Blog to Procrastinate Packing Part II

I left for Paris last Tuesday, flew overnight, slept for 20 minutes on the plane but watched some great films, arrived, and then walked around the city of lights all day with a long lost friend.  Simply fabulous. Walking in Paris is amazing because every building is beautiful – of course stuff like the Arc de Triomphe and Louvre are, but even things that don’t really matter like apartment buildings and police stations are very pleasing to look at.  Then there’s the opera, the department stores, the train stations, the parks, the bridges, the libraries, the monuments, the statues… it never ends.

We started off at the Sacre Coeur,

discovered Parc Monceau,

ate an overpriced crepe at the Eiffel Tower,

napped in the shade, rested in a Byzantine looking cathedral, ate fondu in the Latin Quarter, and finished by playing cards in front of the Notre Dame.

Sunday, the last day before starting the rigorous work of nannying, they threw a party for Grace (the nanny who is passing me the torch).  We lounged on the deck eating Russian caviar (130 euros a pop… yeah, it was delicious), freshly butchered beef off the grill, and raspberry tarts.  Monday I started work and ironed some sheets and then played Monopoly for an hour.  Basically I’m livin the life and it’s FREAKING AWESOME.

Oh, and I’m supposed to be packing because tomorrow I’m going to the south of France for the rest of the summer to their home on the French Riviera.  Pooling, beaching, restauranting and nannying.

(this isn’t really their house, just a google image, but it’s not far off)

Oh and hopefully watching the Tour de France live in front of my face!

another comment that needs to be published.

Annie on June 18, 2009 said:

I went through this same dilemma a few years ago. My Mom sent me a chain email once a few years ago (after I literally got very sick trying to stop drinking DC). It said something to the fact that scientists did a study and put, I think it was a nail, into a glass of DC and it started disintegrating after a day. The email went on and on about the dangers of drinking DC and it scared me for about 3 days. I once said that it was “the sweet sweet nectar” over the pulpit. That should knock me down a few at judgement. When its all said and done, has anyone died from consuming Diet Coke? Yeah, it might be a factor in many health issues, but no one has had an autopsy and the report shows “death by Diet Coke”. LONG LIVE THE SWEET SWEET NECTER.

annie, this is really really funny.  i just read it out loud to my sister and laughed the whole way through.  i actually totally feel the same way… no matter what i hear nothing seems to justify me stopping Just yet.  I’m not up to like 64 oz cups that don’t fit into car cup holders or 2 liters a day.  i’ve heard that nail thing too, and it just doesn’t do anything for me.  So, if i do hear anything that really sways my habits, i’ll let you know, but seriously i dont see it happening anytime soon.

I do want to get off the caffeine at some point in life though.

Please scare me.

I know logically that I have to stop drinking Diet Coke.  I’m trying to de-vice.  I’d like to thank my last and most boring communications class for getting me hooked on the DC.  I’d bring a can in everyday and soon enough, it wouldn’t suffice and I upped it to a 32 oz. from the local Chevron (which is THE best diet coke in provo, I dont care what anyone else says), and THEN when that semester was over and I had an 8 o’clock class, I STILL wanted it and ended up drinking that cursed beverage in the 7’s hour.  yeah. I am disgusting.  And even though I know it dehydrates, it’s got aspartame (all the hype about that I dont really believe anyway) and caffeine, nothing has yet convinced me to stop.

So what I need is I need to be scared. Frightened. That’s what got me to stop eating meat – although that ended really quickly… basically at the option of barbecued pulled pork… but anyway, it lasted for awhile and I really dont eat that much meat anyway. But back to the point – I need to be really scared about what diet coke can do. I’ve heard the rumors about killing stomach lining or something, but I haven’t really believed any of it.  Please. if you have anything.  I’m welcoming an intervention.

Comment of the day:

Rich on June 16, 2009 said:

Here is scary thought….

If you keep drinking Diet Coke you will end up going to hair school, marrying a guy who does summer sales, having babies really quickly and then getting together with your other Orem BFFs who graduated from hair school saying “Oh my heck! I’m so addicted to Diet Coke! I love American Idol. Also I totally love using lots of product in my hair. Oh my gosh, I love diet coke! It is like my coffee in the morning. I’m so addicted. Look how much I push the line.”

Tis the Season

Lots of things are happening in the world of sports right now, and i’m not going to pretend like i know what’s going on.  Don’t let me fool you, just because I watch the spelling bee does not make me a watcher of real sports.  While I did enjoy the Champions League final, I’ve made no effort to catch more than a few highlights from the recent NBA games, baseball is always on and I can’t change the channel fast enough, and wasn’t the Stanley cup finals going on recently? Is that over?

The point is, is while all this is going on and I don’t really care, one thing I HAVE been trying to follow is the French Open.  I’m curently watching Andy Murray get scarily close to being eliminated by Chilean Fernando Gonzalez.  Nadal was out pretty early, but took it like a champ anyway.  And the last chance America had in mens singles was taken away from Andy Roddick by Frenchman Gaël Monfils.  (Wow, Murray just lost – so many upsets on these clay courts!)  And I missed the Roddick match, but I did catch this clip of Monfils from my cousin’s blog.  It’s not the match against Roddick, but it’s pretty rad.

The sliding, the diving, the celebrating. I like him.