Francophile in the West

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...