it's SNOWING!!!

dear benetton: thanks for combining two of my favorite things in your holiday promotions-- naked babies and retro christmas ornaments...this is ridiculously cute. 

Joyeux Noël

This year for Christmas...
Today I am going to see Swan Lake, performed at the Opera Bastille by the best ballet company in the world.
Though being away from family and friends makes these days harder, I am so grateful that I have a community here to celebrate with. May you & yours remember what we celebrate and why He came...
tous mon amour et bénédictions

ahh, nothing gets me more in the mood for Christmas than some discoteque-inspired, neon cones arranged in the general shape of a tree...Joyeux Noel all the same :) 

For Blanca...

2 stories in your honor...
#1
This summer we were in Florence, about to board a train for Pisa, and we needed a quick breakfast, so we ran in McDonalds. The breakfast menu offered an Egg McMuffin, Sausage Biscuit, or a Sausage & Egg biscuit...we decided what we wanted (tough choice when they offer 3 whole options!) and the conversation went something like this:
Blanca: I would like a sausage biscuit, and a large coke
Employee: NO, either the Egg McMuffin, or the sausage & egg biscuit
Blanca: Ok...umm, I just want the sausage, not the egg...can I just have the sausage biscuit that is on the menu?
Employee: NO, if you don't want the egg then you can take it off and throw it away
Blanca: Right, but...okay, nevermind,that's fine (though you also could just leave off the egg in the back...)
Employee: Your total is 3.00 euros
She pays, thanks him, and steps aside to wait for her food...
I meanwhile have decided to make it easy on the guy and say:
Me: I will have exactly the same thing
(I already had the exact change in hand to minimize his frustrations)
Employee: Okay, your total is 2.30 euros
Me: What?...I'm confused...why was hers more? I thought I ordered the same thing.
Employee: Well, Senorina, this is the REAL price...I don't understand why you are asking? do you want to pay more?
Me: No, it's okay...umm...have a nice day
Apparently, as an employee in Europe, you have leisure to change the price of items as you see fit based on your current level of frustration with the client...(even if it has resulted from them having the audacity to order something on the menu!)
#2
Blanca LOVES to drink Coke. One day, on her way somewhere, she stopped at the supermarket to buy one, since they are quite a bit cheaper there than out of a machine. She realized, while waiting in line, that the only cash she had was a 50 euro bill...but she reasoned that this should not be an issue since the cashier appears to have ample access to a drawer full of bills and coins...
When the cashier told her the total, she offered the bill to the woman...who asked (not out of the ordinary) if Blanca had anything smaller, when she said she did not the woman just looked at her...finally saying that she was sorry but unless Blanca had somethig smaller then she could not buy that coke.
What? Seriously?!
Eventually Blanca was forced to leave the store without purchasing what she went in for, though she had ample money...just because this lady didn't feel up to counting out some change!
 

Hungary?

I'm going to Budapest in February! I found a great deal on WizzAir...yeah, it sounds kinda odd, but it was cheap and will be another adventure :)
Have any suggestions of things I should see or do?

Joyeux Anniversaire

my Dad is 50 years old!!
I love you and wish I could be there to celebrate you (and your old age!).  

dear kids,
back when your aunt bethany was just a poor American living on the outskirts of Paris...Christmas time came around and my roommate and i got together enough money to purchase a small Christmas tree at our local market. we found a string of twinkle lights cheap, but could not afford to buy ornaments. one night we went to a "white elephant exchange" where someone was giving away a few ornaments, then we spent all the next afternoon stringing together popcorn to complete our decor...  

...and though we didn't have any string, we were resourceful and used mint flavored dental floss...and Voila! Joyeux Noël de rue Bidel :) 

Vous avez quel âge ?

within the past couple weeks, on 3 seperate occasions, I have been asked about my age...and when I reply "24", the inquiring person appears shocked and responds by insisting I look "17". Before now, this has only happened on one occasion, a few years ago in the states, the person was ringing me up at a retail store and offered me the store credit card and then quickly corrected himself by saying "oh nevermind, you have to be at least 18 to have one". But, by far, the norm for my life has always been that I looked older than I actually was. Therefore, my response to this recent phenomenon has been along the lines of "What?!"
I personally don't think that I look (or dress) anything like a High School Senior (not that there is anything wrong with that...)
But, it has made me wonder...if you were to see me on the street, what would you guess my age to be?
 

Per a recent request...
I have assembled a photo album called doors & windows
The plupart of these photos appear in previously published sets, (but since they struck my cousin's wife's fancy)...they are NOW available, together at last, by clicking this just once...

this week in the news

- Today is my one year anniversary of living in Paris!
- Anna & I purchased a Christmas tree, aproximate height 3ft.
- I took my first Parisian taxi ride
- I got a Christmas card from Taiwan
- I finally had a Macaroon (they are eveywhere here), and enjoyed it
- I replaced the light bulb in my room, after almost 3 weeks of strategic manuvers to caputure as much natural light as possible
- My affinity for Clean Sheets is stronger than ever...yesterday someone got in my bed in "street clothes", which is completely unacceptable and necessitated a prompt washing...

Donald Miller

"I could not have known then that everybody, every person, has to leave, has to change like the seasons; they have to or they die. The seasons remind me that I must keep changing, and I want to change because it is God's way. All of life I have been changing...Everybody has to change, or they expire. Everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons. I want to keep my soul fertile for the changes, so things keep getting born in me, so things keep dying when it is time for things to die. I want to keep walking away from the person I was a moment ago, because a mind was made to figure things out, not to read the same page recurrently. Only the good stories have the characters different at the end than they were at the beginning. And the closest thing I can liken life to is a book..."

The Hard Rock Cafe gives free refills...we always make sure to get our moneys worth!

Picture this...
Tuesday evening, 20 tea lights cast a glow around our living room, a huge bouquet of flowers is on the table, and homemade lasagna is baking in the oven...
Romantic? Quite
Number of females vs. males attending this rendez-vous? 4 / 0
This romantic evening came together in celebration of some friends' birthdays...our living room light is burned out so we lit candles, the flowers were a gift from friends, and the lasagna-- well it is pretty much all the food we had in the apartment (and ended up asking our friends to bring the meat and cheese!) :)
We had a great time and I was able to make Anna do 2 two crazy things in celebration of her day....dance in front of people, and laugh until she hurt....roommate mission accomplished.

Noel Johnson LOVES the Military Channel.