Francophile in the West

I took this photo in Lhasa, Tibet at the Potala Palace in October 2010. Our Tibetan guide was walking my folks and I through a part of the palace where you weren't allowed to take pictures (because it's so sacred to Tibetans), and as we were going down this covered exterior hallway, he pulled up the curtain a little and told us to look outside. We saw these beautiful gold-covered roofs and he said "If you have your camera ready, you should take a picture!" So, I literally shot from the hip and this picture is what I got! The beauty and the colors very much summarize Tibet. Well, Kris is back and we've been having fun running around Seattle and spending time together. We went out for a 'date night' on Thursday and went out to dinner at Spinasse on Capitol Hill (one of my good friends just got a job there), which was delicious, and then finished the night with drinks at Oddfellows Cafe. I have a final on Monday and then we leave for Arizona with his brother ...

I had a great week at home last week! There was so much snow in Seattle that the UW wound up closing down the campus on Tuesday AND Wednesday. Intense! It was nice to have a break on my birthday and not have to worry about class or work. :) I had some beautiful flowers waiting for me when I arrived in Vancouver late on my birthday on Tuesday! Kris surprised me to the Nth degree by actually sending me flowers! He's always unpredictable. My dad, sister, brother-in-law, and I wound up going skiing at Timberline on Saturday- what a blast! It was super cold and snowy, but it was a great start to a hopefully busy ski season. We had a lot of fun, and I for one can't wait to get out and into the mountains again. Soon! Kris arrives in Seattle tomorrow afternoon... Looks like he'll be kicking it in the Northwest until the beginning of February, and then he'll head back up to Alaska. I can't believe six months actually flew by that quickly... WHEW! It will be wonderful to see ...

We hosted a birthday/holiday party at our house last night and we had a blast! The roomies surprised me with an awesome home-made boob cake!! Best roommates ever. I spent most of the afternoon baking chocolate chip cookies and a French apple tart. The tart actually started a bit of an oven fire while cooking... But it still turned out ridiculously delicious! haha. With all of our baked goods and an always wonderful wine selection, guests and hosts all had a lot of fun. The four of us roommates woke up late this morning and had coffee and cooked up some delicious omlettes and had a good laught at last night's pictures. Here are just a few: ( The following picture might not be appropriate for those with sensibilities about political correctness :) )

I'm in the midst of a middle-of-the-quarter funk, it seems. All the rain probably doesn't help, though. Things are just kind of trucking along as usual... I did, however, receive a 3.9 on both the mid-term and the first essay for my French class! Wahoo! That was great news. I'm still struggling with finding the motivation to write the essay for my independent study credit... I'm sloooooowly doing research and setting up the paper, but I haven't started writing! I need to get that thing basically done by the time Kris gets back to Seattle in two weeks because I know I won't be getting anything done for school while he's in town! It's only two to three pages in French. I can do this! I'm 22 in less than a week! Woo!! The roomies and I are going out to dinner tomorrow night for an early celebration, and then we're having a birthday party chez nous this weekend. :) I also decided to treat myself by buying a couple of fun birthday/Christmas presents. ...

Well, today's Veteran's Day, which meant no class or work for myself and the roomies (AMAZING). Roomie K is our only under-21 year old, and she was out of town this weekend, so the other three of us decided to go to Woodenville and try some delicious wine! OH boy, we had a great girl's day out. We went to Chateau Ste. Michelle, which had a free tour and tasting. All the wine was beyond delicious and we each wound up buying a bottle (or four, in Roomie S and my case!). Then we went to the Columbia Winery across the street and ended the afternoon at the Red Hook brewery and took a tour there. All in all, we spend $6 each on tastings and tours. We even packed our own lunches to save money (...to buy wine, haha). Great day!!! My Ukranian friend showed me the Russian version of Winnie the Pooh a few weeks ago. It's pretty darn adorable .

Holy crap, it's November!! Where did this year go? I feel like I ask that every year, but still. By the time you get to October/November/December, everything is in such a fast-paced flurry, it's hard to distinguish the days. Three weeks and six days until Kris comes back to Seattle! Oh man, I'm excited. We actually made a solid plan for Christmas break, too (it's a miracle!!)! We'll be going on a road trip with his brother from Seattle to Arizona, where their mom and some extended family live. It's gonna be great! We'll drive straight there (24 hours!) in the middle of December and then I'll fly back to Portland on the 22nd to spend the official holidays with my family. I've never been to Arizona before! I'm looking forward to exploring and being someplace slightly warmer for a bit this winter. :) I just finished a very interesting book, Pandora's Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization ; it's the scientific echo to the theories discuss...

Photo #1- The Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, Beijing. Photo #2- The Temple of Heaven, Beijing. Photo #3- The French Concession of Shanghai. Photo #4- The Oriental Pearl Tower, Shanghai.

Whoa, I feel like I'm still all over the place! So many things to do every day. I'm officially back into school and work in Seattle, and things are going fine, but my time is constantly occupied. Here's basically what's been going on lately: I put in my two weeks at the pizza place! Wahoo!! Man, that felt good. I am so ready quit that job. The extra money was SO helpful this summer, but it's my senior year of college and my nights must be free for socializing, homework, relaxing, whatever the case may be. Huzzah for good times at all times!! The girls and I are having a GREAT time together!! We went out last Saturday night and hit up Neighbors, the gay club on Cap Hill, and some other random club called Havana or something (we didn't see any official signage), and had a great time just dancing the night away until about 2:30am. SO FUN. We all want to do it again. On Sunday night, we went to the Compline service at St. Mark's Cathedral on Cap Hill (what was w...

Picture #1- The most adorable old monk at the Sera Monastary Picture #2- THE Potala Palace, former home of the Dalai Lama Picture #3- Mountains behind the Jokhang Temple and Barkor market

I survived China! Why haven't I written in about three weeks? The Blogger website is blocked in the PRC (People's Repub. of China)! Limited free speech, anyone? Anyway, my Dad and I made it back to the States today (Mom's coming back on Sunday), and boy, are we happy to be in the U.S. of A! I don't want to eat any more Chinese food until I'm at least 35 years old. I am SO tired of soy sauce and fried rice and greasy, breaded meats. First thing I ate when I got home today? An entire can of black beans, and then a heaping bowl of salad for dinner. Amazing!! The next few weeks will be MSG detox for me, ha. Well gosh, what a trip! The 1,500+ pictures that my mom, dad, and I took over the course of our 15-day excursion to mainland Asia are on a different computer, so those will have to come later, as will in-depth explainations of the three places we visited (Beijing; Lhasa, Tibet; Shanghai), but for now I'll say that it was a heck of an experience. I saw some very b...

Oh, the housewarming party was a blast!! It was a great 'cocktail'-style party with lots of delicious cheeses and chocolates to try and many guests pitching in a delicious bottle of wine. There were about 18 or 20 people total, so it was a good group, but not too huge at all. All the roomies had fun playing hostess, chatting, and meeting new people. Anyway, here are a few pictures from the evening: After sleeping in until I can sleep no more tomorrow, I'm going to make a last-minute run to the U-District Farmers Market before I head home on Monday to go to China! The folks and I leave in 5 days!!

YAY! Next Wednesday, I will be flying off into the great Red beyond! I'm a bit too overwhelmed by everything else right now to be as excited as I should be, but I'm excited nonetheless, and I'm sure the fact of it will hit me hard by the time this next weekend's over. It was great to have several days off of work this past weekend and to be at home and spend time with my family and some friends. I got to spend a bit of time with my sister, which is always great. We're both so busy, though, I don't get to see her enough! My parents are so cute, too. My Mom and I cooked together quite a bit, which I always love, and my Dad sneaked out of work to surprise me by seeing me off at the train station on Monday! It was sweet. I can't wait to travel with them again! Ours is a family of great travelers. This cannot be reiterated enough, but I LOVE the house!!! All four of us girls have been making giant strides towards turning the place into a cozy, girlie, totally set...

This afternoon, my roomie K and her boyfriend and I drove up to Camano Island for precious Keely and Larry's wedding. It was a gorgeous ceremony, right on the water, and those two are so cute. We had a great time and even got to spend some time with roomie J! She'll be the last one to move in this week, and then our house will finally be a full home! I love it. I can't wait for our wine and cheese housewarming party in a few weeks. :) And because I keep forgetting to post it, here's the token picture of me with the new house that I took very soon after moving in. Living in Seattle, FTW!

Things continue to come together at the house! We have a couch, a futon, and a coffee table for the living room, a dining table and chairs, and TONS of kitchen implements. Mom and Dad's trip up here was a screaming success; they helped me get all of my furniture in and get my room put together and we got a lot done in general. I'm waiting on another movie poster to arrive to further decorate my bedroom, and I need to get a few frames for some artwork, but then I will be totally set up! Kate and I have been working hard together as well to get things to the point of being "homey" throughout the house, and we're making fantastic progress. Now, we just have to set up the internet (it's a technical mess so far) and get the other two girls moved in at the end of the week. Yesterday, I was able to meet with Anne Marie and Andre (the 'host parents' from Nantes!!) for coffee and lunch! It was so wonderful to see them while they're in Seattle visiting Anne ...

I'm moved in! Well, mostly... The folks are coming up this weekend with my bed and furniture, and THEN I'll be all set. But I love it! It's such a cute place and the other roomie that's at the house right now and I have already done a bit of shopping for fun decorations and other miscellaneous house items. We cooked our first house dinner last night and stayed up until almost 1am enjoying wine and discussions of life and society and the future of both. Living on your own, FTW! I'm also officially a bike commuter now, which is awesome. I'm 5 minutes away from the pizza place and 8 minutes away from campus and my on-campus jobs, and we're a 10 minute walk from a movie theater, a public library, and TRADER JOE'S!! Hoooooooly crap, this place is even more of a screaming success than I initially imagined. In addition, we're right on the edge of Wallingford, meaning that places like Trophy Cupcakes, Chocolatti Cafe, Molly Moon's ice cream, and Dick...

I am STOKED because 1) I get to go home for the weekend, and 2) this sweet baby is going to be sitting in a box on my bed waiting for me. AMAZING. Other updates! MOVE-IN DAY IS IN 4 DAYS! Part of my adventure at home this weekend will be buying more goods for the house and arranging the delivery of my bed and furniture next weekend. I am getting into major "nesting mode", that's for sure. This week, my folks solidified plans to visit here while we're in China!! I am beyond ecstatic. I don't want to gush too much because you never know how closely those people are scrutinizing the people coming into their country (haha), but we got very lucky and I think I could not travel anywhere again for a long time and still be totally happy. I can't believe this trip is really going to happen. On the flip side, complications have arisen with regard to how many credits I'm going to take in the fall and my being able to work for the UW. Boo! Where there's a will, t...

« O mon amour o mon amour toi seule existes A cette heure pour moi du crépuscule triste Où je perds à la fois le fil de mon poème Et celui de ma vie et la joie et la voix Parce que j’ai voulu te redire Je t’aime Et que ce mot fait mal quand il est dit sans toi » - from Vingt Ans Apres , Louis Aragon This poem says all it needs to. Don't even try Google Translate because it's crap and only in French does this poem have such power. Thank heavens for Aragon's inspired love for Elsa.

This weekend was GREAT! One of my good friends from high school came up to Seattle to visit, so not only did I have three nights off of work, but I was able to get more than two miles away from the house and do some adventuring! Friday night we went out with some of my friends up here in the U-District, and last night we went out to some of my favorite spots on Eastlake, the Eastlake Zoo and the Mars Bar. Saturday was the best. We hit up Hempfest down at the Olympic Sculpture Park/Myrtle Edwards Park/Elliot Bay Park right along the water. Holy crap, how amazing. Literally tens of thousands of people from all walks of life, all in one place and loving life. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time walking around (the event spanned all three parks, it was a LONG walk) and people watching. We even got in on Rick Steves (the travel guy) giving a speech in support of the festivities. Sweet. :) By the time we left in the late afternoon, the line to get into the festival was 3+ hours lo...

I found a bike! Wahoo! Recycled Cycles came through with a great deal on a used Raleigh. Shocks on the front fork, 24-speed, disk breaks, and lots of room for fenders and a rack. Sa-WEET! Just what I needed, and way under my original budget to boot! I'm excited. I went joyriding up the Burke-Gilman Trail all the way to Golden Gardens and back yesterday evening after I got it. :) I also finally had a chance to see the inside of the house I'm moving into! Oh gosh, the four of us girls are going to make it so cute and homey and wonderful! I can't wait to start buying artwork and small furniture items and decorations and whatnot so we can NEST!! COUNTDOWNS: Days left of my summer class: 3! Time until move-in day: 2 weeks, 3 days!! Time until the epic China adventure: 6 weeks, 4 days! This ridiculous summer is almost over! I'm officially declaring that Senior Year starts on September 1st. It's gonna be awesome . :)

... and she'll only make it worse! Never ask me to fix your bike, because disaster will ensue. Best part of my day today (literally, I laughed quite a bit): Over the weekend, one of the wires on my bike (I thought it was the front break wire. Side note: the front breaks are already busted, so I don't care about their well being) got caught in the gears, and the pedals wouldn't go forward more than 1/4 of a rotation before I had to back-pedal and push forward 1/4 of the way, back-pedal, etc. I figured, hey, it's an old bike, I can just cut the wire, untangle the wire from the gears, and forget about fixing the front breaks, and the problem will be solved, right? Not quite right. I cut the wire this afternoon (with scissors, I don't have actual wire cutters), and it turns out it was the GEAR SHIFT WIRE, not the front break wire. So, while you can again pedal the bike all around the world, it's now stuck in 10th gear... This all has perfect karmic timing, however, ...

The folks and I had a great time this weekend. Highlights included wandering around downtown Seattle, re-discovering Carkeek Park in north Seattle (my mom and dad's favorite park from when Dad was at the UW in the early 80s), and dinner at La Boucherie on Vashon Island. Oh my gosh, dinner at La Boucherie... A gastronomic review... To begin with, La Boucherie is a wonderful fine-dining restaurant (we're talking white table cloths and white napkins) located in an adorable and quaint converted house right off the main strip on Vashon Island. Dinner options included a seasonal 3-course or 6-course Prix Fixe menu, or your choice of individual menu items. All of the food on the menu is local, most of it coming from the owners' sustainable farm located not too far away on the island, which boasts of all organic veggies and grass-fed meat. The beautifully diverse menu is complimented by an extensive list of house-made wines and other Northwest wines, ciders, and beers. My folks and...

Holy crap, what a great weekend!! I had a BLAST hanging out with my sis and bro-in-law. They stayed with me at the sorority house on Friday and Saturday nights (I have two extra beds in my room, and it was free for them, wahoo!) and we were having quite a time making fun of "Greek life" and the insane weekend behavior along Greek Row. They tried pizza from Turnpike, we checked out Gasworks Park, Alki Beach, and Greenlake, I introduced them to the deliciousness that is Dick's Hamburgers, and on Sunday morning, we had a magnificent brunch at the Sky City restaurant on top of the Space Needle! Amazing!!! They are so much fun, it was really great to have them in my 'hood for a few days. :) Today was rather productive, too! Work, class, a trip to the laundromat, made risotto for dinner (I'm really tired of salad and pizza from work, since I work through the dinner hours), other work, and now I'm all ready for bed and looking forward a slightly less-busy day tomorro...

I got a third job last week... One of my friends works at a pizza place across from Greenlake and he told me they needed a cashier girl for a few evenings a week, and I thought, "Meh, why not try?" So last Friday, I gave the manager my resume and he gave me a run-down of the place right there and said, "Okay, we'll see you Saturday night!" Whoa, another job! Yay/boo. It's probably a good thing Kris is in Alaska and keeping so busy and will be on a boat for 6-8 weeks because starting tomorrow, I'll basically have no life until at least September. But man oh man, do I need the money. Credit card debt from France is still lingering and fall will be full of traveling. Damn money. We should all go back to trading rice for sheep and crap like that for subsistence. In addition to that, the summer class I'm taking started yesterday and will go for the next four weeks. It's strange to be reading for class again, but at least it's only one class and no...

Well, I'm back in the big city. It's sunny, it's hot, it's Seattle in the summer; I adore this town. I hit up the (slightly early) Bastille Day celebrations at Seattle Center this morning with my friend Nathan. It was actually pretty busy! Lots of great things going on; I tracked down a galette and a couple of delicious macaroons and was able to speak a bit of French with one of the Seattle-Nantes Associations ladies that we met in Nantes. Great success! Speaking of macaroons, my mom found a recipe for them in the newspaper several weeks ago and we decided to try to make them yesterday afternoon before I left town. Indeed, my mother and I made authentic and quite tasty French macaroons (almond-cinnamon-cardamom flavor)! Wow. It was a messy production, but they turned out just perfect. A few things that I observed during my time at home: 1) People always ask me if I've heard such-and-such song and I always say, "No, I don't listen to the radio". That...

I've been having an excellent week being lazy here in Vancouver! I literally forgot all about work; I was supposed to be keeping up with emails for the Campus Visit Program this whole week, but I *just* remembered this morning! So, I recently finished wading through all that chaos. Nice. Hey, at least I remembered eventually. Hmmmm... highlights: Lydia, Eric, my dad, and I went for a hike last Saturday at Horsetail Falls off of Hwy 84 East. It was gorgeous, and a great trek! The weather has been beautiful (and freaking hot!) all week, I'm absolutely loving it after so much rain. I've been baking in the sun in the back yard for about 30 minutes for the past couple of days. One of the best feelings in the world is to have the sun warming your skin. Gotta love that Vitamin D! The Fourth of July was a great time. The fam caught up with my aunt Barb and cousin Jessica and her hubby Matt. We watched the crazy fireworks going on in Portland and at Fort Vancouver from Barb's ba...

The title is a quote from my French host Andre. In English, "The more I know people, the more I love my dog." I thought of that quote randomly this morning, and I still think it's great and so true. Hence, the blog title. Last night, I went to this restaurant/bar/karaoke joint in Greenlake called the Little Red Hen with a couple of friends. I seriously felt like I was back in Texas and was right at home! Haha. Country music karaoke, total dance hall atmosphere, typical blue-collar cowboy types with their hunting camouflage baseball hats and a beer in hand while singing. It was hilarious and lots of fun. OH- My first Yoga class was on Tuesday night! It was awesome!! I woke up yesterday with a rather sore back from all that fantastic deep stretching. I think this class will be just what I need. The instructor is super chill and looks like a scrawny Christian Bale (always a plus) and the class is so relaxed. Definitely going to be a good stress reliever and great new hobby! ...

I have cooked SO MUCH this weekend, it's been awesome!! Last night, I spent literally two and a half hours in the kitchen. Cooking is so zen, I really needed that. I made a delicious risotto with farmers market-fresh carrots and snow peas. That was the first time I've made risotto, and I'm now totally hooked. It takes a while, but it's really easy to do and super tasty. For dessert, I cooked up a rich and quite yummy chocolate souffle! That was my first time cooking souffle, too. All in all, a very successful night in the kitchen! The best part? Both were recipes from my French cookbook! Great success! Tonight, I went over to my friend Andrew's and we threw together a vegetable and beef stew. It was the same recipe I perfected whilst in Nantes. We also made a bruchetta with tatziki sauce and smoked salmon, which turned out pretty well. It was nice to make a good meal and have great people with which to share it. Anyway, it's been a good weekend. Another week of ...

It was a beautiful day and I finally went on a photo adventure! I headed over to Gasworks Park, and here are a few of the images that ensued:

I'm officially a senior in college! What a crazy feeling! Actually, it doesn't feel very different, but I'm excited nonetheless. Things have been fine and dandy recently. I finished up my finals yesterday morning and otherwise have been working, hanging out with friends, reading, and being lazy! This weekend my folks are coming up to Seattle to help move me out of the dorms (FOREVER! YAY!!!) and into my summer living spot at the AXiD sorority. I know, you're laughing, but hey, it's summer, it's a cheap place to live, and it's right next to campus. Hard to do much better than that. I lived there last summer and it was pretty fun, so I'm hoping it'll be fun again this year. Ummmm... I finished Jitterbug Perfume last night; good book! I read it on a recommendation from Kris and I wound up liking it quite a bit. It's an interesting combination of love story, immortality search, and giant rip on politics, religion, money, etc. I went on another epic ...

I had a great Spring Break. The day after I made it home to Vancouver, I went skiing at Mt. Hood Meadows with Lydia and Eric. The next day, my mom and I drove over to Walla Walla and spend the next couple of days catching up with my grandparents and cousins. I hadn't been to Walla Walla since this past summer! Too long. After we got back, I enjoyed a couple of lazy days in the 'Couve and had a chance to get together with some of my old high school buddies and Fed. It was so great to see everyone! I headed back to Seattle on Friday and almost immediately turned around and went on a weekend backpacking trip to Dusty Lakes in Eastern Washington with Kris! OH goodness, did we have a good time. The hike was really easy and the area was gorgeous and the weather was just perfect! We both thought it was a great spot and are definitely planning on going back there again sometime. We camped up on this ridge overlooking the valley and part of the lake and had fun scrambling up a big scree...

Looking for apartments is dumb. I'm at work perusing Craig's List for availabilities and everything is either super expensive or super far away from the UW. Hopefully, I can find something that will work! I have GOT to get out of the dorms! Also, this is day three of my month of being a vegetarian. I decided that I need to get my butt in gear and start getting my eating and working out habits back up to snuff, so Kris and I are being vegetarians for the month. Next month is cutting out refined sugars, we'll see what we decide after that. It's kind of interesting. However, I think I already failed because I had an egg yesterday, but I don't really consider that 'meat'. I don't think real vegetarians eat potential chicken babies, though, haha. In other news, Kris and I spent the weekend on the Washington coast at La Push with his housemates Andy and Merrill and 8 of their friends. It was such a blast!! Everyone was so nice and fun to get to know and the we...