Les visiteurs

So I have been meaning to update this for AGES, but somehow laziness always wins out over good intentions (or blog updating intentions, at least, if we can call them good). I can't help but wonder if anyone will actually ever read my blog anymore or think to read it anymore, given that I am SO bad at keeping it updated. But I mean, I have books to read and Smallville, Cardcaptor Sakura, Death Note, Desperate Housewives, Gossip Girl, the Secret Life of the American Teenager, and Privileged to watch. Not to mention Japanese homework to work on and Nintendo DS and Wii to play. Oh and, of course, my job. How can I forget about that? As you can all tell, I am a VERY busy person.

Now, though, I want to write about what a GREAT time I had with Alex here with his girlfriend Janet and then with my mother, grandmother, and sister here.
It was SO good to have them all here, and I am still super sad that they are no longer here.


Alex and Janet arrived on Friday, and I got to hang out with them most of Friday and all of Saturday. It was so good to catch up - and I'm so excited that he's moving away from icky Boston and back to fantabulous New York City where he will be interning in a hospital.



When Mom, Kristen, and Grandma all arrived on Sunday morning, we ate some cupcakes (oishii desu!!!!) and then headed over to Versailles. I thought I had never been, but it all seemed so familiar when I got there, and Kristen informed me that we did, indeed, go to Versailles when we came to France in high school.



On Monday morning, we (= me, Mom, Kristen, and Grandma without Alex and Janet) left super early for Annecy, which is a small fairy-tale-esque city situated right in the heart of the French Alps and at the edge of Provence.




We unfortunately had to walk up a huge hill to get to where we were stay, but it was worth it for the adorable little gite we stayed in and the view of Annecy's castle right next door. We spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday there, and it was a GREAT vacation! We cooked delicious vegan food, and Mom, Kristen, and Grandma ate crepes every day. On Tuesday morning there was the Annecy market, so we bought juice and olive oil and cheese (not for me, bien sur!) and soup (vegan, ohhh yeah!) and had a lovely lunch sitting in the sun by the river. There was a very persistent bird that sat by us eating the cheese that Mom, Krist, and Grandma threw at him but that wanted nothing to do with the bread.

(I know that this picture is the wrong way, but I can't get Guillaume's computer to do anything about it, so it will have to be changed later)
After lunch, we spent time by the lake and went shopping and met up with my friend Lauren, who was living there at the time. Kristen was going to be having a fake patio party, so we tried on dresses.

Kristen, Audrey, Grandma, Mom, and Lauren in faux patio party dresses

On Wednesday, we had a lazy morning and then spent some more time shopping (and I discovered that Zara actually does sell fairly cheap clothes that I would actually be interested in wearing - shocking!!) and then got fantastic (but unfortunately expensive) massages. It felt so nice to be pampered. Night times there were also super fun - we played games like MASH and wrote lists of questions that everyone had to answer. We learned lots of fun facts about everyone - for example, I learned that Mom's favorite singer is Phil Collins with Peter Cetera (ohhh yeah!) coming in second. And And that Kristen hates having water in her face. And lots of interesting facts about Grandma (that I'm not sure she would appreciate me posting in my blog) as well.



We got back to Paris late on Wednesday night, and Alex and Janet had cooked us a delicious dinner. They had worked on the impossipuzzle while we were gone. I had started this thing a while ago, and I only managed to get some of the border done and a very little bit of the inside. Almost all of the pieces look and are shaped exactly the same. They made some progress - they completed the border and some of the inside. I have been working on it since.

Then I unfortunately had to go to work super early on Thursday. Krist, Mom, and Grammers went to Pere Lachaise, and then when I got home we all had a pilates lesson together. Grandma does yoga, so she was a little nervous about trying out the pilates, but I think she loved it in the end. Afterwars we spent some time in a little outdoor market, where Mom bought a delicious smelling lavender sachet and Grandma tried on these fantastic bendy necklaces (there seems to be no picture :-( ) and Kristen and I tried on lovely hats. Then we got some delicious starbucks vegan mint hot chocolate. Mieum!


Sadly, Kristen then had to leave on Friday right when I got home from work. :-( So we sent Kristen off and then headed over to les Champs-Elysees. We saw l'arc de triomphe and walked down the street that has all of the haute couture stores on it (Mom has these pictures, and I unfortunately don't have them yet). We saw la place de la concorde and les tuileries and then I left Mom and Grandma to explore the Louvres while I went home and cooked us dinner.

On Saturday, Grandma was unfortunately not feeling so well, so she stayed home and rested while Mom and I explored St-Michel and Notre Dame and l'hotel de Ville and le Marais went tourist shopping. We somehow managed to run out of time before heading over to the Eiffel Tower, as we had to get back quickly to go have dinner with Guillaume's parents. It was, of course, delicious, and Guillaume's dad happened to have just put on Phil Collins, which we now know to be Mom's favorite. On our way back, we had to do a quick drive by of the Eiffel Tower so Mom could get out, as she had never seen it before, and you can't come to Paris and not see the Eiffel Tower:

Anyhow, this is getting ridiculously long, so I guess that's it. Mom and Grandma left Sunday morning, and I was sad. The end.

Harajuku Dance Rock Night

Okay, so An Cafe is basically the greatest band ever to exist. As you all know, I saw them in concert last Wednesday, and it was AMAZING!!!!
First of all, I got there a little bit early, and so while waiting for the concert to begin, I got a great look at all of the outfits that people were wearing, and I really felt like I was at a cos-play festival. There were so many Lolita dresses and parasols and stripes, and I'm convinced that's what it must be like to walk the streets of the Harajuku district (minus most of the makeup). Check out some Harajuku fashion to get an idea. I fit in only because I was wearing lots of stripes and fingerless gloves, which I pretty much always do.


Then the concert started. They were wearing the clothes that they are wearing in oe of the pictures in the new album, and they all managed to look adorable and hardcore all at the same time. And boy, do they know how to rock. They played all of the songs from the new album (which I, of course, bought, and haven't stopped listening to since, with the small exception of when my family was here), plus tons of other old great favorites. Unfortunately, they didn't play Maple Gunman, which is my favorite song. They also didn't play Nyappy in the World 2, which is my other favorite song, but that was to be expected, since they are now at Nyappy in the World 4.

And speaking of Nyappy in the World 4, I fell a little bit in love with Yuki during this song. That's him rocking out on the left there. He was so cute in his little glasses and his polka dot pants. And when he came out from behind the keyboard and was all rapping with Miku (that's Miku to the right there), I don't know how everyone in the place didn't just fall a little bit in love with him. I've been trying to decide whom my favorite member of the group is, and I've been thinking maybe Teruki (the drummer - I unfortunately didn't manage to get any pictures of him) because he says in interviews that he hates cigarettes (like me!), but after the concert, I think it's official that it's Yuki. Even if he is a newbie.

Anyhow, so the concert was awesome, of course. They are such great performers, and I really hope that I will get to see them again soon. Perhaps in Japan next time!!!! I leave you with the above picture (of Kanon of the left, Miku in the middle, and Takuya on the right) and the below video (of Snow Scene - taken with my digital camera and thus of very poor quality. It's also cut off about 5 seconds before the end because my arm was killing me).

Falling Walls and the Wire

What, you may be asking yourself, are those two beautiful pictures of? Well, it's a very interesting story, actually, and some of you may have already heard it.
A very huge slab of concrete fell out of the wall of a building right onto me. Or perhaps I should say slid forwards out of a building down my leg.
I was just minding my own business, leaning my leg on part of what seemed to be a very sturdy building, when a huge hunk of it fell out onto me. And then smashed my foot, crushing into small pieces on the very edges.
The concrete won. Aside from the edges that had crushed off and the fact that it was no longer part of the wall, it seemed to be doing just fine at the end of it all. The one person that witnessed the event actually laughed at me.
These pictures don't really do justice to the size and discoloration of the bruises.

Anyhow, things in Audrey Land are going pretty well. I finished Smallville season 5, which ended amazingly, and I had promised Guillaume that I would start to watch the Wire, so I am now on the 5th episode of the first season.
Now, I have heard many magnificent things about this show from many trustworthy sources (namely, Meg Cabot's blog and Guillaume), and so I am sad and disappointed to say that - I'm just not loving it. Sure, there are funny lines and the characters are interesting and there is a TON of stuff going on. But I just, well, find it without any particular interest to ME. The episodes are just a little less than an hour long, and I can't sit through one without doing a million other things. Today I actually played a level of New Super Mario Brothers while watching. And I checked my e-mails. And I made my lunch.
Maybe that's the problem - despite everything that's going on in the show, I still feel like I can follow without actually paying attention.
Anyhow, I guess I'll just keep watching and maybe eventually it will intrigue me.

Other than that, I decided to read and finished "the Blind Assassin" by Margaret Atwood and was once again disappointed by the Man Booker Prize. At least it was better than the other two. I was mostly just bored with it. I would give it 2 1/2 stars, or 3 if I am being nice.

Now, though, I am reading "the Shack" by William P. Young, which is a book that Kristen gave us all for Christmas (I just accidentally typed that she gave it to us for Kristen), and I am LOVING it! It's very well written, and it raises quite a few interesting topics that really make you think.
One thing I have always wondered is why God, in general, is almost always portrayed as a man. I mean, he is supposed to be nurturing and forgiving and all-loving. These are attributes that are far more often given to a mother than a father. So why has God always been considered more of a father figure than a mother figure. The book gave me a very satisfying answer to this question: ". . .once creation was broken, true fathering would be much more lacking than mothering. Don't misunderstand me, both are needed - but an emphasis on fathering is necessary because of the enormity of its absence."
I would not call myself a Christian. I would not call myself a religious person. But I think I can safely say that, despite its overt Christian undertones, this book is for everyone who has ever been sad or afraid or confused. Which is everyone. And I would thus recommend it to everyone. But maybe I should finish it first.

Aside from books, tomorrow I am going to see AN CAFE!!!!


I am so so so so SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO psyched! Even if I have to go alone. And then on Thursday a mega cleaning frenzy must take place. And then Alex comes!!!! And then Mom and Grandma come!!!! And then Kristen comes!!!! And then we go to Annecy!!!!
Did I mention that I am PSYCHED?!?
Now, I am off to Japanese class.

Baby Seals are something you can relate to

http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/seal_hunt_09/

Go to this site to read about the brutal slaughter of seals in Canada. Then fill in the form at the bottom to urge the Olympic Commitee to help End Canadian seal slaughter.

https://community.hsus.org/campaign/protectseals/

Go to this site to sign an anti-seal hunting petition.

Baby Seal


Could you club this adorable animal? Could you brutally smash his head in with a weapon kind of like a baseball bat or with a hakapik (long metal thing with spike on the end)?
My guess is no. It's horrid and barbaric and inhumane (and outdated), and it shouldn't happen.

Last year, something like 200,000-300,000 BABY seals (we're talking 12ish days old; just born) were slaughtered in this way in Canada, which is thankfully less than in 2006 and 2007.

Go to youtube, type in seal slaughter, and watch the first video that comes up - now that you're educated on the matter, have seen it firsthand on youtube, can you really just sit back and do nothing? Especially when it's so easy to do something. Click on the link above to send the letter and sign the petition.
Together, we can stop this.

Man Booker

The Man Booker Prize is a weird thing, I think.

The first Man Booker winner I read was "the Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. I LOVED it. Seriously. It was a great book. I just loved the author's way of xepressing himself. And the story was so fantastic and interesting, and I just wanted so badly to believe. And I loved all the imagery and the way the author presented it. I really think that the only thing about I didn't like was that it wasn't a true story. And that the author decided last minute to try to make you believe that even within the fiction it wasn't true. I really did love this book.

The second Man Booker winner I read was "The God of Small Things." You can find what I thought about this book written in my post about my summer book list (sorry, I don't know yet how to link to other posts - any help?). To summarize, it was the worst book I ever read. I don't know how I finished it. I hated the author's writing style. I hated the story. I hated the non-stop onomotapoeias. And more than that, I sort of hated the characters. It intrigued me enough to hope that the ending might make it just a bad book and not a horrible book, but I hated even the ending. Somehow the ending managed to make it even WORSE, which before the ending, I didn't think was possible.

Now, the most recent book I've read, "the Gathering" by Anne Enright, was also a Man Booker winner. And it, too, was horrible. The main character was ridiculously annoying. There were times when I just wanted to strangle her (rather a violent reaction to a book character, I know). The author also did the really annoying onomatapoeia thing from "the God of Small" things, but less, so it was a little less annoying. Anne Enright seemed to be going for the vaguness of old memories, and she really got it. Everything just seemed vague and out of place, and stories were ending before they even started. And, as a reader, I never knew what to believe or even what she wanted me to believe. This put together could have actually been nice and given a great impression of how she was feeling (the premise was her family getting together because her brother died). But it wasn't. The best way to describe it is just plain ole boring and slightly annoying.

Okay, so now I'm confused. Because "the Life of Pi" was so good, but "the God of Small Things" and "the Gathering" were both horrible in sort of the same way. And yes, I desperately want to read "the Blind A"ssassin" by Margaret Atwood. But it is VERY long, and it also won the Man Booker prize. So I'm afraid to start it because then I will have to finish it, and I will have wasted far too much time reading another horrible book.

Anyhow, it is a dilemma. And while it is not a big dilemma, I still thought that it was worthy enough of a long blog post. Has anyone read "the Blind Assassin?"

Now that that is out of the way, things are good with me. I have been putting off cleaning the apartment, but it has to happen soon with the end of the month approaching and my visitors coming. I am SO psyched! YAY for Mom and Kristen and Grandma and Alex!!!!
And getting ready to see An Cafe. I can't stop listening to them! I can't wait to speak Japanese so that I will understand what I am listening to without having to read the translations. It might be a while, though.

Books on Break

Like I said in my last post, I read quite a few books over my break that I ended up LOVING, and so I thought I would do again what I did with the books I read over the summer - that is, rate them and say a few things about them. So here we go.

Blindness - Jose Saramago
* * * * * (5)
I absolutely LOVED this book! I had for some reason heard bad things about it, but I can't even begin to understand why. I really couldn't put it down, and I am now dying to see the movie, despite the fact that there is NO possible way that it will do the book justice.

Plum Wine - Angela Davis-Gardner
* * * * (4)
This book was a great look at what it must have been like for an American woman to be living in Japan during the Vietnam war. It was touching and heartwarming, and I managed to basically adore it despite not really liking the two main characters. I think that's saying a lot.

the Princess Diaries #10 - Meg Cabot
* * * * * (5)
So, I unfortunately like Mia less in this book than in the other books. She has also become a flexetarian that is flexible even for a flexetarian, which I think is ridiculous and kind of a cop out. But still, it was the last in the Princess Diaries books, and despite my minor complaints, it was possibly the best of them all. I feel like saying - Meg Cabot has done it again!

South of the Border, West of the Sun - Haruki Murakami
* * * * (4)
I love Murakami's writing style and the way he always manages to turn a slightly boring character that one would rarely ever think about into something fascinating and almost always strange. This book isn't any exception to that, and I loved it for everything it was, and there was nothing missing from it. It's just so hard, though, not to compare it to everything else I have ever read by him, and because of that, I just can't give it the five stars it perhaps deserves.

Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer
* * * * * (5)
Everything that I want and have to say about this book would probably be considered spoilers, so I'll keep my mouth shut (or rather stop my fingers from typing). It was wonderful and fanastic and perfect.

the Spiderwick Chronicles #3: Lucinda's Secret - Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
* * 1/2 (2 1/2)
These books are for someone way younger than me. Each of them takes about a half hour to read, and I probably should be reading them all together instead of separating them like I have been doing. Maybe then I would like them more.

And now I have just started "the Gathering" by Anne Enright. I've really just started it, so I don't know how I feel about it, but I get the feeling that I will most likely be slightly disappointed after the amazingness of all of the books I read over break.

Anyhow, there are LOTS (maybe I should even say TONS) of books that I have read between now and the last time I wrote a book list, but I just felt like I needed to do that given the incredible awesomeness of the books I read over the break. So those books are just going to have to live without an Audrey blog rating. At least for now.

Happy Birthday, Mom! and Vegan Voyager: Glasgow, Scotland

First of all, today is my Mother's birthday!!!! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!! Yay for birthdays!

So, it's over. Or, well, almost over. Today is the very last day of my two week break, and I am so so so so SO sad about it. I am absolutely NOT at all looking forward to waking up at 6:48 tomorrow morning and then having to go control group of 30 7 year olds followed by 30 8 year olds followed by group of 30 9 year olds followed by group of 30 10 year olds.
But then, I find that I am NEVER looking forward to it after vacation, and it is never quite as bad as I am expecting it to be.
Still, I don't want to go back.

Anyhow, Guillaume and I had a GREAT Valentine's Day! I made a delicious vegan quiche with a pear chocolate brownie cake that I cut into little hearts. I know I know, I am SO cheesy. We set up the little table in our apartment and ate at it for pretty much the first time since we've moved in. Well, the first time without guests. Afterwards, we had strawberries in dark chocolate fondue. It was heavenly.

For Valentine's Day, Guillaume got me tickets to go see the Wizard of Oz the musical, and while they changed all the songs we all know and love to be weird French songs, it was still FANTASTIC, and I still loved it! I think that Guillaume enjoyed himself as well, I hope.

After Valentine's Day, I headed off to Scotland on Wednesday, where I stayed about 5 days with my friend Keelan. We had a FANTASTIC time! There are some amazing vegan restaurants there: Mono, Stereo, the Tchai-Ovna Tea House, and the 78 are the ones that I went to, but I gather that there are also quite a few more.
There is also a health food store called Roots and Fruits that had lots of vegan options, including these delicious vegan patties (that they call pasties) that can be eaten either hot or cold. Delish!

NOTE: Click on any of the Scotland pictures to be linked to my album of Scotland pictures.

Aside from just exploring the delicious vegan restaurants, though, we went shopping in downtown Glasgow, which is very cool. We took a day long bus tour to see some of the Lochs and most of Scotland. It really is beautiful there.


Audrey and Keelan somewhere in Scotland

It seems like it must be so easy to just get away from everything, which is the complete opposite of France, where the further you get away from something, the closer you are to something else. If that makes sense. We also got to take a little boat tour of Loch Ness to see some castle. In a way, it seemed kind of pointless, as we had just as clearly seen the castle from the view point, but it was cool nonetheless.


Loch Ness and the Loch Ness Monster


One day, I went to the University of Glasgow campus and saw the cloisters, and I went to this really cool museum that had a whole section that was dedicated to the awesomeness of Kelvin.



University of Glasgow

We also went used book shopping, and let's just say that it was probably a good thing that I was only allowed 10 kg on the plane on the way back. Otherwise, I am sure that I would have spent WAY too much money on books. Anyone who knows me knows that this is a VERY easy thing for me to do.

Speaking of reading, that's pretty much all I have been doing since my return from Glasgow, aside from pilates lessons and Japanese classes, and I have read some really great books! I'm about to go immediately write another blog entry in which I rate all of them like I did before. Although there will be a LOT less this time!

So, that was my fantastic break, and now I have to go back to work tomorrow. :-( ::sadness:: Maybe now that things are getting back to normal, though, I will start updating more often. Let's hope so!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Okay, so it's a day late, but Happy Valentine's Day, anyway!

Before I write about mine, I'm going to try to update really quickly about everything else that has been happening. I feel like it's sort of all old news now, so it will be "tres vite fait."

Also, before anything, my photo program seems to be bugging. I've managed to add some pictures, but no albums for time being. Eventually, I will be adding a link to an album of New Kids on the Block pictures, at the very least. :-)

Our Stockings!

Guillaume and I had a GREAT (if very late) Christmas together - I got lots of fun presents, including a Nintendo DS with New Super Mario Brothers and a special thing for me to download games on. Guillaume is now wondering if it was a bad decision to offer me said DS, given that I haven't stopped playing since. I have finished Mystery Detective and recently become obsessed with Zelda, and I have decided that I absolutely MUST obtain Zelda for the Wii.
>
I gave Guillaume, amoung other things, a deep fryer that uses only one tablespoon of oil, because he had been talking about it for ages. It's a weird gift, I know, but I hope he liked it nonetheless.


Neil and I at Sacre Coeur
Somehow, this is the only picture I have of the two of us together

Then, a couple weekends ago, Neil came for a visit - he had been working with some guy in Rome, so he decided to come hang out here for the weekend. YAY! It was so good to get to hang out with him. We did lots of touristy things. We actually walked up the Eiffel Tower - it was the first time I had done that, and I enjoyed my experience at the top MUCH more than I did the other time I went up, when it was FREEZING! We also walked around EVERYWHERE - to City Hall, Notre Dame, St-Michel, l'Arc de Triomphe, les Champs Elysees. With Guillaume, we went to Sacre Coeur and then walked around Montmartre, where we had lunch in an adorable little vegetarian restaurant. Everything is so cutesy there. We also went over to Place de la Concorde and walked around Les Tuileries.

On Sunday, Margaret re arrived in France (she will be here on and off pretty much until July - I am super psyched!), while Neil was still here, so we made some delicious African peanut soup and a chocolate chip cake (to celebrate Neil's birthday, which had been just a couple of days before) and had a delicious dinner! YUM!



Getting ready for the New Kids on the Block!

Then the Wednesday after, Marybeth, Guillaume, and I went to see the New Kids on the Block!!!! YAY!!!! It was sooooo much fun! The show was a little bit different than the one I saw in NYC. They played mostly the same songs, but some of them were different, and it was set up a bit differently. I just don't know what I will do if I never get to see them again. Die of sadness, perhaps. I brought a New Kids on the Block shirt for Marybeth, and I wore my super old (and way too small for me) New Kids on the Block sweatshirt. I was interviewd by Les 20 Minutes, and they took lots of pictures of me. From what I gather, though, I didn't actually make it into the magazine. :-( I guess I didn't have the right stuff (credit to Guillaume).

Since the New Kids on the Block, things have been good. I actually got interviewed by another video show thing, Cap 24, the other day about the book I was reading on the metro ("Plum Wine" by Angela Davis-Gardner - my grandmother gave it to me as part of my Christmas gift, and I am loving it!) - once again, I didn't make the cut, and I'm sure it had something to do with how completely inarticulate I was because I was so nervous.

My mother, sister, and grandmother are also going to be visiting me at the end of March/beginning of April, and I am SUPER psyched about that!!!! We are probably going to go to Annecy to spend some time in the north of Provence for the first few days of their visit. YAY!!!!


An Cafe
Oh, and also, AN CAFE, my absolute favorite visual kei band from Japan is going to be playing here in Paris the week before they come. I am more than beyond psyched about this, because I love love LOVE them.

Okay, that's all for now, folks. Be tuned next time for pictures and Valentine's Day with Guillaume!

So Little Time, So Much to Write

I don't know where all of my time has gone lately. Before Christmas, I feel like I just had non-stop free time for doing all of the lazy lounge around the house things that I do. If you asked me when I was free during the week, the answer would be "Whenever I'm not working." It's hard to say what's changed, but now I feel like I'm pretty much constantly "go go go." I'm even behind with Meg Cabot's blog, which pretty much never happens. I have three or four entries that I just haven't gotten around to reading. Is this some semblance of an active social life slowly creeping up on me with my noticing? I blame the Q-Link that my father gave me for Christmas. I have been wearing it every day since, and suddenly I have this endless well of energy. It's amazing. I have become a hardcore advocate.

Anyhow, today Guillaume and I are heading out to his parents's house for lunch and for hanging out with his brother, Romain, and Guillaume is mad at me right now because instead of getting ready I am putting pictures on my computer and listening to the New Kids on the Block.
So, in the coming future, I am absolutely going to try to bring this up to date so I can write about the small things.
What you guys have to look forward to:
Christmas with Guillaume
Neil visits
Margaret arrives
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK CONCERT

And that's all for now, folks!

Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas!
(click me to see all of the Christmas pictures)

After Sarah's wedding, it was home for some last minute Christmas shopping and a mega wrapping frenzy - it was supposed to be a Kristen/Audrey wrapping frenzy, but last minute plans with Mom to see Four Christmases (just the three of us - yay!), which, by the way, was fantastic, combined with other weird things made it so that we were very rarely actually wrapping together.

Christmas Eve ended up being quite sad this year, because Uncle Paul had been having some health problems, and so, for the very first time in my entire life, the Christmas Eve party at Aunt Betty's was canceled. It was SO sad. So we decided to go see the family Christmas movie (we saw Yes, Man) on Christmas Eve, since it was looking like there somehow wouldn't be time on Christmas day.

After dinner chez Dad and Tina, we headed out to Deville. I gave the boys their birthday gifts:


farting gnomes that, for some reason, sadly, don't fart.

and we all (all = Kristen, Russell, Miranda, Donald, Missi, Anthony, Tyrone, and me) packed ourselves into an upstairs room and watched "the Magic Snowman." It was late, so I think I unfortunately slept through quite a bit of it. :-( Kristen actually remembered it this year, though. YAY!!!! I really think that it should be the Christmas movie every year.

Then we woke up the next morning, and it was CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The siblings and I all exchanged gifts!


Have you seen this Killer?

Bob Marley



Then we woke up Mom (we actually woke up kind of late, since Kristen and I had to sleep with Anthony, and he kept crying and waking us up, and so Mom was just getting up when we got up), and it was time for stockings!

We had a great time opening presents, and I think we all LOVED everything we got! Mom also loved all of her presents! YAY! And for afterwards, she had made us a delicious breakfast - a quiche for the people that eat that kind of thing and delicious grits with fruit salad for those that don't (me). It was quite funny, because there were blackberries in the fruit salad, and Anthony kept pointing and thinking he wanted some. So we would give him one, and he would put it in his mouth and go "ew" and spit it out. Over and over again. Cute.


Christmas chez Mom


When we left Mom's, we headed out to Aunt Betty's to meet up with Dad and Tina. It was good to at least get to see her. Especially with all she was going through with Uncle Paul. Then we headed out to Dad's where the Christmas celebrations chez him began!

Dad and Tina modeling their new shirts


As usual, Dad got out the video camera, and he filmed us all being goofy entering. Anthony had a great time playing in Kristen's new boots. We had a fantastic time opening presents, and yet again, I think we were all super psyched about all of our new things! YAY for Christmas!!!!
I'm sad, though, because my camera started acting up towards the end, and so the last pictures are blurry, and there aren't very many of them. :-( Perhaps SOMEONE would like to send me there pictures (since I am being so good about posting all of my pictures so quickly - hm hm!)

After the celebrations around the Christmas tree, Tina had prepared us the most DELICIOUS dinner of beets and brocolli and cauliflower and risotto and asparagus and stuffed mushrooms and I'm sure there were other things as well that I'm just not remembering because of how pleasantly STUFFED I was afterwards.
Food, food, delicious food!

Anyhow, so that was Christmas with the Baker kids this year.
If you didn't click on the picture up top to see all of the pictures, click on on of the trees below!

Long time, no post

Yesterday morning, I made cinnammon rolls with a slight change from
this recipe. I didn't have any margarine, and thus the necessity for change. They were SO delicious - eaten with clementines; delectable! For anyone that hasn't eaten cinnamon rolls in a long time, I highly recommend them.

Anyhow, I know I know, it has been AGES since my last post. You guys had all probably given up on me. It's hard to post when I'm not at home with my own computer and everything. Never fear, though, I am back, and hopefully you can expect lots of posts in the coming future. To make up for my lengthy absence.

I suppose the first thing that I have to write about is Sarah's wedding. I arrived in New Orleans on a Thursday, and Chase picked me up from the airport. It was SOOOO good to see her. It had been AGES, and it was great finally getting to catch up with her and everything. We shared a hotel room, and it really felt like I got an old friend back. Unfortunately, I somehow ended up with no photos of us together. :-(


On Friday, Chase and I hung out and did a bit of shopping, and then Friday night was the rehearsal dinner. Luckily, Sarah had informed them that there would be a vegan, and so I had food. I got to hang out with all the other bridesmaids, and it was actually really cool to see Puja Verma (a girl who was at school with us from kindergarten to 8th grade) and Elizabeth Michelle (one of Sarah's good friends from boarding school with us). The dinner was lovely, in this really OLD New Orleans style restaurants, and lots of speeches were given. Sarah's dad gave this HILARIOUS speech about how Sarah desperately wanted a little sister, and so her mother had Bobby. I gave a speech about how I am sad that my name will no longer rhyme with her last name. It was hard for me, and I was ridiculously over nervous about it. It was especially cool, though, to get to hang out with Shaan and Bobby.

Then on Saturday Chase and I got lunch with Shaan and his girlfriend (whom I absolutely LOVED - I hope I'll get to hang out with her next time I'm home). Afterwards the I hung out with Sarah and the bridesmaids in her hotel room, helping her get ready.

Sarah, Audrey, and the other bridesmaids (Laura and Amanda missing)

Then my Mom arrived, and I was thrilled to discover that my dress looked like all the others (I had to get it special made because she chose a silk dress, and I don't wear silk). My mom did my hair and helped me to get ready (we put the dress on backwards first, and it took AGES to figure out what was wrong with it). I am SO glad that my Mom got to come to the wedding!!!! :-)
The wedding was beautiful, and then the reception was also fantastic. No one had been informed that there would be a vegan there, but I talked to the chef, and he worked something out for me, so I was able to eat. There was lots of dancing to Indian music, and Sarah came out dressed in her Mom's old wedding dress. Unfortunately, no pictures got taken on my camera of the wedding itself or of the reception, so I have none. :-(

The next morning, there was a brunch, and I spent the whole time hanging out with Shaan, Bobby, Bobby's friend, and Sam (Shaan's girlfriend), and I had a great time. Aside from the fact that I was starving because no one had mentioned that there would be a vegan, and even the salad was already covered with non-vegan croutons and bacon.
After the brunch, it was all over, and we headed on up to central Louisiana, and Sarah and Ravi headed off to India.


Mrs. Sarah Chaudhry Sangisetti and Mr. Ravi Sangisetti


So that was Sarah's wedding. Next time I write, I am psyched that it will get to be about CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love Christmas!

A couple last pictures to end this entry.



Audrey and Guillaume wearing Tihomir Marinkovic masks

It's that time again. . .

What time, you may ask?
The time to pull out the Christmas pajamas and the "Santa Loves A Southern Girl" t-shirt. The time to fill with glee at the sight of Christmas lights and to spend every free second Christmas shopping. The time to download every Christmas movie you can think of (or, if you live in the United States, to watch the 25 days of Christmas marathon on ABC Family) and talk your boyfriend into watching them with you (much to his unfortunate dismay).

It's CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!
Note: This picture was taken last year since I am presently too lazy to attach the camera to the computer to put more recent Christmasy pictures.

I know it's been time for all of those things for a while now, but I have been so busy dealing with my boss (who has been trying to forbid me to go home for Christmas - heh, yeah right!) that I've barely had a second to myself lately.
Happily, dealing with boss time is coming to an end, and this coming Thursday I am heading back to Louisiana for Sarah's wedding and then CHRISTMAS!!!! I am so excited I can barely control myself!
I have been doing some mega Christmas shopping lately, and I really hope that everyone is going to love their presents!!!!


Also, I think I completely forgot to post about it, but I DID indeed manage to finish my 50,000 word novel on time. I managed to be at 50,000 words two days early, even. I ended up with a finished novel at 57,084 words, but there are still a few gaps that I have to go back and fill in.
Oh yes, be proud of me. I'm proud of myself, even if it probably isn't anything worth reading.

the power of boiling water

I am a fan of boiling water for many reasons. The main of which is that when the heater in your apartment is broken and your apartment is thus freezing and the water is freezing, boiling water is great for bathing.

Yesterday, though, I discovered a new reason to love boiling water. Guillaume's sink in the bathroom was completely clogged up and unusable, and so he had started using mine about 2 weeks ago. My sink also very quickly clogged up, and we tried everything to unclog them, hoping to not have to resort to sending some horribly toxic and dangerous chemical down there.

We unscrewed the pipes and tried to clean in that way. No go. We bought a sink plunger. No go. We bought a natural pipe cleaner. No go. Finally, I was going to try putting some baking soda down there followed by white vinegar. But then we went out, and I forgot to buy white vinegar, so I decided, in the meantime, to just pour boiling water down the drain, and voili voilu,. . .
Guess what?
It WORKED! That was all it took - just pouring a little bit of boiling water down the drain. Now we have two totally unclogged sinks. Amazing!

In other news, Sarah's vegan Thanksgiving potluck was fantastic, and I ended up making the muffins that taste like donuts from the Vegan Vittles cookbook. They were a big hit.

Also, Guillaume and I celebrated our two year anniversary yesterday (a bit late, mais bon), and I am SO excited about my gifts!
I got these amazing hot pink shoes (that are unfortunately too big, but I'm working on getting the right size, so I'll post a picture as soon as that happens.
And then this super cool backpack:


I discovered today that it is actually waterproof, and this thrills me to no end.

And I got Guillaume this mask of Pan made by Tihomir Marinkovic, a Croatian mask maker. Isn't it awesome! I hope he likes it as much as he says he does.


To finish, YAY Christmas is coming!!!!