Her Life is a WIP

Am still deeply immersed in that time-consuming, sleep-depriving stage when I want to inhale every piece of media related to Renner ever known to fangirl. So far The Bourne Legacy has been seen a couple of times (ok, so it was three times, so what?). Avengers was watched again (I don't think I'll ever not get bored when watching it but at least I have one more character I enjoy seeing, so it makes things less painful) and then we moved onto Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (thanks go to those enthusiastic commenters who made me download the film). I need to get my hands on The Hurt Locker now, even though I know it will be a different kind of experience.

Watching the films also means I've been forced to basically go live over at AO3 the past week - and lose some sleep but, hey, a fangirl gotta do etc. I started with TBL fandom which didn't really deliver. Then moved onto the Avengers fandom which delivered a bit too much? lol SO MANY FIC omg! I have so many Clint-fic (ha, I wrote clit-fic - I'm sure it'd be a lot of fun too!) tabbed and still so many more to tab, it's almost a bit intimidating. So I took a break and decided to visit the MI:GP fandom. Over there, I found enough fic to satisfy my craving without feeling like I was about to be crushed. So I'm busy reading Ethan/Will slash atm.

And let's not forget the interviews! I now know all about how Renner Should Never Be Trusted to Babysit Your Kid and I've laughed myself silly at his Resting Face story (around the 06:00 mark). Then there was the whole Let's streeetch bitches story. Also, did you know, whenever Renner is nervous he does some lunges and sometimes? He pops a couple holes in his pants! Which, incidentally, made the little bit of intel shared by Tom Cruise about the Renner Stretch all the cuter ♥

Though, wait, to prove that I can talk about something else than Renner. I didn't mention bringing my goddaughter to the cinema For The First Time, did I? Sis, Cookie and I did that on tuesday night as there was a Cinderella (Disney) night in a gorgeous theater in Paris. We brought Chiara there and oh, man, it was such a sweet, lovely moment! She was awed at Everything and enjoyed herself so much (even though she knew the film by heart). We had a lot of fun ourselves, admittedly, it had been ages since I last saw Cinderella. And it was made even sweeter to see it with Chiara :-)

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 :-)

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.

I've downloaded the multifandom Celebrate, cause that's all I know video when I saw it on my flist a couple of days ago but I've only just now watched it and aww, it's such a great vid!! Makes you want to dance and sing along and cheer whenever you see one of your favourite shows pop up on the screen; 100% happy making.

It also reminded me that I was behind way too many shows at the moment *has shame* But we'll be on holiday in two weeks, we'll totally make up for it! Miss G and I have already planned an SPN marathon on the first day of our vacation, so go us \o/ And tonight we'll catch up on Merlin. Community, The Vampire Diaries and The Walking Dead will have to wait, I'm afraid, but we haven't forgotten about them.

Onto RL. First Big Top weekend went well. In between two shows on Saturday, I had lunch right next to Santa Claus. I'm sure he was just taking a break to say hello to the kids in the audience before going back to the North Pole, though. Children around the world needn't worry, I'm making sure the big guy doesn't get too distracted by his activities on the side ;-)

Speaking of Christmas; yesterday was my BIL's birthday so we celebrated it at The Esu's and my goddaughter made.me.melt (yes, more than usual, shut up) when I had her in my arms and she started singing Petit Papa Noël (maybe the most popular Christmas song in France?) to me, her little head on my shoulder. Omg, if I could just bottle up those moments, I would ♥

Hello from Choisy-le-Roi *waves less enthusiastically than before* Irish trip over, I'm back home. And very sad not to be in Ireland any longer but a) all good things come to an end and b) if I want to go back there one day, I needed to leave, so.

I got home around 6.45 PM and I had no electricity! When I managed to get it back, I tried to switch Dean on and it didn't want to start! Talk about a welcome home *pout* But everything is back to normal now, so all's good!

I wanted to share some of the photos I couldn't the other day; ( here be photos of Galway, Inis Mor, Connemara, Kylemore Abbey )

And omg! Complete change of subject but I kept in touch with the family and other assorted friends during my trip via phone calls and text messages and whatnot, and my goddaughter walks! We knew it was coming, mind, and I did ask her to wait for me to be back from Ireland before taking her real first steps, but do kids listen to you? Of course not! So she started walking (well, toddling I guess would be a more accurate word) last week. It's the cutest thing EVER. I'm seeing her tomorrow and I just cannot wait! *bounces*

Ok, now, off to download all the pics and videos of Panic and MyChem that I couldn't when I was away.

PS: Hey, LJ's location thingie doesn't really work that well! Ivry is where my sister lives not me! You big liar.

For the past four days I was away in Normandie and I did nothing but rest, read, rest some more, walk along the beach, stroll in little towns, sit on the beach, read again, eat a lot, and spend time with my family. Definitely my kind of vacation.

In case some people need visuals; this is ( where I spent most of my time )

( With some visiting, like Caen, for instance )

( But, well, yeah, basically I was always here )

Then yesterday morning, before leaving for Choisy, we got a call telling us someone had broken into my parents' office - which, wow, they so didn't need that - and then when I arrived in Choisy, I received another call telling me my goddaughter was in the hospital!

Cue chills running down my spine. Turns out Chiara had a very strong allergic reaction to the new milk she was given and, well, things got scary very quickly. Sis kept her cool and did everything she was supposed to but she got the scare of her life. The paramedics helped Little Bit right away and everything was back under control soon, but the hospital preferred to keep her overnight. I had my sister on the phone early this morning and Chiara was just fine, sleeping like, well, a baby :-) They'll bring her back home later in the day. All ends well, we'll just have to be careful about the milk and other milk related products for some time, and hope we won't get a repeat performance.

I have no idea what was up with yesterday, but there was something in the air, apparently.

After four days away I'm skip=24122 so I'm not sure I'll be brave enough to tackle the flist, I have to admit. I'll definitely hunt down the fics - hail to newsletter - but for the rest, I don't know *is a wuss*

You'd think working in the family business - minus the saving people and hunting things part; as far as we're concerned, it'd be more like 'calling people, selling things', slightly less exciting maybe, though much safer - so you'd thinking working here would allow me a day off on a Certain Day, right? Well, no! How outrageous! And I won't even have the permission to leaver earlier than 6.00 PM either! Such a cruel world I live in, really!

Cruel but also fun, let's be honest. This morning, one of the estimates I sent included the renting of a camel. A real, living, breathing camel. And we received earlier a box containing many candies and other assorted chocolates as a sample for when we'll propose them to our clients. In case you were wondering, they're yummy :-)

And this has nothing to do with candies, except that the characters were extremely sweet and interesting and all kinds of awesome but the Temeraire fans among you will be happy to know that I totally share the love. The past month I've gone through a phase where I just stopped reading - and for no reason because I absolutely adored His Majesty's Dragon as soon as I started it - but I went back to it yesterday and just devoured it.

I have so much love for Laurence and Temeraire! And not just them but also for Harcourt and Lily and Berkley and Maximus and little Roland and many others... Also ( spoilers )

I'll get my hands on the rest of the series asap! The book I'm reading now is a book I very recently purchased and what made me smile is that I apparently managed to find the only queer book in the whole bookshop, completely by accident, too: the owner was impressed. I was as well :-) Though I told him I had a sort of gaydar for books so it wasn't that surprising.

Okay now, break over, let's go back to the grid.

Though, wait. Anyone noticed how I didn't mention Chiara once in my entry? And how I didn't talk about the fact that my sister and her went back home this morning? I won't even say that my BIL sounded so extremely moved at having her in the house, in her bedroom... he said that the room really became alive when they introduced her to it, that it all made sense somehow, now. Man, he says the loveliest things ♥

I realised it had been some time since I last checked my mailbox so I finally did, and it's a good thing, too, as I found three cards waiting for me. Thanks to strippedhalo, stacy_l and sockich for the pretty and cute cards. Kaja, what you said really touched me, thank you *hugs*

I got my last xmas present yesterday; Sandra offered me a book I've been coveting ever since I saw it at Gibert Joseph, namely Les Années Dorothée.

Apparently the book is a hit as poor Sandra had the hardest time finding it in the stores she visited; they were always out of stock. It doesn't surprise me as such. I mean, a book on the Club Dorothée ! Had to be a hit ;-) It's basically the most famous kid program in France from the 80s to the 90s; I totally grew up with it. Actually the book is much more than just a book on the Club Dorothée; it's more about the whole period around it.

Anyway, it's awesome and I love it to pieces. I told Sandra that my sister would try to steal it from me as soon as she'd learn that I got it for Christmas and, as it happens, my book is safe because guess what she bought today? Yes, the one and only. Thought it was funny. Obviously expected, but funny all the same.

Speaking of my sister; her pregnancy is starting to really show and she's starting to really look like a pregnant woman and, dude, it's all kinds of exciting. Watching her profile has become my favourite hobby of the moment lol

100% unrelated now; there're two vids that The Extended Esu - meaning The Esu + my cousins - and I have been obsessed with lately and I wanted to share because they totally crack me up. In a 'it's realy cool' kinda way as a) the idea is pretty clever and b) the result is cleverly done too.

( Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Daft Hands )

( Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Daft Bodies )

I have no idea what constitutes good 'view' average on YT but the first vid has been viewed 11,380,660 times and the second one 1,044,008 times. Also, I don't know about the second vid but I saw the first one on the telly a couple of times.

Two Starbucks in two days; I like that. And it's a good thing I had my cheesecake yesterday because I was so stuffed today that I could only get myself a hot drink. It's always a sad state of affair when the Mouse one can't eat cheesecake *nods solemnly*

Hey, I did mention that, apart from work which is annoying me, everything else was Just Fine in my life? Well, it's more than fine even because, guess what? My sister... is pregnant! I repeat, Aurélia is pregnant! *is still in awe of the news*

We've known for a little while but were waiting to officially make the announcement. And we finally can say it!

How did she tell us? She bought a little baby thing for each of us - Henry, ie the Future Dad, the parental unit, my godfather & aunt and me, obviously - and gave it to us, leaving us to squee and cry a little from sheer joy, we're a sensitive bunch, what can I say?.

( Here what she gave me )

Saying we're overjoyed would be the understatement of the century, as you can imagine :-) I'm already making a list of all the things I wanna buy and then thinking of the first sonograms and just, God! A baby! In my little sister's body! Wow.

And speaking of family, it's been some time since I played over at teh_everyday so here's my new contribution, family related.

( Favourite possessions - plural instead of singular but whatever )

Sadly, I don't have anything left from my paternal grandmother but I haven't lost hope that I I will one of these days *nods*

PS: Note to self, don't forget to set back the clocks tonight/tomorrow!

ETA: Dude! There's Le Jeu des Damnés Devour on NRJ12! Devour! On my telly!