It's Me, Sara Louise

H A P P Y  H A L L O W E E N !

Obviously, this message from Fifty is a little late thanks to a burnt out Mac charger. I was without my laptop for a few days, and when the new charger arrived a couple of days ago, Fifty was not in the mood for a fashion show. And of course on Halloween, when he had been in a fashion show kind of mood (or maybe had been carried away with the Spirit of the Great Pumpkin) and wore his BOO t-shirt all day, I like a very bad Mommy, didn’t snap a single picture. But I couldn’t not post this because what if next year he outgrows it? So here you go. Fifty in all of his Halloween glory courtesy of his Texan Chihuahua girlfriends, Molly & Sissy who were thoughtful enough to send the t-shirt it to him. Thanks Molly & Sissy and your accordion playing Mama.
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And now, on another belated note, I’m going to answer those questions that you asked. (Bet you thought that I had forgotten all about them didn’t you? Well I didn’t.)

Bourbon & Pearls: Who takes the bins out, you or hubs? 
Both. We’re equal opportunity binners in my house (well except for Fifty, he doesn’t do anything. Lazy sod). But I usually end up taking the trash and The Husband takes the recycling. Not sure why it ends up working out that way but it does (And once again, Fifty does neither.)

MademoisElla Coquine: Do you ever come to Paris? 
No, I don’t. Can you believe it? I can’t. I mean I have been to Paris, but I haven’t in the past two years. The past two years being the time that I’ve lived here. And before I moved, I was convinced I would be TGVing myself all over France, and especially to Paris. But, I am planning on making it up there in the next year. Paris 2012, that’s my new motto.

Mrs. Exeter: What do you find is the most annoying thing about living in France?
Ay yai yai… where to start… well let’s see, I guess for me anyway, the most annoying thing is the total unpredictability. It’s like, “Hey honey, do you want to go out to eat tonight?”… “Sure, I’d love to.” And then you pull up to the restaurant and discover that it’s closed. Or you go to La Poste and they’ve decided to open thirty minutes late or close thirty minutes early. And stores closing from 12:30-2:00 for lunch. (I could go on and on and on…)

Erin: And what do you love most about living in France? 
(A nice way to balance out the above question I think, a bit of yin and yang if you will)
All the wine and cheese.
But since that would be cheating… I love being here for the adventure part of it. The once in a lifetime feeling that I get sometimes. As much as living in Le Petit Village is about as inconvenient as inconvenient can be, it is also stunningly beautiful. Most mornings Fifty and I jog as the sunrises over the Luberon, and the vista is amazing. Breathtaking even. And on occasion, hot air balloons can be seen floating off in the distance. HOT AIR BALLOONS! It’s amazing. And surreal. And fairytale like. And I’m really lucky.

Amber H-B: Do you miss Texas food?
Uh, yeah. I miss Tex-Mex something fierce. And BBQ. Like a nice piece of tender brisket drench in Rudy’s BBQ sauce… d r o o l. But luckily, I did recently purchase the Homesick Texan cookbook. That should help some (my waistline, not so much).

Kara: Which local French wine would you recommend? 
Hmmm… excellent question. But by local do you mean Le Petit Village… the Luberon… Provence? And keeping in mind that while I love wine, I am by no means an expert by any means. Not at all. So how about I just tell you some of my favorite French wines. And I’ll stick with red wines that are currently tickling my fancy….
Brouilly, a Beaujolais, and Vacqueyras and Cairanne, both Côtes du Rhône wines.
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