colour me, please

Oh hi there clock. 8 hours from now, and I'll be boarding the

plane for Toronto! I have butterflies in stomach, and I think

I wont be sleeping much tonight.

I just realized that I been posting some very wintery

photos lately. I'm going to change that. It is cold, and not

very bright outside, but I did find some colour indoors today.

Je suis tres content, because I have finally finished my
Christmas shopping! That has really been stressing me out
the past week, but I am very pleased with the gifts
I am bringing back. And I hope you will be too!

Today I found the best vintage shop I've been to so far in
Paris. The name is "Come on Eileen", I mean, really, this
store was meant to be my favourite. 16/18 Rue Ds Taillandiers.
My 3 best friends and I are slightly in love with this song.

After adding some new coloured photos, of course the best way

to finish the post is with a black and white video.

This is a really random post.

packing and pondering

It's 9:30 in the morning, and I am packing for my 10 visit in Canada. I leave tomorrow morning....at 6am. Barf. (not barf at Canada, barf at 6am). I am in my little room folding clothes, wrapping fragile gifts in socks and sweaters. I haven't turned i-tunes on yet. I like the silence right now, it is relaxing. But without music of course I start thinking.

I'm thinking of things I haven't done yet, that I had wanted to do before I left....and now I have no time. I wanted to get more Christmas gifts to bring back, but other than scarves and tacky tour d'eiffel replicas, there is not a lot for inexpensive gifts, other than food, but I don't want to risk that being confiscated at customs.

I was thinking the other day, while walking down a little side street, about Paris. This is a city with rhythm. It is so full of culture and life. Each Parisian is truly synchronized with the city. They don't just know the streets of the city, they know the hum, the beat, the breathing of the city. And by real Parisian, I don't just mean the people that were born and raised, and live here, I mean, the "real Parisian". The ones who love their city more than anything, they have such a strong connection with the city that neither could live without the other. Maybe they own a flower shop, or a boulangerie, or repair vacuum cleaners, or serve in a tea house, or even the homeless man who sits on the same corner everyday to say good morning. But they will never leave Paris, never permanently of course; it is clear this is where their heart is.

Paris is also dripping with art, and history, and inspirations. You can't turn a corner without seeing something historical. Even if it is just a little cobblestone path you find hidden in a little side street. That path was built a couple hundred years ago, and has seen more about the city than anyone could tell. It is impossible to not be inspired in this city. But its not always the hugely touristic places that are the most beautiful. That is one of the reasons I love it here, I have time for endless exploring.

not shiny

means dull. which is a Saturday night spent babysitting. I am stuck here missing 1 mexican dinner with friends, and 2 parties. And it rained today....all day. A cold winter rain. With a few little flakes of snow. Pity me.

No wait. I am living in Paris. Envy me.

My friend O came for dinner, which brought some fun into what could have been a 6 hour night of complete boredom. We snooped on blogs and facebook. I was planning on spending the even watching Disney movies, but I think that was more interesting. The family finally got a Christmas tree today! The living room smells like pine. I love it. French pine trees aren't as prickly as the ones in Canada. I'll try to squeeze one in my suitcase to bring back....on Wednesday. I am going back to sunny and warm Canada for Noel! I am so excited to see everyone. I cannot believe that it has been almost 7 months since I have last seen my family and friends. But what is more unbelievable is that I have only 5 months left here. That really truly puts tears in my eyes. I love this place. J'aime Paris!!!! I know...trop fromage....but it's coming from my heart. I came here for so many reasons, many personal reasons. Here are a few:

1. To do something independant, more than ever before. To be challenged by starting life in another country. I feel satisfied in saying I feel completely at home here.
2. To learn French. duh
3. To continue an amazing relationship
4. To live somewhere beautiful and inspiring

That's just listing a few....

On Friday night I went to a French party with my French-face (French boyfriend), and I am proud to announce that I spoke French almost the entire time! I still have this mental image of myself not really being able to speak French, so I have this habit of regularly apologizing during a conversation in French, for my terrible French. But last night was different. I was having 1 hour conversations in French with ease. There were a few times when I couldn't perfectly form the phrase, or remember a specific word in French, but basically I was speaking French. And, was even told that my accent was good. It was an excellent party. I was hit on by 5 different guys, spilled a bottle of wine, and practiced my French for 4 whole hours! Je suis content.

this post has been removed by the author

days ago, someone posted a comment, but then deleted it. For some reason that makes me want to read it so much! It's like.... telling me I can have a cherry cheesecake, and then telling me 5 days later I can't. Does this make sense?

Comment deleted

This post has been removed by the author.

December 7, 2008 9:02 PM

Last night I was supposed to go to a friends concert at 9:30. I finished work at 7, then went up to my room. I realized I was feeling a little bit tired, so decided to just lay down on my bed and take a little 5 or 10 minute nap.

....I woke up at 7:30 this morning. That means I had 11 hours of sleep last night. Incredible!

see you and me

Hi, how are you?
You don't have answer, to me, just to yourself. I just thought I'd ask, seeing as a blog is just a one-way conversation.
My blog is basically just for me.... to preserve little memories from my life that could easily be forgotten, to store things I find through the internet, to help feel more in-sync with myself sometimes, for a few family and friends to be updated. Sometimes it is more than that though. It is mine, and I like that. Right now, I am really using it as a way of self expression. I would never tell my deepest secrets to my blog, or share my most creative ideas, but sometimes it is a way of thinking out loud, which I often need to do. It gives me an excuse to snoop on the web and not feel like I'm wasting time. I would just like to take this moment, and say "thank you blog".


I was thinking the other day about how small French apartments are. I have been complaining for the past few months about living in a chambre de bon, and there are people living here in Paris that have been doing that almost all their life! So I then started wondering how French people don't go completely mad staying cooped up in tiny apartments all day. That is what cafe's are for. Only in France can you order one little espresso and literally stay in the cafe for 8 hours without being bother to order more, or asked to leave. French cafe's and resto's are just the continuation of people's living rooms. I see people having birthdays, doing their taxes, studying, sketching, kissing, writing, reading, wine drinking, fighting, doing their make-up, visiting with friends....the list goes on. I think this has a lot to do with the strong culture of France. Instead of complaining about my small room, I'm going to be happy about the fact that I have about 100 comfortable living rooms all just a 5 or 10 minute walk from my house. And all it costs me is 1.50 euro.

Lee Miller
(In Hitlers bathtub)
(Seriously, she was)

It snowed today and its cold, so I am posting some photos I found that remind me somehow of the weather today. Most of them are Rodney Smith. It snowed big fluffy snowflakes for about 10 minutes, then of course, turned to rain directly after. I made "chocolat chaud". Not to be confused with hot chocolate. I melted dark chocolate with milk, and it was the perfect solution for the cold. I sat inside the house looking out the window and watched the snow fall. The kids were cold when I picked them up after school, so I made some more chocolat chaud.

This photo reminds me of Samuel Beckett's writing.

Is there a better way to end the day than to sleep in the arms of the one you love? These are my most cherished moments because when I am laying there with him I don't think about the supposedly important things in life like money, career, consumerism, to do list....

vitamin c, cosy sweaters, & warm tea....embrace me!

It is now the 4th time since September I have been sick, and the 2nd week I have had this damn cold. With three kids, going to three different schools, there is quite the assortment of germs to bring home with them. And so, at least 1 of them is sick at all times, almost. And me, apparently being quite susceptible to little French colds, I am stuck with being sick almost all the time. I am now used to life with an on/off cold. But really, 2 weeks? that is far too long to be stuck with a runny nose cold. It's just not very cute to be sitting in a bar talking with friends, having a tissue plastered to my face the entire time.
Don't worry, this is not a complete self pity post.

On Wednesday, I had a moment with one of the kids. Anais, the middle child who is 5 years old, was in the middle of watching a film. She calls me over to give me a big hug and a kiss, and tell me that she understands that a new nanny will be coming to stay with them after me, but that she really wants me to stay and that she is not going to like the new one. She wants me to stay with them always. She finishes this tear jerking comment with "Je t'aime".
I melted. How can you not, when an adorable little girl is telling you this, in a squeaky little French voice nonetheless.

Last night, I was talking to my sister over messenger, and I was saying a couple phrases in French. I used to constantly use Google translation to help me with my French, but for the past month or more, I haven't been needing it. yay! So I decided to translate a sentence I wrote in French, to English, using the translation online. I thought it was an easy way to see if the French I am using actually makes sense....
This is what I said:

My French sentence:
"oui, mais il y a beaucoup petite histoires dans le meme livre.
tu peux lire juste un histoire si tu veux."

Translated to English:
"yes, but there are many small stories in the same book.
you can read just a story if you want."

And it actually makes sense!!!! I am so happy that French is finally feeling more natural to speak and to write. I was really starting to worry I would be going home for Christmas, with nothing to show from my 6 months in Paris.

Speaking of translations....and different ways of saying things in French and English. I was looking at some old msn conversations that I found on my computer saved in some random location like "messenger conversation history". I found one between my boyfriend and I (who is French), when I was still in Canada and he was back in Paris.

boyfriend: What are you doing tonight?

me: Something with your father.

boyfriend: Yes I am sure. My father is a hot boy.


"Hot boy!?" haha.... I wonder if I found it as funny at the time as I do now.

Also, this is really funny. And so is this. I like Sarah Silverman.

I made the most delicious homemade salsa this week. It was my first time....and it was a success I am pleased to say. Here is the recipe, not exactly sure what the measurements are, so I will just list you the ingredients with an approximate amount.

"Mardi lunch Salsa"

• plum tomatoes fresh from the market - 10

• jalapeño pepper (green) not the super strong kind - about half, but it was mild so I could have added more
• 1 red onion chopped finely
• some minced garlic
• salt
• a bunch of cilantro (coriandre en Francais)

Blanch tomatoes and pepper so that skin can peel off. Stew tomatoes in a pot and when juice goes to top, skim off. Chop the jalapeño finely, then spread into a paste and mix with tomatoes. Cook onions and garlic with as well. Add some sea salt. Leave to cool, and mix half of cilantro with, and after cooled, add some more fresh cilantro when ready to serve. Enjoy!

I made this salsa, along with some wonderful quiche for a Tuesday lunch at chez moi with 2 friends of mine.

"Mardi lunch Quiche"
(I used an internet recipe.... shame on me)

Préparation : 10 mn
Cuisson : 25 30 mn

Ingrédients :

- 1 pâte brisée
- 100 g de gruyère
- 125 g de mozzarella
- 200 g de tomates cerises
- 3 oeufs
- 20 cl de crème fraîche
- 1 poignée de basilic
- poivre
- 1 verre de lait

Préparation :

Disposer la pâte dans un moule à quiche, couper les tomates en 2 puis la mozzarella en dés, les disposer sur la pâte, parsemer le basilic. Dans un saladier mélanger les oeufs la crème fraîche le lait puis le gruyère, les battre et recouvrir la pâte. saler et poivrer



I just can't help but love and want to be best friends with Nico and hang out with her and Andy and do drugs. It's a serious problem I have. She's definitely a strange lady. Has anyone seen any of Andy Warhol's films? I can see bits of them on youtube, but I'm not sure where to find a full video.

see you next year november

Hello and welcome to my first post this December. I am so happy that it is December. Why? Because so many amazing things are happening this month. And also because November was relatively a cold and un-eventful month.
Reasons for me to praise December:

• Christmas
• Going home for the holidays
• Seeing all of my friends and family that I haven't seen in 7 months
• Christmas decorations and an excitement in the air for the coming holiday
• Shopping for gifts
• Christmas dinner party (I hope I can have one because I have amazing plans for holiday appetizers)
• New Years
• New Years in London

On Saturday I went to 2 amazing restaurants. The night began with some girlfriends at La Perla, a Mexican restaurant in the Marais. Friendly waiters, delicious and inexpensive wine, with complimentary salsa and tortilla chips. An amazing house salsa, which inspired me to make my own homemade salsa this week. After drinks came dinner (and more drinks) with my boyfriend, his brother, and some of their friends. It was at La Main D'or, a restaurant not far from where I live, which I walk past almost every day without realizing what an amazing menu it had. The cuisine is "Corsican", which is a kind of Mediterranean cuisine; lots of tomatoes, cheeses.... delicious filling food! I especially enjoyed my appetizer which I think was basically spinach cheese balls, in a tomato cheese sauce.... amazing. After I was a little drunk, and quite well fed me and the dinner group, met up with the drinks group from earlier, at Motel. It was a super packed and inexpensive bar. Full of every kind of person, from every nationality it seemed. It was really small, but had a great atmosphere and really cheap beers which is I guess why it is so popular. At about 1:30am big beautiful snow flakes began falling from the sky. We went outside and enjoyed the beauty for 10 minutes, where it then began to rain a typical cold winter Parisian rain. We went back inside and warmed up and had another beer or two.
It was a lovely night.

The next day (Sunday) was Clementine's birthday party. She is turning 7, the perfect age for a boy/girl birthday party. They aren't scared or hating each other yet. There were 12 children to the birthday party; 6 boys and 6 girls. They were all so incredibly adorable and French speaking. Her mom planned an amazing party for her. With lots of games, 2 pinatas, 2 cakes, and a scavenger hunt in the park. She worked so hard on the scavenger hunt! With 2 teams, and clues hidden within the park, leading from one clue to the next. And at the end of the clues was the "Snow Treasure". Each team was to find a treasure box which was filled with fake (and very realistic looking) snow, shiny crystal looking decorations, and of course candy. The kids loved it. I am definitely stealing this idea for the far future when I have to start planning birthdays for my future children.

I have a secret. I don't like Dallas Green....at all. I'm sorry, his voice just makes me anxious and a little pissed off. "Save Your Scissors" just played, and I just realized that I cannot listen to him anymore. Sorry guy, but I just couldn't keep this secret anymore.

Someone who I do enjoy listening to is Thomas Fersen. Listen, and I'm sure you will like.