Photos, root beer and a jigsaw.

A few days before Christmas I had the fun of having my friend Mariah over for a sleepover and photoshoot.

She was such a good sport as I ordered her around. "Now flip your hair. No don't just shake your head; flip your hair." etc. etc.

And my favorite of her:

And the day just kept getting better. Rebekah arrived after about half an hour and joined in the fun.

Since her hair was up I was denied the fun of making her flip it all over the place, but she was still - and always will be - absolutely gorgeous so it all worked out just fine =).

I was more in photographer than model mode, so there are only a few of me. 

And my favorites are these

As we were beginning to run out out of energy the last member of our little party arrived and marked the end of the official photo shoot. When Sam's around it's more fun to talk than pose for pictures. 

Plus he brought root beer with him. So we adjourned to the house and drank root beer and finished daddy's jigsaw puzzle. It was a very nice day =).

The day after Christmas

The day after Christmas is traditionally reserved for reading your new book, wearing your new clothes, playing your new games etc. and who am I to mess with tradition? So this morning at breakfast I drank tea from my new mug, and read one of my new books. Can't wait to finish it and start the second =).

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas.

Christmas ornaments

The ornaments on our tree are all a little old and a little worn, but they are all so full of traditions and memories. Honestly one of the saddest things in the world to me is a tree covered in brand new ornaments.

Every year for as long as I can remember my parents have given each of us an ornament for Christmas. Someday, when I have my own home I'll take them with me, and when I decorate my first tree there will be some new ornaments - like new traditions they are always a good thing, but there will also be old ones, gifts from past Christmases and little pieces of past traditions.  

Merry Christmas

Joyeux Noel

C

Je vais aller au Paris!

I'm going to Paris!!!!!! It's happening =). I got an appointment at the Consulate in SanFrancisco for this Monday to get my visa, I'm in touch with a couple families who might hire me as an au pair, I gave notice at my job; it's real guys and I can hardly believe it's true. I wanted to go for New Year's but that's not gonna happen so I think I'll be leaving around the 15th that way Shane (my boss) will have time to replace me and I really like working for him, he's super chill and one of the other waitresses is leaving too and I don't wanna just leave him in the lurch.

But guys, PARIS! Like really. Paris. I'm really having a hard time grasping this as a reality. Like in theory I have lots of plans and ideas and so on and so forth, but in reality I can't. The fact that I will live there; I will (probably) catch a cold, I will ride the metro and I will be too cold and too warm. I will buy socks (I always need socks) and eggs and milk. I'm not going to be visiting Paris, spending all my time running around to museums and monuments. I'm going to live there and eat breakfast and work in the day and go out in the evening. I will (hopefully) make friends and have lazy days and stressful days and good days and bad. It's going to be life; just normal life...but in Paris.

Slough of Despond vrs. Rose Colored Glasses

For the past month or so I've been planning and praying and scrambling after a dream that suddenly seems a little less iridescent, a little more substantial. 

Paris. 

Ever since I can remember I have wanted to go to Paris. France in general really, but specifically Paris and this semester I've realized that a traditional four years at college isn't really what I want to do. It's so much time and so much money, more really of both than I need to spend to become what I want to be - an interior decorator. So I'm going to be using some of my college savings - time as well as money to go to Paris in January. I'll be working as an au pair or nanny/English teacher while I'm there. 

My mom has been blogging for a long time now and she has introduced me to several of the blogs that she reads, including one called Tongue in Cheek. Tongue in Cheek is written by a woman named Corey who lives in the south of France. I've been reading her blog off and on since I was about 13 years old and I've always loved it. She is a wonderful writer, and an unbelievable photographer and she lives in such a wonderfully cool place, I've always found it intrancing. Two days ago I emailed her, with great trepidation. I'd read her blog so long she'd become this unreal character in my head. Someone who I loved rather the way that Julie in Julie and Julia loved Julia. I really wasn't sure it was the real Corey who I loved. But today when I checked my email I found that she had responded. And not only did she accept my invitation to join me for a cup of hot chocolate (she doesn't like coffee either! Or at least she didn't a few years ago when she wrote a blog post about it) she invited me to come STAY WITH HER FOR A WEEKEND! Never in a hundred years would I have been so presumptuous as to ask for such an invitation, but she offered it! All on her own, I didn't even hint at it.

When my dreams come so close to fruition as this one has, I tend to get pessimistic. I sink into the Slough of Despond. Things like this don't happen to me. They don't happen in real life. I won't get to go to Paris. I've wanted to for far to long for it to actually happen! No way. But then things like this happen and my rose colored glasses go right back on the bridge of my nose. My confidence comes back and I am once again confident that it will work. 

So here's hoping for Paris within a month!

And another win for the Rose Colored Glasses.

Christmas wish

Guys, know what I want for Christmas. I want a Fennec Fox.

It's so cute! I would name it Georgy. 

Accurate.

Dejeuner du Matin

Last night in my French class my professor Mmd. Vivi read a poem to us. It was called Dejeuner du Matin (Breakfast) and it was so simple, and yet it was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever heard. It's by Jacques Prevert.

Il a mis le café
Dans la tasse
Il a mis le lait
Dans la tasse de café
Il a mis le sucre
Dans le café au lait
Avec la petite cuiller
Il a tourné
Il a bus le café au lait
Et il a reposé la tasse
Sans me parler

Il a allumé
Une cigarette
Il a fait des ronds
Avec la fumée
Il a mis les cendres
Dans le cendrier
Sans me parler
Sans me regarder

Il s’est levé
Il a mis
Son chapeau sur sa tête
Il a mis son manteau de pluie
Parce qu’il pleuvait
Et il est parti
Sous la pluie
Sans une parole
Sans me regarder

Et moi jai pris
Ma tête dans ma main
Et jai pleuré

(Translation) 

He put the coffee
In the cup
He put the milk
In the coffee
He put the sugar
In the coffee and milk
And with a little spoon
He stirred it
He drank the coffee
And put back the cup
Without a word to me

He lit a cigarette
He made rings
With the smoke
He tapped the ashes
Into the ashtray
Without a word to me
Without looking at me

He got up
He put his hat
On his head
He wore his raincoat
Because it was raining
And he left
In the rain
Without a word
Without looking at me

And I took my head
In my hands
And wept