crunchy leaves and rolled up sleeves

Yesterday was one of those days that I wouldn't mind reliving a few extra times. Time didn't fly too fast yesterday, but I wish it would have moved slower. It was so far, the most beautiful day of the year. I was invited to my boyfriends grandparents country house for Sunday. Of course I accepted the invitation. I have been there on 2 other occasions, and each visit featured a sky that looked like drywall, and a boring temperature that required sweater on, sweater off every few minutes; muggy, but cold. And the other times I went it was with all of his family (cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.) This time however, the weather was perfect and it was just Thom, his grandparents and I. It is autumn so everything is orange and red.... the kind of colours that make you feel warm, even if it's cold. But the morning started out freezing cold as we made our way to the train station at 7am to catch the 7:30 train. The country house is just 1 hour outside of Paris. By 10am the sun was shining, it was warm, t-shirt weather with a light fall breeze that smelled like grass and fallen leaves. The sun shone ALL day. If I had the super power of deciding the weather, it would have been exactly that.

The view from the back of the house.

When we arrived we had a lovely breakfast, speaking in French. I understood about 20% of it. Not bad for me. After breakfast Thom (boyfriend)and I played ping-pong. Or rather, he taught me the correct way of playing it, for about 1 hour then we were bored of stopping every 2 or 3 times to pick up the ball....because that's how exciting most sports are with me. After ping-pong, a long nap, outside on the lounge chairs by the pool, under the sun. It was the best 2 hour nap of my life....under the warm sun! Thom ended up with a burnt tomato face. After the nap, a delicious lunch with his grandparents! After lunch Thom and I went for a long walk along the river which runs behind the backs of all the country houses. We spoke French for almost the entire walk! I surprised myself.

Photos from the walk.

I love Paris like no other, but a day away from the big city is necessary. It was a wonderfully relaxing Sunday.

bittersweet with a blue tint

The first time I watched the Royal Tenenbaums I wasn't incredibly impressed. I thought it was good, but I thought it was a little bland. I was really tired this night too I remember. And I think I had just finished watching Fight Club, and felt like watching something else. I thinks it's too much to watch those movies consecutively. I wasn't thrilled with the movie, however I loved Elliot Smith, "Needle in the Hay".

Now, this is my favourite movie. Since about 3 years ago. I can watch it repeatedly and never become tired of it. Last summer (07) I think I watched atleast 10 times. This scene is my favourite from this movie, or any movie. This scene is just mesmerizing. I hate thinking about blood, especially thinking about it coming from someones wrist, but somehow it doesn't disgust me in the least in this scene. It is beautiful, every part of it, plain and simple. The colours, the blood, Luke Wilson....
....is that creepy??



Wes Anderson's movies have never failed to entertain me. Not just in an LOL way, but also the way they are filmed is beautiful. Everything I would want to see, hear and feel in a movie, is a Wes Anderson film. He puts so much thought into simple details in the film, such as the font in The Royal Tenenbaums. Throughout the duration of the film, only "Futura" font is used. On the buses, on papers, any signs.... everything is Futura.

see more shots from the movie with Futura font

En plus, the soundtrack was made for me. I love every song. Thank you, thank you Wes.

vote vote vote vote

I know it's a lame survey....

but vote anyway.

Diamonds are a girls best friend

No, I didn't get any diamonds.

But I did buy some beautiful vintage leather boots. My boots from last year were becoming quite run down, so I finally found some new ones! It's amazing what a good mood a pair of boots can put me in. It's scary in fact. They are only material items, but after I put them on, and was walking around, I felt my mood lift incredibly....and I thought I was in a good mood before, so you can imagine how happy I was after the purchase. I am a material girl, I know. The day before I had been in the mood to buy something, and almost bought a dress in a store, but decided not to. I contemplated in the change room, and even took some photos so I could ponder the dress at home. It was only 29 euros....should I have bought it? Probably don't have my size anymore.

Le robe, that I didn't buy.

The results are in.... I am staying in Paris until I am no longer legal here (or maybe a bit longer....shhhh). And then I will find another visa so I can come back and continue eating baguettes and take more photos of beautiful things that I could never be tired of looking at.

Hey, I know you!

puis-je tu poser une question?

So I have been in Paris now for almost 4 months now. That means that I only have 2/3rds more of my year here to go. That makes me sad. I was watching television last night (French, of course). And they were showing scenes of the streets of Paris, and playing the typical French romantic music with the accordion. It made me kind of emotional, and my eyes got all stingy and teary. I was imagining how many times when I am back in Canada that I will see things from Paris, and about Paris on television etc, and how much it will make me miss this place like crazy! It's amazing to me how quickly I adjusted to life here.... especially considering I don't speak the same language! But now it is improving, finally.

Le question!

I was thinking the other day.... "am I home sick? And if I could go back to Canada tomorrow just for 24 hours, what would I do?"

Homesick? Surprisingly, not really. It comes and goes in waves. Sometimes I will just get a rush of homesickness, but 99% of the time its fine. But having a boyfriend in Paris has a lot to do with the adjustment factor. The hardest part about moving to another country is suddenly realizing that you have no support group. Nobody to know what your favourite colour is, or what makes you cry, or laugh. What your bad habits are, what you did for your birthday last year, who you love, who you hate, etc. If you need comfort, its hard to find it from strangers or from people you've barely just met. I am so happy that I had someone here I was so close to, and cared about me before I arrived. It made things much easier for me when settling in.

If I had just 24 hours in Canada?
Of course, see my family and friends. But only the really important ones, because 24 hours is not a lot of time. We would all eat breakfast together, of cinnamon crunch cereal....because I really miss that. After breakfast we would talk more, and go to Kensington market. Then, all you can eat sushi for lunch. ALL YOU CAN EAT! I miss you so much Toronto sushi. We would ride bicycles for a while around the city, then go to lettierie for a big coffee to warm up! For dinner, insomnia, for the french fries, and cheap martinis. Then, with my best girls and best guy, we would stay inside and take vodka shots and pretend our parents could come home any minute. We would be so drunk. Then go dancing or to Green Room, depending how drunk we are of course, and be totally obnoxious the entire time! Then I would go back to my parents, not drunk anymore, and finish the trip with a big bowl of Henry's Homemade Chicken Soup (from my dad).

my old hood

ranger la chambre!

This is NOT Julie Andrews. As jealous as I am of French children, I am so pleased that I was able to watch Disney films in the original language. This is just embarrassing in French. Je suis désolé French Mary Poppins.


Why do I envy French children? Because they....

1. have European Citizenship
2. are always well dressed
3. can eat pastries for breakfast
4. sound adorable when they speak in their little French voices

I was singing "Spoonfull of Sugar" to the kids while we were tidying up the toys, and they were complaining because I didn't know the words in French. So to make everyone happy I started singing it in a made-up kind of Italian language, and they joined in. I'm glad the parents didn't come home while we were doing this, as I am supposed to be teaching them English, not fake Italian mumbles.

t for tasty

I just finished a very busy week. C'était un semaine étrange. Many ups and downs. I am confused about the week and need a while to reflect.
To relax myself after a wierd week I made a big pot of soupish stew on Friday. It is the perfect Autumn soup, and its cheap and pretty healthy too. When I cook, I rarely follow a recipe that isn't my own. I am useless at baking because I refuse to follow all the particular measurements. This is something I need to work on, because I love to eat baked goods.... so it would be super if I could make some myself. I remember when I was in middle school I was really into baking cookies. "ginger crinkles" were my fave.
Here is the recipe for my Autumn Soup. I recommend it, and goodluck figuring out the recipe....

1 or 2 sausages depending on the size. A salty pork sausage with lots of flavour, and maybe spicey.
Chou vert - thats in french, in english its like kind of a cabbage
3 zucchinis
2 large sweet potatoes
half a cup of onions approximately
2 cloves of garlic
1 can of white beans
3 cups of water
6 cups of chicken broth approximately
3 spoons of dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

• Cut the sausage into thirds, put in a pot with the 3 cups of water and cook on medium for about 15 minutes
• Cube the sweet potatoes and zucchini
• Put the sweet potatoes in with the sausage after the 15 minutes, and about 10 minutes after, add the zucchini
• Mince the garlic and chop the onions finely, then add to the mixture.
• Chop into thin slices the " chou vert" and add to the soup (i'll look for the translation)
  
• The sausage and the veggies will create a base flavour for the soup.
• Take the sausage chunks out, and chop into cubes, the same size as the potatoes
  
• Heat the chicken stock seperately and add the dijon mustard and whisk so the mustard is disolved into the broth
• Add the mustard and chicken broth mix to the rest of the stew
• Rinse the white beans, and add to the soup.
• Add salt and pepper to taste
  
• Turn down to the minimum temperature and let sit for a couple of hours with the lid on

Bon apetit!

It makes a large amount, which is ok because the soup can be good for about 4 days if refridgerated. The soup tastes best on the 2nd or 3rd day infact.

droopy eyelids

Too tired.
Working like crazy this week. Les enfants are sick. Doing extra babysitting. If I am still for more than 5 minutes I fall asleep. This is bad when I have 3 kids to take care of! Even espresso's don't wake me up. The posts will improve after tonight; I am having an 8 hour sleep. Hallelujah!

Bon nuit....
zzzz

boum!?!?

This is guy is crazy and cute. I keep listening to it, I don't know why. I have such mixed feelings....I love it and I hate it, he's adorable, but I want to strangle him.
I'm confused.

breakfast in bed

Today my mon petit copain served me breakfast in bed. Pain au chocolat, jus du pomme, et un café. It was a perfect morning.

I think I will have to add this to my list of "favourite things".

So, I'm trying to get some ideas for halloween this year. Apparently the French don't celebrate it. But I'm sure there will be so many things happending in Paris for it anyway because of all the international students and fille au pairs such as myself. I have celebrated halloween every years since the age of 2, and I am not stopping now. I was trying to remember what some of my past costumes have been, but my memory is terrible. I remember an episode of the Weekenders where Tino is finding the perfect halloween costume. He also takes Halloween very seriously. In the episode his attic is actually a secret halloween costume chamber, where each costume he has worn in his life is stored in a clear case, labeled with the year he wore it. I could really use one of those secret chambers. I can only think of about half of them:

• age 6 - an M&M (I was an orange one, my sister was yellow, and grandma made the costumes)
• age 7 - a witch
• age 12 - the men in black (with my friend) basically just our dads black suit jackets and sunglasses, but even still, my class voted for me as the best costume in class!
• age 13 - a genie
• age 14 - hobbit (I had a cape!)
• age 15 - fireman, and ghost
• age 18 - princess peach, and boyfriend at the time was super mario
• age 19 - ladybug (the costume was finely crafted by yours-truly)
• age 20 - a doll (with fake eyelashes!) and white trash (a white garbage bag dress with garbage taped to it)

This year, I would like to try something more classy....I've always wanted to dress up like audrey hepburn, just to actually be that classy for one night and have an excuse to go all out, would be a dream. I just want to attempt to be as beautiful , classy and graceful as Audrey for one night.

Audrey Hepburn

OR.... if not Audrey, then Nico. Velvet Underground Nico. She is a very different kind of beautiful than Audrey. Not as classy or graceful. But she sang in the velvet underground, and her heavy 60's eye make-up is so appealing. Basically I just need an excuse to play dres-up....and Halloween is the perfect one!

Nico

footnote:
If anyone who knows me reads this and remembers some of my past halloween costumes that I have forgotten, just make a comment and tell me so I can add it! Thanks.

because you looks like a tourist

From my Paris trip in February /08. On the vespa with mon petite copain. I was crazy excited, it was my first time on a scooter. I was either filming or taking photos the entire time. So I made a video with the clips I collected.

chim-chiminey

Had a very nice brunch today with my French guy. It was at a little cafe that serves bio-food. (organic). Literally everything they serve is organic. We sat outside on the patio, it was a cool but sunny autumn day. Inside the restaurant are shelves stocked with bio-confiture (organic preserves). Such as apricot jam, pepper, olive pate. yum! We both ordered bio-jambon, on bio-pain, with 3 bio-mutards. There was Dijon mustard, mustard seed mustard (thats not the real name....), and purple mustard. The purple mustard I had never tried before, but it was exceptional. I have to go buy some. We also ordered a flask of wine. It was only 1pm, and I had to work at 3pm. Bad idea. No worries though, the booze wore off before. Although I'm sure when I arrived I smelled like wine. The one time I'm not carrying gum in my purse! C'est domage. Maybe the espresso I had after gave me bad enough coffee breath that it cancelled the wine????

We were cold from sitting in the shade on the patio, so went to warm up at Place de Vosges (one of my fave parks). I unrolled my scarf and we layed down together on that in the sun. But this damn nosy pigeon stared at us the whole time from a distance. He perched his ugly feet on the fence thing, and just sat there for 10 mins glaring. Finally he moved, but then began to circle around us. What nerve he has. Then I went to work.

Je vous present....the "patrol pigeon".

Le cupid (the youngest of the 3 kids I au pair for) was sick today. With I think the same thing I had. He was being so cute! He was kind of groggy from the medication and not feeling well I think. But surprisingly he was in a great mood! So we had a little photo shoot. He was talking to himself and roaming around the house playing, and I followed him around with my camera.

I am finished work for the day, and have wandered up to my room on the 7th floor.... where, let me remind you, I have only a bedroom to myself. No toilet or shower. A bed, desk, TV , laptop & wardrobe, and my clothes etc. I share a toilet with a few other people on my floor. And my shower is on the 4th floor in the families apartment. It is a private shower for my use only. The sink on the 7th floor is too old and dirty looking to use. This building has to be over 200 years old. All the rooms on the 7th floor are just "chambre de bonne" which basically were used as a bedroom for all the housekeepers of the nice apartments below, in the 1800/1900's. I guess things haven't really changed that much....except the fact that I have a TV maybe. Anyway, the point to this explanation is that after work I was feeling the need for a facial, so I immediately coated my face in a mint-julep mask. Looks like toothpaste. After completing this I realize that I have no way of washing this off in the privacy of my room. Uh oh....stranded. Either that or embarrassment. The hall way and stairwell is surprisingly busy on a regular basis. "Merde." Still haven't decided what I will do. But in the meantime....

My face may look like this....

.... but the view outside my bedroom window looks like this.

"Chim chiminey, Chim chiminey, Chim chim cher-ee"

I don't mind staying here a while with my mask on, listening to Indian music. It is the perfect autumn night, warm enough to have my window open to enjoy the view and let in fresh French air, and cool enough to have no insects! Bon nuit.

crispy wind and crunchy leaves

I am in love.
I am in Paris.
It is autumn.

That was not a poem. I love autumn. The air has is so fresh. In summer, I am sad if it is a cloudy day, but in fall, I am happy with sun, clouds, or rain. Had lunch today at a cute little restaurant in the latin quarter, "Le Potte de Terre". The dessert, which I didn't even order, just tasted from my friend, was spectacular. I ordered chicken liver salad. Good, but I was expecting the chicken liver to taste more like fois gras (duck liver)....and it didn't. I ordered the chicken because at the time saving 50cents seemed like a deal. After we went to the Musée Albert-Kahn. It was a beautiful selection of photography.
More info on this site http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/12693.
The museum had a beautiful garden! I could have stayed there all day. No photos to show....I forgot my camera today. guh.


On the metro tonight on the way home, there was an old couple sitting across from me, holding hands. The man was caressing his wife's hand lovingly, and she would look up at him every so often and smile. I thought it was beautiful.

calling doctor jones

I am sick.
blahhhh.
I think I may have been gifted an ear infection from les enfants. super. (in a french accent)... "soupair...."
I had a 4 hour nap today while les enfants were a l'ecole. But it didn't help.

Get well soon, me.

j'adore le brassy deer lamp

So, I realize that it is Mercredi already, but I am now going to post about Dimanche, la semaine dernière. It was a perfect last day of summer! Two friends of mine and I went to St. ouen, un puce de paris (giant flea market). There was an abundance of antique and retro furniture....of course I loved it. But seeing as I only have a bedroom, and it's the size of big closet I couldn't justify buying an of the beautiful vintage furniture. I bought a pair of vintage glasses frames, and I will get some lenses put in when I have money. There were some strange things there, and of course lots of junk. But I like junk.

One of my favourite lamps....a marble slab, with a
brass deer and a glass ball that has a light under it.

I really loved this market though. It was a rain off and on kind of morning, but by noon the sun was shining! The flea market was so big, with little ally ways and lights strung up over the stalls. It was dirty but had lustre.

Almost bought some glasses frames here,
there were an assortment of glasses in a
bucket sitting beside these toys.

We spent the whole morning here, and a bit into the afternoon. Then randomly walked throughout the Latin Quarter. Spending money in cafe's and bars etc. Then at around 7 took a touristy boat cruise on the Seine.


We were incredibly obnoxious and immature on the cruise. The wind was making us giddy I think. The night ended with my friend and I having the worst 10 euro, 3 course meal of our lives. Sad to say, it was in Paris. I don't want to go into details. Barf. Everything tasted like cardboard. But still it was an amazing day. It's one of those days that are so nice you fall asleep reminiscing of the day and probably laying in bed smiling. I have a lot of days like this in Paris.

i put this in my espresso

Last night I had an urge to listen to "Sugar Sugar", by the Archies. I am trying to figure out how to ad this song to the post, but no luck.

sugar

sugar ps. i only put one sucre in my espresso. not 2.

That song reminds me of the 'good ol' days'....when I was young, and didn't even have summer job yet. It was around the time the movie "Now and Then" came out and my friends and I were in love with the 60's soundtrack. I miss the feeling of having no responsibilities. Waking up in the morning and watching cartoons with my sister and probably eating captain crunch or honey combs. Or maybe I was eating toast? With peanut butter and strawberry jam. I miss peanut butter....nobody eats it in France. mmmm toast with peanut butter. But back to the topic of cereal. I have noticed that there are many American cereals here in France....the exact same cereals infact, but they change the names of them. Why?! "Corn Pops" become "Miel Pops" (a kinda frenglish name). And another thing, there is this really good chocolaty cereal that I don't think is in America, called "choco pillows". If it is clearly a French cereal, why not give it a real French name? Instead of "choco pillows"....I mean, really, why? And timmon and pumba are on the box cover. I haven't seen those guys in a long time!