New beginnings...

So in my blogging absence, I was trying something new. I took a job that was offered to me (like they tracked me down through a mutual friend to offer it to me). It came at a time when I was so desperate for work. And now another offer has come along to save me from this one! I'll be helping with the marketing and advertising of a small boutique that my friend owns. I'm excited to get some new experience. Leaving my current job was a tough decision. One I am very glad I made. My last official day is tomorrow, and then I'll be filling in one night the following week.
My "new" job starts on Monday...and no more uniform! YAY! Fashion is BACK! So hopefully I'll have some new things to post along those lines. Also, operation smoking hot begins on Monday. I will have exactly one month before my photo shoot. I'm not talking a diet, I'm talking more water, veggies, exercise...more awareness of what goes in. So all I have to do is make it through tomorrow!

Le Printemps

If you live in the southeast, you may have come to the same conclusion I had: that we skipped spring. It has felt like summer most of this week and I have not been a happy chappy...I love springtime. Usually it means a box of Kleenex and a bottle of Zyrtec, but the things that I am most allergic to are not in bloom.......yet.

Today it finally feels like spring. In fact, I'd go so far as to say today is the perfect spring day. It is 50 degrees Fahrenheit, not a cloud in the sky...a crisp breeze...perfect! A light sweater, maybe a silk scarf...how very refreshing. Thank goodness for yesterday’s rain! Now if I could only convince my neighbors to take in the day...but ah the sound of weed-eaters :-(

Death at a Funeral

This is the original movie from 2007. I (inappropriately enough) watched this after my own Grandmother's passing and I must say, it was the exact comic relief I needed. It must have been one o'clock in the morning when it came on, and maybe it was the delirium of the hour or the situation...but I laughed...and laughed.

So now they are remaking it:



And I must admit, as hard as it would be to top the British on this one...it may be just as funny.

Not that this is in any way relevant, I just wanted to put out there that this is not the first time this movie was made. Have a good Thursday!

Alice in Wonderland!

I like most of Tim Burton's movies...and I LOVED Alice in Wonderland! What a pair, this story with his dark mind. I had never seen a movie in 3D before, so it was a real treat.
Alice In Wonderland Epk Featurette
The imagery, the characters...despite the obviously intoxicated man behind me and a woman with hilarious fits of laughter...the suspension of disbelief set in. My single complaint was the fabulous Johnny Depp...let it be said first that I adore him. In playing the Mad Hatter he used a few different voices, to display his varying levels of madness I suppose. One of the voices that turned up sounded very much like Capt. Jack Sparrow. It was slightly disappointing. I realize I will just have to see it again to "get" the voices, and maybe then I'll retract what I've written here. Such a minute detail I know...but trust me I still am a fan of his and this movie!

I even made a tea-party necklace for the occasion!

Ma chambre

So I have landed back at home after 3 years of adventure. I spent my winters in Colorado and my summers traveling. Now I am on the quest to finding a "big girl" job. I am coming to terms with the idea that I need to go back to Graduate school...my major was French...need I say more? Whilst I was away my parents moved. As happy as I am for them, I miss quirks about my childhood home. Creaks of the hard wood floors, the way my room was the coldest (now it is the hottest) the view, walking distance from town etc. Seeing whereas I haven’t spent ALL my time job searching (as I should) I have taken the time to turn my space into, well mine. The new place has its advantages: a nice wrap around porch, a creek, my own bathroom (as opposed to it doubling as the guest bath) and more square footage. I think my new room is double the size of the old one.
My bedspread is Croscill’s PONZIO that I love! The bed itself is the only thing of my grandmother’s that I really wanted. The stars above are those paper lanterns without the light kits. I haven’t sorted out curtains yet... the cat likes to sit on the dresser and look out the window, so as much as I like to sit some plants there...well if you have cats you understand.

This painting is called “October” by Tissot. When I was studying in Quebec we went on a trip to Le Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal. I fell in love with this piece! So much so that a very special ex-beau of mine bought this reproduction on canvas for my birthday last year.

The top left is a very unique piece. I bought it off an artist in Bayonne: Erwin Dazelle. He sketches at the tauromachie and he formed this out of an ink blot on the page...he said it just happened naturally. The one below it is the Tour Eiffel cover in snow that I found at Target years ago. The other side is all photos I took. The top two were taken in Savannah. The group of three are of: Bordeaux, Bazouges-sur-le-Loir, and Angoulême. The one of the Tour Eiffel was taken on my first trip to France as an exchange student in High School.


The bookcase is nothing exciting; I refinished it to look like my desk, which is currently serving as my TV stand...and my attempt at art that I’ve yet to hang. I am so thankful to have wonderful parents who welcome me home, wherever it is, after my wanderings. So for anyone reading out there in blog-land...THIS is my sense of style.

La Poste

I am a fan of the handwritten letter. There is something about going to the mailbox and seeing that someone has taken the time to sit down to write you a letter. Yes, I email, facebook and well blogging is a whole other creature...but I love real, tangible mail.

Here is a piece by NPR’s Brian Naylor: Post Office Forced To Rethink Model In Digital Age

Some of the main ideas are closing some branches and reducing delivery days. And as I’m not the authority all I can say is what I know. In France, La Poste is also a bank and offers several services in their locales. One thing they do have is a lovely automated touch screen system. You select your language (they offer all those in the EU) place your mail on the scale, answer a few basic questions, print your stamp and voilà: put it in the out of town slot! Also in the little towns I visited, not only were they closed on the weekends: they closed for lunch – everyday. In England some of their post offices were in the back of a convenience store...so blinkin’ convenient! I’m not sure about the pension and health benefits portion of the equation. I just hope our Postmaster General and Congress can sort it all out...in the meantime, take the time to write a handwritten letter to someone. It will brighten their day as well as save a dying tradition.

Winter Gardening: Forced Blooms - SouthernLiving.com

Winter Gardening: Forced Blooms - Photos - SouthernLiving.com

Photo: Erica George DinesArticle: Kate Karam

This is my inspiration for the day...to clean house! I could sit in that chair with a good book all morning...but alas, things to do...jobs to search for...*sigh* Let's get to work!