le mystere

Thanks to the mystery person who sent this gorgeous silk scarf to me today. A stylish way to say good-bye to November.

feasted

A proud Trader's turkey watched our luncheon yesterday.

A festive little fellow by my plate.

Honestly don't know why we bother with any other foods, when all we truly want is hot lefse.

The design created by my 'phew.

liminality

Since I sound like Death's Assistant, our boss treated us to lunch today and sent us all home at noon.

Blissed out by being home, in my jammies, and slicing/dicing things for tomorrow's (and days after) feasting.

Yesterday, I meant to blog about the kindness of strangers, but came home rather cranky after the day. So, here's the goodness that did occur from an email that I sent:

Dropped my car off this morning. As I sound like Death's Admin, the guy handed me some Cold-Ez lozenges. Then, he worked out some discounts ($15 off for my bday). He also told me there's a Goodyear credit card for sitch like this. WHY has no one ever told me about this before????? You have six months with no interest. There's a 7 day waiting period, but it might kick in for the next round of repairs.

And then? Even though there is a bus stop directly outside the shop and it's a gorgeous crisp day, they insisted on driving me to the Metro. Then, my Metro card was out, but on the train side of the gates, it's cash only to refill (which is the stupidest method ever, because what travelers carry cash?) and the clerk opened a side gate so I could use the real machines to refill my card.

May your potatoes be fluffy, your pies be flaky-crusted, and your heart calm with gratitude.

Oh. And may your pants be stretchy!

really not impressed

with the first week of fifty. Things at work are in chaos, the flu/sinus something has settled into me, and the car went into the shop for the first of many repairs.

But I had a gorgeous walk from the Metro to work.

And I gave myself a few moments away from ledgers, spreadsheets, and transcripts to decorate my desk.

Came home to the restorative powers of a perfect loaf of bread, which mostly will become dressing for Thanksgiving dinner.

But for tonight, it became garlic/chive/butter/pecarino toasts.

Bon appetit.

the birthday goodness continues

My lil sis also had a milestone birthday last week!

My boss knows that I love Anthropologie and hot beverages, so she gifted me with this vintage-looking mug today.

At least I have a pretty sky to look at while sitting in bleeping traffic.

The rest of today's gift. Must dig out my new cookbook and see what I can whip up.

shapes & shadows

It's been a rather insane work week, so doubly glad to see it winding down.

The birthday cards continue to arrive~filling the end of my day with good cheer.

Beautiful November.

yo-yoing

Always tough to go back to work after a holiday~and today's traffic didn't help that. Surprised that my emails weren't crazier, but if there had been another 6 in that icon, I would not have opened them. 

Some snarky pencils from a colleague (one who disappeared mid-day with no explanation. Ended up filing a missing person's report with the police by EOB. Turns out her meds had been changed and she remembers nothing of this day. We are all relieved that she drove safely somewhere and slept. V. exciting to have to call someone's emergency numbers and ask if they know where the person is.)

Beautiful bracelet from Adriana~while she didn't make it, she told me that it's traditional Colombian beading.

Truffles and these fun mugs from another colleague~one who does not of this blog! I was thrilled to find joyeux.

Maybe my new hat needs to celebrate my next year in France?

that moment when

a friend sends you a hat so marvelous, that you must grab your passport and take the jaunty bow on a trip.

Wait. What? I have to go to work. Bah.

feet on the ground

Pretty much the perfect birthday~a bit of sleeping in, shopping at Trader's, lunch with my favorite blondes (the littlest niece also has black suede boots), the briefest of naps while my middle niece watched a movie, and then dinner with the entire family.

A present with googly eyes!!!!

Five new wishes.

The 'phew was introduced to spray whipped cream tonight, so he had to serve everyone. Hilarity.

Came home to many cards in the mail and a plethora of wishes from students/friends from around the world. And best of all, this quote from a card:

"I still have my feet on the ground,

I just wear better shoes."

~Oprah Winfrey

Here's to Act II.

those surly bonds

One last walk around the very chilly block before hopping into a taxi.

One block over from Rue St. Nicholas.

The French-speaking to me is not hat specific. I wasn't wearing it today as I knew the airports would be vastly overheated. I am standing ON the curb with my gigantic suitcase beside me and a couple comes up and asks me where their doctor's office is. While I didn't know the specific address, I did know where the huge hospital was and guessed that individual offices were in that block. I sent them on their way~hope they made their appointment...

I think it's a chipmunk?

I would like to drive somewhere where it's kph (yes, I know it's listed on my speedometer, but it's tiny print). We blasted to the airport at 125. It's odd to me to sit and watch the propellor spin (where the free seats are) on these tiny planes. 

Flying in/out of Toronto, you spend a great deal of time pondering how chilly and how vast Lake Ontario is. Remember those photos of Niagara freezing over?

There's something both exhilarating and tortuous about air travel~one moment you are marvelling that you are crunching away on your snack so far above the earth. And the next, you are ready to stab your seat mate who is man-spreading all into your space (and this was a tiny woman, so really no excuse for her.)

I sailed through customs and my checked bag was waiting~only 20 minutes from plane to curb.  Found my car and rememebered vaguely how to drive. Came home to kiss every inch of my top-floor flat; looking forward to sleeping in a quiet, modern building tonight.

Here's to the second half of my life!

bien manger

 

Loved this ad/art/poster.

Forgot to add that I tried cacao juice at my chocolate tasting on Friday. It was...strong. Had flavors of lychee and/or pineapple...and something like 45 grams of sugar.

Don't know if it's winter, but the cafes in my 'hood seem to have whimsical hours, but I finally got into the closest crepery. When they say that they've won national awards for their latte art, they are not joking. 

Joie & I were thrilled to have a magical sea horse on our coffee. 

It's going to be hard to leave all the food in this city; there's definitely a French obsession with good flavors.

The bells started ringing just as I climbed the steps to attend a liturgy at Notre Dame~the organ and the choir were lovely and I managed to keep up in French.

Odd to see the Virginia art motto here.

I thought it was my darling felt with the jaunty bow hat that was prompting all the French spoken to me~even the shop keepers and wait staff use it solely to me. But. I discovered that Rue St. Laurent (named after the river, natch) splits the island into an English side and a French side and I'm staying on the French side.

I've a new appreciation for the mental exhaustion that all my ESL students live with using a bilingual brain.