i've gone and done it..

Well I'm officially old.

Old starts when you begin lying about your age.

Today I did it for the first time and it was scary how it just rolled off my tongue.

I went to the hairdressers and when I was about to pay she asked me how old I was.

That's when it happened, my mouth just up and said: 23.

Yup one big fat white lie. But come on, after 25 no more discounts at the hairdressers! Thats an extra 25% I'd be paying..

I know, no excuse...

center

I'm working on Chapter 3 of my Masters thesis, I basically have 2 weeks to finish it (and hopefully the conclusion!) before I have to give the make-up exams and then go home for 2.5 weeks! Things are getting down to the wire!

The hardest part is holding on to the motivation... I wish the thing would just write itself!

Plus I think I'm the only one who is thinking this - but I wish the nice weather would go away! It is so hard to stay inside when all I want to do is be outside, having a drink with friends, going to the beach anything!

Gahh... this is my motivate myself post. Lets see if this Indian dude helps me out :-)

for devon

Sunset from my bedroom window :-)

yipppee!!

I'm making some headway! Just finishing up Chapter 2 of my memoire this morning, going to print it off (hopefully my office is open so I can print for free...) and send it to my prof.

Its getting down to the wire, I have just over 2 weeks left to finish up Chapter 3 and the conclusion... Gahhh!!! It is possible but it is going to be a very busy next few weeks. I gave myself the timeline of 2 weeks because in 3 weeks I have to work (give make up September exams, written and oral, to my students who failed last year) and then as soon as thats done I'm going to the States for 2 and 1/2 weeks!

Must keep working. Must keep working. (my new mantra...)
















Just checked my blog stats and its my blog's 2 year birthday!!
Happy Birthday Milk Jam!

hahaha

ostéo

Recently I've been making my regular appointments, the dentist, the eye doctor etc... and this year added in a few alternative doctors. I decided to try a new one, ostéopathie. I'm still not sure what that would translate to, if it is the same or different as a chiropracter... but over the last year I've been having a lot of shoulder pain from sitting at my desk all the time.

When I went in it was your "typical" French doctor's experience, as in you arrive in a residential neighborhood, ring at an apartment and go upstairs. When I got inside I waited for a few minutes in the waiting room then went into the office. Sitting at his desk I told him what was wrong, he asked for my carte vitale and then to strip down (ok, not his words!) to my undies. Its funny, as much as I've gotten used to life in France, especially the differences in doctor's visits, this one always makes me realize that I'm still an American. I don't show my surprise, I don't hesitate, don't ask for a robe (cause you know they won't have one) but I do think about it... I wonder if that will ever stop years down the road... maybe.

Anyway he said that two of my lower vertabrae as well as two in my neck were out of place, so moving my legs around and telling me to breathe in deeply he popped it all back into place. I do have to admit I feel a lot better, still a little knotty in my shoulders but there is a lot less tension.

acrobranche

Yesterday for my friend Kristina's birthday a bunch of us got together and went to a forest outside of Caen to try out a ropes course.

At West Adventure we paid our 19E and had 3 hours to do as many different courses as we wanted. There was the "family" course, the "advanced" and the "frissons" (shivers/goosebumps). We all had a great time but it was difficult because it had been raining so everything was really slippery and made it harder trying not to fall!

It was also a kind of personal challenge for me because when I was a teenager we did a ropes courses as part of the summer camp and it was SO hard for me, I would litterally sit there petrified with my stomach in a knot. This time all the scary parts (the zip cord especially!) were just not as bad, and actually really fun. The only part where I got freaked out was where you had to grab a rope and swing tarzan style to the next platform. Something about jumping off with nothing under you was really hard.

But instead of just being scared the whole time I had a lot of fun and so deserved the little pat on the back I gave myself :-)

sleepless

I went to bed last night around midnight and snuggled in. I half woke up around 2:30am when I heard people talking really loudly. I couldn't figure out if it was the neighbors or someone in the street below... but when they didn't stop and then put the music on really loud I started to get annoyed.

I figure they must have gone out at night and then since the bars closed they decided to continue on in the apartment. The last time I went to go ask them to be quiet they didn't hear me knocking for a good five minutes and then said they would keep it down - but of course didn't.

So this time I decided to try a new strategy... I waited for a while and then around 3:30 got fed up and called the police. I think somehow the damsel in distress works well. The receptionist sent out a car and they arrived within 5 minutes. I let them in the building and they said they would go "sort things out" and then I heard them banging on the door downstairs. There was some loud words exchanged, then the music was cut and then all was quiet...

It was bliss.

Sometimes its good to be a girl ;-)

Guernsey

Whew! Been a while since I posted! Bad lazy blogger that I am! Anyway I've been out and about enjoying the beautiful weather we're (finally) having here in Normandy.

Last Tuesday I jetted off on the train to Cherbourg to visit Mystery Guest and after a day of hanging out we woke up at the butt-crack of dawn to go to Guernsey for the day. The ferry left from a small port town about an hour from his parents so we were up with the chickens ;-) But that way we had the whole day to hang out on the island. We arrived at Port Peter and visited Victor Hugo's house. Then we rented bikes and spent the day roaming the island.


As it is a British island it was really really hard getting used to riding on the left-hand side, especially going through roundabouts! I swear I was gripping the handlebars the whole time!

We discovered all sorts of fun coastlines and a few sandy beaches. The scenery is amazing! You would think with water that blue it was in the middle of the Indian Ocean but alas it was about 20C and we didn't bring bathing suits.

If you get the chance I would highly recommend taking a trip out there, or to the other islands - Sark if you want something more rugged (and sans voitures) or Jersey if you're looking for something more cosmopolitan.

Wedding Recap

I'm still exhausted from the wedding weekend but it was fantastic! I arrived Friday night and so did a lot of her friends (coming in from Germany and all) and so we had a blast hanging out in the rural bed & breakfast that they rented out for us.

Saturday was a long day, the ceremony was at 2:30pm and then the food and wine never stopped until 5am!











Here is a view from across the lake, the church and the ruins of an old abby (right next to the reception hall). We were so lucky with the weather, first time we had a sunny weekend in 2 months! On Sunday a bunch of us rented some boats and took advantage of the sunshine.









The wedding cakes. Janine is a florist and did all the table arrangements as well as the flowers for the church and reception, they were beautiful!











A new tradition that I learned about was the French Onion Soup at 5am at the end of the party... I was reluctant to eat it, but it was delish! :-)

I'll leave you with a few clips from the wedding, the first is the table of French relatives enjoying a jaunty tune ;-) And the second, well I think if you wait for the chorus you might recognize it... I was so ashamed... haha.

workin' working' or trying to...

It's amazing how when you have lots of time to work on something big and important you can always find a million different things that are 'more important'...

I do get work done, turned in Chapter 1 last Saturday and as my prof is on vacation until the 19th I've got until then to finish Chapter 2... but between weddings and bithday parties coming up I don't have all that much time, realizing the pressure is starting to mount is a good thing but I swear half the time I sit here and try to force my paper to write itself - could happen, right?

So I guess enough procrastination around here, back to work I go! 1 page of Chapter 2 done, 19 or so more to go... :S