The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in it's net forever

As I sat at the beach yesterday it occurred to me how many people are reading the inner workings of my twisted mind...(see what I did there?? A quote from 10 things I hate about you...) Anyway, its weird to think more people read this than the 10 people that I thought might. Of course these are not my inner most thoughts as I'd still like to keep some stuff for myself but, I am pretty open and honest for the most part. That being said, I hope I can entertain or teach or bring a smile to the faces of the people reading. My last post was boring, I'm aware, and I apologize. Things have been slow going.

This week I'm in Vendée, France. I know I talk about food and drink all the time but it really is amazing. And there is such a focus on it here. Their meals are about spending time together and talking and laughing and just enjoy good food/drink in good company. Of course I've had great food so far on this trip including beef bourgingon yesterday and this amazing amazing apple dessert. I will get both recipes for these and post them on my blog at some point. It smelled like Thanksgiving in the house yesterday and it was cold out and a perfect combination. Of course we have had great red wines and this champagne drink last night with a berry syrup. Sort of like a Bellini really, which is one of my favorites.

OMG I HAVE MY COMPUTER!!! I am so excited. I have always had the computer but I didn't have the charger. But. Now I do and I am typing the rest of this post from my computer and I am so so happy. 

My vacation finished uneventfully. We continued to eat and drink and tons of family came over. I went to a Chinese buffet with my “mom and dad” which was fun. It was just the three of us so we could talk and relax and just eat dinner. It is always interesting to speak with them because we all have such differing views and its quite refreshing to have in depth conversations about interesting topics and both of them have had quite amazing experiences in life thus far. The buffet had French bread, which made me laugh. It was not the best Chinese food I have ever eaten but it was not really the worst. Everything here tastes different, and I mean everything. Even oreos, which have writing in English on them, they taste different. Food still might be what I miss most about home… the pictures below are from the beach which is where we spent a lot of time. The houses in this region are much different from where I live. They are all plainly colored and do not have the foliage growing on the outside of them. The area near the beach is actually quite like home; tons of restaurants on the beach, and a sort of touristy feel. I collected some rocks and a ton of green sea glass. It was a nice time. We also went to a park with some animals. The park we went to had some really neat things for kids. There was a small zip line and this giant triangle of ropes, but the ropes were sort of bungee. I am not sure how to describe that. Oh yea! One night we had a dinner called…I forget…haha but we just had really heavy aperitif. We had some really, really good food. We had some puff pastry that had blue cheese and crème fresh. We also had the usual, sausage, chips, olives, we also had this bread called gougère. It is like this cheese bread that is really light and fluffy and so so good. I will post that recipe once I get it from my “mom”. We also drank a lot, of course. Besides just the Bellini type beverage they mix grapefruit syrup with rosé. So, so good. I also had some French beer called 1667 I think. Im going to have to bring some of all this home whenever I make it back there. Then I can have a party and we can all drink and eat all the food I learned to make!!!

This week I am working full time, ten hours a day. Yesterday I took the kids to the movies, and today we made rice crispy treats…sort of…and I will take them to McDonalds for lunch and to play. Its quite cold outside, I think only like 47 degrees and its noon…I think this is how winter is here. But its so strange because yesterday it was hot and tomorrow it is supposed to be 72! Whaattt is this?! I also get my first experience at the doctor tomorrow. I hurt my knee extremely bad and I haven’t even been running in over a week, which is literally killing me. My parents here are making me go…although I’d rather just wait it out. Ha!

There are several things I wanted to describe or talk about that I have thought about. One, the smell of olive is used a lot. One of my favorite soaps since getting here is an olive flavored soap. It doesn’t actually smell like olives from a jar or anything but so many different things are olive flavored…or…smell. Whatever. I am going to do some research on this and figure out why. Second, shutters. Everyone in France has shutters and they close them every night. They are on the windows and the doors. It is really interesting. Even in the other places where I have been…shutters.

I was finally able to get creative again! Below is a picture of a scarf I made last night and I also bought some other things. Since I am working full time this week I bought some stuff to make crafts for the kids. I’ll include links to those in case anyone reading this has kids. I have created monsters however, because these two children are no obsessed with Taylor Swifts “Shake it off” video and grilled cheese. This makes me laugh so much. Like they could watch that video over and over again and the older kid asks for a grilled cheese…everyday.

Nothing else much is going on. I am thinking of going to London in November, either for Thanksgiving or when the family goes out of town for a weekend. I am going to Paris this Sunday, and I have to babysit Saturday. Things are good and still just going. One of my best friends is planning a trip for February which I am so so excited about. And I found out in May there are 3, three day weekends which I get off. It is pretty close to before I leave so I am going to plan some trips. Three day weekends make it so much easier because I can leave Friday and come back Sunday. Enjoy the few pictures and hopefully I will have some good pictures from Sunday to post. 

Paper Plate Kid Crafts

Salt Dough Footprint

TSwift-Shake it off

Title quote: Jacques Cousteau-a pin from pinterest