le weekend.

My weekend was one of those that was not originally intended to be cramming-everything-into-three-days, but quickly turned out that way.  But it was fabulous despite the craziness.

Thursday night I trained up to Sens and then hopped in a car to go to the Danré's house for the weekend.  Although, après toutwe seemed to spend more time hopping around to other houses than staying at the Danré's.  

Friday we visited one of Stéphane's university roomates, his wife, and a very recent arrival (3 weeks!) their daughter, Apolline.  She was absolutely adorable and calm as can be.  I guess there's very little to do at 3 weeks besides eat and sleep.  The couple was so nice to have us at their home, as busy as they must be.  After lunch we visited les vaches, the cows on the farm.  Fabien, Apolline's father, raises cows in their village and has quite the barn-ful.  While we were taking the tour we saw a calf that had just been born half an hour before!  Imagine a cute little baby cow, minus the fluffiness, and add in a whole bunch of teenage type awkwardness.  It was pretty funny.

Friday we drove to nearby Reims, where we stayed the night.  We decided to wander around the Christmas market, le marché de noel, and we were certainly not the only ones with the idea.

I wish that was real snow on top of the market roofs, but it was just misting rain : (

I'll certainly be trying some marrons chauds, roasted chestnuts, sometime this Christmas season.

Saturday afternoon we were guests at Stéphane's aunt's house (we literally hopped from lunch to dinner all weekend long).  After a lovely afternoon of homemade boeuf bourgingon, one of Burgundy's roasted meat stew specialities, and wonderful conversation over some champagne and Chateauneuf du Pape red wine (jealous mom!) we headed back to get changed for une soirée on Saturday night.

The soirée was in a great room with a high ceiling and awesome chandeliers.

We went with a couple of Stéphane's friends and cousins.

moi and mr. handsome.

Some ridiculous dance line where the object is to push the person backwards as fast and recklessly as possible.  I don't see how that could possibly be fun.  Every single person ended up on the floor.

After some (not enough) sleep on Sunday morning, we had a slow day around the farm.  More champagne and eating involved.  A certain member of the Danré family was a little excited for us to finish eating and come play.

Coca!!!

She was soooo serious in the car as we drove around the little farm trails tracing through the fields.  Every so often we would see some deer or rabbits and she would go NUTS.

We got out of the car for awhile to walk around and see some of the windmills not far from the Danré's farm.  They were big, and made scary whistling noises.  And were incredibly intimidating to stand underneath.

All in all, a nice weekend.  Not quite relaxing, but really fun.

What did you do this weekend?  I heard there were skiers in Utah!  Can't wait to get on my skis in 3 weeks : O

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looking out for love.

looking out for love

Friends,

I am so very excited to share this with you.  This summer in Michigan, in between s'mores, late night campfires, shore breakfasts, and lying on the trampoline, I had a very exciting conversation with one of my best friends, Lindsay Poulin.  She is an incredibly talented woman, with a wonderfully contagious passion for all things art.  Her camera is nearly always by her side, her sketches of costume design are something out of the Pride and Prejudice costume closet, and her ever growing collection of greeting cards and stationary are so cute they make you want to keep them instead of sending them away.  I happen to know she's even got a knack for garageband techno songs ; )

One of the projects she's been piecing together over the past months is coming together in a wonderful way.  She was first inspired by two of her good friends at college who spent time in Uganda, Africa at 'God's Heart Orphanage'.  Lindsay recognized the passion her friends had for traveling, volunteering, and sharing their lives with others, and decided to start this project as a way of documenting love all over the world.  She's started a blog called 'look out for love', which gathers pictures of hearts from all around the world.  In her own words,

'The overarching concept I have in mind is that love is everywhere, in everything, for everyone -- and that there is so much adventure and value in looking deeper. It’s always amazing what you can find in the most unexpected places!'

She's designed the blog in a way that anyone and everyone is welcome to comment and post their own pictures of hearts from wherever you find them. Whether it be on a business trip, a study abroad experience, your backyard, your morning commute, the whipped cream in your afternoon latte.... you know, the little things.

This is a participation-oriented blog, so I encourage you all to visit the website she's set up, lookingoutforlove. She's also included guidelines and info on how to submit pictures to the project. I guarantee that once you start looking for hearts, you'll notice them in the funniest places.

Feel free to share the site with your friends and family, and encourage them to post pictures. This project has great potential, and I was just bursting to share it with you, my lovely readers.

keep looking out for love !

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reading material.

I started Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo a couple weeks ago and just finished it this afternoon.

via

It's an incredibly intricate story, the characters blending together in interesting ways.  I won't give away the ending, but the tension that seemed to be building up slowly throughout the whole story seemed to creep out just as quietly in the last pages.

In the wonderful surprise package that came my way a couple days ago, was My Life in France, the memoir written by Julia Childs chronicling her adventure in la France.  Seems an appropriate time to read it!

via

I'm always one for book recommendations.  What have you been reading lately?

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following/subscribing to mistinguett.

hello!

just a little update to say that i've added a feature on my blog called 'subscribe to'.  if you're a daily blog reader with google reader, my yahoo, or own of several others, now you can subscribe to mistinguett and it will pop up on your daily feed whenever I've updated.  you'll see the 'subscribe to mistinguett' on the right hand side of the page, under about me, etc.

another option, if you're a blogspot blogger, is to become a follower.  this is also an option on the right side of the page.  depending on your email settings, you'll be updated when i've put a new post, and other people can see that you're following my blog.

if anyone would like to receive emails when i update, but you don't have a google reader or a blogspot account, send me an email or leave a comment here and i'll add your address to a list i'll send out when i update!

happy reading friends!

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life list: run a marathon.

I haven't done a Life List post in awhile, even though I feel like I add something new to The List everyday...
I was thinking about this particular item this morning as I was riding to work.  I love running.  It's a stress relief for me- a time to think and to not think.  I've only run a couple long distance races- a couple 5K's and one 10K.  One of these days (when I have a running partner who will get me out of bed in the morning!) I would love to train for and complete a marathon.  I know it's possible!

Anyone else out there a committed runner?  Ever thought about running a marathon?

Hoping this Monday Morning isn't too hard on you! : )

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ps. gotta give a shout out to Mamma and Dad Happ.  I got a wonderful surprise package in the mail with BOOKS in ENGLISH!  One of the things I miss most overseas!  You're the best : )  We should all send surprise packages more often.

photo. 

le weekend.

my weekend included:

a concert in dijon.

visiting airports full of gliders, helicopters, kitfoxes, and matco wheels and brakes!  

a middle school basketball game, coached by my roomate.

a dinner of 22 in a cozy french house warmed by a blazing fireplace and kind hearts.

church in a chilly cathedral.

a sunset walk to the park just in time for it to close.

and one of the coolest parts:

a group of sangliers- wild boars!!  common in the woods throughout France, 

but extremely rare to see in such high numbers!

and they ran right across the road in front of us : )

I got to enjoy a lovely weekend.  My students certainly kept it interesting for me this week- one got his second 8 day suspension after I had him in class on Thursday (suspension more due to him pushing the school counselor than him being downright obnoxious in my class).  Oh middle schoolers.  Thankfully I know already that I will not spend the rest of my life teaching you.  

How were your weekends?  What were the highlights?  

Wishing everyone a wonderful Sunday afternoon!

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all photos uploaded by mistinguett.

mercredi.

leaf family

good things about my day :

a beautiful blue sky

a wonderful morning walk around town

remembering my kids singing along in class yesterday to an activity

good music on my ipod

homemade pasta/rice salad made from leftovers

café in town with lovely girls

awesome vintage shop

talk of travels and adventures

beautiful evening sunset

singing class tonight!

what were the good things about your day ?

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pictures uploaded by mistinguett.

le weekend.

Well folks, the weekend lived up to my expectations, except for la pluie, the rain, that decided to come and visit as well.  We had about 9 people crammed in our apartment, but we all survived and had a pretty good time I'd like to think!

I'll show in pictures, a little bit about the weekend chez nous in Beaune.

some of my guests this weekend.

inside the wine tasting event.  that we waited for in the rain, for 3 hours.

part of the parade on sunday.  wasn't sure what they were going for with the face paint.

another marching band.  this one traveled from Neuchâtel, Switzerland

that guy on the left is a famous French singer, Patrick Bruel.

It was the funniest thing when a Chinese lady standing next to us

and crazily taking pictures with the rest of the crowd suddenly

came up to us and asked, "Um, actually, who is he?"

She played the role of devoted fan pretty well for having no idea!

a picture inside the auction house where 'la vente du vin' went on.

they auctioned off barrels of wine.  some sold for as much as 40,000 euros!

we enjoyed some delicious escargots, snails!

don't be alarmed by the green color, that's the garlic and herb butter sauce : )

i was SO excited to see they turned on all the christmas lights downtown!

most awesome contest.  who could uncork 200 bottles of wine the fastest.

only in France.

this guy was the winner.  see all the corks lying on the stage?  he finished in about 15 minutes.

his prize:  a solid gold wine opener.

So as you can see, despite the cloudy weather, we still saw lots of stuff in Beaune.  I was so proud of our little town!  As the guy at the wine-bottle-uncorking contest said, in Burgundy when we do something, on le fait au fond, we go all out.

What fun things were a part of your weekend?

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

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all pictures uploaded by mistinguett.  

weekend madness.

I'm sitting in our living room, getting ready for an inCREDibly crowded but I hope just as fantastic weekend.  Tomorrow and Sunday are the annual 'vente du vin' in Beaune (a fancy-smancy wine auction and all around reason to drink vin chaud) so we invited a couple people to come and stay.  Well, a couple multiplied.  And pretty rapidly.  But I'm convinced it's going to be a picture and story worthy couple of days.

Just wanted to share two things I found with you all.  I'm a google reader addict (if you haven't discovered it yet, you should) where I read blogs of good friends and strangers.

via 2 or 3 things.

This is from a blog called '2 or 3 things i know' which I enjoy.  And I thought the quote gets right to the point.  Something we should remember more often.

The second is way less serious and just as awesome.

via the space in between.

Does anyone else remember these books from when you were a kid?  They talk you through how to draw these cute little figures and animals using really simple shapes.  My favorites were the little chick, and the ants : )  You can check out the blog at the space in between.  

Wishing you a very sunny and wonderful weekend!  Anyone else having a house full of crazies?  If not, what are your plans?

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the little things.

a little thing: the gerbera daisies I bought to light up my rainy days a bit.

I had an above average morning, which for Tuesdays is saying a lot.  The kids were calm, my lessons seemed to just snap into place.

But.

Little besides the exact opposite could have applied for this afternoon.  Hello, I realize the reality of having a room full of 14 year olds during their last hour of school a day.  Which is why I tried to plan a fun activity- trying to captivate their attention and run with it a bit.  Unfortunately, seems like the only thing that captivated them was me yelling at them in French.  Which isn't exactly the goal of an English class....  I know I've said it before, but it's just plain tiring to spend half the class 'chhhut' ing (it's what the French say for ssssh!) and moving kids around to try to get something done.

But.

All of that melted away on my bike ride home from work.  I was almost back to my apartment- I had just pulled alongside the high school next to where I live.  The road is kind of narrow at that point, so I usually ride on the sidewalk to get a bit of space from the cars.

At one point, in front of me was a woman walking with 5 young children, completely blocking the path.  I tried to go slow and patiently wait for a space beside them so I could pass, which didn't seem to be coming any time soon.  The four kids were all excitedly pulling on the woman's shirt sleeves, anxious to tell her stories from their day at school.

All except one little guy.  He was doing his own thing behind them, dancing along the sidewalk.  He was the only one who saw me, and before I could even say anything he (with the utmost reverence and seriousness) stepped to the side in a sort of 'attention' stance.  And as if he couldn't get any cuter, he then saluted me.  As if to say, 'safe travels madame, allez-y, go ahead the path is clear'.

That little guy could not possibly know how much he cheered up my evening.  Petit Cadet, I salute you tonight wherever you are.

What are your little things that get you through the day?

Thanks for the recipes and comments by the way!

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le weekend.

I was a bit of a Suzie Homemaker this weekend.  Or maybe a Françoise au Foyer if you will (femme au foyer is French for stay-at-home madre).  Last week when I saw a recipe posted for ridiculously easy homemade tomato soup, it was like that motherly-kitcheny-homey part of me switched on.

And in a chain of supermarché events, while I was buying canned peeled tomatoes I saw a big box of pears for a euro and a wonderfully cute and tiny casserole dish and pear tart and quiche lorraine popped into my head.

All three were delicious, despite the glitches (re: lack of blender for the tomato soup ingredients).  Didn't get pictures of the soup, but here are some of the quiche and tart!

quiche in said cute perfect casserole dish.  ready to go in the oven.

er. toaster oven? whatever it works. i feel like writing a recipe book.... 'toaster oven recipes'...

perfectly toaster puffy eggy, cheesy deliciousness (minus the slightly burned crust)

I had crust left over so figured I should pop the pears in there.  It was a little liquidy but still scrumptious.

So there you are- my cuisine centered weekend.  It was also fairly well timed since the weather was pretty crappola over here.  In between the rain storms I managed to wander about town a bit with the other assistants (commiserating about said rain) and take a Sunday run through the vineyards across from our apartment.

What did you do this weekend?

alli

p.s  here are the links to the recipes I used this weekend.  pear tart.  tomato soup.  quiche lorraine. sorry anglophones for the last one, it's in French : )  I'd be happy to translate though!

p.p.s.  care to share some other recipes for me to try in my tiny toaster oven?  I would LOVE suggestions!

chateaux cathares. and la plage.

During our day trips in Southern France it seemed we were always driving towards one of two extremes.  The dry, rocky mountains or the sunny, glittery ocean.  

Chateau de Quéribus on a cloudy Sunday.

Dates back to the 12th-13th centuries!

Peekaboo

Chateau Peypertuse from above.

The chateaux cathares (cathares is the style of fortified castles found in the south) were certainly much different than the classical chateaux tourists are accustomed to seeing in France.  They were focused much more on security rather than showboating wealth (think Napoleon. Louis XIV. Versailles.)  Walking along what was left of the stone walls, every so often there would be a sliver of cloudy sky passing through a small hole in the wall, where soldiers and guards were stationed to defend their fort/base.

There was clearly an advantage to being so high on a hill.  From Chateau Peypertuse we could see across the wide valley to Chateau Quéribus (think smoke signals, fire/flame communication,etc) and beyond that, the Mediterranean Sea.  And to the South, we were looking almost straight at the Spanish border.

When we weren't visiting chateaux, we were weaving along the coast, dipping into Spain one afternoon.  

My favorite seaside town- Collioure.

It was much warmer in the sun than in the shadows of the city's ramparts.  Late season sun bathers were taking advantage of the wonderful weather.

A view from the highway snaking down the side of the Mediterranean.

Moi.  Overjoyed about the sunny weather.  And slightly self-conscious about the French road-trippers looking on....  That didn't stop me though.

Looking at sunny beach pictures while the weather-après-vacation is less than stellar is a great way to transition back to work : )

How do you ease back into work?

Wishing you a happy sunday!

alli

worldview.

Ok I lied just a little bit.  

My next post won't be about my travels but instead about this little treasure I just found.  Have you heard about stumbleupon?

It's a website where you can enter personal preferences, and when you click the little 'stumble' button in the corner of your browser, it brings you random, awesome, and often wacky websites from all around the web.  Things you are 98% unlikely to find even if you searched specifically for them!

This is what popped up this afternoon when I was stumbling:

click here to see this in a bigger screen.

Sometimes imagining the world from a completely different angle changes a lot, huh?

Intriguing.

Thoughts?

Photos credited to stumbleupon & here

quaint village visit : cucugnan

Even the name of the city radiates quaintness.  A tad bit because when you say it in French it sounds a little bit like 'coucou' which is similar to a 'hey you', 'yoohoo', and all around one of my favorite cute callsigns or french exclamations.

Like the majority of the small towns peppered along the French/Spanish border (or maybe just France in general?) Cucugnan was gathered on a small hill, its streets spiraling inwards with plenty of curious cobblestoned streets to explore.

My favorite part was the moulin, the windmill that sat out on the edge of the hill.  Almost like a proud lighthouse drawing everyone in.  What was even cooler, was that the moulin was attached to a boulangerie which made fresh breads, pastries, and delicious cookies.  

You could visit the moulin, take a small tour- but we decided it was just as nice to munch on their homemade vanilla, fig, and chocolate flavored sugar cookies and sip coffee : )

After the coffee break we headed up to visit some of the chateaux cathares, fortified castles, the region is famous for.... which may just be the next blog post or two.

Stay tuned!

alli

viaduc de millau

One of the monuments we designed our road trip around was Le Viaduc de Millau.  Millau is a small town Northwest of Montpellier in Southern France.  Before 2004, the town was constantly bombarded by passing traffic- since it is nestled down in a valley between two high plateaus, descending and passing through the city was the only solution for traffic to move through the area.  In 2001 the government decided to build a bridge across the two plateaus, cutting at least an hour and a half commute to less than 10 minutes.  

And when the French start building something like this, well it's usually 'go big or go home' (need to figure out how to say that in French...)  The bridge is 2,460 meters long (1.5 miles!) and 343 meters high (1,125 feet).  There are 6 pylons that go from the ground up to the top of the bridge.  The base of several of the pylons are about the size of a tennis court!  

On our drive down we passed over top the bridge.

approaching the bridge.

it was pretty impressive. 

On our drive back up from Perpignan to Beaune, we decided to drive into Millau so we could see the bridge from below.  

It was even more impressive from below.

I will admit it kind of made my head spin to be underneath it.  Concrete would really hurt falling from that high.

It was a cool part of the trip to see something of that scope in the middle of the French countryside.  There were many people who were upset about the skyline being ruined, but I actually think they did a wonderful job with the design.  I think it gives the illusion of arching clouds, and it meshes quite well into the valley.  A little different goal than the Golden Gate bridge as far as blending in, but hey : )

Stay tuned for more bits of my vacation over the rest of the week!

alli