I'm off!

I leave tomorrow morning for Menton, and from there to Florence. I'm terrified, since I'll be all by my lonesome...we'll see how it goes. Yikes. Also, I'm not bringing my computer (I have an addiction, and it needs to be stopped.) so I'll be neglecting this until I get back next weekend!

Love times a million, 

Lila

An Open Letter

Dear Indiana Pizza, 

I was only in Indiana for a brief period of time, but I think you're a little off the mark. Just for comparison's sake, here is a photo of Indiana:

As you can see, there do not seem do be any cacti, deserts, cowboys, or indeed, indians. 

Nice try though. 

Love, 

Lila

Yoga and My Awesome Boyfriend.

This is why Matt is the best:

A Valentine's package!

I don't know if you can see the background, but that is chocolate, some sweet homemade coupons, a teddy bear, and a big ol' bottle of Aunt Jemima's, my friends. 

This part is key. Most fellas would be foolish enough to think that I would prefer some real Vermont maple syrup, straight from the tree, but not Matt! He understands that I am just an Aunt Jemima kind of girl, and I think maple syrup is kind of ick. And he does not even judge me for it, even though it's a little lowbrow. 

 This kind of mutual understanding is the key to having a successful relationship, seriously.

The Mystery Strawberry.

I found this in the street today. First person to figure out what it is gets a postcard from Florence! My best guess so far is a placecard holder, but why it would be lying in the street is beyond me. 

I had my yoga class this morning. The instructor is a tiny blond woman, and at first I wasn't sure how I felt about her because she kept addressing me in English, and I'm all "Dude, I understood it the first time, stop calling me out on being American!" But THEN I totally owned and did the headstand pose that she said first-timers rarely accomplish, and she announced how awesome I was and everyone applauded. BAM. I win, yoga. 

Mom, thanks for signing me up for gymnastics when I was five. I never did get the split, but my sweet headstand skills turned out to be quite useful. 

postscript

Hannah Montana exists in France too. Oh dear God.

How to know you're assimilating

Today a small child was wailing in H & M. 

My normal reaction is "Oh, poor dear, you are so charming even with your face scrunched up! Come live with me and I will cuddle you and pinch your cheeks and buy you tiny child-sized things."

Today it was "WHY IS THAT MOTHER NOT YELLING AT HER CHILD WHO IS HORRIBLY MISBEHAVING?!"

In France, disciplining your child in public shows you are doing your job as a parent. In the US, you are publicly humiliating him/her and permanently destroying a fragile ego. I exaggerate, but only a smidge.

a lovely night.

Today was marvellous!

Victoire, Catherine's eighteen year old daughter, is visiting for the weekend. She is amazing! So effervescent and friendly, and great fun to be around. Having here here definitely diffuses some of the tension between Catherine and Capucine too, so that's nice.

Today some old family friends came to visit, and it was just the loveliest day! Gerard--or tonton, as Capucine & Victoire call him--made some delicious pizza, so we snacked on that before a lunch of some yummy Provencal dish with lots of meat in it. For dessert--chocolate chip cookies!

Then we spent the afternoon wandering around town, having great fun. One of the things I love about Aix is that despite its size, I almost always run into people I know on the street! Today I saw a couple friends from my program while we were out, which was nice. Catherine saw me admiring a pair of earrings in a shop, so she bought them for me! What a lovely and generous family I'm living with. 

Tonight, we had the rest of Gerard's pizza and a salad, and for dessert Capucine and I microwaved cookie dough in little ramekins, and everyone oohed and ahhed about how delicious it was. After dinner, we listened to old music on the record player (no, really, this is my life) and danced! Turns out my waltzing and polka-ing skills come in handy!

Tonton & Tata (which is what everyone calls Gerard & Mariette--it means uncle and auntie) have been married 44 years, and they are the sweetest couple! They were showing off their swing dance moves to Bill Haley and the Comets, and later dancing cheek to cheek to some Frank Sinatra. Below is the four seconds worth of video I got before my memory card filled up!

What a lovely Valentine's Day!

Happy Saint Valentin!

I hope you are all surrounded by people you love this weekend. I am making chocolate chip cookies with this recipe. I actually made the dough last night, and it is sitting in the fridge the requisite 36 hours. I confess, I had a little bit for breakfast this morning. 

France doesn't seem to care much about this holiday, except that some restaurants are offering free glasses of champagne tomorrow night. Personally, I have mixed emotions. My slightly cynical side thinks it is silly to have a holiday just people feel obligated to buy cards and chocolates, when you should really being showing you love and appreciate those around you all the time (something I need to do more of)...on the other hand, I really want to break out the doilies and construction paper. 

This is the garland I made! I have discovered the macro setting, can you tell?

My favorite Valentine's Day was with Matt freshman year, when we ate pizza in my room and I forced him to watch select scenes from The Notebook against his will. I remember having all these conversations with my mom when we were first dating, like "Why doesn't he like girly movies?" and "Why doesn't he want to stay on the phone for six hours at a time?" and "I just don't understand why he would rather play video games or watch Mystery Science Theater 3000 than sing showtunes or read poetry or something!" and she had to gently explain to me that perhaps he is just a boy and that is why.

And I quite like him, so I have agreed not to play ABBA music in the car, but when we go on long drives I like to sing showtunes to pass the time, and he is just fine with that. 

Just think of all the coloring I can do!

Today I discovered Michel, the papeterie, and I bought myself this for Valentine's Day. These are my favorite pens/markers EVER, and I didn't think they sold them here. There are twenty different colors! I am so excited. Thanks for the Valentine's money, Daddy!