Vite fait

So real quick, I wanted to say hello and that I'm super excited to go home for Christmas in only 2 days... I wish you all warm, fuzzy holidays, merry Christmas, Happy new Year & Happy Hannukah.

Last night I went to my friend Lillian's for a birthday party, which was great fun (as always), Leo made his signature key lime martini which was delish (virgin for me of course), otherwise I really didn't do much this weekend! Cleaned, did laundry, packed... oh, and I bought 2 pairs of boots on Thursday - something I've never done before... (mixture of I'm a litlle fashion challenged and my football calves won't fit in them). What do you think?? What on earth am I going to wear them with??

Suggestions welcome.

Today I'm grateful for great friends and holiday hugs. Have a great evening!

J moins 6

So, only 6 days to go until I'm home for Christmas... and I'm absolutely psyched! Here's what's been happening in the last week:

Thursday: Long Beach in the morning for a conference - saw the people I work for for the first time this year (is that bad?) and worked from home the rest of the day. Went to see the doctor about my knee - and her advice was basically "take it easy" - which is nice for "don't exercise at all for the next few weeks, yeah you'll get fat with all the holiday foods but you should sacrifice that for your knee."  So, I haven't worked out in 8 days now... and yes, I feel like crap. That night I went to Hollywood for a screening and completely forgot what I went to see. 

Friday night - went to Pasadena for my friend Ben's birthday, to a really yummy Chinese restaurant called the "Oak Tree Inn." The orange beef was to die for! There were 13 of us so we got to share lots of yummy stuff... then we drove around Old Town Pasadena (this was my first time up there by the way), I saw a Leonidas store, bought $8.95 worth of chocolates, and ate most of them that night. And the weight gain begins... lol.

Friday night, my friend Leo says to me: "there's still one more seat to go to the Chipmunks Squeakquel tomorrow at The Grove!" and I really didn't want to hear chipmunk for 90 minutes... but I thought what the hey, it's good company, friends are driving so I'm not paying for gas, and it's the Grove. 

Saturday: friends drive me to The Grove for the 10:00 AM movie. Lots of 7 to 10 year old kids in the theater starting to scream and squirm, and the first 5 minutes of the movie, the chipmunks started squealing and I asked myself how I would survive the rest of the morning. Luckily, I got used to the Chipmunks squeaks (Theodore is sooooooo cute) and the movie was overbearingly cute. We then went to an Italian place that was good and cheap, and at 2PM I got home and probably watched TV for the rest of the night.

Sunday: get all Christmas gifts together... and that's about it! Walked to Albertson's 5 minutes away. That's the only fresh air I got that day. What a lazy weekend.

Now, this week!

Yesterday, went to the Grove for another screening: Sherlock Holmes. It was pretty good. I like mysteries that there's no way on earth I would able able to solve them. The theater was packed. Long waiting lines, etc... oh, the things I'll do for Robert Downey Jr. We went to the Cheesecake factory after and I got home around midnight - so I'm exhausted today.

Tomorrow: work lunch at Houston's at 1PM, we're free to go after that, then another Hollywood movie: Did you hear about the Morgans. Should be stupidly funny. I got invited to see a screening of Avatar at 3pm as well, but don't think I'd make it in time... plus, Babe wants to see it with me.

That's about it! Saturday night will be a birthday party and probably when I say my goodbyes and wish Happy Holidays to my LA friends. Can't wait to come home for Christmas!!!

Today I'm grateful for the holidays and the warmth it brings - not by the weather, but from people's hearts. Have a fantastic Wednesday night!

C'est bientot Noel...

Wow! What a fun week and this weekend sure has gone by fast. Let's see, a quick recap:

Work - the same, although I found out that if we were to lose our jobs, they would've called us by now. So I'm pretty set (Phew). I'm only 90% sure, because we may acquire another property and all... anyway, I'll keep you posted. But I've decided that I'll stay here for another 6 to 12 months if it all works out. Hopefully we can find out before I go on my awesome 2 week vacation to Salt Lake for Christmas!

So - Thanksgiving was a lot of fun, there were about 22 people, lots of different foods, my frozen pumpkin mousse pie tasted good but the consistency wasn't great. I also made oven roasted winter squash with garlic and parsley, and a delicious green mix salad with juicy grape tomatoes, and another salad of field greens, robust feta and sweet cranberries. Are you drooling yet? Good.

The day after Thanksgiving, I went to Bloom Cafe for lunch with some friends, and for dinner Saturday night, "Osteria Latini", in the Brentwood area of West L.A. So good! It was for a friend's birthday dinner. Total came to $75 per person (ouch!) but so worth it. After that, per the birthday girl's request, she wanted to go to a gay bar and club, for fun... so I went too. That's right, birthday girl, her husband, myself and a gay guy friend went to West Hollywood. Nice thing is, I don't get hit on or bothered at all (except for this one chick for a brief second), and, um... different atmosphere than I'm used to. I hadn't been to a club since I was what, 17, 18? So here's to me going out and having some fun and enjoying LA. I'm not going to do this forever or on a regular basis... but it was fun, different experience.

Wednesday this week, I went on a girl's night out to a special screening of "Up in the Air" with George Clooney. It was ok. Kind of a weak story, although a good point at the very end. Oh, and there's a fictional Hollywood character that is more obsessed about frequent flyer miles than I am. After that we went to "Kabuki" in Hollywood. Very good I must say! Oh, and I love miso soup. and I've yet to try tempura but it looks so good, I'll try it next time... what's great is my friends know what they're doing when they order, so I just sit back, watch, and enjoy the food that is presented to me that we share.

This weekend was filled... with a whole lot of nothing. I believe I watched about 5 hours of TV total on Saturday, did some Christmas shopping, and that's seriously about it. Today, I went to get some blood work done this morning (and holy crap, I'm healthier than I thought) then to the beach to try and play volleyball, but after 5 minutes my knee was killing me, so I stopped and watch my buddies play some 2 on 2 games. It was so cold - 56 degrees or so. Brrr. Yeah, I know, all you Salt Lake people think I'm weak. I've grown accustomed to this warm weather, dang it! :) Then, Lillian, her man and I went to In n' out Burger (in honor of Salt Lake just opening one), and went to Costco where I bought - a baked brie (mmmmmm.....) babybel (nothing like gouda in red wax), diced tomatoes, 5 lbs of carrots (for juicing), 18 eggs (can I finish them all by the 21st?), and I was so tempted to buy this saucisson I saw... that, the real French/Italian kind... but they have some in Salt Lake and I'll save the holidays for the indulging part. Oh, and some blueberries. All pretty much healthy stuff. 

This week: it's the first week of the period, so yay! Easy stuff at work. Tuesday night I'm going to see a screening of "the Lovely Bones" and Thursday night I'll see a screening of "Invictus." Both in Hollywood. Some fun nights out again. I think I'll skip on the eating out Tuesday night, because I've got some miracle soup waiting for me at home. Plus, It is a weekday... and I do work at 7:30am every morning...

Today I'm grateful that I have my health. My knee may be screwed up still, and I'm waiting for the doctor to contact me so that I can come in and be evaluated, but otherwise I'm in really good health, I feel like on my own I'm taking decent care of myself my keeping active, working out, and despite the occasional chocolate I'm eating pretty well too (I know, I went to in-n-out, but for your info, I had only been there once, it was 4 years ago, and I literally haven't had a cheeseburger in... probably 8 months.)

Good night everybody! Have a fantastic week. 

La Fille De Ma Mère

As I was about to celebrate another year, I decided use my last Costco SpaFinder gift certificates and get new eyebrows. Then I took this picture... and decided, wow. Doesn't this person....

Look a lot like this person??

Yep, I am my mother's daughter.

So I'm totally going to bed, which is really sad because it's a Friday night and not even 10:00 PM yet... but I'm exhausted. It's been a long week. I haven't been getting great sleep and have been getting headaches and been a little grouchy this week. But not to fear, Babe's still here and my vball buddies are throwing Leo and I a fabulous birthday party tomorrow night!

Thanks everyone for making my birthday memorable... I had a great birthday, more details and pictures on that later. I'd like to congratulate my favorite texting buddy, $teve, who is heading off into a new adventure in Lake Tahoe... and I'm just super psyched for him because he's been waiting for that for a while. Congrats, $teve!

I'm also happy for another very important person in my life and a new announcement... but won't announce that until it's official. But I'm really happy for him too :)

Good night everybody!

Semaine Occupée & YogurtLand

First off I'd like to wish a very happy birthday to one of my best friends, VS. She turns a quarter of a century old today... and I will soon follow in a couple of weeks. VS is a great friend, I've known her since 6th grade (my first year in the U.S). She's also awesome because she's married to a great guy who loves France... so I approve :) LoL.

So this week was busy at work. My colleague was on vacation starting Wednesday, my boss all week (surprisingly, taking a vacation to Utah for some reason). Thursday and Friday afternoon was all me trying to handle the job of 5 people... if the need would arise. Luckily it didn't get too crazy, just really lonely in the office Thursday. Boss Lady M called to check how I was doing, etc... she's awesome. She told me to just work from home on Friday, which I did. I got to listen to 104.3 My FM and tried to listen to the song that would make me win 4 Disneyland tickets... but no luck. Still great day though. And yes, I did get some work done...

Thursday night was fun, I had dinner with some of my friends (Vietnamese noodle salad). The slightly odd part was one of my friends brought her ex-mother in law AND her current boyfriend... which I thought was hilarious... but hey, if they don't mind, I don't mind. I got a phone call from the Houdemon family in San Francisco, about to return to France... thanking me for showing them around when they were in L.A... and it was absolutely my pleasure and I loved hanging out with them. They're good friends of my mom's and I hadn't seen them in 11+ years. They're hilarious and always in a good mood. Their son is fascinated with California so I thought I'd show them Hollywood, MJ's house, Rodeo drive, Manhattan Beach Pier, and Santa Monica Pier & 3rd Street Promenade... all in one day. What a day! Mom & Brent were here too... so it was awesome. Always love to see them.








Last night I watched "Marley and Me" which was ok... I hope I never turn out like the Godzilla wife & mother that Jennifer Anniston was in the movie. But at the end, I bawled my eyes out... I don't want to give away the ending to those who haven't seen the movie. Tonight, it's vegetarian pizza and shrimp spring roll night, "The Proposal" wasn't available on RedBox... so in search for a Romantic Comedy and/or Action night I'll either watch "Legally Blonde" (love that show, I don't know why...) or "Independence Day" (I could watch Will Smith all day...). Pretty low key weekend. It's been gorgeous though, 75 degrees today... hope I can play volleyball tomorrow.  Oh, and I discovered "YogurtLand" next to Trader Joe's which is absolutely yummy and cheap...  

Babe's probably coming Monday night, and will be here for about 2 weeks... which is pretty cool. I can't wait to see him; I love him so much. The giggling, the talking, the hanging out, the fighting, the make-up s...nuggling... I miss it all. Can't wait to see ya babe :)

Tomorrow will be Volleyball and making crepes for work's October birthday celebration. Next week I get to restrict the heck out of my hotels so that we can make some serious money. Woot woot!

Have a fantastic Saturday night, until next time.

Papillon Social

Well, it took about 8-9 months, but I finally feel like I have a life outside of work now besides the casual beach volleyball game & holiday BBQ's.

Last Wednesday I went over to Lynn's house who invited me over for dinner because she felt like cooking a bunch of new things or things she hadn't cooked in a while (in other words, I knew I'd be a test subject... which I have absolutely no problem with!!!) and she made delicious dishes of curry, eggplant with chili sauce, some kind of spicy beef and pork and deep fried prawns. Everything was absolutely delicious! She's from Singapore and her husband's German. She also invited Lillian who's from Malaysia I believe -and her boyfriend who's very American and I swear has the same facial hair as a Backstreet Boy. A fun Wednesday evening.

Friday - round 2 - Lynn wanted me to try her apricot glazed salmon that she learned from a past Argentinian neighbor, and so the same gang was invited over for dinner... it was fantastic too. Easy to make too. Maybe I'll try it someday.

Saturday was Volleyball at 11am with a very "different" crowd. Instead of the really nice and gentle same-sex couples I regularly see on Sundays, these were hard-core tatooed 250 pound 40-50 yr old hockey players shouting & swearing like there's no tomorrow. I was laughing so hard inside. "COME ON! YOU'RE THE STRAW THAT STIRS THE DRINK! F*** I'M SWEATING. OH F***, I'M SWEATING REAL BAD. F*** I GOT SUNSCREEN IN MY EYES DAMN IT!" A little too much swearing for my tastes... I don't think I'll make Saturday vball a new weekly thing.

Saturday night was a Filipino friend's birthday party in Orange County, where at least 10 different nationalities were present, including another Frenchie. We had awesome food, even French cheeses that I can't believe when I went for it it was gone - but there was foie gras leftover so I thought I might have a little taste even though I'm not a huge fan.

Sunday was usual Beach V-ball, cleaning the house, dinner at an Italian restaurant, and last night Lillian invited me over for dinner because she "felt like cooking" so we had a ladies night in (4 of us) and had yummy spicy food.

Also - I got a gym membership to try out LA Fitness for the week - I'm not uber impressed yet (went to pilates tonight and it was boring as heck) and yesterday they spent over an hour convincing me to join that I barely had time to work out. I'm going to go everyday this week though and can cancel by Saturday if I choose to do so.

Today I'm grateful to be in a state with so much diversity. Also for friends I get to see and for trying all these delicious new foods. My heart goes out also to those who have lost their homes in the SoCal fires. For those who wonder, these fires are north of LA and are at least 25-30 miles away from me thus are not affecting me directly, so I'm fine. The fires in Palos Verdes were a lot closer (5-10 miles) but those were extinguished pretty quickly.

I wish everyone a fabulous week - and hope to see some/most of you on my next trip to SLC in two weeks. Yeah, baby!

Joyeux Anniversaire

Just a little note, because it's getting late...

Happy birthday to my very young dad and my very old cat!

That's right, Myau the cat is now 17 today... this was back when she was actually cute: 

And my dad is just an awesome dad and it was great talking to him today. I really don't get to talk to him often. Maybe the fact that he's on the other side of the planet might have something to do with it. He's doing well, and he was about to devour a delicious couscous, which I'm sure wasn't as fabulous as the one he spends days making in the winter... but I hope you had a great day, Papounet... Je t'aime beaucoup! :)