vivi gets a job

Well, it's not a real job. I mean, I am making a little money, but it's not...

Wait. Let me start over.

About a year ago, a friend of my family contacted me to ask if I'd be interested in doing some freelance work. She herself had been so successful freelancing that she actually had too much work, and was exploring creating a team of writers and after reading a big of my blog (thank you, internet!), she decided that I could indeed string a few sentences together and would I like to be on the team? I said yes, of course, and never heard from her again.

Until last week.

Turns out she was waiting for authorization from her clients to contract out some of the work, which she got last week. I got my first batch of assignments and have been pulling my hair out ever since.

So, I'm freelancing. Some people call it technical writing, but that's kind of a misnomer because I'm not especially writing about computers or codes. I just have to become a mini expert about some subject and then write about it before moving on to the next subject.

So basically, I write term papers for a living.

I'm not going to lie to you, the first week was ridiculously hard. I was too slow and bit off more than I could chew and for a while there I really thought I'd lost the job immediately after I started it. I'm starting to get into a rhythm now and things are flowing a bit more smoothly. Now I just need to keep up the momentum. This is the first time I've worked in over three years, so admittedly I'm a bit rusty. I've been writing every day for the last ten days and already I find myself having to walk away from the computer for an hour or so to let my hands rest and my eyes uncross. But, I'm getting into a routine and slowly, things are falling into place.

Stéph has been an awesome cheerleader and I'm thrilled to finally be able to contribute something. It's starting to look like the possibility of us actually going on a real vacation on our own this year - which we haven't been able to do since we were married - is getting closer to reality. With that goal in mind, it's a bit easier to spur myself on.

I don't know if I'm going to do this forever, but for the foreseeable future, I'm going to give it everything I've got. Obviously, I can't tell you everything about my job, but just know that I'm busy, but I'm happy. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to work. :)

a little sighseeing and a birthday wish

Monday I hopped on a bus and went north, up to the city of Reims, to meet up with Oiseau Anglais. We had an excellent lunch, followed by a little stroll through town. I'd been to Reims only twice before but hadn't had the chance to peek inside the cathedral, so Mme Oiseau graciously took me on a little tour.



This is the place where French kings were crowned, so you know, it has just a little bit of historical importance. After World War I, it was nearly bombed into oblivion, but luckily the locals knew what an important treasure they had, as they quickly set about restoring it. The inside is just as lovely as the exterior:



While we walked around the cathedral, Mme Oiseau pointed out the Carnegie Library:



Our own Andrew Carnegie donated the money to build this after World War I. Isn't it lovely? Too bad it was closed; Oiseau tells me it's just as lovely on the inside.

All too soon, it was time to get back on the bus and head home. I really had a wonderful time getting to know Oiseau and I'm looking forward to our next visit!



In other news, today is my sister's birthday!! I love you Junior, and I hope you have a most excellent day!

a clue to my current state of mind

I just got back from a really wonderful afternoon in Reims, getting to know a really lovely English Bird, and have only just realized that I've been wearing two completely different dangly earrings all day.

I'm afraid my new friend, and anyone else that noticed my "interesting" choice of accessories, must now assume that I am completely schizo.

Details coming soon.

a quiet fête de la musique

Yesterday was la fête de la musique, or musical festival, which was an all night event that happened in towns all over France. All of them, it seems, except mine. Elle ne bouge pas trop, notre ville, as they say, or in other words, our town is not exactly a rock n roll, happening place. I had a little compensation, however, because I was flipping through the tv stations last night and found the opera La Fille du Regiment on the Arte channel. I missed most of the first act but I was just in time for Dawn French's entrance at the top of the second act. As soon as she appeared, I was thinking, "Is it? Could it be her?" But of course!


Nicked from here

She was high-larious and I enjoyed the hell out of that opera. Stéph knew I was loving it because I kept him awake guffawing at the television. Oh well. I had to get my music in somehow!

Well I'd love to tell you more, but you see I have a little thing called A Job now, but you wouldn't be interested in that, would you? *evil laugh* But seriously, I'm very excited to be working from home but I've got a big assignment due Monday which I actually need to finish Sunday because Monday I'm running away for the afternoon for a long, long overdue visit with a nice English bird. As soon as I can get a break from running around in circles I'll tell you all about it.

less of me to love

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you probably already know that we've been trying to start a family for about a year and a half now. I always knew that I'd have trouble getting pregnant since I was diagnosed with PCOS about eight years ago. I had every symptom except the cyst part, which showed up last year, and we've been working on that issue ever since. For about six months, we tried to get the cysts to go away with medication, and while they have reduced in size, they're still bigger than the doctor likes. He would have liked to remove them, but there was one problem: I kept gaining weight. As long as I'm overweight, he told me, the cysts will only come right back. The only solution? Lose 20 kilos (44 pounds).

My reaction?

You son of a bitch! How dare you tell me I'm overweight! Do you have any idea what I've been through for the past three years? Are you trying to tell me that fat women can't get pregnant? Haven't you heard all those stories about those fat women who thought they had a stomach ache and turns out they were in labor? GOSH!

Of course, that's what I said on the inside. On the outside, I thanked the doctor and went home and made an appointment with a dietitian.

I knew I needed to lose weight. I mean, I DO have a mirror in my own home. I just take pains to avoid it, is all. And God knows I feel terrible and I'm busting out of all my clothes. If you ever need a reality check, just go shopping for "plus size" clothing in France. That will straighten your ass out pretty quick. Obviously, I just avoided the whole issue by not buying clothes for... well, ever, really.

So I went to see the dietitian. I showed her the results of my last blood work and told her what my goals were and she wrote me up a strict but healthy diet. My biggest problem is that my blood sugar levels were extremely high - diabetes runs in my family and I nearly added my name to the list. So out goes all the good things like dessert and alcohol and even my fruit intake is limited.

Well, it's been two months now and I'm not going to lie to you, it hasn't been easy. Of course, I'm allowed to bend the rules a bit for parties and get-togethers, but I have to jump right back on the diet train just after. But the truth is, the good outweighs the bad - I'm sleeping better, my clothes are fitting better and I even have the energy to walk around more than I did before.

I had my two month check up today, and I'm pleased to report that I've lost five kilos since the end of April. That's nearly eleven pounds. I am very pleased with my progress. As much as I'd like to hurry up and get this behind me so I can work on the plumbing again, I'm content with the slow rate I'm losing weight, which is the best way to keep it off. So yeah, there's less of me to love, but I think I'm pretty ok with that.

zoned out

I guess that pretty much sums me up right now. Despite the fact that I did have a couple of days of activity this week babysitting my niece, for the most part it's been more of the same - knitting, trying to inspire myself to do some much-needed housecleaning, grocery shopping, etc. Stéph is burning the candle at both ends as the end of the school year approaches, preparing to change schools again (but still in the same town, thank goodness!) which means more meetings and pre-planning for next year, plus sitting on a judge's panel for third-level oral exams in Troyes, not to mention peeling his own students off the ceiling as they're as ready for summer vacation as he is. He's already been to the doctor once for what turned out to be a stress related illness and I'll just be happy when the school year ends in three weeks for his sake.

There are a few very exciting things kind of swirling around in the background, but for now they remain Great Big Maybes so I'm hesitant to write about them, if for no other reason than I'm afraid I'll jinx myself. This is actually something I've been struggling with for a couple of months now: To Post or Not to Post. Stéph and I have made some really huge life changing decisions in the last couple of months and while we've talked about it with some friends face to face, I've really been gun shy about writing about it here. Maybe because once I write about it, it's Out There and it's like an open invitation to watch me fall flat on my face? Or, on the other hand, it's an open invitation to have you guys cheering me on, like you all have done so generously in the past. And isn't that why we blog in the first place? It's all well and good to say that we're just journaling our lives, but isn't it the feedback that keeps us coming back? I'm afraid that if I keep playing my cards so close to my chest, I'm not going to have anything left to write about except the weather and my latest knitting project. I'm not going to lie to you, I wouldn't even read that. So give me a little bit of time to figure all this out. At least I've been tagged for a couple of memes (one was over a month ago but I haven't forgotten!) so I can at least keep writing while I'm contemplating my navel.

And there is some good news - summer break means vacation! We haven't made a final decision on where we're going yet. We've been tossing around this crazy idea of going to Scotland and the even crazier idea of DRIVING there, but it looks like it's just going to be out of our budget for now. If we end up staying in France, possible candidates are Verdun, Calais, Pas-de-Calais (the département where the in-laws are from and where they go for one week every summer), Mont St. Michel, the Loire Valley and Grénoble. Then again, maybe we'll find a cheap package deal and travel somewhere in Europe, which is something else we haven't done together yet. In any case, we're going SOMEWHERE, by God, and pictures will be taken, oh yes.

In the meantime, I'm going to go back to pondering the mysteries of the universe. And maybe tidy up the office while I'm at it.

surreal moment of the day

So yesterday I was walking back from the grocery store and had just crossed the railroad tracks when the driver of a big truck that was parked on the side of the road leaned over and caught my attention.

"Excuse me, where is the factory?"

I turned back in the direction I had just come from. Looming above us, not 500 yards away from the railroad tracks, was a facility containing no less than one dozen silos and at least three ten-story buildings surrounded by nothing but fields and the dinky grocery store across the street. Blazoned across the top of the closest building in letters five feet high was [Factory] of [Our Town].

"Um... it's right there."

"Oh, is that it?"

"... Yes."

I mean honestly. But still, that was the second time since we've moved here that I've been asked for directions, so that's alright.

picnics galore in paris!

Man, what a weekend! I was invited to not one, but two fabulous picnics in Paris, happening on the same day. What's a girl to do? Why, make like a social butterfly and wing my way across Paris to do them both!

I started off by meeting up with Flare and making our way to the Parc du Champ de Mars to meet up with some knitters for World Wide Knitting in Public Day. We had an excellent view:



and I even remembered to take out my camera, although I only took a couple of pictures. Here's Sarah, who organized the gathering, and two people I was happy to meet, Vicky and Shana:



So after a couple of of hours of knitting (and sweating - honestly Paris felt like South Carolina on a typical summer day), I bade my farewells and slowly made my way to the north-east part of Paris, to the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont for the Paris Bloggers Picnic. What an event! I met so many fantastic people, I can't even begin to name them all, plus authors of blogs I read and hadn't met yet, plus old friends that I've made since I first ventured out to meet bloggers two years ago. I had such a wonderful time chatting and sipping wine and munching on delicious goodies that I forgot to take my camera out, once again. Well, I did manage to whip it out in order to document this:



One of the hosts, Mickelino and kylie mac gettin' it on in front of God and everybody! I was sufficiently shocked.

I had such a good time jabbering on Saturday that I completely lost my voice! Either that it was the shock of having two bloggers going at it in my lap. Anyway, thank you so much to Flare for being my gracious host this weekend and great big kisses to everyone in Paris! Let's do it again soon, y'hear?

on feet and fiber

My birthday just had its last gasp. Yesterday I bought some new sandals with some birthday money from the in-laws:



I wish to God I could wear thong sandals, but I just can't, which I learned the hard way. (Story time!) Thanks to genetics and taking dance classes from six years old through college, my feet were ruined (I almost typed it "ruint" like a good southern girl) by my late twenties. I had to see a podiatrist somewhere in my early twenties - planters warts being an occupational hazard of barefoot modern dance classes - who told me I was suffering from bunions and advised me to wait as long as I could before having them corrected, as the recovery is pretty rough.

Six years ago, after being fed up of weeping in pain after doing something so mundane as grocery shopping, I went to another podiatrist (nothing sinister there, I'd only moved) and pretty much told him that I wanted the surgery that very minute. So, to make a long story short(er), I had the surgery done on both feet at the same time, which entails breaking the big bone of the foot and resetting it with a rod and a pin, and left me in a wheelchair for six weeks and crutches for another month. I hated being dependent on others for such a long time, but it was so worth it in the end. In fact, a year later I joined an aerobics class and when my sister asked how my feet held up, it took me a minute to remember why she would have asked me!

So anyway, back to the thong shoes - the doctor told me that there was a small chance that my feet would go out of alignment again one day and the easiest way to avoid this was to never wear thong shoes again. Which I promptly ignored. Because, hello! Thong shoes are cute and inexpensive and comfortable!

All of that changed just after I got married. Stéph and I were walking downstairs out of my garage apartment and I slipped on the carpeted stairs. Stéph caught me just in time, but I landed toe-first in - yep, you guessed it - thong sandals. Broke my big toe in two places. Felt real good, too. I learned my lesson and endured all the jokes - married for one week and he's already pushing her down the stairs!

So, yeah. That's the thong sandal story.

Right, on to the fiber part of the title - I received a box from my sister today:



More of Mom's yarn. The blanket is only half done, but since I don't crochet I'm just going to finish it off and call it a lap blanket. I don't know what I'm going to do with the rest of the yarn, though. It's all acrylic (bless Momma's heart!) but there are some really fun colors in there. It looks like Mom tried to get rid of it at one point:



Speaking of yarn... someone asked me what's on the needles right now, and since my sister already knows what I'm making for her, I don't think she'll mind a preview:



Can you guess what it's going to be?

weekend on the run

This weekend we were busy, busy, busy! It's not very often that we're on the run like that, but there was a lot going on.

First up, on Saturday afternoon, we went to the in-law's for coffee to meet Stéph's German aunt and uncle. A little background for you: my mother-in-law immigrated to France with her mother and two sisters from Germany at the end of the war when she was six years old. They left behind two (or three?) sisters in Germany. The confusing part is no one's really sure why, so we just kind of acknowledge and move on. So my MIL and one of her sisters in Germany have either kept in contact or got back in contact, and now visit each other. Difficulty: German sister doesn't speak French and MIL only speaks very basic German. Fun, no?

So when we got there, MIL had run to the store, so it was me, Stéph, my father-in-law and the Germans. As soon as we established that we had no language at all in common (I managed to try a "sprechen Sie Englisch?" but got a "nein" back) we all just sort of sat down and looked around the room for a while. Finally MIL came back and we were able to talk a little, sharing pictures of the family in Germany over coffee and tea. We were soon joined by baby C and her parents, which was great but I'm sorry to say that C was terrified of Stéph's very-much-due-for-a-trim, scary beard. She was ok just staring at him from a distance with wide eyes, but when her father put her in Stéph's lap, she decided she didn't like it At All. Very funny stuff. Happily, C still likes me but she must be wondering what I'm doing hanging out with such a great hairy beast! (tee hee)

After running a bunch of errands downtown, we made it home by supper time and I got back to work. Work? Why yes! That's because we were off to see Doc and baby Mélanie Sunday afternoon and I finished up her gifts just in time!


Ta da! More about the knitting here.

It was so just in time that the pinafore was still damp when I presented it to Doc! Anyway, baby Mélanie is just lovely, and Doc and I left the boys with the baby for a while so Doc could step outside and get some fresh air. The Au Pair That's Better Than Yours and I chased after the older kids under the shade of a big lovely tree and had a nice chat before Stéph called down to me from Doc's room to tell me it was time to go. It was rather like having Mom calling you in to dinner! Well, we did have an hour's drive home and it was getting late. By the way, Doc and Mélanie could be home as soon as today, so keep an eye out for them!

On the way home, Stéph suggested we stop for a cool drink, so about fifteen minutes out from St. Dizier we found a little brasserie with lots of tables in the shade. After the woman took our order, Stéph said to me that she had an accent from Eastern Europe. When she came back with our drinks, Stéph actually asked her where she was from! She said she was from the Ukraine and then asked where Stéph was from! (tee hee!) Actually she was very friendly and once we established that we were both Strangers in a Strange Land we had a nice little chat and she did everything except sit down with us! Then when we went inside to pay we met the rest of the family - her sister who has been here for twenty years and the other relatives that came later - and had another nice chat. It was a really nice little family run business and if it weren't so far away I'd be very tempted to go back and try some of their Russian and Ukrainian specialties. In any case I enjoyed myself very much with the little chat; that's one of the things I really miss about the States. If you catch me on a good day I could sit and listen to any old life story and plenty of Americans are more than willing to tell you theirs. You'd be surprised what you can learn!

Well, if you've made it down this far, you may just be as exhausted as we were when we finally got home last night. This week should be nice and quiet, with a lot of catching up to do, since I left everything at the wayside to get those gifts done. Plus, I think I'm gonna need a nap later!

a good day

My littlest French niece is eight months old and her mother recently went back to work. My mother-in-law usually watches her (she's on a waiting list for day care) but she's going on vacation for a week, so I got an email a few weeks ago that said, "C a besoin de sa tata!" (C needs her auntie!)

Yesterday I went to Troyes by bus to spend the day with C. My mother-in-law was there for the morning, C's parents came home for lunch, C's mom and I had a little time to catch up before she went back to teach an afternoon class and then it was C and tata time.

I don't have my own kids to brag on (yet), so you'll have to indulge me a little if I brag on my niece - that is the sweetest, best little baby I have ever sat for in my life! She doesn't get upset when maman goes to work (must be seen to be believed!), she doesn't fuss, she engages well with people but also plays happily on her own and only really cries when she's put down for a nap - but who wants to sleep when there's so many fun things to do?

I have to tell you, I normally dread babysitting, and that always freaked me out because I want to have kids more than anything else but if I can't stand a couple of hours alone with someone else's kids what does that say about my wanting to have my own? For the first time ever, I can't wait to go back and stay with C some more! And because C's mom does read the blog every once and a while (pardon my crappy French) : A la maman de C, merci bien de me demander de garder ton petit ange. J'ai passé une très belle journée hier et j'attends avec l'impatience le vendredi prochain !

welcome to the world, baby girl!

I just got off the phone with Doc's husband, who wished me to pass on the news of their third child's arrival!

Mélanie Danielle Michelle Poulot
4.8 kilos / 10.6 pounds
51 cm / 20 inches

Little Mélanie is under observation to watch her sugar levels, but she has already eaten and everything seems perfectly fine. She should be able to join Doc in her room in a couple of days. Marc told me that she looks like a little sumo! He had a poloroid picture that he was able to bring home to Muppet and Pooplette, who are already in love.

Congrats to Doc and Marc!!

more randomness

Hi there! Ok, I'm still funky (well, I was always funky, yo) but truthfully less funky than Saturday. While yes, living in France is a fantastic experience, day to day living and planning for the future can get you down no matter where you live sometimes, and I simply had a little freakout about the future. Then, instead of giving myself an ulcer, I actually did a little research on teh internets and now I'm feeling better. Yay internets! So thanks for the uplifting comments, you guys are the best!

(Also, confidential to David, since you didn't leave an email: I'm curious to know how you found me or if THS is just a coincidence and also: Go terriers!)

Anyway, the high for today is going to be 57. That's Fahrenheit, people!! Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, oh no, not one bit. It's just a bit odd. Good thing I didn't store away all my sweaters.

I am also in the process of deadline knitting, yet again. If I can afford another break between knitting rows and sweating bullets, I'll post about it over on the knots blog. In case I don't, I can at least show you what I've got so far:



The dress is going to be for MP3 who is making her grand entrance into the world TODAY! I can't wait to meet the latest Franco-American in our circle, and if all goes well we'll go see MP3 and Doc this weekend.

Oh man, I just read this book:



I don't like to be negative, so... the cover art is nice.

Oh screw it: y'all, I don't know if it is due to bad translation or what, but this is possibly the worst book I've ever read. It breaks my heart because the subject matter is really very interesting, but wow: the stilted, unnatural, laughable dialogue had me howling. It's a shame, really. I would have given up after a few pages but books in English are a bit thin on the ground around here, so you take what you can get. But this was bad.

And... that's all, folks!

unintentionally funny french

I just looked online to see if there is anything interesting playing on tv tonight and saw this:



It certainly is. *snicker*

i need a do-over button.

Hi. Yeah, I know, I haven't posted since my birthday. Speaking of, thank you all very much for the birthday wishes! I was very touched to receive at least one from a lurker as well (donc il faut dire merci bien aussi!).

These last couple of days have been a bit rough on the morale, which culminated with me breaking down in the car a little while ago on the way home from being out for the afternoon. I'm just having one of those lifetimes years months weeks where I've hit a wall. I'll snap out of it eventually.

In that case, it's a good thing I'm forcing myself to think of a few good things that happened this week. This way I can remember that at least the view was nice on my way to crashing into said wall.

SOME THINGS THAT MADE ME SMILE THIS WEEK

• My cousin Lisa sent me photos of her doing a triathalon. She completed it in under 2 and a half hours! She is such a rock star in my eyes, I can't even tell you.

• I finally got the yarn that I ordered online nearly a month ago. They packed a little sachet of lavender inside so everything smelled lovely when it got here. Thanks, packing people! If you live in France and you're far away from a yarn shop, like me, I can totally recommend leslaines.com, as long as you're not in a real big hurry.

• Just as it was getting hot, a huge system of thunderstorms has been blowing through the last couple of days. Last night, Stéph and I went the center of town to grab some dinner and were walking along just when the apocolypse appeared before us - swirling debris, trees bent in half, furniture flying, the works. Stéph grabbed my hand turned us in the opposite direction and yelled "RUN!!" We ducked into the nearest brasserie where we had a really good dinner and a good laugh as the apocolypse passed us by.

• Well, my birthday was this week. All the birthday wishes are still making me smile!
  

happy birthday to me!

Well, besides the fact that I have to remember to add a number to my age, I love birthdays! Especially mine. Every one should be a king/queen for the day on their birthday. If I have to insist, it doesn't make me too crass, does it?

A box from my sister came a couple of weeks ago and I didn't open it until today because I was sure I wouldn't have any other gifts to open. It was totally worth the wait!



It's a seal and wax! How cool is that? (Answer: freakin' cool!) I'm behind on writing some snail mail letters, too. Now that's some excellent incentive! Thanks, sis!

Remember when I thought I would only have my one little box to open on my birthday? (Full disclosure - Sis has sent a second gift, but it probably won't be here for another week or two.) Boy, was I wrong! Our friendly neighborhood post lady knocked on the door this morning bearing a huge box from Amazon. And what was inside?



OK, I have to be honest: putting a link to my Amazon wish list was really for a laugh, and I was completely surprised to learn that someone not only looked at it, but ordered something from it! And not just anything - Vogue Knitting is the Knitter's bible. It includes everything from the history of knitting to designing your own patterns. It really is priceless! I know because back when I first started knitting, Flare lent me hers, so I could be sure I was going to continue knitting before getting a copy of my own. I think I'm feeling pretty committed to knitting at this point, so receiving my own copy was truly a huge surprise! Plus, the Simply Baby book by Debbie Bliss is wonderful and full of adorable patterns, which comes in very handy as just about every female I know is expecting or has just had a baby recently, including my generous benefactor! Thank you so, so much, Myllissa!!

As for the rest of my birthday, I'll just be hanging out, playing on the computer or knitting one of the two or three projects I'm working on right now. I'm feeling better today, which is a relief, so I can enjoy lounging around without sinus headaches or coughing up a lung. Otherwise, I think Stéph and I may treat ourselves to the couscous restaurant this weekend. Today is about hanging out and eating leftovers - the kitchen is closed in honor of the cook's birthday! Ha HA!

This post was brought to you by the punctuation marks ! , ? , and ().

officially sick

Well, four days of Actifed Jour et Nuit didn't do the trick. I was supposed to go spend the morning with my mother-in-law in Troyes before having lunch with Stéph and the in-laws before an afternoon appointment, but at the last minute this morning I was forced to make a choice - try to get in to see the doctor or suffer on for one more day. I figured that if I could get an appointment for this morning, it was a sign. And the sign said, "Go to the doctor, do not pass go, do not collect $200." Or something like that.

So I called the in-laws to say I wasn't coming, changed my appointment to the end of the week and walked down to the doctor's office, only five minutes away. Official diagnosis - sinusitis, my old enemy. I used to get it twice a year like clockwork, but it's been ages since I've had it here. Anyway, in typical French fashion, I came away with prescriptions for three medicines to attack three different symptoms: a decongestant, in powder form, taken with water and tasting like powdered orange, taken three times a day, sinus headache medicine, 1-2 pills three times a day, and the dreaded antibiotic, taken once in the morning and once at night. Total cost: €4,10. Usually it's less but the powdered decongestant is only half covered by insurance. Hooray French health system, once again.

So here I am, all drugged up and no place to go. I think I can see some crashing on the couch and snoozing in my future.

i hab a cohd in mah noth...

...and in other places as well. I hate being sick, especially when I have things to do, really especially after a period of not having things to do. It's times like this that I have to make a special effort to remind myself of the good things in my life, least I be dragged down to depression and bitterness. Thus I present to you...

SOME GOOD THINGS I LEARNED THIS WEEK

• Actifed Jour et Nuit works pretty good for a common cold. Too bad you only get enough medicine for four days in a box.
• I found out someone I went to high school with is living in France and has been reading this humble blog, not knowing it was written by me, but he knows now! (Hi, C!) The world really is smaller than you think.
• Speaking of friends from high school, my BFF Carrie is launching her stationary business in a really huge way - she and her business partner are debuting at the National Stationary Show in New York City. Together as Two Trick Pony they create handmade silk screened cards and they are GORGEOUS. Check out the website and if you're in NYC, stop by and say hi to Carrie (she of the black and white hair!) and tell her Vivi sent you!
• I am really grateful for the cooler weather we've had this month, even if it's responsible for my getting sick. I've had a reprieve from panicking about the heat of summer - thank you Mother Nature!

You know, this is something I should really do every week. We'll see if I remember seven days from now!

vivi goes to the embassy in paris

I know, poor me, right? I just HAD to go to Paris for the day. Sounds terrible, doesn't it? I laugh with my girlfriends back home about this all the time. I try to tell them that going to Paris for the day is about as exciting as going to Atlanta, but I don't think they believe me. Maybe they're right. It is Paris, after all.

But I really did have to go. I had to have a paper notarized in order to close my father's estate, which means going to the American Embassy in Paris. I believe there are two other embassy offices in France, one in the south and one in the north (or is it east?), but the Paris office happens to be the closest.

The office for American Services recently moved around the corner from where it used to be (the new address is 4, rue Gabriel, metro station Concorde), but now you have to present your passport and reason for being there before you get within a mile of the place. Plus it seems that newly installed President Sarkozy was going to be driving by later in the day, so the whole Place de la Concorde was streaming with police and barricades. It was really kind of a surreal experience, although every policeman I talked to was very nice (I got a little turned around when I got out of the metro and had to ask for directions... twice).

I was met by Sarah, whom I haven't seen in an age and we had an excellent chat (thanks again for meeting me Sarah!). Then we were met by Aimee and the sweetest (and biggest! wowza!) two month old around, the famous Max! We said our goodbyes to Sarah and Aimee and Max and I made our way into the Embassy.

Getting into the Embassy is no less trying than getting on an airplane. First you have to present your passport and reason for being there (Aimee was acting as a witness for me - it was all I could do not to go around singing "Can I get a witneeeess"). After Max's stroller was tested to be sure we weren't carrying around illegal weapons (just your garden variety diaper bombs, thanks), we advanced into a maze of steel barricades until we came to the door, where we had to show ID again. Then we advanced to a screening room, where we showed our IDs again and reason for being there as they went through our bags and held our electronics and we walked through a metal detector. Finally we made it to the big room.

When you arrive in the big room, the first thing you do is go to the computer console and get yourself a number by tapping on the reason that you're there. Your options, if you're American, are passport related or notary/authentication. You're sitting in the same room as foreign nationals who are applying for visas and passports so it is important that you get the right one, or you may end up in front of a clerk who isn't a notary and then you'll have to start all over. Then you sit and wait for a good long while. I'm so used to Hurry Up and Wait that I don't even get upset about this anymore. I just make sure I've got plenty of time to waste and I have something to keep me occupied. Aimee and I chatted away and played with Max while people all around us were getting nervous and indignant and stomping out of the place when they felt they'd waited long enough. Oh well, the better for us!

When your number is finally called, you give the clerk your passport and your paper and then you're sent to the cashier to pay for the service. Having a paper notarized is $30 plus $20 for each additional paper which in my opinion is highway robbery but when you're the only show in town I guess you can charge what you want. Then you wait for them to call your number again, and then in thirty seconds flat you sign the paper and you're free.

The office hours for these services are only from 9:00 to 12:00 and we didn't get there until after 11:00. I was worried it would be ridiculously crowded but in fact I would suggest going later in the morning because by that time some folks get frustrated and walk out which means you might get out of there a little quicker. Definitely plan on being there at least an hour.

As for the rest of the day, we mosied around, had lunch in a park and went to Bon Marché for knitting goodies and food goodies before I had to head back home. I also gave Max a couple of things I whipped up:



Thanks Aimee and Max for helping me out and hanging with me yesterday! We'll have to do it again real soon!

we went to a party!

Ooh, and what a party it was! Doc hosted the annual group birthday party, celebrating the birthdays of her hubby, Marc, my Stéph, another friend from university days, and me! (By the way, my birthday is a week from Wednesday so you still have time to check out my Amazon wish list in the sidebar! HAHAHAHAHA!)

We started early by having Katia, the Muffin Man and Kyliemac stop by our place for lunch before we hit our final destination. We had spaghetti and ragù sauce and a nice big salad before we piled into our cars and drove to Haute-Marne.

Once we arrived, we found that Antipo and her darling children had arrived just before us, so all of us Anglos, including Doc's newly arrived niece/best au pair ever all settled in to the kitchen surrounded by yummy nibbles and chatted, like you do.

The weather was glorious, Mother Nature seemed to want to cooperate for once, and there was plenty of activities to keep us busy, including badmitton and nerf balls and soon I had Kevin and Pauline throwing and catching baseballs like good little Americans!

Finally we settled into eat, and man, did we eat! Doc outdid herself, as usual, and the food table was groaning with all kinds of different salads (including my "famous" rice salad!) and baked beans plus just about everything you can throw on a grill, including sausages and hamburgers and barbequed chicken and brochettes. Dessert was lovely with peanut butter cake and pound cake with divine homemade whipped cream and a malted chocolate cake.

The next morning we sat around the kitchen table and had a bit of breakfast while Kyliemac made me a pair of dangly earrings for my birthday right before my very eyes! Katia and the Muffin Man gave me two gorgeous cookbooks that I can't wait to tear through. Then the living room became a recording studio for the famous parisian podcasters Katia and Kyliemac and if you're familiar with their show, you may be very jealous to know that they also gave me a fistful of magic pens! Truly my cup runneth over!

After a lunch of leftovers we finally packed the car back up and headed home. It really was a wonderful weekend and I want to thank Doc and Marc for their hospitality and Antipo, Katia and Kyliemac for coming out to the country to celebrate with us! My cup runneth over indeed.