Road Trip recap

Wow so where did I leave off?? We finally made it back up to my hometown on the Olympic Peninsula after long hours in the car and just vegged for the next couple days. The weather was beautiful and on Saturday we went out for a spin on Pax (Mom & KC's beautiful wooden boat). I always love seeing town from the water, you could imagine how it would have looked 100 years ago... not much has changed actually!

I tried to make a little photo collage to help me sort through the 4G of pictures that I took...! To give you an idea - I'll have to get some of them blown up eventually. But right now jetlag is kicking my butt so the noodles in my brain aren't working too well! The trip back was really long, we left at 6am to take 2 ferries and drive over to the airport where we had a direct flight to Amsterdam and then a quick connection to Paris which all went well. Then we were picked up and got our car from a friend's house where it was all safe for the time we were gone. Driving the 3 hours home was hard! We stopped a couple times in rest stops to sleep, all in all from door to door it was almost exactly 24 hours - Mystery Guest didn't sleep on the plane and I had only slept maybe a total of 2 hours with little naps. Managed to stay up until 9 last night and slept most of the night. Poor guy had to go to work today (not a happy camper) and I'm trying to organize the mounds of paperwork I have for job interviews (yea!), passing the code (boo!) and other fun stuff that is all coming up very quickly!

So I'll leave you with that little tidbit for now. I'm so glad I got to go home and I'm really glad that I was able to share such a wonderful adventure with Mystery Guest... now it's time to work off all those American calories...!

Oregon

We drove up to the Rogue River where we camped in a yurt!! It was
something that I've always wanted to do! Especially given the fact
that our poor air mattresses deflated on us the night before.. I tell
you, yurts are the way to go! We didn't have enough time to go rafting
but we did enjoy the hot weather (about 26C) and walks along the
riverbank trails!

The next day we drive through farmland dotted with red barns to Crater
Lake- another place I'd always wanted to see! The weather was
fantastic but COLD! The still had 6feet of snow so the main lodge was
open but none of the rim drives, still unbelieveable though!

Then we hit I-5 and made it up to Salem to stay the night with a dear
friend and her family.

Yesterday we left and drove over to Silver Falls- spectacular! Then a
yummy brunch at Ihop for Mystery Guest to try an American
institution! ;-) and finally we drove through nasty weather (our
first!) to the coast where we spent several hours (and euros!) at the
outlet mall before making a toasty fire at the cabin where we stayed
last night... More tales to come but just a brief post to get you all
caught up ;-)

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The giants

We're driving along hwy 101 on our way up the west coast, last night went camping in the beautiful Humboldt State park and now I'm waiting for my breakfast at a roadside diner... Ahhh vacation!!!

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Road trippin'

Wow did I sleep hard last night!! basically since we left las vegas we've done nothing but drive! I knew it would be long hours in the car but let's put it this way, we've already listened to my & mystery guest's iPhone music collections - several times! Great fun though, singing along at the top of your lungs on a wide open road!!! (LA traffic? Not so fun...) Yesterday morning we drove down to Orange County to visit my grandparents, it was a quick visit but very good to see them and they were so happy to finally meet MG! They took us out to a delish Mexican restaurant (maragaritas!!) and the time we had with them was so nice :-) Then we hit the road I5 allllllll the way up to the bay area where my dad lives, with only two short breaks but nice to wake up this morning and not have to jump in the car! We have until Sunday here to visit with them before the real adventure begins - driving back up to the Olympic penninsula! We plan on camping along the way and taking in some natural beauty (the redwoods, crater lake, the Oregon coast etc..) I can't wait! Talk about a vacation to clear your mind :-) oh, don't worry I already have over 400 pictures to upload when we get home!! Lol



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Southwest

I'm sitting in an AC motel in southern California, it's been a busy 24 hours! We saw Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon & the desert around Area 51!
Sleeping now... Tired...!!

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americana

Well we're over our jetlag and getting ready for our road trip! The last few days have been great, we had superb weather yesterday, watched the hummingbirds feed while we ate breakfast, hot tubs at night and introduced my Mom and KC to geocaching! We found 2 out of 3 of them (one of them I think went missing because it really wasn't there!) I've already taken over 200 pictures on my big camera and several on my iPhone (check facebook if you want to see those, the rest I'll wait until we get back to France to upload)

We also had some fantastic food (besides the corn on the cob Mom made open faced sandwiches with goat cheese, grilled eggplant/tomatoes topped with basil! I love summer food!) Today was a little grey so we started getting ready for our trip and headed downtown for some pizza. I also grabbed Mystery Guest a root beer to try - his first! Most Europeans don't like it at all, he said it wasn't bad but he's not a big soda drinker to begin with so when he said he liked it just as much as coke I think that's pretty amazing!

But we haven't just been eating! It's been nice to see my family and get ready for our trip knowing that we'll come back here before flying out. So tomorrow isn't goodbye but see you in bit! :-)

I'm so curious to see what Vegas is like, I'm sure it will be like what I'm expecting but at the same time be totally different. The Grand Canyon I'm sure will be fabulous and I'll get to see my grandparents, all in all it should be great! Posting will be sporadic but I'll try to upload iPhone pictures from wifi hotspots as we go... :-) I hope everyone in Franceland enjoyed a nice long weekend and is gearing up for another one! Love the month of May :-)

I'm home!

Yea!! Arrived home yesterday afternoon, it was of course a loonnng trip to Seattle but it went very smoothly. On Friday morning we got dropped off at the airport with lots of time to spare, checked in and boarded our DIRECT flight to Seattle! 10 hours (and lots of movies later - LOL was actually really good!) we arrived! Normally my mom would come to pick us up but the main bridge with allows access to my home town is out for 6 weeks - so we took a very bumpy 10-person plane to the next town over and she picked us up. It was a beautiful day, the first nice day they've really had, so we got some great views from the plane! More to come but I'll let you drool over dinner from last night...!!!

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almost there!!!

Today is the last day of my contract, looking forward to it actually. I have to teach 1 hour this morning and then the English colleagues are taking me and the Katester out for lunch! Then I have 1 hour of "English Club" at the end of the afternoon and then I'm outta there!

As soon as Mystery Guest gets off work we're hitting the road, driving out to Paris to spend the night with some friends. We're lucky to be able to leave the car there and they'll drop us off at the airport Friday morning for our direct flight home! Yes, direct! How lucky are we to have a non-stop flight!!! On the way back we go through Amsterdam but that isn't bad at all. Nothing like some of the horrible connections I used to have in the past...

Yea! It's been so long since I've been home and even longer since I was home in the spring - I can't wait! USA here we come!

PS. no we're not afraid of dying from the pig flu! ;-)

the one in which i may come across sounding like a complaining expat blogger

I am finishing up my last few days of work before flying to the STATES on Friday (me? excited?). I love the school I was placed in this year, I feel so lucky to have colleagues that for the first time treat me as an equal and not as a lowly "assistante"... but today I almost lost it.

I eat lunch in the cafeteria twice a week and it's pretty good fun, the teachers have their own separate table in the back with a family style service (the lunch ladies bring over big platters and we serve ourselves, much nicer than waiting in line with the kids) and pitchers of wine :-) Usually the food is half decent for a school cafeteria, at least 3 appetizers to choose from, a main dish, salad, cheese plate (Camembert of course!) and desserts. I usually roll out of there!

Today I checked the menu and was excited to see smoked salmon and other yummies but when we arrived the appetizers were andouille de vire and carottes rapées. Not being a big fan of andouilles I stuck with the carrots. Then the main dish came out... barely cooked hamburger patties and fries, now that is just sad. When I made a comment on how it isn't very healthy to eat undercooked hamburger meat the teacher sitting across from me jumped on me and started ranting on how I'm in France and of course its totally healthy, we have health inspectors blah blah blah.. Thank god my other colleague came to my defense and said that I've been here long enough and that I'm not an ignorant American who doesn't like unpasturized cheese (god, why pasturize the stuff? takes all the YUM out of it!) and doesn't judge. I explained that an undercooked steak is totally different than hamburger meat and how I just can't bring myself to eat it.

Well despite my colleague's rescue the bloody steack hachee and the other lady's comment totally spoiled my appetite.

Whatever, I'm going to get a real hamburger when I go home! :-) 'Cause that's all Americans eat anyway...

des vaches et des moutons

Just a few pictures from a little drive around today, geocaching and walking around cows and sheep... just a Sunday afternoon 'round here!

spelt

A couple weeks ago when we went on a drive out to the windmill we wanted to try some flour from the mill. Mystery Guest decided to go for épeautre - spelt. I've been seeing this stuff all over the organic stores recently, spelt pasta, bread, flour etc... but never knew what the English word was until now!

So today for our Sunday pancake brunch I decided to give the new stuff a try.

Spelt Pancakes!

I used my basic pancake recipe but put in the spelt flour instead - Yum!!! A little nutty flavor, almost like whole wheat flour but not quite the same...

When he was trying a gluten free diet we came up with this pancake recipe which is still way yummmm yummm but always good to try something new!

busy busy!

Yesterday I had to go to Caen for a meeting and I finally was able to snap a shot of one of my favorite views from the train - the cathedral in Bayeux. It's hard to do because the train is moving and there are all the reflections (and I only had my iPhone camera) but imagine this view at sunrise with pinks and blues and the sun reflecting through the stained glass windows and a low haze in the field... yes, it is stunning!
I keep telling myself that one day I'll get up at the buttcrack of dawn to take the train to Bayeux, get off and walk to where I could take this picture and capture the moment... I'll be sure to let you know when that happens!

In other news things are a bit of a whirlwind around here, I've got tons of work to do before we leave town next Thursday to drive out to Paris before our flight Friday morning! Eeeeeegads!! I need to wrap up grading tests, some work I do for the language lab in Caen, practice for my written exam for the driver's license (I got a date! May 25th baby!) and of course finish planning our trip!!!
Right now we've got a few things sorted. We fly into Seattle May 1st and then spend a couple days there before flying down to Las Vegas where our road trip will begin (the Grand Canyon, seeing friends and family along the coastal drive back up to Seattle!). We've got the plane tickets booked, our first night (yea internet specials!!!) in this hotel:
*Squeaaaaaal of excitement here*

But we still need to finalize the car rental details. Neither Mystery Guest nor myself have ever rented a car in any country and the complicated insurance language is a bit over our heads. Plus since we're returning the car in a different location there is a hefty fee but isn't always clearly marked if it is included in the price or payable on return... ah, a little headache is coming on... But once we get that nailed down we'll be good to go!

Now just can't forget the essentials ... passport, camera, summer clothes! I heard there's a heat wave in Southern California - 100F! Duuuude! These delicate Norman blossoms are going to wilt in that heat! ;-)

Hungarian/American/French Wedding?

I went to Tours last weekend for a very multi-cultural wedding! My close friend from college (Miss Claire I guess now she's Mrs Claire!) married her soulmate Dénes on Saturday. I don't use that word lightly but with these two they really are eachother's soulmate; they are one of those couples that you know make eachother so happy and I think that's what made this wedding so special. It was a small guest list and everyone there was so supportive of these two fantastic people.

I'm so happy for both of them and wish them the best in their new life together.

productive train time

These 2 weeks have been really busy because I'm teaching a stage in Caen everyday so I take the train for an hour each way. That does not bother me at all, I listen to podcasts and relax but I decided as a project for these two weeks to see how much work I could get done on a pair of socks for me! (Mystery Guest got his, I want mine!) I started Monday morning last week and have been knitting each way, it really keeps me awake and I feel much more productive with my time (instead of just trying to kill it!)

Here is an in progress shot of my sock! I adore this yarn, it is soft and so easy to work with. The colors very close to the real thing in this picture:
Then tonight I finished it! I still have to work tomorrow so I'll start sock #2 in the morning and then after work I jet off to the Loire Valley to see some chateaux (oh... and one of my best friends getting married, but really its for the chateaux ;-) ) for the weekend so even more train time! ;-)
I might try to blog from the road if I can snag a wifi connection, if not have a great weekend and see you next week!

Easter Afternoon

This afternoon the weather was too good to pass up, we decided to take a drive. There was a new geocache in the area so we headed in that direction. It was near where General Patton had his secret headquarters during the D-Day invasion. A big Sherman tank sat right next to an apple orchard! Always a fun toy to take pictures on! ;-)

Then we drove in the direction of the Moulin du Cotentin that we had gone to last summer with the dynamic duo. They were offering discounted tours of the windmill and the guide was great, such a character!

Anyway it was really nice, warm* (about 18C according to Clio!) and relaxing to drive around, geocache and play with my camera - I'm totally addicted!



*I have a hard time believing we're in for an icky rainstorm this week...

job hunt... and sunlight on the water

I had a job interview this morning (yes, Easter Monday which is a holiday in France) to work with kids as a type of Camp Councilor in July/Aug in a seaside town near V-town. The interview went great, he said he wanted to hire me on the spot but like all jobs in France I'm lacking the diploma necessary to do a high school job... ahhhh France. I might get the diploma anyway if I'm just hanging around this summer (the way things are looking now) to keep me busy and one more thing to have on my CV. Why not? I'll take a look to see how much it costs etc.

But the light this morning was amazing, I was kicking myself for not having brought my big beast of a camera so I tried to do my best with the iPhone, not too bad eh?

passing time in the train

I've been spending a lot of time on the train commuting for work during the April break and socks are the perfect project to pass the time! That and great podcasts make me a happy camper!

Here's the progress I've made on my socks, I love the color, halfway between salmon and rust :-) I'm about halfway done with the first sock!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! I hope everyone gets some chocolate today! (Even if I still can't understand for the life of me how a flying bell transports the Easter candy...?!?) I mean I know they're magic but still... an Easter Bunny makes so much more sense! ;-)

We're off to the belle-famille for an Easter lunch, I heard an egg hunt is even in store for us...!

Commuting..

It's been quiet on my blog this week, I've been working in Caen this week & the work is great but the commute leaves me little time at home - but it's almost Friday & a long weekend for Easter! Maybe I'll be inspired then.. :-)

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April 1st - Coutances

A fabulous day spent in Coutances with a colleague (Patrick the Pirate) and the Katester!

sneaky me?

After all the hassle with my driver's license I decided to just try something for fun, see if I can try one last time to exchange it (even though my state does not exchange licenses...) so I stopped by the town hall after work yesterday and asked the woman.

She was pretty clueless (yea! that gave me hope!) and didn't really understand what I wanted (an international license? huh?) but when I explained again she asked to see my American one. I showed it to her and she saw Washington across the top. She looked on her list of states and said:

"That's in Virginia right?"

She mistook the confused look on my face for not understanding her French and explained again,

"Washington, that's in Virginia right"

I realized that she thought my license was from Washington D.C. and saw this as my opportunity to try to slip one by her.

"Oh, yes of course, it's in Virginia!"

She made all sorts of photocopies, had me fill in the exchange document and told me to come back with pictures etc. (haha, showed her! I carry pictures with me at all times!) So she said she'd process it and let me know when it would be done.

Oh my god, fingers crossed! If this works I think I'll jump for joy!!! Trying not to get too excited... but whoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

life in V-town

Our train station & cafe.

daylight savings!

Don't forget it was last night in Franceland that we sprung forward 1 hour! Now back to 9 hours difference with the West Coast.

I'm going to go change my clocks before I forget :-)

a small step

I really need to get my license, but what a pain in the butt. I had some free time at work the other day so I brought the study DVD and went into the teacher's computer lab to practice. Naturally even though the sound was off I gathered a crowd of teachers who were going to "help" me. Haha, 4 of us and we still missed at least 10 out of 40 questions (a failing grade)! I swear that test is pure evil...

After the saga at the beginning of the month I braved the phone and called the DDE to see where my dossier was at.. he took my name and number and said he'd get right back to me. Riiiight I thought. Well 3 minutes later he called! I have a convocation for May 11 in V-town. Too bad we'll be in the States then! I tempted fate by asking if they have a date in April or the end of May. Nope, that's it for V-town! But he said he could arrage a convocation for me after May 18th either in Cherbourg or Carentan (both easy to get to by train). Score! So now I'm just waiting for the official date, 1 more step in the French license saga.. :-)

baby blanket

A good friend is expecting #2 the end of April and so last month I decided to make a little something for the new one. They don't want to know if its a boy or a girl so I thought I was getting some gender neutral color but now I think its a bit too blue so I'm hoping for a boy! I guess I could always stitch a little pink flower or something if I need to :-)

Anyway this blanket is probably the biggest (size wise) project that I've finished, its about 1 meter square. I wasn't a big fan of synthetic yarn but I thought for a baby blanket it could be really good to have something you can throw in the wash and not have to think about it. Anyway I thought it came out pretty good. I have some left over yarn that I think I'll try making some baby booties out of for another friend who is indeed expecting a little boy (also the end of April! - what happened 9 months ago?) and then I might finally start on some socks for me.. maybe :-)

Oh and I've been meaning to post a little review:

Twilight - fun, got to see "home" and not just a teeny bopper movie, worth watching & good story (I've never read the book).

The Watchmen - big thumbs down, got bored, cheezed out and didn't follow the story well. I think you would have to be a die-hard fan to enjoy it (never heard of it until seeing the movie...)

Sunday walk

I went out on a little afternoon walk, exploring V-town. Things here are still relatively new to me, last summer when we moved here I was stuck inside finishing my mémoire and since then the weather hasn't been the most cooperative! Plus I loooove playing with my camera! Feel like I'm finally getting the hang of this SLR stuff! :-)

I took a walk trying to find some castle ruins that Mystery Guest had showed me a while back, didn't find them but stumbled on the ruins of a Roman bath (bottom left corner)! I had no idea that V-town had ruins of Roman baths! I also got some close up shots of the little buttercup type flowers that dot the roadsides right now, can anyone verify if they are indeed buttercups?

At the market on Friday I bought a bouquet of daffodils for a euro, I had no idea that daffodils have a scent but our whole dining room is perfumed with this wonderfully light springy smell, one of those things that you notice but can't really put your finger on it.

Hope everyone is having a sunny Sunday! I heard the weather might change midweek (not that I'm complaining, I don't remember the last time we had 3 straight weeks of sun in March!!!) so I'm soaking it all up!

school work

I took these pictures at the lycée where I work the other day. The students are first year high school students (sophomores in the US since French high schools only are 3 years) and their teacher does some great stuff with them. In the beginning of the year they made group posters of the 2 American candidates profiling each one, then they did the environment and now social projects.

I just think that all the posters are great but the social ones were excellent. This is a small high school in the countryside with a mainly low-income, agricultural, white population and I think its great the teachers are educating the students on issues and broadening their horizons such as this in English class. (Most kids have never left the département much less been to Paris or even Caen (a 40 minute drive away!)

I love that they left the posters up in the classroom for others to see (the teachers here move classrooms, not just the students, so one room could be used for any subject and therefore has little decoration besides a chalkboard!)

I just want one!

Dear France,

Why is it that you can never remember to pronounce the third person "s" or plural "s" yet you correct me when I order un cookie. "Oui, un cookies, il vous faillait autre chose?"

It is not un cookiezz
nor un browniezz
nor un donutzz.

Thank you,
MilkJam.

USA baby!

Well I can finally announce some good news that's been brewing! We've got tickets to the US in May! These tickets had been going back and forth, let me explain. My mom gave us 2 tickets to the US with her miles last spring and had booked them for September as a graduation gift to both of us (my Masters and Mystery Guest's BA). September didn't work out well so we booked them for August. Then Mystery Guest got offered his current job and although the store closes in August every year it was the wrong two weeks... So we moved them to this August thinking it would be the right 2 weeks. Then a couple weeks ago I was on the phone with Mom and she said that with my upcoming unemployment in May and not locked into a job (yeah, not too thrilled about not having a job yet...) it's too bad we couldn't take advantage of coming in May.

I asked Mystery Guest and he was able to talk his boss into letting us go for 2 weeks in May (not actually missing that much work since there are 2 holidays in there!) but we thought we'd never be able to use the miles because its so hard to get dates. I started looking into prices and the tickets are dirt cheap right now (470e round trip Paris/Seattle!) but for fun Mom called the hotline and got us 2 tickets on the dates we wanted!!! Oh and the best part? Non-stop Paris/Seattle on the way there and 1 stop in Amsterdam on the way back! Oh yeah baby, living it up in style!

So we're off to the US May 1st - May 17th and just need to figure out where were going once we get there! I can't wait!! We're thinking flying down to Southern California to see my grandparents and road tripping it up the coast back to Seattle - oh yeah!

cherry blossoms!

pacs-a-versairy!

Today was Mystery Guest & my PACS-a-versairy! Yea! Neither of us really is planning on celebrating this, I'd rather celebrate when we started dating (in December) since this was more a paperwork formality than anything else..

But any excuse to try a new recipe! Chocolate & Sweet Potato Cake - I thought it could be an amazing combination of 2 things we both love, chocolate cake and sweet potato pie! So after work I came home to quickly make it (had cooked the sweet potatoes earlier that morning) and stick it in the oven so it would be done when MG got home from karate class later. It turned out really well! I used gluten free flours which can be dry and compact but with the sweet potato the texture was amazing! It was a dense chocolate cake but not too heavy or rich and the sweet potato flavor wasn't really there although it really contributed to a silky texture.

I was chomping away at my piece when MG noticed a little something in his... it looked like a piece of egg that didn't get fully mixed, or sweet potato perhaps... but alas, it was indeed a maggot! EEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

My first maggot, how on earth it got in there we're still not quite sure (perhaps a sweet potato? I find it hard to believe it would have been in any of the other ingredients, maybe the rice flour?) but it totally put me off finishing my piece. Maybe I'll try another piece later but I'll probably spend so much time picking through it that I won't enjoy it... EW!!!!!

Mystery Guest seems to think that there was only one in there, otherwise I would have noticed - which is probably true.

Anyway I highly suggest you try the recipe, just leave the maggots out.

what a day!

Wow what a day, not bad but ranks up there with crazyness! I left (as usual on a Wednesday) at 7:25am to catch my 7:39 train. As I got nearer to the station I noticed a train sitting there, I thought oh, that's funny usually there's isn't a train to Cherbourg at that time, huh. As I got closer I realized it wasn't moving... oh well it looks like its on the other tracks, should be fine.

I got up to the station and realized it was on my tracks but was not my cute little TER but a big Paris-bound train... glup.

On the board my train was supprimé and the next train (leaving at 8:02) was expected with a 30-minute delay.. double glup.

So I called my collegue and then the secretary's office saying that not only would I be late for my 9:15am class but that I was giving them one of their final exams today and so please don't let the students leave! They both said no problem, they would make sure the students stayed.
So I finally arrive at 10am and rush up to the classroom where my angles were waiting for me. But alas, it was a video exam (comprehension) and the TV I ordered was not there... glup glup glup...

Track down the TV guy, admit it was my fault (even though it wasn't!) to appease him and get a TV. He brings it. I rush through the beginning of the exam, turn on the video and glup glup glup glup no pause button on the remote. So I had to sit with my head bent under the TV pausing it as they take their test.

Things go well, I haven't graded them yet but I think the students did pretty well. I had a nice lunch with my colleges and Sarah and I grab the tram to head into town. A few stops in, glup, the tram stops and says that a big demonstration has blocked the tram system and we could wait or get out there! So we got into town and continued on foot.

I went on my way to the pool (told Sarah that if the pool was closed I might have to kill someone) and had a lovely swim. The rest of the afternoon went great, got to see a good friend and have some tea before catching the (ontime) train home.

But man was that a stressful morning! So glad my students kept their cool even after their teacher was on the fritz! :-) I guess its easy when you blame the SNCF ... !

un petit cafe?

le Café - Oldelaf (english subtitles)
envoyé par Boebis

I saw this yesterday and just cracked up. I like the song but I loooooooove the animation that they did with it... it is so true.. so sad and so true.. Coffee anyone?

Spring is springing

Yesterday I had to go to Caen but I was able to take advantage of a sunny spring day & enjoy a delish hot cocoa with Natalie and her Irish coffee as excellent company! But as March is just a big tease the grey skies are back again today.. Time to be productive I guess!
In other alcoholic news Mystery Guest came back from work at lunch with a gift from a customer - a 1971 bottle of homemade Calvados...

Should we drink it? Or sterilize an open wound?

FO: Socks!

This post is long overdue! I put the pictures up on facebook but totally forgot to blog about them!

Well I finally finished my first pair of socks, like everyone says after you do the first one you're so freakin' proud of yourself for finishing a sock that you have no desire to do the second one! But I managed to plug away at it and get the second one done!

Mystery Guest said he's very happy with his new socks, he says they're soft and warm and of course handknit by yours truly! Plus I think he looks pretty stylin'!

Right now I'm trying to finish up a baby blanket for a friend who is due the end of April, chuggin' along with that.. :-)

calling all knitters...

I really want to try to make my first sweater and I have an idea of what I want to do but can't seem to find a pattern that I like... I want to do something like this (its that kind of collar that I'm after...) but in a more feminine version.

Any ideas?

I need to update this blog with the socks I finally finished! I'll do that when I get home :-) I know you're all waiting with baited breath!

The saga continues...

Well dear readers this is the latest installment of my French driver's license saga...

Last time I wrote back in December I had just sent off my dossier 02 to the Prefecture, the lovely lady at the auto-école helped me fill it out and then I waited... and waited... and waited some more. They said it could take 3 months to get a convocation so I was patient. I tried calling last week but apparently at 11:15am on a weekday people don't answer the phone, must have been pause-cafe..

Now its March and no news so I called the Prefecture. They transferred me to the DDE who said they have no record of my dossier on hand. So I called back the prefecture and they said they have no record of it either! She asked what I sent in, when I replied the dossier 02 formule all filled out she answered with shock, but no pictures? I said no, there was no list of other things to file so I just sent that. "oh, well if you didn't send the 2 pictures and your piece d'identité and and and of course we wouldn't have been able to fill it out!"

Figures, I forgot that I could have used my telepathic powers! Silly me.

Anyway she said she would send me the list of things to re-fill out and send back to her. As soon as she got them she would transfer them to the DDE to be put on the urgent list (after I asked if this was going to take another 3 months!)

So hopefully this will all work out. But to be honest I don't know if I'll pass the stupid code, I worked on it again last night and even paying attention to the pieges I still got TONS wrong because the ones I thought were traps were not and the ones that looked totally normal were...

Gah, if I survive this I'll need a gold medal.

Or maybe I should just drive on my American license and forget all this... works for so many other Americans!

06/03/09 Update: the lady followed through and sent me a new dossier and the list of documents needed. I got it done and sent back yesterday so I hope I'll hear back soon!

Gran Torino

Wow.

That's all I can say. Mystery Guest and I just got back from Gran Torino, what an amazing movie!

The story was powerful, the acting amazing (despite the dubbing...) and Clint was just... unbelieveable. I don't want to say more because I wouldn't want to give anything away but if you have seen it let me know what you think!

Green - the Natural Flavour

This afternoon I was supposed to go to Caen to work so this week I bought a train pass from V-town to Caen to cover my extra trip, but at the last minute this morning the 2 hours I was supposed to do were canceled. It was a beautiful sunny day so after going to the market I decided to head over to Caen anyway and go to the pool and maybe meet up with some friends. Well everyone was busy so I went to the pool anyway and had a great swim - despite the dark grey clouds that were hanging over Caen, we had beautiful weather in la Manche! Afterwards I had a couple errands to run but needed a little recharge... so I headed over to Green.

This organic fast-food just opened a few weeks ago in Caen, its run by some friends and I wish them lots of success because I just think it's the best idea ever! All their food is organic and mostly vegan, no milk products but some tuna or other fish options. The day after their grand opening I stopped by for a lemon/coconut cupcake - devine! I don't know how they made vegan cupcakes but give me another one anytime! Today I decided to try something different and those big chocolate brownies were staring me down. Apparently they were banana chocolate brownies but I didn't really taste the banana, I think it was there just to hold it all together and keep it from being too dry... YUM! I haven't tried the savory options yet, but they have make your own salad options and lots of wraps and falafels. Plus isn't the store just the cutest?

Bravo les filles!

Green - The Natural Flavour
Rue Saint Pierre (across from Cafe Latin)
Caen

gibberish

Now I'm not totally coincée when it comes to writing "proper" English or French, you'll see me making plenty of spelling mistakes and when I send sms I will from time to time type "u" instead of "you" to make it fit in the restricted length but I do have to admit that when sending emails it really peeves me to see nothing but shortcuts.

And those same shortcuts drive me up the wall in French! Gah! I'm in the process of trying to sell my old ipod on leboncoin and the dude who wants to buy it said he'd send me the money and when I recieve it I will send out the ipod. The thing is that his money still hasn't arrived so there has been an email exchange over the last couple days. Me telling him still no cash and him freaking out that his money was lost (yes the stupid idiot did indeed send cash and not a cheque.. retard). But his last email was priceless. Here it is in all its glory...

ba jai complter tonadresec ke tu ma ernvoyer jaibienverefier plusieur foi évoila
tu medira demain si ta recu
pskjete surkeje té envoyer

I'm sorry, ever heard of punctuation? Or at least putting a space between words to make them understandable?? I guess not!

sunrises, sunsets

As much as I gripe on Facebook each Wednesday about waking up at the buttcrack of dawn I love it more and more (not the waking up part!). I take the train as the sun is rising (7:40am) and take it home as it sets (leaving Caen at 6pm) these days. I love love love it! This morning as we left V-town there was a thick fog and frost over the fields. As we neared Caen the sky turned a fabulous peachy/pinky color behind the fog - breathtaking. On the way home I caught sight of the sun, it was a huge red ball hanging over the horizon striped with clouds. By the time we got to V-town and I could snap this picture from the bridge it had morphed into pale pastels, nonetheless beautiful.

I never get tired of that commute and sit there in amazement focused on the everchanging landscape. It drives me up the wall that I can't ask the conductor to make a quick stop so I can catch the sunset over the marshlands or the cows grazing in the early morning fog. No one else on the train ever seems to be watching, don't they realize how amazing this is?

cupcakes?

Really? Score! ;-)

well i've joined that club!

Well I've gone and done it, I've joined that club of people walking around with a honkin' phone attacked to their ear.

But isn't it beautiful??? It sure is the most expensive phone I've ever bought! But I've wanted one since they came out with the new model but there was no way I'd spend over 100e on a phone attacked to a 24month contract at 40 bucks a month, oh no! I'm too attached to my ever-so-basic phone plan of 17e a month (no contract!) and I was definitely not going to shell out 600e to buy it sans forfait...

So I waited, was very very happy with my ipod touch birthday present, it was essentially the same thing right? Oh I realized just how wrong I was when Mystery Guest was using his iphone as a GPS, taking pictures and sending them while on vacation etc... And when we found a very gently used one (unSIMlocked) for a very decent price I decided to go for it! Very spur of the moment and all that :-)

Oh... I do not regret it! Plus it made for some very funny stories! I realized that I could almost pay for the price of the iphone by selling my touch and classic ipod that was gathering dust. So I put the first one on leboncoin just to see. I got an email within a day saying that the person would drive up to V-town and buy it, for 30e under asking price. I told him well I actually will be in Caen the next day which is a lot closer so I'll sell it to you there for 20e under. We set up a RDV at the train station which led to a hilarious situation of sms messages back and forth. He had gone to Carrefour and found the same model new, for what he thought, was not that much more than my asking price. So there was this funny exchange of negotiations, he was trying to bring the price down and I was trying to judge just how much he wanted it and if he would go for a higher price.

He finally pointed out that we were smsing over a matter of 15e and that's when I said, ok lets just get it sold. So when he came to the train station (5min before my train was going to leave!) it was all I could do not to laugh, he did not look a day over 16! Preppy clothes and glasses and so eager to get his hands on my touch. He barely looked at it and gave me a roll of cash. Then all evening long he sent me emails, how do I install applications? What does this mean? Do I need a password... hehe for a teenager as branché as he was trying to be it just made me laugh!

That's not 1/2 as funny as the guy who emailed me for the ipod, apparently I'm waiting for his cash in the mail (yes, you read that right) and then sending him the ipod. But as he so eloquently worded it, watch it lady, if you steal my money I'm taking you downtown!

Yeah, so this has been quite an email/sms adventure. But leboncoin sure does work for selling things quickly!

This post was so much longer than I had expected but I'm just gaga over my new toy :-) Too bad no one is calling me on it! If they did I'd be ever so excited to see their face (yes, I added pictures to all my contacts hehe) pop up on my screen!!!

sand dunes

Today the sun was out and so we decided to go on a little geocache... there is one that has been alluding us for a long time now. We went to these dunes back in July with Kristina & Charlie but never found the tank the geocache was supposed to be hidden under.

Then we went back a couple weeks ago and we thought we found a good parking spot but it turns out the car got stuck in the mud... discouraged and frustrated we gave up a second time.

I bet you all think you know how this story will turn out? Third time's a charm? Well... yes and no... Yes because we found a stunning walk to go on over 4km up and over the dunes, through the pine forest and to the beach. We found an old Sherman tank that had been sitting there for 60+ years and caught the beginning of a beautiful sunset. No because, well, I guess it wasn't the right tank! So no geocache for us but it was an amazing area to discover, all only 30km from our doorstep!

England picture

Stonehenge February 2009

1999

Prince - '1999' (rUmPeLsTiLtSkIn)


Wow I can't believe it's been 10 years since I graduated high school! All over Facebook the class leaders from back then are getting all psyched up organizing this year's high school reunion. They decided on a weekend in May, when the local festival takes place. Good idea and all for those living in the area but for the rest of us (across the US and out of country) it is really impractical. First of all my little hometown is a good 2 hours from Seattle's airport so it makes a weekend trip difficult for anyone flying in. Secondly May isn't exactly the easiest time to get vacation.

It's crazy, when I was in high school I swore I'd never go but for some reason I would really like to go but I have no idea why. It's not to catch up with people, I was never friends with any of them and highly doubt I would be today.

I guess it is the curiosity that's getting to me. I guess I'll content myself to continue stalking them on Facebook and looking at reunion pictures. :-)

England Day 3

Our last day in England was a long one! We woke up to a few snowflakes falling which motivated us to get out and see the slights and get onto the main road just in case it started falling heavier - we didn't want to get snowed in somewhere and miss our ferry! So we drove to the next down over, Tintagel the legend- wait for it -dary birthplace of King Arthur and walked around. It was raining just a little bit as we walked down to the castle ruins but we got some good views of the rugged coast and marveled at how the would have built a castle perched on those rocks... We continued our little hike up to the old stone church and then back down into the village. It was quite touristy but being a Sunday in February most of the little kitchy shops were closed up. We decided to visit the King Arthur's Great Halls but we had to wait 40 minutes for them to open so we went down to a pub to get a tea and warm up. The visit was very well done, really impressive and apparently the modern building is used in different films and tv shows to represent King Arthur's court.

We didn't get to spend long in Cornwall, but it would be a lovely place to visit in the summer, you can really feel the Celtic roots in the town names and landscape, it really is sauvage out there. But we wanted to escape any risk of snow so we made our way back to Exeter to search out the mysterious Apple store. We finally found it and Mystery Guest went in to drool while I made a beeline for the Gap store and its big sale sign ;-)

I've been looking for new jeans since the beginning of the sales and have yet to find a pair in France that fits me! So frustrating! I did find a pair at the Gap that I liked and the price really wasn't bad with the weak pound so I grabbed a pair! Yea! Mission accomplished. I picked up Mystery Guest (Appless, sadly) and we stopped in a grocery store to pick up some cheddar before heading out. Big hunks of delicious mature (sharp) Cheddar, 2 for about 8 pounds. Considering we pay about 15e a kilo in the supermarket I'm fairly sure we got a good deal. Anyway yummy!

We drove out of Exeter along to the coast via Exmouth but the weather was terrible, very windy and rainy so we saw the beautiful seaside towns from the car. Neither of us had the courage to venture outside!

It was only 4:00pm by the time we got to Poole and the ferry wouldn't board before 10pm... I would have liked to see what Poole's port looked like but it was just too nasty out. In the guidebook they talked about a shopping/bowling/cinema complex outside of town so we went there. We killed some time with a movie (He's just not that into you) which was actually very well written. It was the only showing that would work with our schedule but both of us really liked it. Then we looked around for dinner. When we stepped out of the theater I felt like I was back in America, hearing American English (without subtitles) for 2 hours and then seeing TGI Friday's, KFC and other American chains I had to remind myself that no, this was not Kansas toto! Mystery Guest and I decided for a Mexican restaurant where I got my fix of a delish quesadilla with guac, sour cream and spicy salsa. I also got a side of refried beans... I was in heaven! (side note, anyone know how to make refried beans? I'd love to try to recreate those at home... can't be that hard, Mystery Guest said it tasted like Cassoulet..)

We ducked in a little casino and bet away about 40p in small change.. I think we won back about 12 or 14p... haha.

Then we caught the ferry, paid extra for a cabin because of the exhaustion of the day and arrived early this morning at 6am in Cherbourg!

It was such a great weekend getaway, so glad we were "forced" to go because of our non refundable tickets :-)

England Day 2

Day 2 we woke up early after a fantastic night's sleep! I haven't slept that hard in a long time, it was wonderful! We went down for breakfast at 9 and our Littlewell b&b hosts were just so sweet and friendly. They filled us up with a traditional English breakfast which was the best I had on the trip, it was fried but not overly greasy and the sausage was local and so yummy! I would highly recommend this b&b, it was absolutely enchanting and a great deal!

Then we drove into Glastonbury and got some information about local sites from the tourist office. We parked just outside of downtown and then visited the Chalice well before walking up the snowy and icy hill to the Tor. We were so lucky with the weather, it had warmed up just a little, the roads were clear and it was bright and sunny all day! Couldn't have asked for better weather for taking pictures and enjoying the fresh air.

In the afternoon we went to the Abbey ruins which is supposed to be the site of the first Christian church in England and where King Arthur was buried. Afterwards we drove off to the Cheddar Gorge and back down and through to Exeter.

In Exeter we wanted to try to find the Apple store for Mystery Guest's brother who wanted a good deal on an ipod touch but stores in the UK close so freakin' early that we missed it and so decided to continue on to Cornwall. We found a pretty good b&b (but not as good as the first one! it was just too hard to beat!) and had a great pub dinner - yummy fish & chips!

By the way, one thing that we couldn't figure out on the trip were the "Free Houses" that we kept seeing, is it really Free?

English b&b breakfast!!

English holidays!

I'm writing this holiday blog with a Cadburys drinking chocolate in hand from an adorable b&b outside of Wells. We've had quite an adventure since we arrived at 6:30am!! We drove through Poole in the rain (on the wrong side, giving Mystery Guest a mini-heart attack with each round about...) out to Stonehenge where some flurries turned into 2feet of snow! It was beautiful all draped in white but numbing cold!
We drove along to Avebury but there was so much snow it was impossible to park so as much as we wanted walk around we had to drive through...
Along to Bath which was just amazing! Visited the flamboyant gothic abbey and the Roman baths.

Thats my little update for now, I've taken a million picture and can't wait to see them on my compter!

More adventures to come.... After a good night's sleep & an English breakfast...!

Sent from my iPod

the good, and the bad...

Yea! The good news is that we woke up to a beautiful blanket of white this morning! Stunning! The other good news is a few days ago we bought tickets for our mini-break to England!

The bad news? The heaviest snow in the UK in 18 years... oh, the other bad news? If the ferry tickets are canceled within 9 days of departure the fine is 75% of the ticket...

So the good news is we're going to England Thursday night!!! Yea!! The bad news? The possibility of driving in the snow (and ice??!) - on the wrong side! Eeeeks!!!

snow and crepes

This morning I woke up to a blanket of beautiful snow!!! It snowed pretty much all day but by the end of the day it wasn't sticking anymore and it had melted off the roofs. On the news they said to be careful of ice tomorrow if the melted snow freezes over tonight. It was a beautiful winter wonderland though!

Today was the Chandeleur and we forgot this morning when we made pancakes to flip them with a coin in one hand, so we made up for it tonight with galettes for dinner. Miammy!
Both Mystery Guest and I got our flips right from the first galette!! (and how proud am I? last year not only did I have trouble but I was working with a real crepe, this one was a galette and much more fragile...) I did much better this year so I guess this means we will both have a prosperous year (yea!!!)

Here is the recipe I used for my batter for 2 people (2.5 galettes each)
* 125g farine de sarrasin
* 1 egg
* salt
* about 50cl water

I started with a little less water and then kept adding some until the batter was the right consistency (should run a thin ribbon when poured with a spoon or ladle and swirl around easily inthe hot pan.)
Then we flipped them once and then filled them with ham, cheese and a cracked egg on top, YUM!