Re-arranging the furniture

We have this thing, K. and I. Often when we come back from a trip, we feel the urge to start moving around furniture. Immediately, before any unpacking even. We've done this so many times. Drastic changes, like swapping around the entire setting. Or minor changes, like moving a couch or a rug.
We didn't move anything around after our last trip. There wasn't time for it, simply. K. had to return to the office right away. But something's in the air. We'll be re-arranging things here again some time soon. I can feel it.

When we got back, I of course immediately checked in to see how things were going here. And here too I felt something needed to change. I've changed the banner at least twenty times over the last couple of days, as some of you might have noticed - no, I didn't install a rotating banner in case you were wondering. It was just me who couldn't decide on what looked best. I also got rid of the excess of lines. I wanted a cleaner look. I threw out ballast. I'm even thinking of giving up the three-columns template (though I'm not sure on this one yet, as it took a lot of time and effort to get the three-column template to work).

I also went back to my other blog - my photography blog. It got neglected for quite a while. My last post dated back late September. But I'm not ready to give up on that one, even though it hardly gets any visitors (due to a lack of promotion on my behalf). So, there too I've re-arranged the furniture. I want to give it another try. I plan to post there again on a more regular basis. Same idea still: pictures and no or hardly any words. The words I'll keep for this blog here.
So, if you need some quietness, head over to // Between the lines // Photography, and maybe you'll find something there you'll like... Maybe?

New lens

My new lens has finally arrived. Early Friday night, after another day of waiting and being stuck at home. And only thanks to the alertness of our "gardien", who caught the delivery service guy on his way out... with the package still under his arm! I wasn't even happy at first when I finally was holding the box, that's how stressful the week had been. I think I'll never order "important" stuff online again. Sure it saved me some money, but given the stress, the endless and numerous phone calls and e-mail messages I sent, it wasn't really worth it.




But now I'm the h a p p y owner of a macro lens! I took some test shots last night. It will take me some time to get used to, but it sure looks promising. The detail you get is just amazing!! I've been photographing everything within reach that fitted in the light box! Like this tiny ball of thin cotton rope.

Poppies

After seeing the nice flower and plant pictures in this Flickr group, I all of a sudden remembered the poppy pictures I took last summer in K.'s parents garden after a shower. The missing link. All I had to do was to turn them in black and white to get this. I hope you like them as much as I do... Here's some music to go with it: Gymnopédie n°1 by Eric Satie...

I'm wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Cheers,

P.

PS: There's a giveaway and a tutorial in the planning...

Vivre la ville...

It's been a bit of a frustrating week, to say the least. A week of waiting. A week of things not happening.

About three weeks ago I ordered a macro lens (YES!). The order was supposed to get here somewhere mid last week (YES!). But somehow, the package delivery service messed up - completely! (I won't say which one as I want the delivery still to take place, but its a three letter word, it doesn't start with "U" and it rhymes with hell). They didn't mess up once, but twice... so far. I won't give you the boring details, but it got me really upset.

Tired of the waiting and tired of being angry, I fled the house this afternoon. And I had a great and relaxing afternoon! I still needed to pick-up some frames I ordered, to frame some of my abstracts (a special order from K. - he wants some of my abstracts for his office at work!) and since the store is in the Centre Pompidou area, that's exactly where I ended up: le Centre Pompidou. I didn't visit the museum this time, but just walked around the area and took some pictures. It's amazing what that camera does with me. In an instant, all the anger from a week of waiting for nothing was gone. A couple of clicks and I was a different person. A much nicer person...A much happier person... A much more relaxed person... Some people might not like that area because it's always crowded but I just love it. There's always something going on there, always something to discover or rediscover.

The RATP (public transport company) is celebrating it's 60th anniversary and for the occasion erected a wall in front of the Centre Pompidou, with running headlines...

So, now that my batteries are reloaded, I'm ready for another day of waiting. Tomorrow, they said. For sure, they said... I keep my fingers crossed they won't be sending Godot again...



Note: To end on a positive note - the good thing about the waiting and the being stuck at home is that I went through a stack of un-ironed laundry. K. has now a two week set of freshly ironed shirts!! He won't believe his eyes!

Weekend artist :: revisited

I can't believe it's Friday already... It's been a bit of a busy week somehow. To the extent that I didn't find the time nor the energy to post much.

It was a fun week though - the weather has been extremely nice here. L'été indien, as they call it here. And since the sunny days might be over soon, I decided to spend as much time outside as possible, in between the stuff that really needed to be done. I hope the weather will stay like this over the weekend and then hopefully we'll make it to one of the many parks with the kids...

And then, of course, there was the visit of a longtime very good friend. She had to be in Paris for work. Though really (REALLY) close during our high school years and way into our adult lives, we somehow got out of touch after I moved abroad. Sure, we kept each other informed of our pregnancies and sent birth announcements, but sadly we didn't actually manage to see each other for close to six, seven years. So now, she was in Paris and there was so much to catch up with, so much to talk about... And it was so much fun!

Oh, and since I hardly took any pictures this week, I just decided to put this one up. It's a new piece in my very own weekend artist's collection (LOL)... Like the previous one, I made it in between cleaning sessions. Just one way to make those boring chores a bit more pleasant... You should try it!

Have a wonderful weekend!

P.

Privacy?

This is actually something I have been thinking about a lot. How to deal with privacy as a photographer, as a blogger. As you might have noticed, you'll hardly ever see pictures of people here or in my photostream on Flickr. In my early blogging days I did post some pictures of my girls. I even had a family picture up in my profile. But at some point, as I didn't feel entirely comfortable about it, I took down those posts and changed my profile picture as well. I don't even use the full names of my loved ones for the same reason. The result is a little bit of a "sterile" blog, I sometimes have the feeling. 'Where are the real people?', you might have wondered. (Note: It's only recently I gave myself a face again on this blog.)

The same thing happens when I wander through town with my camera. I'll never take pictures of strangers, worried they might get upset when they notice they just got their picture taken. In some situations people in the picture are unavoidable, but even then I try to make them "invisible" by choosing a different angle or a different lighting or by waiting until they're gone. At stores or museums, I'll always ask for permission to shoot pictures first (well, I actually forgot to ask or check once ...). If I get a "no", then it's a no... The last thing I want is someone ranting at me or, even worse, my camera taken away.

How do you deal with these privacy issues? Should one tell a stranger they just got photographed? How about posting pictures of loved ones?

I'd like to know how you deal with this ...

A not so good day...

Went to bed way too late - woke up early - my wristwatch showed 5:50, the alarm clock said it was 6:55. The alarm clock was right - so something's wrong with the new battery in my watch - no way I could return to the warm sheets...

I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Outside my window: gray and cold weather, threatening clouds.

I think I'll move to Australia.


Took the kids to school, came back home and still felt tired and cold.

Didn't feel like doing much. Decided to get creative. Maybe that would help.

Took out the lino pad I got last week and the carving tools that came with it. Let's do some lino print today!

Couldn't find the tracing paper - had to look everywhere - found it in M.'s room. Wasn't very inspired for a great design and ended up with bubbles. Traced them onto the lino. Started cutting and carving. And just when I thought I had it down the carving tool slipped into my finger: one bleeding thumb.
And I mean b l e e d i n g!

It was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Went to the bathroom to take care of my finger - couldn't find the sterile pads nor the band aids - found the band aids in M.'s room on the floor.

Went back to my project but really careful now. Wanted to try out the design with paint on paper - couldn't find the special rolling brush to apply the paint - found it in a forgotten tool box.

Applied paint, printed - nah, still some lines where I didn't want any - more carving - black paint all over my hands now and the band aid.

It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Cut out too much so the lino got all floppy - needed a block or a support of some sort to glue it onto - didn't have anything useful - and if I would have had something to glue it onto, it wouldn't have been much of a help anyway as I couldn't find the hot glue gun's electricity cord. Should be in our wall closet, but in order to find it in there I would have to clean up/ clear out the entire closet.

Next week, I said, I'm going to Australia.
End of project...

Since M. had her first gym class that night and I also had another PTA-meeting at school and K. had to go out for dinner for work, I decided to prepare dinner early. Popped the green beans in their microwavable bag in the microwave, set the timer, took them out, cut open the bag being careful not to get burned by the hot steam, tasted one and noticed they were not done - at all... because the microwave was still on low.

Did I tell you , it was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day?

Picked up the kids from school, met with K. who took them home, I stayed for the meeting, rushed back home so K. could leave for his meeting. There was no time left for dinner for me. Took the kids in the car and drove off to gym. Ended up behind the trash truck, couldn't find a parking spot. So M. was late for her first class.

I was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, I told the kids.

Waited with little H. until the class was over. Talked to the gym teacher, who I was glad to see again. Asked her about her mom, who had been sick for the past six months. She didn't make it and passed away in August. And she misses her tremendously, she said. Devastated, I hugged her. I just wanted this day to be over...


My mom says some days are like that.

Even in Australia.


Italics are excerpts from Judith Viorst's book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No good, Very Bad Day.

Some useful links...

This is a bit of a stretch. The buttons, I mean. I just wanted to share some links I found extremely useful when redesigning my blog - adding the buttons and everything. Buttons...got it? - a bit lame, I know, but I couldn't find a decent picture to go with it... hence the buttons.

But seriously now. If you ever consider making changes to your Blogger template, just forget about looking for answers in "Blogger-help". Most likely you won't find it there and if you do so most certainly it's outdated.
Basically, you'll need just one source: Tips for new bloggers. Or as summarized in the blog description: "A dummies guide, blog tips, tricks, help for all new bloggers on Web templates, Blog templates, designs, widgets, layout, JavaScript, HTML codes, SEO, Google AdSense, gadgets, diagnostic tools, and how to monetize Blogger or Blogspot blogs."
It has very clear and detailed how-to's for about everything you can think of.

Would you like to switch from a two column to a three column template?

Or would you rather go for a horizontal menu navigation bar, whether it be in the in the header image or not?

Do you fancy a new background color or a different font color but don't know which one to choose from? Tips for new bloggers gives an overview of all colors available and their hexidecimal codes.

Most of my left sidebar buttons are linked to static pages, i.e. posts which contain all the information. For a how to on these, check out I Simply Blog and Technically Easy.

An interesting link which provides general HTML coding is this one.

And then finally, before you start to even change the slightest thing in your blog template, make sure to make a backup! Both, of your posts and your template! You never know... Also, to avoid the mess (as a mess it will be, no matter what - at least to me it was, as some of you might have noticed) to appear on your blog make the changes to a test-blog you created just for that matter... And when satisfied just copy the template into your real blog!

Good luck!

Le // Between the lines // "nouveau" est arrivé!!

So, here it is! The revamped (so I hope, at least!) // Between the lines //! After a full week of hard work, often in the wee hours at night. I neglected everyone and everything for an entire week. You should see our place... Don't worry - The kids still made it to school every day with a set of fresh clothes and a healthy lunch box. And I didn't forget to pick them up, either. But other than that... Hum... (Although - I remember I baked two moeulleux au chocolat this week, fixed the goodie bags for little H's birthday party, went to two PTA meetings, ...) More than once I asked myself why I started this whole thing in the first place. And if it was really worth it. But then, I wasn't satisfied anymore with what my blog looked like.

So: Quoi de neuf? I wanted to add something so my readers would be able to navigate more easily through my blog. A lot of you visit my blog for my tutorials, to name one thing. Therefore, as of now you'll find a navigation bar in the left hand sidebar. A complete overview of my tutorials is now just one click away. There's also a link to my other blog, the lately much neglected // Between the lines // - Photography blog. There's also an "interesting links" section, where I'll put up links which I think might be of interest to my readers, links that have been useful to me in one way or the other (tutorials, articles relating to photography,...). Also new is the "Paris je t'aime section" - it's still empty right now, but I intend to add information on that page for the Paris lovers amongst you. I might add sections as I go.

In the right hand sidebar I added a "Photography Blogs" section, with links to some of my favorite photography blogs. Make sure to check them out!

Because of this extra sidebar I had to change the rest of the layout as well. Three columns instead of two. I thought this would be straight forward but it took me much longer than than I thought it would. The good thing is I learned a lot this week, about HTML codes, if-conditions, the importance of brackets in the right place, how to fiddle with margins and padding. I'm actually quite pleased with myself. My brain is still functioning and in the end I really got the hang of it. Not that I plan to repeat the exercise anytime soon. But still...

The only thing I'm not entirely satisfied with is the banner picture. You can expect some changes there still. (Suggestions, anyone?)
However, I didn't want to put you on hold any longer.
So here it is: le // Between the lines // nouveau! I hope you like it...

Under construction...

I thought I'd better let you know.

This blog might appear a bit messy and things might look a bit scrambled or different in the days to come. The reason is I want to revamp my blog a tiny bit. I've been wanting to do this for quite a while and now I found a couple of online sources which helped me on the way. Since some of these sites are very informative and might be useful to others - especially to Blogger-users - I'll share the best ones in a later post.

Also to come soon: an entire post dedicated to Paris, with some reading suggestions and interesting blogs. So, Paris-lovers, stay tuned!

As for now: I'm off to work!

Have a good one!

P.

Summer fruits...

Reines Claudes

This was a summer of indulgence - at least that's what my balance is trying to tell me. Plus two kilo - about four and a half pounds! Nothing dramatically, I know, but I just can feel it - the excess sitting somewhere around the waist, I mean... And knowing myself too well: it will be hard to get rid of the excess fat. Too much ice cream for dessert over the past few weeks, I'm afraid, and too much of everything else too - it just came with the happy feeling of a good summer celebrated in good company.


Poires Williams

So, no more unhealthy desserts for me for a while. I'll just stick to yummy summer fruit instead: plums in all their varieties, nectarines and peaches (soon their season will be over...), pears, figs, grapes, red and green ... I just love the fruits (the end) of summer brings.

And: no Martha Stewart Rustic Plum Tart for me right now, though it used to be one of my favorite's at this time of the year... It's SO good!
So maybe YOU should just try it and let me know what it was like...

A great find... or so I believe

While we were on vacation in Belgium last July, I took the girls to Leuven, the small university town where we used to live before we moved abroad, to meet a very good friend of mine and her two kids. My friend and I met at work and we became really close friends over the years. She got married, I met K. and at some point we both found out we were pregnant of our first babies with the due dates only one week apart. The way we found out about each other's pregnancy was quite hilarious, actually. It was at another friend's birthday dinner party - my friend had some important news to announce, she said. "Me, too!", I replied. "I'm pregnant!", she said. "Me too!", I screamed. You can imagine the excitement! By then the whole restaurant was looking at us - a table with four screaming girls!
We took our prenatal gym classes together, admiring each other's growing bellies from week to week . Her little boy was born 6 days before my little girl M., now 9 years ago. It gave an extra dimension to our friendship.
Our family has moved a couple of times, but somehow we managed to stay in touch.

Since I hadn't been in Leuven for the longest time, we decided to meet there again, with the kids, for an afternoon of fun in our former hometown. We went for lunch at the very same restaurant, where nine years earlier two proud, brand new moms went for their first lunch outside the house with their brand new babies in their brand new prams, close and within reach. I remember we had the hardest time finishing our plates because our babies were hungry too and we'd been breastfeeding almost uninterruptedly. By the time we'd finally finished our plates there was no-one else left at the restaurant... That was then...

Now, nine years later, the kids (we both have two now) quickly finished their lunch the way only kids can do. They couldn't wait to go play outside in the restaurant's beautiful courtyard, leaving the moms inside talking - about what it was like nine years earlier...


Because we wanted to go check out a couple of stores, we bribed the kids with ice cream later. Leuven has some really nice boutiques. I especially like the stores located at the "Mechelsestraat". Turned out the store where I had bought my wedding dress, Opus II, now has moved to that very same street. And that's where we spent most of our afternoon. Don't get me wrong, we didn't have our kids running around wildly in a wedding gowns store. Opus II is not just a store - There's a smaller store on one side of the street with accessories, stationary and plenty of "things-I-don't-really-need-but-gosh-it's-so-cute-so-I-buy-it-anyway"-stuff. The main store is located right across the street and has woman's clothing and more accessories - and a nice kids playing area - the owner, a mom of four herself, knows exactly what she's doing!

The accessories, that's what I was trying to get at with my long story.



I bought a whole bunch of tings, small gifts mainly, and this - my great find, or so I believe - the colorful wallet with the yellow ric-rac trim! Doesn't it look great!? I spent about half the afternoon deciding on the color - the alternative was grass green - a perfect match with the green purse I was carrying that day. But I took orange - for some reason I'm all into orange at the moment. I've even painted one of the walls in our apartment orange. And then there's still the orange Hermes leather and my linen shopping bag with orange leather and ditto lining...

Back home, I experimented with the leather I still have plenty of and some ric-rac ribbon ... I'd love to make something in the same spirit, though I've no idea what. To be continued, or not... but in the mean time I enjoy my new wallet which besides its size has another great advantage: thanks to its bright colors I find it immediately in my bag when trying to pay at the store...



Oh, and in case you were wondering: the kids did get ice-cream that afternoon. We also went to the park where they had lots of fun running around and climbing. And at the end of the afternoon we ended up in a storm. By the time we made it back to the station we were soaking wet! But even that was fun...


Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

P.

Back to school

The last couple of days we've been busy getting our school supplies ready. We actually bought everything at the end of July already, before we left on vacation. I just wanted to be prepared and ready.

Now, we're in the process of labeling everything (EVERYTHING!) and putting it in the right backpack. Though this is the third year we're going through this process, I want to make sure everything is there and in mint condition. And I certainly don't want to make the same mistakes I made the first year we got here. I still feel miserable when I think of it. I completely messed up. The lists with school supplies are posted online every year, at the very beginning of summer vacation. M. was starting second grade that year, so I looked up her supply list, making sure I had the right list (the school is kind of big with several classes for the same grade). Helena, still being a preschooler didn't need anything. I thought...
I was wrong, so totally wrong. And I was about to find out the hard way!

Preschool started one day early, in the afternoon - two hours, just to meet the teachers and the new friends and break in the new class. That meant that M. and me would have two hours to do something fun, just the two of us, like going for some crêpes and chocolate milk, something we didn't do so far because of little sister's allergies.
A little excited, nervous, anxious ... (complete the list with all the emotions you can think of that come with the start of a new school year, in a new country, in a new language) we headed to school. The sidewalk in front of little H.'s school was crowded with kids and their moms and/or dads, carrying heavy department store bags. I remember I was thinking to myself "Hmm, there's been some heavy shopping this afternoon before taking the kids to school." Until I noticed the kids were actually taking these bags inside when the principal started calling out the names for every class. What was going on here? I started to panic and walked over to one of the teachers to ask what was in the bags - a totally ridiculous question. I already guessed myself. School supplies of course! What else could there be in those bags? I freaked out! School supplies? But she's only in preschool, she'll be starting "Moyenne Section"! I simply didn't check for the possibility of there being a school supply list for MS, assuming all a preschooler needs is paint, crayons, markers... And isn't that something the school takes care of? Well, it was in my school days and so it was in California.



Not here, not at this school! Luckily the teacher I had talked to and who saw my despair, went back inside to get me "the list": three pages - very detailed - with plenty of words I didn't understand! Cahiers SEYES - "cahiers say-what?". I'd never heard of SEYES. I always considered myself an expert when it came to school supplies. Ever since I was a little girl I had been browsing through school supply aisles in supermarkets, looking for the one thing I didn't have yet. Was it possible I had missed out on something?
Of course, if I would have collected M.'s school supplies myself, instead of dropping off the list at the bookstore as was recommended by the school's PTA to the newcomers I'm sure I would have known what a "cahier SEYES" was. But I didn't do it myself.

Needless to tell we didn't go eat crêpes that afternoon. Instead, the two of us ran around town like crazy to get little H.'s stuff. By the time we went back to pick up our little girl, we had everything except for the "tablier", a fabric apron, all French preschoolers wear in class every day.

With this in mind, ever since, we go out on our school supply hunt as soon as the list is made available online. It has become routine now. Cahier de travaux pratiques, petit format, grand format, cahiers SEYES à 32 pages, 96 pages, 144 pages, triangular pencils, regular pencils, chemises cartonnées à rabats, lutin à 60 vues, 90 vues, 120 vues, chaussons de mimes ... the school supply list has no more secrets to us! We're professionals now!

Did you ever mess up your kid's first day at school?? Just wondering...

Up, là-haut...

I took the kids to the movie Up, yesterday, in an attempt to escape from the heat and also just because we wanted to see it. It's a little gem! The three of us loved it! And this girl here has been sobbing, not once but several times. A very touching movie with a clear message: it's never too late to follow those dreams... Need to bear that in mind more often!

Well, luckily drawing has never been one of my dreams. The picture above was made by - no, not one of the kids; they would have done a better job. It was made by me, with the Wacom Bamboo One drawing pad I bought a while ago and that has been collecting dust ever since...
I'm afraid it's just not for me... I had hoped to be able to retouch photographs with it or to be able to make small sketches (for my tutorials!) with it, but I can't seem to get proper control over that pen. Good thing H. likes it. She had a go at it several times and was pretty successful at it!

Now, In case you're interested in using this tool for retouching photographs, check out this link which I found through One Pretty Thing. You will find step by step instructions on how to touch up photographs using Photoshop and a Wacom tablet.
But for now, this girl is going to put her Wacom tablet right back where it was, a hidden dusty corner...

SIX!!

When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five, I was just alive.
But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever,
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

- A. A. Milne

Today our little H. turns six. I took this picture a little while ago, but I still like it a lot as it really captures the way she is - a little whirlwind.
She's very intense in every sense - intensely sweet, intensely happy, intensely sad or mad, intensely so not listening, ... so intensely my little girl!!

And now she's six...
Happy birthday, my dear little H.!!

xo
P.

On high heels again...

In a couple of weeks my in-laws will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with a big party. The perfect occasion for a nice outfit and... some high heels, I thought. I can't remember the last time I wore high heels, except for last summer's high heel sandals, which were a big mistake - too high to feel comfortable with for more than an hour... Hence they landed in the back of a closet and haven't seen much of the daylight ever since. Once in a while my girls will take them out and ask me why I don't wear them anymore and if, since I'm not wearing them, I could save them for when their feet are big enough...

These pumps are much lower but I wanted to make sure I can walk in them properly on the big day, so I decided to break them in today - inside the house, in front of my camera.

The camera mounted on a tripod, remote control in my hand, and one square meter of space is all I needed. And the high heels? I think I'll be able to manage them...

To do or not to do...

Two more weeks and school's over... I can hardly believe it. The year just flew by.
And there are still so many things to be done before school ends - in between the "spectacles", end-of-year events, birthday parties and the last field trips. And it looks like poor little H. might have to miss her field trip tomorrow, as she came down with a fever this afternoon. She seemed really tired today - needed a morning nap even (so not her!). I blamed it to a lack of sleep because of last night's "fête de la résidence" we all went to and where the kid's played way past there usual bedtime. I should have known better... This afternoon she fell asleep on a play date - I went to pick her up right away and by the time I got there she was awake but felt really hot... Poor little thing! We'll see tomorrow morning how she's doing...

Anyway, today I wrote down my to-do list for the next two weeks (I just noticed I already forgot a couple of things). I can't remember where exactly I found the link to this index card generator - I only bookmarked the card generator and you can find it here. It doesn't really help in making the list shorter but it sure looks a lot nicer on a cute old card like this...

The first thing, however, on my to-do list right now, is make sure little H. feels better soon! And then we'll see about the rest!

Some shade of blue

Last Saturday, there was a "vide grenier" (big garage sale event along the streets) not too far from where we live. I only found out about it when driving past it on our way to gym. The only time we took the car to go to gym - we usually go by bus - and no way I could park the car to go and have a look.




Well, I had to go back home anyway, because little H. was waiting for me to bring her to a birthday party - another one! I lost track of how many parties she went to exactly, but just over the past two months she got invited to at least one party every weekend... to the extent that she announced yesterday that she was growing tired of all the parties and needed a little break! She even agreed on having her own party postponed until September (her actual birthday is at the end of July)!



On my way back from drop-off at the birthday party, I decided to make a little detour to the vide-grenier - the only thing waiting for me at home was a big mess, as on Saturday morning, we decided to clean out our closets...
And I wanted to go check if the little pale blue vase that I had spotted from the car (traffic was slow...) was still there. Of course, I couldn't remember where I saw it. But instead, I fell for this guy: a pale blue (grayish blue? blueish gray? greenish blue? greenish gray?) vintage stapler. I didn't have high hopes when I asked for the price (they know their prices around here), but to my surprise the lady wanted a couple of euros only. I didn't have to think about that one for too long!



The nice thing about it is that it still works. Not that I actually really needed another stapler. We have quite a few. They're usually nowhere to be found when I need one, but that's a different story.



Today, I wiped it down a bit and had a closer look. I googled the information I found on the bottom and it turns out that it's from the 1950's - 1960's. Vintage, that is! French vintage!

I like the elegant design and the color, whatever its name is.
Not quite a vase, but still a nice find ...

Big Time Party

We had lovely weather all week and were hopeful for this weekend. Yes, they did announce rain for today - but they often get it wrong, we thought. Well, not this time.

When we woke up this morning, it was raining and gray, cold even. There went our birthday party plans. No "jardin d'acclimatation" or picnic this afternoon. We had to turn to plan B. Except, there wasn't a plan B! The only thing I could come up with was "the movies". But which one? The only one we could find playing right now was "Night at the museum 2". "Let's go see that one, mom!", M. said - she wouldn't let the rain ruin her party! I spend the next half an hour or so on the phone calling all the friends' parents to let them know about the change of plans. Some girls already saw the movie, but didn't mind to see it again. One problem solved! And only a couple of hours left to get everything else organized for - good thing I cleaned the apartment the day before! I had the hardest time finding M.'s favorite chocolate cake, but eventually did. Everything got ready in time and it was a fun party. Really fun!

The nine (!) girls went completely crazy with the over sized confetti we'd used to decorate the table and apartment - sticking it with tape to their noses and cheeks, making glasses with it. And from one thing came the other: they disappeared in the bathroom and had lots of fun creating crazy hairdo's. Looking for some great party ideas for nine year old girls? Confetti and clips, elastics, headbands... found in the bathroom, is all you need.
After the cake and kid's champagne we headed to the movie theater under loud singing - they sang the entire repertoire from the "classes vertes" - a young woman crossing us on the street even started to sing with them. Cheerful, happy girls!

I didn't expect too much of the movie myself, but it turned out to be pretty OK. There were a couple of scenes which I found really good, actually (the scene with the paintings - clever!). And to my surprise: Ben Stiller's French is really good! - Yes, you guessed it, movies are still dubbed here...

So, even though the birthday party didn't go completely according to plan we ALL had a great time! To me, it was one of her best parties ever! Relaxed, crazy, not overly organized... just fun, absolutely fun!!

The girls took over the script, and I liked it!

Happy birthday, my sweet M.!!

A family of four again!!

Our little girl got back on Saturday night! Back from a week with her class in Noirmoutier, a small isle in Brittany. And it's been a wonderful week, that's for sure!

Much too early, we left to the railway station to pick her up - little H. with a three-rose bouquet (one from each of us; the red one, she explained to a lady on the metro, represents "l'amour", the pinkish-yellow one the sunset and I already forgot what the white one was for - but she sure got lyrical!). We were told the kids would be sitting in wagon 16, so all parents were waiting sort of midway "le quai". When the train finally arrived, someone yelled: "ils sont là-devant!". And there she was, my little girl, waiving, with a big, happy smile on her face, a little tanned even - it was just a split second, but I saw she looked great. I felt the tears coming...
Little H. and I started running like crazy not sure if daddy was following at all. It was actually hilarious!! All those parents running down the platform, maneuvering (the French are pretty good at this!!) to get closer to the door, to be the first ones to welcome the fifty-something kids back home.

She looked so happy, so cheerful, ... They've had a fabulous time in Noirmoutier!
As we were waiting for the luggage, the giggling, laughing, hugging and kissing went on... It was hard to say goodbye to all those friends, even though it was only until Monday...

We were home late that night... and there was so much to tell and show us, still - the presents she got us: a butter knife for little sister (H. loves to have just some butter on her "baguette", but has a hard time spreading it with a regular knife - so thoughtful of M. to think of this), a little tortoise shaped jewelry box covered in shells for daddy and me, a little lighthouse globe with sparkles for herself and... salt!! One kilo of the best "Sel marin de Noirmoutier", which we had to taste right away! So good!!

And this wouldn't be France if they wouldn't have exposed the kids to some really good food. Although M. is quite a picky eater, she has been raving about the wonderful food they've had the entire week (some examples: salmon with some kind of shrimp sauce with broccoli puré, moules frites, pasta salad with tuna, yummy desserts - they even got a cooking class on Saturday and made their own sablés cookies to take home...). Together with her daddy, yesterday, she prepared us the tuna pasta salad and one of the deserts. Trop bien! And she learned some good table manners too, she told us (we have to see about that!).

And not only that: although really late she insisted on unpacking her suitcase herself, putting away everything while talking and talking...about all the activities: a boat's trip around the isle, their biking trip, the trip to "les marais salants" from where she got the salt, the olympics and treasure hunt on the beach, the fishing, bird watching, "la boum" ... She even taught us a new expression: "Dites-lui de me lacher les baskets" (tell him/her to leave me alone) - whatever the context might have been...

She's also been very enthusiast about the "surveillant(e)s" and the wonderful songs one of them taught the kids, while playing his guitar. Nice French repertoire songs... She looked them up for us on Youtube and sang along. So cute!

Tomorrow, I'll bring her disposable film camera to the shop, so she can put some memories up in her room, from her first trip alone ...