It's Me, Sara Louise

Debby Lee at Inspired Design has tagged me in a blog questions and answers round. I shall do my best to be honest and somewhat entertaining. Coffee should kick in and brain should turn on any minute now…

1) What is the most interesting trip you have taken?
This one is a toss up…
I spent Xmas in Bucharest three years ago. Landing at the snow covered airport  reminded me of Rocky 4 when they flew to Russia (I don’t know what it says about me that at 30 years old, sitting on an airplane, I thought; “ooh, this is just like Rocky 4.” I should probably keep some thoughts to myself). Bucharest still seems very cold war like and very foreign. When you travel to Spain, Italy, or France, they may speak a different language, but they are in Western Europe, and Western Europe and America share more similarities than differences. Eastern Europe is a whole other ballgame (and it’s not baseball). On Christmas Eve, I was at a dinner party for twelve people, who were all smoking (everyone there smokes, and drinks, a lot). The room was thick and the hostess feeling sorry for my reddening eyes kept insisting on opening the window of the apartment, despite the objections of the other guests who would close it immediately. Here’s a lesson… don’t open a window in the middle of winter in Bucharest. We’re talking a whole other realm of cold. We sat at that table for five hours as course after course of meats and pickled vegetables came out. I was in desperate need of vast quantities of wine to help wash the odd food down and numb my sore, red eyes. Have you ever had Romanian wine? Don’t. Luckily a shot glass is set on the table next to your wine glass for vodka and homemade fruit brandy.
The other was a trip to Australia when I was eight. It’s the last family holiday I remember taking (parents split when I was twelve). It was before the direct LA to Sydney flight and we flew from NYC to LA to Honolulu to Fiji and then on to Sydney. We spent the day on the beach in Honolulu and my dad bought flip flops at a drugstore. For some reason (and I maybe wrong in which I’m sure I’ll get a call from my mother) but I think that day in Honolulu, was the day I had my first chicken McNugget (this was like 1985 and obviously a monumental day in the life of a child).
In Australia, I held a koala bear, and played with baby kangaroos at Andalucia Park. My brother held some sort of huge snake because he’s crazy. We took an old rickety boat to the Great Barrier Reef and I threw up. As payback I stole some coral which I later used for a science fair project.
On the Gold Coast, my mother and I built a sand castle that we could see from the balcony of our hotel. It was there for two days until some bratty kid decided to play Godzilla and stomp on it. I hate that kid.

2) What is you favorite item of clothing? Why?
My fitted, black DKNY suit jacket. Hardly ever wear it.
For my 16th birthday, my step-father gave me a gift certificate to Saks. My friend Bun and I waited outside the store on 5th Avenue in the February cold until they opened (Bun was wearing her black motorcycle jacket, such a hooligan). We headed straight to the sales rack and found my jacket. It was originally $400, and I got it on sale for $200 . I will never part with it even though it hardly ever gets worn. Too many memories in that thing (and it still fits!).

3) What is the funniest thing that you have experienced?
The fact that I used to live in a bustling city and now live in Le Petit Village is pretty funny.

4) If you could speak to one type of animal what would it be?
Dogs; Fifty,  Ruby (Papa’s hunting dog), and Python (Brother-in-Law’s favorite Jack Russell)

5) What would you ask said animal?

Fifty: What’s up with the abandonment issues? We’re not going to leave you, so chillax. Oh, and we know that you love us, you can stop with all the licking. 

Ruby: Why are you so snobby and standoffish? Stop acting like Prince Phillip and get over yourself. You’re a dog

Python: Why are you such an a**hole? Seriously. Does Brother-In-Law not give you enough cuddles or something? You weigh like 20lbs, I could punt you across the village, so learn your place or else I will.

6) Who has made the biggest impact on your life?
Probably The Husband, because I’m here, learning French, and surrounded by French things, and French people. It’s all very French. And weird. I keep thinking I’ll wake up one day, get dressed, and go back to work at that bank that’s going under. And not have to speak French. Because it’s all been like one big, weird, French dream.

7) What was your favorite childhood tradition?
We dressed for dinner on Sundays; china, crystal, and elbows off the table.

8) What was your biggest decorating faux pas?
I don’t really have one yet because I’ve never owned my own home and The Husband and I aren’t in a place yet where we will be decorating decorating. It’s still a hodge podge of his and my (mostly my) stuff. But we could count The Husband’s weight bench being in the living room as a faux pas. Thankfully, it is now in the garage where he and Honey Jr hang out. I might lock them both in there one day.

bisou