to make sure I wasn't going to die.
It's been a busy, wonderful week of hosting the young and the restless. Friends from Canada are backpacking across Europe and we were more than happy to host them on their way from Amsterdam to Berlin. I don't have many pictures to post from their visit, except for this one. I think it sums up what living life as a 20 year old is all about. Or at least what living life with a 20 year old is all about. I had to look up Jagerbomb in Wikipedia
to make sure I wasn't going to die.
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Getting Claudia ready for school this morning. Doing her hair in front of the mirror. Pull it back into a ponytail.
Claudia: "I look like a boy." Me: "Oh, you do not." Claudia: "Okay, I look like a fancy boy, but only cause I'm wearing a skirt." While I was busy doing this: And a little bit of this: Aaron and the kids were busy making this for me. I'm feeling pretty special. Please ignore the various references to violence; "poking eyes" is not as common an activity as Eloise would like to suggest. I was introduced the the website Little Brown Pen before leaving for Paris. The author of the site has published a book on the colours of Paris, using inspiring photos she's taken around the city. I was struck by this beautiful blue door and can empathize with the need to photograph every little detail the city offers you at each turn. It's like a treasure chest.
One of my first apartments was a converted coach house. All exposed brick, fireplace, loft bedroom. Oh man, I loved that place. I also fell victim to marathon episodes of Trading Spaces, and somewhere in there I got a hard on for decorating. Shabby Chic was my first love, and the flea markets of Paris were my Mecca. This last week I finally made my pilgrimage. Consider me reborn. Les Puces is as old as the hills. On the outskirts of Paris, it's where vagabonds came to set up tables filled with a nights worth of dumpster diving goods. After you make it through the maddening crowd of people shoving knock off Gucci in your face and "magicians" playing slight of hand games, you're rewarded with a meandering maze of bric-a-brac and everything vintage and lovely. It's hella expensive, but just taking it all in is worth the trip. The vintage fabrics were the best buy. Easily transportable and reasonably priced, they were a treasure just to look through. Très jolie. Paris was everything I could have hoped for and more. Rambling walks, wine hour #1, wine hour #2, more walking, it was perfect. There is just a glow to the city that I've never seen before. It's opalescent. More posts to come on the most beautiful of cities.
The area of Germany that we live in is castle central. I can go 30 km in any direction and find one. The palace in Münster is beautiful, but it's also the administrative offices for the university. So, if you want to register for German lessons, you go to a palace to do so. So it didn't strike me as odd that when I was talking to the BFF the other day about how my day was when I blurted out near the end of our conversation "Oh yeah, we went to a castle today." How obnoxious is that? Quite a bit, as I couldn't help but be embarrassed for myself when she replied, "Oh yeah? I went to Walmart today." What I wouldn't give to have rock bottom priced laundry detergent right about now! Living in Europe is so different from living at home. History surrounds us at all turns and it's best that I try to remember that this little life of ours will not last forever. p.s. This castle is also now home to the School of Finance. So, as romantic as it looks, there were also plenty of students hanging out of windows and eating pizza. They seemed completely unfazed about their surroundings. I'm not the only one taking this stuff for granted.
I'm sorry I missed it. As nice as the Netherlands was today, I couldn't help but wish that all our friends and family were here with us. I think I'm jaded when it comes to German holidays because they really are a time to take a break from the day to day and spend time with those dearest to you. This only reminds me that the dearest aren't the nearest. Please forgive my Eeyore moment.
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