philanges

Just a few things I'm temporarily obsessed with! (Sorry I'm not writing anything amazing/dramatic/noteworthy, but this is some fab baggage that have been on my mind, so enjoy! PS, I have awesome plans for my 21st in France, I'll fill you in soon. Can't wait!)

The movie The Virgin Suicides, directed by Sofia Coppola, with Kirsten Dunst and Josh Hartnett. Can I just say, chilling? Oh and also, "You're a stone fox."

http://www.urbandictionary.com/ It's so clever. If I need a little pick-me-up, I just rely on this!

Lucid dreaming, aka a conscious dream, aka a dream that a person is capable of controlling/participating in. Been trying to learn how to accomplish this...here are some steps and hints!

Múm=awesome mostly instrumental Icelandic group that puts me in the best mood ever. I zone out to it on the tram tous les jours.

La Plana, un café dans la place de la Victoire, which is a huge square (octagon?) in the middle of Bordeaux. Delicious house wine and the cutest waiters, plus warm bread all the time!

My walk to school (I'll attach a picture.) Takes about 14 minutes, it's always cold, but rarely foggy (it was a freak day when I took this picture). The funniest part of the walk is me sliding around trying not to fall down because the leaves covering the ground are all so icy and treacherous.

Oh one more, I think everyone knows about this, but http://www.stumbleupon.com/
is an awesome connection to so many websites. The internet is insane, it's crazy to think all this stuff exists. I guess you never really know what's out there!

PS-Scott Schuman, where have you been? I've been looking quite chic lately if I dare say so myself. Got a new plaid shirt at H&M. SO cute. Can't wait to show it off. I'll have a photo of it up soon.



PSS-This is a picture from my walk to school! No altercations to this photo. Where do I get the amazing blur effect you ask? I call it the "freak fog+trying to take a picture while walking+attempting to not slip and fall down+not exposing philanges to the outside air all at the same time" effect.


Listening to: The Virgin Suicides sountrack

Hi hi hi!

AH I know it's been forever, but I finally have time to upload some shots I took today. It was so warm and sunny, thought it would be perfect, and it was! Hope you enjoy the photos, I know they're up on fb too, but I tried to add some more meaningful captions here, so enjoy!

Got me some new walkin' boots. They're quite fab.

In front of Cathédrale Saint-André. Notice my periwinkle jeans! I know what you're thinking..."Geez Jenny, I've already seen your dumb purple pants..." But alas! These are not the same! A new pair I acquired right before I left for France, and quite a steal too! The French may think I'm crazy, but I'm still hoping Scott Schuman will stumble upon me and feature me on his blog. Hey, one can always dream, eh?

This was in the cathedral, just a tiny chapel sort of hidden off to the side, but the way the light was streaming in made it look spectacular.

This carousel was so cool because it was so random and colorful compared to all the old gray buildings surrounding it.

This hallway was infinitely long and dreamy.

Not much to say about this building besides the fact that it's so skinny! Love it!

This statue/fountain was really cool, until you realized the horses had claw feet and were actually terrifying.

Hmm don't ask how I got this picture taken without getting my camera stolen or being completely humiliated. It basically entailed lots of hand gestures and a nice old French man willing to put up with a stupid tourist. AKA moi.

The quai along the River Gironde. So pretty, such a good spot to people-watch. Plus there's an open market they have every Sunday (just out of the frame) with tons of cheeses, wines, jams, seafood, and fresh crepes!

Man, these trees were so cool even without leaves! Can't wait for spring!

Un café au lait with a lump of sugar and a little bar of chocolat! Such a nice way to end a busy afternoon.

Listening to: Tricycle by Psapp

FRANCE

holy eff i'm here, about to crash out because i've been up for 30 hours, more to follow shortly!

TIME

Just a few personal updates, then some ponderings...

Had the best weekend ever. Visited some friends, was super active, saw lots of cool things. Made me appreciate people and life and California.

Got a flu shot today to protect me against all the ickies that seem to be abundant in planes and public transportation. My arm is kinda noodlesque as a result though. But I got a cool bandaid and sucker nonetheless.

On another note, my right hand seems to be falling asleep quite often. Don't really know what's up with that...Hopefully it doesn't develop into something too chronic. Or fatal.

Also I don't know what happened last night, but I think I was having a sleep panic attack. Had dreams that someone brought a gun to school and killed a lot of people. It made me super anxious and I couldn't sleep, and then it felt like I had water in my ear so that pestered me and kept me up too. Super weird because I never have sleeping problems. I think I'm just getting anxious about my trip and it's messing with my brain though.

Hmm it's the last day of 2008. It feels crazy to think about how quickly time passes. And I hear the older you get, the faster time seems to fly. Which makes sense if you think about it for long enough...but again, that takes time.

I had to slow down to avoid a skunk in the road tonight. The moment seemed painfully slow to me, but at the same time the skunk's heart must have been beating so fast. It's weird how things can be like that. So slow and so fast all at once.

I've been saying a lot of adieus to friends in the past couple of days. Isn't there some saying about how goodbyes aren't for forever? I know I'll only be gone for six months, and like I just said, time flies, but at the same time I think it can drag on, and magnify and warp things. Who knows where I'll really be in six months' time: mentally, physically, emotionally?

I'm getting all philosophical, so I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes by Henry Thoreau which I think perfectly describes how I feel:

"Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes."

See you next year.

Listening to: Owl City-Saltwater Room

mmm

Man, it's super windy. I kinda like the blustery cold and rain, but again I'm always a little nervous that a tree is going to fall on my car. Wish it would snow instead.

Keeping busy today by wrapping presents and baking an olallieberry pie. My mom and I went to the store earlier and bought all sorts of goodies to eat for Christmas, including some amazing cheese for fondue tonight. I insisted on buying more eggnog too.

Hope the holidays are treating everyone well. I love this time of year. I'll attach a picture later of my finished pie so you can ogle my craftiness.

peace and love


Listening to: the blustery wind