Francophile in the West

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...