Pre-Cape Town Fun

I'm going to start using the blog again! No more Asher-grams. Sorry Mom & Dad. Going forward, I'll post pictures of Asher on the blog. :) Today, two of Asher's buddies (Jett & Landon) had their birthday parties.

First, we partied at the Kim's Under the Sea party. Below is a pic of some the girls in our playgroup and their babies. I think this is a classic...Blake grabbing Asher's head and Asher trying to eat Jett's cake.

Then, party at the Dean's. It was a Pirate party - Arghh.

Asher was exhausted this evening! He went to bed at 6 and Clint & I are busy packing up our things for our trip.

Asher's One Year Parties

Cookie Monster Party in Dallas



Cookie Monster Party in Louisville

Asher - September 2009

Ehh...Fashion Week

You know what sucks? Jogging through the Tuilleries during Paris' Fashion Week. Either everyone's dressed up b/c they're going to (or coming from) a fashion show or they're a tall, super skinny model.

Jogging just doesn't come naturally to me. I love the feeling right after I jog but I just don't think its my thing. My face turns red and I don't have a beautiful stride. It's more of a belabored pace. Its just really isn't the time that I want to be surrounded by a bunch of beautiful people...know what I mean?

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest was so much fun! I really had no idea what a great time it would be. The weekend started off a little slow b/c we weren’t quite sure about the logistics of getting into tents/ getting beer, etc. Fortunately, our friend met us there (Hi Miguel!) and happened to be an experienced Oktoberfest...er.?. We started the day off in a beirgarten with several other BCGers (from different offices). That evening we moved on to more beer and dancing inside the tents.

These aren’t little tents. The tents hold 5,00 - 6,000 people. (When people were mentioning “tents” before we left, I really had no idea what they were talking about.) Each one has tons of tables and a live band that plays traditional drinking songs. The idea is that you have to be at a table to get beer...which, personally, I think is great and eliminates a lot of the messiness of drinking & dancing. And then you get your beer and your food and sing along with the band and stand on your table and dance. That’s it - but it was so much fun! Lots of people were dressed up, either in German garb or costumes.

The next day we toured Munich in the morning and then went back to Oktoberfest to see more tents. The area surrounding the tents looks like a carnival...filled with amusement rides, games, and food. So, we also explored that a little.

What's Up

Well, I seemed to have taken off the month of August from blogging, a la Parisian style. I still have "Clint's Parents Visit" parts 3, 4, and 5 to post. I'll do that at some point.

I'm now officially recovering from what I've self-diagnosed as a sinus infection/really bad cold and I'm feeling post-cold motivation to do stuff (although I'm still kindof dizzy). Yesterday, I walked around the city, did some yoga, and planned out 2 weeks worth of dinners in Excel. Then, I started researching volunteer opportunities in Paris. Its crazy, but for some reason, they want YOU to PAY to volunteer. Me pay to do something for free. PLEASE. No thankyou. Then I looked at the American Library in Paris website. (I've been reading tons here.) Again, you have to PAY for a membership to check out books. Isn't anything free anymore?

This is why I'm crazy excited to be going home to Louisville next week! I have a long list of things I want to buy in the modestly priced mall with my not-worth-very-much American Dollars. Oh, and of course, its my best friend's wedding!! If I had a scanner, I'd attach her very beautiful invitation.

A funny thing happened to me again today. A man with a baby stroller (with a baby in it) hit me with the stroller while walking. Bizarre. This is the second time in a week a crazy person used their child to form a path through a crowd of people. That's just not cool.

Clint's Parents Visit - Part Deux (Normandy)

Family Visit - Part Une

The Top 5 Worst Bathrooms I've visited in Europe

No matter how nice a restaurant is, you never quite know what you're going to find when you visit the "toilet". Here's my unfortunate list of bathrooms that I've visited since moving to Paris.

5. The toilet that you have to pay for: deux euros

4. Unisex bathroom for men and women

3. The squatting port-a-pot

2. The restroom with a desk and a receptionist. This bathroom was all business.

1. The bathroom with black lighting. Unfortunately black lighting shows all the things you don't want to see in a bathroom.

Drunk History vol.3 w. Danny McBride

See more Danny McBride videos at Funny or Die

Dublin, Ireland

Clint and I went to Dublin for the weekend. It was lots of fun, but completely different from Paris. Being in Dublin over the weekend made me realize how acclimated I have become to Paris. We did everything we could possibly do in two days. I've attached pictures, enjoy!

The pictures include a) Pictures from the Dublin Bus Tour that we took off and on through out our trip; b) The Guinness Storehouse; c) Kilmainham Gaol (Jail); d) Old Jameson Distillery; e) Temple Bar; and f) Trinity College.

Lecon Francais

So, I had my French lesson last night and I could see the look of frustration. It's a familiar look that I received many times from my high school French teacher. She was probably saying to herself :

"I went to grad school at Sorbonnes so that I can now teach this idiot American the difference between 'bonsoir' and 'bon soiree'...oh, and I know I just told her that she's improving on her French 'r' but she isn't. She sucks at pronouncing the 'r'. I'm going to puke if I hear her attempt one more 'r' sound."

I really like her though. My favorite part is that her English isn't perfect and I feel as though this levels things out some. Yesterday, we focused on some present tense irregular verbs and vocabulary (foods and articles of clothing). The great part is that she didn't always know how to translate things for me...so we'd both be weeding through our English/French dictionaries. I'd say green pepper and she'd look at me like I was crazy and she'd repeat "pepper ?" and ask how it was spelled...and then she'd say Voila! Une Poivron!

Oh - I miss me some Jon Stewart

Cougars and A Moment of Zen:

C'était Un Rendez-vous

Last Sunday morning, we woke up and explored a bit more of Montmartre where Sacre Coeur is located. We climbed and climbed and climbed all the way to the top of the dome at Sacre Coeur. Beyond climbing the hill itself, reaching the dome of the basilica consisted of a dizzying round staircase with a million claustrophobic steps...but it was a great view when we got the top. No pain no gain.

I love Montmartre. I can only imagine what my calves would look like if I lived there...walking up and down the hills on a daily basis. Anyway...

So, I've now been to Sacre Coeur three times since I moved here and all three times I've been grabbed by the wrist and pulled in a different direction by the "string trick" guys (that's what I'm going to call them). I don't fully understand their ploy...but they surround the entrance to Sacre Coeur and wait for unassuming short blonde girls to walk by, grab them by the arm and drag them off somewhere and show them their string trick...and these girls are so overwhelmed with this amazing string trick, they give them lots of money (that's what I'm assuming their thought process is).

I do wonder if anyone has actually witnessed the string trick? If you've seen it, let me know. Its funny, but I sort of want to see it...It must be pretty good if there are so many "string trick" guys wanting to show it to you. But I'll never actually watch it because I couldn't stand the judgement of the people around me. Anway, below are some more pics from Sacre Coeur, enjoy:

Mariage Freres

Saturday, we met up with Claire, a friend of ours from Chicago. We had an opportunity to meet her husband and her new baby, Axle. I'm pretty sure they have the happiest baby ever. We met for tea at Mariage Freres which is a somewhat famous tearoom in Paris. Clint and I both opted for Iced Tea (The Vert Province) and creme brulee. The creme brulee had a bottom layer of strawberries...what a fantastic idea =)


After tea, we took an afternoon stroll through Parc de Monceau. The parc consisted of many beautiful gardens and monuments and (of course) many lounging Parisians. Below are a few pictures that we snapped while in the parc:

My Not So Grandios Plan

Isn't it an awful feeling to be walking around and realize that the smell of dog shit is following you? There's a sudden moment where you realize that maybe the dog shit is actually on you...and then you notice that its actually smeared all over your shoe. Shit! That was me today. Jogging along the Siene, listening to Beastie Boys, feeling really good about myself for finally exercising. It just didn't seem quite fair.

On a funnier note, a tourist couple stopped me (while jogging) to ask me a question. There were so many things wrong with this situation, I thought I'd list them for you:
1) First, who stops someone's that's jogging? That's just rude. I was bent over huffing and puffing (its been a while since I've jogged) explaining how to get to the Champs Elysees.
2) Second, if you're asking someone where the Champs Elysees is - you haven't put that much effort into it. Its one the main streets in Paris.
3) Third (and this was funny), he tried to speak French to me. If someone is wearing an LSU t-shirt, trust me, they speak English. Being the out-of-breathe slightly annoyed American, I was like HUH? What?
4) Lastly, is the person wearing the LSU t-shirt the best person to ask for directions in Paris? I mean, I have lived here a month, but they don't know that.

My Not So Grandios Plan

Before I moved to Paris, everyone would ask me in a very wide-eyed way: "What are you going to DO with SIX months in Paris?" I dreamt of myself waking up early every morning and jogging around Paris, picking up a side job walking someones dog (maybe a lab) and eating croissants. The only part of that that has really materialized is the croissant part. So, today is the first day of the rest of my six months in Paris! Clint and I are going to attempt getting up early every day this week and working out.

Repetto

How adorable is this little ballerina store? Repetto is on our street. I pass it every day and there are always tons of little girls being fitted for slippers.

ExxonMobil Flashback

Clint worked with this guy at ExxonMobil in Baton Rouge. He is on the new ExxonMobil commercial that I was just watching on the WSJ. Personally, I'm very happy to see Exxon putting ads on tv to promote some of the positive things that they're doing to better the environment and prepare for future energy consumption (yea, we still have stock in Exxon). I just e-mailed Clint and he was telling me that he worked in Oxo technology and Vijay worked in Fluids technology...which doesn't really mean much to me...but is interesting none the less.

What to do when you're one of the undomesticated few

Cuisine française

One of the things that I've come to realize, is that an American girl can't eat out every night. Its just too expensive...And, honestly I think to fully enjoy the food in Paris, you have to venture into the food markets that are open in the mornings. The food looks unbelievable...one store for meat, a veggie/fruit store, a bread store, and a cheese store. The problem is...I can't really cook many things.

So, I went to an American bookstore and bought a french cookbook. I looked in Gibert Jeune, a French bookstore, but it was too overwhelming to learn cooking in a foreign language...so I'm going to learn French cooking through a cookbook with lots of pictures written by Americans. I'll definitely post pictures of what I'm able to cook - maybe that will give me extra incentive to make wonderful French meals.

Picard

Now I know this is going to sound a bit counter-productive, but...

Today, I went to a new store called Picard. I was so excited about this, I wanted to add it to the blog. Picard only sells frozen foods. It's an entire store that contains freezers with ready to cook food. Its wonderful! I loved it so much, I read the history of the store online. Apparently, everything is flash frozen and has less additives than regular frozen food that you buy in the states. Everything is meant to be eaten within a few days of purchase. The whole concept seems American to me and not Parisian at all. So far, everything that I've eaten has been really good and it was very reasonably priced. Below is a picture of the pre-made food I bought...I left out the the fish and vegetables. =)

Bastille Day!

There were many firsts yesterday. My first Bastille Day. My first picnic. My first military parade.

So, yesterday we woke up early and went to the Bastille Day parade...unfortunately - I only view was of the guy standing in front of me. We ended up leaving early and getting coffee or cafe creme as I now like to say.

We then picnicked for many hours on the lawn of the eiffel tower. In addition to the picnic, there was also a Bastille Day concert going on. It was really a lovely day to be outside and so relaxing to lay around drinking wine and eating. We stayed around for the fireworks which were beautiful. Hope you enjoy the pics!