Her Life is a WIP

Beginning of the week is a bit difficult at work mainly due to repetitive and boring tasks (thankfully it should only last till Thursday and I'll be back to my regular schedule afterwards) but at least I had a lovely weekend and I discovered a new show, so there's that ;)

I went to Tours for a little FP weekend where we followed our regular schedule. Basically, our weekends there mean shopping, food and tv watching. I think the main theme is "chill"; it's all cozy and sweet and always so relaxing ♥ ( Here's a little summary in pictures )

As I mentioned, I (finally?) hopped on the Orphan Black bandwagon. I was going to say just in time for the second series to start but I checked and it's not till April, 19th? Still, I'll be able to watch it as it airs :)

I'm not even sure why I didn't watch it earlier. I've only heard positive things about it and, from what I'd read, I had an inkling I'd enjoy it but I never got around to download it. So when we were listing the shows we meant to watch during our little weekend I thought it'd be a good idea to include it. And a good idea it was, indeed. It caught our interest right away and we mainlined four episodes on Sunday. I suspect we'd have watched more if we'd had more time but alas we had to head to the station to catch our train.

I did catch up, though, and I've now reached the season finale. Almost watched it last night but it was 1.45AM already and I decided it would be more reasonable to go to bed. I know, what a novelty!

Tonight is our POI evening at my parents' but I'll watch Orphan Black once we're home!

Oh, and is anyone else watching The Musketeers? I must admit I quite enjoy it, it's very entertaining and I love how they're writing the relationship between said musketeers. As a matter of fact, it made me want to delve into the novel again; I read it ages ago and now would be a good time for a re-read, I think. Also, I'm shipping Porthos and Aramis. You know, in case you were wondering ;)

Again with the whole week without any entry; I could write this long post about how I'm sorry I'm not posting more at the moment, despite a real desire to do so, but I feel like all my entries would look the same if I did so let's move on!

I had a lovely and fannish weekend in Lyon with crazybutsound (and her friend Snakeling); there was fish and chips and cupcakes and brioche à la praline (a specialty of Lyon) and knitting (yes, I did some knitting! Did you know that when you're a leftie, it's not easy for your right-handed teacher to teach you how do it right? - ha!) as well as some tv watching.

We watched the latest episode of Sleepy Hollow while savouring our cupcakes (the combination of both is kinda perfect), I pimped Person of Interest to them (they liked it and Jem has been watching some more of it on Sunday night, which made me a very happy fangirl) and we watched some Dante's Cove when we realised that Stephen Amell (of Arrow fame) has starred in it. Or guest starred in it, I guess. Plus, Snakeling had never seen Dante's Cove so it was a must-see. Omg, I swear I'd forgotten how bad it was! I mean, we did warn Snakeling about it but even I had forgotten. Much hilarity ensued.

So that was a great weekend :) When I got home I watched the latest episode of The Originals. That show fills me with glee, I love it so much! It's OTT and theatrical but in the most entertaining ways. Those Mikaelson siblings are so delightful; so fucked-up and dysfunctional. I already enjoyed their antics in The Vampire Diaries but to have the narrative evolve around them is so much fun ;) Klaus is such a brat! Whenever he behaves in a "dodgy manner" which is, like, always, I keep thinking of how damaged and bratty he is and I just want to clap my hands in delight. He totally needs a spanking followed with a massive hug.

What else. Oh, it's December! It's getting colder with each new day, today especially feels like Winter. I've a good chunk of my Christmas shopping done so that makes me real happy too. We should go get our Christmas tree next week... so odd to think that it's that time of the year again!

Speaking of, I've seen some cute Christmas cards, which I intend to buy soon, so I'm hoping to send them before Christmas to some of you. Then again, I might do it the "French way" as the tradition here is that we can send our holiday cards all through January... pretty neat tradition for people like me ;)

I didn't mean to leave my journal for so long (apart from my last pass-by entry, which wasn't even for me) but there was always something getting in the way! Case in point today. Things were supposed to be busy but then they got... "interesting" - let's just leave it at that - and I'm only now trying to complete this entry which I'd started this morning...

Speaking of "interesting", Friday could be labelled that way as well. Thankfully in between Friday and Monday, I had a fantastic weekend with the FP. We did our usual outing combining lunch+shopping on Saturday (including the visit of a new bookstore where I purchased my first John Green, namely An Abundance of Katherines) and on Sunday, just as per usual too, we basically didn't leave the bed (or, you know, the unfold couch where the four of us can fit) until it was time for us to head to the station and leave Rosie.

Much food was consumed (including a lovely homemade brunch, Rosie does spoils us!) and many things were watched; from YT videos to tv shows. We watched some BookTube videos, some PBS Idea channel ones, the three episodes of Project: Library, GD pimped TSSN interviews... the usual :) We also watched the premiere of The Fall (with Gillian Anderson as a detective superintendent from London sent to Belfast to help catch a serial killer and Jamie Dornan, husband, father of two and aforementioned serial killer) the first episode of Hannibal, which GD and Rosie hadn't watched yet, and around five episodes (I think) of The Great British Bake Off. I love that show - and its French version - because it's so sweet: charming hosts and charming contestants alike. A show where people's skills are celebrated as opposed to their stupidity or meanness, a rarity in today's television :p

Incidentally, never let it be said that the FP doesn't have eclectic tastes ;)

In addition to the long talks and tv watching and eating ALL THE FOOD, we also included some reading, because we can multitask like nobody's business. enigel, I'm finally catching up on the Night Watch series, I've halfway through Day Watch \o/

I just love the picture of the four of us in bed, in our pyjamas, me trying out GD's copy of Paper Towns, SAM reading on her Kindle and GD pimping Rosie Jesse Eisenberg's interviews. So laid-back and relaxed... those FP weekends are good for the soul, you guys, so very good for the soul ♥

Also good for the soul is my being on holiday for the week. Cookie and I'll be staying in Normandy for a couple of days, far from everything, just the two of us. I cannot wait!

It's that time of the year again when I'm busy invigilating exams all day long. And, as per usual, most students decided not to show their faces - case in point, I only have five students in my classroom this first session. On the one hand, it makes being at work at 7.30AM a bit difficult to swallow - if I had to be there early, they should have been be there too, dammit - on the other, it means that the risk of having a gazillion problems to solve has been reduced with the number of students who decided not to sit their exams. #SilverLinings

Technically I should be working on a translation I have to hand in to one of my co-workers in a couple of days but I'm here till past 6.00PM so I can't say I'm in a hurry. I'm taking a little break - or, starting with a little break? Same difference *cough*

How was your weekend? Mine was busy, though the nice kind: we had friends over for lunch on Saturday, then I went (Cookie joined me a little while later) to my sister's and BIL's to mind my nieces as the both of them worked all night. Cookie and I slept over (we had a blast with the girls, as usual ♥) After the kids were in bed, I had to work for a couple of hours to make sure everything was going to be ready for today's exams, which is not how I like to spend my Saturday evenings but there you go. Then on Sunday the lot of us had lunch at my parents'. They just came back from a week in Las Vegas and had tons of things to tell us as well as a hundred of pictures to show us. They had such a great time there, we were absolutely thrilled for them. Especially as they really needed the break.

I've been feeling pretty tired all weekend but the good news is that I've started my treatment (for the iron deficiency) which should take care of the constant low blood pressure and diziness so it's just a matter of being patient for aforementioned treatment to work its magic ;)

Onto the fannish part of my weekend now, once we got home Sunday evening, we resumed our Person of Interest fest and watched five episodes in a row. Not just any episodes either, we started with "C.O.D" and kept going - how could we not?! - till "Dead Reckoning". Hee, what a ride, you guys! SO MANY FEELINGS, omg! It hit many of my kinks and I just wanted to hug John and never let him go. Same thing with Finch. Oh and with just about everyone, what the hell lol

Finch and Reese are both lovely specimens of clams but whenever John decides to let it all out and express his feelings, the man does it beautifully, doesn't he? He most definitely knows how to make me melt with his expression of love friendship.

I'm so smitten with the Finch-Reese Clamily - as some of you call them, such an apt and lovely name ;) - with their domesticity - "It's your turn to dry the dog!" - and their trust - "Pick a winner" - and their L.O.V.E - "I'm happy, must be you the job" - and just, hee I ♥ John and Harold.

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/

Right after work, Cookie and I went to a new library that opened near our workplace and we studied there for two hours, go us! We're planning on going there on a regular basis (we'll return as soon as tomorrow, as a matter of fact) as we kinda fell in love with the place and the atmosphere. It's much more modern than Ste Geneviève (the one I picspammed some time ago) but it still manages to be cozy and when you're sitting at the big desks, you don't feel like you're sharing the place with a gazillion other students. I think we'll keep Ste Geneviève for the weekends and the new one for the week.

We got back around 8.15PM, I did a load of laundry, I cooked our dinner then tomorrow's lunch and I think I totally deserve to be relaxing in front of Castle now, Y/Y?

This weekend was very busy too but unlike last weekend (or the next) it was fun all the time: afternoon tea with greedy_dancer at moimoietmoi's (SAM always has yummy treats for us when we have afternoon tea at her place) followed with dinner at my parents'. Then on Saturday we had The Esu over with my nieces for our second raclette of the year (hopefully not the last) and late afternoon we went to the mall, hoping to get our hands on new clothes since it's the sales at the moment. Which I did, score!

And! In between everything - well, it was before everything as I did it on Saturday morning, to be exact - I suddenly had an idea. What if I uploaded my SPN fics over at AO3? I have no idea where the idea came from, but I realised I had very few of my fics in general and none of my SPN fics in particular (remember when I used to write fic? Back In The Day) archived there and I thought it might be a good idea to do some saving. Especially as I don't even have a single of my (own!) stories saved on my computer any longer. Or anywhere else, for that matter. I used to have them all stored on my HD when I had computer!Clark and computer!Dean then they both died, I stopped writing altogether, and I sorta forgot that I didn't have any trace of my stories anywhere but on my LJ.

So far, I've uploaded one SPN fic but I'll add more whenever I have the time/remind myself to do it. I'm also downloading and saving them all (for keeps) via the site - thank you Download button :-)

PS: it has nothing to do with anything but omg, White Collar D-1(+1)

I can finally use this icon without doing it as sign of protest for the unwelcome heat ♥ We're actually having our first homemade soup of the year tonight (zucchini and La vache qui rit cheese - delicious!) so we're celebrating the arrival of Autumn in style ;-)

Today has been very quiet. Much more than planned, as a matter fact. We'd meant to go and see Warrior this afternoon but turns out the film wasn't showing in "our" cinemas any longer! So we stayed home, decided to make it a Reading Fic afternoon then I fell asleep on the couch... and basically slept the afternoon away. I had no idea I was so tired! Guess it's what I needed, though. And it's been some time since we had nothing to do on a Saturday. I feel a bit sad that I couldn't see Warrior again, though. Besides, I couldn't find a download at either of the two sites I always find all my films and series so I feel a bit betrayed right now!

Tonight we plan on catching up on some of our tv. Wish us luck! We're also pretty impatient to see the latest Merlin appear, hopefully it'll be shared soon #Wants

Completely unrelated but poor Brendon might have malaria? o_O It is odd, that Twitter thing, you can actually know what the boys in your favourite bands have caught almost as the same time as they do. Internet, it'll never not be fascinating. Let's hope he gets better soon, poor dude.

This post is not, I repeat, not about XMFC (which I possibly saw for the eighth time on Thursday night - my BIL threatened to send both Cookie and me to X-Men Addict Anonymous), not about how I'm still fascinated by Charle's view of life and his love and respect for life or how I'm still enamoured with the relationship between Erik and him, nor it is about how every single scene they share together still fills me with glee or how I still love the bond between Raven and Charles. This post is not about that all.

Instead I'll talk about my Saturday, which was nice. I didn't work on my thesis as much as I would have liked but I still managed a couple of hours so all wasn't lost. Plus I have all of tomorrow plus Monday (which I have off) to catch up, I'm still on schedule. While I was studying, Cookie worked on the drawings she's been commissioned for work.

When we were done, we caught up on White Collar - "Dentist of Detroit" was pretty fun, though I wish we'd had a little follow-up to ( that little scene I'll talk about behind a cut ) All that to say, I'm still into White Collar and curious as to where Jeff Eastin is leading us.

We also watched the season premiere of True Blood - I missed that show so much! - and I'm afraid I only have one comment to make, namely not enough Eric! I know, not exactly the most detailed review, I'm sorry. But there really wasn't enough Eric. Or Pam.

Then earlier we decided to be very dietetic and baked cupcakes (banana with ganache frosting and banana with roasted chestnust frosting) which we had for dinner with milky tea. Delicious.

And a couple of pics behind the cut - I saw my best friend Sandrine and my nephew after work on Friday and we spent the evening together and because Lucas had never seen the Eiffel Tower, we decided to take him there. I'm afraid he was more impressed by the carousel next to it than by the Dame de Fer but Sandrine and I aren't five years old so we could appreciate her the way she deserves, even though it wasn't our first time. I took a couple of pics with my Blackberry, if you're interested. ( La Tour Eiffel ).

Must go now, Cookie just put on State of Play :-)

It's been pretty hot around here the past week (well, the past month, really, it's said that we're having the hottest spring since 1908, so there's that) and thunderstorms were bound to happen. Well it happened once last night (twas pretty impressive, I swear it was right above our building) and it's happening again right this moment. We'll only switch off our respective laptops when there's no other choice but we've decided to be a bit cautious nonetheless and turned off both the lights and the tv. Turns out it makes for a very nice and relaxing atmosphere! We've lit a couple of candles and there's the sound of both rain and thunder coming from outside and we can feel a bit of fresh air coming from the shutters and it's all quiet and mellow :-)

How was your Sunday, flist? Mine was nice! Went to bed pretty late again and I blame it on X-M:FC and James McAvoy again. Woke up, had a lazy morning in bed with the girlfriend (and the cat who'd been granted permission to join us) reading fics and just being lazy. Then off to Paris we went for an exhibit "Swords: uses, myths and symbols". Pretty neat. Quick trip to Starbucks then back home with us. After a looooong and blissfully cool shower, we planted ourselves in front of the tv and I suggested a McAvoy Night. So we watched Wanted (I've been told by a fan of the comic that the adaptation wasn't that good but I really enjoyed it. Also, McAvoy was awesome) followed with Atonement, which, of course, broke my heart and made me cry so we watched Penelope right after so that I could stop feeling miserable. Which worked like a charm, that film is really sweet.

Oh, oh! Speaking of marathon, we finally caught up on SPN \o/ I don't know why I thought it'd take some time, it was only nine episodes. Nine episodes in a row is nothing! We barely noticed. I can now say that I really enjoyed that season. And Kripke & Co haven't forgotten how to mess with our heads, have they? I don't see that a spoiler because, well, it's SPN I'm talking about, the writers have been messing with our heads since season 1...

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.