Francophile in the West

What an excellent long weekend! Kris and I joined Roomie A and a friend at her family's cabin on Puget Sound near Quilcene, WA. OH man, what a great spot! Kris and I were all ready for a rustic getaway, but that place was anything but! We had a great time hanging out, playing 1980s Trivial Pursuit (it's *extremely* difficult!), playing with Pixel the Swedish cat, drinking lots of delicious wine, going on an excursion to Pulsbo, WA, and going for late-night beach walks when the tide was low to photograph the starfish and other fauna. It's always wonderful to escape from the big city for a few days. I hope we can visit her cabin again later in the spring! I love being near the ocean and I would really like to do some hiking around the area as well. In other recent happenings, I officially have only four months left at my job!! How exciting! That means I only have two months until my sister and I are off to Hawai'i and one month until I hear back about teaching in Fran

What do I do on Super Bowl Sunday? I don't watch the game, that's for sure! I slept in, I went for a run, I did some studying for the GRE, and I went on a photo adventure with my friend Andrew!  We met up at Dr. Jose Rizal Park (on the hill adjacent to the I-5/I-90 interchange) and caught up while catching the sunset over downtown. It was a beautiful night with lots of gorgeous colors. Even though I feel like I captured some pretty good pictures, they still don't do the actual light justice. Nevertheless, here are my favorites from the evening: (This one was taken from the roof of Andrew's apartment complex. It's the old Wonder Bread building!) I really do love Seattle. And I'm definitely loving this winter weather we've had lately! Mostly sunny and in the low- to mid-50s. That's amazing for early February.  This coming week should keep me a bit busier than last week: Kris will return from his trip to Alaska, I'll be giving several prese