Sunday Walk

This past Sunday, Seta was sick, the weather was nice and we were bored! Normally if we were home in the states, this would mean a visit to family or friends just to get out of the house. But life here is different. Although we do have friends we could have visited, there's nothing like dropping in for a random visit to family or close friends who are pretty much family. Small pleasures like this are what I miss back home!

On the other hand, back home we wouldn't be able to drive a couple minutes to a Frenchy downtown like this and enjoy the beautiful, historical surroundings. I never get tired of this foreign beauty! I love my life here and am so grateful for this experience. I have to remind myself of how awesome it is to be here on days I miss home. Overall, I love it here! I'm totally soaking it in because I know when we go back to the states, life will get more complicated, I'll go back to working and all that annoying grown up stuff that has been pretty minimal here. Anyway just a reminder to myself: Be grateful for your experiences and surroundings NO MATTER where you are or what you're doing!

Stopped for this mommy daughter mirror pic. Thank goodness for mirrors when we don't have anyone to snap a pic haha

Bench surfing in downtown Beziers

Eglise de la Madeleine 

Christmas 2013 Beziers

I was doing a little blog stalking today(you all do it too, don't lie)  which inspired me to write a random entry of a random event...Christmas! This was our 2nd Christmas is Beziers and my 2nd Christmas away from home. We celebrated it like we did last year--roasted pigs with the other islanders and did an umu and presents for the kids. The adults played the white elephant gift exchange. We got several packages from family in the states, ate a ton and enjoyed watching our daughters excitement and intrigue as she opened her new toys. 

This was at the Beziers rugby Christmas party and the Santa was a bit...off. Haha

First pic with papa Noel! She didn't like him, hence his position lol

She loves books and got lots for Christmas!

Christmas feast

Our tree that doubled as a card holder and stocking hanger 

Impossible pic of the Bezier kiddies

We always miss family and friends back home but also enjoy the experience of spending Christmas in France with friends who are also away from their families. These are memories we will always love and cherish!!

Update Nov 2013

Only one update matters and here she is!

My baby girl who just turned 1 on November 14th! I love her. She brings so much life to her parents. She is full of energy and personality and is just a ball sunshine! You get the point :) we've already had so many adventures with her in her first year. She's already traveled more than a lot of people do in their life, probably haha more posts on our travels later...

Beziers

This is our new home for a couple years, Beziers. The dynamic of this town is definitely different than Montpellier...not in a bad way, just different. We're always happy for new experiences, be it good or bad and can't wait for the experiences we will have here. Bienvenue à Béziers!

Rome, Italy in May 2012

A place I always dreamed of going: ROME, Italy. The birthplace of western civilization. The "navel of the world". The eternal city. Aww Rome...such a distant land from America. It's one of those cities you learn about in school with its rich history. It's one of those cities that you only see in cool movies. A city that has a history dating back thousands of years. We were very lucky to be able to see this amazing place! The opportunity came through rugby and our very good friend Julian. He was invited to put an islanders team together for the annual Roma Sevens tournament and invited Seta to come. A 7s tournament with teams from around the world AND it's in Rome? Yes please! It also happened to be the weekend of my 26th birthday so we were able to celebrate it by having an authentic Italian pasta dinner and gelato ice cream in front of the Trevi fountain. Ahh, what a dream. Roma, I hope to see you again someday!

Resurrection of the blog!

Ok so I am going to attempt to write posts about my life in the past year since so much had happened and I keep thinking about how much I'll regret not documenting it better. I haven't liked writing in journals since I was little and I never will...it's just not my thing. Good thing there is blogging and social networks(that I also suck at haha) these days for non journal writers!

So I got engaged...

UNDER THE EIFFEL TOWER IN PARIS!! lol Yeah, no big deal right?

I still can't believe that happened! What a fairytale engagement!

So the fairytale story goes like this:

Once upon a time...

I flew to Paris in March 2011 to visit Seta because he had a few days off. It was kind of a spur of the moment trip. I just happend to have a few days off and so did he so I jumped on the plane and flew first class direct to Paris(thank goodness for flight benefits!) Seta took a train up from Montpellier and met me at the train station in Paris where we hopped on the metro to do a little sightseeing around Paris before our train to Lyon to visit Mata and Romu.

Our first stop was the Musee du Louvre...




The architecture of the museum was so pretty!

It was incredible to see the glass pyramids in person after seeing it in movies and stuff(The DaVinci Code lol) We didnt have time to go in but I WILL someday soon because hello the Mona Lisa painting is there! haha and a lot of other famous artwork ;)

Next stop was the Arc de Triomphe...


Seta and the Arc de Triomphe


and I...

This was a lot bigger than I thought and absolutely beautiful!

Our last stop on our quick tour was THEE Eiffel Tower... Ok now everyone knows what the Eiffel Tower looks like. It's one of the most famous structures in the world! BUT when you see it for the first time in person, it is absolutely breathtaking!


in awe of the tower--before the proposal


island boy made it all the way to the Eiffel Tower lol

Built in 1889, it stands at 1,063 ft and held the record for the tallest manmade structure in the world for 41 years until the Chrysler buildings were built<---ok that was a random fact for ya haha Anyway, so ya, very very tall and amazing!! I caught a glimpse of it from the metro before we got off to see it and got so excited like I had just seen a celebrity :)

After walking around this amazing structure, we stood underneath it and were talking. At that point, I had an idea but when Seta actually knelt down and opened the little box with the ring, OMG I got very emotional and then I pulled him to stand up because I didnt want everyone looking at me haha He proposed, I said YES, and now am ENGAGED :)


yup, just after I said yes :)


Good job Seta!!



And they lived happily ever after.
THE END.......for now.. :)