Entre temps
What can I say? I just haven’t been in the mood to write. I feel a bit like I’ve put half of my life on hold to focus on the other, lacking half. But, that’s kind of the ultimate human struggle, isn’t it? You plan and then you do. Plan and do. And for me, it’s teetering on the brink of impossibility to be able to balance my wants and needs, my pleasures and responsibilities, my dreams and reality. So, I stay focused on one for now and hope that one day balance will just come.
We’ve been in a bit of a limbo here these past couple of months, trying to solidify some real next steps to take, but just waiting on the light to turn green. Mostly, we’re just waiting to find out if my current contract job will evolve into a permanent position. It wouldn’t seem like this one little detail could make or break our plans, but it kind of already has. The odds are, we’ll be hanging around Paris for at least a couple of more years – before all the baby-making and home-buying starts – which is just peachy for both of us, but kind of puts a 180-degree spin on all the plans we previously made (i.e. the ones that involved packing it up and moving it back to the Lone Star State). We’re keeping our fingers and toes crossed that we’ll have a finite answer by the end of this month, but, well, it’s France, and that’s kind of asking for a lot.
But, it’s sunny in Paris. I mean, really sunny! And hot, too! We had a hard winter and it seems summer isn’t letting its colder competitor take the Harshest Season of the Year title with ease. Gui and I left for two weeks to Dallas/Kansas/Austin when the skies were an unyielding gray and the metros were still rank with urine and not repulsive body odor. But, it seems we brought the sunshine and heat with us on the flight back and it’s been pretty non-stop since then. We’ve been spending the long summer days mostly enjoying each other’s company – doing lots of necessary admin stuff, restocking the fridge, cooking and organizing, planning and pondering, and even a little soldes shopping. Two weeks isn’t very long to be away from home, but it’s always a little more difficult to get back into the swing of things after a trip to Austin. Our friends and family, of course, spoiled us to no end, making it so hard to leave them behind until our next visit. If only life was a vacation, right?
Which reminds me, we’ve got another week of holidays planned soon. We’ll be heading to the south of France to spend some time by the pool and in the ginormous vegetable garden (yay!) at Gui’s grandparents’ house. Then, we’re off to Aubrac for what will surely be a lovely, countryside wedding (horses included). We had planned to get out of France and maybe hit up Italy with a friend, but we just couldn’t work out the logistics to make it work. Next time, I suppose.
I leave you with a few photos to meander through and a promise of - at the very least - some great vacation photos from the south of France! (The last 3 photos we took on Tuesday from our bedroom window - fireworks celebrating France's fête nationale.)
Au revoir, Lost
I'm looking forward to posting a bit about this past week and what's been going on in my little life in Paris, and I will soon. But, for the moment, my mind is so preoccupied with thinking about the season finale of Lost, which will air in the US on Sunday.
I'm not usually nutty about stuff like this, but for some reason, I feel kind of emotional about the finale. I saw an interview that "Kate" (Evangeline Lilly) did on The View a while back, and I think she really made a great point - that Lost is a show that focuses on so many universally-emotional and personally-important questions that other shows in our generation don't address. And, I totally agree. It's had its shaky moments and outlandish plots, but something about it just sings to me - and to so many others, too, it seems. It could be that watching someone else's interpretation of the ultimate answer to the ultimate question - why are we here? - just seriously entertains me. But, I think in some ways, it's a little more than that, and something about "getting to the end" and "finding out what happens" helps me move along in my own little journey to find the answers I'm looking for. And, well, I think that's worth getting a little emotional over.
I'm not usually nutty about stuff like this, but for some reason, I feel kind of emotional about the finale. I saw an interview that "Kate" (Evangeline Lilly) did on The View a while back, and I think she really made a great point - that Lost is a show that focuses on so many universally-emotional and personally-important questions that other shows in our generation don't address. And, I totally agree. It's had its shaky moments and outlandish plots, but something about it just sings to me - and to so many others, too, it seems. It could be that watching someone else's interpretation of the ultimate answer to the ultimate question - why are we here? - just seriously entertains me. But, I think in some ways, it's a little more than that, and something about "getting to the end" and "finding out what happens" helps me move along in my own little journey to find the answers I'm looking for. And, well, I think that's worth getting a little emotional over.
I found this really great clip with very candid mini-interviews from the cast-members of Lost about what the show has meant to them and how they feel about it coming to an end. I think the cast are even sad to see their characters go. (FYI - there are NO spoilers here!)
Feeding my spirit
Paris is full of creativity, creative people, inspiring scenes. So many friends I have made here have inspired me to feed my creative passions that I never really knew I was starving. From knitting, to cooking, to sewing to blogging, I have found so many outlets to express my point of view and creativity that I might never have otherwise known about. My knitting group has the cream of the crop of creative types in Paris, and I'm truly inspired by them every time we meet up. I met my friend Abby at Tricothé and she is seriously creative - she turns all kinds of objects into beauitful treasures, and she seems to find magic in the most everyday of items. She has a perfectly charming blog where she posts her thoughts and musings on the very simply lovely life she leads in the city of lights. This post is inspired from the Marché Photo of the Week series on her blog, and hopefully it will become a regular on this blog, too.
This past week brought the devastating news of the passing of one of my dearest aunts, an incredible, bold and loving soul who taught me that many of life's grey days could be brightened with a funny joke and a hearty laugh. After a few days of grieving and reflection in hibernation, I finally left the apartment to live again. The sun came out this morning, and we took to the marché to embrace its warmth and energy.
My Aunt Clare loved to cook, and she introduced me to so many new flavors and recipes in my younger years that inspire my culinary endeavors to this day. My first manicotti, my first split pea soup - she was a whiz in the kitchen who influenced my palate and fed my creativity at the stove. Her spirit of life and her passion for sharing delicious food with the ones she loved will always resonate in my heart and in my kitchen.
This past week brought the devastating news of the passing of one of my dearest aunts, an incredible, bold and loving soul who taught me that many of life's grey days could be brightened with a funny joke and a hearty laugh. After a few days of grieving and reflection in hibernation, I finally left the apartment to live again. The sun came out this morning, and we took to the marché to embrace its warmth and energy.
My Aunt Clare loved to cook, and she introduced me to so many new flavors and recipes in my younger years that inspire my culinary endeavors to this day. My first manicotti, my first split pea soup - she was a whiz in the kitchen who influenced my palate and fed my creativity at the stove. Her spirit of life and her passion for sharing delicious food with the ones she loved will always resonate in my heart and in my kitchen.
Today's marché finds (Marché Président Wilson):
sliced speck and fioccia
mozzarella di bufala
white onions
green asparagus
limes
eggplant
bean sprouts
spring onions
fresh parmesan
arugula
Thai rice noodles
jasmin rice
freshly ground beef (not shown)
On this week's menu:
Mom's baked spaghetti
Asparagus chardonnay risotto
Italian meat, mozarella, onion, arugula pizza (crust recipe)
Eggplant parmesan on buttered linguini
Eur-woes
Since Gui and I travel at least once a year to the States, we try to track the movements of the Euro against the US Dollar so we can capitalize on the best exchange rates for our trips. We've usually been pretty good about exchanging our currencies at really favorable rates, which lets us spend a bit more when we're visiting and going out in The Land of Plenty. Back in November, we talked about exchanging our fancy European money while it was towering over the dollar at about $1.50. But my overly-confident optimism kept our Euros in the bank and our American bank account stagnant. Since then, it's all been literally downhill for the Euro, and we'll likely be forced to deal with a relatively even, Dollar-for-Euro exchange rate while we're visiting next month. Which sucks.
While I'm clearly no expert on the subject, it wouldn't surprise me to see the Euro pan out flat against the Dollar in the coming months. With all the uncertainties surrounding the Greek and Spanish economies (and the French one, for that matter), the Euro seems to be holding less and less water these days. Luckily for Gui and I, we don't have a problem subsisting on 79¢ tacos and $1 Lone Star. America The Great, indeed!
While I'm clearly no expert on the subject, it wouldn't surprise me to see the Euro pan out flat against the Dollar in the coming months. With all the uncertainties surrounding the Greek and Spanish economies (and the French one, for that matter), the Euro seems to be holding less and less water these days. Luckily for Gui and I, we don't have a problem subsisting on 79¢ tacos and $1 Lone Star. America The Great, indeed!
Graph tracking the Euro against the dollar from BBCnews.com
Rain + Monday = Nothin' to do but frown
Today sucked for no good reason. It was rainy. It was cold. It was Monday. And everyone seemed to be wearing their grumpy pants. Karen Carpenter is familiar with this rainy Monday phenomenon, it seems, and somehow, hearing her sing it kind of makes me feel a little bit better.
So, here's to sunny Tuesday...
So, here's to sunny Tuesday...
Fun in the sun
Since last Friday, the sun has been shining as bright as it ever has in Paris , and Gui and I have been taking full advantage of the beautiful weather all weekend. Our friend, Juliet had the foresight to plan a barbecue on the most perfect day we’ve had all year, around which we gladly planned our weekend. Our first stop on Saturday was at my favorite local marché (on Avenue Président Wilson). Although Gui doesn’t agree with me, it totally beats out the Avenue Versailles marché which is held on Sundays and is about 15 minutes closer to our apartment. It’s not like it’s really a “better” marché, but to me, it just seems more authentic…more “French.” And, besides being fooled by fake farm-fresh eggs, the products just seem nicer – and the people do, too.
It was a perfect morning for some marché shopping, though, and after gathering all the necessities (and a few luxuries in the form of 50€/kg cheese), we hopped on a metro back home where I worked-up a batch of my mom’s version of my Aunt Mary’s potato salad. We headed over to the barbecue as early as possible to take full advantage of the glorious sunshine and fresh green grass, which can be really hard to come by ‘round these parts. Everyone was all laughter and smiles, and as delectable as the assortment of grilled burgers and American goodies was, the best part of the barbeque was easily the company. Give us an imported barbecue grill, a plush, green yard, and lots of sunshine, and nothing can stop us from being the happiest people in Paris .
Sunday gave us a few more clouds than Saturday, but Gui and I didn’t let them stop us from going through with our plans for a bike-ride to the Eiffel Tower . It's been a long time since we've been bike-riding, and I've always wanted to see how long it would take to get to the Champs de Mars from our place, so Gui hopped on his bike (generously given to him by our friend Justin who returned to the States) and I rented a velib', and off we went! All I can say is, man, do I need to work out more! The half-hour bike ride there tired me out a bit, but the crazy uphill ride back to our apartment is what really got me. We took our time, though and enjoyed the spectacular views along the way. There really is a magic in the Paris air during Spring, and it somehow just wipes the slate clean from the grim memories of a bitter winter. Vive le soleil!
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