A girl should be two things: who and what she wants.

As of recent, nothing of consequence, that is actually worth writing about, has happened in my life. It’s the normal thing. I watch kids. I run. I eat cheese. I eat chocolate. I read. I go to Paris. I drink too much. This is really my life as of current. I wish I had something extremely exciting to write about, but I don’t really. I have not written about my time in London yet, and I will soon, I think. Or at least I will try. I have a really ridiculous idea for a blog that I hopefully will be able to write after this weekend or next.

Kids are funny; and kind of irritating. If I have learned anything in this experience thus far it is that I love and miss my dogs and my idea of having children is still leaning way towards the side of no. Sorry mom and dad. Cross your fingers that your other kids give you grandchildren. My mom and my friend told me things would be different with my own, but I am thinking that’s not true. I base this on not only my own experience, but thinking about how much of a pain in the ass I still am to my parents. And I am old. Whoops…

Everyone once and a while cute things happen. Finally my little guy, E, started calling me Sarah. But, he doesn’t pronounce the A’s or the S. So it sounds kinda like he is saying R in French, which is really complicated and UH at the end. But, at least I am only “Wash” sometimes. I bought a scarf that I finally got in the mail and I tried it on and the older kid, G, said…”oh, you look great” It is kind of funny coming from a little kid to hear that. Like I said, every once and while they do cute things.

The older kid turned 6 this past weekend and had a science themed party. It was one of the cutest things I have ever witnessed in my life. If hell freezes over and I do have a kid, I will 100% do a science theme party. Or maybe one day someone will actually pay me to do parties and I could do a science theme one. I wish I could include pictures of him because they wore little white lab coats and name tags, but I still believe I shouldn’t put their pictures up. I was thinking if I get a picture of my entire family after my half marathon, I will put that up with permission. I did, however, include a really cute pic of some of the decorations the mom had. It looked so good.

Speaking of parties, I am currently in planner mode all the way from France. My friend is having a baby and she is also getting a shower from yours truly. I tell you, planning from France is an experience and I want more than anything to run out to my go-to stores and shop but…I can’t. So, I have to improvise. It definitely is interesting to try and get creative.

I am also taking a class from Stanford on Surveillance Law. The material so far is…dry. Very lawyer-y. But the professor, who is a lawyer is kinda awesome and he tries to make his lectures interesting and it is nice to have someone love their topic. He is also really young which I personally think makes a difference. We will see how long this lasts for me given the fact that I am a shit student.

I included a really ridiculous picture of a sandwich below. France has all these sandwich places and you literally get like a French baguette with things in it. Normally, the classic French sandwich is a freaking butter and ham sandwich. I found a place that tries more exotic things and I get this curry chicken sandwich and it is literally amazing. When I was in Paris today, I of course ate breakfast, but then I bought the sandwich for the ride on the train home. It costs 4 euros which is also a really ridiculous price in Paris. The picture of the coke is a new coke that so far is only over here. I asked someone in America if they had seen it and they hadn’t. It apparently has less sugar in it and only uses natural sugar. Kinda tasted like diet coke to me…but it was still good and it is less calories.

I included just some other pics from France, I put the captions in there. Like I said things have been boring-ish lately. I got a really great package from my mom which included some Christmas gifts that were left over or didn’t make it home before my mom came here and some great running things and pants! I have no pants that fit. Well two pair, then what my mom sent, which sadly don’t fit. Please do not be concerned and some other friends were, France sells pants, but when you are poor as shit like me and would rather spend money on drinking, traveling and food…pants fall really low on the list.

Music and books. I found this French rapper who, for some reason, I love. I can’t really understand everything he says…but I still kinda love it. Check him out HERE. I also have been reading the Stephanie Plum series of books, there are 21 (check it HERE), I have gone through about a book a day. It’s getting expensive…specially since I am poor…but the series is overall okay. A bit repetitive and could add some things, but it makes me want to keep reading. I guess that's good. I am really interested in seeing how it ends. I want it to end one way, but I am thinking it is not going to happen for me...

This is it on the French front for now. I also want to say thank you to the Davies family for the incredibly generous gift they gave me today, which will help with my book addiction. And by help I mean make it way worse.

I almost forgot this one small piece of info. It snowed once! Well twice. But once it didn't stick. And the other time it did. I did not even notice until late morning when it started to melt away. Below are some pics that I was able to get. 

Trails and tribulations of a fat food lover trying to run…I think that’s the title I gave this section. I have no idea to be perfectly honest. Anyway. Running. Its so hit and miss. And I know I need more drive to drag my fat ass out of bed and into the cold and rain to do it. I had my longest week ever recently and ran 16 miles. I also ran all the way to a McDonalds and I didn’t even get anything, I turned and ran my fat ass home. One of the worst things about running in this country is the cars. I have almost been hit by MANY cars. Not only that, but the sidewalks are so narrow AND French people drive on the sidewalks because the roads are too narrow to fit two cars. It is so scary. Not only that but I am a smidgeon worried because I am training on so many hills and constant change in elevation and the route I am running is totally flat. I looked at the route the other day and it starts out at a castle. A flipping castle. HELLOOO. I love France. Like so much. Anyway, I am still running. I still love food. And I still am fat. BUT on a brighter note, my coach is doing a silent auction via the internet with some AMAZING items. Like for real. And before you freak and think she’s trying to make a buck…which I guess she is…but it is so she can fund a scholarship to take one of her students with her to a foreign country. I never studied abroad but I have now lived in a foreign country and I have to say, the experience is priceless and I will never ever forget it. Check out her auction information HERE and try and help!!! You can also donate by her GoFundMe page HERE in case you aren’t into sweet exercise things.

I still love and miss most everyone, especially my dogs Kahlua and Martini. I will throw a pic of them below too just for shits and gigs.

Title quote: Coco Chanel. She has some amazing quotes. She knew her shit. 

Sunset from my bedroom window

SNOW!!!

SNOW!!! on my bedroom window

Super cute science party decor

Paris

Metro Map at the Chatelet Station

Paris Street

50 Shades of Grey en France

Badass curry chicken sandwich

Coke Life...

Care Package!

Martini Girl keeping warm...

Kahlua Girl, guarding avocados...

Kahlua and Martini Chillin

If your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough.

So I haven’t written in a long time and I apologize. Like I’ve said before writing about all the experiences after they happen are hard. I do still have to write about me and my mom’s second half of our trip in England. It was great. And I will get to that soon, I hope to promise. Maybe this weekend, I think I have some free time.

Currently it is late in France, 11pm and I am waiting up to make a phone call at 12:30am my time. The time change really creates issue when trying to communicate with people back home. I never would have thought it would make that big of a difference, six hours, but goodness. It’s exhausting. I wake up with 1000 notifications and texts and I get calls at 3am my time, which is normal back in the US.

Everything is going good here except I keep getting sick. I have no idea why but its starting to really take a toll on me. Constantly being sick and chasing around kids and walking in the cold rain is awful. None the less I recently got over my most recent sickness and I’ll be going out this weekend, some with my family and some with friends.

I know I bring this up often but music. Music is life. I can’t say it enough. Lately I have been listening to three albums constantly…check em…(the Hozier album is incomplete)

Maroon 5-V

Corey Smith-Maysville in the Meantime

Hozier-Hozier

I kinda wanted to write a quick post about two things I don’t normally talk a lot about; terrorism and running. I absolutely hate what happened in Paris. It was senseless and stupid. People don’t need to die for the reasons they did, ever. Innocent people carrying on with their daily lives; honestly it’s complete bullshit. I don’t make political statements like ever because it’s no one’s business what I think or believe and I don’t need to justify anything in the public. I just don’t. But I have to say being here when this occurred and seeing what happened is amazing. The French people are interesting and people have plenty of stereotypes and beliefs whether they have been around French people or not. Some of them are totally true, I admit it but some are not. The French people are a proud people. It was amazing to me that IMMEDIATELY after what happened people were in the streets showing their support and showing their disagreement with what happened. People were in the streets the very night the shooting occurred at Charlie Hebdo. Honestly, the only demonstrations I have heard about in the US recently have been destructive and disgusting. This was something totally different. I watched so much news and was able to see what was happening so close to me. (the US news was giving crazy reports and stuff) I was lucky to be able to be here and witness something amazing from the human race especially in the face of tragedy. I read an article that an old high school classmate posted on Facebook and it was essentially addressing that the US was so supportive of what happened here in France and the US people were all for free speech and were saying “Je suis Charlie” ( I am Charlie) along with everyone else in the world yet in America things aren’t exactly like that. It isn’t PC to say certain things and people would have been angered over the things that were displayed in the paper and really, who knows if it would have even been published. It made me thing. I really pride myself on being an open minded person and listening to other people because how can I expect to get through life on my own accord. I don’t know everything and yes I have my beliefs and my thoughts and my morals but it doesn’t mean I am always right and it doesn’t mean there isn’t more than one way to get from point A to point B. Think about it. Remember what happened here in France and remember how the people came together. I am glad my experiences here aren’t just black and white and one dimension.

The trials and tribs of a fat food lover running. Let me just tell you. Lately during my runs I have been thinking a lot about running and who I am as a runner and how I got to this point. My blog isn’t about running because it’s just a hobby and you can find 150,000,000 other blogs on running. But I felt that I had to say this. I am not a skinny person. When I started running I wasn’t in shape. I was an angry person and I needed to get my shit together. That’s why I started. That and it was a way to connect with people and friends. When I started running I could only run a mile and in the 4 mile circuit that I was running, it was a 15 minute mile on a good day. It took forever. I had to walk most of it. I threw up countless times. I started running last July. Seven months ago. I do not run as consistently as I should, I don’t eat right or “clean” I mean come on, I live in France. I eat bread, cheese, drink too much wine and almost all our meals have some sort of cheese or cream based sauce. But I have lost a stupid amount of weight. I can run 8.5 miles without stopping. I have shaved minutes…MINUTES…off my average per mile, my resting heart rate is so slow that the doctor questioned me for a long time about what I did for exercise and my diet and all the other things he could think of. The point of what I am saying is it doesn’t take much. I can’t imagine what would happen if I started eating better, laid off the damn wine…and cider…and beer. It doesn’t take a lot to get healthy. It really doesn’t. It might sound cliché and it seems that exercise is like a new fad specially with yoga, and plio, and pilates and crossfit but it doesn’t have to be any of that. Walking. Walking is exercise. Take one shitty thing out of your diet. Motivate yourself to do something just three times a week. Youtube is a blessing. They have millions of exercise videos, stretching videos, yoga videos. Everything. Try it out. I wouldn’t believe it myself if I wasn’t shocked by what my body is currently capable of. And like I said, I am still not skinny and I eat like shit. But the human body has amazed me in so many ways. Get off your ass and do something!!!!

I will get to writing more later. I am trying to promise. Here are a few pics for your viewing pleasure for now! 

Title quote: pinterest of course. have dreams. go after them. life is too fucking short. 

St Paul' Cathedral-Paris

From the top of the Eiffel Tower

Kensington Palace-London

St Paul's Cathedral-London

The London Eye