I'm Growing Up!

the past few days have been quite a whirlwind. i know many of you are anxious to hear details, so that's what you will get. *cracks knuckles*

i'll start from the very beginning for those of you who have no idea what i'm talking about:

i met nick crescenzo in september of '09 through my brother. nick is the drummer for one of andrew's favorite bands, the dear hunter, and after one of their shows, andrew stayed behind to tell nick how great they played. the two of them became instant friends and thanks to that, i met nick.

since nick is in a touring band, we spent the first month of our relationship via texts and phone calls. then, around christmas time, we decided that after the holidays, we would move out to his home town in california together. we spent christmas and new years with my family and then made the journey out to california.

i immediately started looking for a job and FINALLY in march i got a job with an talent marketing/management company called croshal entertainment group. nick has been touring and recording but spending as much time at home as possible. we're starting to look for apartments after a few months of living with his parents.

so this weekend, we planned to go camping in the mountains of ojai, ca. we went with another couple, dustin and veronica, who are newly engaged. we made the 7 mile trek with huge backpacks into the mountains. sweating, tired and hungry, we took a dip into the natural rock slides and pools high up at the punchbowls, put on clean clothes, set up camp and collected all of our fire wood.

nick and i lingered by the stream while dustin and veronica hung out up at the camp site. it was just about sunset with a view of the mountains and canyons in front of us - absolutely breathtaking. nick was telling me how much he loves me (which he does often so i didn't realize that...) when all of a sudden he was down on one knee holding a ring.

he has said from the very beginning "at least a year...have to live together...know each other" and since we've only been together for 9 months, i was in TOTAL shock. of course i said yes right away and we celebrated for the rest of the night with dustin and veronica.

it turns out that EVERYONE knew except for me! nick was on tour a couple of weeks before and spent some time at my parents' house in ri. he asked for their permission and i'm amazed that my mom was able to keep it a secret for that long. regardless, it was the BEST surprise ever and i could not be happier!

i'm already planning and my mom has been emailing me non-stop. i'll keep everyone posted in terms of our plans once we know what we're doing. we have been inundated with good wishes and congratulations - we are so lucky!

that's my news. i'm engaged. wow. still in shock.

i miss everyone and i'll be writing soon! xoxo

Pretty Pleased These Days

so i hope this doesn't get annoying, but i have to share all the awesome the universe has been throwing at me lately. i've got some serious mojo going.

to begin with, i am in my third week at CEG and learning every minute. they have confidence in me which makes me confident in myself. not that i wasn't before, but i really feel like this is where i'm supposed to be. i guess what i wasn't confident in was my fairly impulsive decision to up and move across the country. but it all feels right.

and not just because of this job. nick continues to surprise me with his ability to make life exciting. we're not exactly rolling in money which can be so stressful, but i just can't help being happy around him.

then there's his family who have made me feel so comfortable and welcome. they've made the move away from my family pretty smooth. i can't imagine loving any three people more than i love my mom, dad and brother, but missing the CRAP out of them is balanced with loving my time with the people out here.

that brings me to my next point. i can't WAIT to go home for mom and andrew's graduation. it's going to be such a great weekend. i'm trying not to get my hopes up too high for the guest list since plans tend to change regularly in my family, but just the thought of seeing my mom, dad and brother is so totally exciting that i could pretty much pee. i talk about them all the time. ALL. THE TIME. miss em. they should move here. COUGH!

so are you sick of the super happy shit yet? cuz that's all i got. i'm so psyched to be me these days. oh OH! and kate, the best cousin in the entire world, is going to be here in less than 24 hours. i am openly admitting that i will be up at 3am like my brother on christmas counting the minutes until i see her.

i should probably end it here before i make anyone vomit. i just couldn't hold the happy in - had to spread it around. i feel like katie yea. just so damn happy. alright, signing off. stay classy, cyberspace.

Grass Is Pretty Green on My Side

where do i even start? so i moved out here in january and have since been looking for a job. i was applying to everything. not much luck. i even went on a few interviews and was totally jaded after getting turned down from every one. i've never gone on an interview and not gotten the job (mostly because i've only been on a number of interviews and because...well...i rule).

so as you can imagine, when i was called with an offer for employment by at&t, i jumped at the opportunity. turns out, it wasn't actually at&t, no one there spoke english and they wanted me to lie to the customers. it was basically a scam and i withdrew myself from the training program after 2 days. i was so bummed and feeling pretty worthless.

i went on craigslist immediately and applied to anything that looked more promising than fake-t&t. that was pretty much everything on craigslist. ev-er-y-thing. turns out, that was not such a bad idea.

started at fake-t&t on monday, bailed on fake-t&t on tuesday, got a call for an interview on wednesday, had a great interview with CEG (will explain in a minute), got asked to come back friday when i was officially offered the position as an office assistant at Croshal Entertainment Group (www.croshalgroup.com).

today was my first day working for CEG. basically, i'm office support for project managers who provide marketing and management services to independent musicians and bands. yep. i got a job in the music industry.

i've only been there a day and i've already learned a ton. the people are wonderful. the job is exciting and fun. sorry if this is not as descriptive as usual. it's bed time. i just got the urge to update.

anyway, will keep you all posted on my bitchin new job. and my super fun hiking adventures (of which there have been a lot - see photo albums on facebook). a bientot...

I Love Joan

I am currently sitting in a theater waiting for a screening to start. I figured it was a good time to update. The movie I'm about to watch is Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. It was the first flick I saw and I LOVED it.

The reason I'm seeing it again is because I had a ticket to an award winner that was tba until this morning. Just so happens it's this one. I'm pretty pleased. I could have switched but I didn't feel like starting my day with a doc about Bin Laden or a doc about some Korean comedy troup. Joan is a good way to start your day.

So what have I done? Well... I started with Joan on Friday morning followed with a few hours of exploring Main St. I love downtown Park City. So cute and mountainy. I met up with Caitlin after that and we grabbed some grub, relaxed at the condo (which is incredible and right in front of a mountain), went to another good flick (Howl - love James Franco) and ended our night with a crazy staff dance party. It was supposed to be like a mingle-drink-eat at the Film Makers' Lodge but it ended up as a pile of hammered staff shaking their booties. Fun to watch. Kind of strange from an outsider's perspective.

Yesterday I got to sleep in, veg in the hot tub (yeah - they have a hot tub in their bathroom), read and relax. When Caitlin got out of work we ran a few errands and then went up to the Olympic Park. That was a blasty. We got to watch some bobsledders who were practicing for the Vancouver Olympics and tour the museum. It's so beautiful up there too. What a view.

Last night we went to see this movie, The Killer Inside Me. It's not competing. Just a premiere. It. Was. Awful. Well, that's not fair. It was very well executed for what it was. The filming and acting was great. But the story was just terrible. So disturbing. Casey Aflec played this quaint little town sherrif who was brutaly murdering people behind closed doors. And I mean brutally. He punched Jessica Alba to death and kicked Kate Hudson to death. If you like S&M and graphic violence, check it out I guess.

After that we went to the Award Party. INtense. Even MORE drunk people, staff, film makers and yuppies alike, dancing the night away. We didn't stay long. Caitlin barely slept the night before. I wasn't really feeling it anyway.

So now here I am. After this movie we are thinking about going into Salt Lake City depending on the snow. Whatever we do, I'm sure it'll be super fun. Oo...here goes Joan. WOO!!! Later peeps.

Salt Lake Cit-ay

Ok ok... I know I haven't been writing enough. Life hasn't been that interesting. I mean, it's been great. Don't get me wrong. But not much worth writing about.

Nick and I are doing lots of exploring. Hiking, driving around, walking. I'm figuring out which parts of California I like. I definitely DON'T like LA traffic. It's not even traffic. It's its own thing. LATRAFFICSHIT. That's what it is. And I do not like it.

On a happier note, we went to Disneyland yesterday. My god it's so cute. It really is the happiest place on earth. We went with Nick's friend, Port, and his girlfriend. It was perfect. 65 degrees, clear skies and NO PEOPLE! Go at the end of January, kids. It's bomb.

So now I'm sitting in my car in a 7-eleven parking lot in Salt Lake City. Actually, I'm in Park City, UT. I'm here visiting Caitlin (France roommate) who is working out here for the Sundance Film Festival. Yep, I get to go to premieres this weekend. Sweeeet.

The drive took 11 hours and it was SO beautiful. I can't even describe it. You'll have to check out my pictures I took while driving on facebook when I post them. The mountains are totally magical. The only time I got a little nervous (and by little I mean I should have worn a diaper) was when I drove through the Rockies. Yeah through. Why in the name of anything would you make the speed limit 75 on a twisty, windy pass through mountains and valleys where a car can go careening into oblivion? I was shaking by the end.

Still pretty though. And driving through the mountains that separate Salt Lake and Park City at night is equally amazing. The skies are totally clear tonight, there's fresh snow on the ground and it feels like you're being hugged by the mountains. And then you turn a corner and there's a tiny town all lit up and nestled into the foothills. God. So beautiful. You should come see for yourself!

I'll let you know how the rest of my trip to Utah goes. So far so good. Miss you all!

California So Far

so here i am. living in california. it still hasn't really set in yet. i feel like i'm on vacation and i'll have to go home soon.

kate left last night. it was pretty sad. i miss her already. it will be strange not seeing her every day but i guess we'll just have to rack up some hefty phone bills. this trip was the perfect way to ease our way into living 3,000 miles apart. boo.

BUT. this weather is amazing. i've spent everyday outside. kate and i went down to san diego to visit katherine and david porter with andrea and rustin. it was so good to see them. they moved into a new house and it's really beautiful. they did a lot of work to get it in the condition it's in.

rustin is so big and really fun. he's turning into a smart, polite, hilarious little man. i've spent some time hanging out with him while andrea does her work. he's great - doesn't complain, has a great imagination, does what you tell him to do and is eager to give hugs and kisses. and he's a lady's man. all the little girls on the playground flock to him. andrea will have fun with that in about 10 years.

now nick and i are looking for a place to live and he's showing me all of his favorite spots to hike and rock climb. the hiking is awesome. the rock climbing is...scary as hell. but i'm getting better.

ok, gotta get moving. missing everyone. xoxo

I Am Actually Hot Right Now

Alright friends. We are driving through warm, sunny California. About 2 hours from my new home. It's 79 degrees and I have my window down. Jealous yet?

I think the last time I wrote we were on our way to Dallas. It was a quick stop but long enough to produce a healthy bunch of hangovers courtesy of Nick's friend, Becca, who put us up for the night. I even got to see Werner and MB for breakfast the next morning.

We drove from Dallas to the Carlsbad Caverns (or as Kate heard it "Carl's Bat Caverns?") In New Mexico. We stayed the night at a KOA and then hiked through the caves yesterday afternoon. Highlight of the trip hands down.

Last night, after hiking all day, we drove 10 more hours to Phoenix. Needless to say, no one had any trouble falling asleep.

Now we are 2 hours outside of LA and so ready to be out of this car. I can't wait to take the stuff out of every crevace and clean the poor thing. She's worked hard.

Anyway, we are safe, happy and warm. Kate and I will head down to San Diego tomorrow to stay with the Porters for a couple of days and then back up to LA to start getting my life together. Yikes.

So we are on the road right now. This is the first time I've used my blackberry to write a post so bear with me. We've had a long...LONG 5 days.

We left on Sunday (the 2nd) from Narragansett in the RV with the corolla all packed to the brim towed behind us. It was windy and slow going but we were making our way just fine. Until the RV broke down in New Jersey.

Yep. No more RV. We spent 2 full days (3 nights) in NJ while we figured out our plan. The RV was $7,000 and 6 days to fix. So we finally decided to ditch it for the time being with a mechanic and pack what we could into the corolla.

I'm actually pretty impressed with how much stuff we shoved into poor old Gladys (Kate's nickname for the car). We bought one of those soft shell pods and jerry-rigged it to the top of the car. It literally has all of my posessions in it other than some clothes and my toothbrush. Pretty nervous about that. We also have Nick's drum kit, 2 acoustic guitars and a bass. And Kate somewhere in the back seat. (Poor thing)

We made our way to Tennessee after 12 hours of driving. Do you know how often it snows in Tennessee? Never. But of course they got a snow storm the night we got there. So we stayed all day yesterday with Nick's friends in a big beautiful house out in the sticks outside of Nashville. We were pretty much snowed in which let me nurse my fever and cold. Oh yeah, through all of this I've been sick as a dog.

Right now we are somewhere between Nashville and Memphis. Every station on the radio is country and every pit stop is full of "Yes ma'am's" and "y'all's". And truck stop chapels?

Anyway, we are all safe and anxious to get to the beautiful California sunshine. I will keep updating. Hope everyone is well and already planning their trips west to visit!

Stage One of the Trip to California

So before i get into the stages of the trip, i should explain why i'm going out to california in the first place. when i moved back from france, i didn't know what to do with myself and thought maybe now is a better time than ever to try something new. but, financial circumstances along with other reasons kept me from making the move.

then i met nick who soon became my boyfriend. he is from ventura, ca and his band, the dear hunter, is what kept him in ri. which he hated. now the band is moving their studio to the west coast and we thought it was a good opportunity to move ourselves over there too. i now have the money saved up and an excuse to pick up and start fresh over on the west coast.

so here we are. we left on sunday in the band's touring rv with my little corolla in tow. (oh ps i totaled my wonderful little volvo in september when i avoided a dear in the middle of the highway at 4am). we made it ALL the way to new jersey when the rv pooped out. engine fail. we spent the night in the rv with no heat and about a million blankets. needless to say i am now in the midst of a cold.

in the morning we called several mechanics and finally found one who would come out and diagnose the problem. unfortunately, the engine needs to be replaced. either the oil tank froze and cracked or...whatever it was, it was due to the freezing cold new england winters and this california rv could not handle it.

thankfully, the $5,000 expense will be covered by the owner of the rv, nick's cousin. but we are stuck at a super 8 in raritan, nj. at least it's warm. we could be here for another 2 days. i hope it's less because kate is with us and she has a flight back from la on the 17th. i want her to spend time out in california with andrea but i don't want her to have to fly out and miss the trip with me. so torn.

anyway, that's the update for now. here's hoping we get out of here soon and on to nashville. and OUT OF THIS SNOW!

I'm Back

so it's been months since i last wrote. a lot has happened but i've been lazy apparently. and busy. i was very busy.

anyway, spring in paris was great. i traveled a lot - london, dublin, amsterdam, nice, monaco, venice, florence, cinque terre, rome, athens, crete, etc. there are so many pictures. so so many.

i moved home in june. it was terrible - i still can't believe i ever left. however my visa ran out as well as my money so there was not much else for me to do.

the summer was pretty standard. i was unemployed for most of it so i was at the beach a lot. i met a bunch of new people and had a great time. at the end of the summer kate and i finally ventured out to tazza, a bar/cafe in providence, and started doing some open mic nights. we met another girl, julia, and have since formed a trio. we're opening for becky chace next month. very exciting.

i got a job at starbucks. it's not even close to what i want to be doing but at least i have an income now. i'm really focusing on my music. playing the guitar a lot and singing out at least once a week. living the life basically.

speaking of work and music, i have to scoot. but it's nice to be back in the writing world and i'll update more when i have some time. latah.

a bittersweet european february

there have been really good moments and amazing experiences. and then there have been all the times in between. a week in london clouded the reality of my dwindling funds but did not help the situation at all. it totally SUCKS that i loved london so much but had a hard time enjoying it. especially the last day as i walked around the city trying to save the few pounds i had left in my pocket. i mean, london was so amazing that i spent several conversations debating whether or not i should live there. it changed my perspective on europe drastically. i don't want to say it was life changing because, let's be honest, it takes more than that to alter my very stoic view of how my life should play out. and because life changing seems a bit trite and unrealistic compared to what it really was. i just had a lot of fun. and i really enjoyed the history.

i should have written about london earlier. i might have had more to say other than 'it was great.' i saw 'wicked' on the west end. i watched the changing of the guard on a sunday morning. i walked down portabello road on a saturday afternoon. i did everything i wanted to do. i guess the pictures will tell the story better than i will at this point. so here are my albums: #1 and #2.

i just discovered yesterday how broke i actually am. it's scary that i'm in another country and have so much financial responsibility at home. i've been trying on a daily basis to spend as little money as possible. not that i could spend anything other than a little money. i only have 4 euros to last me until wednesday. i think i can do it. i have enough food in my apartment. it's just really difficult to do anything without spending money in paris. so i will be in my apartment a lot. emily and i went to pere lachaise cemetary today which was free. i need to find a few more things like that. i'll go crazy alone in my apartment for days at a time (caitlin is in spain for the break).

anyway, i'm going to watch slumdog millionaire. i haven't seen it yet and everyone keeps telling me to watch it. i'll write more soon. brad will be here on friday so that will give me something to share. enjoy your sundays...

the emerald isle

hi folks! sorry it's been so long since i wrote. not much went on in january. caitlin and i spent a lot of time in our apartment trying not to spend money. nothing big to report.

but we broke our hermit rut this past weekend when we went to ireland. we left on thursday night - took ryan air into dublin. the flight was easy...because of the time difference we landed in ireland only minutes after we left france. it wasn't the most luxurious airline but it was fine for an hour.

we stayed at a hostel near the spire (an extremely tall, metal poke errected - no pun intended - to commemorate the milenium) called brown's hostel. it was...interesting to say the least. it was the cheapest we could find in dublin and because of the low rates there were a lot of long-term "guests." it was weird. we felt like we were in the middle of this strange dorm of women who never spoke to one another. i can't imagine living that way. it wasn't the cleanest place in the world and there was NEVER any toilet paper. people had put up posters and plants, shelves and curtains. it was so bizarre.

besides the hostel, however, it was SO good to be in a city where people smile at you on the street and speak your language! every time we stopped to look at a map, someone walking by would ask if we needed help. even little old ladies! that doesn't happen in paris. if you smile at someone on the street, they think you're crazy. and if you ask for directions, they scoff at you. so we were happy to meet the locals at the pubs and in the restaurants. the irish are so fun and sweet. no wonder dusty and erica love them so much! ;)

we started our first day at a GREAT little pastry/breakfast shop called 'the queen of tarts.' they had the best scones and warm apple porridge. i had tea and a scone for my first breakfast as well as some fruit with yogurt. it reminded me so much of my great grandmother. grama jean used to have 'a wee bit of tea and scone' every day at 2. and she made her own scones! my mom is scottish, though. same tradition i guess. it was great. and they played dylan and joni and james taylor and all sorts of great folk music. wonderful way to start your day!

after breakfast we wandered around for a little while looking for umbrellas. it rained all the time but it was misty rain for the most part. just enough to make you cold and stick to your clothes. oh and turn your hair into a whispy ball of ugliness. the irish women always looked beautiful though. i don't know how they do it. we found the best umbrellas ever in a little covered market and you can see them in many of the pictures. by far my favorite purchase of the trip.

somehow we managed to stumble upon a free walking tour of the city center. we were outside of the dublin castle and ari, the tour guide, started talking to us as he guided the rest of the tour to their next stop. finally he asked us if we wanted to join in and we couldn't resist his charming accent and ADORABLE smile. we loved ari. so he took us all over the city and told us about the history of each landmark. it was so lucky that we ran into ari. he was an amazing guide.

for dinner we stopped into a pub for some fish and chips. lucky for us, this past weekend was the traditional irish music festival in temple bar (the famous street in dublin with some really famous and wonderful bars...originally called temple's barr because it is on the river and the area was once owned by a man called temple - thank you ari). so we had our dinner and listened to some great music. i was in heaven! oh and the beer...soooo much beer. i never drank anything other than smithwick's or guiness. betsy and caitlin had a few whiskies because they're braver than i am.

after dinner we went on a litterary pub crawl. it was so fun! not your typical pub crawl with slobbery drunk college kids binging and making out in the bathroom. it was more based on the history of irish litterature and the pub scene in dublin. our hosts were these two irish actors, colin and frank, and we went from bar to historical site to pub to monument learning about dublin and listening to them act out some particularly important scenes. it was so fun. and colin and frank were so great! they gave us advice and places to visit. i wish i could have them on every trip from now on.

saturday morning we got up and went back to the queen of tarts for breakfast again. i had another scone (different flavor) and some apple cinnamon porridge. i was so full it was hard to stand up. but i managed and we were off to the christ church. it was, to say the least, an incredible building. i love churches - probably my favorite part of any european city. it had so much energy and character. i took tons of pictures! why don't we have anything that beautiful in the states?

after the church we took a train out to howth, a small fishing town outside of dublin. we wanted to see life outside the big city. it was so charming and beautiful. the landscape was cliffy and surrounded with hills. i loved it. right down to the strong winds and the raging surf. we got pelted in the face with the rain and betsy's umbrella turned inside out (these umbrellas were hard CORE so that's a big deal!). i loved every minute of it! we almost got soaked by the waves that came over the cliff wall. there were lighthouses and chowder shacks. we met some local guys who followed us to lunch and talked our ears off the whole time. what a perfect little town.

once we got back into dublin the rain had stopped and the wind died down. we left our umbrellas at the hostel and spent the night in temple bar going from pub to pub looking for irish music. the BEST pub we found was called gogarty's. it had the greatest music and we got great seats! (well...we stood but in good places) we saw two bands there. the second had 2 celtic drummers, 2 fiddlers, an accordian player and a guitar player. it was soooo fun! the whole crowd knew all the words to every song and they danced and drank all night long. everyone was laughing and talking and stomping their feet along with the music. it had the best energy and it made me feel like a part of their world and their traditions. but the best part is that they all WANTED us to be a part of it. they were happy to drink and laugh and sing with us. i tell ya...the irish charmed the PANTS off of me. i can't wait to go back!

sunday we spent some more time wandering around and checking out parts of the city we had missed. we had to leave around 3 so we didn't do much. we grabbed breakfast at a different cafe since we had only ever gone to the queen of tarts. it was ok but we weren't satisfied and ended up BACK at the queen of tarts to get scones. it's truly the greatest little shop i've ever been to. i wish i could work there!

all in all, our trip was great. i loved ireland and i loved the people. i'd love to go back and visit a few more cities. i have a few friends here from belfast so i might make it back to visit them. i'm happy to be back in my own bed but i can't help the anxious feeling to travel outside paris again. my cousin, dusty, is coming tomorrow for a week and then we're going to london for the weekend. i can't WAIT! i've never been outside the airport in london. and i can't wait to see my friend, giselle, who is living there. the next 3 months are going to fly by. i will have more to report, i promise! until then...xoxo

ireland photos

home for the holidays

i've been meaning to write this for a while. it's been a long time since i last wrote. i went home on december 18th. it was great - what more can i say? it's hard to remember how much you miss home when there are so many distractions. like paris. :)

anyway, brad picked me up at the airport and i'm pretty sure i fell in love with him all over again the moment i saw him. don't care if that's trite or cheesy. i was so happy to see him and so tired from all the travel. it felt like i was melting into my seat - but that could have been the heated seats. i like to think it was brad though.

christmas was wonderful. i was right smack in the middle of a viscious cold (thank you stagnant airplane air) so my memories are a little vague through my nyquil clouds. brad and i spent christmas eve with his family at their annual party. we both spent the night at my parents' house and did the christmas morning, opening presents, big breakfast thing with my family. then we went to his parents' house for christmas dinner. i ended the night with my parents and my cousin, katie, at my aunt janet's house. that was great since our christmas party got snowed out the weekend before. i got to see some of my extended family. (i love janet - she's the BEST!)

andrew and i had our fourth annual new years party this year. there were too many people last year but we narrowed down the guest list and it worked out perfectly. with only a few essential people missing (dan...jenn...you party POOPERS! and amanda, we missed you!! yay babies!), all the right people were there. in the morning, after cleaning the first floor before bed at 4am, we woke up to mashed potatoes in the sink and drama passed out on the living room floor wrapped in about 18 beach towels. there were people asleep on every surface of the first floor. all in all, a successful new years party. bonjour 2009!

i only had a few more days before my flight back to paris. i spent a weekend in boston with uncle mike's family. i tried to see nana mae but she's in the hospital and wasn't feeling up to visitors. what else...i really just hung out and spent time with brad and my family. i was SO happy to have so much time with katie. i miss her so much already. i can't wait to see her in paris in a couple of months. she's going to LOVE it.

leaving again was less dificult this time. i think i was ready to come back actually. it's weird to think of home as a vacation destination. i really don't like living out of a suitcase so i was happy to unpack and settle back in. i think i'm one of the few of my friends who didn't have a really hard time coming back. not to say i don't miss everyone at home. i just know i'll see them all again soon. brad is coming in february and katie in march. i'll be home again in may or june. i'm taking all of this in while it lasts. i can't spend time regretting my decisions or dwelling on what i've left behind. i was never good at this before but i guess i've grown up a little since the last time.

anyway, here are the photo albums of my time at home. i've discovered that this is much easier than uploading a million pictures one at a time on blogger. happy new year everyone! xo

christmas
new years
everything else

eeeeeek!

fun little story - those pictures of the department stores all lit up? the night we took those pictures, they found dynomite in printemps. so that's awesome. i guess we can laugh about it since we are safe and sound. although a bomb threat in paris is not funny. anyway, thought i'd share.

i'm HOME! just in time for a snow storm! :)

and my kitten, tux, is a total fatty.

baby!

this one goes out to amanda, andrew and their new baby, james!!!

a few more photos

these are some photos of the christmas displays at printemps and galeries lafayette. they are 2 huge department stores in paris. galeries lafayette even has maps at the front door...that's how big it is.

christmastime in paris

this past week has been good times. there were festive parties, late night light hopping, christmas markets, decorating, warm spiced wine, disney land...i couldn't imagine a better last week before break. i've been teaching a lesson on the holidays in the us to my students. i start with what christmas is like for my family - for example, i tell them about the christmas carol sing which is next sunday and i CAN'T WAIT!!. also, in france they generally celebrate on christmas eve instead of in the morning. and they love our stockings. i've been playing them christmas songs like rudolf and santa claus is coming to town. they all know all the words to jingle bells and they taught me the french version of silent night (douce nuit). the best part is watching them work on the word search i give them. they love that stuff. as soon as i pass it out, they have like 14 different highlighters and markers out. they color it in and everything. hard. core.

thursday blew my lesson out of the water though. caitlin and i went out in the afternoon and got a bunch of decorations for the flat. we also got the ingredients we needed for our warm spiced wine recipe. when we got home, we decorated, made the wine and put out gingerbread cookies all while listening to christmas songs. our friends came over around 8 and we warmed up with the wine and treats before spending the rest of the night light hopping. we started at our metro stop, abbesses, which has a little christmas market. then we took the metro to the champs elysees. we started at the arc de triomphe and walked down to concorde, stopping at another christmas market to get some more warm wine. at the end of the champs elysees is the obelisk at concorde which has a huge feris wheel set up for christmas. from there we walked to place vendome - it's another obelisk but it has really crazy christmas trees all around it. then we walked down rivoli and past the louvre to hotel de ville where they are setting up an ice skating rink. too bad it's not open yet. from there we walked over to notre dame where there is a big christmas tree. then it was on to opera and madeleine by metro. finally, we walked to haussman and saw printemps and galeries lafayette which have world famous christmas displays. we were EXHAUSTED by the time we got back and totally freezing but it was all worth it. we thawed quickly.

friday was mellow. i went for a run and froze to death. it felt good though - my ankles have been really bothering me and i hadn't run in a week or so. it probably wasn't the best choice in the long run but since when have i ever respected the signs my body gives me? i run when i WANT!

so friday night was bradley's birthday and caitlin and i made a brief appearance. i'm glad we went - i hadn't seen jake and ben in a while and we spent the whole time laughing. oh, those crazy brits. after the party we came back to the flat to meet caitlin's friend from high school. lauren is studying in nantes which is about 2 or 3 hours south of paris. she brought her friend from the program, april. we chatted for a little while and went to bed around midnight because we had to get some decent sleep before our saturday at EURO DISNEY!

we got up early and made our way to the rer (kind of like the commuter train to boston). it took about 45 minutes to get there and when we left the rer station, there it was - the happiest place on earth! i was giddy - i hadn't been to disneyland since i was a kid. we used to go at least once a year since my mom grew up in california and my grandparents still lived in la. so, needless to say, i was super pumped to be there. i can't really remember what disneyland looks like except for what i can see in the pictures so i had no expectations of preconceptions of what it should be. and i was very pleased.

it's really strange to be in a place that you identify with your childhood as an adult. euro disney has sleeping beauty's castle just like disneyland. sleeping beauty is my alltime favorite disney movie - i LOVE tchaikovsky and i even want to walk out to aurora's theme at my wedding. i've had it planned since i was little.

it turns out that lauren is the most experienced disney-goer ever. she knew exactly what to do which made my life so easy. i didn't care what we did. i was just happy to be there. she was easy to see with her purple coat and the santa hat (caitlin and i got us all santa hats when we went decoration shopping on thursday) so we just followed her around. we started with star tours where a little french boy threw up all over his mom right before we got on the ride. poor little kid (i only say that because he didn't throw up on me). it was REALLY funny to hear c3po talk in french and once we got into the actual ride it was in franglais. parts were taken from the movie and other parts were dubbed. soooo weird.

after star tours we walked through sleeping beauty's castle. i was so happy! i skipped through the whole thing - even the dragon's dungeon (which was a little incorrect since the dragon happens to be maleficent so there couldn't be both at the same time but...poetic liscence i guess). after the castle we went on the pinnochio ride which was SO cute and then the pirates of the carribean (mom's favorite ride). then we grabbed lunch and payed a fortune for a burger and fries...BUT we did get to see a live performance of the lion king while we ate. in english. it started raining by the time we finished eating and it was, at that point, 28 degrees and wet. we were frozen - couldn't feel our fingers or feet at all. but we were still happy!

after lunch we headed over to the buzz lightyear ride which is crazy! you sit in this little space pod thing that has laser guns on the front. there's a joystick that turns your car all the way around like the teacups and you shoot bad guys to get points. it's so fun. i've never seen any of the pixar stuff since i was too old when they made all the rides.

after buzz we went to the haunted mansion. that was one of my favorites when i was little. it was just as cool as i remembered. although, the french crazied it up a little and it was longer...which was AWESOME! i love the way they let you into the ride in that room that sinks. so creative. after the haunted mansion we made our way to santa's christmas village. we took some pictures with jessie from toy story and then jack and sally from the nightmare before christmas. and last but not least, we got a photo shoot with pere noel. he was so cute! when we all sat around him he goes 'i don't know what to do with my hands!' so in the picture he's just sticking them out like he's asking a question. it was so cute to see all the little european kids talk to him. ugh, everything is cuter in an accent.

our next stop was the light show so we walked through aladin's palace (so cute) and back to main street. they call it main street usa in france which i thought was strange. the light show was so pretty. they lit up sleeping beauty's castle little by little and in sync with the music. it looked like it had snow and diamonds all over it. and they lit up the big christmas tree and all the shops. so precious. it's funny because usually i think disney is kind of trite but now i get why people love it so much. i thought you had to be a kid to really appreciate it. WRONG!

when the light show was over we decided to go on the peter pan ride. totally awesome and adorable. you get on these little ships and sail over london and through neverland. there are stars all around you - it's totally trippy and awesome. after that, lauren and april didn't want to go on the indiana jones ride since it went outside and not only was the air freezing but the rain was as well and they didn't want to get pelted in the face. caitlin and i were hardcore though and the roller coaster turned out to be totally bitchin. except for one ice-in-the-eyeball incident, we didn't even notice the cold and rain. and we even had time to sprint over to space mountain which was the only ride i HAD to go on. it was my favorite when i was little and it is my favorite now. most trippy, crazy roller coaster ever. my favorite part is the black hole.

we were supposed to meet lauren and april before 9 to get a good spot for the candelibration parade and when we got off space mountain it was 9:02. we SPRINTED all the way to the castle and spotted the purple coat right away. the parade was so cute. i felt bad for the dancers though. they must have been freezing. i mean, i was numb all over and i was wearing about 3 more layers than them.

we finally got home around 12 and thawed out for about an hour before all passing out. lauren and april left early this morning and caitlin and i have hung around the apartment all day. we were all so sore from clenching and shivering all day yesterday (and from smiling :)!) anyway, i'm headed home on thursday for christmas. i couldn't possibly be more excited. i miss everyone so much. i will be happy to come back though. the past 3 months have been so perfect. this is the best thing i could have ever done for myself. i'm at the halfway point and if the next semester is even half as good as this one has been, i will be completely satisfied. happy holidays everyone! can't wait to see you when i get home! bonne nuit...

one of my favorite songs:

wintersong: sara bareilles and ingred michaelson

give it a listen. it's really beautiful.

amsterdam

i have been to the holy land. i have smelled the sweet cocoa butter air. i have traveled the canals. i have seen the brothels and sniffed the cannabis. i shall call it...amsterdam.

holland is now up at the top of the list. i would say it's one of my new favorite places in the world. granted, i have only traveled a little bit when you think of all the wonderful places on this planet. i'm working on that though.

i left on thursday night with caitlin and emily. we caught a night bus at 11pm. that was an experience. i've been on red eyes and night trains but i have never slept (if you can call it that) on a bus for an entire night. we stopped a couple of times for bathroom and smoke breaks in the middle of the night and it's hard to fall back to sleep after going out into the freezing cold, getting attacked by flourescent lights, peeing, and then trying to sleep sitting up. so i think in total i slept about 3 hours. we were pretty groggy and goofy when we got into amsterdam but that wasn't going to stop us!

we walked to our hostel and dropped our stuff in the lockers at about 7am and looked around the hostel. it was a christian hostel so there were big paintings that said "god loves you" and "jesus is lord." there was even a series of framed drawings telling the story of the wemmicks. if you have never heard of eli and the wemmicks, check out this link. i found it on youtube when we got home and it's the exact same pictures they had on the wall. good message i guess but kind of creepy at the same time.

anyway, we left the hostel and went in search of breakfast. there were these little coupons for a place called "sara's pancakes" and that sounded so delicious to our tired, empty little tummies. we forgot that in europe, pancakes mean crepes. so i was disappointed when i saw my food but immediately changed my mind when i tasted it. it was delicious. and they had actual molases instead of syrup! it was crazy!

after breakfast it was finally a decent hour (about 9am) and we headed over to the anne frank museum. let me tell ya, that is not a happy way to start your day. it was really cool and very moving but quite depressing. it is the actual house where the franks lived before being brought to the camps. more than any other emotion, i was totally awed. it is such an amazing piece of history and a famous work of literature. i felt almost star struck by the whole idea of being in her house. there were videos of people who knew the franks or who worked for otto frank and survived or were not jewish. there was even a video of otto frank speaking about his daughter's diary. that was the most emotional part of the tour. it was such a sincere commentary to anne's diary but at the same time it made you feel in a small way what it must be like to lose everyone you love. what it must be like to start over as a grown man and alone.

back to happy stories: we left the museum and got on the canal bus (which is a boat). there are man made canals all through amsterdam and they are cleaned 3 times a week. that's why the city smells and looks so much cleaner than paris. it was insane the way the boats navigated through the narrow, winding water. they had to reverse and turn all the time and we all thought we were going to crash into a bridge on a regular basis.

we took the boat to the rijksmuseum which is a classic art museum. it's beautiful from the outside - looks like a palace. the art was cool and there was a huge collection of rembrandt's work but i really enjoyed the exposition we went to. it was a contemporary piece by damien hirst called 'for the love of god' and it was a platinum cast of a real skull encrusted completely in diamonds. it was in a black box and it shined so beautifully. i even commented on it in the gift shop and they put it on the website! you can see it if you click on this link and hit 'normal: english' and then click on my floating head. crazy.

we also found the gay memorial that is this little marble triangle with flowers on it sticking out into one of the canals near the anne frank house. it's a monument to the gays who were persecuted, killed and tortured during WWII. pretty intense. it was very beautiful even in its ordinariness. that moved me more than the anne frank house i think - maybe due to the ongoing hatred and judging almost 70 years later.

we then went towards the gorgeous train station (amsterdam centraal which i think is a pretty name for whatever reason) and got some food. we found falafel - which i was SO in the mood for - and fries. they are big fry people just like the belgians. i warned emily that there is a serious and digestion related price to pay for the local favorite of fries doused in mayonnaise but she wanted to immerse and learned that lesson on her own. i just got my fries plain and took little tastes of her globs of mayo.

we walked through the christmas markets which consisted of ice skating rinks and festive food stands like proffertjes. i'm pretty sure that's what andrea's dad used to make us for breakfast when we were little. they were these balls of batter that were hollow in the middle and they covered them in butter and powdered sugar. david used to put butter and syrup INSIDE the balls but it tasted the same. anyway, it reminded me of the porters and how much i miss them!

our next move was towards the red light district. i had heard so many stories about it that i had to see it for myself. so we bravely ventured into the brothel district. in general it's pretty tame but there is one stretch of alleyway that is lined with glass doors and half-naked/completely naked women and a bed behind them. YIKES! and if you are even making a camera hand gesture let alone holding a camera they will bang on the windows and yell dutch profanities at you. i took a picture of a really pretty church near one of the doors and one of the prostitutes yelled 'PUNTA' at me which is not a nice word at all.

anyway, we got out of there and went to see some of the famous head shops and coffee shops. now, when i say coffee shop i do not mean a place where you can buy coffee. i mean a place where you buy weed. i don't even think they have coffee. it's a local phenomenon though and i have to admit, as someone who went to amsterdam for everything but the weed, it was a pretty cool approach to the sport of getting high. it's much less hyped and very relaxed. the locals are not all complete potheads like they are imagined to be. in fact, i'm sure there are plenty of people who live in amsterdam and don't smoke at all. there is very little smoking of tobacco and barely anyone smokes in the street. it is illegal to smoke weed outside in public but you very often catch a whiff of wacky tobacky while you're walking around outside. it's a much nicer smell than cigarettes though so none of us minded.

we walked around the shopping area a little more and saw some of the christmas lights at night. i was in the christmas spirit full force. at one point i started belting 'it's the most wonderful time of the year' as we walked past a local news station filming a street interview. i hope they put it on tv. i think i was running on pure sugar at that point. no sleep, no real food...

we got back on the canal boat (it was a hop on hop off for 24 hours...totally better than the metro) and proceeded to fall asleep for a half hour. we were so wiped. i was a little disappointed in myself for not paying attention to the tour guide and missing some history but there was nothing that could keep me awake at that point. we got off and went back to the hostel where we showered for the first time in 2 days and thawed out from the full day of 0 degree, windy, misty weather.

that night our friend, betsy, joined us at the hostel. she had to catch a later train on friday. we all passed out as soon as our heads hit the pillow. i'm a pretty deep sleeper so i didn't move an inch until the next morning but i guess caitlin kept getting woken up by someone snoring. she thought it was betsy which was hilarious...it was the girl on the other side of the partition from betsy. that's probably not so funny to you but we thought it was wonderful.

breakfast was free which made it delicious. there was even a little kitty who lived there. emily and i fell in love with him and could barely focus on the food. i miss my cats so much. (9 more days!) after breakfast we walked to one of the famous dutch windmills. it was BEAUTIFUL! my mom loves windmills and i think it has rubbed off on me. it was about a 25 minute walk which felt really good to my aching muscles. we took some pictures and then found a cafe for our second breakfast (we ate a lot). it turned out to be the coolest cafe ever and the waitress was awesome. she taught us about sinterklaas and the celebration they have on december 5th. it's a bigger deal than christmas for them. once we knew this story, the little kids dressed up as bishops the day before made much more sense. she also gave us little round cinnamon biscuits and little candies that are sinterklaas tradition.

after breakfast number two, we walked back into town and did some souvenir shopping. we found a small flea market on one of the canals and looked at all the jewelry and crazy rasta clothes. i was proud of myself for not buying anything and we moved on to the free public library. the girls at the front desk of the hostel told us to check it out because the view from the top floor is really beautiful. they were right. the inside was totally awesome too. it's a new building and there are computers with free internet lining the walls.

that night after dropping our stuff off at the hostel we decided to go out for a round of drinks. caitlin had been to a bar she really liked the last time she was in amsterdam so we decided to go back. it was called bourbon street and there was live music and cheap drinks. perfect. we had a lot of fun dancing and singing along to the classic rock but we only stayed for a drink because we were tired. we headed back to the hostel, showered and thawed, and went to sleep.

we had to catch the bus back to paris at 11 so we grabbed breakfast at the hostel, went to a cafe for coffee and headed to the bus station. it was much nicer to make the trip during the day but my tailbone is still sore from all the sitting. we stopped a few times in holland and twice in brussels so the ride back took about 9 hours. it only took 7 on the way there. it was a long ride. we had fun though and made it back to paris at about 8 at which point i had to create a lesson plan for this week. guess i should have done that before we left. it's ok though - i am teaching them about american christmas so i get to listen to christmas carols and talk about rudolf all day. (9 more days!!!)

it's been requested that i list the funny moments that made us nearly wet ourselves this weekend. they may not make sense to you but...for the sake of memories:

leah: i gotta piss like a racehorse! AH! sorry jesus!
emily: did you just say sorry jesus for piss?
caitlin: racehorse?
leah: rape?

caitlin(6am): we were going balls to the wall into the red light district.

prostitute: *THUM*...PUNTA!
emily: did she just say punta?!

betsy: check you later homes.
leah: lederhosen?

leah: you know him! he's a really well known scottish poet.
emily: maybe we don't know he's scottish?
...moment of silence...
leah: WILLARD SCOTT!
(the answer, ladies and gents, is sir walter scott. sigh.)

leah: you can't smoke in front of hellen keller's house!
betsy: anne frank?

emily: *aaaaachoo!* OOP! i just peed a little.

...girl snoring...
emily: is that betsy snoring like a sea beast?

caitlin: my hips are loose. they do what they want.
(referring to flexibility and not...)

bus driver: la toilette est ouverte mais uh...juste pipi, ok?
...2 minutes later...
bus driver: seulement pipi!