Courrier

I was kind of excited to receive this in the post. A Christmas card from Dior?!? Alas, no. Just a rejection letter... for my interview back in October. Slight delay there.

Sequin Cat loves

Asian food. Otherwise known as: breakfast pancakes with salt and tabasco. Um.

Just a minute in December

Reading... all the time. At the breakfast table, on the bus, at dinner. Another seven books conquered this month (there's still time for more!) Really enjoyed 'On Beauty' by Zadie Smith.

Listening... to library-borrowed CDs after the death of my iPod. Sob.

Watching... the weeks fly by. I'll be back on Australian shores before I know it.

Buying... Christmas presents and a cat stamp.

Wanting... my iPod to work; more sleep.

Cooking.... delicious pasta. Watching others cook is even better.

Making... friends at work and plans for New Year's.

Loving... life


Post a link to your Just a Minute if you've also written a summary of the month that was.

Daily Outfit: Slow down

Things been a bit slow around here? Especially clothing wise? I blame it on the nine-to-five. Most days I'm wearing some combination of this under my coat before I change into costume:

Daily Outfit: Long day, longer night

Thanksgiving. Dinner date. Spoken Word. Adventures with Scandinavians.




A girl's got to be prepared.

Xmas Wishlist

Christmas Eve? Already?

No idea how that happened. Without further ado: my Christmas wishlist for 2009 (I've been very, very good...)

• A haircut! I think this'll have to wait till the weather's a bit warmer though


• My iPod to be resurrected from the grave


• A ticket to see Kasabian in Paris in February
  



• A new umbrella


• The Yes and Yes calendar, perhaps?



• A big bottle of rum. It's time to party.


• And maybe some perfume. I've been thinking about Viktor&Rolf Flowerbomb for a long time.
  

I wish you all a very merry Christmas and hope you share a fantastic day with your friends and family. Be seeing you soon for a book review for 2009!

The tree

Before it's too late:

Before

After

Wednesday Wrap-up

Oh dear! The clock's ticked over and it's now officially Thursday. Bear with me now, friends.

Can I summarise my week in picture form? Is that ok with you all?

Both orchestra rehearsal and concert went well. At our after-party I drank red wine and made Frenchies try vegemite. Later we played in the snow.

This stuff was the culprit for one of my very rare bad days. All the buses were cancelled and it took me three hours to get to work, instead of the usual half hour. I spent two hours waiting for buses that never came in a blizzard, slipped on black ice and bruised my thigh and broke my iPod. Good times.

Apparently this dude is coming to town.

Lunched with this baby on Sunday..

Jet-setting girlfriends on Monday...

and a colleague on Tuesday!

Lunch dates may just be my new favourite date!

Other greatness in my life has been skyping with sunny parents, receiving xmas gifts in the mail, finishing my shopping well in advance (easy to do when you've no family here!), working inside while it snowed outside (Sleeping Beauty's castle looked beautiful), tearing through stories, doing my "homework" of translating restaurant menus into English - not as easy as it looks!, delicious sleep-ins and decorating the Christmas tree on a cold night with festive music in the CD player.

Wishing you all a safe and happy festive season. I'll be spending my day with Mickey Mouse.

Daily Outfit: All dressed up with nowhere to go

I think I went to the library. Ho ho, my life is super exciting!

Egyptian food

with this man.





Wonderful.

Sequin Cat loves

What's even better is that it isn't even a Parisian numberplate. No, the hoods don't count.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

As mentioned, Paris got its first hit of snow today. What a day it was! I've never seen this much snow in my life (remembering I come from Australia).
It snowed ALL DAY.



Here are some quite average shots that I quickly snapped on the way to and from my job.

Matin

Soir

It looks to continue for the next three days. Think warm thoughts for me!

Wednesday Wrap-up

Ladies and Gentleman!

May I present to you: a pitiful excuse for a weekly summary.

It's 11.30 and I've had a veryyyyy long day in the cold with late dinner and overtime and orchestra rehearsal. My eyes are closing right here as I try to upload photos from the week that was.

If you check back tomorrow I'll make this a wonderfully enticing wrap-up and tell you all about my orchestra concert, asian feasting with friendies, adventures with my dad (all the way from Australia for 21 hours with his daughter), book destroying and Disneyland day out. Once again, seven days accompanied by a full-time work schedule.



Tonight though, bed. And maybe it'll snow overnight.

See you tomorrow, friends.

Bonjour! It's tomorrow now. We're travelling through the future...
So guess what? It did snow overnight. Rather a lot. And all throughout the day (the Disney Castle looked very handsome under all the snow!) But that's for another post.

SO: My orchestra concert on Wednesday night "rocked out", I nailed my solos and fell in love with the pianist's magic fingers. My lovely friends came to show their support.



Thursday night was a dinner date in the bourgeois 'hood and delicious Asian feasting. With a chinchilla. Awesome.




Meanwhile, back at the ranch... work work work. Earning euros.

And then it was the weekend! And I was one happy girl. My dad came all the way from Australia (over 24 hours of travel) to spend a grand total of 21 hours with his daughter. Now that's love. I picked him up from the airport on Saturday night wielding a sign with his name on it, copying the nearby chauffeurs. We checked into a rather nice hotel and then metroed to the Champs Elysées. Cosy little Christmas markets selling spiced wine, roast chestnuts and handmade chocolate. But our dinner destination was to be my old workplace which was rather festively decorated. It was great to see my former colleagues and introduce them to my dad. Unfortunately he was falling asleep at the table after sharing a bottle of red, so I took him back to the hotel where I had a blissful night's sleep thanks to the wonders of ear plugs.

First time for profiteroles...really

A sunny Sunday called for a wander through the Marché des Enfants Rouges and brunch at a nearby café. Then it was off and off, checking out and taking the train to my house for Sunday lunch. One delicious meal later and it was time to say goodbye. I cried a lot at the train station, let me tell you.


Did you want that much detail? No?

As for the rest of it, I've been tearing through books like there's no tomorrow: at the breakfast table, on the bus to work, in bed... My tastes vary widely (or more likely I'm just an indiscriminate reader). Finally, on my day off, I headed back to work for some Disney Christmas fun with friends. It was bitterly cold but Mickey and Minnie warmed our spirits (I won't say anything about Goofy).

Teacup fun.

True love.

There. I've got it all out of my system. Now wasn't it worth the wait?

Smells like...

At the moment I'm using:

Vanilla deodorant

and

Cocoa moisturiser

so consequently:

I smell like a cupcake all day.

Sequin Cat loves

Staff discount at Eurodisney!

I haven't been myself lately.

I went to the bank not once, but twice this week to deposit my pay cheque and only realised it wasn't in my bag when I was at the front of the queue. Normally I achieve errands sans problem and give myself a little pat on the back for being organised and putting the cheque in my handbag in advance. Third time we got lucky though.

This evening, upon waking from my post-work nap (love!) I wasn't in the least bit hungry. Usually I am ravenous after my naps!


These might not seem like much to you, but for me these little exceptions have really spun me out.


I may not be posting much this weekend because my Dad's in town for a whirlwind visit. Hurray!

Daily Outfit: Job training

Not in costume today.


Loving this military jacket that I picked up from the Red Cross the other day.

No, I don't speak Spanish...

but I'll do my best to help you when you speak it to me anyway.


Off to wash my hair. Tonight's concert was a success! I banged those rocks good.

Wednesday Wrap-up

Well well Wednesday. How nice to see you again.

This week was all about planning for my end of year orchestra concerts (awesome!) and planning the next few weeks and months to come. I've been cranking out the usual 35 hour week, and fitting in a social life on top of that.

Saturday night was delicious pumpkin soup at a friend's apartment then a party in an antique store after a bottle of vodka. New friends and new near death experiences (Velib' in heels..)

You say gross? I say nom nom

My days off were otherwise very productive and I crossed a lot off my to-do lists. I also smashed some books (get ready for my literary summary of 2009!)

I really enjoy cooking a nice meal for myself with some music playing. Just moi, home alone, with a novel for company.

Gosh I love being silly.

I've also started my Christmas shopping! By that, I mean: started buying presents for myself.

Gosh things are really great at the moment! I was able to make it to the library during the week so now I have new things to listen to and read. Yes! Hope you're feeling similarly joyous while it's raining outside.

Daily Outfit: Work special

I'm so excited about the uniform I have to wear for work!




The colour scheme even matches my style.

No, my name's not Marie.

New film

Oh France, you've done it again.

Daily Outfit: Cigars and champagne

Riding bikes, sweaty dancefloors, cigars, champagne, sushi and vodka in bed.





Don't mind the chocha shot; I was trying to show you my shoes.

My brain

Sorry I haven't been posting lately. Yknow how it is.

Daily Outfit: For internal use only

An outfit that didn't leave the house and definitely shouldn't be on the internet.