One of the funniest things ever, unless you've ever lost a cat

http://www.barnorama.com/make-me-a-poster-of-my-missing-cat

Delicious food

my latest discovery, and only 10 calories per each chocolate-dipped stick. so good.

I tried out this recipe on Wednesday and it was surprisingly easy and delicious! I left out the parsley and sub'd onions for Ciboulette.

Mushroom Baked Albacore

1 ½ pounds troll-caught albacore tuna steaks
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sliced mushrooms
½ cup Half & Half
1 tablespoon flour
Salt and pepper
Paprika
Chopped parsley

Saute onion, parsley and mushrooms in butter for about 10 minutes. Place albacore steaks in a greased baking dish, season with salt and pepper. Spread sauteed mixture over the steaks, then dot with butter. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes; remove from oven. Take juices from the pan and blend with Half & Half and flour in a small pan. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Pour sauce over fish, return to oven for 5 more minutes. Top with parsley and paprika

Simple Things

Today on my way to school a young girl stopped me as I walked by her car and asked for a "crayon" or something to write with. That was Easy. Then I get to class and realize that I did the homework completely wrong, it seems I haven't quite grasped Passe Compose, Imparfait, and Plus-que-parfait. These are all different verb tenses used to describe things that happend in the past. Luckily today we had a student teacher sitting in and he was able to explain the concepts in English. Sometimes I swear it's impossible learning grammar about a foreign language when it's taught in that very language you're trying to understand. At least I think I might be on  the right track....
Speaking of tracks, at the metro station a little later a woman approached me with a map and immediately I thought Geez I can't wait to tell her that I don't understand what she's asking. However, she was speaking English and wearing a New Zealand sweatshirt, but how she knew I spoke english I have no idea. Some say it's easy to spot an American in other countries, I had hoped I was blending in better these days. Anyhow I was able to help her and explain that she needed to catch the next tram to get to where she was going. I have come a long ways since I first arrived here.
   Once on the bus a family of travelers came aboard, I could tell they were American immediately. They came all the way from Alaska and are on a 6 week tour of Europe. Unfortunately they had no idea of what had just happened at their next destination over the past few days.  It's really a catastrophe.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2248330.stm

Sidetracked

Today my friend Natalie and I inadvertantly did a bit of a triathalon. We started out looking for an indoor pool and ended up walking for more than an hour trying to find it a neighborhood we knew nothing about up on Fouviere Hill. Did I mention I was lugging about 10 lbs of my school books, in the rain? Anyways as it turns out, this is no ordinary pool but an olympic-sized pool so after completing about 10 or so laps I was done. Now onto Yoga for the final event, well maybe....

As always, I start out with a main purpose for getting online and then I get completely lost on You Tube, Facebook, BLOGGER.com, etc. Tonight I was looking for some cooking ideas and stumbled across this jewel. Bon Apetite!

The next chapter

I'm calling this second term in Lyon Part Dieu, for two reasons:
1) I'm about a block from the Centro Commercial which is called Part Dieu. The shopping mall, the train station, buses, and metros all come together here in the more modern part of the city.

2) After taking an official break from this whirlwind of an European experience and going back to the states for about two weeks, I returned to Lyon. It's not that I didn't think that I would come back, but I was definitely wondering before if I would have second thoughts once I was at home in Houston. Before leaving  the states in February, conversations with my family were along the lines of  "well, I will try it out and see how it goes" and "this won't be a permanent relocation". The first three months were a mix of shock and awe, adventure and boredom, just about any two extreme opposites of emotion I went through them all.

My assignment for my French class tonight is to write about all the things that have changed since arriving in Lyon. To that I say, "Merde, there isn't enough paper in my notebook or time in the world for my teacher grade this assignment."
Hmmm, a few key points in my paper will probably talk about.....
- Crying on the first day I was on my own in the city and got lost for about four hours in the twisted streets but now I can successfully navigate any of the transits systems without a hitch!
-Not being able to read a menu or order anything on my own not even at McDonalds. Now I've got favorite eating spots and use a french cookbook for meals at home.
- Not knowing how to workout without a gym to walking/running( only when headed downhill  =P ) through rose gardens and next to giraffes, elephants, and bears at our beautiful park down the street.

Everything is looking so much better already this time around.

I can clearly say though that I came back with the soap washed from my eyes and now I couldn't be more excited, in love and ready conquer anything this country and/or continent has to throw at me.

I'm so glad summer is here, and can't wait to explore the mediterranean in the next few months!
Menorca is going to be so amazing!

In today's news...

So much going on in the world right now, it's unbelievable!
First of all, I've been mentioning the Air France flight 447 for a while now. Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of the accident. The families of the victims still do not have any answers as to why the plane went down and the airline is reluctant to continue their investigation because it's so costly. Today I will be flying Air France from Houston direct to Paris and then taking the speed train back to Lyon. It doesn't matter how many times I fly, I always get the pre-flight jitters. 

In other headlines:
Behind the Gores' Shocking Split The Daily Beast – 48 mins ago


Five confirmed killed in British shooting rampage Reuters – 16 mins ago

Anti-incumbency takes down another congressman AP – 1 hr 29 mins ago

Could Gulf oil spill bankrupt BP? The Christian Science Monitor – Tue Jun 1, 6:53 pm ET

US soccer team in fortified South Africa hotel AP – Wed Jun 2, 4:55 am ET

Are moviegoers tiring of sequels? Reuters – 43 mins ago

Military to Adopt NFL's Instant Replay Technology LiveScience.com – Tue Jun 1, 10:45 pm ET

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Lyon Part Dieu

It doesn't take a scientist to know that I'm excited to get back to France tomorrow!

Bon Dia = Good morning in Catalan

Me @ Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain May 15

I woke up this morning, checked my e-mail and received a surprise. Roger is back in Barcelona and sent me some songs to get me up and going. I couldn't be any luckier.

this one reminds me of when we were in the city after Barce's big win two weeks ago and a live band was playing this and everyone was dancing, chanting "Barce" and singing in the streets.

I've been totally lazy lately and haven't written a thing about all the travelling I've been doing. I guess I'll start with the most recent trip back here in Texas. My good friend from college Carolyn tied the knot on Saturday in Austin. Roger flew into Houston Friday afternoon and we hit the road headed for the wonderful hill country. We stopped for dinner at Austin's famous Trudy's for some delicious margaritas and rich rich mexican food.

Saturday afternoon we witnessed the "I Do's" at a beautiful catholic church across from the UT campus.

After we headed to the Barton Creek Resort where the reception would be held 4 hours later. Once we got to the hotel I got to meet 4 very handsome little guys. These are just 4 out of about 10 babies that my friends have brought into the world this past year. Baby Fever!!

From Left to Right: Tristan Niebes (Katie & Jonathan); Nolan Kolwalski and his twin Carter on the far right (Rachael & Brad); Ryder Hemlock in the striped shirt (April & Matt)

They're so amazing.

Me with my gorgeous Delta Gammas sisters Carolyn & Sara.

The Sea Bass and Filet were unreal, not to mention they had potato lyonnais!

Sunday morning we refueled at the County Line for some of the best BBQ I've ever had.

Iced Tea, fresh wheat bread, along with some ribs, turkey, chicken and sausage. Yee haw!

We arrived in San Antonio later that day to Hotel Valencia where we got off to an interesting start. The hotel was very modern and was somewhat like a dungeon with its dark lighting and indoor waterfalls. It really set the mood for some mysterious surprises waiting for us in our room. Pretty much as soon as I was finding the spots of blood on our bathroom towels and on the floor, Roger discovered a lacy black pair of Fredericks of Hollywood underwear laying on the floor of the bedroom. Considering we probably stumbled across evidence of the murder of a hooker we should have gotten a little more than free breakfasts and a bottle of wine.  

The horror continues when we find that BP North America was meeting here as well.

Enough with the drama, out on the riverwalk.....

At the Alamo on Monday morning.

The Tower of Americas standing 750 feet up, built in the 60's for the World Fair held here in San Antonio. Despite my fear of heights, I braved this tower like Dallas' 650' Reunion in Tower last year.

Today I went with my two little cousins to see Shrek Ever After in 3-D.
It was better than I expected because the third Shrek movie was awful and I hadn't see any commercials for this movie, or for any current movies for that matter. On account of the hotness of the day, I decided to take full advantage of the A/C and rented The Road to watch as well. I finished the book a couple of months ago and can say that the movie was pretty good. Usually I am disappointed in movies after reading the books first i.e. Hannibal, and the Davinci code.

Maybe I'm feeling a little nostalgic today but there was commonality between the two movies. They both centered around the importance of fully appreciating everyone in your life and everything you've been given.

My Current Book, "All the Tea in China", I found in an Italian airport where I searching for a historical adventure to read.

Brief synopsis: An English horticulturalist sent by the crown secretly into China to find and steal Tea that was unavailable to the rest of the world.

After reading the summary I decided to purchase the book. Then I realized the author was none other than Sarah Rose. Amazing.

I continue to suprise myself every day.

a wonderful & much-needed reminder

just checking in

The past couple of weeks have been craziness. Jen's visit couldn't have gone better, and we exhausted ourselves in Paris and Rome running around seeing all the sites. Afterwards we wound down a couple of days in Lyon. We all left for the airport friday morning where Roger and I headed of to Barcelona and Jen left on her journey back to San Diego. In Barcelona Sunday night, we were at the stadium to celebrate Barce's victory as Spanish league Champs. We followed the victory route into the city where I witnessed thousands of the happiest people in the world with red and blue flags waving, horns honking, and people climbing over statues, bus stops, and the walls of buildings.
I've arrived in Houston Monday night after 24 hours of travelling. That day started out with cancelled flights in & out of heathrow thanks to the volcano again. Then after going to the airport and rerouting everything, I missed my connecting flight in NY to Chicago. Finally, I was able to get on a direct flight from NY to Houston, but my luggage wasn't so lucky. I finally recovered my luggage today and Im still trying to adjust to the 7 hour time difference. Plus after spending three months on another continent I'm feeling strange and a little out of the loop here.

Hopefully soon I will get to upload some pics and have enough concentration to give more details about the trips. In the meantime, here's a little song for your listening pleasure.

As a closet parrothead, I can't believe I almost forgot this one.

All my bags are packed

...I'm ready to go. I'm standin' here outside you door I hate to wake you up to say goodbye. But the dawn is breakin' it's early morn. The taxi is waitin' he's blowin' his horn....."

Well, almost....

I will be getting up earlty tomorrow because my train leaves at 7:56 in the morning, luckily the station is just a block away. Two hours later I will arrive at Charles De Gaulle airport to meet Jen who is flying in from San Diego. So far I've spent a great deal of time learning the public transportations systems there and not much time planning our sites. However, we have a loose agenda that we've put together with tips from friends. Since we're both pretty fascinated by the paranormal, we'll start with the catacombs and cemetaries.

Then Saturday afternoon we'll leave for Rome. I love the history of the Roman Empire and going to Italy has always been a dream of mine. I'm looking forward to seeing the Colliseum the most.

When in Rome (4 days)

A Chocolate Cake

No class today, or for the rest of the month for that matter. So the only things on my plate are planning my trip(s) and baking a cake. A Moelleux Fourre Au Chocolate to be exact.

Paris minus 3 days

Great song by Kate Nash who I like more and more everytime I hear her. Here are two songs about ways not to fall victim while we're out on our own.

You can do anything that you want, world is an oyster, dont dissapoint us

You can stand on your own two feet, you can lead me through the streets

Pave the way, so we can dream dreams, noone else can see what you made me see.....

Me with my spanish-speaking classmates celebrating after our last day of school. Joel, the Cuban Chef, Romina, the Venezuelan dentist, Ana Gabriela, the Brasilian student and Martin, the Argentinian Hockey star. It's not a surprise why my spanish is improving more than my french. Salud!