Happy New Year!

Hello folks! Hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating the New Year. 2014 already! I can't believe it.

I thought today I would share with you the top 12 things that happened in 2013 (new) and then a resolution for 2014 (traditional).

12. Got to go to Disneyland Paris-not once, not twice, but three times! Yay! Such a Disney girl...

11. Blessed with family visitors and got to go see the sights in Paris with them all touristy like.

10. Saw Giverny-home of Claude Monet with my in-laws

9. Saw Edinburgh, Scotland (a place I had always dreamed of seeing) with the hubby and SIL and discovered that I actually like haggis, neeps and tatties.

8. Had a visit from my Swedish cousin whom I hadn't seen for a few years

7. Revisited a World Wonder: Le Mont St Michel with Mr K and my sister and had a fantastic time

6. Saw just how great my mother truly is: she managed to smile and enjoy herself even after the Great Espresso Incident in July. (Love you Momma!)

5. Discovered that the French love Marshmallow Fluff Fudge (made with French chocolate of course) and their rules of moderation go out the door if you bring over a plate of it.

4. Exeter, UK was America 2.0 over Thanksgiving, thanks to our friends, Mr and Mrs M.

3. Croissants and Pain au Chocolat as a Sunday morning tradition

2. Teaching Holiday English lessons and asking for the kids to tell me what a picture of an elf is in English and get, "It's a Christmas goblin" and the child who told me that then proceeded to try to have the rest of the class say it to me as well, hoping that with four against one, my mind might be persuaded. 

And, finally,

1. I got to spend the entire year making memories with my hubby.

As for a resolution? 

Well, my resolution is to fill 2014 with as much fun, joy, and laughter as possible as well as to take time to enjoy the smaller things in life.  One never knows what blessings will come our way and I refuse to miss them because I was worrying over something else!

So here's an <<adieu>> to 2013, and a <<bienvenue>> to 2014!

Until next time,

Bisous

Joyeux Noël!!!

Christmas Eve again in France. Tonight we're doing the traditional appetizer meal (tradition from the CT family) and an opening of one present (tradition from the FL family) followed by a reading from Matthew by Mr. K as we settle and snuggle under the covers before going to bed.

As for tomorrow, well, we'll be staying home and will have a lovely yummy breakfast complete with French pastries (our tradition), plus eggs and bacon (tradition from the CA family) after we open our gifts to each other.

So fun.  I love making our own traditions and combining the ones we had growing up.

But, today we're skyping with the CT family. It'll be so great to talk with them again.  It's been a while and with the training my dad has had to do, well, let's just say that pilots don't get a whole lot of free time.

Tomorrow will bring two more Skype calls: My sis, Miss K, and the CA family. Can't wait to see them either!

We're so blessed to have family all over the place. *smiles*

Anyway, now for the unveiling of our tree:

 Ta-Da!


We both wanted to be Vanna White.

Hehe.

I think Mr. K does a better job of showing it off though.

Meal preparations you ask?

Well, I've made the chocolate cake for the Bûche de Noël and it's currently in the freezer. (I didn't roll it, just made a loaf cake and will shave it and ice it later). I have a slight fear of rolling cakes...I've never attempted one yet, but my fear is it'll end up like my chocolate strudel I made one year- a HUGE messy delicious pile of crumbs.

Loaf cake it is then!

Tip: Freezing your cake before carving and icing it makes the whole process easier and less of a mess as the crumbs stay put.

And this is the first year I've decided to make my own honey glazed ham. Wish me luck! I'm going to be combining two recipes. 2kg for the two of us makes for lots and lots of yummy leftovers and new kinds of meals. I'm excited.

Voilà! our crèche (or manger scene) made of the little French Santons:

We were so happy to finally get the wise men this year!

Anyway, just a few of our holiday traditions we thought we'd share with you.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Until next time,
Bisous

A Visiting We Went

Hi all!  Been a month since my last post! Holy cow...I'm sorry.

What have we been up to, Mr. K and I, you ask?

Lots!

But, I'll try to get you caught up.

We went to Exeter, UK over Thanksgiving weekend to visit friends. It was so much fun. We took the Eurostar to London, where we changed at St. Pancras and took a taxi to Waterloo to take the South West Train Line all the way to Exeter Central.  A nice 6 hour journey and very very relaxing. Much more so to us than an airplane. Plus, who can resist trains!

London was all ready for Christmas

 However, while in London, we went to Costa for some delicious hot chocolate.

 I got the Honeycomb Hot Chocolate and Mr. K got the Black Forest Hot Chocolate. We thought the cups were too cute.

By the time we got to Exeter that Thursday evening, it had grown dark outside. Our friend, the lovely and fabulous Mrs. M took us to her house, but not before I snapped a shot of this lovely mall all decked out.

Love it! It was a real treat to see this.

 We shared a wonderful dinner with their family and had a very very nice sleep on actual pillows (not the square flat things they say are pillows in France). Again, we felt spoiled, but in a glorious way.

The next day, Mrs. M took us all over Exeter, showing us its beauty. Here are some of the best shots of this cute town.

This is a shot from a street near where they live. So British with the row houses, but it also reminds me a little of Boston

A bit of a castle wall

This is a modern art piece that has poetry written backwards
on it yet in the reflection you can read it.

The main street in town, complete with a brass band playing Christmas carols. It was great!

The courthouse dating from 80 AD. I'd say that's pretty old. 

Courthouse interior

Ah, there she is, the elusive Mrs. M! I got a shot of her and Mr K inside the courthouse.

This is one of my favorite buildings. It looks like it came right out of an Austen novel. A bit crooked but that's because I was trying to take the shot before a HUGE truck stopped in front.

An art museum. Love the brickwork!

After a morning of walking around, we stopped into a place called Ruby for some burgers and jalapeno poppers. Delish!

Look at the snowflakes!!!

I like snowflakes.  This one's for Mrs. M though. Happy snowflake, my friend!

 We were then led over to the Exe river where there is a nice path to walk along. Under the bridges, there were tons of colorful pieces of work. Apparently the schools give them free reign under the bridges and the artwork is amazing!  Real talent.

Nod to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Sometimes I feel like this too...

Look at that beautiful profile! That's done with spray paint, my friends. Gorgeous!

 We continued our walk and came to this site:

I think this shot sums up the river walk: Swans, water, buildings and bridge.

 I've never heard the loud flapping of swans on water before that day. What an cool sound!  They don't just land like ducks. They actually run across the top of the water for both landing and taking off.

Another little bridge. This time it has duckies underneath.

We continued walking along this path and passed some neat antique and boutique shops which were in old bomb shelters.

Then, the weather began to get misty, so we popped into a pub to warm up a bit before heading out again.  Good thing we did, too! It poured about two minutes later (and mind you, we did not have umbrellas with us) so we just lingered over a pint and watched the rain on the river. Good ale, good view and most importantly, good company.

Thank you Mrs. M for the photo!!!

 The rain stopped and we continued on, up the hill (Mr. K liked this one) and up to the castle wall.

A view down to the river.

 Part of the walk you get to walk on the wall, which is neat.

The wall, but we didn't walk on this part.

We walked to the main square of Exeter, but not before we saw the alleys that inspired J.K. Rowling's Diagon Alley.  I thought they were quite nice.

This looks like it could come straight from the movie (I've not read the books so I don't know)

 This is the alley that inspired the author.

Frontview:

Backview:

 This was a side alley I saw and was so taken by the flags, I had to take a picture.

After the slight detour, we made our way to the Cathedral Market.

Christmas Market in front of the Cathedral. Very nice.

 Back side.

Of course, no market is complete without an old grungy Santa.

Or two....This one, at least, looks happier.

And thus ended our tour with our fantastic friend.

(I think I may have fallen in love with Exeter.)

It's late here, so I'll have to postpone the Movember Meeting, Thanksgiving, and the Day the Camera Died to the next post. Besides, you're probably pictured out by now.

Until next time,
Bisous!

Chow! Pung! Kong!

Or in other words: Mahjong!
(Sorry about the absence here-doing a little thing called NaNoWriMo and will be MIA a bit until December 1.)

The West side. South wind prevailed. I didn't win, but I was so close.

We went over to a friend's house, Mr and Mrs P, for some fun and games.  After a yummy dinner, we brought out our Mahjong set and started out with house rules. Mrs. P had never played, though she had been to Hong Kong (I think...correct me if I'm wrong) and a friend of hers played. She was told she'd be "dead" if she ever attempted. Then again, at thirteen, most of us probably would suffer the same fate.

Our lovely hostess.

After a half round, we quickly realized that the rules to Mahjong were actually better than house rules and hence forth played Hong Kong Old Style Mahjong. (Singapore Mahjong was waaaaay too difficult.  Who knew!) The gents kept us in line and it was all "Pung! Chow! Kong!" or "Hu!*another word for Mahjong*" after that.

The host and hubby, or the keepers of the rules.  We had two pamphlets printed-- one for scoring (which we ended up not using) and the other with rules of how to play. Awesome job, gents!

My mom taught the hubby and me (or rather jogged my memory again) to play a while back on her gorgeous set and since then, both Mr. K and I have become big fans.  We've even played it a deux at our house, but it's best played with four.

All in all, a great evening.  We'll have to play again sometime before these Kiwis fly the nest. (*sad tear here*)

I guess that's all for now.

Until next time,
Bisous!

Frida and Friends

Hi all!
So while Mr. K was away, this mouse went out and played with some friends.  We went to a Frida Kahlo (famous Mexican painter) exhibit at the Orangerie in the Jardin des Tuileries a week or so ago.  So cool!  She's probably most known for her famous eyebrows and self-portaits in the US.  By the way, the Orangerie is also where you can see Monet's waterlilies in panoramic view.  Definitely a must see.

We forgot one little detail, however, as we arrived at the museum: THE LINE!

We waited about two and a half hours outside in line to get in.  As we got to the front, we realized that we could have bought tickets online to cut the wait time down, but, oh well.  Next time maybe.  It was rather fun seeing other people in the same boat as us.  Some people even had their own picnic in line, complete with a bottle of red to go with the sandwiches!

Once inside, it was easy-peasy going to the exhibit. 

This was a wall photo as you came down the stairs and went left.

The exhibit was amazing!  Unfortunately, no one was allowed to take photos inside, so I only have a few from the right before going in.

Blurry pic of my friends in front of another Frida wall photo.

  I like her symbolism and the intimacy of her paintings.  Frida was ingenious because she really perfected the self portrait- her only subject that she knew completely inside and out.  This chica suffered so much! Not only did she have polio when she was young, but she also survived a major bus accident with a trolley car. It  really did a number on her body, causing her to have as many as 35 surgeries to repair her back, leg and foot and leaving her months at a time in a bed while she recovered.  She took up painting as a way to release the stress, armed only with her paints and a mirror.  There's a cool shot of her painting her body cast in bright colors in the exhibit.  She continued this outlet the rest of her life.

Top left is titled "Thinking of Death", Top right is a portrait done by her husband, Diego Rivera, of a benefactor,
 Bottom is Frida herself in a wheelchair

A turbulent woman, but oh what an artist!

When we left, the line to get in was very long.  We were glad we made it in when we did.

Shot from above from the gift shop landing.

My friends and I decided that since we didn't have coffee after lunch (a very French/European tradition) we should go to a café and get some.  In the Jardin des Tuileries, they have a cute little cafe called Medicis Lecointre, just past the fountain pool on the left.

 

I loved it!  So chic and cool.  They even had Hipster Catherine Medicis on the mugs.  And that was another thing.  I'd not seen mugs of hot chocolate anywhere in Paris before.  Excellent!

I, however, got a cappucino.  I know, I know.  It's not morning anymore and *gasp* I had milk in my coffee!

But, honestly, when you've waited so long outside in the chilly wind and rain and just got through with a large crowded exhibit, you make exceptions.  

And it was good.

Sooooo  good.

Apparently it was so good, I didn't realize I got foam on my nose when my friend took the photo.

 And after that, it was time to go home.

Great day out with friends and a great way to finish off the afternoon in Paris.

Until next time,

Bisous!