...but glad I have two months to catch it. I need to pay more attention to the news these days. I found out this morning that I missed this in honor of the EU presidency being turned over to France for the next six months. Glad that "y.caradec" took photos for all to share in its magnificent blue glory. I'll try to get some pictures of my own, but I'm not promising anything.

Last night was a rough one. I called my dad and got his voicemail, then called my mom to see what she was up to with my nephews who are spending a few weeks with their Grammy and Popo. I called about an hour into their naps and the oldest woke up in time to chat with me. He's growing up so quickly...he talks in the cutest voice my ears have ever heard and articulates the most innocently sweet things. I fought back a well of tears when he told me that after he goes to visit Austin, he's coming to visit me - next Friday. I told him I wasn't sure if he would be able to and explained how long a trip in the plane would be for him. "Well, what about in a car," he asked. After a short explanation for the Atlantic, I told him we could see each other on Friday, but through the computer. I probably just shattered his little anticipating heart - and mine too; I was a mess until about 1 am. I miss my family, and even though I'm crazy-happy here, it's so much tougher than I ever expected to be so far away from them.

Last weekend, we were invited to a pique-nique to celebrate our dear friend, Anto's birthday. Could you believe that I'd never been on a proper picnic in Paris? It wasn't exactly picnic weather when I first arrived, but now that the sun's been blazing day and night, there's no reason I couldn't picnic everyday during the summer...if I wanted to.

So, I asked Gui what we should bring, thinking he would say something like sandwiches, some crudites like carrots and fruit and maybe a tarte. But, actually the picnic food of choice around these parts is a little less fancy. So, we picked up a container of our favorite hummus, some pita, a few meringue cookies, some rosé and a very cute bucket of barbe à papa (cotton candy).

When we arrived, it was around 8:30 pm and the sun was just settling down for the evening. We set up shop just next to Notre Dame and the scenery was great. I was definitely disappointed that I hadn't done this sooner! We enjoyed an evening of friends, rosé, and random but delightful snacks by the Seine (avoiding the blinding lights of some of the tourist boats). It was one of the nicest evenings I've ever spent in Paris - the city that I'm slowly and surely falling in love with.

Besides the fact that I didn't get my outfit ready the night before, today felt just how the first day of school always feels - I was excited, nervous, anxious and tired all at once. I was a little worried that I went to bed a little too late last night and thought I might fall asleep to the melodic sound of French during class, but nothing of the sort happened. From the moment our teacher came in, it was go, go, go and all very interesting, too. There's only one guy in our class of nine and besides the two Brazilians, no one is from the same country. Let's see, there's someone from Columbia, Mexico, Austria, Spain, Russia and Serbia. Oh, and me of course from where else? Texas!

I didn't even realize the time flying by and before we knew it three of our four hours had passed and we hadn't taken a break. So, all the kids (us students who range in age from 18 to at least 27) grabbed some coffee at a little boulangerie where the topic turned to, what else? Politics - American politics to be exact. Everyone was so interested to know what a Texan thought of Obama's chances of winning the election and what could possibly be done with the election of a new president. I learned a bit, too. The Spanish girl told me that to some Europeans, it doesn't really matter who's in the White House because Americans always take the same stance on international politics. Wha? I think I missed something in the choppy English translation, but I thought that was an interesting bit of information to digest. When we returned from our coffee break, we got a little chastised for speaking English until I explained that we were discussing politics, which, to my surprise and content, our teacher quickly agreed was a necessarily English-only topic.

I'm really happy about this class so far. I've already learned so much, but know I have more to learn, still. One of the things that surprised our teacher was that more than half of us weren't very familiar with the past-tense, which kind of worried me at first. I remember learning the passe composee, but that was years ago and I don't remember all of the verb conjugations or past participles. It's something she's going to work with us on next time. It's amazing how much more efficient one can speak a language just by learning the past tense. I think I'll practice a little with Gui tonight - he's actually a really good teacher if I could just get past the idea that he's my husband and all.

I recently signed up with a site that hosts blogs for people all over the world going through similar experiences as me. They were nice enough to feature my blog as June's expat blog of the month, which you can read about here. I'm flattered and hope this will be another opportunity to make some new friends!

I hate to admit it, but I'm captivated by this.

I spent the better part of my day browsing through Les Soldes in the happening part of town today. It's funny because even though everything's on sale here, it's all still so expensive. I really need to get used to the idea of living with Euros. Since I can't work yet, I was only looking for things that we really "need," like, for instance trousers for Gui. He "needs" another pair because he's getting tired of wearing - and I'm getting tired of seeing him wear - the same two pair in rotation each week. So, I scooped up a pair of new slacks and a couple of very well-priced dress shirts for him from his favorite shopping destination, Zara. I hate going in there during soldes, though. I barely took two steps into H&M before busting a U-ey outta there. It's so. crowded. And this is in the early afternoon when everyone should be working...or studying...or something.

I haven't been to La Marais in a while, so I was happy to take in the loveliness of the neighborhood again. Gui's cool aunt lives around there and I was wishing she didn't have to work so she could have joined me in my (un-) shopping spree. I came away with two very reasonably priced tank tops, but my biggest treat of the day was stumbling upon this:

Yes, boys and girls, that's a very fake Pinkberry in the middle of Paris' 4th arrondissement. Myberry (with two little dots above the "y" in "my") is the latest copy-cat in the yogurt (or non-yogurt) hype brought on by the famous Pinkberry. I'm not gonna lie - I love Pinkberry and I would have eaten there every single day when we lived in Long Beach if Gui didn't give me the stare every time I asked(and if I could have afforded it). So, I walked past this place, giggling to myself, snapped a photo, walked some more, then turned right back around and indulged in a "0% fat" Myberry yogurt with mango and strawberries (they didn't have Cap'n Crunch).


And, it was GOOOOD! I'm glad I indulged because I inexplicably forgot to eat lunch (must've had something to do with all the half-price stickers on the walls) and didn't have another bite until sometime around 5pm.

How do walk-aholic Parisians maintain their feet so well?? Now that sandal season is in full swing, I'm desperate for a pedicure. I'm not sure how to even go about looking for one in French, and I'm scared to see how much a foot massage and paint job is going for around here. There aren't "nail ladies" at every intersection like back home, so it's going to take a little investigating on my part. I don't mind it, though. My feet have never walked like they do now, and they're screaming to be professionally exfoliated, smoothed and painted.