Love Interruption.

I am interrupting the somewhat steady flow of journal entries from France to share with everyone the picture taken of Mark and I at the Vancouver Aquarium this past Saturday. We were, in fact, celebrating 1 YEAR of hand holding, ear whispering, laughing, learning, letter writing, picking at each other's skin, flying around the country, and being around one another in general. What better way to do that then to stand in awe in front of a huge jelly fish tank together? Or watch a beluga shake it? The frontal part of his melon head, I mean. There is no better way. No better way ever, so don't even try make suggestions, ok? Since Mark got in for nearly free with his WestJet tags, we opted to splurge for the overpriced photo of us taken in the entry. Please note the invisibility of Mark's jacket. Just one of the many reasons why he is just oh-so-datable. His mustache doesn't hurt either.

(click photo to enlarge, and zoom even further to get a close up of the mustache)

More journal entries to come.

France Journal Part II: For the love of tape.

Hello friends,

Here are some more pages out of THE JOURNAL.

I fell in love with creating little pockets in this journal, its so handy, right? The first thing I bought in France was a roll of tape - I remember asking in a store 'Je cherche pour un roll d'adhesif... pour attacher quelquechose de quelquechose d'autre?' No luck. Eventually I located some, and I felt smug each time I found a new use for it, like I didn't know what I would have done without it. In fact, here is an extract from the written part of my journal where I speak of it:

"I love the tape I bought. A little too much. HAPPY. I use it at every possible moment. My journal was torn a little on the bottom - 'Oh, I know, TAPE!' and I felt so relieved afterwards, like I absolutely don't know what I'd do if I couldn't fix it straight away with my scotch tape. Such smug satisfaction. I'll tape YOU up!'

Didn't think someone could have such strong feelings towards tape? Think AGAIN.

This particular pocket holds an abundance of tickets from the trip. You can see them laid out for you below. Mostly they are tickets for the metro, train, or whatnot, but also from museums, cheese factories, etc. On the right, the receipt from my first cup of espresso, drank in the Gare de Lyon train station while waiting for Beth Ashton to arrive. Later I moved outside under the clock, to wait for her, and read. Unfortunately, it really smelled like urine out there though and I was leery to sit on the ground, although I eventually did because my legs were tired and I sit on the pee steps at Atangard all the time. So no biggie. The picture of Beth is from an underground photo machine that we needed for the metro cards we proudly purchased. I will post them later. ANTICIPATION.

(Don't forget that you can click images to make 'em larger & and you can even zoom in after that. Whoa)

Back! Me. I'm back. On ma blog.

Hello Blog-land! I've decided to announce my return to this place, perhaps to make it a little happier of a space to stumble across on the inter-web. I thought, what better way to do this then to remember and share a little bit from my trip to France this past summer? And then we'll take it from there. We will indeed, TAKE IT FROM THERE.

Here is, in no particular order, a spread from my journal that I kept and wrote in and taped in (my favorite) whilst trouncing about the countryside, sleeping on trains, sleeping in parks, sleeping in cafés, playing crib and seeing beautiful sights. Maybe I will sprinkle in a photo or two as well. YAY.

Without any further adieu, the first couple pages for your viewing pleasure.

dang girl. that's tiny. that's what you're thinking. right?

JUST CLICK THAT! just click it.

On the left is a comprehensive list of 'The Things Camille Hates' (written in French, because I'm awesome) you'll notice that I am number three on this list, but that's just how we joke okay? You shouldn't be worried about it. Also, just in case you didn't know, Camille is who we visited in the south. She is a lovely girl, who evidently, would hate to marry royalty.

On the bottom of that same page is the sketchy calender that I created and we relied on heavily for booking trains, catching planes, etc. Wise. On the right page is segments from the map we used the entire time in Paris to navigate the Metro. Beth and I both grew to love this map, and sometimes there would be subtle tensions between us if someone was controlling the map on a particular day (Note: I may have been the only one feeling this tension. Also, I was the one usually holding the map. So maybe I had separation anxiety. I usually skulked my way into holding it again)

Anyways. School is calling, so I'll end it there!

Until next time.