GOO-lay.

In the spirit of the upcoming holiday this weekend, I've begun my decorating project.

Cobb webs now adorn the entry way by my ceiling, my cut-out window from the kitchen to the dining room and the mantle over my fireplace. (Maybe I'll post pictures soon??) For the front entry hall, I've cut up black garbage bags and made streamers and light blockers to make the entrance all spooky :)

Then I've added plastic spiders/rats and test tube vials of candy goo filled with gummy eyes, brains and fingers. I think tonight's finally the time for pumpkin carving!

As for the costumes (for the party I'm hosting this weekend)... it's not quite the same thing, but here's a video hint of what J.D. and I are planning ("A little inside, I know"):

Happy Halloween!

I really can't believe one year ago I was teaching my kids about Halloween and having them simulate trick-or-treating. After four years in Santa Barbara/Isla Vista, you'd think I'd be super excited about coming back to a country that celebrates the holiday...

Well, for now I have a volleyball match to work tonight at 7 p.m., which could until as long as 10. And then who knows...

Hopefully people will be in the mood to go out after! If nothing else, my roommates are going to a frat party (goodness, I can't believe after not going ever in college, I'll be making two Greek appearances post-college), so if they're in the spirit and dressing up, I may just meet them there. I miss Halloween parties and fun spooky treats :) But I guess we can't be kids forever, huh?

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Blast from the past

The other day I was at home and I have NO IDEA where this came from, but I suddenly remembered the Doritos Halloween campaign from years ago.

Anyone else remember how they would put dollar halves in each of the bags with either a werewolf's, Dracula's, Frankenstein's or a mummy's face? And each dollar was assigned a specific amount, where if you found two matching halves you could win the amount marked on it??

Absolutely everyone I've spoken with about this memory has shot me down, saying I'm either crazy or on drugs.

Well, neither of those are correct. Behold:

P.S. How old does that Pepsi logo look?! Wow that takes me back. And if you'll see the fine print at the end, it was in 1991. Awesome I can remember that far back, seeing as how I was only six years old.

In the mood!!

I don't know what it is about the holiday season that tickles me so, but I'm already raring to go this year!

Maybe I'm overcompensating for the fact that I missed out on nearly every American holiday last year by living in France. Though, I am quite bummed I won't be spending my winter vacation running throughout Europe again. Tant pis!

Well Halloween is almost here and my roommates and I are going political this year. I guess because I have brown hair and the glasses, I was told I should go as Sarah Palin. Plus all my roommates are democrats, so I guess I should bring in some conservative flavor (even if I don't know who I'm voting for.... please let's not take the conversation in this direction).

And that's as political as I'm gonna get here.

Though I'm not exactly sure how much of an opportunity I'm going to have to dress up and go out this year. We have a volleyball match Friday, Oct. 31, so I'll be working until at least 10 p.m. Maybe later.

And as jumping the gun as this is, I'm ALREADY prepping myself for Christmas music! I can't wait!!! And Thanksgiving (again, volleyball tournament the next day, so it'll be a short-lived holiday), with its yummy overload and football in the background.

Christmas is just around the corner :) You can't stop it.

And we turned on our heater for the first time this morning! It was 41º this morning (nevermind that it almost hit 70 in the afternoon). But morning and night are turning in to quite the autumn affair.... I'm ready for mittens, sweaters and scarves!

Whatever happened to my "Transylvania Twist?"

Apparently last night was a big growing up night for me. It's suddenly very clear that I am no longer in college or working for a company with a college-aged mindset!

That's right, bars here (and in most of the real world I suspect) are NOT open on random Tuesday nights! Maybe during the summer, but now that it's considered winter season, no longer. I never thought I'd miss that about Santa Barbara!

After wandering around Juan-les-Pins and Antibes for about 40 minutes last night, Natalie, Kathy and I stumbled across the only illuminated sign advertising Café Cozy down some dark alleyway in Vieux Antibes. And what a surprise it turned out to be!

At first I doubted it'd be open, since everything else happened to be closed, but looking through the wooden door, I noticed that the place was jumping! Granted, there were only about five tables and the room was sort of this hollowed-out cavern in the side of a building with interior cobblestone walls. Nevertheless, the bar was serving and we were freezing with a light drizzle beginning to tumble from the heavens.

It was certainly one of the most laid-back, mellow bars I've ever came across, playing ambient Jack Johnson music. Despite its European atmosphere, I felt like this is something that could definitely do well in Santa Barbara. I ordered an Irish coffee first, while the other girls tried flavored light beers and then we capped off the evening with a round of mulled wine! Best drink, EVER! Next time I go back to Williams Sonoma in the United States, I'm loading up on mulling spices.

As we were finishing our drinks, I cozied up in my big, fluffy arm chair gripping my cup of warm, heavenly goodness and could easily imagine chilly snowdrift making its way into the room whenever patrons entered and exited the building. Nestling up just below the heater also helped give the impression that we were in some winter resort for the evening.

But alas, we stepped out into the mildly-tempered and rainy night barely covered in our jackets and headed back home to close out a wonderful evening.

And now it's Halloween and I think we're going to celebrate by watching dubbed Halloween movies on the French family channel! I've looked up dessert recipes for Halloween cookies and bubbly beverages so that we can hit up the grocery store and make festive treats for the evening.

Then tomorrow I'm off to the Loire Valley!

Weight/exercise tracker, 31/10/07:
Weighing in at 59 kilos today, ran 2.1 miles and did 80 sit-ups.

And thanks to my discovery of MapMyRun.com's "My Training" feature, I've learned that I have either ran or walked a total of 17.66 miles, burning 1,392 calories since Sunday. And my clothes still don't fit. Sorry if I seem totally obsessed by all of this right now, but for some reason EVERY single time I come to France I balloon up and pack on the pounds. It's really getting me down, to the point where I don't want to even eat all this delicious food anymore. Even if I am working out regularly/compulsively every day...

Currently Playing: "Monster Mash," by Bobby Pickett.

Happy Halloween!

Time for Halloween, time for Halloween!

Halloween chez la classe CM1 de M. Cuevlier

I’m beginning to think that my posts are losing their cohesiveness….

Oh well, welcome to my jumbled brain :)

Today I got to experience the first rain here in France. Technically it’s already rained, but I was safely tucked away in the warmth of my large bed. It actually wasn’t much to write home about. This morning the sky was gray and ugly like it’s been the past few days, but the wind chill effect was missing -- which is a good thing in my opinion. Then when I went back to school for lunch, there was a slight drizzle. But I was already wearing a baseball hat and hoodie (I’ll explain later) so nary a drop landed on me. When we had that midnight thunderstorm two weeks ago, there was lightning and fat, heavy drops of water pelting the roof. I want to experience something like that during the day here!

Someone in my building recently got a new pet, because this little gray and white kitten is at the stoop from time to time. Today I saw him again and he’s really playful and loving. I suspect this was the first time he’s ever experienced a “rain storm,” though I’d hardly call it that, because he was crying on the stoop until I came to his rescue. I cuddled and played with him for about five minutes before making my way towards La Tournière for my lunch. But the poor little thing scurried after me, trying to either fit under the protection from my umbrella, or running after me under the shelter of nearby parked cars.

When I finally arrived at the cantine, we had a really delicious and slightly eclectic lunch. It consisted of a fusili pasta salad for the first course -- cold pasta, olive oil, cheese and tomatoes, followed by ratatouille and an omelet for the main course -- not sure why, but EVERYONE here always serves eggs with their ratatouille -- and then fruit-flavored fromage blanc for dessert. I had two ;) framboise and then abricot, raspberry and apricot. As always, I’m immensely enjoying the 2,70 € lunches with which the schools provide me! (And no, it’s not an error, they write 2,70 € instead of our $2.70)

Now here I sit in the salle des maîtres waiting for the bell to ring so I can go to my last classes of the day. In the first two, I’ve already had the kids act out trick-or-treating with much success. Then we played songs like Ghostbusters, Monster Mash, Phantom of the Opera, and the Adam’s Family while creating a haunted house-like ambiance in the rooms. This was achieved by turning off all the lights and closing the curtains as well as chanting “OOOOOHHHHH,” from time to time. I can’t believe how simple the activities have been and how amused the children are by them! The boys absolutely adore acting out trick or treating, because their objective is to scream it so loud that it makes the kid opening the door tremble with fear, or jump out in surprise.

After all, that IS the goal of Halloween, right? Bien joué, les gamins. (Well-played, kids).

This afternoon and tomorrow I have my older classes, so I’ve actually assigned them homework which was to make Halloween masks. I’m very interested to see what they come up with. And if there’s time, we’re going to read selections from a book of Monster Poems I found at the médiathèque. :) So that is why I am wearing a baseball hat today. I’m decked out in my David Wright Met’s jersey and my San Francisco All-Star Game baseball cap with braided pigtails underneath. My costume for the kids is a baseball player! Yeah, I figure the bat girl concept would have been lost on them anyhow…

Figures, when I left the apartment this morning, my roommate was shocked with my choice of costume.

“But you’re not a witch or something else scary,” she declared, perplexed.

I see that I still have a lot of explaining to do here regarding American traditions and institutions! I only wish it was appropriate to show pictures of Halloween in Isla Vista to clear things up. Then again, no. I don’t. Tomorrow you’ll get another update on how the older classes and my second school take to the Halloween festivities…