A French Wedding.....

You might be wondering -- I am still here.  Not deported. This time.

The story of that momentous day, the day I successfully leaped over yet another immigration hurdle, by attending the 8 hour Civics course and taking a pseudo-exam required by that silly contract I signed where I agreed to take this class, speak fluently in Francais and labor and bear a child on French soil to prove that I wanted to be here, remains in the draft box at the moment.  (Okay--I might have added that part about having to bear the French Bebe....wasn't in the contract, but hey, couldn't hurt right?) I am working on that post, but in the meantime ...

 ...life took off at break-neck speed.  My parents arrived!  And if that isn't joyful enough....the big event of the season also arrived....the wedding day of Belle-Niece.

So I got to 'cut-my-teeth' as a wedding photographer, after months of stressing planning, trying to communicate as best as possible with the bride and groom, honing my people-shooting skills, and deciding how best to use natural and unpredictable light situations.  (Also brushing-up on who's-who in the French Family-- and working out how to make everyone happy at the end of the day.... moi included!)

I will share a few pictures ... although I am waiting to give Belle Niece the final 245 shots of the best of the day.... so she can share them around with family personally.  (By the way, I took over 700 pictures, and something I learned about shooting a wedding -- at the end of the day, and the next few, your body feels like it ran the Boston Marathon (East Coast nod to my family).... I am certain I had no idea how much you use every muscle and nerve in your body to shoot all day long----ouch!  I need a massage.... and a chiropractor .... and a pedicure....(just thought I would throw in that last one....who knows.)

Without further adeau... my favorite pics.  (Pick of pics)....it was a GORGEOUS day.  Beautiful weather, brilliantly wonderful people...  maybe not the best pictures of the lot, but my personal favorite moments of the day .... enjoy!

 

As you can see, I was lucky to have such gorgeous subjects for the photography... and it was easy to capture the happiness of the day.  A fabulous sweet couple ...  A belle French Wedding .....

Vive Le Marié!

The Countdown!

Oh! I do NOT want to jinx this......but for the last two nights 'la princesse', la wonder-baby, la-perfect-gorgeously-adorable-sweet-fille, the inherit-tresse of my desginer shoe and handbag collection.....has SLEPT from 12 midnight to 7 AM!  Am I a new woman!? With all of this uninterupted slumber in the sleep back account?  Well, not yet...but gettin' close!

Next I need to wean myself off the allergy meds that I take late at night so that I am not rudely awakened by chronic explosive sneezes, watering eyes and a tickly throat at 3 AM--it's been bad!  Has this happened to you?  Is this not the absolute worst endless allergy season in the history of the planet?  Seriously, what is happening?  Have we bred a super-pollen?  Mega-mutant-dust-mites? (Not to say there is any dust in my home...nope, not at all!) But geeez!  I have been sneezing and wheezing and nursing one sinus-infection after another since last January!  I used to have 'seasonal' allergies in early spring then sometimes late fall...but these days its a 12 month long season! The problem is, as well as the meds work, a prescription that is 'safe' for nursing mommies and the only thing that provides even one-iota of relief....makes me really groggy....on top of the sleep issue...not good.  So I am finally making attempts to go natural using a homeopathic remedy instead to avoid that side effect....I hope.  Stay tuned on that.

We are just about one week, ONE week from Mom and Dad's arrival.  I can barely stand it! I have a mile long list of things that must be done and I think that is the only thing that prevents me from leaving right this minute for Charles De Gaulle and camping out by the exit doors of the baggage claim.  The list consists of things like:

1. Clean the Oven....it's now one year old--we've never done this using the 'auto-clean' function, it's time.  We cook a lot of chicken on the rotisserie thingy that it has--enough said.
2. Clean out the front hall-dump-as-you-enter-store-three-hundred-pairs-of-shoes-backpacks-jackets-broken-umbrellas-and-miscellaneous-sundrie-items-closet by the front door, that also contains at any given time about 80 pounds of tracked-in beach sand.
3. Laundry room--see above and also add in all of accoutrements of three doggies and 8 bins of non-related 'why the heck are we keeping this' items.
4. The outside shed area behind the house.....weeding, cleaning up, laying out some pavers under the laundry line, stowing the bikes, and general tidying--because that area is 100% visible from our veranda 'family-room'......

All of this because--we absolutely do not want my parents to have ANY idea at all how we actually live....Oui c' est vrai ... une grande déception ... je sais.

So that's my week mes amis---too exciting for words, non?!  Oh-- and at the end of the week the 8 hour French Civics class and exam... that little thing.  No biggie, not stressing.... good times....happy shiny people.

I hope your week is equally as 'colorful' mes amis!  

Bon courage.

Remembering ...

It's strange, I have to say, to be in a different country when your 'home' country is in a unified celebration, or memorial and you are thousands of miles away ... yet you feel that it is so close, because 'home' still lives in your heart.  Like 4th of July for example--a celebration that recognizes what is at the core of being American... freedom and independence, and also by default celebrates family, friends, summer, taking time to enjoy community and ....hot dogs.  Well okay, not so much the hot dogs....

Today I woke up and found my first thought to be that it was (again) September 11th --- "9/11"  and it felt strange and yes, 'foreign' to be so far away.  This year being the tenth anniversary I think made a lot of people scratch their heads and say--"Really?! Ten years already?!"  I know I did.  And we all think about where we were ten years ago today.

Ten years ago today, I was living in Marin County, CA and had overslept my alarm by choice because I had gotten home the night before around 11pm from a late flight out of Saint Louis to San Francisco.  I had been away for six days; away from French Guy and Oldest Garcon (who was two years old) on a business trip in Saint Louis--and I had worked about 60 hours at a tradeshow for the museum industry and was debating calling into work 'sick' that day to unpack, do a bit of laundry and spend some time with my precious toddler after a six day absence from our home life.  I was just having coffee and about to make that call when we saw the news coverage of the first plane hitting the Trade Center.

Today, here in France, I was able to tune into CNN and watch the live coverage of the commemoration.  Sometimes I can be transported from our little house here in Normandy simply by watching television in English. Confession time--we finally relented to putting a small TV in our bedroom...after a year with only one television in the house, this feels decadent.  But it truly does help to watch French TV to get a handle on the language and wrestling the boys for screen time on the one TV (which also hosts all of the computer video games) in our 'veranda' was pointless.  So I have the option of CNN, BBC or Skye News in English for world 'news'.

This afternoon we took a walk in Deauville, after the day long cloudy skies and sporadic rains showers finally took a break.  Today is the last day of the American Film Festival and the town is decorated with American Flags, which I love.  If you want to feel more American....leave America and then see your home-country flag flying somewhere where you least expect it.  And today on September 11th the flags were not only a familiar comfort of home, but a sacred reminder of a country that is full of strength, pride and far too many tragedies that manage to bring out the very best in people.

I am not related to or I don't know one person personally that was related to any of the 2983 people that died on September 11th, but no matter what our connection is to that day, or where we might be in the world today, we are all impacted by every single decision that was made after, as a result of that day and the way those single few moments in time ten years ago changed a country forever.  One day later, ten years later...the shock of it may have dissipated or the grief tempered by time, but the result...the rippling effect remains.  No matter where you are now, or how you remember it....it stays in our hearts.

La rentrée! and ... A means to an end....

 

I am almost giddy! 'Petite Fille' slept 6 straight hours last night!  Sure, it was 6 hours from 9pm to 3am, but who can be choosy when it comes to precious, hour followed by hour of deep, restful sleep? Now if I had only known to go to bed also at 9pm instead of midnight--it would have been perfectly glorious!  I will try that.....I will...even if it cuts into the fact that most nights we are still having dinner at 9pm--I know, bad...right?

So here we are!  At the end of  the first week of school!  We have survived la rentrée!  And I am s-h-o-c-k-e-d because not only have we survived it--we have passed it with flying colors!  Not at all expected! (Although I am working on becoming more terminally optimistic and always expecting the best even when things look impossible ... as in the example of learning French and taking an 8 hour French Civics course and exam, and going back to Driver's Ed school after having had a license and driving without one single traffic violation mind-you for over 25 years...... and avoiding deportation.....

....more on that later.....happy, happy thoughts---positive optimistic happy lovely energy all around it....seriously).

Back to 'les garcons'.  The first days of school went positively fantastic! We got great reports from 'Middle Garcons' teacher...that he was at ease and participated well and when he came home for lunch he even asked to be taken back to school early so he could have some time playing with his classmates during 'recreation'.  'Oldest Garcon' was really excited about his new school; a public school instead of the private larger school we tried last fall, his headmistress is brilliantly-kind and has gone above and beyond to make sure he integrates well, and we have to give props to him because he is really trying so hard with his French and handling every thing so well, even keeping his cool and positive attitude after getting the wrong bus and being dropped at the wrong school in the wrong town the second day of school.

Although I haven't been able to reap the full benefits of the boys back in school for those hours, I did manage to sneak in some time at the beach by myself--trying to get back to running, but satisfied with an energetic, mind clearing walk....reminding myself how lucky and blessed I am to be just a short stroll to the sea and the sand and given the chance I can sometimes drop everything and head out the door for an hour of windy, sandy, salty--bliss.

The energy in our house is amazing!  The kids have gone from restless, bored, argumentative, sibling rivalry driven angst to happy, funny, cheerful, talkative .... and even more French---contentment!  Who would have thought!?!

Moi?  Well I am also heading to school whether I like it or not...as mentioned before, I have to study and pass a civics test next week, complete about 300 hours of French Language in the near future, and because my driver's license is not valid for the license exchange program--go back to driving school, if I ever want to cruise the streets of France in my Mini which we went to such expense to bring over to Cheeseland. Or continue to drive illegally--which is kinda fun--gives me a little rush actually--I am such a rebel!)  Driving makes me happy--so getting a French license even if it requires hours of road time with an instructor and putting one of those silly bright red letter 'A''s on the back of my car (that signifies STUDENT driver)....is the means to an end....as is everything else mentioned.... n'est ce pas?

In the meantime--the message I am getting about all of this is (here comes that optimism again!) ...

That everything we do and every day we have is what we make it...what you are is what you bring.... 

I have been successful in the past with this, just not lately....and not so much in France.  That is going to change...starting now.  Not stressing about the means---just focusing on the end... chasing the proverbial carrot and enjoying every step of the way...whatever it takes.  Me and the happy, shiny people in my life..... c'est tout ... et c'est bon.

Last day of Summer ....

It's the first day of school tomorrow for Middle Garcon and Tuesday for Oldest Garcon ... which makes today feel like the very last day of summer.  Even though summer officially ends on the 23rd of this month, once school resumes we all feel the end of the unstructured, sometimes chaotic (at least in our house!) days are over and soon we will be in the new pace, new schedules and weekends will feel like weekends again.

But tonight I have so many knots in my stomach and am about to serve myself a large bowl of very-berry flavored Tumms for desert ..... you would think it was MY first day of school tomorrow!  I am remembering how I felt at this time last year, only 3 months into our new life in France and I was beyond nervous for the boys first day of school.  I was nearly hysterical and 6 months pregnant too......hormonal, weepy.....and very, very nauseous! So I am better this year I think .... sorta.  Okay, well ....NOT pregnant.  That's a good thing.

 

 

 Today was spent in a weird combination of denial and "accomplished adjustment".  I know it will be a better school year, for everyone.  The boys French is so much better (better than it was....better than mine?)  We went to a brocante this morning and then stopped at the market in Deauville to pick up a few things for lunch....

Everything there seemed so alive and vivid and despite the chilly and rainy weather, the market was buzzing.  But something was different.  The 'summer-people' the 'tourists' the 'Parisiennes' (and you must say this last one with your nose wrinkled up and your eyes all squinty and like zisssss.....ready?  Paaar--reeeee--zzzzzzeeee---aaaansss....) have gone back home....

I just thought the vibe and the colors were delicious!  I think we went just for figs, but came home with tomates vertes, ail, salade, fraise, une baguette and some creme fresh....all went towards lunch.... and we haven't done our market and late and big Sunday lunch very often this summer--so another signal that Fall is at our heels....

I hadn't realized how much I missed going on Sundays.  I love the few images I captured because this evening as I lament the end of the crazy days of summer these few photographs remind me of the lovely transition from one season to the next... and that all the good things come with you from season to season...just with different names and new colors..... c'est vrai?

Happy last weekend of summer mes amis!

Ode to Pink-Dell....

Oh the pain!  Please! Chop off my other arm, poke me in the eye, kick me in the shins......ouch!  She is dying... a slow, pain-filled and worrisome demise....yes, my young six-year old Dell Inspiron 1525 is not doing well.  Did I mention that she is PINK?  Actually kind of a 'fuschia' ....French Guys's idea and 'surprise' for me when he purchased her for me right around the time my first Dell lap-top (a blue one!) was behaving badly and because this writing thing seemed to be going somewhere .... and that I needed to be mobile because I was chasing around my second 'enfant' who was giving me a 'run for the money' as they say..... he never stopped, never settled and thank God -- never ceased to inspire me to write; first a blog that later became a book, and now more books to come because he still inspires me and now the writing-bug has become terminally fulfilling...

Oh!  Did I say terminal?!?  Waaaaa haaaaa!  Say it isn't so!  Despite it's archaic age, it's decrepit mother-board and it's clogged and overly burdened hard-drive and the fact that it operates on Window's Vista (I know, embarrassing.)  I still love this computer--as co-dependent as our relationship is!  I NEED her!  I cannot live without her!  In fact I spent the day today with her unplugged and sitting on my pretty desk, (which I never use because me sitting at a desk is well, just such a plain silly idea!  However could I juggle Petite Fille, roll around on the bed with her, juice-up the recorded Baby Einstein videos, and entertain her with finger-puppet shows and teethed on card-board books.....from a DESK?!?  Oh, please!  Let's be sensible!).... I did not once try to boot her up, not even to check email--and despite getting so much quality housework done (closets cleaned, laundry done, cat litter changed...) I am having serious withdrawal issues!  SERIOUS.

So yesterday in a panic, after seeing that I had less than 2 GB left (of 136GB capacity) I freaked strategically moved 5000 photo images (that's just less than 19 GB's) OFF my hard-drive onto an external HD because the thought of 'pink-Dell' biting the big-one and taking with her all of my precious YEARS of hard work was more than I could stomach!  But then French Guy mentioned that he thought the external HD might also be having it's own little issues ("Ummmm....Just don't shake it .... or drop it", says he.  "I did that and LOST EVERYTHING" he warned)......( Wha?!?!!?)  We then moved my 'archived' images to Oldest Garcon's computer which has mega-mega GB's to spare.....so now I am a gal not only without a solidly working computer...but worse----without images!!!  Oh----Oh----the PAIN!

It's bad, very bad.  You don't know the half of it.  You see mes amis, I am not doing well.  Already I am guilty of a very short fuse and a looming nervous break-down due to sleep deprivation....(Oh darn! This was going to be the first post of the last dozen that did not mention sleep ... or coffee!  Quelle dommage!)  I need my vices of writing and editing... and Googling.......who doesn't!

I have already been saving for the next lap-top.... (shhhhhh! Did she hear that?!)  I had in my mind that I want a Mac--being the visual art-trained, creative, word publishing type that I am......but soon had to dial back on that idea on account of budgetary issues.  I have to buy one from the US because there is no way I could deal with one with a French-brain!  (I told the story of my little HP Mini that went in for a 'tune-up' and came back French right!?)  Oh goodness--now after today I may be sending my Dad (who just bought me a 500GB memory chip to add to poor-pink-Dell in attempts to breath a little life back into her!) that I may need him to power-shop for an entirely new lap-top (and it has to be the deal of the century!) and bring it to me when they come in two weeks!)

In the meantime---the timing is awful.  I am so stressed out, I am on the hinge of needing a really reliable computer with Belle-Niece's wedding  just around the corner at which I will shoot about 500 images as their wedding photographer.... I have writing deadlines looming, another book going stale ... oh and please--all of my friends on Facebook to stay in daily touch with... as French Guy so kindly put-it---"I don't want you to feel cut-off from the world".... Aw......sweet.

Oh dear, I need to go make arrangements.  I am not sure what the last wishes will be for Pink-Dell.....maybe a few hours of web-searching, a spreadsheet or two?  Or just a quiet afternoon blogging on the beach? (Oh, okay, that's me.)  I hope I/we survive...stay tuned.....let's all think positive and hope for the best....or at least a very big sale at 'Best-Buy'!  Sniff-sniff .....Waa--haa-ahhhhh!