Holy Moly it's been a year!

Well, it's been a year since I've posted... and so much has happened, so much has changed... the only thing that hasn't changed though, is that I'm still happy as ever.

Since October 2011, let's see... a little recap:

*Had the most memorable Halloween 2010 ever, walking on Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood admiring costumes and hanging out with friends. Also, Costume volleyball! Which I will play again tomorrow...

*January to May I have to say was quite a blur!

*May: I get a new job. Same company, same discipline, but I work from home... which means I can move back to my home town!!

*May - August: Babe came to live with me during summer semester break. It was hard at first, with little arguments here and there because I'm so set in my ways... but we got along just fine and during that time, realized more than ever how much we enjoy being in each other's company. Since this summer, being away from him has been especially hard because I got used to living with him. I miss him more. Not that I didn't miss him before, but I was very much Miss Independent before, and now I need him more than ever.

*Sometime this summer: Mom & B moved into their new home which looks beautiful!!

*August: My dad, stepmom, brother and sister came to visit from France! First time in the US for most, they met Babe, discovered LA, Vegas, Grand Canyon, Cali Coast including San Fran... and we had so much fun together. I love them so much and wish I could see them more often. I'm glad they enjoyed their trip here.

*September: Babe and I go to France together... his first time! Saw where I grew up, met family, ate incredible cheese and other foods, hung out on beautiful beaches and French Riviera towns, and spent an incredible week in Paris just walking around and enjoying the sights, the smells, the tastes... not to mention, the best Hot dog EVER!! Hot dog in a French baguette with spicy dijon mustard, overlooking the Eiffel Tower on top of the Trocadero... priceless. Well, actually like 3 something euros, but the view... priceless :D

*October: planning month. Finally (pretty much) set a wedding date for July 21st next summer, just other little things to plan out... and also planning my move back to SL. Lots of planning to come... Oh, and just learned my future sister in law is engaged too, and getting married May 2012. Wedding dress shopping together maybe? Sounds like uber girl fun!

*November: Super busy month ahead. B's 60th birthday, Traveling to DC, SLC, lots of 12 hour work days I'm sure, and packing / selling furniture and such. Hopefully I will only work 10 hours on my birthday coming up NEXT Friday!!! :)

Future: move into Mom's house to save some dough, save enough money to buy a house by summer 2012, get married, start a family with my wonderful future hubby... oh my, this is too much excitement!!! And the top reasons for my euphoric feeling of happiness.

Ah... I'm sure I missed quite a few things, but one thing's for sure, it's that love is in the air and that's what I'm grateful for today. I love my man, I love my family, people are getting engaged left and right, Babe's sister is getting married, my brother's found a great girl and we all really like her and she makes him a better man, and the best part is... I feel loved by everyone close to me as well.

Wishing you all a fantastic weekend... thanks for reading and I encourage you to think of one thing you're grateful for today!!! :)

Bien Dans Sa Peau

So, I don't know what's up with me lately... but I've been smiling constantly. I mean, CONSTANTLY, chuckling and smiling at whatever I think of. I'm just happy... maybe it's the fact that I have energy again and have lost about 7 lbs in a few weeks already? Who knows. But I feel.... great. Just fantastic. I seriously can't recall being this happy. I really can't.

Work's been good and not too busy (slowing down at least, busy season is finally coming to a stop...) which is good, because my regimen is now gym 5x a week for an hour each. This Saturday, I'm walking for CMN in the Torch Relay with my company, then I need to do an hour of cardio, then play volleyball for 3-4 hours. After that, it's Happy Hour in Venice Beach for my Greek buddy's birthday! I'll be looking forward to that Shirley Temple, I'm sure, after such an exhausting day...

I also can't wait to celebrate my birthday in less than a month. We plan to go to a tapas place in Long Beach with live entertainment, then who knows? Something fun I'm sure, planned by my friends :)

I'm grateful for being happy... and sure hope this lasts.

Have a great night everybody.

Allez, Courage!

Oh boy, what a day. First, yesterday I finally had the talk with my boss... "you've been coming in a little later lately, around 8am... and you really should be setting up inventories at 7:30" No problem. I just needed her to tell me. I'm now back to work at 7:30. That means also maybe I'll get to leave at 5 instead of 6. She was very nice, it wasn't a concerning talk or anything. Just needed to happen. I need to give up my snooze button in the mornings.

Also - I'm proud of myself. I felt a little crappy today (girl issues), and I absolutely, in no way felt like going to the gym and wanted to blow the homework my trainer gave me. But hey, I put on my workout clothes, and went... and did all my exercises. I also didn't give up when I couldn't figure out how to adjust the machine... It took me 4 minutes and 23 seconds but I did it.

That felt good.

I'm on the path to become even happier by working out... The trainer complimented me on how strong my core is. Yay for the core. Who knows, maybe I'll have a 2-pack by my birthday? And I'm not talking beer here... :)

Today I'm grateful that I had the courage not to give up on my exercises. Way to go, me.

Tomorrow I'm going to see the screening of "Life as we know it", which looks super cute... and you have to admit, Josh Duhamel is super hot.

Thursday night I'm cooking for my friends - French onion soup and Spaghetti a la Carbonara. Ah, the joys of cooking...

Have a great night!

Heureuse @ home

Wow... it's been so long and so much has happened since May!

I have to apologize for not posting sooner, but I blame this on my addiction to Facebook (well, I really have no one else to blame but me). Man, good thing I never started Farmville or one of these idiotic FB games.

So much has happened... in summary:

-France was awesome. I love my family and miss them very much.
-Babe and I celebrated 9 years together.
-Got bit on my nose by my friend's dog.
-My uncle Charles died of a heart attack.
-My best friend since 6th grade is expecting a baby girl.
-Renewed my gym membership and started kickboxing again.
-Has become the West Hollywood queen.
-Went to Disneyland for the first time since 1992.
-My cousins in Orange County had a beautiful baby girl.
-Tried Sea Urchin at a sushi place (gross... but at least I tried it).
-Started introducing a little bit of wine into my life.
-Had the best, most memorable times with my mom and bro over Sangria and Tapas.

and so much more...


My France May trip was an absolute blast. As expected, right before I landed, as I gaze up at these typical clouds of Paris and slight rain... I can't help but shed a tear of joy of mixed emotions. My French experience starts before I get off the plane, as I glance at my neighbor reading "Le Parisien" newspaper, I finish my delicious croissant, and I hear some French people arguing. Ah, I am home...

But the thing is... what I've been asking myself lately.... what, and where is home?

I love France and my family there. I feel happy and sad when I go back. Happy because it is my country of birth and where I spent my first 12 years. Happy because I get to see my dad and siblings (who are now 15 BTW holy crap!!!) and other family. Happy because as I walk on the beaches of Le Lavandou, have homemade paella by grandpa Gigi, run my bike in the Paris 'burbs to get an evening baguette... I feel those childhood memories, back in those times when I was happy and did not have a care in the world. I feel sad because.... well, I love my dad so much, because he's my dad... and my brother and sister... and I love being with them... but I nearly don't spend enough time with them. They are growing up so fast, and I feel sad that I am not a part of their daily lives (now they are on FB so it might help...) Once every two years though is when I should go back... at a MINIMUM. And I would love to go next year actually. I'd really like to plan on it (maybe even with Babe).

Salt Lake, UT? Yeah, it's also considered home.... but that's my safe spot. My spot to be with family and get married, pop out kids and start a family with a home and a white picket fence and raise children in a very safe area. The American dream. And as of a few months ago, when I was unhappy and stressed at my job and was hoping to get laid off or something, all I wanted was to go back to SL and go back to that safe place. Well, things have changed...

I think it may have started with this dream I had, which really got to me. I dreamed that I moved back to Salt Lake and got a $10/hr desk job. Still with the company. The job was very uncomplicated. In a way, it was what I wanted to go back to Salt Lake for and do after living the daily stresses of my work. But in the dream, I was MISERABLE. Thinking, the whole time, "why on EARTH would I leave L.A. for this? Leave all the great friendships I've made? The beach? West Hollywood? (haha)".

And then I went dancing in gay clubs in West Hollywood (WeHo). It is SO much fun, and perfect fun too. I get to shake my booty to top 40 songs but no guys are hitting on me (I've yet to be hit on by a girl though, should I be self-conscious? haha! That's totally fine!!). Plus, I get to hang out with my favorite gay guy friend from volleyball, who has become my BFF and can talk to about almost anything.

Home is... many different places. Different places which arouse different emotions. Basically I still expect France to be home as where I get to be a kid again... and Salt Lake to where I can raise a family... and then there's good old Los Angeles... which I have now realized, is really, truly, NOW MORE THAN EVER, my current home. The place where a girl in her mid 20's should be and have the time of her life.

So now... for the first time in a while, I can truly say... that...

I

AM

HAPPY.

So happy.

Really, really happy.

I wake up everyday with a smile on my face, because of how great my life is. My job's doing better, although I still have challenges, I embrace them and finally enjoy learning new things. I have some of the greatest friends in the world. And I have truly the best of both worlds. Babe and I still love each other after 9 amazing years, and when he comes out we have the best time together. And then when he's gone... I get to go out and have fun with my friends, doing what a single girl in her mid 20's would do, all while staying loyal to my man.

Life.... is SWEET.

And don't get me wrong, I still see Salt Lake as the ideal place for my future and raising a family... but now, I just don't want to go back just yet. I can easily see myself living in SoCal at least another 2 years.

This has been quite a lot for today... I actually have to go hit the gym right now because my personal trainer gave me homework (I haven't had homework since 2007! Haha!) and then it's beach volleyball time. I want to write on this blog more often because I feel happier when I do, expressing my emotions.

I hope everyone is doing well... I would love to hear how you are doing also (most of you I catch up with on the bookface) but I wish you all, lots of happiness.... and a fabulous Sunday!!!

J - 4

Well, I leave for France in 4 days and am really excited and a little stressed out. I can't wait to not only be on vacation for 11 days straight, but also to see my family and native country, a trip that is much overdue.

Work has been a little stressful lately with a lot of changes, but I'm adapting. I just want to make sure that everything gets done properly before I leave so that I have very minimal worries. I really, really want to enjoy this vacation. I will be laptop free and don't want to think about work. I know I'll be checking emails though. Sigh...

This week has been fun, Babe's sisters stayed here for the week on vacation and for a dance audition in LA, and Babe's been here since Thursday, and I absolutely love how we can do nothing and enjoy each other's company. He finished the semester and will not be going back until fall, so he may be living here with me for the summer - not set in stone yet, but that would be cool.

The past month has been great too, $teve's on his famous road trip and we were able to hang out, so I've had a lot of visitors lately!

Hope everyone is well. Have a great weekend!

Ca fait un bail

Yeah, it's been a while since I posted... but I finished my New Orleans post which you can see below. I've been sick with a sore throat since Wednesday, while my colleague was gone so I worked 11-12 hour days and was exhausted, almost to the point of a small meltdown. I'm ok, though :) just resting today. Dang, resting feels good. And doing laundry. And watching Shrek on Comedy Central. And giving good advice. Yeah, I actually did that today, kinda proud of myself :)

Today I'm grateful that my throat is getting better (at least I can speak now!) and that tomorrow, work should be normal again. Hope you're all having a great weekend.

La Nouvelle Orleans

New Orleans was a blast, I must say. Definitely wouldn't want to live there, but the French Quarter was really cute, balconies galore (Mom and I kept saying "T'as vu? T'as vu?" Like, a million times) 

and depending on the street you were on, the atmosphere was trendy, dirty, artsy, yummy, cultural... it was really really cool (not too fond of the dirty part - wouldn't bring my kids there at least). I'm so glad too that we're able to go and spend some money and their tourism is able to still flourish after Katrina... because even on a Sunday night, Bourbon Street and everything else was really crowded with tourists.

So here we go.

Friday, Day 1: fly to Memphis, meet Mom & B, see Elvis memorabilia & have a southern pulled pork sandwich at the airport (mmmmm...) fly to NOLA, stay in Kenner, go to the Treasure Chest Casino for a seafood and lobster buffet, listen to some live jazz, inhale some casino smoke and ruin my lungs, go to bed.

Saturday, Day 2: Taxi to downtown NOLA, check in the hotel, got lost in the morning for about 2 hours trying to find Café Du Monde. Stupid iPhone - told us it was somewhere in the business district. Nope. Funny thing is, another group of tourists with iPhones did the exact same thing!! By the time we got to the French quarter where it actually is, it was lunchtime... so we ate at Maspero's, where I sampled sausage with red beans and rice and jambalaya... very good.

We then finally found Cafe du Monde and had delicious beignets for desserts! I used to make those with mom years ago. I think I'll make them again soon :)

What is a beignet (beh-gnay) you ask? This delicious thing of fried dough you see above with way too much powdered sugar. We then went through Jackson Square with lots of artists, and dancers/performers who want your money and make you laugh. 

We did Royal Street, Bourbon Street, Canal Street, enjoyed some live music and people watching. My, oh my, the people watching!! By 3PM we had walked probably 4 miles total and were toast. We went back to the hotel, rested our feet, actually fell asleep (and I'm SO against naps!), and at night we ate at "Mulate", a cute Cajun restaurant with live music and the best bread pudding ever. I had gumbo - which wasn't that fantastic I decided. We then went to bed (or at least tried to, because the club outside the hotel room window was happenin' till at least 3am. What happened to double paned windows??)

Sunday, Day 3: B bought a "Who Dat" hat @ the Rivercenter, took the street car to the French Farmer's Market:

I tried some alligator meat (tastes like really spicy sausage), saw some cool stuff (love Farmer's markets! Anywhere, Salt Lake, LA, Le Lavandou, you name it!)

So we walked around... a LOT again. We had lunch at a restaurant, forgot the name, but this was really tasty: 

During the day, we went to the Garden District and walked around. After waiting 45 minutes for the streetcar to take us back, we decided to walk the 2 miles back, strolling through the neighborhoods, and man were we toast... and that sun was brutal... and my feet were killing me. Luckily, my knee was fine!! That's a good sign, I think it's almost healed. 

The garden District... beautiful Victorian homes and leftover Mardi Gras beads GALORE

At night, we walked to Bourbon Street and did balcony dining at a yummy Italian restaurant, "Tony Moran's." On a Sunday night, Bourbon Street was still crowded. We took a cab back to the hotel as we were super, super exhausted from all the walking all day long.

Monday, Day 4: last day for me. B went to the WWII Museum, Mom went to her conference and I slept in, checked email, and took care of some work items. You know, in a way, I dream of the day I don't have to worry about work while on vacation. But I just can't wait till retirement, ya know? I then met Mom at noon, we walked back to the Museum to get B, and one of my favorite parts of the trip: We ate at Emeril's restaurant! We had a 3 course lunch menu which was super, super yummy. Great experience. Then I took a cab to the airport and flew home!

Great trip, things I'm grateful for on this trip:

*Discovered a different culture and area of the country.

*Hang out with Mom & B which are always great

*Surrounded by many things with French roots

*The food. Oh my, the food!

*Walking towns. There's so much you can discover on foot.

*Oh, and did I mention that there were balconies everywhere?

I must clarify my fascination with balconies: no, I don't like them because of things I could do on them for Mardi Gras... but there's something so pleasant and satisfying in eating lunch or dinner on a balcony while taking in some sun, fresh air, and watch people below as they wish they were as happy as I look right now.

The end. Have a great day!!