tu parles francais?

Ok, so more about my vacation and this Paris place.

I spent Christmas Eve with Rems and his family, where I prepared a delicious roasted chicken dinner with mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and hot chocolate sauce served with an assortment of fruits for dessert. Het was zooooo lekker! The next night, his brother prepared a smoked salmon salad, baked fish, and vegetables which ik ook het lekker gevondt (I have no idea if that's grammatically correct but whatever). The day after that, I continued my lekker-eating streak by dining at Jaime's host family's house where I inhaled duck, french fries, some divine alcoholic cauliflower concoction and homemade tiramisu. Rems stayed over and the next morning we started on our adventure to Paris!!!!!

We drove there Saturday morning with no traffic and beautiful sunny weather. I managed to stay awake for at least 3 of the hours (it took us about 5) and was pleasantly surprised that our hotel in Irvy Sur Seine wasn't a rat-hole. The city is about 10 minutes south of Paris by car, 5 by RER. We were literally down the street from the train station

*****Sidenote: our 2nd day there, we didn't know where we were going so Rem's suggested we use the TomTom (navigation system) to find our way. It seemed like a good idea. When we went outside, I looked down the street and said I thought I could see the station. Being a man, Remco insisted I was wrong and that we should follow the TomTom. Needless to say, we walked for about 25 minutes, making U-turns and passing things that looked familiar to us from walking around the city the day before since the stupid thing was giving us car directions!!! In the end, I'd been correct; the station was literally 5 minutes down the street. MEN.*****

Anyihaveagoodsenseofdirection, we saw quite a lot. There was so much to see and you couldn't take an ugly picture. Here are some from various places like the Arc, Grand Palais, the Eiffel, the scenery, and a buncha other places I forget the names of and ME:
















I had a fantastic time with Rems, who was a great travel partner. We got to do things at a leisurely pace and he also appreciated the beauty of Paris. I would've liked to party more and I know it would've been a different experience with someone more outgoing or with the girls. We would both like to go again, but at a warmer time of year. Paris is really huge and I'm sure it'd be even more beautiful and enjoyable if we didn't have to be all bundled up.

My sister officially gets here in 21 days and we're both so excited! We're going to celebrate our birthdays (technically just hers because we'll be back in Holland for mine) in Barcelona! I haven't seen her in too long and knowing that she's coming is the main reason I haven't felt as homesick. I know we're going to have a blast and I can't wait to see her!! I'm going to tackle the shit outta her at the airport and be depressed for a month after she leaves.

i'm baaaaaaacccckk!

So Paris was absolutely, outrageously, breathtakingly, unbelievably, I-want-to-live-there-forever

beautiful.

Times without number, I heard how gorgeous the scenery was and that I would fall in love but I was blown away by how sexy Paris really is. I fell in love with Saint Michel and its Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and the Grand Palais, the RER, Irvy Sur Seine, and the CHAMPS DE ELYSSE (an extensive street of lekker shops, eateries, monuments). That barely scratches the surface of what I experienced, but it's way past my bedtime and I promise to expand on my week-long adventures sometime in the near future... and I really mean the near future since one of my New Year's Resolutions is to keep my blog current! No more 2 week intervals between posts, I promise! Here are some pictures (most of them are of me, but it's my friggin blog and I love me so tough) to tide you over but there are many more to come of architecture, monuments, and all that shit:







I will admit that I did miss the family and actually thought about them a lot. I spend so much time with them but it never really occurred to me how attached I'm becoming. I found myself missing Pim's cute little smile and him pulling himself up or trying to climb up my legs. I missed Tijn's cute little voice, him sitting on my lap, him giving me a wake-up call or asking me if he can have candy for breakfast. I missed Niek calling me Oma (grandma) or Leen, and him telling me to kijkt (look) while he plays with his toy cars or raiders, him spilling his drink almost every night at dinner, his adorable naked run while I'm trying to get his pajamas on, and the heartwarming way leans his cute little head on my shoulder when he's tired of walking and wants to be carried, and his infectious giggle when I tickle him and Tijn. I missed Lara asking me to spin her around after bath, her singing American songs to me, teaching her little games, listening to her do Dutch karaoke and showing me her sweet ballet moves.

As much as the kids can be a handful and push me to my limits sometimes, I really do love them. Leaving Holland will most definitely be harder than I thought.

gone baby, GONE!

Ok so the family left to ski in Switzerland and I must say these have been some of the best days of my life. They're good people and all but I really needed time away from them just to do my own thing. Take now for instance: I'm sitting in my underwear, drinking the liquid version of myself (hot chocolate, duh) and occasionally getting up to dance when a good song comes on. When they left, I ran through the house screaming, mostly out of joy but also just because I could. So much of the time I have to be quiet for fear of waking anyone up and it feels AMAZING just being able to do as I please and having no worries.

This week was quite fabulous. I've been looking forward to vacation so much that even despite some annoyances, I remained in the highest spirits. A few weeks ago I'd been worried about some relationships I had in the US and how they were going sour. Then I came to my senses and realized that I don't need that kind of stress in my life and that being here was the best thing for me since I am what's most important. I refuse to appease others selfish desires and wishes to hinder my own happiness. It's my parade so don't try and rain on it, thankssssssssss! The more time I spend here, the more I appreciate the true relationships I do have with people I still keep in touch with. If you ever want to test your own relationships with people, try moving to a different country for a year and see who's still got your back while you're there and when you get back.

Thursday night I had the pleasure of spending the night with Jaime, who left for London then home on Friday, and another cool ass au pair we met named Ri from London. We started out at Jaime's house, drinking bottles of wine and getting to know each other better. Then we drunkenly ventured out in Haarlem where we insisted on taking shots of tequila, and I threw back some more red wine. As usual, I feel fine when we're at the bar but my inebriation doesn't make itself apparent until the ride home. I fell off my bike at least twice and each time I had to give myself a pep-talk before I'd actually get up. As if that wasn't enough, I fell AGAIN when I got in the house! I tripped over stuff in the hallway and made so much noise that Thomas awoke, thinking it was one of the kids.

My life is so fucking stupid.

Thankfully, the family left Friday afternoon around noonish because I sincerely doubt I would've survived a normal Friday. My body was extremely sore and I really think I bruised a rib (it hurt so much, I thought it was broken) but I feel much better now. I spent much of Friday recuperating before going to Ri's house for dinner. We had an awesome time, drinking wine and exchanging stories. I then went home where Remy soon joined me and we watched a movie. Saturday, I made it to the gym (go me!) then hung out at Remy's, saying and doing the usual inappropriate things around his family.

**Sidenote: Rihanna's new song, "Rehab" is on and I will admit that I got a little hot & bothered when I saw my baby Justin, but overall the video is wack! She's half-naked throughout the entire thing but Justin is damn near dressed for winter... where are the shirtless shots?! She's wearing this cool eye veil thingy which I like but the song sucks so NEXT. Ohhhh! Now Kid Cudi's "Day and NIght" is on (the remixed version) and I love that song and video!**

I spent my first night alone in the house last night and it was actually kind of scary! I kept hearing all sorts of noises and imagining myself having to bust a cap in someone's ass if they tried to rob the place. I woke up this morning and visited Jaime's host family on my way to the gym. Tonight I plan to get my buzz on and wake up whenever I feel like it tomorrow!! I'm helping Remy's mom make Christmas dinner tomorrow and before I know it, it'll be time to leave for Paris on Saturday!!!!!!!

It's time now for me to get cleaned up.. thankfully, I will be in a car tonight and not on my bike! I know now not to drink and get behind my handle bars. Ok, dooi dooi!!!