top score.

coucou!

i've been thinking about little stories to tell you for a couple days now.  i figure a rainy tuesday --which was filled with too much disappointing apartment searching, WAY too much rain, and hardly enough coffee-- would be the perfect to time to dwell on other, positive things :)

saturday afternoon a friend invited us to a fundraiser for a group of her students, held at a bowling alley.  i walked in the door expecting to see a bowling alley similar to any other i've seen in my life, but les québecois don't do bowling like the rest of the world apparently.  

loving the yellow bowling shoes, yes? here i am winding up for my next strike, even though what i really wanted to show you were les quilles, the bowling pins that i knocked over with....

the tiniest bowling balls i've ever seen in my life!  they don't even have any holes in them, and they're MUCH lighter than regular bowling balls.  which would explain my record score of 194...

it was so hilarious.  i would say it took some getting used to, but my first FOUR turns, i bowled strikes.  this was right after apologizing to everyone on my team that my bowling skills were extremely lacking.  false modesty?

after unlimited bowling for 3 hours, we headed to what i would call the quebec version of olive garden, with the added perk of a bread bar.  at said bread bar, you have the choice of lovely wheat, white, raisin (raisin?) or rye bread, as well as regular, garlic, tomato, or pesto butter.  you spread as much or as little as you want, grab a bar of tongs, and grill your bread to personal perfection before heading back to your table.  yom.

sunday was my favorite day of 2011 so far. 

I GOT A SUNBURN!!

a quick side note. this is not me celebrating the fact of an increased risk of skin cancer, but rather rejoicing in the fact, that

IT WAS A SUNNY 70 DEGREES!  

we took absolute advantage of the surprising, glorious weather, and went for a hike at Mont Saint Hilaire, a small town 35 minutes outside of the city.  we went on a short but intense hike (~1 mile, 1,200 ft altitude gain) up to the top where we could see a view of montreal in the distance and the st. richelieu river cutting through towns in between.  long trains crept along tracks next to the river, hugging the shoreline..

psst you can see these pictures and others, and entertain yourself with the general musings of a handsome frenchman, at provincecanadienne.blogspot.com.

i'd also like to take this last bit of the rainy day to say,

i love the classic simplicity of these camping mugs. 

although i don't think much could wean me from my moleskin ways,

these leather travel notebooks would probably be the next closest candidates.

and, you must click through to this blog.

a girl's photo diary adventures on the paris metro.

every few days she interviews a random person (or chien) on the paris metro, and takes their picture.

what an intriguing project. 

hope the sun is shining where you are!

xo

alli