Versailles and Wandering

It's Sunday and I'm blogging again.

Are you keeping up or am I going too fast for you?

We went to Versailles today and I must say that it would have been worth the extra time if it hadn't been so crowded. We were pushing our way through and feeling trapped a little while we were inside but the sun was  shining outside so we had a great day for the trip.

Here are a few selected photos for your enjoyment!

front

back

back garden with emphasis on the canal that drawls water from the Seine to power the fountains in spring

bit of ceiling

The Queen's stair

Stanley in the window on the way back to Paris. I forgot he had come along.

This shop is known for it's macaroons and man were they good. I can't say that I'll be going back because of how expensive it was but it was worth the one time affair.

So after a quick recuperation at the hotel, I went wandering by myself and ended up in walking around a place that used to be a military hospital. I would have gone inside but when I got to the front gate and they told me that I couldn't go in because they were closing. I took pictures around the outside though and had a long conversation with some random guy about my stay in Paris. I guess he noticed me trying to take artistic looking photos. I amazed myself with my production of French though and he didn't even guess that I was American, he thought I was Spanish.... probably because of my silly rolled r's.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of that

 So after this guy finished talking to me, I was still walking and found a couple photo opportunities

 Then finally, I met up with some of the group for dinner and we went to this really nice restaurant with one of the professors. I got the Fish of the day and this Salmon on vegetables is what I received... I nearly cried over this wonderful fresh grilled fish it was just that good.

Now, I'm blogging and finishing up my day with a swig of wine from the bottle I bought yesterday and some chocolate which I'm letting melt on my tongue just for the hell of it.

Tomorrow morning starts the presentations and the actual work so I probably won't have a lot of pictures to put up like I do today. I'll keep everything up to date though as best as I can. 

Share the love and Brightest of blessings!

Parisian Saturday

Well, there it went, day two is over and you guys back in the states are just getting into your Saturday afternoon.

We accidentally slept in today and missed the group excursion to the Champs Elysees... not everyone went but I was planning to go but the alarm was set for pm instead of am... So we woke up to the cleaning ladies knocking on the door at noon. (I blame jet lag).

We made it out of the room in time to head over to meet the rest of the people and go on the boat tour with them though and I got some spectacular photos that I get to share with you!

 The Grand Palais from the river.

 This is the side of the Musee de Orsay

 Notre Dame from the river

 The Eiffel Tower at Night

I'm adding myself last because I really like this picture and my friend did a really nice job of taking it for me. Unfortunately, I think that my red bag is in it's last stage of life and that I'll be getting a new bag here in Paris.

After the boat tour we were right next to the tower so we crossed river and went to Champs Elysees anyway. I needed to exchange money and we were totally starving. So we headed into this great little cafe right around the Champs Elysees with this waiter who was totally flirting with us as we ordered and everything. He was cute but not my type.

This is what I ate. It's called a Croque Madame. it's a ham sandwich with melted cheese on top and an egg on top of that. It was super yummy.

We wandered into the Virgin Megastore after dinner and I might have bought a million things but after my friend bought a calendar of shirtless men we decided to head back to the hotel, stopping in a wine store and a supermarket for random items such as breakfast for tomorrow before our trip to Versailles.

We have to meet the group at 8 am so hopefully we figured out the alarm clock this time.

Our hotel room is small by American standards. We can barely stand in the bathroom with the door closed because it's so tight. I'd even compare it to a converted closet because it's so small and the two beds are separated by maybe five inches. We're handling it though.

We're about four blocks from the Eiffel Tower which we went to see last night after a Tunisian meal at a place around the corner from our hotel. The food was absolutely amazing and I'm glad that the director was going and invited us because I don't think I would have done it by myself. I may be brave but not that brave....

So now it's nearing midnight and I should get to bed.

I'll have loads more pictures for you tomorrow from Versailles and I'll hunt down an amazing crepe before the week is over.

No Chelsea I haven't forgotten your shotglass... I saw it but I'm going to buy it later this week... I think you'll like this one.

Alright, enjoy your Saturday everyone!

Blessed Be

Sitting in a Parisian hotel

So after a 7 hour flight from Detroit to Paris I have arrived at my destination with Stanley the traveling hippo in tow. We traveled far and now I'm thinking that I need a nap but I'm taking a moment to write for all of you lovely people before that actually happens.

The flight was uneventful. It was cloudy so you couldn't see much out the windows but I have to say that the sunset above the clouds was spectacular.

 You can kinda see it in the picture but I promise it was amazing. The other amazing thing that happened on the flight was when I got to see the aurora borealis somewhere over Greenland! It wasn't something you could take a picture of due to light but it was so awesome that I stared at it for a good long while.

Stanley got hungry on the plane and decided that he wanted mini pretzels that weren't really mini compared to him.

 Things are looking pretty cool here in Paris so far. I've had to do some translating and I had to try to speak to the driver via phone to explain where we were and how to find him. I feel like I did terribly but we ended up in the right place so I guess I did better than I think....

Later on we'll probably go out for dinner but right now, I'm going to sing off and sleep...
There will be more updates later for sure!

Blessed Be!

Hello My Lovelies!

Hope you're all doing well!

First off, Happy Birthday to my amazing Grandma Skip! I hope she had a great day full of fun and beautiful Florida sun. May there be many more birthdays to come! (send me some cake if you can!)

Time is flying by and the countdown is nearly at it's end. From where I sit there are two days until the day of my departure for Paris. Stanley is sitting here with me looking anxious to get out of our tower so I'm sure it will be interesting.

A huge thanks goes out to my Aunt and Uncle for saving my life on the financial front. Paris would be very difficult to survive without their help.

I have all my ducks in a row and all I have to do is turn in an essay and take two essays before I have a week of freedom and fun mixed with a splash of work. Just as the French would have it I'm sure.

Can you tell that I'm excited?

If you can't, then consider this,
My plans for tonight include a French movie and going to Wal-Mart for those last minute trip purchases, such as a camera so that I can document all of Stanley's crazy stunts while we take on a European capital. Yeah, my camera broke, I dropped it because I'm a goof and forgot that it was in my purse.... So a new camera it is!

French House dinner last week was Chandeleur themed. We had a boat load of crepes made and yet we still didn't seem to have enough to feed everyone. It was a touch frustrating but there were so many potatoes that I made a wonderful potato mash with mushrooms, onions, garlic, and cheese. It could have cooked a bit longer but I was starving so I couldn't wait for it. I mean, it was still good but some of the potatoes were still firm so it wasn't completely a mash yet...

I'm still so addicted to The Black Keys.... you guys, it's bordering craziness when I hear them play. I can name songs within two notes if I'm really on and I sing along a lot (to the horror of my poor roommate). They make me happy and if I could see them play live, my life would be made.

Okay, so exaggeration.

Going to their concert would be absolutely AMAZING but it's not everything. Life doesn't stop for moments like that. We still have to figure out how to get a job and pay the bills all while balancing some semblance of a social life in which there are friends and family wondering what you are doing and why you aren't visiting or hanging out with them. It's a complicated jumble and prioritizing is probably impossible but we do it anyway.

I've been doing it a lot lately. Studies versus friends and family. I've had to take a step back from the social and freak out a bit before everything finally came together and made sense again.

I'm sorry if you feel like I've not been a good friend lately. I mean, I'm always willing to listen and help if I can but I've been a little egocentric lately in trying to get everything to work for Paris and that meant haggling with professors over dates of midterms and essays that I'm doing early and that meant that I couldn't focus on a whole lot. I lose my mind sometimes. Okay, lot's of times but please don't hold it against me...

Okay, so on a good note, to close, my new camera is AWESOME and I can hardly wait to use it so I may have some random pre-departure pictures for you with a special thanks to Stanley for his amazing posing skills.

Excitement!

Talk to you all again from Paris when I update!

Blessed Be

Quick Rant

Okay, fair warning, this is not going to be pretty.

Please people respect the rules of grammar. I understand that you may have been born in a barn or under a bridge where it is normal to speak in this manner but when you post it on a social networking website advertising for the world just how uncivilized you really are. This is actually frustrating to those of us who are actually civilized because we have to be exposed to your idiotic display of what you are trying to pass off as the English language when in fact it is a PERVERSION!

And no, I don't mean that in the sense of a guy looking through a window to get a glimpse of a naked woman. I mean that it is not a good thing. It is a nasty, disgusting, thing that you have let fall from your lips and released onto the world like a plague.

Your children will grow up speaking like this and thus further degrade society to your pig-like standards. Grammar is important and if you are one of these offenders then I am not sorry for calling you out. Learn something and maybe life will get better because you actually put an effort into something. It's really not as hard as you think it is.

Secondly,

For the love of all that is holy, eat with your mouth closed. You have no idea how many times you make me cringe with your disgusting lip smacking and food particles spewing forth into the air. Is it truly so hard for someone to have manners these days, or are those being put in the category of "not important" along with grammar?

For those of you who don't realize that you're committing this most heinous crime, you are the worst offenders. That's because there is no way to tell you nicely that you are absolutely disgusting. I keep my mouth shut for you and want to puke in my mouth because of how disgusting this is to me.

Thirdly,

If you are going to be loud and obnoxious, please at least have the common courtesy to know how thin dorm walls are. Yes, I can hear every word of your conversation and no I do not want to be included in it for any reason what-so-ever. This also means that I can hear you when you are having fights with your significant other and doing extra-curricular activities. I don't want to hear you but because you are obnoxious, I hear it all and sometimes even through headphones which I've put in to avoid your noise.

Could you please, please, please keep it down?
 I would really appreciate it if you did and maybe I wouldn't be so grumpy because I actually got some sleep at night instead of you keeping me up.

Fourth,

Is it terribly hard not to slam your door? I mean people are sleeping when you're going in and out of your room in the early morning. I get that you're up but you don't have to announce it by slamming the door or letting it slam which shakes the walls in case you haven't noticed. I've asked for this to stop before, quite as nicely as I could but you must not have listened because nothing ever changed.

I'm respectful of you so could I please get some respect in return?
It would be really nice of you.

~

I am not saying that I'm perfect here. I'm not saying that these are necessarily bad people either. I'm only saying that I cannot stand that people are like this and have no idea what they are doing. I'm not going to tell you to your face because I'm not that kind of person but I'll gladly rant on my personal blog about how much some people get under my skin and drive me nuts.

I'm done for now but I can't promise that there won't be any other rants. I'm getting to the end of my rope and I still have half a semester to get through before everything changes again.

I'm choosing to spread love right now but beware my wrath, it comes to destroy us all.

Quick Notes

Hey Everyone!

I've been neglecting to write again and now it's February. Time is flying by. Paris spring break 2013 is creeping up fast too with days numbering in the teens instead of twenties or thirties.

So let's see where I can start to get everything out of my head and onto the screen in front of you.

I guess I'll start by saying that I quit modeling. It was making me stay out late and get very little sleep which I was handling but then they came out with a list of things that we needed to buy for the show, including  $50 set aside in case we need to buy our wardrobe for the show as well. In short, I chose Paris over modeling. A girl has to eat.

School work is keeping me super busy. I'd say that I'm doing well but I really haven't gotten grades back as far as the couple of exams that I've taken so far. There's just so much to get done and stay on top of that the shear volume is making me a little crazy. I just have to remember that I only have one more semester. Less than a year before the real world comes to peal me away from my meager existence  Don't worry though, I don't plan on quitting this blog.

Cassi had her 21st birthday this past week. We had amazing fun stuff planned but a snowstorm hit and Sara couldn't make it to us in BG so it turned out pretty lame. I felt bad not spending more time with her but I guess it just didn't work out that way. I hope that she enjoys the pastel painting I gave her and I hope her new boyfriend (Daniel, the Brit) makes her very happy.

This is them in case you were curious.

As some of you know, I also have a man now. He's sweet and kind and pretty adorable if you ask me. We've been "dating" for about 2 weeks and I think that he got the best friend seal of approval when we did a sort of double date with Cassi and Daniel. He's a good guy and I hope that he sticks around for a while because he makes me really happy.

What else do I need to write down? hmmm...

My no chocolate thing is really hard to keep up. I am however a pretty good cheater. I validate it somehow in my mind and then there I am with a chocolate chip cookie in my hands. It's a sad story.

As for stories, if I ever get more than a few minutes here and there to myself, I might actually finish another novel. I'm getting really close to the end of one again. It's in my brain, I just have to sit down with a pen and paper and let it all out. 

Okay, I guess I'm out of things to say now. I know it's short but I really should be doing homework and staying on top of things still. 

So on that note,

Bright Blessings to you all.

Oh, Happy Cloud...

Oh, happy cloud, we are but wisps in this space. We are floating above everything, smiling from ear to ear, dancing free together. My heart is singing and I never want it to stop. This feeling is amazing. It feels like I've been traced in sliver and you hold me above it all. Safe in your arms, in your thoughts, and in your heart. Oh, happy cloud, don't let me down.

So my mood today is pretty readable I guess.

I feel set free, held together by a very thin silver ribbon... So much has happened to set my life in motion. I'm moving through my hoops and over my mountains like the conquering queen of them all.

Okay, so here's my list of things. They're probably in order but I can't keep them in line all the time. A dash of chaos never hurt anyone.

Paris is for sure. The money stuff came through and my plane ticket is being ordered. Yes, I'm going into debt but at least I'm doing it with my own flare for fun. At least I have these opportunities to show my growth and I'm not held back by the lack there of. I'm actually really lucky and I can't express the gratitude I have in my heart for every single opportunity.

The fashion show I'm in has a date finally, but I unfortunately don't have a time for it. April 7th is the date they gave me. I don't have a theme either but I did get some amazing red pumps for $20 that I'm excited to wear. We've been having practices on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and I love them. I love the confidence I get from them and I love the high they leave me with. Not to mention the friends I'm making!

I'll keep everyone informed as far as the time and place because I'd love to see you there!

We had a French House dinner Thursday. It was bogus and I was not happy. People, this is the French House, we speak French here and if you don't want to even try to speak in French or try to understand French then you have no right being there. I was actually pretty frustrated. Then the fondue pots stopped working and the outlets were not conveniently placed and it was chaos for a bit. I mean, yes we as a house got things together but things weren't going our way for a bit. The chocolate part left me wanting to kick myself for giving it up but I walked away and kept my composure.

I went out to dinner Friday with my friend Taylor and it was seriously a highlight of my week.One of them at the very least because there were a good number. Taylor always knows how to turn my night or day around. She's one of those people that just make you smile no matter what mood you're in. So it was great to laugh with her and just chat like the world didn't really matter in those moments.

Uncle Dave and Mary came to BG on Saturday and spoiled me rotten. We ate at Trotter's up town and had some great conversation followed by a trip to Kohls and Meijer in Perrysburg. It was good to be out of the Rapunzel act I was playing by locking myself in my room (the tower) for the weekend. They decided that I needed good munchies so I'm thinking that it's safe to say that I'm stocked up for a while as far as snack food.

I did however forget laundry detergent so I guess I'll still have to get the courage to ride my bike to a store and get some.... It's just so cold that I've put it off until the absolute last moment.... and now I'm out.... Somehow I still have dryer sheets though.... It's like this box was designed by the creators of the Tardis and then shoved full of dryer sheets. I've had this box of dryer sheets for almost 2 years now.... isn't that scary?

This morning the universe decided to grant me the strength to let go of someone who I couldn't keep in my life. He had a place in my heart and tossed that aside but now I'm freeing up that space. I was sad for a bit that it had to end like this but he wasn't going to get me back. He couldn't put in the time it would take to win me back and he didn't understand how it felt to be ignored.

Anyway, I've moved on. I replaced that space with someone who has been my friend for a long while.

For the record, eating starburst and pretzels is not a good idea...

The Brit is coming back in a week and Cassi's birthday is super soon. Two weekends until we're partying it up in BG and having an amazing time. It will definitely be memorable.

So a great ending to this week and on to the next, anticipation of the fun ahead, fluttering inside of me.

I hope everyone feels like this at least once in their lives. It's worth feeling.

Blessed Be