Swine flu and a new home

So first off...no, neither of us have gotten the swine flu, but I was pretty worried Sunday.

We moved in our new house successfully over the last few days. I guess I consider "successful" having less that 12 boxes still lingering around the house, most of the furniture in place and only a few broken or missing items. On Sunday morning Cyr woke up and was not feeling well. He had 101 temp and was down all day with fever spiking as high as 102.8 and dropping to around 100. At one point I was sure he was going to grow a curly tail and start rummaging through the garbage (this is my lame attempt at swine flu humor). I had him drinking chilled fluids like Gatorade and water and had a cold cloth to wipe him down with. I was almost ready to sink him in a bathtub of cold water when it began to drop. I was also considering the possibility of an emergency room visit.

His fever started at 7am Sunday and didn't get better until about midnight that night. Monday he woke up with no fever but feeling exhausted. His work (wisely) told him to stay home so that he would not be contagious when he returned. I think I missed it (cross your fingers) and feel lucky. He was so sad on the couch, poor fella.

So with the move, hooking up all the electricity, phone and internet along with Cyr's two sick days I have been a little absent. Oh, a few really cool things; I spoke with Steph on the phone. I didn't realize how much I really miss her, but it's a lot. In reality we really didn't have a long time to hang out and be friends, but I know I will always feel a special kinship with her. She was my English speaking buoy in the sea of alien France. Plus she is just a great person. Shout out to you in Canada Steph!! I have also had a job interview that wants to see me again next week plus a few others that are talking to me. Good sales people are wanted in this economy thank goodness. Now all I have to do is convince everyone I'm a good sales person. To be honest...I can't wait to use my brain again. I am chomping at the bit to talk to a client or potential client about anything...

Sorry I have been gone so long, but now I'm hooked up in Houston. ;-)

Expect Egypt pictures withing the week. As soon as I locate the cable to download them...

Back in H-Town

Well...after two weeks of being away from a computer, we are in Houston.

Egypt was AMAZING. We did a cruise down the Nile starting from Luxor and going to Asswan and back. We had 8 full days there with sun and nothing to worry about except making sure to meet the bus on time.

I'm currently trying to find the cable to download my pictures to my computer. With the move I can't find everything. Half of what I thought I brought with me I think the movers packed. Currently most of our belongings are on a ship sailing towards the port of Houston. They should reach here in about two or three weeks. Cyr's company has us in a corporate apartment until we find a place to live. I'm actually waiting for the Realtor now and going to look at some places.

I'll post about Egypt and the trip later, I thought I would write a little about leaving Lille today. I think I already miss it a little. Of course there are things here that I am so glad to be back with such as family, friends and customer service. Now it just seems that life is right here in your face for some reason. Everyone is talking about the crisis and loosing their jobs. It's a much more talked about thing than I thought. People are really worried. I am too now. I also came home to some jerk writing a check on one of my accounts that I just found our about when I opened a letter from a collection agency. Looks like I will spend tomorrow trying to get that sorted out. Then I guess I will find a job. English lessons anyone?

I miss my friends there like Steph, Flo and K. A quick tale about the move. The movers came to pack us up in Lille and things didn't go quite like they did here when they moved us from Houston. Here three guys showed up at 9am and the truck pulled away fully packed and headed for the container at 4:30pm. In Lille we had 5 or 6 guys show up at 9:30am, take a two hour lunch, leave at 5, come back the next morning to finish packing and finished up at around 4pm. So twice the people and twice the time.

I was going to end with that thought, but I find myself wondering what I am going to blog about after we move into our new home. We are thinking about having kids, but I don't really want this to be just a summary of my ovulation cycle. ::yawn:: I wonder if I will have anything to talk about. But then I think of some of my favorite blogs and they are written by people in Utah and Austin. For some reason I think I might just not be that interesting anymore. I guess we will see. Hope you stick around. Maybe something fun will happen. I still have Egypt posts after all. :-)

A quick week of travel

Many of you out there live away from your families, I know this because I stalk read many of your blogs. Even those of you that might live close to your family and friends can imagine what a trip home is like. Here is a brief overview of how my trips tend to go:

1. Before you leave you need to plan your time home. Who will you see what days? You might book lunches and dinners and movie times. Don't forget the family time.
2. Arrive feeling like you have actually walked to your destination as opposed to flying. While carrying your luggage of course.
   
3. Feel guilty that you have not made arrangements with more people than you have, so you try to blend a few groups together maybe. Or maybe not.
4. Feel bad that you didn't buy gifts for some people because you know just what they would like but it was raining/snowing all week and you didn't have the will power make the time to drive to the big grocery store.
5. Stand in amazement of how we functioned without cell phones once you arrive (because you don't have one). Sometimes I get a throwdown phone for the time I will be there just in case.
6. Make the rounds, wishing you had more time to visit family and just hang out and watch TV, because you actually REALLY like to do just that. Sometimes just being in the same room with family is what I miss the most.
7. Eat LOTS of Mexican food.
   
8. Board the plane home knowing you forgot to buy gifts for people that you should have.
9. Arrive feeling like you not only walked to France, but that that you had to push a cart with other people in it and swim across the Atlantic.

So I know many of you are thinking "oh I wouldn't do that, I would just let people know that I can't see them. Yes, I try to do that too. The problem lies in that I really DO want to see these people that I miss. So here is how my trip went this time:

1. Pack up a few gifts to take but see #1 above. We also packed clothes to leave in Houston because when we move we won't have our things for another 4 or 5 weeks. We plan to take our honeymoon after our things are shipped and leave two suit cases here; one for honeymoon and one for going back to Houston that we will pick up when we return from Egypt. I made a few phone calls and sent one or two emails but didn't plan much (which I am glad).
   
2. See #2 above, although after a good nights sleep it's not that bad when you fly west. Sunday morning we felt pretty good. Until I almost had a heart attack when the front desk lady handed me a note and told me there was a family emergency. Turns out it was a little serious, but my Dad will always tell me nothings wrong and he is fine (yes Dad, I am on to you and will still worry about you). He's at home now though and making a slow comeback.
3. Spent all day, I mean all day, Monday looking at rent houses. We found some we liked and decided to fill out applications for them.
4. Had dinner with my Mom and some friends throughout the week, even got to see my friend Missy, oops, Melissa (she is so grown up now) and her 4 week old baby. Hello there River!!
5. Waited until Thursday to get responses from house folks. Turns out both of the ones we liked found renters that would move in during the month of March. We really need May 1st but would pay for April 1st. We lost both of them.
6. Friday - stress a little about the housing thing but realize we can find a place when we get back. There is a ton of stuff on the market. Besides, maybe we should buy...prices are great and with the tax benefits Obama is talking about it could be good. Still have time to decide.
   
7. Friday night - go the Houston Rodeo Cookoff!! Rodeo is starting and the cookoff was going on . We had tickets to some booths and proceeded to stay out until 1:30AM. Then we ate at IHOP at 2AM. An American tradition...though Cyr didn't eat, maybe it is just an American thing...
8. Saturday - buy $25 Levi's for Cyr and $25 Converse for the beau-frere at Target. In France Levi's are about 100 euro and Converse can be found on sale for 60 euro. Crazy...should have bought some and sold them to my students.
9. I think I ate Mexican food 6 or 7 times. :-)
   
10. See #8 and 9 above.

I'm glad we went and I was able to see my Mom and Dad and Sandy (step Mom) and even my Aunt Mary. But the week was too short and we were so busy. Right now I'm recovering from jet lag and working this week at my Big School and tutoring three days. I need to start worrying about tax stuff and get that all to my cousin...sorry Sally!!

Looks like my days here are numbered. I have a friend coming in from the 12th to the 20th and we are trying to schedule the movers for right after she leaves. Then we will have our honeymoon, come back to France for one day, pick up Duncan and fly to Houston to live in a hotel for a few weeks until we find a place.

Oh...and on the flight back Duncan (cute little black cat) is going to ride in the cabin with us because he so small. I'm a little worried about this. We are going to the vet to get some Kitty Quaaludes to make him sleep, but this will be a 13-15 hour trip for him if you include the train ride from Lille and time to get to the hotel in Houston. I was told to put a shoebox with litter in it in his bag so he could do his business in it if he needed. Anyone out there have to make a long trip with a cat in a bag? I decided this week he is going to take some field trips in it around Lille to practice. I don't want him freaking out too much. Any advice is welcomed, please post a comment if you know of something!

Live from H-Town

Surprise!!!

We took a last minute trip to Houston, courtesy of Cyr's work, to search for a house. I guess it's really happening...we are moving.

We got in late Saturday. Sunday at breakfast the receptionist walked up and said a message was left for me and that there was a medical emergency. Well crap.

Turns out it was my Dad. Nothing serious thank goodness, but he is still in the hospital and should get out tomorrow. We have been so busy with family and house hunting and his work stuff that I have not gotten to do a lot of things I was hoping to do.

So I am going to post this short note to say "I'll write soon!" and then go and fill out rental applications for homes here.

A+!!

PS - We miss you Duncan!!! Thanks S and F for baby sitting. We WILL notice if he is not there when we return. ;-)

Hurricane Ike

As most of you have read, I am a Houstonian transplant here in Lille, France. Most of my family in friends live in Houston and are now either weathering the aftermath of Ike without electricity or have scampered off to other cities to avoid the hassle.

From the looks of the pictures I have seen in the news and the internet, Galveston was just devastated. It sounds like my family is alright though. My Mom went to San Antonio and is staying with friends. I hope she stays there for the rest of the week at least. Word is my little pink house has survived without any obvious damage. Everything I read says that roads are blocked with trees, electricity is out in most of the city, gas is scarce, ice is rare and some fo the stores are price gouging and selling bags of potato chips for $10. Bastards...

Dad, Sandy and my half brother Ralph weathered the storm at their house that is about 30 minutes north of Houston. They lost electricity on Saturday and have been told it could be 3 or 4 weeks before it is turned on. Everyone clap your hands for propane grills and my step-mothers propensity to pack her freezer for a two month shut in! Sandy's son is coming down all the way from Minnesota with a generator that they can use to power the garage apartment. And yes, they are smart enough to ventilate it so they don't all die from carbon monoxide poisoning. So far one child has died because his parents put the generator in the garage.

I hope everyone I know and love is safe. So far everyone I have emailed with or spoken too has just missed the worst. Two houses on my Dad's street were badly damaged with trees coming through the roves. I'm so glad his house is ok, with his healing broken arm and other things I don't know how he could have handled it! Thank goodness Ralph is there to help out. He is such a great guy. I have tons of photos and plan to blog everyday this week to tell you all about the fun things I did last week, but I don't feel right boasting about my good times today when so many are having to worry about their lives right now back home in Texas.

My prayers are with you all in the affected areas. I especially hope the Torres family in Groves (Port Neches) is ok, I think you guys were in a pretty hard hit area.

Hugs from Lille...

A Texas Weekend

Well, the weekend has come to an end, but it's been a good one. I leave this Thursday and had a crazy amount of things to get done over the last week, and I think I accomplished most of them. I saw my Dad last week and will see him again tomorrow, and then Saturday I saw my brother. Ralph is my half brother and is 15 years older than me. Actually, I think that is about the same age difference that Cyr has with his younger brother C (I don't put his name here because I have not asked him if that is ok and I wouldn't want to offend him). Cyr and his brother are very close and get along great. Ralph and I get along great, we just don't see each other often enough. We never lived in the same house growing up, and with the age difference our lives were just pretty different. But Saturday we made the effort, went out and had a great time.

It was really fun! We went to eat Mexican food then went country western dancing. He loves to dance and is a really good two stepper. I love to dance too and am pretty good as well. I'll dance to anything; two-step, polka, waltz, whatever! It's great going with Ralph because we always have someone to dance with. Just to answer some of those thoughts people have...NO, we do not line dance in Texas. Why people think line dancing is actual dancing is beyond me, I just think it's so funny! Last summer when Cyr and I went to visit his mother and brother we saw a group of people wearing t-shirts with American flags on them that were line dancing to country music outside of a restaurant. It was the evenings entertainment. It was pretty funny actually, apparently they traveled and did this dance thing! I think Cyr's mom took some pictures, I should ask her to email them to me so I can post them. Right now I'm trying to study a little French so I can send her an email in French without looking like an idiot. She is really nice though, I'm sure it wouldn't be a big deal if I messed it all up. I'll probably email Cyr to check it first though, just in case...

Weathering the Storm

Well the hurricane, or tropical storm as it turned out to be, was a complete dud. There was a little rain, but that was about it. All the news stations were extremely excited about this potential threat and canceled all the programming and would show different newbie meteorologists around town who would give reports. Most went like this:

This is (whoever) reporting from north Houston and as you can see...it's raining. I want you to look at the water gathering here so you can get an idea of how much is coming down. (Camera then focuses on a water puddle no more than half an inch deep.) As you can see, there is water gathering here, it's even running through the streets into the storm gutters. Back to you guys in the station.

Since the whole Catrina/Rita thing no one wants to be caught underestimating any sort of disaster I guess. Most businesses were closed, many of them closed the day before to let people get their homes prepared for the storm. The signs on the freeway blinked "Storm forming in Gulf, fill your gas tanks". It was all very exciting for a while! Having been through a few big storms I'm glad it fell apart and turned out to be only a light rain, but I wish the media would have stopped trying to sensationalize the day of not-so-bad effects.

Today I'm going to try to find wedding invitations. I found some that I love, but when they told me they would be $700 for 100 of them I had to laugh. People...really...it's paper. What a racket this wedding thing is! Everything is crazy expensive. So I'm off to find some acceptable invitations today (if such a thing does in fact exist). Is it tacky to send an evite?

Showers, Wedding and Tropical Storm

I had my first wedding shower!! I know these things are totally dorky, that they are typically only fun for the bride, but hey, I'm the bride! It was mostly family there, but my Mom and cousins who threw the shower know some friends of mine so a few friends were invited as well. It was so interesting to see all these people mix together.

So in case you don't know, I have a very eclectic group of friends and family. Many people may say this, but I'm actually serious. Many of my friends are not friends with each other, and many of my family members don't really talk to each other. Time goes by and you build your life around a few people and before you know it, you have not spoken to someone in three years. It happens. You don't mean it to, but it happens. Maybe this is why I was so touched that all these people from different parts of my life showed up.

I had childhood friends like Brandy, my high school representative Missy, college was Amanda then came present day with Lori and Shari. Family was represented from not only my mother's side, but from cousins on my Dad's side like Pam and Cheryl. Friends I have known my whole life like Courtney and Susan B. Most of these people don't know each other, some of them came alone, not knowing who would be there. But they were there. They came to this strange place to sit around and talk to people they don't know because they care about me. Or at least that is what I like to think. It doesn't sound like much, but maybe if you take in the whole thing it really was. They did this little thing for me, just for me. It wasn't convenient, it wasn't a promise of fun, just a promise that it would mean something to me. And it did. Thank you all that came. Sorry to all that my family didn't know to invite. There will be other times for you to sacrifice and show your love to me! Just kidding...I hope...

I can't help but reflect on family and friends right now. To think of all the things that I know I have been upset about in the past and to I know that most of those things are trivial. Maybe someone made a bad decision in the past, but today, right now, if they are here for me, how can I fault them? Maybe some things can not be forgiven, but maybe some can. As I have all these sentimental thoughts of how I love all my family and friends, I am watching the news off an on.

"Welcome Home Susan!" screams every channel. There is a hurricane set to hit Houston tomorrow morning and all you hear about on tv or radio is about Hurricane Edouard. Nice spelling eh? Must be some weather guy's relative. The channel we are watching now is running an "Eye on the Gulf" all night. How exciting. Yeah, I pick a week to come home, and it's a good one eh? Well at least I got to know again that feeling of walking into a store and having all the water and batteries gone. The comradery of those walking the aisles with glances that say; "Hey man, I'm with you. I ain't leaving town. We can't take this storm. I'm on your team." So here I sit with my Mom, a few gallons of water in the other room, a few snacks just in case. Hoping that my little pink house doesn't blow away. I may not be able to blog tomorrow as we might loose power, but hey, at least when I can, it will probably be a good one. With the temperature right now at about 100-102 F (37-38) it's going to be a fun time if we loose electricity. No AC, don't mess with me...

Cross your fingers and hope it (Edouard) dies out. Ever since Rita it just seems that people freak out when the wind picks up, so I don't know if I should be worried or not. They are not evacuating, so I guess we are ok. The latest says that Houston should get the brunt of the storm about 7pm Tuesday night. So maybe I should cancel that dinner and drinks at 5:30 eh?

Good ol' Texas

Well I made it back from Lille all the way to Houston. It was a long trip, but not too bad. Although I did have a Delta flight from Paris to Atlanta and the plane was not exactly new. Example: it had ashtrays in the arm rests. No kidding! The crazy thing was that it also had the little tv's in the back of the seats with a version of on demand movies and things. I say a "version" because they had the movies showing in intervals and you had to time when you started them. I only know this because I read this, I couldn't actually see the movies because the movie part on my little tv was broken. But back to my original thought; wow, they must have updated the seats with the tv's I guess because surely there was never a time when you could smoke on a flight and have your own tv.

I could however get the tv series. I skipped the Friends and Simpsons and watched CSI. It was a really good one, some guy was murdered and the killer made a miniature copy of the entire scene. Even used the vic's (like that use of the word "vic" as in "victim"? I know my stuff eh?) own blood inside the miniature of the room to duplicate the scene. I was involved and was glad it was a two parter because it ate the time. That is until I realized that they were not showing the second part. DAMN DELTA. I watched that stupid show 3 times hoping that maybe by some small miracle that the part II would show. Never happened. I think that might be because the small miracle was that my head did not explode due to the cabin pressure combined with a sinus infection.

When the lovely Delta plane landed (medium sized miracle) in Atlanta the first thing I did was find a place to buy antihistamines and Afrin. This purchase made the flight to Houston a little less painful. Flying west always seems so much easier. I don't sleep on the flight and by the time I get home it's time to go to bed so the next day I wake up and feel relatively normal. Today I had to drive around and do a few errands. I must say, after doing the little driving I have done in France, I am a brave and bad ass driver here now. Especially in my (I know it's cliche, but it does get good gas mileage) 4-runner. I probably won't get hurt, and I have insurance. Watch out all you crazy suburban drivers. I ain't scared...

Home at last!!

I'm back in Lille...yeah!! Don't get me wrong, I loved my visit home, but a month was just way too long to be away from Cyr. I did get a chance to see almost all of my family and friends though. Somehow it all still seemed rushed, especially at the end. Then again, I am that person who if given 6 weeks to do a project will wait until two days before to begin. Long deadlines are just unrealistic. Just tell me the week before and I will actually work a little everyday. As you can guess, I slacked off up front then had to try to cram everything into the last 4 days. It was nuts but fun.

The trip home was good, PLUS...my Mom came back with me for a nine day visit!! We boarded the plane in Houston and I was a little worried to be honest. I have a friend who flew Air France a few months ago back from Paris and her flight was horrible. So bad that her sister fainted in the aisle it was so hot, crazy eh? So I board and am prepared to live up to the "pushy American" label and do hand to hand combat with the flight attendants if needed. I purchased the tickets with miles and they were assigned seats that were both aisles with me in front and Mom in back of me. I didn't change the seats because I knew we needed to sleep on the flight so that we could fend off the jet lag as much as possible and if she were next to me I would probably talk her ear off. That didn't matter much though...you see we were on a new plane and we each had our own direct tv thing to pick out movies and such. I was 15 minutes into Juno prior to take off! Because of my intense curiosity and need to be entertained I couldn't help but watch a few movies, then they came around with the free wine and it was over. I watched Juno (loved it), 27 Dresses (cute but predictable), The Golden Compass (good time filler but not great) and Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis with English subtitles (I saw this in the theater but it was so good I saw it again. Love it!). So I think I got in about 30 minutes sleep. Mom didn't sleep much either. Without being able to doze off the flight seemed a little long but it was the typical 9 hours and a few minutes. There was some turbulence but the flight was great other than the pilot clicking on to wake us all up and let us know there was turbulence and to fasten our seat belts. Really? Come on man, shut up and let us sleep, if some idiot feels the turbulence and still insists on going to the bathroom he will probably get some bad splash of unknown bacteria and that in itself would be punishment enough.

The only entertaining part was our arrival and trip to Lille. Cyr came down with what I think was strep throat the day before we took off. He was so sick he went to the doctor. He has never been to the doctor since I have known him so this was a sign he was really pretty darn sick. I told him not to worry about picking us up and that we would take the train to Lille and he could pick us up from the train station there. Besides, Mom has never been on a train, you get to see the country side and it's only one hour direct as opposed to a two hour car ride. I guess it would not have been that bad if not for the bags. When I came over I left a lot of my summer clothes (we do so have summer in northern France, stop that!) and wanted to bring them back with me. Mom was good and got all her clothes in one bag, so I took her second carry on and had two of my own. Total we had 3 roller bags, a duffel and two carry ons. Traveling light? Not so much.

Arrival in Paris was quick an easy. Completely opposite of US customs. It took us less than 30 minutes to get our passports stamped and get our luggage. Once we have everything loaded onto a push cart we find our way to the train station in the airport to get tickets to Lille. I cannot thank Charles de Gaul enough for providing free push carts. Brilliant!! In the US they charge for the use (damn capitalism). It took a bit of wrestling but we found the ticket area. Unfortunately there are like 4 places to buy tickets at with multiple windows. There are local tickets, international and I have no clue what else. I decide the information line is shorter that waiting for a ticket in the wrong line so I line up with all the other Americans and find out where I should go. Glad I asked, I was totally eying the wrong lines. After our tickets are purchased we meet an American Army Veteran who is going to Normandy for a reunion. No kidding. This guy was 83 years old and hopping around the airport by himself looking for his train to Lille where he was meeting a friend. Turns out good old Travis was a medic during the war and was at Normandy. I had an uncontrollable urge to hug him, which I did when we parted later that day. Travis was on a first class train (check him out, traveling in style) and was not sure how to locate his train and car and all that good stuff. I felt so cultured knowing how to help him! I got to help someone in France! Actually two people because a girl heard me explaining and asked if I could help her as well. Damn, when I get depressed I should go to the train station and help people find their trains. That's better than therapy. Some unknowing travelers are so nervous and scared when they can't figure things out that when you help them it's as if you have come up with a solution to removing the troops or something.

I get our crew (Mom and Travis) and we wait for our platform to be announced. I check the gate numbers so I know where to head when it pops up. Got it! Number 3! We head to the gate, crap. Stairs. We have 6 pieces of luggage, I can't do stairs. I break into a sweat. French people are rarely on time, but French trains are almost always on time. Feet begin tapping when they are 3 minutes late. I tell Mom to stay up and I will take the bags down. Uhh...I made one trip and then began looking for an elevator. I find one, Travis is watching the one bag I left on the platform. I make Mom practically jog to the elevator and then we wait there huffing. We just waited an hour for the train, please don't let us miss it. After what seems like 20 minutes we get to our platform. By this time I fairly certain that Travis was in fact a disguised drug dealer and has hidden crack, heroin or both in my rolly bag. We arrive on the platform and I see him waiting for us with my bag. I eye him suspiciously but can't see how he could have fit the crack or heroin in my already stuffed bag. We haul our stuff to where car #5 should arrive, I show Travis where his car #1 will be and we wait. The train is 5 minutes late, French toes are tapping. Mom and I plan the attack on the train; she will go on and get the seats, I will toss up the bags and get them stowed. The train arrives, plan goes to hell, I hand up bags to Mom, we get in everyones way but get them all on. We find our seats and the train is pulling away before I can get Cyr's suit stowed. Oh yeah, I also had a suit for Cyr that he had altered. Damn...glad I got the bags on. We then sit and enjoy the ride. We never see Travis again and turns out I am not a drug mule after all. He gave us his card to keep in touch or if we needed to buy/sell property. He sells real estate now to fill his time and seems to be doing really well at it. I mean who wouldn't want to list property with with him or buy something from him? He seems like the most honest man in the world. I mean, your grandfather wouldn't screw you out of an extra 15% would he? Especially a war hero grandfather. I dunno...Travis was traveling first class now that I think of it. Ha...

Here are a few pictures from my last post.
The cutest pregnant woman in the world, my friend Jen in LA in her bikini:

Famous Me:

I'll post pics about Mom's visit next time.
Have a great day!
Love you Dad and will call you later!

I love LA

Or at least the few days I spent there with my friend Jen!! I don't know how everyone else is, but I have very few friends that I feel like I can actually just exhale and be myself around. I don't have to be guarded about what I think or say, I can just be honest. That's Jen. She lets me just be me, and she still seems to love me, though I can't see how sometimes. I have known Jen since I was 2 and she was 3. We were neighbors when my family lived in San Antonio. Maybe it's all the years of knowing me that have toughened her to my personality.

With my life all crazy right now with trying to think about a wedding (more about that later), getting paperwork done, trying to deal with money (or lack of), visitation schedules for friend and family and all kinds of other things, it was nice to visit someone else's life. Jen and her husband Jay just bought their first house and are busy working with a contractor to make some changes and decorate. She is also getting a masters degree in holistic nutrition AND is pregnant with her first baby. She has a full plate. We did things like shop for maternity clothes (gotta love a size 2 pair of maternity jeans), look at things for the new house and also were able to fit in a quick touristy visit to Hollywood Boulevard. We even had lunch with Lauren Graham from Gilmore Girls. What I mean by that is we were eating at the same sushi restaurant that she was. I also got some pictures by my favorite Hollywood star that we passed. Of course I can't find the cable to download my photos right now so I'll have to add them later....grrrrr....

I have been back in Houston a few days and now I'm headed to Lake Travis for a family weekend. It's been nice being home in Houston and seeing my friends, but I have to say, I'm ready to go back to Lille. I miss Cyr and seem to be easily frustrated and upset by everything that goes wrong. I don't think I'm normally this grumpy. Maybe it's just today that seems completely irritating. Oh well, only 12.5 hours left until it's Saturday. I'll post photos later.

A few days in Kerrville

I've been in Kerrville, TX for the last few days enjoying my cousins Lisa and Mark and their two girls Asher and Cate. They are so great, they own and run an ice pack business called Ice-Ease. They are super great, click the link or go to www.ice-ease.com and order a few if you live in the US. They saved my knee after my surgery and are great for all kinds of injuries. One of the things I love about the packs is that Lisa and Mark actually make them there in Kerrville. No kidding...they have all these crazy machines that mix the blue stuff, seal the bags then they ship them off. Made in the USA and a family business, you don't see that often these days.

So anyway...I had the best time!! We did all kinds of fun things all weekend long. We went to a wildflower farm and looked around. Cyr has asked me how they can be wildflowers if they are raised on a farm. The only witty comeback I can think of is that maybe the flowers are not wild as in not domesticated, they are wild as in they really like to party and if you look closely they really sway pretty seductively when the wind blows. That's all I got for a response. The picture isn't that great, but you can get an idea of how the flowers looked.

It's just so Texas; the flowers, the cows in the background. I love it. We also went to three softball games. Both of the girls play softball and Lisa coaches Asher's team while Mark coaches Cate's. Too bad they are not very involved parents eh? Haha...the girls did great, both got good hits and had a great time.

On Sunday we picked strawberries and even dug up potatoes at a farm! Well, Asher was the farmer of the bunch and used a pitchfork to pull up the potatoes and Lisa and I gathered them up to take home. It was really fun to be outside doing something with the family.

They also had blackberries but they were not quite ready to be eaten yet. Guess I will have to go back another time to get those. You can see here how the strawberries grow in rows on the ground. They are such a bright red when they are ripe that you can't help but taste test a few while you are picking. As Lisa said; it's a good thing they didn't weigh Cate and I before and after the picking session. We would have owed a lot more for our strawberries. I'm fairly certain I consumed more than I donated to the family box.

We ended the day with a trip to Coopers BBQ in Llano, TX. This place is amazing...check out the grill! You order the meat you want and they plop it on a tray that you take in to be weighed where you pay. If you want it with sauce they dunk in the huge vat at the end of the pit and then plop it on the tray.

Sunday night ended with a concert by Cate and Asher that included dancing and singing. Very entertaining I must say.

The girls are so fun to be around, I'm going to miss them when I leave for France. It's funny, it's not like I saw them very often when I lived here, but the option was there. If I wanted to make the drive I could do it, now it's a bit more difficult to visit.
I leave Thursday for LA to visit Jen, the first friend I ever made. We met when I was 2 and she was 3. We were neighbors in San Antonio. Can't wait to see her!! Hope everyone had a good Mother's Day.
Love you Mom!!

Houston and a dress

I have been back in Houston for a week now. So far most of my time has been spent with Cyr and friends going to dinner and catching up. I have not really spent a lot of time with my family, but since I am going to be here until June 2nd I still have time.

It's funny, I used to hear people talk about how cheap things are in the US, now I am one of those people. I just a conversion of what gas costs in Lille versus Houston. Gas/diesel fuel is sold by the liter and if you convert it to US dollars and gallons it comes out to...uh...$8.20 a gallon for gas in France right now. That is why they all walk and take public transportation! It's also why most of the cars are small and get like 50 miles to the gallon I guess. I also think clothes are cheaper here too.

Speaking of clothes...I bought a wedding dress!! Once again I have confirmed that I am buyer. I typically know what I want and then just buy it when I find it. I don't take 2 months to research things and compare the best price. I can't believe people will spend 3 months buying a car only to save $300. That's like 50 cents a month or something. So I went to Ventura's in the Heights thinking it would be super tacky but I wanted to take a look anyway. I walked in and sure enough, loud dresses and a few wedding dresses. Then a woman says; "oh no, our wedding section is in the back!" She takes me into this HUGE room with nothing but wedding dresses. It was really strange to pick through them. I pulled 6 and tried them on. I narrowed it down to 2 and held them so my Mom could help me choose. Both were beautiful, but I went with the first dress I tried on which was also the first one I pulled. The second was gorgeous and was beautiful on, but I felt like I was playing dress up. I'm not a princessy type of girl, so the beading and shiny things looked like it was made for someone else. Both my Mom and my Aunt Mary (who cried, awe!) agreed; the dress I chose looks like it was made for me. I also bought my veil. There were a few other girls there trying on dresses when I was there. They all looked like they should have been dressing for prom as opposed to a wedding. So young!! It was so fun trying on dresses. Makes you want to get married more than once. To the same person of course. :-)

This weekend I am going to visit my cousin in Kerrville and get some good Texas time in. I'm also going to try to find shoes and am hoping to visit my new cousin Colton as well. I was so sick I didn't want to expose him to the petri dish of germs I probably had all over me last week.

Cyr left on Saturday to head back to Lille. Sunday I went with a friend to an Astros game and had a great time. I cried during the National Anthem, ate a hot dog and sang during the 7th inning stretch. It all felt so American. In a fantastic way. Being back makes me miss Houston a little. It really is a great city, you just have to work a little harder to find things to do here. Not like Austin where fun is right in your face and you just stumble over great things to do. I'm not ready to come back just yet though, I'm really looking forward to getting back to Lille and speaking more French.

UPDATE ON V'S FAMILY
My friend V's house was struck by lightening and the house along with both of their cars were completely destroyed. Currently the family is in the process of moving into a rent house and trying to buy clothes and things for the kids (two boys age 3 and 5) to wear to school and other items needed for everyday life. Thank you to all that have emailed me to ask about how to help out. Right now they said the easiest way to help would be in the form of a gift card. If you would like to help, just email me or post and I can send you an address you can send a gift card to. Anything from groceries, clothing, home depot or even gas cards I'm sure would be welcomed. Thanks to everyone for offering help. I hope none of you are ever in her position, but if you are just know that people do come together to help.