I need to go shopping

I currently have one Christmas present. One. This is possibly be the worst that I have ever done with my shopping. I usually love to buy gifts. The fun of finding the perfect present.. wrapping it up.. and seeing their face light up as they open it. This year, though, is an exception. John is going to be doing well to have 2 gifts under our baby tree from me.
Any one have ideas for motivation? Or ideas for a gift? Maybe I will just wrap up some stinky cheese. He would like that. :-)

Market

I know that Europe is famous for it's markets but for some reason I always believed that it was just vegetable markets. I was so wrong.
Today, I went to a Market in Antibes. (This is one of my favorite towns in France. Love it.) And let me tell you, there are no veggies for sale here. Everything but. I could have bought cashmere sweaters, pots and pans, quilts, bras, leather vests, makeup, radios, watches... you name it, those people were selling it. Amazing. And all CHEAP. Not just everything-else-is-so-expensive-this-looks-cheap kind of cheap. We are talking about dirt cheap. So much fun. I love a good bargain.
The best part of the market was not only seeing what they sold- but watching the vendors interact. One booth had sweaters- kind of cute ones- for 5 euro. That is almost unheard of in France. Needless to say, women were going crazy- grabbing, pushing, ripping open bags- crazy. All of a sudden, the vendor begins to yell, "MADAMES,MADAMES!! Oo la la!! S'il vous plait!!" So funny. And it did him absolutely no good. Two minutes later, on the other side of the market, I could here him yelling the exact same thing.
Ah well. While I didn't buy a 5 euro sweater, I did buy a cute one for 10!

Oh the joy of finding new friends....

Since moving here, John and I haven't exactly expanded our social circle and I still really don't have a lot to do during the day while he is at work. Because of this I decided last week to take decisive action. I posted a thread on an English forum here France asking for things to do during the day, explaining that I was an expat wife that couldn't work. And, just a couple of days later, I received a few messages from other girlfriends/wives in the area that also have nothing to do. Exciting! or so I thought...
My first meeting went well... rather horribly. Did you ever meet someone that was your complete opposite? Well, I have. Made for an interesting hour... Anything that she said, I thought the complete opposite. Anything I said, she, ah, adamantly disagreed. For example.. I said that Nice was the largest city I would ever want to live in, she said that Nice drove her crazy because it was so small. Later on, I said that we lived on the outside of Nice because it was better for John's commute. She responded that she didn't care how far her boyfriend had to drive to work, she had to live in the center of town. And on and on it went..
Don't worry there is a better ending to this story. On Friday I met with another girl who moved here from north England and is married. And, we actually got along. :-) hurray! I will keep you posted on any other developments.

Oh, I also got an offer to work on a boat and go scuba diving afterwards. Pretty sure I won't be taking him up on that one!! Yikes.

Getting in the Spirit!

What a great weekend! John and I have been bums for the past few weekends and it was driving me crazy. So, this weekend we stayed quite busy. First off, John got a hair cut. He really needed it- looked like he had a small animal growing on his head. (He looks like my hubby again now..) After his haircut, we headed into Nice for the Christmas market. It reminded me of all the craft fairs in the states around the holidays- only this one sold hot wine, beer, and lots of cheese. Oh the hot wine- so very tasty. I know, you are probably thinking that sounds disgusting, but don't knock it til you try it. John was also very impressed with the Christmas beer, which is saying a lot since most beer in France he, ah, hasn't thought very much of at all. After we wandered around the market, bought some Christmas ornaments and sausage, we headed out to buy our Christmas tree.



Honestly, we don't have room for a Christmas tree in our tiny apartment, but since we didn't have a tree last year in the states I had to have something Christmas-y in the apartment this year. At the garden center we just kept looking for the perfect tree and finally found him. "Nick" (after Saint Nick) the Christmas tree is about one foot tall, complete with tiny decorations including a homemade star and wine glass identifiers- perfect size for our tree. Now it feels like Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving.. almost

I love Thanksgiving. I love to cook for it.. and I love the food that is involved. Sweet potatoes, turkey, green beans,macaroni and cheese, Grandma's homemade rolls, pumpkin pie, pumpkin roll. Yum. There is just something about taking the time to prepare this meal for the people you love- I have inherited it. My mom is a big time believer in taking the time to cook, help, make for those she loves. She has definitely rubbed off on me in this area. I love to see someone's face light up or hear a "yum" when I make their favorite pie, cake, cookie, meal. (John gets lots of special treats due to this. ha!)
For Thanksgiving next week, John and I are going to work at having a traditional dinner. I even have pumpkin for pumpkin pie- for 4.25euro a can. Yes, that is a normal sized can of Libby's pumpkin. We have learned that sometimes it is worth it to splurge for those little bits of "home".
I am also going to make a pie for John to take to work. We will see what the French think of a good ol American pumpkin pie. They will probably all be surprised that it doesn't have a pound of sugar in it. (The French think we are all fatties who eat sugar nonstop. Ah well, some of us do I guess.)

Hope you all have a blessed week before Thanksgiving!

Oh the joy of modern convenience!

France is not really all that hip when it comes to the latest electronic conveniences. Well, maybe they have them, but they are about 2 times the price of what we would pay in the US. For example, microwaves in the U.S. are cheap. Really cheap. I think John and I paid about 40-50 dollars for the one that we had in Lexington. Here, the most basic, cheap-o, turn the dial to get the timer going microwave is at least 60euros. Because of this ridiculous expense, John and I have not had a microwave for the past 6 months. You would be amazed at how easy it is to live without one if you have to. Lucky for us, I found a used one in an online classified ad. Hurray! Back to the land of the living!

Snow in them there Hills

I know all of my readers in Tennessee will really enjoy that title. And, it is actually very fitting. We already have snow in the mountains behind Nice. I am a big fan of snowcream, snowmen, sledding, pretty much all things having to do with white fluffy stuff so living within 45 minutes of snow covered mountains is fantastic. Whenever we want to play- we can just drive into the mountains, play for a while, and then drive back down to our sunny palm trees. Not bad, not bad!
We are planning on taking a trip up there in the next few weeks, I will try to get some pictures up of Sadie playing- I am pretty sure she loves snow more than John and I put together.