We are Invincible

So day two in Lyon was actually not in Lyon. Rather we took the noon train from Lyon to Saint Étienne (and that train is located all the way at the back of the station, in no man’s land). We had tickets to the Saint Étienne vs. Montpellier match and, naturally, it started snowing as soon as we hit the city.

We found food and then ambled onto the street, following fans in their scarves and their faces painted. We joined the stream of people heading to the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard stadium and figured out where our seats were. Thankfully, we were under the overhang.

Because then it started to snow.

I’m from Canada. So snow doesn’t really faze me all that much. But this was a lot of snow. So much that they delayed the match for thirty minutes and shovelled the pitch. We’re talking players and coaches and men in suits. Shovelling the pitch.

The fan in the last picture was my favourite. That part of the stands aren’t covered, but he sat there, for over 120 minutes, in the snow, waving his scarf.

Oh, and we won. 4-1.

Things I’m Loving:

+ These prints – (I’m on a print kick. These and these.)

+ This advice – (Things we don’t have to justify to others.)

+ This playlist – (To read a book to.)

+ This DIY Envelope – (Not that I need it. I just want it.)

+ This video – (Because it perfectly describes how I feel.)

Catching Up

It took me a week, but I finally got caught up. All of the pictures edited, letters mailed, picked up new bottles of shampoo and conditioner, caught up on laundry. You know, all those little things that on their own are fine and easy to handle but as they pile up you need to add to a list because it feels so good to cross them off.

We’re starting the new year with pictures of Christmas, the few that I have. Because apparently I do that thing where I don’t bring my second battery or my battery charger and end up with a dead camera on my hands. The last one is to show of the Christmas present that I got for the kids. It’s washable paint in a tube/stick and they love it. (So do I because it’s so much less mess and yet still fun. Bonus!)

The second last one is the only one I have of Christmas Eve, when everyone got together and I had my first French Christmas. Champagne and wine and fois gras, oysters, chicken, salad, chocolate cake. Eating and drinking until three in the morning. I Skyped my family at about two thirty that morning and then slept hard until the kids got up Christmas morning, after which we had a late, left over lunch and I Skyped my family again while they opened presents.

All in all it was very enjoyable and I do wish I had more photos but ah, that’s life.

Things I’m Loving:

+ This post – (She is probably the blogger with the posts I relate and nod along to the most.)

+ This blog – (I am determined to keep a scrapbook for this next year of all my travelling. And her blog is inspiring me to keep trying.)

+ This photography project – (How fascinating! What would you do if you met someone who looked like your twin?)

+ These films – (I’m working on watching at least a few of these. I miss regularly watching something new.)

Nativity Scene

Last week while we had big, fluffy snow flakes falling and a fire crackling away, the kids put up their nativity scene. I am in love with the little clay figurines! The colours and the feel and the look of them. The kids had so much fun setting up all the different figurines as well as all the little bits and bobs, the angel candles and then, of course, the little paper pieces of grass. It really doesn’t take much.

Things I’m Loving:

+ This fan project – (I have ALWAYS wanted my own, life sized Star Wars ship.This is probably as close as I’ll ever get.)

+ This map – (This is genius. It would be like little rewards for travelling.)

+ This article – (A deeper look at popular television.)

+ These words  – (Which ones do you misuse?)

Where Winter Lives

I said there were mountains and snow and pine trees. And I am here to present all of that. (I’m missing the skiing, I know. We’ll get there. Eventually.) The top couple of pictures are taken in Charmonix, a ski-resort-town about half an hour, 45 minutes from here. The bottom two were taken in Plateau D’Assy, where I am.

(I lie. The second last one was taken from the high way somewhere between Passy and Plateau D’Assy while I was walking back because I got off at the wrong bus stop. Which is not like in normal places and it’s just a couple of blocks. No. We’re talking a 7km mistake there. I learned my lesson though and got in a good work out. The last one though IS taken from one of the windows of the house. Yeah, that’s my daily view.)

I don’t know how I feel about mountains yet. This is my first time spending any sort of time around them, never mind living around them and I’m a prairie girl. While where I’m from (now), there are trees and hills and it’s not flat flat, you can still see the sky for three days and vehicles coming up the road and there’s room to stretch. I’m not generally claustrophobic, but I also wouldn’t be entirely surprised if I start Google image searching ‘Saskatchewan’ every once in awhile, either.

Things I’m Loving:

+ This article – (My dad passed on his love for sci-fi and literature.)

+ This photographer – (She reminds me of Brian Ferry, though more refined.)

+ This advice – (Neil Gaiman hitting all the nails on the head.)

+ These wedding photographs – (Absolutely stunning.)

Playing Catch-Up

 It’s been ages since I’ve updated. I actually forget what it’s like to have to sit down and create a blog post. Mostly because I keep feeling like I have nothing to blog about, after which I turn around and realize that, actually, I have quite a few things and now I’m going to have to wait to post them all.  I am excited to post about them though, so hopefully there’ll start being less time between posts! Yay!

So, since that last post, there’s been two more editions of the school paper. Our last two editions, actually. Tuesday’s. Thursday’s. I’m actually kind of proud of the things I produced, to be honest. I finally got to have my Athletes to Watch story printed, the one I started the first week we were on the paper and that I’ve just been waiting to complete. I also ended up making a multimedia weather feature video and did a streeter, two things that I hadn’t done up until this last week. All in all: a good way to finish. 

The video to go with the weather feature can be found here. For some reason, which I think can be blamed on it being Monday, I’ve completely forgotten how to embed a video into a blog post. 

 

Things I’m Loving:

 

+ Please Forgive My Heart  by Bobby Womack  – Absolutely love this. It’s soothing and perfect to just de-stress to and soak up the warm feeling.

+ Vitamin Boosters – This is my last week of classes. And then I’m done. Which is scary-exciting. Scary because I have none of the things completed (actually, not completely true. WHICH IS NICE!) and exciting because it means I get to start new things. Mostly it just means I’m going to be tired, so definitely going to be trying one (or all) of these!

+ MLS: First-Kick – The Guardian’s look at this last week of MLS. Which is back for the 2012 season. Which I am very excited about. Especially since I was at Wednesday’s quarter finals between Toronto FC and LA Galaxy and ugh. ANYWAYS: MLS. It is here and you should see what’s up. 

+  Ginnifer Goodwin – I adore Ginnifer Goodwin. In that ‘everything she wears is perfect. Excuse me while I get a similar haircut’ kind of way. And those are just three reasons why I adore her.