Something fun that my guy and I like to do together is watching movies. We don't really have any of the same hobbies besides this. I like hiking and skiing and running and taking walks and reading. He isn't into those things. He thinks hiking is a strange thing to do and can't ski or run because of his multiple knee surgeries. I occasionally get him to come for a walk with me but let's face it... that's very rarely. So, the one thing that we can do together is watching movies and we both love that. Since we like spending time together, we watch a lot of movies. This would seem like a terrible habit to have because we spend a lot of time indoors, but in a city that is constantly covered in clouds and plagued with precipitation, it isn't a completely abnormal hobby to have.
I could make a list of 100 movies that we love, but I think I will save your time and mine by giving you a little list of the movies we have watched recently that we really liked.
Here it is (as I thought of them, in no particular order)
The Next 3 Days
Loosies
crazy. stupid. love.
Limitless
50/50
Soul Surfer
Drive
Colombia
The Help
Sarah's Key (read the book before... couldn't put it down)
In other news, I have some pictures to share from my week at home in NJ. All of these pictures are with my family <3 Check out the baby's face!!!
These are the words these couples said to each other, and they meant it. Check out this article by Huffington Post. It is precious and the kind of story that gives me hope. With divorce rates so high (around 50% in the USA), it is discouraging to think that maybe marriages aren't meant to last forever. Maybe marriage is a fleeting moment of happiness until the next best thing comes along. When did it get like this? Nowadays, it is so easy for people to give up and divorce. When I hear about people divorcing I think, did you try?, what about the children?. What happened to for better or for worse? Until death do us part? I guess people write their own vows now saying things like "Until I find someone smarter, more romantic, better looking, richer, funnier, more compatible..." Who knows.
P.S. Did you hear that there will now be Huff Post France and Anne Sinclair will be the editorial director? Looking forward to this!
There are so many things that I want to write about that have been happening in recent weeks. I have this little list of topics waiting to be put to use. The problem is that my parents bought me a Kindle for my birthday in December. I have not been able to put it down. I love to read and being here in France, it's been very difficult to find books in English. Well, actually it's been impossible. The only books I can find are the super cliché ones we have all already read. Thus, I haven't been reading and have really missed it.
I had just been saying to my mom when she picked me up from the airport that some sort of tablet would be a really good solution for me. Little did I know, they had already purchased me one which was waiting at home to be opened.
My Kindle Fire is so amazing. I am able to take it with me everywhere. It lights up so I can read it while in bed without needing a light. It has WiFi so I can look up recipes and with its vibrant colors I can enjoy the amazing images along with them. It is small and easy to sit right in my kitchen as I cook (I was previously lugging my MacBook around the kitchen with me). The battery lasts for a long time, too.
I have just finished reading two Nicholas Sparks books - Safe Haven and Best of Me. Before that I read Sarah's Key which was AMAZING and very moving story about the round-up of Jews in France *done by the French) during WWII. It is something that French people never talk about and also something that many of us don't even know about. I have been simultaneously reading What French Women Know which is a comparison of the lifestyles of French women and American women.
I look forward to reading many more books and will soon download apps such as The New York Times.
This is such an amazing gift for someone being far from the world of English books. You have to purchase the books through Amazon which is why the Kindle Fire is so reasonably priced compared to an iPad. However, all of the books, magazines, music, and movies are super affordable as compared to buying paperbacks or hardcovers. Also, for someone constantly moving, lugging books around gets tiring and keeping them all together in one little device is genius.
Well, I'm off, but I'll try to keep in better touch!
P.S. Saw J. Edgar Hoover at a theatre last weekend and it was really good. We love, love, love watching movies and I should get around to compiling a little list of some of the ones we recommend. Ta Ta for now!
I just love a Monday like this. I was organized and had my clothes ready the night before. I woke up in time to have a cappuccino before leaving the house. I had the time to primp and thus felt great leaving the house. AND, when I walked outside, it was sunny and magnificent (although freezing!).
Now that is surely the best way to start the morning. Usually, I am a very unorganized, unpunctual person. I am always running around like a chicken with my head cut off. As prepared as I think I am, I am always sliding by at the eleventh hour. I don't know what it is - but I can never get my butt in gear to get out the door. As much time as I think I have, every single day I end up running out of the house like a bat out of Hell. Today just wasn't one of those mornings. A new day!?! WOOOOO!!
It's 2:15. I've worked for 5 hours and gone food shopping! This is just an incentive to try to be more organized. It is one of my favorite feelings to be somewhere on time (early is too much of a dream) and put together. However, I rarely get to feel this feeling. I think I will make it one of my New Year's resolutions.
As far as New Year's Resolutions are concerned, I really didn't have the chance to think about that or to make any goals for myself. With the death of my Uncle and my travels and then trying to get back in the swing of things and then spending the weekend trying to tie up all the loose ends, I haven't had the time to sit, reflect, and set some new goals.
Some wonderful things did happen in 2011 but let me put it this way : I'm happy it's over. I think that 2012 is a wonderful opportunity for a fresh start.
If 2011 wasn't your best year, then move on. It's over. There is nothing you or I or anyone can do now. Things happen for a reason, and perhaps through all the bad, we can make some good out of it. We are where we are today because of actions and choices that have brought us here. All we can do is seize the day. Carpe diem. We are here. We are now. Make the best of it. As Leon would say (Curb Your Enthusiasm), "Turn that shit around." 2012: Let's do it!!!!
What are your New Year's resolutions?
My New Year's Resolutions:
1. being punctual
2. being happier (more positive)
3. being more organized
4. controlling my anger
5. stop sweating the small stuff
6. saving (hence not spending so much) money
7. paying off a big chunk of my college loans
8. buying (not renting) an apartment
9. being better at calling friends and family (not all my communication should be done through e-mail and Facebook)
10. becoming fluent (!!!!) in French
11. SO I can start my dream job (rather than teaching English forever)
12. losing my last 6-8 pounds
13. taking up a hobby
14. getting on a routine of exercising and sticking to it
15. running another marathon
16. actually making progress with les écoliers du partage / friends across borders (see #10 - if I can become confident enough to make calls in French, then I could really be more useful with this) 17. visit new places
I had done a lot of work planning a bridal shower. I had researched online, scoured the Internet for inspiration, and then bundled all this information together via a folder on my desktop.
It was something I was having so much fun with and was very excited to bring together. Unfortunately, I won't get to live out this little dream of mine. I became a little piece of the puzzle and eventually my piece wasn't needed. It was decided that the date planned wouldn't work and the date was changed (way too much money to change my already booked flight). At first, I was heartbroken by this, but obviously, it wasn't meant to be.
I was excited not only for the decorating and cooking and crafting, I was excited to be the Maid of Honor that would get to write in the little notebook what everyone purchased for the glowing bride. I was excited to be there every step of the way. I was excited to help make that silly hat of bows and ribbons that the bride would wear... but I'm no longer crying over spilled milk.
I will have to keep this information for one day in the future - perhaps my own sister's bridal shower!!!
I still wanted to share my inspiration since I did have so much fun with it.
I wanted the feeling to be very intimate. Thus, I felt having the event in a beautiful home would have been much better than in some stuffy, impersonal atmosphere. The setting would have been my Aunt and Uncle's AMAZING home (I was delighted when my Aunt said YES! to having the event at her home). The home is beautiful inside and out (panoramic views of the Manasquan River). check it out!
I wanted to keep the decorations intimate and romantic by including beautiful colors, flowers, textures, candles, and cute extras (like the I Do cupcakes below). The food would have been just as wonderful!
Jet-lag is seriously such a killer. My eyelids were so heavy today! It's only Tuesday and I am already looking forward to the weekend. I need to catch up on so many things - work, cleaning, UNPACKING, rest... I just need a few spare moments when my eyelids aren't so heavy to get my life together.
You know that feeling when you feel like you're forgetting something...? That's how I feel when my things aren't organized and arranged and in order. I'm experiencing a whole lot of that right now.
I also really need some catch-up time with my guy who has been so wonderful through all of this!
So life has been crazy these past two weeks. My Uncle (who was like a brother to me) unexpectedly died. I flew home the next flight out. The time was wonderful spent with family but it was so busy. Every day was filled with running a million errands and every evening was spent with the whole extended family. I had to make a collage for the services and prepare and practice the eulogy. There wasn't enough time in the day - pair that with jet-lag and just being sad about the circumstances, it was a hard time. I was so happy to be with my family through this time and really would have regretted it if I didn't fly home. As upset as we all were, it was amazing to ring in 2012 with my whole family together. We aren't often all together in the same country let alone the same state. The circumstances that brought us together were and still are heartbreaking, but it was a wonderful time with family, regardless.
My Mom, "a snowbird", now spends her winters in my parent's condo in Florida. She had already planned to leave the day after the services. She was going to cancel but my Dad convinced her that she should still go. She didn't feel right about the whole thing since I would be home and there were still a lot of loose ends with dealing with death stuff - so my Dad said, "What if Kaylan flies down with you? Would you do that, Kay?" Well, I don't know anyone that would turn down a trip to Florida.
After the services and the gathering after, my Mom and I headed home and packed our bags for Florida. We left early the next morning. I spent Tuesday afternoon through Saturday morning with her there. We had such a great time. I ate a lot of yummy fish sandwiches and coconut shrimp and cajun fries. We made homemade guacamole with freshly picked (huge) Florida avocados. We had a lot of time to talk and read and shop and to relax!! It went by too fast.
Saturday morning I was flying home after one last apple strudel sitting by the water. I flew directly to the airport in Atlantic City where my Dad picked me up. We stopped for a late lunch, and then we drove to the airport in Newark where he unloaded me and I was off to Europe.
I had one of those crazy, exhausting trips. I just about missed my flight as I went to the wrong terminal. I was bringing my skis with me and a huge suitcase and a rolly carry-on as well as a big overnight bag. After discovering I was in the wrong terminal, I had to lug all 4 of those bags to an elevator then to an air tram then to another elevator and then to the Continental check-in desk. I, of course, at to redistribute the weight in my overweight bag which really made me angry. The bag is allowed to be 50 lbs. I had to pay $70 for an extra bag (the skis) that weighed like 20 lbs. Doesn't it seem like my bag weighing 60 lbs should be OK then considering I actually paid for more weight? No, so there I was unloading everything while sweating and freaking out because it was now 35 minutes before my flight was leaving and I hadn't gone through security yet.
I arrived at the gate just as the last few stragglers were piling on the plane. I had a layover in Paris and then for some odd reason (booking a last minute flight) I had to go to Frankfurt and then back to Switzerland/France. By the time I got home last night, I had been traveling for more than a day.
Am I exhausted today? Yes. Was it all worth it? Yes. I'll share some pics tomorrow.
we have been numb here from the loss of my uncle. he was only 47. today we had the services for him and were overwhelmed by the more than 300 people sitting in the pews of the church. my aunt and i each wrote and read a piece of the eulogy. people laughed and people cried. i laughed and i cried. it is never easy to lose someone, but there is something about sadness bringing people together that always warms my heart. i hope that wherever my uncle is, he was able to see how loved he was and how missed he is.
what i'm listening to right now: (my dad and i are sitting silently - he's grading papers, i'm packing my bags - and we're listening to a wonderful mix of the beatles, johnny cash, bob dylan, van morrison, and other talents)
