La Vie En Rose

I just returned from my French Grammar & Conversation 1 class!  It was fun to be in a learning environment again, having homework to do, and being around other adults.  And while what we are learning is very basic for someone like me who technically had three years of French in school, it is a nice refresher.  I'm even learning words that I (surprisingly) never learned in school like la cuillère which is spoon, and le verre de vin or wine glass.  Why I was never taught the terms for a place setting before is beyond me.  Perhaps when the class is over I will splurge and buy a Vogue Paris magazine and try to read it ... but then, perhaps that's a bit too optimistic?


As summer has begun I am making many discoveries about myself; for example, I know a lot more French than I thought I did, I am eager to learn something new, and I actually care about gardening causing me to make efforts to prune and weed my yard.  The poppies are still blooming, the raspberries are green but taking shape, and the roses are stunning.  We are only part way into the month of June and already I feel like summer is lookin' pretty rosy.

Francophilia

To call myself a Francophile seems a little silly considering the fact that I have never actually been to France.  However, I am completely fascinated by the culture, lifestyle and language of that particular European country.  My visit to fabulous Paris may be a ways away {note to self: renew passport ... just in case}, but thanks to a suggestion by my friend Anna I can have l'expérience de Paris from my own home by going to the Hip Paris Blog.  What a great site for having a daily dose of France from art and design, to food and shopping. Today they are featuring the top five English-Language bookstores in Paris.  Mmmm ... I want to go to there!

I also enjoy French inspired books that give me my fix when I am feeling Frenchy.  Here are some of my favorites:

UN: Talk to the Snail by Stephen Clarke

Clarke is a British man with a very wry sense of humor.  He tells it like it is when it comes to the French and how they live, how much they smoke and drink, and what they think about English speakers.  I laughed out loud many times and appreciated reading about the not-so-glamorized aspects of life in France.

DEUX: Almost French by Sarah Turnbull

This is a fun read, a true account of an Australian woman who falls in love with a Frenchman and moves to Paris to be with him.  Her adjustments to the Parisian lifestyle are challenging and at times very funny.  For example the horror her husband expressed when she was going to go out onto the streets of Paris wearing {gasp} a track suit and trainers ... of all things!

TROIS: French Women Don't Get Fat by Mirielle Guiliano

This is not a diet book - many people thought that when it first came out.  Really, it is a lifestyle book and along with its sequel, French Women for All Seasons, it has recipes, anecdotes and tips for eating for pleasure and maintaining a healthy weight.  Of course the idea of eating croissants and chocolate and drinking wine to stay skinny is absurd (and appealing), she stresses the importance of drinking water and eating fresh foods that are in season.  I enjoyed Guiliano's descriptions of her childhood in France, and this book did change the way I thought about the act of dining.

QUATRE: Joie de Vivre: Simple French Style for Everyday Living by Robert Arbor

It's hard not to love a book that describes everything in such a beautiful and inviting way.  Making toast and dunking it in cafe aulait sounds like the most pleasurable thing in the world, the way Arbor makes it sound.  This book makes me realize just how uptight we Americans are and can take notes on how to be more relaxed from the French.

I'm sure these titles can be found at your local bibliothèque!

Meeting For Coffee

This morning I enjoyed my morning coffee with Ruth and Naomi. We shared many things with each other. I served my recipe for an outstanding homemade pumpkin spice cappuccino while Ruth taught me about the hard work of gleaning from barley fields. I showed off my snazzy Moleskine journal, and Naomi told me all about how the great famine in her life came to an end through the Lord's provision. I learned about the importance of friendship, faith, kindness, love and diligence.

Suddenly my contributions don't seem very impressive compared to their great lessons; but I am grateful for the time we spent together.

It's No Picnik ... Or Is It?

I love taking photographs. But I love editing them even more. Doing graphic design for a living has allowed me access to a lot of cool programs like Adobe Illustrator and of course, Photoshop. And while I use Photoshop for things like color correction and removing scratches or dried on food from a child's face (it happens!), it can get to be a very involved process.

I also use free programs like Picasa for quick processing like cropping and I love the soft glow feature. And I have just discovered Picnik. It is free to register and you edit your photos online. I have found some really fun effects that you can apply with a click of a mouse.

I uploaded this photo to Picnik. It is right from my camera, unedited.

Edits: crop Effects: vignette

Edits: crop Effects: 1960's

Edits: crop Effects: cross process; border frame

Edits: crop Effects: cinema scope; vignette; focal soften

Edits: crop Effects: teeth whiten; orton-ish; museum matte

As you can tell I have had a lot of fun trying out the different features of this program. I think it is a great tool for creating fun images. And if I were a scrapbooker, I would probably use it a lot for my layouts because you can add text, clip-art images and texture effects to your photos.

As fun as it is, I will most likely stick to Picasa and Photoshop for my everyday editing. My goal is to do as little editing to my photos as possible as I strive to become a better photographer. Now if I would just learn how to use the settings on my camera ...

Little Purls of Wisdom

It's official ... I LOVE to knit! I'm a knitter now. I am a knitting fool! Before my sister-in-law showed me how to cast on, do a knit stitch and how to cast off, I had absolutely no idea what to do with a pair of knitting needles. At first the transition from a crochet hook to two needles was strange as I had to train my hands to perform different maneuvers. But now that I have the hang of it I think it is a lot of fun.

I like to crochet, but as I mentioned before I am not very good at it. It is supposed to be a way to relieve stress except I end up getting very frustrated, which causes more stress. For months now my husband and I have been trying to think of something I can do to bring down my anxiety level and keep me sane (if that is possible!) So far knitting is doing the trick.

I now find myself looking at my sweaters or scarves to see what kind of stitch is used. I can proudly say that I know how to knit, purl and combine the two to create the stockinette stitch.

The Stockinette stitch (or also called the Stocking stitch) is the most basic knitted fabric and is achieved by knitting and purling alternate rows.

There are so many other stitches and techniques that I have left to learn - for instance I would love to try cable knits - but I am concentrating to practicing what I already know. What I would really love to do is get skilled enough to buy cashmere yarn and create a scarf out of it. Cashmere is quite expensive and I am not confident enough yet to try my hand at it. Just give me time!

This is a scarf that I have been working on. I figured out how to change colors and it is all done in the Stockinette stitch. Please don't look too close because (and this may be hard for you to believe) I am not perfect. There are many flaws but since this is cheap yarn I am okay with that - I've only been knitting for six days now!

A Kid Person?

When I was a young girl I often thought that I would be a teacher. I was inspired by the creativity, the authority and the courage of my own teachers. As I grew older I started to develop more interest in art, graphic design and less child oriented activities. In fact I have often wondered if I am not a "kid person".

I have kids of my own, I love them very much and enjoy spending time with them ... but it is different with your own offspring. I don't feel that natural with other people's children. I have spent some time being a substitute teacher for a junior high/high school art class at a local private school and I enjoyed it, but always felt a little out of my element. Today, however, I discovered that maybe little kids feel comfortable with me.

My daughter goes to preschool and it is school picture time. I was asked to help the photographer with things like collecting kids for their photos to be taken, combing their hair, and writing down photo numbers. The infants and toddlers went first which means we got the screamers out of the way before moving onto the older kids. I spent a lot of time trying to console upset little ones and carrying them to and from the nursery. I was able to comfort a few.

There were some kids who really took to me. They wanted to hold my hand, they easily followed me to the picture trailer, they talked to me. But one thing that made me feel so nice was a little girl who had already had her picture taken, she came up to me and hugged me. She wanted to go with me. She looked at me with her big blue eyes and they pleaded to take her with me. I didn't know this girl prior to today, but I felt like she naturally trusted me.

I feel like I learned something about myself today: maybe I don't always know if I am good with little kids ... but maybe that doesn't matter if they like me anyway.

Fuzzbucket the Second

If you ask my husband about "Fuzzbucket", he will fondly tell you the story of a little caterpillar he captured when he was in the fourth grade. This little guy was black and orange, very fuzzy, apparently quite cute. He will tell you of how he made a little terrarium out of a jar and some rocks and twigs, and fed Fuzzbucket an ample supply of leaves taken from a nearby canal. Then one day the caterpillar wrapped himself into a cocoon and weeks later spread his wings as a butterfly. Now the legacy of Fuzzbucket lives on.

This is what the Fuzzbucket looked like. We think it is a Wooly Bear Caterpillar.

Two days ago while building a fence, my husband found another orange and black, fuzzy caterpillar and brought it in for our daughter to see. She was thrilled! She giggled as she held the furry thing in her hands and couldn't wait to make a home for "Fuzzy" as she calls it. After gathering twigs, leaves and rocks, Fuzzy has a lovely home in a jar. The funny thing, however, is that the caterpillar has already wrapped herself in a cocoon! The next time we will see her will be when she unfurls her wings. And a bit to my dismay she will probably be a moth and not actually a butterfly. Yuck.

My daughter, who has chosen to be Tinkerbell for Halloween this year, found it fitting to wear her wings while building Fuzzy a home.

I guess it is a good science project for us all and I am all about valuable learning experiences. Who knows, maybe Fuzzbucket won't be too disgusting as a moth to me if I knew her as a cute, fuzzy little caterpillar first.

It Certainly Didn't Make Me Feel Too Gorgeous

Reading. A luxury that I rarely have time to enjoy. I work from home, raise two little ones and maintain a household. So when I have the time to read I need to choose my books carefully.

Lately I have been getting into reading the classics. Some are books I never had to read in school but feel that everyone else in the universe has. Some are book that I have read in school but remember absolutely nothing about (I would often read something just to pass the test and then lose all comprehension). The latest novel I have read is The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I read it in the 11th grade and could only remember the main character's name, that he was in private school, and something about a cliff.

I wish I had paid more attention in those days because this is a great book! Yes, there is some colorful language and controversy surrounding the book used in a school curriculum, but there is also great character development and real depth to the story. Plus, I loved it when Holden Caulfield would say things like "It certainly didn't make me feel too gorgeous", or "It certainly was a gorgeous way to talk about a Christmas tree". I never thought of using that particular adjective the way he did!

I am currently reading The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis to my daughter. I thought perhaps all of it would go over her head since it is a novel with very few illustrations, but I am amazed at how much she is understanding! She could tell you the story if you asked her. I have also tried to read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, but I admit that so far it is really boring. I think I should stop torturing myself choose something else instead.