prop 8 musical

prop 8 musical

this is great! thanks to katie for sending it...

Le Thanksgiving en France

happy belated thanksgiving everyone! sorry i didn't write sooner. i haven't been feeling well - long story involving american insurance (aka i don't have american insurance anymore) and running out of prescriptions...and ovaries. no no, not running out of ovaries. ok sorry guys, but a woman is a sacred vessle. and in order to keep that sacred vessel empty there are magical pills. when the pills run out and a woman quits cold turkey, the sacred vessel reacts in a violent and painful way. that is the real story.

anyway, overshare. let's talk about thanksgiving! so on thursday, the actual thanksgiving day, i didn't do much at all during the day. i did laundry and watched a movie. i hung out with emily because it was her birthday. but overall the day did not seem particularly different from any other day. i had a good day but it was pretty normal.

that night emily, caitlin and i went to a thanksgiving dinner organized by one of the only married couples in the assistantship program. they have a stove and a little more space than the normal student cubby hole. it was really fun - there were a few uk assistants who were curious about the holiday which i thought was pretty cool. we had turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. it was pretty great actually. one of the assistants, kristine, made this UNbelievable dip with avacadoes, pomegranate seeds, tomatoes, onions, etc. i ate too much of it because by the time i finished all the thanksgiving food i couldn't move. actually, i do that every year so it was tradition.

there were all kinds of desserts prepared by the brittish assistants. fiona, from scotland, made this really yummy parfait and madeleine from england made an apple crumble with custard sauce over it. there were a few pies but none of them were pumpkin. there was also no cranberry apple crisp. that is NECESSARY for any holiday meal. my mom makes it and the smell alone gets me a little high on life. turns out caitlin's family makes the same thing. she's the only other person i've ever met who knew what i was talking about. we were craving it all night.

em stayed over at our place and we had a little birthday slumber party (mostly slumber, not much party). then we went to see body of lies on friday morning and did a little shopping for cold weather attire. we are all going to amsterdam tomorrow (thursday) until sunday. i can't wait but it is going to be freezing! i think weather.com said something like...ooooh...0 DEGREES! celcius of course. so about 32 for all of you MORONS out there. (you can tell i'm not feeling well because i'm getting snippy)

i need to take a moment and mention the song that just came on my itunes. i have my entire library on shuffle (that's how i roll) which is about 15 days of songs. i didn't even know i had this but "turtle power" by mc hammer just started playing. that's right 80's babies - that's the theme song to the ninja turtles movie. how wonderful!

anyway, saturday was my real thanksgiving. caitlin (whose birthday was on saturday...too many birthdays around thanksgiving) and i went out to fourqueux to have dinner with the matheny's. that is the family i stayed with for the month of september. we were determined to make cranberry apple crisp so we searched high and low for cranberries. they are apparently very american and not easy to find in france. we did, eventually, find them at a vegetable stand and we made our way to the house.

i had never met ted and betsy's oldest daughter, cici, and she was home from thanksgiving which was a nice surprise. we had a lot of fun. by the way, 'we' is me, caitlin, emily, assistant betsy (not to be confused with mama betsy...matheny), sarah and cici. caitlin and i crafted our masterpiece of cranberry apple glory while everyone else chose a project to tackle. cici and emily made homemade stuffing with BAGUETTE! it was amazing. ted focused on the turkey, sarah and assistant betsy cleaned and set up the table and mama betsy made everything else. it was sunny and beautiful outside and we were all sitting at the table laughing and talking while elbow deep in some sort of holiday treat. it was so...perfect!

two other families joined us (oh, ps - mama betsy made homemade pumpkin pies...from real pumpkins! it was real thanksgiving). in total there were 23 people at the dinner table. it was noisy and messy and people were shoulder to shoulder. it was just like home. it made me miss my family. but it also made me feel so at home. i spent thanksgiving with my france family - the people i am growing to love more and more.

so that is my thanksgiving fairy tale. it was wonderful. now i have amsterdam to look forward to. when i get back i will have less than 2 weeks before i go home for christmas. i can't wait! brad's sister, jenna, just invited me to a cookie party the day after i get home. and my brother and i are throwing our anual new years shin dig. and ANDREA IS COMING HOOOOME!!! it's going to be SO GREAT! not even these stupid ovaries can bring me down during the holidays. i hope you are all enjoying life as much as i am. a la prochaine...xoxo.

now it makes sense

pretty weird: i talked to katie last night and she reminded me that it was the 24th. it's been 3 months since uncle mike died. august 24th. do you think i remembered subconsciously? creepy.

fields of gold...

i've been thinking a lot about my family these days. thanksgiving is coming up so maybe that's why i've got them on my mind. it's also because i've heard 'fields of gold' 3 times in the past week after not hearing it for 3 months. most people wouldn't understand that reference but i'm sure some do.

right before i left, my uncle died of cancer. it was really fast - we all found out last april that he even had cancer and he died within months. i miss him terribly and still have trouble believing he's really gone. but i think what makes it the most difficult to believe is that my cousins have now done this twice. adam and kate, andrew and i are best friends. the four of us were the only grandkids of my dad's parents. we grew up next door to eachother and have become even closer as adults. katie is my very best friend.

when i was 12 (adam 11, andrew 10, kate 9) my dad's sister and adam and kate's mom died of cancer. it was a long battle and she suffered for years. it was really hard for everyone. adam and kate were really close with their dad because of it. and my uncle mike was such a good dad. he worked harder than anyone i know to give them whatever he could and they grew up to be amazing kids - both so smart and...just great people.

so when uncle mike got sick everyone was positive that he'd make it through. no one even imagined that he could die. it was just so unfair. he went on this crazy strict diet and routine of organic medicine. he said he didn't want kemo because he'd fought against his body his whole life. now he needed to help it. he was so dedicated but it just happened so fast. he lost a ton of weight and then had trouble walking and finally even moving. there was no way he could continue with the diet and exercise and the cancer just took over. every time the doctors came up with a new solution, something else went wrong. next thing we knew he was home with hospice care - there was nothing else they could do but calm the pain. and he was in so much pain.

the whole two weeks felt like a total train wreck. we were all faced with a reality that we had not prepared ourselves for. it was just...the absolute saddest thing i've been through. there is no where else in the world i would have rather been than by adam and kate's side. but it was so hard to watch them lose another parent - to relive their worst nightmare. they are both the strongest people i know. they were left with these decisions that i can't imagine making. decisions that people don't make until they are well into their late adulthood.

it's not like adam and kate were alone in this or that they had no one to turn to. uncle mike's family is this big ball of support really. i think we are all strong - the whole clan. my mom, dad, brother and i stayed up in weymoth for days at uncle mike's sister's/parents' house where he died. we all made each other laugh and the cousins (we're all in our 20's) ran errands and rallied for uncle mike's parents and siblings. i think it helped to keep adam and kate busy.

i feel better after writing this all out. i still wish i hadn't left for a different country so soon after though. i have this hole that's unfilled. i feel like i should be with kate as much as i can. she's doing fine and, like i said, she is incredibly strong. she sang 'fields of gold' at the funeral (which explains the reference at the beginning) and adam read the eulogy. i could barely get through a short reading. but maybe it's part of my own grieving process to have that need to be with them. moving to france was so exciting and hectic that i pushed all of that to the back of my mind when i left but now that i'm settled i am reconnecting with everything.

i haven't talked to kate nearly as much as i have wanted to. it's too expensive. and the time difference makes it hard - i'm 6 hours ahead of the east coast. i miss her so much. i know she's getting through this but maybe i need her to get through it myself. maybe i need to see her doing alright in order to stop worrying. i want to be there for her even if i don't need to be.

god, i am SO lucky. i am so lucky...

the engagement party

it's a lovely tale of bad humor mistaken as wit and a grand scheme to excuse bad decisions. and it was so fun!

so a few weeks ago my computer stopped booting up. i needed my installation discs which were all back in rhode island. my friend found me the correct installation disc here from one of his friends and in my haze of elation i told him i would marry him. now this guy is a 20 year old brittish kid who is into house music and drinking himself silly. he is also skinnier than me. would never marry anyone skinnier than me. but, ironically, his name is brad. that caused some confusion on facebook (since my real and wonderful boyfriend is also named brad).

anyway, we decided to throw an "engagement" party and invite all of our friends. i was obviously the "bride" and bradley the "groom." my roommate, caitlin, was the mother of the bride and emily was the father of the bride. betsy was the flower girl and werner was the uncle of the groom (not sure what part the uncle plays really). bradley set up an event on facebook in which he listed rules for the attendees. we were all to dress as if actually going to an engagement party, each guest was to bring a gift for the happy couple, and everyone had to tell the bride (me) how beautiful i looked "despite how beautiful she does or does not look." (thanks bradley)

so many people showed up to brad's flat. i received lots of wine, chocolat viennois (it's bread) wrapped in paper with a string around it, lolipops, keychains, chocolate eggs with toys inside of them, a candycane and a small plastic bag filled with anthony's hair. if you all knew anthony (pronounced antony), you would understand the humor in THAT gift. he's a socially awkward welshman. we're going to go see britney spears together - she is his greatest love. i plan to throw the bag of hair on stage for britney. maybe it will inspire the poor girl to shave her head again.

i had a great time at the party. i'm pretty sure everyone did. there were italians, brits, americans, french, columbians...i love how diverse our parties have been lately. europe is beautiful in that way i guess. the pictures are great - they look as fun as the party actually was. i did, however, recover in bed for 2 days watching the entire (and only...and WONDERFUL) season of freaks and geeks. it wasn't so much that i drank too much. in fact, it's really because i got to bed at 4 and am just too old these days. my body needed some rest. it might have also been due to the snow and cold weather the past 2 days. the couple of hours i did leave the house yesterday i lost feeling in all of my extremities.

emily and werner slept on our new pull out couch (which fits wonderfully and beautifully in our tiny little apartment). we all got up in the morning and went in search of food. it took us hours to find something worthy of day-after-party food to satisfy our need for greese and lard. we finally landed on pizza but our 2 hour walk was so bitterly cold that i couldn't bring myself to leave the house again. we are going to watch some football (yay!) at an american bar in the 6th tonight and that will be our first time out of the house. i suppose i should try to come up with a lesson plan before that.

well, that's my story. turns out it's not as great as i thought it would be. i guess you had to be there. but you can't tell me the pictures don't make you wish you had been...

brad, we should have a french child.

the greatest story ever told

just a quick note

this is the life

this song is how i feel about my life in paris...