February!

Yeah sorry I'm such a slacker... So February.... I went to London the 6-9 and then I didn't do much else except watch the Olympics... After going to London I had a horrible cold because I thought it was a good idea to wear flats in the pouring rain. I mean come on! That was just stupid of me. 

I don't think I emphasized the addiction these kids have to the movie Frozen. It's not mild. It's baaaaad. It has gotten to the point where the songs are just permanently  playing in my head. 

For those of you who don't know what Frozen is or have not seen the movie... YOU ARE LUCKY. It's about these 2 sisters, one is cursed and freezes everything. The other is an adorkable ginger who falls in love with the first guy she meets. 

Elsa, the frozen one, she sets off an eternal winter after their parents died. So she builds this crazy ice palace in about 5 seconds, and that's the well known song "Let it go" 

Then Anna meets up with this guy Christoph and his reindeer Sven. The 3 pair up with a snowman Elsa somehow made with her powers when she built the ice palace. And his name is Olaf and he likes warm hugs and summer. The point is that Elsa actually almost kills Anna and then Anna ends up saving Elsa. And there's a lot of singing. But my personal favorite is Sven and Olaf. Sven doesn't talk much which is always a plus... 

Then Elsa goes crazy and "freezes" Anna's heart because she wants to live alone in her ice palace. And only an act of true love can save Anna from her heart completely freezing. I won't spoil the ending but the act of true love is a big plot twist. 

So London, 
In London I met up with some friends that I met in Edinburgh. It was a lot of fun, minus the rain the entire first day. We went to the British History Museum I think... I'm not 100% sure if that's the right name but anyway, it was pouring rain and I was wearing flats which on the plus side my outfit was adorable but on the negative side I was frozen to the core. Oh but we went to the Disney store and I got a stuffed Olaf. He's kind of my favorite thing ever now. 

The second day I saw Prince Charles! That was pretty epic, he was driving by and he waved. I was a little bummed it wasn't Harry or Will, but still pretty freaking cool if you ask me. We saw all the cool cheesy stuff like Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and all that fun stuff. We went to this massive toy store and they did all these cool magic tricks and stuff it was pretty sick. However I felt like a little old to be casually hanging out there, but whatever. It was worth it. Then we went to Hyde Park, which was my favorite part because I got to see the Peter Pan statue. Totally lived up to the expectations I had set for it. Fulfilled my childhood there it was awesome. 

That night we went out to an Indian restaurant which was good I guess, I haven't had much Indian food to compare it to but it was nice...? We went to a few bars which were cool, once was massive and seemed to never end, but they had Blue Moon there! I was so excited!  We went to a club after that, and it started raining again and we walked back in the rain. Once again I had the brilliant idea of wearing flats. The following week I was on my death bed with a cold from playing in the rain. 

That Saturday I was supposed to fly out and go to Geneva to meet up with the family in the alps, but I missed my flight. The train to the airport broke down and we were stuck for 45 minutes on the tracks and by the time I got to the airport, I could see my plane taking off as I got to security. So I just went back to the city spent the night alone, woke up early the next morning to catch the next flight. Oh yeah but there was like a solid 4 hours I was wondering around London because I had no idea where the heck I was when I was looking for the hotel I booked last minute. But I made it back to Lyon on that Sunday in one piece.

The only other exciting part of February was the Olympics, which I'm assuming you all watched. I will give you update though on my feelings about the Olympic games. 

1. GUS KENWORTHY. I cannot emphasize this enough, but he is just the most amazing athlete ever. He delayed his trip home to bring back 5 dogs from Sochi. Oh and he won a silver medal. And he is just the cutest thing ever. 

2. The Bode Scandal. Excuse me NBC, but who do you think you are? How dare you make Bode cry. There are only 3 athletes/celebrities I will stand by 100% no matter how stupid they are, Bode, Novak Djokovic and George Clooney, and making one of my boys cry is a big no no. I seriously considered dumping the 2 most consistent men in my life besides my father, Matt Lauer and Al Roker, because of the way NBC handled that situation. 

"The goal is to enjoy your life, to challenge yourself, to sometimes make stupid decisions, which are sometimes fun and sometimes idiotic and sometimes just a big, fat mistake that you regret. But the reason for it all is enjoyment; that's the reason for life."

http://www.slate.com/blogs/five_ring_circus/2014/02/17/bode_miller_christin_cooper_what_nbc_missed_about_bode_miller_by_focusing.html


If NBC does something like that again, I will not be as forgiving. 

3. The USA v Canada game. I won't get too into this because it still breaks my heart. And then the game for the Bronze medal was just a nightmare. I'm sorry... it's still too soon to discuss it. 

Anyway... I guess here are some pictures from February! 

January!

A lot happened in 2013, I graduated from university, I moved to France, I skied at USCSA Nationals in Sun Valley, Idaho, I went to Rome, I went to Cannes, I don't know about you, but the best part of 2013 was turning 22. (For those you don't get it, I was referencing the Taylor Swift song '22') 

So obviously I made a new year's resolution was to eat better, exercise more, all that cliche stuff. I think I went jogging a few times and then I remembered I hated jogging so that ended. 

Moving on,  so I turned 23 on January 10th. Woo hoo. It was a blast, Aude was gone so we kind of had a 2 day celebration. On Friday (the day of my birthday) Nico, the kids and I had a crepes party! And I was lucky enough to invite over 2 amazing friends, Colleen and Micayla. Post the crepes party, the 3 of us went out and met up with a bunch of the other aupairs. I'm so lucky because the girls here are so amazing and just overall great people. I'm so happy they are in my life now. Moving on from the cheesy quote that needed to be added... We went out to a few bars and then most of the girls wanted to go clubbing. I made it to about 1 am before I was so tired it was a struggle to hold my eyes open. 

Saturday the 11th, I had brunch with the family. They got me the cutest bracelet, a toiletries bag with the Statue of Liberty on it, and an amazing picture book of Lyon. Eleonore was soooooo excited about it all it was pretty funny. She wouldn't let me into the kitchen until the cake was completely finished. Oh and Hippo keeps asking about Micayla because he has a crush on her. 

The next weekend we went to the Alps!!! It was so much fun! It's gorgeous there. I knew it was going to be amazing but I was blown away. I may or may not have teared up a little bit when I went to the very very tippy top of the mountain. You'll never know the truth. 

It was pretty intense, I was with Hippo and Eleonore most of the time so I didn't really get to shred like I would have liked until Sunday afternoon. And it was warm that day so the snow kind of sucked. But it was breathtakingly beautiful. I'm still overwhelmed by it. And pictures do not do it justice. But here's a few 

Hippo and Eleonore were too small to go one of the POMA lifts so the ski patrol had to take them up the hill and the guy in the sled, he got stabbed in the leg with a pole. 

The next weekend we celebrated Hippolyte's birthday with all of his school friends. Oh and Eleonore got her adenoids taken out so I was home with her all week. Then she got sick, I think she missed a total of 2 weeks of school. Thursday and Friday of the week of the 25th, all of the next week, and then the first few days of the week of February 3rd. We watched the new Disney movie 'Frozen' 13 times in those days off of school. But Back to the birthday party... Mother, I'm so sorry I ever asked for a birthday party. They are horrible.  Well not horrible but having 10 4 year olds is intense.... Also, it's weird the French don't write thank you notes, but give rather expensive gifts. Just another thing I don't understand about this country. 

The last weekend in January/First of February the au pairs hit the town. We started at an Aussie themed bar. It was crazy. Their taste in music is horrible but totally worth it. One of the girls had the brilliant idea of having us all dress up. For those who don't know me well, I'm not a graceful person which means walking in heels is difficult.... But I did it anyway. Wore heels that is... It was a struggle. Lyon is mostly cobblestone streets so walking in heels is nearly impossible. Anyway, we ended up at bar that's a on boat which is always a good time. Also... it's Aussie themed. They really like Aussie themed things here. I don't understand .... 

Rachelle, one of the Canadians 

Things I don't understand about the French Part 2

1. When you buy a pizza here, no matter what you order on top of the pizza, they always throw on some random black olives. Just why? Why would you do that to someone who just ordered a cheese pizza? And it's not like there's 5 or 6... it's like 2 or 3. 

2. They think they are being sarcastic, but actually they are just being mean. 

3. THEIR COVERAGE OF THE OLYMPICS ..... I'm sorry but who won a gold medal? Oh a Canadian? But please tell me all about the French guy in the same sport who got 15th. Like come on dude! Don't even get me started about the USA-Canada hockey game. I had to watch it online in RUSSIAN. Because they decided to show ice dancing. Which in my opinion is laaaaaaaame. 


4. Americans Speaking in France:
When I speak English:
"Why are you in France?" French Person
"I'm here as an aupair to teach English." Me
"But why is your French so bad?" Person
"Because I mostly speak English here." Me
"Why?" Person
"Because I was hired to speak English..." Me
"Something offensive in French." Person
"Dude I can still understand you." Me

When I speak French: (translated)
"Where are you from? Australia?" Frenchie
"Non, the states." Me
"Oh." Frenchie

5. They assume everyone who speaks English is from the same place. I've been asked SO many times if I am from Australia. I say "y'all" quite often... I don't say "mate" at all. Unless I'm pretending to be Australian. Yes I regularly quote Chris Lilley, but it's not my fault that he's hilarious. (He's the guy from Summer Heights High for those who didn't know that) 

6. They ski in fur coats. That just doesn't seem logical to me. 

7. When you are at a bar and ask for a "vodka soda" most places would give you a drink of vodka and club soda with a lime. Not sprite or lemonade with vodka. 

8. When they ask "Where in the states are you from?" the only acceptable answer for the state of Michigan is to say "Detroit." But you can't say it normally, you have to pronounce it "Day-twa." That's when they get really excited and say "Ohhh! 8 Mile! Ohh Eminem!" Actually once, they asked me how big the state of Detroit was, and then asked if I've ever been shot, and if I carry a gun with me. Do I assume you have a creepy mustache, a striped shirt, and stupid beret? No, I don't. 

9. They claim everyone else is arrogant, fat, dumb, I don't even know I'm pretty sure they make up things... but god forbid the French do anything wrong. Not that I would ever correct them, but that's how I feel .... haha 

10. They casually brushed it off when they found out their president had a mistress. If you so much as look at a woman in the states and you are a political figure you are considered to be cheating. Like come on people! How is that not even a little bit scandalous?