13 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn 41

1. Go to Las Vegas2. Learn how to knit mittens and/or a tuque
3. Make a quilt for Mateo
4. Go on a romantic weekend in Orford
5. Participate in Emily's green week
6. Play the piano at least once a week
7. Decorate the dining room for Claude's birthday
8. Plan our summer vacations (Vancouver + Seattle)
9. Finish the document I'm writing for work
10. Make progress in my project with Tanja
11. Lose some weight (at least a little...)
12. Continue to save money (we never know...)
13. Make a very important professional choice

Ask Charlie...

My little one is very happy: it's March break. To celebrate this week off, restaurant and movies where we saw Charlie Bartlett. A cute movie with an interesting message: when you do something you don't like, it kills you slowly but surely... Robert Downey Jr shows us that clearly and it's troubling. Regarding Charlie, he helps us see that teens are not the bullies (the imbeciles, the nerds, the cheerleaders, etc.) that some people think they are. And I strongly believe that.

Do What I Have To Do...

I had a great photo to post, but from this hotel it doesn't seem to work...

I will have to make choices regarding my professional future, very soon. The duel between my head and my heart pushes me to do what I have to do to finally fulfill my dreams. Everything is still only a project, there are things to check, a major decision to make. Not easy, but necessary. The only thing I know is that there will be a change! Facing insecurity isn't something I like to do but when you gotta go, you gotta go.

To be continued... One thing for sure, it'll be for the best!

It's Wednesday, Baby...

Update... Learned more about those two: Their group is called Flight of the Conchords (Germaine and Bret) and they're from New Zealand.

Pajama Bottoms for Alizée

Today I sewed pajama bottoms for Alizée. She had chosen her fabric a couple of weeks ago. I used an old pajamas as a pattern. I know, I know, I never use a pattern. Claude convinced me. He was right. :-)

13 Duos

1. raspberries & chocolate
2. sun's light & walk bare feet
3. sleep & dream
4. Alizée & Miranda :-)
5. green & pink
6. lipstick & mascara
7. Claude & Dominique :-)
8. my work table & my laptop
9. polka dots & stripes
10. 40 years old & Paris
11. piano & flute
12. family & friends
13. reading & cinema

Flying Saucers

As a child, everyone had a favorite candy. My sister Isabelle was almost always chewing gum. As for my daughter Alizée, she was crazy about those blue gummy fish. For a while I enjoyed pink peppermints (not the white ones, they were for grannies!), but that was during my teenage years. Younger, I'd do anything for flying saucers (or whatever you call them in English, flying saucers is the word by word translation). Usually, as an adult, that kind of passion fades. In my case, it has become an unbearable torment. A little like my husband and peanuts. All in all, in the presence of flying saucers (and in Claude's case, peanuts), my mind/brain/spirit is constantly obsessed by an unmanageable need to swallow them. Drama...

Claude offered me flying saucers last week. I was so happy, they're tough to find! Below, a partial description of the ingredients. Mostly, sugar, but they are so delicious.
I was a little panicked when I saw that there was a «best before» notice. November 2008, I shall not wait any longer! So, I ate them. All. No more. Niet. Gone. Adieu. Boo-hoo...

What's Happenning Here?

I'd love to take part in such a great event, but I'd be terrible, I'd burst laughing immediately...

13 Name Possibilities

Since I started sewing like crazy, I have been wondering if I shouldn't start signing my creations. I am looking for the «right» name. I wanted a French word (I can't deny my origins, right?) that is also used in English (even if the meaning is sometimes different, like #5).

Which one do you prefer?

1. rendez-vous
2. bizarre
3. en route!
4. caramel & melon
5. à la mode (I like this one)
6. ballet
7. orange
8. chérie
9. fiancée
10. mademoiselle (not too bad)
11. menu
12. champagne
13. encore... (my favorite right now)

Feeling Good!

Oh, I know, it's nothing really, well, a tiny little something, but still... One of my photos had been selected to be part of an online virtual map. Quite a reality check: Internet really connects you with the world!

Bags, Bags, Bags and Bags!

I am so into sewing. Not only do I sew a lot, but I find great sites selling fabric, and lately, inspiration: the blog of a Canadian who moved in the south of France (I know life is unfair...). She makes nice things and her bags are DIVINE! She even has tutorials. So guess who's going to continue sewing lots of bags for quite a while? :-)

I've Been Tagged!

This is my first time, I'm so excited! Thanks Cathy... I don't know who to tag though, so if you're reading this and feel like doing it consider yourself tagged!

This meme is about telling you 6 things you might not know about me:

1. I am going to be a step-grand-mother in July (my husband's daughter Roxane is pregnant!).
2. I reconnected with someone from my past through Facebook and we've been writing for a couple of months now.
3. I wish I were richer to stop working and have more time for my creative projects.
4. I can imitate many accents.
5. I was the lead singer of the Bend Your Knees Band. (Don't laugh, we were good at the time!)
6. At home, if technology doesn't work (especially the printer), I can also imitate Hulk (and like him, I can't control myself).

13 Sewing Projects I've Done

1. Quilts/bedcovers (so many...)
2. Washing Cloths
3. Curtains
4. Bags (my new thing)
5. Small girly-girl handbags
6. Baby sheets
7. Apron
8. Nightgown (a very ugly one, high school sewing project)
9. Blouse (hot pink, '80s style, never wore it, no need to tell you how ugly it was)
10. Placemats
11. Cushions
12. Bibs
13. Personalized towels

Knit, Purl...

I usually write my blog in French here and then translate it. Today, it's mission impossible. I've tried, but I can't. There are too many aspects that can't be translated (a link to a newspaper article, cultural and linguistic terms that don't have equivalents in English). So I'm keeping the same photo, but writing something different. (The one in French is way funnier though, you're missing something!)Inspired by Ani, I've decided to go back to knitting. I even bought a book to improve on my skills. I haven't knitted in decades. I was okay at the time but I remember that my two sisters were experts. I wonder if they still knit. I guess not. One is into scrapbooking and taking care of a family of five kids while the other one has MS, so, no knitting for her.

I even taught my youngest daughter last weekend. She's doing fine. We bought nice yarns and we're knitting scarves. Easy stuff to begin with. We'll see after that. I can hardly just watch TV, I always need to do something at the same time and knitting is perfect for that!

13 of my Favorite Pictures

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Oops I Did It Again...

It's so not my fault! I have no idea how I got into that fabric store. My car must have been possessed or something. I didn't see it coming and bang! I was pushing a cart with 3 new fabrics, cut, ready to be paid. I didn't want to make a scene, so I paid and left.

Maybe I've got multiple-personality disorder? Because there's a 45 minutes I can't remember. Seriously!

So tonight I did what I had to do for Hortense (my seamstress personality): I prepared my fabrics and tomorrow, I'll sew... Did I really have a choice?

Oh, and I taught Miranda to knit tonight. Purl is for tomorrow... My life is so complicated... :-)

Snowman, Santa Claus and Polar Bear...

A little before Christmas, Miranda did a little painting. I adore the fact that my darlings take advantage of the material available at home. For me, having stuff to do arts and crafts, to paint, to sew, to draw is essential. So we have interesting stocks scattered all over the house. There's a lot of stuff in the index cards desk saved from trash by a good man (ours, of course!). We have a complete wardrobe filled with pearls, boxes, sturdy cardboard, canvas, gouache, brushes, fancy scissors, markers, pebbles, shells. In the basement we also have boxes of wrapping paper (very useful for crafts), ribbons (new, leftovers, recycled pieces -hurray for 2nd lives!). I have loads of fabrics (a full dresser), papers (an indecent quantity, I swear), acrylic paints, glues of many types (a full basket). I didn't mention yarns, stickers and scrapbooking, stamps, embossing, calligraphy material. For a fraction of a second, I'm ashamed of myself. Pssshttt, it's gone, already. Guilty doesn't stick probably because «it's our hobby», it allows us to create, to invent, to please, to learn more about ourselves, to put a little beauty here, there, and there too. Anyway, if I have to cut on something, I'd rather wear the same clothes for a couple of seasons and put my creativity at full throttle. It's a choice. I can deal with it. Easily...

13 Lists

This morning on the radio, there was a discussion about lists.
What, how, why? It was inspiring...

Here some of the lists I do, I like, I need.

1. creative projects I plan to do in my little black book. Once they're done I crossed them out with a marker and never tear a page to remember the creative things I do...
2. 5 things I’m grateful for, every day. Been doing it for a year and a half now.
3. groceries and errands to run
4. in an address book, I write down the movies I watch (cinema + DVD). I also write the main actors, the year and an appreciation.
5. in another address book, I also write down the books I read (I include the date this way I know how many I read every year)
6. when I travel, I write about things I see, places I went in a mini journal that I fill with mementos (leaves, business cards, pieces of shopping bags, museum tickets, etc.).
7. my daughters’ friends phone numbers (this list now includes cell phones!)
8. important numbers to remember (health, social, life insurance, etc.)
9. birthdays in a lovely book
10. cities I’ve been, visually organized in Facebook
11. things to do for work in a notebook. I draw a box in front of each item that I check when done. Gives me a feeling of accomplishment!
12. blogs I'm addicted to in Google reader
13. addresses of my postcard swaps friends

By the way, there’s a new swap organized by Chookooloonks. E-mail her before January 16th if you’re interested. The theme is «Love». Couldn’t resist to that!

Calender 2008

Last year I made a calendar for Alizée. Here is 2008's:

Xmas Skating

Today was the traditional skating activity, right before Xmas holidays at Miranda's school, where I taught for 8 years. Parents are invited to help with the skates and some join on the rink. Not my case this year, I took a few pictures and chatted with some of my former colleagues, t'was really cool...

The only minor problem, my niece fell and hurt her chin. Her dad who's a dentist took care of everything. It was too cute to see her twin brother worried by the incident, he felt so bad for her...
So my little one skated for the last time with her primary school. Next year will be a very different thing. I am not too nostalgic, I know that when a fantastic moment is over, it makes room for other great moments...