.  There were some frozen balls of orange-ness, which I only assumed were carrots, frozen potato purée with bits of ham and cheese, and a bag of little green balls which were either broccoli, spinach, or peas.  Pop a couple of them in the microwave for a minute and voilà!  

I'm still not exactly sure what they were, but to her it didn't matter.  She still ate them with reluctancy and disgust.  

To-Do Lists

I have stayed very busy with school and daily tasks this week.  My new teacher is very professional and is taking the whole "2 hours of out of class homework" very seriously this year.  I haven't had this much homework since freshman year of college.  In fact, I was sitting here on my Sunday evening just about to pop in a movie and realized I haven't even started tomorrow's work, so I suppose the movie will have to wait!  

Friday I woke up in a panic with a to-do list that I had to get done.  I was running around in the rain because I had to make copies of all kinds of documents and find somewhere in this city to have my birth certificate translated.  Why?  Well, because in order to get my visa renewed I have to have a French social security number.  In order to get the social security number I have to send all this paperwork in and have 4-6 weeks processing.  With my visa appointment on November 22, I had to get on it...stat!  Around 2:30 Friday afternoon I found a place that could translate my birth certificate into French, certify it, and stamp it by Monday morning at 9:30.  Done!  

Why they even need to have my birth certificate translated into French anyway I will never know.  All it says is my name, who my parents are, where I was born and at what time.  That stuff doesn't even translate into another language!!!!!!!!!!!  Anyways,  its done and I said goodbye to 67 euros = $90.00.  Doesn't that seem a little steep for one page of non translating?  I also said goodbye to a possible weekend in Bordeaux at the end of October.  Minnccceeee......

All four of the girls playing "Au pas, Au trop, Au galop" on the knees of Cléo's father Friday afternoon.
Cléo, Nina, Marie-Césare, and Manon

I haven't been feeling well lately, I think the change in the weather always does me in.  Saturday I slept late and met the girls at the Art Deco museum for the Hussein Chalayan exposition.  No photos allowed and they were very strict about it.  Hussein Chalayan is a designer from London, so all my English fashion buff friends were very into it.  I found it interesting, and something I probably would have gone to anyway, so I sat and watched the fashion shows from previous years for what felt like a lifetime.  He had some pieces that with a push of a button would transform into a completely different dress!  

Afterwards we walked down to Angelina's on Rue de Rivoli for a cup of chocolat chaud on a seemingly chilly afternoon and jotted over to Tuileries for a bit to enjoy.  The line is always so long at Angelina's.  One of these days I will go, planning to wait in line all afternoon.  

Raspberry/Chocolat Macaron, Yummy? Non?  

Fall leaves on the ground at Tuileries

Flora, Rozy, Laura, and Estelle

Since the cold and rain had descended over Paris, we all went home and had an early night.  Slept late again today, which was probably good for my cold.  

We have been plotting a little metro breaking and entering.  I am dying to get into one of the closed metro stations from the 1930's.  I don't know why but I find this whole abandoned metro station thing fascinating.  They were closed during World War II, for escape routes, etc.  And because they were nonessential stations to the metro lines, some were reopened but not for very long, and others remained closed.  Some still have the original advertising from the 20's and 30's and others are covered over in graffiti.  Doesn't that sound cool?  I would love to see the original tile advertisements, wooden benches, and ticket stands on the platforms.  Plus, wouldn't it make an excellent blog post?!  

Okay, off to do some homework!  

Nostalgia

As I popped up out of the metro this evening I had a brief sense of nostalgia.  That grand nostalgia being from last year of course.  Today was the first really "fall" day that we have had here in Paris with a crisp wind and leaves scattered about the ground.  The smell of roasted chestnuts filled the streets as the men lit up their homemade supermarket buggy grills and swirled the chestnuts around the top with their sticks as to evenly roast each and every one.  

People were wrapped up in scarves and heavier coats, many already wearing heavy boots and gloves as if 60 degrees were terrifyingly cold.  It was dark and gray, and of course raining, which is always a sure sign winter is coming.  Everywhere I went sweaters and fall clothes were flying off the shelves.  A brown leaf fell onto my shoulder as I was walking down Boulevard Haussmann.  No, it was not a pretty orange, yellow, or red leaf that I would find back home...but yet it being the first sign of fall, it made me smile.  

The next song on my iPod was a Christmas tune, Baby It's Cold Outside, by James Taylor and I just couldn't bring myself to change the song.  

I wait for the day that the Christmas markets are building on the sidewalks between the Grand Palais and the Champs Elysées.  When the Champs Élysées is filled with twinkle lights and the grand tree in Galaries Lafayette is sparkling with glitz and glam.  You can smell vin chaud from a mile away and chocolat chaud pours from every corner of Paris like water.  The Christmas lights in Courcelles shine brightly over the street.  Shoppers are busy buying gifts for one another and every where you turn Père Noël is watching.  When the one, lonely -yet sizable- christmas tree is decorated in front of Notre-Dame with the traditional blue and silver lights and inside you can hear the beautiful notes of the choir's carols that resonate throughout the city.  

Yes, its soon Christmas in Paris and I never dreamed I would be spending not one, but two Christmases in such a beautiful city.  A city that seems to change during the winter season, but changes for the better, despite the freezing cold walks to and from the metro.  I do wish I could spend Christmas with my family, and would give anything, absolutely anything for an extra $1500 to make that happen, but if I had to choose a second location...Paris would have to be it.  

For now I will enjoy fall, adjust to the dark mornings and early evenings, eat cones and cones of roasted chestnuts, listen to the leaves shuffle under my feet, and celebrate with a new scarf or two.  Looks like its settling in to be an excellent l'automne.  

Conjucti-what?

Absolutely adorable cover of children's Vogue this month, huh?  That would be Place de la Concorde with a precious girl in a Burberry coat and Dior wool skirt....beautiful.  

I stayed "home" with Marie-Césare yesterday and today because she has pink eye.  Yuck.  Conjugti-something in French, which just sounds disgusting.  She is in good humor and up and about, but giving her eye drops 3 times a day is a nightmare.  Maybe its like that with all kids, but we lay on the couch, and she squeezes her eyes tightly shut with all her might-so-how do I get the drops in?  I tell her to open her eyes, but they start to shut even tighter, then the tears, then the screaming.  So I quickly PRY her eyes open (which I'm sure hurts way worse) and drop what I can of some crazy orange medicine in each eye.  What. An. Ordeal.  

We went to the Musée Quai Branly today, just to get out and do something different.  The museum has crazy costumes and masks and jewelry from all over the world, and since Marie-Césare loves all things African thanks to her previous nanny Paulette she thoroughly enjoyed it.  We stopped and got something to eat under the Eiffel Tower and enjoyed a crisp day out.  

Had to pass La Tour Eiffel to get to the Quai Branly...always a welcome surprise for us both.  

Her favorite thing in the museum

La rivière of words

And a not so happy photo after I scolded her for putting her lips on the glass.

Tomorrow is the regular Wednesday and I am only hoping Thursday her conjucti-whatever will be gone and she can go to school.  I am tired!  This month and next month are beyond crazy for Franck and Chloé so I have been staying a little later than usual which, lets face it, I don't really work that much but at these times I wish I was getting paid by the hour!  

Nuit Blanche

Saturday night was Nuit Blanche in Paris which translates to "White Night" or "Sleepless Night."  Cities all over the world organize nights like this and in Paris it is the first Saturday in October.  It is a completely free event that runs from 7pm Saturday night to 7am Sunday morning.  I was only hoping to get invited to the private dinner at Place de la Concorde or the completely white martini party on top of the Arc de Triomphe, but I don't know the right people who know the right people I suppose.  ;)  There are exhibitions set up all over the city from artists all around the world.  Paris chose 3 main locations to showcase the exhibitions.  Le Marais/Hotel de Ville, Batignolles, and Montmartre.  Lines 12 and 14 ran all night long without stop.  14 runs horizontal throughout the city and 12 runs vertical so you could get pretty close to your destination if need be.  We started at Hotel de Ville around midnight.  We figured if we started any earlier we wouldn't have much gumption by 4am.  There were SO many people out and about.  The plaza at Hotel de Ville was packed with Nuit Blanche goers.  People flooded the sidewalks and metros looking to make the most of their 12 hours of free art exhibitions!  

After everyone in our group finally arrived, some waited in line at Quick for about an hour for a less than mediocre hamburger, and we figured out what plan of action we were going to take, we reached the "Purple Rain" exhibit around 2am.  

You were suppose to be transported as the song was played into his version of what "Purple Rain" would be.  Okay, obviously this was the most popular place to be because the line was forever long.  It did look very cool though so we decided to wait.  A few of us decided that we should split, half should go to the restaurant around the corner and have a drink and the rest should wait in line and then we could switch off.  So, I volunteered to go and come back.  Well, this would have been an excellent plan of action except for we couldn't hear our phones when the other group was calling us to say that the line was moving very fast and they were almost to the exhibition.  So, whatd'ya know, I missed it.  I have a couple of friends who happened to get in though....there was no way we were waiting in that line again. As you can see it was a courtyard in the middle of Le Marais which was closed off and bright purple lights shone through.  There was a rain machine dripping light drops of water...but enough for them to have to give you an umbrella.  

Laura, Flora, and Esmee

Just a portion of the line at Purple Rain

Wasn't required to wear white but I decided to wear my white pants in honor of Nuit Blanche.  

Taylor, Rozy and Pierre

After Purple Rain and a couple of other random artsy things in the streets, we decided to make our way up to Montmartre...little did we know it would take 2 hours.  Our group of 20 had now disintegrated into about 10 (thank goodness) and we walked from Le Marais to Chatelet to catch the line 14.  After we stopped for a bathroom break.  After we stopped for a crêpe.  And after we walked around the entire Chatelet area only to find one of the entrances open.  If anyone knows just how big Chatelet metro station is...they can tell you that having just one of the 15 entrances open is ridiculous.  

Anywho, we changed to line 12 at Madeleine and rode up to Pigalle.  Pigalle is a bit sketchy at 3am so it was good we were with a group.  We were going to a "silent disco."  I had never heard of this concept ever before in my life so I was in for a real treat.  We walked into a courtyard filled with people dancing and twinkle lights strung from the trees.  Looked like a scene from Footloose.  But oddly enough, it was silent.  You could only hear the snapping of people's fingers and the shuffling of their feet as they danced the night away to American pop music from the 1960's, 70's and 80's.  We traded in our ID's for a snazzy pair of black headphones and got down to such hits as Brown Eyed Girl, Maneater, and My Sharona.  

Alison and Rozy getting down.

Such a great atmosphere!  

The headphones were an interesting concept for me as I kept singing aloud.  (You all that know me, know that singing is not the greatest gift God has given me.)  Not necessarily the headphones because I listen to my headphones every day on the metro, but the fact that it was in a place so open and so happenin' I just wanted to shout out, "Watch out boy she'll chew you up!"  So the fact that I was one of the few people there who knew all the words and was singing them aloud made me stand out of the crowd probably a little bit too much.  But....I didn't care! We were jammin'!! 

Rozy and Susanna

At 6:15 I gave in and headed home.  We didn't get very much accomplished, but we weren't very prepared.  I felt as if I had walked 20 miles that night, and my feet were just worn to little nubs.  I got home around 7am, and couldn't go to sleep for another hour due to my throbbing feetsies.  It was also a strange concept to be coming home just as people were getting up and going to work.  I passed the woman who lives down the hall on the stairs and didn't know whether to say hello or bury my face in my jacket with embarrassment. 

Taylor crashed at my place that night (morning?) as he had come home just an hour or so before I did.  The good news for a long night out?  We felt as if we deserved a little American treat.  So, that we did.  I took Taylor and Laura on their maiden voyage to Breakfast In America.  

This time I got a chocolate milkshake and boy was it yummy.  Totally worth the $6 I paid for it.  

Also in other big news....my sister Laine PLEDGED PI PHI!!!! Sorority was such a huge part of my life and I'm so excited for Laine to share in my experiences.  I tried not to pressure her too much during recruitment and wanted her to make her own choices, but deep down I knew I wanted her to go Pi Phi.  I hated not being there and sharing in the moment, but I know there will be so many more to come.  

Laine and Mary Dilworth, my friend Margaret Dilworth's little sister who is a senior!

Laine and her halo!  Heard we got an excellent pledge class of new baby angels!   127 girls...now I'm wondering how sit down dinner will work tonight!?  

Pi Phi house looking great as usual.  Love the balloon arch...cute idea!  

So proud of her and the decisions she has made thus far.  I can only hope that this only enriches her experiences at Ole Miss and that she can make lifelong friends that are just as wonderful as mine!!! 

May 2009 Bid Day

Laura's bachelorette party...obviously.  

Ashleigh, this one's for you

As I was browsing the aisles of Monoprix on a Saturday morning winding throughout the rows of cheese, yogurt, and fruit, I decided to pop down the cookie aisle and just have a look and see if anything had changed.  Normally I don't frequent the cookie section as I haven't found any one particular cookie that I just love here in France.  (From a supermarket that is...) I'd much rather have a Bonne Maman chocolate mousse...wouldn't you?  And so in my leisurely Saturday morning a perused through the Cigarette Russes, Cadbury Chocolate Chip Cookies, Speculoos, and the sad European excuse for Oreos.  When what do my eyes fall upon next?  Tim Tam's!  Addie brought them to Ashleigh when she came to visit last February and that was the first time I had ever seen/heard of them.  Purely made in Australia and distributed all over the world (only for a limited time in the US a few years ago) they are now gracing our presence in France.  Much to my excitement because they are pretty delicious cookies.  From my lesson last winter the proper way to eat them is biting off the ends and sucking coffee or tea through them like a straw until they absolutely melt in your hand... but they are pretty good on their own as well.  

Last night I stayed a little later at Chloé and Franck's because they were having a couple of guests over who were from the US, well, they were from California but I guessssss I can make an exception and say they were from the States.  They were an older couple, both retired, and friends of friends that Chloé and Franck know.  I am pretty sure they invited me along to be the buffer for their English.  I kindly accepted the invitation for champagne and quiche and can imagine that by the end of a busy week the last thing you want to do on a Friday night is spend the evening speaking English.  Especially for Franck.  They weren't the most exciting couple, in fact, they were actually pretty boring, and it was like pulling teeth the whole evening.  Chloé and I kept looking at each other like...when are these people going to leave?  haha...although it was nice of Chloé and Franck to invite them over even though I'm absolutely sure they didn't want to.  I got up to leave around 10, and so did the couple from California and I wish I could have captured the relieved look on Franck's face in a photo.  Hilarious.  

I met Rozy, Laura, and Susanna afterwards for a quick jaunt at the Tour Eiffel.  We sat in a very quiet grassy spot over to the side of the Tour Eiffel that I had never even seen before.  Even though this doesn't look like a new view of it....it is a completely different side.  Wherever we were sitting was a mosquito trap because I woke up this morning with at least 10 bites on my legs.  Yuck.  

Tonight is Nuit Blanche and I'm looking very forward to it.  I love being able to experience things here in Paris that are once a year and that most people don't have the opportunity to do.  It makes living here extra special.