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alors
++ It looks like those pesky April showers have given way to May flowers. After a month of mostly rainy days the weekend is forecast for sunny skies and 21°C/ 70°F (after we get past the 60% chance of rain today). It’s perfectly delightful weather for barbecues and rugby which is fantastic because that’s what we’re doing this weekend. (Total shocker, right?!)
++ For May Day (Labor Day/ La Fête du Travail) my neighbor presented me with a potted lily-of-the-valley (the traditional May Day flower). It’s decorating my windowsill next to the tiny rose bush she gave me a month ago. Since moving to France I’ve been very lucky in the neighbor department and that’s something to be grateful for. There is nothing as horrible as having nasty neighbors.
++ Fifty has a bad case of doggie insomnia lately. The past two nights he’s been awake pacing about and sticking his nose in my face while I’m sleeping. He’s like, “Mom, whatya doing?” Waking up in the middle of the night with a dog face staring at you from six inches away is quite startling. Now, none of us are sleeping. I’m thinking of shooting him with a tranquilizer dart (I’m just kidding, I don’t have any tranquilizer darts…. note to self… find and order tranquilizer darts).
++ In thirteen days I’ll be hopping a flight from Marseille to Dublin. Yippee-ki-yay! I know I was there in February but that was such a wham bam thank you ma’am kind of trip, that it barely counts. This time, we’re going for a week and I have so much planned that I know it’s going to pass by in the blink of an eye but that’s fine, because it will be an awesome blink.
++ Two days after we get back from Dublin, we’ll be going to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer for the pilgrimage honoring Saint Sara, a.k.a. the Gypsy’s pilgrimage. There are no words to describe how excited I am about this, it’s like jumping up and down, piddling excited. I’ve been waiting for this for ages and now it’s only three weeks away! I’m practically verklempt.
++ Last night I finished reading Fall of Giants. It’s one of those times when finishing the book leaves you sad and a tad depressed. The next book in the series is out but I don’t want to read it yet because the third and final book in the series isn’t being released until sometime in 2014 and waiting a year between the second and third books sounds like torture. So in the meantime, I’m taking suggestions… feel free to leave one down there below in the section marked comments. S’il te plaît et merci.
Passe un bon week-end!
Bisou! -
liebster
The Liebster Award! You are finally mine! MUAH HA HA HA HA! (Thanks very much to The Nomad who kindly passed it on to me.) If you’re familiar with the blogosphere than you know that an award like this come with rules and these are the Liebsters’s:
1. Thank and link back to the blogger who presented you with the award.
2. List 11 random facts about yourself.
3. Answer the 11 questions you were asked.
4. Write 11 questions for your nominees.
5. Present/nominate a Liebster blog award to 3-5 other bloggers.……….11 Random Facts About Me (I feel like y’all know everything about me already)
1. have little feet and little toes, but they’re kind of chubby. They’re weird in a cute way but they look like they should be attached to another person instead of me.
2. My favorite sport is rugby followed by basketball and since I’m a Clermont rugby fan and a San Antonio Spurs fan, my year is going very well so far (keeping those fingers crossed).
3. I desperately want to lose three pounds but I don’t like depriving myself of anything (what’s the point of living if you can’t eat butter?) so I’m trying to exercise more. As soon as it stops raining, I’ll start jogging.
4. The very first time I ate a Chicken McNugget I was in Honolulu.
5. Chickens freak me out. Like not on my plate (except in France where sometimes they leave tiny bits of feathers attached to the wings and legs… WTF is that all about?!?!) but running around. Brother-in-Law bought a couple of chickens. I don’t go over to his house anymore.6. I think The Husband is one of the most handsome men I have every seen in person. He really is very pretty.
7. But as handsome as he is, it amazes me how quickly he can mess up his outfit. He gets dressed to go out, looks beautiful and within two seconds looks like a hobo. I don’t understand how everything gets so slouchy and wrinkly so quickly. I swear one night at a nightclub in Toulon, he morphed into Barney from The Simpsons right before my eyes.
8. I had a sister but she passed away (no need to be sad, it was a long, long time ago). I really wish she was still here. In fact, if I had one wish, I would wish that she was here. Sometimes I think a girl just needs a sister.
9. Luckily, I have three very close friends who have done an excellent job of filling a sister role.
10. I want to live in a city. Not in a suburb, or right outside, but IN a city. (Sorry Le Petit Village but you and your Provençal quaintness are currently boring me… YAWN)
11. I’m extremely proud of my mother for writing not one but two books (stay tuned for a giveaway). She also has a blog that you can check out here.
……….1. What’s the most surprising or coincidental thing to ever happen to you? There’s been a lot… the mind boggles. Off the top of my head we’ll go with this… Surprising… I live in a small village in the south of France. Coincidental… my cousin ended up living only two hours away. That s**t cray.
2. What book/movie/song or TV show do you hate that everyone else loves? It’s not a new show but back in the days when Everyone Loves Raymond was on, I couldn’t understand what was to love. His voice irked me.
3. I’m always looking for new authors so what’s your favorite book or author? I’m a sucker for a big ol’ historical fiction. My all time favorites are the Bronze Horseman series by Paulina Simmons, Edward Rutherford books, and the Outlander series by Diana Galbadon. But right now I’m reading Fall of Giants, the first book in the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett. I can’t put it down. It’s been amazing since the first page.
4. Do you want kids? Why or why not? Also, why did you have them early or wait to have kiddos later in life? I’m pleading the fifth on this one. There is too much going on in my head to answer it. Je suis desole.
5. If you could change one annoying habit about the person closest to you, what would it be? Only one?!?! I would change the annoying habit of pretending to listen to me when I know that he is only pretending to listen to me. And I’m sure you can all guess who ‘he’ is.
6. What’s the most romantic event/moment you ever experienced? The one that is sticking out in my head the most took place about four years ago… The Husband was moving back to France from Dublin and was going to be spending the day packing. As it was a Sunday morning, I brought over breakfast fixings that I planned on cooking while he packed but when I got there he had a surprise for me… he knew that I was sad about him leaving, and stressed about what was going to happen to us, and that the thing I like the most when I’m stressed and/ or sad is a bubble bath, so he had scrubbed the bathroom (boys bathrooms can be so icky) and drawn me a bubble bath complete with aromatherapy candles. So I soaked while he packed and then his roommate cooked breakfast. It was only a little thing, but it was a really sweet little thing.
7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing? Last night about 7PM. We were popping over to Papa’s house for a drink and a chat and to see what they were going to be up to today (it’s a holiday, La Fête du Travail).
8. If you are married, did you change your last name? Why or why not? If you’re single/unmarried what your opinion on a last name change? Would you change your name or keep your name? I haven’t changed my name. It’s not any sort of feminist protest or anything, it’s simply that I like my name. It’s mine, who I am, and it’s a connection to my deceased father that I’m not ready to cut. Plus, I was already in my 30s when I got married, so I had it for a long time and being named anything other than my name, sounds odd to me. I am a fan of the double barrel name though if you can pull it off.
9. What’s your guilty pleasure of the moment? To curl up with a book and a glass of wine in a quiet house.
10. What prompted the biggest change in your life? Meeting The Husband. (In case you missed it, here’s the story of how we met).
11. If you could have grown up in another culture which would it be? That’s a tough one, I like being American, but maybe Australia because they all seem so chill down there, or maybe France so then I would already be fluent in the language and wouldn’t even have to think about it anymore. Yeah, I’m going to go with French.
……….I’m passing the Liebster on to these three bloggers: 1. Random Thoughts From Dublin, 2. Our House in Provence, 3. EE Bracken (I like to keep nepotism alive and kicking). And here’s your questions Liebsters (some of which I’m stealing from The Nomad):1. What movie or TV show do you hate that everyone else loves?
2. Where were you when you ate your first Chicken McNugget?
3. Who are you five dream dinner guests (alive or dead) and what would you cook them?
4. What is your favorite book or author?
5. What is your favorite tipple?
6. What’s your middle name?
7. If you were given €4000 for a holiday, where would you go and what would you do?
8. What song do you hear, that when you hear it, takes you right back to your childhood/ teenage years?
9. What’s your favorite sport and favorite team?
10. McDonald’s or Burger King?
11. What is your favorite city in the world?……….Whew! That was a long one!Are you still with me?Bisou! -
weekend
Did you know that the French word for weekend is week-end? Yep… week-end. I guess throwing that dash in there makes it a bit more French like. Who knows. Either way, I had a très bon week-end. It started off the way all weekends should start… deliciously.
(Whenever I think about the word weekend, I think of the Dowager Countess asking, “Wha- what is a weekend?” It cracks me up every time! Downton Abbey fans, you know what I’m talking about.)
Friday night, my friend Martine (if you like Irish ladies, horses and food, then you’ll love Martine and her blog) invited The Husband and I to the grand opening of an artisan ice cream shop a couple of villages over. And since saying no to free ice cream goes against the basic principles of humanity, we went.
It was packed… but I mean, c’mon… free ice cream, of course it was. Plus they had a band playing outside. I’m not sure if the music was Irish, Scottish, or Bretagne, or what it had to do with ice cream, but it was festive.
On Saturday The Husband and I hunkered down for the day and prepared ourselves for the second chapter in our Road To Dublin… the ASM Clermont vs. Munster match. It was stressful. The Husband watched while sitting in a ball on the floor (very similar to the fetal position) while I paced like a mad woman. Clermont won, we breathed a huge sigh of relief and went to sleep an hour later. Sure it was only 9PM on a Saturday night, but that shiz was exhausting.
One down and only one to go, on Sunday we went to Gatz’s house for lunch and to watch Toulon play the Saracens.
{best seats in the house} Honey’s Honey came too sans Honey Jr… it’s the beginning of bee season and Honey Jr is as busy as a… wait for it… BEE! (I’m cracking myself up over here). Fifty came too. And while the roast beef Gatz cooked held his attention, the match definitely did not.
He couldn’t have been any less interested. After he got bored from being a nosy neighbor, he went to sleep and nothing could wake him, not even our cheering after Toulon won. That’s right, they won. So it’s ASM Clermont vs. RCT Toulon for the champions of Europe crown in Dublin in three weeks time. Brace yourselves Dublin… it’s gonna be one crazy, French weekend. Or should I say, week-end.
Bisou! -
The Road To Dublin
The road to Dublin began with this pair of Nikes. Or rather, Mr. London’s road to Dublin began with these Nikes, The Husband’s and mine began with an Aer Lingus sale.
Let me back up… in three weeks time, The Husband, Mrs. London, Gatz (of course) and I are descending upon Dublin. We’re there to catch up with family (I love how Gatz has wiggled his way in on this one) and to watch rugby. But we won’t just be watching any rugby… we’ll be watching the cream of the crop, the pièce de résistance… the Heineken Cup Final.
Two weeks ago, the quarter-finals took place… The Husband’s favorite boys, ASM Clermont took on Montpellier (Clermont won) and the next day, Mr. London (in those Nikes) and the rest of RCT Toulon battled against Leicester. We watched it all from Toulon but first we had some family fun time…
Mommy London was in town. (That’s Mrs. London’s mother. She was married to my first cousin… so Mrs. London is my first cousin once removed… got it? Good.) So yeah, Mommy London was visiting and when we arrived at Chez London the BBQ was in full swing (full swing means two bottles of Rosé down).
It was the perfect family weekend (perfect in my book anyway), barbecue featuring Mr. London’s finger-lickin-chicken, lots of chill time, shopping (we left the boys home for this one), picking out macarons at the pâtisserie, discovering the most delicious Chinese restaurant right around the corner, watching television (SkyTV I love you in all of your English glory), and finally hitting up the port for a pre-match lunch…
The port was PACKED. Leicester supporters sure do like to travel. But then again traveling to Toulon isn’t the worst destination for a match… look at that bright blue sky! (I heart the South of France).
It was a nail biter… seriously, a down to the wire, heart thumping, nerve racking nail biter, but thanks in part to Jonny’s golden foot… Toulon eeked out Leicester 21-15.
{celebrate} Here’s hoping that after this weekend’s face-off against the Saracens, Mr. London will be one step closer to meeting us in Dublin.(and ASM Clermont too!)Bisou! -
he's all grown up now
It’s funny how quickly things can change. Last year when Gatz turned thirty, not only was I was left in charge of organizing his birthday night out, but I ended up having to throw together a last minute birthday dinner party for him as well. But this year, my oh my how times have changed… Gatz is all grown up and doesn’t need me anymore.
Gatz was hosting his birthday celebration on his own and invited us (us being The Husband, Honey Jr, Honey’s Honey, a couple others, and me) to his place for drinks and nibbles. Honestly, I was skeptical and was picturing frozen pizzas cut up into small slices and bowls of potato chips. But instead of that bachelor pad nightmare, we arrived to a set and very grown-up table (proving that last year’s Raclette soirée was not a fluke).
Not only was the table set, but it was topped with grown-up vegetable and charcuterie plates…
Which he served with grown-up bottles of wine…
And he had even baked a tarte aux épinards et chèvre (spinach and goat’s cheese tart) which I failed to take a photo of because 1. I was too busy with that grown-up wine and 2. I was too busy being shocked. But I was shocked in the most delightful and proud way.
Joyeux anniversaire Gatz!Bisou!P.S. In the interest of full disclosure, I’m going to throw this out there… it has crossed my mind that Gatz could be improving his culinary and hosting skills in an effort to woo The Husband away from Mr. London (I wouldn’t put it past him)… or worse yet… maybe even from me! I’ll keep you posted.
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A Tisket, A Tasket
++ Last Saturday afternoon was spent having lunch in Aix-en-Provence on the first truly glorious spring day of the year. (First truly glorious spring days of the year should be celebrated, and it looked like everyone got that memo… Aix was packed! So packed, I couldn’t even bring myself to go into Zara… that’s how packed it was.) Not only was I happy with the cracking weather (24 ºC / 75ºF), but my Godfather and his wife were on holiday from Las Vegas, and since they happened to be in Aix and we happened to be in Aix, lunch seemed like the civilized thing to do. I hadn’t seen my Godfather since I was about eight or maybe nine (that was a long, long, long time ago), but as soon as I was sat down next to him, it was like all those years hadn’t happened. And there we were.
++ Busy as a bee is how I’ve been lately… the Wednesday before Good Friday it was dinner in Aix, on Good Friday we left for Easter in Auvergne, we returned on the Tuesday and then on the Friday it was down to Toulon, back up to The LPV late Sunday night, then next Saturday we were in Aix again (for that lunch above), we returned home with Mrs. London in tow who stayed for the weekend, and now here it is a week later and I’m blogging live from The London’s kitchen in Toulon. (shhh… everyone is sleeping!)
++ And speaking of blogging… the last months of Google Reader are upon us and honestly, I’m a little worried. I’m scared that Google Reader is the way that you keep up with me and without it, I’ll lose you. So just in case it is, please soothe my mind by taking note of these other ways to keep track of Le Petit Village happenings… I tweet my blog posts, so if you’re on twitter you can find me there, and of course there is the Facebook page which gets updated, and I’m on Bloglovin too. That seems like the way most bloggers are going. I know I’ve been adding blogs I read on there left, right and center, so yeah, Bloglovin, check it out. (Oh, and Fifty wanted me to remind you that he has his very own Facebook page and he loves making new friends.)
++ Yesterday (before our last minute dash down to the Côte d’Azur), The Husband and I watched the Clermont vs. Toulouse rugby match. It was the 59th game in a row, that Clermont has won at home. 59! That’s a big number and fantastic and all, but I think what is more important to note is that, that winning streak began in September 2009, which just happens to be when I moved to France. Coincidence? I doubt it (I’m a wee lucky charm).
++ I have some wonderful news to report… two new additions to The LPV family are on their way… Baby Cousin’s girlfriend is expecting as well as The Husband’s BFF and childhood sweetheart, The Croupier! Two new Le Petit Villagers due in November! Oh me oh my, time to bust out my knitting.++ Speaking of Mother’s… let’s talk about Mother’s day. I am so confused. Did you know that it is celebrated on a different day in the U.S., Ireland and France? (If you are new here you might not know why this matters, but if you read this post, you’ll understand). In the U.S. it’s on May 12th, Ireland, the 10th of March (oops… missed that one) and in France, the 26th of May. My confusion has led me to miss it for several years now and my poor mother has been Mother Day-less, so this past week I went ahead and shipped her present. It’s late for Ireland, early for the U.S., and really early for France, but I’m making a decree… I declare that today, Sunday the 21st of April, is My Mother’s Day. So that said…
Happy Mother’s Day Eilo!Bisou! -
plan schman
{fondue} Sometimes we like to meet The Londons in Aix-en-Provence on a Wednesday night for a mid-week treat of the dinner variety. They travel an hour northwest, and us an hour south. It’s the perfect meet in the middle.
Since we don’t like to dilly-dally on these nights, we usually go straight to Bistro Romain where The Husband indulges in the all you can eat carpaccio he loves so much (while I sit back and watch the carnage). But this last time, he asked me if I’d find a new place for dinner (I guess he’s trying to widen his horizons beyond raw beef). Planning happens to be my thing so I set to task, and found three places. Three because I figured I’d give them options (I’m a planner not a dictator… contrary to what you may have heard), and we’d hedge our bets on closings and full tables. I even wrote directions from the first restaurant to the second and then from the second choice to the third because if I had a motto, it’d be ‘always be prepared’. So we had our plan.
Do you think The Husband stuck to the plan? (FORESHADOWING)
On the way to Aix, The Husband turned to me and said (very excitedly I might add), that he knew of THE BEST PIZZA place on Cours Mirabeau (Cours Mirabeau is like Aix’s Champs-Élysées). I thought it was a bit curious that in all of my trips to Aix-en-Provence with The Husband, this was the first time I was hearing about this awesome pizza, but I was willing to forgo the planned restaurant choices and handwritten directions because if there is one thing that living in Le Petit Village has taught me, it’s to be flexible (if you aren’t flexible, France will make you flexible!). And as long as this pizzeria was nice enough inside and Mrs. London and I could sit back with a decent bottle of red, who was I to complain. “Of course it’s nice” he assured me, “It’s on Cours Mirabeau.” Well alrighty then.
We met The Londons and popped into a bar for a quick apéro… “What will it be,” I asked, “pizza or tapas or pasta?” (Tapas and pasta were the first two choices on the pre-planned restaurant list). The Londons gave a shoulder shrug while The Husband shouted, “I want sushi!“
WHAT?!?!
Where the hell-o-operator did sushi come from?!
Sometimes all one can do is take a deep breath and take control. “You wanted pizza,” I reminded him, “show us where the restaurant is and we’ll follow you.”
We walked a bit further down Cours Mirabeau and then The Husband stopped, looked up, and turned around in a circle. And then I saw him bring his hand up to his mouth and breath in “oh“, which is never a good sign. “What?” I asked. He looked at me, “I forgot it’s for takeaway pizza.” Of course it is.
Now, do you think we went to one of the pre-designated restaurants on the list, or do you think we let The Husband follow his nose while we followed him? (If you are new here, you might not know the answer to this, but if this isn’t your first visit to Le Petit Village than you definitely know the answer… we followed the nose.)
And that’s how after ten minutes of wondering around in the rain, the nose led us to a fondue restaurant. It wasn’t part of the plan, but I’m flexible like that.
Bisou! -
The Husband Speaks
It’s happened guys. I actually got The Husband to sit down and answer all of your questions, and there wasn’t a single huff and puff in the process. Color me shocked.I’m telling you right now before you watch the video, I’m not in it. You’ll hear me, but you won’t see me. I had been spring cleaning all day, I was dirty, and my hair was piled into a messy top knot on top of my head (and not one of those perfectly styled messy top knots that bloggers love, it was more like a greasy ball of frizz stuck to the top of my head. It’s not a good look). So yeah, I was steering clear of any cameras. And as for Fifty, well personally I thought he would have been keen to make his vlog debut, but during filming, he was sleeping, tuckered out from his weekend with his cousin, Napoleon.
Now to the main event… Ladies and Gentlemen… without further ado, I give you, The Husband…
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The Bachelor: Special Edition Starring Fifty
Look at these two gorgeous girls! That there in the front is Nina (she was born in the good ol’ U.S.A. so I’ve got a bit of a sweet spot for her) and behind her, is her little sister Lily. A few weekends ago, they came to Le Petit Village for a date with Fifty (it was like one of those two on one dates on The Bachelor minus the bitchiness… actually, it was double the bitchiness if you know what I mean). But because neither of them have a drivers license, and walking from Salon-de-Provence to The LPV would take forever, they brought their parents with them, which was great because their mom just happens to be one of my favorite French people, La Professeur (you might remember her from this time or maybe that time).
And as if I wasn’t already chuffed enough what with an afternoon with my friend La Professeur and all, she came baring gifts… Starbucks ready to brew packs. My dream finally came true… I was drinking Starbucks in The LPV. It’s a pretty big deal.
I made Tex-Mex (La Professeur spent a stint in Austin so I thought she’d appreciate some guacamole and pico de gallo) and we watched a rugby match (of course we did). But mostly, we chaperoned the date, and tried to guess who Fifty would give the final rose to…
{a rare moment of calm} 
{yes, Lily is wearing panties} 
{first kiss} 
{take 1,837,447} It was a close one to call… when I saw Fifty and Lily kiss I thought she was a shoo-in for the final rose, but as the day went on, an initially shy Nina began to follow him around more and more staking her claim.
But then in a surprising move, that nobody somebody coming,I got the final rose, because I’m his mommy,and mommies give the best cuddles.bisouP.S. Interested in learning French in beautiful Provence with La Professeur? Click here to find out more.P.P.S. Last and final chance to ask The Husband! Click here to leave a question to find out anything you’d like to know about the man behind the girl behind the blog.
P.P.P. S. If you’d like to be friends with Fifty on Facebook and follow along on more of his adventures, click here. -
the anniversary present
{babysitting at Papa’s house} Here’s the thing about The Husband; he’s wonderful. He’s sweet and cuddly, caring, kind, huge-hearted and gorgeous. Children love him, dogs love him, and men and women love him, pretty much everybody loves him. But of course he’s not perfect (not by a long shot) and today I’m going to tell you about a time he was really, really not perfect.
You know how my birthday was in February and I went to Dublin? Well that trip was kind of a birthday present, but kind of not. I actually needed to go there to take care of some stuff and it just happened to coincide with my birthday. But because a last minute plane ticket to Dublin is not cheap, I told The Husband that I was considering that my present, and not to even think about getting me anything else (The Husband can worry himself into quite a tizzy over presents… shopping for presents is his kryptonite).
When I returned from Dublin, The Husband started telling me all about some present that he had really wanted to get me, but he hadn’t been able to find it anywhere. (How can you not find something, especially when there is this amazing contraption called ‘the internet’? RE: KRYPTONITE) I told him not to worry about it, Dublin was more than enough, but out of curiosity, I asked what this elusive present was. He said, “you know, the thing for the foot that you put your foot in and it feels good with the water.” HUH?!
And then I realized, he was talking about a foot spa. The present that The Husband had been searching all over for and was just dying to get me, was a plastic tub that I could fill with water and plug in. I smiled at him, as I do, and told him that that was a sweet thought, but not to worry about it, because I really didn’t want a foot spa. “No?” he asked. “No” I replied. And so there wasn’t any confusion, I told him that I was relieved he hadn’t been able to find one, and I gave about a zillion reasons why I did not in fact want one and then named about a zillion things that I would prefer. (I find that in a language barrier relationship like ours, it’s best to spell things out and make them as crystal clear as possible.)
Fast forward a month to our wedding anniversary.Papa called, a package addressed to The Husband had been delivered to his house by accident. The Husband jumped up, shouted, “your present!” and then ran out the door (somebody found the internet). A few minutes later he returned with a large box. I eyed it suspiciously. There was something about the package that gave me an odd feeling, I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I was sensing that there was something I most definitely did not like about it.
I looked at The Husband, as he stood there grinning ear to ear holding onto the box, and said, “there better not be a foot spa in that box”. His smile fell. Disbelief whipped through me, “is there a foot spa in that box?!” And then he let out one of his little Gallic huff and puffs. HE GOT ME THE MOTHER TRUCKING FOOT SPA!
At least that’s his mother’s birthday present sorted.bisouP.S. If you would like to ask The Husband what was going through his sweet head when he bought the foot spa, or anything else for that matter,it’s not too late. Click here, leave your question, and he’ll answer it in his very own blog post (or vlog if I can figure it out).
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It's Me, Sara Louise 