Francophile in the West

Merry Christmas from the beautiful Pacific Northwest!!   Mt. Rainier, seen driving south on I-5 The Pearl District in Portland Kris and his mom at the waterfront park in Old Town Portland

First off, it's really nice to not have to stress about school for 6 weeks. That being said, I am starting to feel the pressure of internships and have finally begun doing some legitimate research, writing, and applying. Here's to hoping I'll wind up having a sweet gig lined up somewhere in Europe for the summer... On another note, I have recently been positively soaking in delicious coffee. For my birthday, my parents hooked me up with an espresso machine and I've been happily making my own café crèmes  almost every day since. Coffee is a beautiful thing, and this little machine makes whipping up my own version of my favorite French coffee drink quick and pretty darn fun. Step 1: Des grains de café et un peu de lait Step 2: Steam and brew Step 3: Combine and enjoy My sister and brother-in-law gave me the fabulous birthday gift of a belay class at the local rock climbing gym. My sister did the class with me, and we had a blast! The deal also included...

It's such a treat to be back in the Pacific Northwest! After a lovely birthday weekend in Seattle, I made my way to Vancouver for a family Thanksgiving. Morning sunlight inside Seattle's King Street train station. My sister and brother-in-law hosted my parents and I for the big meal on Thursday. They did an awesome job decorating the table and putting together a scrumptious feast! We all shared cooking duties (I contributed a pear-almond tart), but sis and bro-in-law made an absolutely beautiful and delicious turkey that tied everything together. Nice work, you two! It was a relaxing day filled with lots of food, football on TV, walks with their dog, Elsa, card games and board games, and a movie. Definitely a Thanksgiving for the Tyler family record books! Elsa :) On Friday, my parents and I drove to Walla Walla to spend a few days with my grandmother and catch up with some of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. It had been well over a year since I'd spent ...

This past weekend was my 25th birthday! I had a wonderful time celebrating across Colorado and Washington all weekend long. On Thursday, I went to Denver's Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Festival with a couple of Korbel classmates. We thoroughly enjoyed TONS of delicious, gourmet food, plenty of wine, and fun people watching. It was snowy and very cold outside, but it made for some great pictures of the downtown Denver! I flew to Seattle on Friday morning to spend the weekend with Kris. I had beautiful views of snow-covered Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens during my flight. The photo below is why I LOVE to have window seats on planes.   On Friday night, Kris took me to Seattle's Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Festival as my birthday present, and we had fun celebrating in style on the top floors of Seattle's Columbia Tower (the tallest building in the skyline in the photo below). I even met Rick Steves, my European travel hero!!! It was so cool! That was the last thing I was expecti...