Her Life is a WIP

I had two eventful days, people. In the most beautiful way, though, as we have a new member in our family as of yesterday!

Killian, my brand new nephew (son of one of my closest cousins), was born yesterday morning at 11h16, precisely ;) Everyone was pretty excited, as you can imagine, and last night actually kinda felt like Christmas as the whole family gathered at my parents' (barring the new mom and baby Killian, obviously) to celebrate. It was such a joyful evening ♥

I couldn't wait to meet him, which was done this afternoon (after a lovely brunch with a couple of friends. I love me some brunch!). He is absolutely tiny and gorgeous and tiny and just so new, I'm always in awe of a newborn's "newness", know what I mean?

It's exciting to know we'll have three kids at Christmas this year instead of two :) Incidentally, my nieces were very excited about this new cousin of theirs, I can't wait for them to grow up together ♥

On the fannish side of things. Cookie is working tonight and I'm not (obviously) so I'm having a night on my lonesome. I treated myself with the latest two episodes of POI; ( can't write a review yet but just one spoilery comment ) and now I'm in front of France4, the network that airs Doctor Who.

They're doing a DW Special tonight, which makes me very happy, as you can imagine :) They're airing "The Name of the Doctor" as I type before broadcasting, like many other countries, "The Day of the Doctor". I am so excited at the idea that I'll be sharing the experience with many, many other fans around the world! Worldwide broadcasts are love ♥

Flist, what is better than a four-day weekend? Ok, I know, a five-day weekend or a whole week etc. I concede the point. But two days off work following a weekend is pretty nifty, too :-) I love the month of May in France ♥ I've had a busy time; I had a lovely sleep-over at my BFF on Friday night, I spent most of Saturday with her. Sunday morning was studious as I worked till 3.00PM; After that it was time to go vote before heading to my parents' where The Esu and Cookie - who was at her mother's before that - joined us. My nieces are growing so fast, it's insane! I can't believe Chiara will be 4 next month and that, in two months, Emma will be 1. Where does time go?? Emma isn't walking yet - so far I'm the one holding the record in the family \o/ - but it's clear it won't take her too long to do it and she loves it when you hold her by the hands and have her "walk" around, her little legs can't go fast enough, it's the cutest thing #SmittenAuntie

Oh, snailbones? I took a pic and thought I'd dedicate it to you. ( Look, now you're getting a new pic of my foot as well as my niece's - aren't you glad? )

That was our weekend. This morning I studied some more and we'd planned on going to Paris in the afternoon to a shop that customises t-shirts, but Cookie wasn't feeling well then I turned into a zombie and fell asleep on the couch and in the end we stayed home.

We'll make sure to have our t-shirts for the Parisian Pride, though. I've been wanting one for years and since we'll be going to Pride in June, this year is the year when we'll make it happen. I've decided to be both LGBT'y and fannish as I'll be wearing a white shirt with "Likes Girls" written on it à la Glee :-) I'm also thinking of adding a quote at the back, with maybe a rainbow above it. The quote would say "Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth". It's from the Bible and, Idk, isn't it fitting? If I do it, I was thinking of adding it at the bottom of the shirt, at the back, so that it's actually more for me to know it's there than anything... Anyway, I'm undecided, we'll see :-)

ETA: Hmm, I saw a tweet just now that might have changed my mind. Now I'm thinking of a shirt with "Likes Girls" on the front, no change here, but NO8 on the back. Shorter and to the point. Well, I have till I'm in the shop to decide, I guess.

Anyway! Completely unrelated but I'm a bit excited because I found out that Henry Jenkins will be doing a lecture in Paris in May and I'm really hoping I'll go. I might have squeed a little when I saw, especially as I've been using his work a lot when writing my papers for my sociology of media class, so to be able to attend one of his lectures would be like meeting a BNF \o/

Hope everyone who celebrate had a wonderful Christmas *hugs*

Christmas Eve (the 24th is when when we celebrate Christmas here) was fantastic. It was spent at my sister's with the usual suspects and two new family members, namely Cookie, who was with us for the first time and my niece Emma who was spending her very first Christmas, period ♥

We did our traditional team cooking and "created" new appetisers, the entrée was a novelty as well, the idea came from my aunt who suggested we tried a crème brulée au fois gras - it was very different and very delicious. Our main dish was roe deer with, as it happens, no side dish as my mom thought that my aunt was bringing the vegetables and my aunt thought it was my mom lol But turns out it wasn't such a bad thing because we had salad with the meat and the meal ended lighter than it would have been, which was of the good. Especially as it meant we could get at the cheese part of said meal without feeling like we were on the verge of exploding and, even more importantly maybe, that when it was time to savour the assorted desserts, traditional bûche de Noël/yule log + ice cream'ed yule log + almond paste + macarons + the traditional clementines, we could basically take a piece of each :-)

While waiting for midnight, ie for Santa to come and deliver his presents, we played crazy dart and passionate Trivial Pursuit games - I dare say it was epic! Then midnight rang and we woke up my goddaughter - who was, as you can imagine, Extremely Excited all day - and aww her little face when she saw the presents under the tree and she realised that Santa had come ♥ ♥ We distributed the presents among us all and then just looked at her opening hers - like the crazy stalkers we all are lol She kept squeeing and telling us what toy Santa had brought her and then displaying it for all of us to see. Sis filmed the whole scene, to which I say, I love technology!

After everyone had squeed over their own presents, my BIL suggested we played some Wii and omg! We just couldn't stop afterwards lol Those Just Dance games are so addictive. And so hilarious when playing in multiple players mode. Also, dude, we totally burnt some of the calories we'd ingested that same evening ;-)

Anyway, it was awesome. We went to bed around 4.00AM only to get up at 9.00AM because Cookie and I were doing the second part of the celebrations at the in-laws', ie at Cookie's mother's place, with her brother and cousin. Which, the calories I burnt when playing Just Dance? Were absorbed again thanks to the raclette we ate. And the crêpes that followed said raclette. Well, one of the gifts that Cookie's mother received was a crêpe maker, we had no choice but to christen it, right? Right!

After that, we headed back to Choisy where we spent the evening at my parents' and ate our third Christmas meal of the weekend and, to my delight, there were snails on the menu this time. Score!

And now it's past 10.00PM, we're back home, listening to some Christmas songs and waiting for the DW Christmas special to download so that we can end our Christmas weekend as any DW fans should :-)

The weather is depressing this week; it's hot and sunny! I'm sorry but this is not on! It's almost October, I want to start wearing my autumn scarf and my autumn mittens! They're looking at me all sad and wondering what the hell is going on! I sympathise, scarf and mittens, I wish we could go out together again! #LongsForCrispWeather I'll use my favourite autumn icon to protest against the whole thing *nods*

Something else that is depressing - ok, not so much 'depressing' as it is annoying - is the whole university enrolling process. Is it a nightmare in every university in the world? Or is just in France? Or maybe just in Paris? I was hoping for some answers today but nothing, nada, rien. Complete radio silence. And you'll see that once they answer me, it'll be to tell me I'm past the deadline! This is so frustrating. I don't know why it has to be so complicated *sigh*

Anyway. Last week was quite hectic but this weekend was a bit more restful. Lots of family time - couscous Saturday evening with the parents and two of my cousins, then homemade lasagna on Sunday - my dad makes delicious lasagna - and the same cousins plus The Esu plus an aunt and an uncle. Quiet and relaxing. Ok maybe not so quiet, there were twelve of us, but definitely relaxing anyway and just lovely. My goddaughter is a riot and my niece is growing up so fast ♥

I also went to see Warrior on Saturday and I had a blast. The film was nothing like what I expected, which is good as I wasn't really expecting anything, I guess? Just to be entertained and see Tom Hardy be awesome and kickass on screen. So no surprise here, he was fantastic and kickass, yes, but he was also heartbreaking and so moving! I loved the whole cast. Well, the whole film gave me ALL THE FEELINGS. There, I think that should sum it up nicely :-) I'll definitely buy the DVD when it comes out. In the meantime, though, if someone has a link to donwnload it, I'm all ears! Tia.

Work is deader than dead today - I knew it wouldn't be particularly busy (Friday after bank holiday? In July, even? Slim chance of that) but I thought a couple of my co-workers would be there, except it's past 10.00AM and I'm still the only one present so maybe they took the day off, after all. I wish I hadn't given mine back, btw, but there you go. At least it's all quiet.

Speaking of bank holiday, I had a lovely day. Very relaxing. We slept in, I lazed around in bed while Cookie watched the Défilé - our traditional military parade - and then we went our separate ways; she met with her mates to see HP7 and I spent the afternoon at my sister's. Emma is - so far, at least - a quiet baby and Chiara seems completely smitten with her, it's the cutest thing. We had waffles and Nutella for our little afternoon tea, I talked with my sister, played with my goddaughter, hold my niece, it was just very relaxing :-)

Back to the Défilé. Every year, an army is invited as "guest star". This year, it was the Overseas Territories, and the French Polynesia troop made quite an impression, especially when they performed the Haka. In case you'd like to see it, it's here. Oh, and someone posted the the fireworks under the Eiffel Tower in its entirety; the theme was musicals.

Fannish wise, we're caught up on both White Collar and True Blood. I really enjoyed both episodes, ( White Collar first ). And then ( onto True Blood ) [ETA: Damn. I apparently screwed up the cut for TB and I only just noticed, sorry!]

Apart from that, I've downloaded the premiere of Falling Skies and Alphas. I'm not expecting much of either of them, much less Alphas - an American show about superheroes? Chances are it won't be Misfits - but I never expect much of Summer shows except for them to pass the time, so. Besides, I have White Collar and True Blood for the good stuff. No, wait, there's another show I'd like to give a go that seemed cool, Franklin & Bash. Just need to find a download.

You're warned :-) I had the best evening yesterday for my birthday. As per tradition we celebrated it at my parents' with The Esu. Cookie and I had done the groceries the day before and we cooked together (me in my mother's apron, which must be even older than I am lol). My goddaughter was excited as hell all evening, she was a riot, telling me there were "LOTS OF PRESENTS FOR YOU, Marraine" (marraine = godmother) every ten minutes, with some "but you don't know what it is because it's a secret, shh" thrown in. She would break into songs every ten minutes "Joyeux Anniversaire, Marraine!" and I melted every.single.time.omg! ♥ ♥

Then it was time to eat and she was all "now we give Marraine her presents?" She asked at the appetizers, again when the entrée came and when it was the main dish - she just couldn't wait lol When it was time for the cake AND ALL THE PRESENTS she sang again, louder, with everyone and just squealed while running like the wind to bring me the presents, one by one, and squealed some more when she realised there was one more to hand me. It was just the sweetest thing seeing her so excited like that. Then she helped me blow the candles and, of course, open the presents. She was flushed from excitement and she was concentrating so hard when opening said presents. Three-years-olds are a just a hoot.

Anyway, that was just another fantastic evening spent with the family :-) And I was spoilt rotten omg!! Chiara wasn't the only who felt like squealing when the presents were brought lol The Esu got me the Karaoke Revolution Glee Wii game (heee!), my parents an external hard drive and the cutest (and most practical) picnic basket - just like in the films! It's gorgeous. And Cookie got me many things; A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin (which she offered me in the morning, she couldn't wait go give it to me actually, it was fun to see lol), Adele's 21 CD and Law & Order:UK series 1 & 2. Spoilt.rotten, I'm telling you ♥ ♥

Of course there were also the many LJ messages, FB notifications, mails, texts and phone calls - so thank you all again for the bday wishes :-) Checking one's messages on one's birthday is always a joy *hugs*

As for the rest of the weekend, we'll keep with the Family theme. It's Mother's Day tomorrow in France; we'll celebrate it today with Cookie's mother, then tomorrow we'll have lunch with my parents and in the afternoon we'll follow with my goddaughter's birthday party at The Esu's. This weekend is family all the time, celebrations all the time. What's not to love, right?

Hope you'll have a great weekend, too, flist.

The Walking Dead 1x02 has been watched tonight. I could have done it yesterday except that Miss G wasn't home and she forbade me to watch it without her. Apparently, it amuses her a lot to see me freak out and squeal in fright and hide behind pillows. As it happens, the second episode was slightly less stressful than the premiere was. Not that it wasn't as good, though, but I almost didn't hid behind aforementioned pillows (or hands) at all. Take that, Mocking Miss G!

After that, some more Merlin it was. Back to series 2 for tonight, because chronological order is so overrated! [It's the very last scene of "Lady of the Lake" and awwww, such a sweet moment! ♥]

Changing the subject; I've had a very satisfactory day at work today. I've felt very accomplished. Also very grateful to fandom. Turns out I had to do some HTML tweaking for one of my projects and the only reason why I decided to learn some basic HTML Back in the Day was because of my fics and Geocities. So thank you fandom and then later LJ for making me learn something that is now useful in my job. Actually, I'm glad I'm the kind of geek who got interested in blogs and social networks of different persuasions because that's also something that I now use for professional reasons. It actually amuses my parents to no end "So your hobbies are now part of your job? Who'd have thought?" Not me, dude. But I'm definitely not complaining!

Oh! And speaking of the parental unit. My dad managed to get four free tickets for Bharati thanks to a guy he knows. I'm absolutely thrilled because we've been wanting to bring my mother to that show for the longest time and we're finally going to do it \o/

On Friday, a quiet evening was had at home with Cookie, where baking was done for her not!birthday on Saturday. I refuse to call the little party we had at my place her birthday party because the actual date of her birth is on the 29th, which is not the 27th by any means, and since celebrating a birthday early is Wrong, I cannot, in good conscience, call it a bday party. Except she didn't care, apparently? And went as far as laughing in the face of my superstitions. Oh, Cookie, why so cruel?!

Saturday morning was quite domestic too as more cooking was done, as well as some heavy cleaning - windows opened to let the warmth of outside get in the flat and Panic singing in the background, and, I don't know, sometimes, domesticity makes me feel so good inside.

The whole day was pretty fantastic - then again, what time spent with fanpeople isn't? I knew half the guests and got to meet Cookie's other group of friends and they're a funny and witty and lovely crowd. Twas awesome finally meeting them :-)

They all left early evening and Cookie and I were left with enough to feed an army - I'm not even kidding. I don't think I've ever seen so much food in my kitchen. My poor fridge must have been a bit freaked out, it's not exactly used to being filled like that.

Which, btw, how come you always cook, bake and bring too much food in events like that? Is there a law somewhere that states that when you organise that kind of festivities you have to have triple the food you'd actually need? I'm baffled. Our poor, uneaten compound salad! It made me so sad, dude. But it was, like, epic? Even after begging bribing forcing asking the girls (+1 boy) to try it and them being nice enough to humour us, there was just too much of it left.

As for today, I spent the afternoon at the parental unit's and lazed around and sunbathed and it was all quiet and nice ♥ ♥ Even got to see The Esu and Chiara on my way home as they were paying their own little visit to the parents.

And now, I've just (re)watched Panic's Live in Chicago and I feel all squeeful because that's just what those guys do to me. Fill me with glee :-) There're many parts I love but there's this one with Zach that never fails to make me laugh: when he's all "Does anyone know where Brendon is?" right before their first show. I suppose losing one Brendon Urie right before a show would be a bit of problem. Oh, Zach ♥

Played Wii all afternoon yesterday with Mom and Sis, it was awesome! So much fun, but also? Tiring! After a couple of hours it felt as if I'd gone through an intensive session at the gym - well, intensive for me, maybe, I don't know :-p And today, my left arm hurts like hell, that thing is dangerous! My sister warned me this would happen but as it was my very first time playing with a wii, I thought she was just joking. Guess she wasn't? I really can't wait to get my own wii, now *bounces*

I had a very lazy morning today and watched the new Supernatural, which I really enjoyed! My one complaint though? ( Spoilers for 4x12, obviously - of the kinky kind )

Oh, I also liked how TPTB were all ( another spoiler ) Sometimes TPTB are funny in the way they deal with things.

Having said that, I did enjoy - with no sarcasm involved - ( that spoilery moment ) ( As well as the ending )

I feel so incredibly lazy, you guys! I think I'm gonna have a Me day. Feels like it's been forever since I had one of those. So I might stay home all day and just catch up with the flist, read fics and keep on reading Assassin's Apprentice, which I finally started the other day. I understand greedy_dancer and moimoietmoi's love for it now, it's a compelling read!

ETA: Cravings are so awful! So I'm watching Sex and the City, the movie, and Carrie keeps going to Starbucks and suddenly I have this craving for a slice of cheesecake + grande white mocha! And I'm just way too lazy today to go there on my own *sadface*

From what I could see on the flist, looks like many of you had a lovely Christmas. I did too :-)We had a great time with the cooking first - homemade appetizers, foie gras, stoked salmon, then stuffed capon with veggies to go with it. Cheese and salad and then the bûche/Christmas cake to end it all. We all took turns in the kitchen, as usual, and my godfather and cousin Rémi were quite inspired when they dressed the foie gras plates - ( look for yourselves, doesn't it look pretty and very cute? )

We savoured our dinner and when midnight struck it was time to open our presents. We were all spoiled: doubly in my case as I had gifts from the whole family, of course - Kaamelott Livre V! Pushing Daisies! A Starbucks mug! Duma Key etc. - but also from yami_tai, aswanargent and angeliksmall, so THANK YOU to the three of you again for the wonderful pressies. I'll have a nice book to read thanks to Tai and the shawl I got from Karen is absolutely gorgeous! So warm and cozy and just too pretty for words! And, Cookie got me Merlin, dude! That is, the DVDs, we all know Merlin belongs to Arthur :-)

So, anyway, Christmas was awesome. Also, Julien's reaction when he read my sister's card telling him Henry and her wanted him as a godfather for Chiara's? Was even better than expected! He started with a heartfelt 'hell yes' before reading the card to us and then he started to choke up and he cried. Next thing you know, my aunt and mother and cousin Emilie and sister and I were all crying. So we're a bunch of saps, so sue us! We were all so happy for him because we knew he really wanted to be Chiara's godfather... that was just lovely. Afterwards we kept calling each other marraine and parrain because we're not just saps but dorks as well.

Of course each time I called Julien parrain, my own godfather would be 'yes?' and I would be like, no I was talking to Juju. Fun times! lol

I slept at my parents' with the rest of the family and we all had a lazy Thursday together. Then I got back home and lazied some more. One needs peace and quiet to wind down from the Christmas high, you know?

Oh! And on Thursday we ate the Christmas pudding yami_tai had offered my parents when she came last month and they liked it, Mom especially. I can't say the same, but I was happy someone got to appreciate the English food lol So thanks, Tai :-)

And apparently I'll keep with the lazying today as the two friends I was supposed to meet bailed out. So I'll stay home and watch the Doctor Who Christmas special instead *nods*