Haha.... Sorry....

I haven't written my blog since Budapest and well.... Budapest was a long time ago... Haha, woops. I must admit that since then there has been quite a lot happening in my life lately. I'v went on an awesome field trip to Loire Valley, had a middle school prom (Turns out it was as cheesy as it sounds! A night in Paris.... how original. It was fun though!), lived through exams, passed my exams and had to wave goodbye to some dear friends of mine. For some reason I'm feeling quite sad while writing this post. Maybe it's because I'v been watching tons of chick flicks these couple of days or maybe it's because I have to take geometry courses every morning for three weeks (something to do with SAT's.... I actually have no idea what I'm doing there...), but I think the main reasons is that everything is changing. I'm getting closer and closer to my final graduation and the more I advance, the more I'm scared. Everything seems to be changing, life is getting more difficult, the summer doesn't feel like summer anymore (maybe it's because of the lack of good weather or the fact I'm still going to school every morning)  and I see my parents aging behind me. I know it's a depressing thing to say and that I'm not usually the person to talk about these things, but I'm scared for my parents and how much time I have left with them. They still have a long life before them, but time has been moving so quickly that it feels like yesterday that I was only at my mother's shoulder height. I just feel like I haven't had enough time to appreciate them fully. Why do teenagers experience horrible mood swings? They. suck.

But yeah, enough of that. I guess I just miss being a little girl which only worries about her scratched knees and weather father Christmas will arrive at midnight. Things change and change is good. So let's change subject.

Another thing that has been going on is my drawing. I've been drawing so much these past few months that I actually see a difference in my drawings! I've been using it as an effective way of procrastination during exam period and that really gave me a boost in my skill (biology on the other hand was a different story...). I've been watching a lot of animated movies and inspired myself with different techniques and characters and a bunch of other stuff. I found out that I usually prefer imagining my own characters instead of doing fanart, though I do enjoy it a lot when I'm fangirling over something *cough*Jack Frost*cough*. But there, you probably won't recognize any of these characters since I don't even know what they were before I finished them! Just let your mind create the back story, it's more fun that way! 

This one's the only one here that's fanart. Do I need to explain where this is from?

This is how i see myself in a couple of years. Unfortunately I am not at that stage yet.
(please ignore the weird leg proportions, I only noticed it when I was finished...)

If any of you remember I drew a picture of a couple in a hot air balloon. This is them again :)

Pirate Punk - Don't ask why

This is my newest one and probably the one I'm most proud of. 

Hopefully you appreciated this post and that I didn't bring your mood down too much. I didn't mean it, it kinda came out unexpectedly.... I'll be posting more now that it's the summer. Soon I'm going to see my friend in America and there will be a ton of new stuff to talk about then! (I'll try to post a few more times before then!) I hope you're all enjoying your summer and that the weather hasn't been as bad as it has for me.... though apparently it's not (Except if you life in somewhere exotic and cool. I'm jealous of you if that's the case. Rain has been driving me crazy!)

Maybe before I leave I can leave you with a list of chick flicks I'v been watching so you know what I am experiencing ;)

• The Notebook (OMG I LOVE IT)
• 10 thing I hate about you
• Dear John
• Legally Blonde
• Water for Elephants
• The Sisterhood of Travelling Pants 2 (couldn't find the first one :( )
• The Vow (LOVE THIS ONE TOO)
• One day

and not to mention a bunch of animated movies :) I also recently watched Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio which was worth watching! But that was about a month ago so I didn't count it in. 

And finally, book-wise I'm reading the Clockwork Angel in the infernal devices series which is really good! I would say the author but I am too lazy to go check so you're gonna have to Google it! 

I think I already said bye but if I haven't, bye!!

Christmas 2012

So I am finally going to write this post that I think a lot of you have been waiting for... I know, it's already 2013... I'M SORRY! I'm horrible at staying on schedule. I think I should add that as one of my resolutions... I am also a huge procrastinator... ANYWAY here it is:

22nd of December - Prep Day

Daaaaaah!!! Everything is so hectic in this house that you would think you're running a marathon!! Neither of us have eaten a proper meal in the last three days because my Dad doesn't want us eating the ingredients in the fridge and my Mum has been running all around the house vacuuming each room at least five times per day! I feel like I'm not doing anything at all because 

A) My Dad gave me the lovely job of decorating the house ( I looooooved this idea ) but over the week he has forbidden me to decorate certain places of the house before the whole house was off limits to me decorating. That really annoyed me. 

B) My Dad (once again) doesn't want help in cooking because ( in his mind ) I m an immature child who throws food and cuts myself every time I am a meter away from a blunt knife. 

C) I can't just sit down and relax because I am immediately told off by my parents that I'm not doing anything and 

D) Every time I try and help my parents tell me to do something else and get out of their way. It's hard being a teenager. 

Anyway, enough of me whining, let's get back on track. I finally found something to do which was making the first batch of Christmas cookies! With my Mum we decided to make some sugary shortbread biscuits in my brand new gingerbread men mold that I had bought at the Christmas market a few days back. The recipe came from a small book containing recipe's that only had "La Vache Qui Rit" in them. Unfortunately we only had Emmental flavored Vache Qui Rit in our fridge ( *face palm* ) so it added an... interesting flavor. We also added some speculoos crumbs into our biscuits to try and hide the Emmental flavor... When the mixture was done, I hastily stuffed the mold and put it n the freezer so that it could set. I was now, once more, left with nothing to do. I ended up watching TV until the cookies were ready and I dropped all of them and they ALL broke *sad face*. So that's pretty much what happened that day. 

23rd of December - The journey begins! 

On the 23rd my Grandma arrived alone just before lunch and we almost immediately went out to lunch all together to the very refined french restaurant just up the road. We all ordered mussels and fries with alternate sauces and the adults then took a small coffee. When we arrived home we sat and chatted and ate some delicious holiday chocolates (mmm! This time of ear is when they taste the best!). Time passed a bit too quickly and we all realized that it was near the end of the day and there were still presents to be wrapped and cookies to be baked! We immediately took action and started with the cookies. It was exactly the same recipe (yippee, more cheddar tasting cookies) except we had the help of my grandma. Which helped. A LOT. But anyway, while the cookies were cooking we did some speed wrapping and ribbon tying. I would say that out of ten our efficiency and speed put together were a nine and a half. It was as if an elf had come in and wrapped our presents (because everybody knows that elves are amazing at wrapping presents). The cookies were ready and I had the right mind to ask somebody else to take the cookies out of the oven and obviously they didn't drop it (I'm such a clutz). By the end of all that we were all pretty tired (except my Dad who spent his time quietly reading his book. *face palm*) and didn't wait long to go to bed

24th of December - HO HO HO and a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Before they arrived in the morning (which was at 11:00 am FYI) my grandma and I made a second quick batch of cookies so that there would be one each for each person. Luckily we finished them right before they (if you don't know who they are, scroll down and read 'Coming up...' ) arrived (by five minuets no kidding!) and it FINALLY felt like Christmas! I also found out the the unknown girlfriend is called Nada and she is from Thailand but lived in California most of her life and speaks mostly English but also knows some french (enough to communicate with others). She also has a talent for drawing which obviously pleased me. I shared my drawings with her and she commented on them and I was so happy!!! BUT let's get back to where we were, so my cousins overloaded me with their stories and adventures. Thao showed me a great drawing that he made on the train (I'm so proud!) and Thuan just kept talking about anything and everything. You can pretty much have a whole conversation with him if you nod occasionally and do "aaah" and "oooh" noises when it sounds like the end of the sentence. While my Dad was preparing lunch Nada and I decorated the cookies (unfortunately the second batch burnt a little so that looked like they had a good month under the sun) with various icing and decorations. We had an absolutely HUGE goose for lunch which we barely finished but did in the end thank to Pierre Axel who became our human trash can. The rest of the afternoon was slow and lazy (except for the two little ones who were somehow strong enough to carry the weight of their bellies). My Dad bought for the occasion a box of chocolates that was ameter long and about ten centimeters wide from this famous chocolate shop which I can't remember the name of... but we tried them out during our lazy period (we somehow found space deep inside our stomachs to store it)  and oh my word they were AMAZING!!! Truly amazing. When it started to get dark Pierre Axel, Nada, Thao, Thuan  and I went in the garden to light some candles. This was so that Santa could see our garden and know where we were. It was also to help land his sled since it's not always easy finding a parking spot on roof tops. It took several tries (about twenty I would guess) to get all four of them to stay alight all at the same time. The problem was that when we would start heading back to the house, one of them would just die and we would have to go all the way back and try to light it again. Finally we managed to light all of them (at least long enough for us to go back to the house) and convince Thuan that Santa had called Pierre Axel to tell him that he saw the lights and had saved the address on his GPS. Soon enough it was time for the two little ones to go to sleep after another HUGE meal and this was when things got a little more exciting. Everybody went to get their presents out of their bags and in total there was a mountain of wrapped presents waiting to be revealed! We randomly placed them under the tree which made it look stunning. I then took my Dad's crocks and made mud footprints from the garden, into the house, around the tree and back (unfortunately there was no snow so it didn't look as magical *sad face*). My Dad then wrote a note coming from Santz and placed it next to a cup of milk (half of it drank by me) half a cookie and some carrots that have been bitten out of (some were thrown into the garden so it looked more realistic). After that, everything was done and I was anxious to get into my bed and see the faces of my cousins the next morning.

25th of December - Presents!!!!!

Presents!!!!! Lots and Lots of presents!!!! Obviously my cousins were the first ones to find them and ran furiously around the house waking everybody up. When we were all downstairs and somewhat awake ( which I was not ) my cousins opened their presents BUT I must share with you that right before they opened them, Thuan said the most adorable thing which became the highlight of my Christmas. When he saw the santa hat trapped between the door he said " at least this time he left us a clue! " IT WAS SO ADORABLE I felt like I was going to melt into a pond of purple goo :3 But now to continue the story. My cousins opened their presents first while the others watched and obviously loved every single present they got (expecially mine because.... well, it is me! ;) I got Thao a StarWars Lego alorm clock if you must know, here's a pic:  )

Hey guys, I am back from the future and do not want to finish this post (it's the 21st of Febuary and I started this post before Christmas... WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY LIFE?!?) and so I am now going to make a very short list of bullet points so that this post is OVER WITH.

• Went to plaisirs d'Hiver
• Went inside the Ice Monster - Thao and Thuan ran ahead before running back screaming and hiding behind Celine
• Went to see Ernest et Celestine (great movie for any kids!!)
• When going through two buildings the wind was so strong that Thuan "flew" into me
• Another cute quote from Thuan "Olivier looks hard and scary on the outside, but I know in the inside he's a nice person" Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!! Too cute!!!
• Pierre Axel got sick on the last day with Diarrhea and vomiting (yuck!)

So FINALLY this post is done! Sorry for the lack of detail at the end but this just HAD to be finished! Phew, I feel lighter all of a sudden. I am just going to fly away and leave this pit hole of a post once and for all! Ciao!

Coming up...

Hi there!!!

Happy that all of you are still alive after the tragic death of the earth we have experienced on the 21st of December 2012. May there be a minute of silence in respect of the earth and all of the wonderful things it's done for us over thousands of millions of years. 

Now putting that aside I would like to give you a quick update on what is to come. Over the next four days my parents and I will be receiving our family for Christmas. We're going to be ten people in our house and this is not one event I want to be forgotten as the years pass. So to keep the memory alive, I'm going to write a new post everyday about everything that has happened. This may or may not be very interesting depending on what will or will not happen over the next four days. 

So that everything is clear, here is the list of people contributing to this event:

1. Me (Obviously, and no, my name is not obviously. ... obviously)
2. Mum (Valentine)
3. Dad (Olivier)
4. Half cousin number one (Thao who is half Vietnamese, nine years old and incredibly cute)
5. Half cousin number two (Thuan who is half Vietnamese, six years old, still believes in Santa and is also incredibly cute
6. Half aunt (Celine who is the Mum of my cousins and the half sister of my Dad. She has the same Dad but not the same Mum)
7. Grandma (Eliane but I call her Babouchka and she is the Mum of my Mum)
8. Half aunt's Mum (Genevieve)
9. Half aunt's half brother (Pierre Axel. I know this is getting confusing but stay with me. He has the same Mum as my half aunt but not the same Dad so I'm not related to him)
10. Half aunt's half brother's girlfriend (Currently her name is unknown and so is her nationality...)

So I hope this wasn't too confusing (I know that I'm lifting my hopes up for no reason) but I thought it would be less confusing to tell you now instead of trying to explain it in the middle of the next posts... please leave a comment if you're still confused! I will be happy to help :) Unfortunately I can't post any pictures of them because 1. I either don't have pictures of them or have some but are not very recent and 2. because I am not allowed to post pictures of people. Personally, I think those are two pretty good reasons not to post pictures.

There you go, a somewhat quick update on what is coming up. Oh, and by the way (BTW for all you cool kids) tomorrow there will be two posts, one on our hasty preparations before everyone arrives/arrived (if you are reading this in the future which you probably are) and a post on the first day. 

ttfn :)