parle vous anglice?

{3.16.10}

jinis se pa and croissant that is all I could communicate and for a communicator.. THAT is a cripple Paris was alluring, dazzling, and elegant. Enough for me to appreciate and then feel uncomfortable. I felt pressure to look better than I felt. oops. I did love the vibes of the city, but try as I might, I couldn't get past the demographical stereotypes. Sorry Parisians. Our first night in the city of lights we had cheese and snails... I wanna know WHO decided THAT was a good idea. Log and I preferred to take up residency in every patisserie and crepery we laid eyes on. We even made up our own signature crepe combination: Nuetella, Banana, and Coconut. you're welcome France love the Americans

once in a lifetime, but hopefully more

3.5.2010

have you ever thought about how all encompassing the time frame "lifetime" is? I mean, its infinity as far our carnate existence is on this material earth is concerned and I'm about to exit the platform for this wild ride. It took the pilgrims weeks to complete this voyage "accross the pond" anddddd here we go! My thoughts right now are somewhat stressed about not being able to see enough in my allotted sentence in Europe. My expectations and perceptions of what is to come includes meeting rugged British gents in pubs like in p.s. i love you, epic hotels and street markets from my mum, odd european goofs like Peter Sellers in his Pink Panther films, and nannies and crooked teeth children from Marry Poppins. How do you like that twisted buffet of european stereotypes? oops, i'm just being honest. I am also experiencing this gripping terror of being trafficked. I'm sure it is just from last weekend of being in DC with Not For Sale and all the research and reading I have been doing, but I just have this hovering fear. [stay tuned for day 1}

iminence

{12.21.09}

There is something about a young girl revisiting the places where her mother once pranced about as a young twenty something.

Sitting on my mom's bed watching her get dressed and ready in the mirror of a vanity each morning, as a little girl, I inexorably determined that my mom the most beautiful and fascinating thing that I would ever know. I knew her so well yet so much of her life before I came into existence was/is such a mystery.
Pleading with my mom to tell and retell stories of her young essence, I was mesmorized sorting through her childhood books, college jewelry, black and white photos, and adventured collectibles from her travels. I proudly absorbed every compliment from her friends declaring I look just like her. I am captivated by all her stories of love and loss, and completely enamored by her and my dad's story of coming together as they are still completely in love today.

Which brings me to the ultimate adventure on my to do list. My mom lived in England for 2 years during college and it was always a given that I ordained to also. Although her wealthy parents were able to underwrite such a juncture, I was fated to sweat out summer jobs on the beach by day and scoop ice cream on the boardwalks all night to save every last tip and lost penny in the street to afford such as semester in London. I could never muster up enough funds (although one summer was enough to unite me with my first car and first love: my 1992 white jeep wrangler) to send me over the channels and trade winds to wander down portebello road shopping for plates that now sit stacked in our kitchen cabinets peruse down the cobble stone streets that led to the London Bridge where my dad got down on one knee to give my mom her engagement ring.

Europe is marvelous in itself, yet I still have sent myself on a life mission to see what my mother saw at this age. What esoteric sights danced in her eyes and fueled her transcendental dreams that out poured into the woman that chased me around the neighborhood playground?

I finally graduated college and worked my first couple months of a "Real job." 9-5 desk clad and all I lived to see my first student loan payment as well as.... drum roll... my first major purchase of a ticket to Heathrow airport!!!!
Lest I be so careless as to not purchase travel insurance? NOTHING CAN HOLD ME BACK!
Soho, Covent Garden, Picadilly Circus, Big Bend, London's West End, The Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Chateau Versailles, the Vatican, the Pantheon a thousand men have gone before, but this is MY turn! The well worn streets where I so aspire to entreat and sit at a corner pub in a hat, boot, scarf, and leather jacket, with my notebook to document every timeless vibe that saunters through the air.

Half the fun is getting there and the anticipation could kill me. Dreams come with difficulty and delay, that much is guaranteed... so I chased this one and here I go! Either I will see how much I can keep with me or there will be no definitive number to how many times I return. Anyway... trip to Europe. CHECK. Unwrap the mystery of my heritage/legacy/disposition? on my way...