tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81687712024-03-07T06:07:22.293+01:00Dispatches from FranceThe story of an American girl who followed a French boy home.Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.comBlogger943125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-524166000495888342013-10-08T10:08:00.000+02:002013-10-08T14:35:31.824+02:00Master ResetMan, this has been one hell of a year.
Shortly after I wrote my last post, a lot of things happened at once. Most of them happened inside my head.
I was completely miserable in that job. The one thing that I'd been working towards in the eight years of living in France was, in fact, a huge mistake. One of the reasons I was so unhappy before that job is that I was absolutely the kind of person Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-67933149396016367222013-03-15T12:10:00.000+01:002013-03-15T12:10:07.247+01:00The light at the end of the tunnelHi.
I haven't been here for a really long time. I'm not even going to look to see how long; there's no point.
The job has been a complete roller coaster. I am exhausted. The job on its own is challenging, frustrating, some days too much than I can take, and then adding in driving an hour each way to work, the effect my being gone so much has effected Fry, my general insecurities, my penchant Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-76075418981891081452012-09-23T09:02:00.001+02:002012-09-23T09:02:45.808+02:00Weekend crammingThe biggest adjustment, I think, to this new working schedule, is that we have to cram everything that needs to get done on a Saturday. Even if Stéphane doesn't work on Wednesdays, I have the car so he can't run errands (but at least he can make phone calls!).
We had a ton of stuff to do yesterday, but even then it was a bit much. Stéphane had a dentist appointment in the morning, then we pickedVivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-8489948135548962002012-09-19T09:00:00.000+02:002012-09-19T18:33:06.741+02:00La Rentrée 2012My last day at my old job was August 25 and I had a week's break before I started my new job in Reims. I mostly spent that week stressed out, second guessing myself, terrified that I'd made a bad choice.
Luckily, from about the middle of my first day, I felt myself relaxing a bit and realizing that everything is going to be ok. I can't say I felt that way from the very beginning, as I jumped Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-90628787235389257932012-09-15T18:38:00.001+02:002012-09-15T19:07:29.602+02:00Summer Vacation 2012So much for updating more often. Hmph.
When I last left you, I'd just been hired for my new job and I'd given my notice to my old job. I'm glad to report that my last weeks at my old job were relatively painless (boring!), with the director even offering up a glass or three of champagne on my last day. I brought cupcakes, which according to one of my colleagues that I'm still in touch with, are Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-3492353056262271302012-07-04T18:40:00.000+02:002012-07-04T18:40:45.646+02:00Five months later...Whoa. That's definitely the longest this poor blog has ever been neglected! I have some really good news, but I think the way I got from there to here is important, so I'm going to try to keep this brief.
When I last left you, I was looking for a way to get into a bookbinding program. I did contact the national bookbinding school, only to find that they are moving to Toulouse, on the other side Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-18604263275394166422012-02-06T14:22:00.002+01:002012-02-06T14:40:03.845+01:00This roller coaster ride ain't over yetThe last couple of weeks have been ridiculously stressful. After the excitement of that meeting with my boss, I was not at all expecting him to call me at home to let me know that he'd had a discussion with the head of HR only to learn that we can't do an apprentice contract. He advised me to sign up with the Pole Emploi, or unemployment office, to see if they have any info about what to do Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-58631354658726672372012-01-24T11:33:00.003+01:002012-01-24T11:55:22.248+01:00Making it Happen!!I had a great meeting with my boss last week. It started off a little awkward, with him asking point blank what I wanted from him and me not knowing at all how to answer him, but we finally eased into the conversation.The bad news first: I had hoped to get a little bit of financial assistance to take classes from my mentor who lived very close, but that won't be possible, as official funding can Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-46640514055786215102012-01-10T09:30:00.000+01:002012-01-10T09:30:04.612+01:00ThanksgivingSo instead of biting my fingernails down to the bone, I thought I'd keep myself busy by writing about what else we've been up to for the last couple of months. The biggest thing we did is fly back to the States for Thanksgiving.The last time I celebrated Thanksgiving in the US was in 2003, so this was a super fun excuse to go. Of course, bringing Fry with me meant I could introduce him to a Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-5018373388833132252012-01-09T09:30:00.000+01:002012-01-09T09:30:04.243+01:00Bonne année ! Bonne santé !Yes, Happy New Year and Good Health to all of you. I'll be uttering this traditional phrase for another couple of weeks, but I can say it to you all in one go! I hope 2012 is treating you well so far.Once again, life swept me up and drug me away these last few months. So much has happened I hope I can get back through it all. I want to tell you about my & Fry's trip back to the States for Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-24439852289140669892011-11-18T09:00:00.000+01:002011-11-18T09:00:12.562+01:00Vivi does a stageAs you know, I've been wanting to learn about bookbinding (reliure in French) for ages now, and I managed to meet a professional bookbinder who offers classes in Paris with whom I was supposed to do a stage, or workshop, with in October. So imagine my total shock when I got in touch with her in September and she had apparently forgotten about me and given away my place. It wasn't the end of the Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-34462567629336117952011-11-16T09:00:00.000+01:002011-11-16T09:00:13.153+01:00What we did on our Summer vacationWow, it's been so long that I had to go back through the photos to remember what we did! On the one hand, we had a terrific time with family and discovered an area that was new to both of us. On the other hand, bunking up with a fussy, easily distracted two year old was really hard. Next year we're going to rent a gîte, and that's that!First we made the pilgrimage to Pas-de-Calais, the region Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-52704855648307600132011-11-15T15:22:00.002+01:002011-11-15T15:27:49.528+01:00Oh hey, what's up blog?Many, many thanks to those of you that haven't yet deleted this site from your bookmarks (or your reader, your email, or however the heck you end up here). How are you? We're ok. Fry started school, we've basically been sick ever since, I finally did my bookbinding stage, and we're getting ready to go to the US, where I'll celebrate Thanksgiving in my native land for the first time since 2003. Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-72667897650145175712011-08-06T13:45:00.002+02:002011-08-06T14:19:29.795+02:00Stéphane rides in an ambulance and other fun talesSo, let's go way back, a month ago, right before we left on vacation. School had ended but Stéphane continued working five days straight. Finally, Thursday after school ended, he was finally on vacation and spent the day playing on the computer, lounging around, napping, etc. Nothing weird or out of the ordinary.Cut to midnight, when Stéphane wakes me up saying "there's an ambulance coming." Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-33509748917227115992011-07-29T21:14:00.003+02:002011-07-29T21:32:28.010+02:00jinxI swear to god, I completely jinxed us all to hell last week. Last Friday I posted that recipe (which was so good Stéphane made me make it again this week), and that evening the three of us were hanging out on the couch and I had this moment of complete happiness. So of course the very next day we had DRAMA.Saturday I was getting ready to leave for work and our upstairs neighbor knocked on the Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-37049631581318712892011-07-22T20:50:00.004+02:002011-07-22T21:30:14.605+02:00Blog CPRI know. I know. It's been a really long time. Too long. And loads of stuff has happened. We went on vacation, Steph went to the ER in an ambulance (he's totally ok!), all kinds of crazy stuff. However, today I made a dish so delicious that I had to share it here. The best part is that I totally made it up. OK, not totally, I flipped through a few recipes for ideas but in the end I just followed Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-6471564980819322622011-05-24T11:27:00.002+02:002011-05-24T11:46:22.455+02:00happy birthday to meYep, yesterday was my birthday. 38. Mmph.While talking to my sister this weekend, she asked me if I was going to wait another month to post something on the blog. Oh dear.So what's been going on? Well, the biggest thing going this month is that Fry is signed up to start school in the Fall! That was a very surreal moment. Obviously it's not Kindergarten but State-supported pre-school called Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-9885032627198489312011-05-05T16:46:00.003+02:002011-05-05T17:15:59.866+02:00skipping aprilMy god, I can't believe I completely skipped over the entire month of April! I'm incredibly embarrassed. And it's not even because things have been so bad, or even so great. That dang 365 photo blog is taking up all my online energy. Ok, here's the lowdown on what happened in April:I decided to put my sewing machine back to work:We had our first overnight guest in the apartment, prompting me to Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-50976883051611597092011-03-29T14:43:00.003+02:002011-03-29T16:54:03.475+02:00ça avanceOoh before I forget, here's our new car:A Citroën C4, 2005, 50,000 km (31,000 miles), in gorgeous condition. I don't even think we realized that this is the top of the line edition - every time I drive it I find some kind of new feature I didn't even know I needed! Love love love!!Ok, so that's the car, but that's not the update I wanted to give you. This is even more exciting! It's not even one Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-57101308891061795232011-03-14T20:55:00.002+01:002011-03-14T21:08:30.441+01:00Vivi goes to the cinema...and sees a movie in English!! Now there's something I didn't think I could do a few years ago!When I visited Stéphane in 2003, there was a cinema right in the middle of old downtown Troyes that showed movies in VO (version originale) and we saw Lost in Translation there (no, irony was not lost there). By the time I moved here in the Fall of 2004, that cinema had closed and the new multiplex Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-39672585889272604502011-03-08T20:51:00.003+01:002011-03-08T21:07:30.381+01:00the other good news!So I promised you some good news last week and here it is: we bought a new car!! Well, new to us. It all happened very fast, isn't that the best way? We've been talking about it for years and finally everything kind of just fell into place. This is our current car, Old Faithful:Bless her. She's a 15 year old Citroën ZX and while she has loads of cosmetic problems (she's been broken into twice, Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-74310691797936580902011-03-03T17:21:00.002+01:002011-03-03T17:34:01.336+01:00a whole month goneWhoops. To be honest with you, I was nearly ready to give up on the whole blogging thing and then my grandmother told me that she checks my blog every other day for updates. Sorry Grandma!! Actually, a lot of stuff has happened in the last month. We managed to got the fan installed over the stove in the kitchen:and Fry has completely fallen in love with painting:but the biggest news is that we Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-38364409602921306162011-02-08T14:45:00.002+01:002011-02-08T15:11:00.440+01:00of dreaming and focusRecently I've been kind of consumed with the idea of going back to my first crafting dream of bookbinding. If you've been reading this drivel for 5+ years you may remember that I made some early attempts not long after we'd moved to Tiny Town in an attempt to find something to occupy my time while job hunting and learning French (you can see some of my finished books here). I felt kind of stuck Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-5200139752287475842011-01-27T10:41:00.002+01:002011-01-27T11:12:53.841+01:00Vivi makes a friendI have to admit, doing my 365 photo project makes it a little harder to write here as well. January has been mostly quiet except for one extraordinary thing: I've made a French friend! I met her through work and we got to talking about knitting. She contacted me a couple of weeks ago because she wanted me to show her some knitting stuff, and since she was willing to come all the way out to Tiny Vivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8168771.post-32155316386854205812011-01-10T13:19:00.002+01:002011-01-10T13:30:22.115+01:00Nothing really exciting happened last weekso here's a picture of a castle:OK, it's not reeeeeally a castle. I took this on the way to work yesterday. It's the Hôtel de Vauluisant in Troyes. It was originally built to be the Troyes home of the Vauluisant Abbey near Sens, in order to be closer to the Count of Champagne (and better benefit from the closer proximity, of course!). I should note that “hôtel” doesn’t always mean the same thingVivihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430365550674784871noreply@blogger.com2