Somewhere in the Middle

Making your way back home.

Post originally written: 29 June 2011.

It's funny the random things I remember growing up in New York City... our apartment and the amazing view we had from our kitchen. There were so many trees it looked like a mini forest. Never in a million years would you guess you were in NYC. I even remember the Cornell dishes my mother used daily... white with yellowy orange flowers along the border.

One item I can recall with much fondness were a set of silver rimmed monogram highball glasses. I absolutely loved these glasses. It seem like everyone had these glasses. When I'd visit my grandparents I always made a point to chose a silver rimmed high ball glass. It's been years since I've seen these glasses in my parent's house. I have no idea what happened to them. Most likely they either broke or were given away.

Several years ago we were having brunch at a friend's house and to my surprise they had a set of these silver rimmed glasses passed down from their parents. Ever since that day I've been longing to have a set of my own.

For years now I've searched for these monogram glasses with the initials from my maiden or married name but no luck. But last week, my luck changed. I couldn't believe it ... a set of six monogrammed with the letter R and in pristine condition. I immediately ordered them and just yesterday they arrived. They're so pretty and much more substantial than I remember. When I asked the seller about the glasses she told me they were purchased from an estate sale in Palo Alto, California. The glasses were an anniversary gift and it seems the couple may have displayed the glasses rather than used them. The previous owners parted with the tumblers because they were moving to the East Coast and worried that the glasses would break during transport. And that's how these pretty little glasses made their way to my home all the way in Belgium. ;)

Update: I've had my monogrammed high ball glasses for almost a year now and I hate to say it but I rarely use them for fear of breaking one. S absolutely refuses to use or wash them.  So I've been searching for another set so we can use them daily and if we break one or two we won't feel so bad. And last night I found another set again with the initial "R". From the photos the glasses seem to be in great condition and they were $30 less than what I paid for my first set. Sweet!!

C'est magnifiques!

Now that my French has progressed enough that I can say more than: My name is... and I am American I decided it's time to give the French conversation groups another go. So last week was my first session and I was the ONLY Non-French speaker! lol! Talk about pressure to speak French! lol! But my two hosts were absolutely wonderful; they were patient and so very gracious. Picture two older, elegant French women dressed to a tee with beautiful make-up (especially loved Madame Rose's red lipstick) saying, "C'est magnifiques" more times than I can remember. I fell in love with both of them especially with the artsy Madame Rose. She has an amazing passion for life & I immediately gravitated to her. Luckily for me, she also speaks Spanish & English. It seems she is extremely active with French & Spanish conversation groups, cooking classes, and teaching English among other things. I felt a special fondness for her when she told me the tender story of how she completely changed everything in her house when her husband passed away. She explained how she completely renovated her home & made everything pink. Once she was done with the inside of the house she started working on her garden. I laughed when she told me how she placed mannequins all throughout her garden. With so many mannequins in her garden Madame Rose wouldn't be alone. But in the end she said, it didn't matter what changes she made to her house. It didn't change the fact that she was still alone.

Madame Rose also mentioned that she was planning a trip to NYC with five of her best friends who do not speak a word of English! Love how gutsy she is!! I hope to have her energy & spirit when I'm her age. Going to NYC & playing tour guide to five of your best friends is not an easy task especially when you're in your 60's. It's crazy how things work though. I told her how my best friend lives in NYC & how he'd be more than happy to meet with her & her friends.

Meeting so many wonderful people in the past few weeks has been really good for me. For so long I've felt a bit displaced but things are looking brighter. My spirits are high and I'm beginning to open my heart again to the possibility of new friendships.

Charmed to meet you.

When I was younger I remember being completely fascinated with my grandmother's charm bracelet. I can see it now jingling around on her wrist. It was absolutely gorgeous & every time I see a vintage charm bracelet I think of her. My grandmother's gold charm bracelet dated back to the early 60's or perhaps even earlier. It was filled with charms that held special memories for her. One of my fondest memories was sitting with her as she described each charm & what it meant to her. The one I remember most was a calender charm my grandfather gave her with the month's stone placed on the date they met. Such a romantic gift. I never would have thought my grandfather was the sentimental type to remember the date he met my grandmother. My grandmother's bracelet was not only about her memories but those that loved her and gave her these special gifts to remember a special date, place, or event.  She also had one that said "Mother" with pearls surrounding the charm that my father gave me when she passed away.

I've always wanted a charm bracelet & for Mother's Day this year Lil' C & S gave me one. It's very different from my grandmother's bracelet but like her's it holds some beautiful memories for me. I absolutely love it. The very talented Mia from Formia Design created the charms from Lil' C's drawings. Mia did an amazing job capturing all the details in C's drawing.

What makes this bracelet so special is how most of the charms represent different stages in Lil' C's life. Like the various art periods Picasso experienced. lol! When C was about 2-4 years old he went through his rainbow period. All he wanted to draw were rainbows. Rainbows, rainbows, rainbows... they were everywhere. S & I constantly were asked to draw the outline of a rainbow so C could color it in. During those days, he'd line up his toys to match the order of the colors in a rainbow. If there was a color out of place, you could be sure C would make the appropriate changes. ;)

Towards the end of his rainbow stage, he started drawing butterflies. He loved creating butterflies in the Charlie & Lola Butterfly gallery. And of course his most recent interest... fairies.

The three other charms were from a drawing he made especially for my gift.  The middle drawing is of Snowflake, our visiting cat, a heart symbolizing love and on the right is a drawing of him & I. I love all the details C included... a little handbag, my necklace & hoop earrings, high heels, and his backpack & lunch bag.

So for this Father's Day I wanted S to have a little C creation of his own. So we sent Mia this drawing and she created a simple yet classic key chain for S.

Years from now I have no doubt we'll look at these keepsakes and it'll bring us back to these precious early years.

Happy 19!

Today S & I are celebrating our 19th anniversary. 19 years! Wow, it actually doesn't really seem that long. The time has flown.

S & I celebrated by going to restaurant I've been dying to try for the past 4 years. Not that the restaurant is super fancy or difficult to get reservations. No... the restaurant just has some crazy hours and then it underwent some construction and seem to be closed forever. So we finally went. The food was good but the company was so much better. We don't have many date nights so having dinner together was a real treat. 

Over dinner, S & I agreed that the past 19 years have definitely flown by. Neither one of us ever expected how our lives have turned out.  It's definitely been a wonderful adventure! There is no one I'd want to experience this incredible journey with then with you, S. I look forward to being together many more years. Love you!

Love the typical "Calvin" look after just 24 takes. lol!

The results are in...

Today was l'correction de l'examen francaise and I scored an 85%. Not bad. Most of the mistakes I made were small ones and avoidable had I reviewed the exam a bit closer or perhaps taken the easy route... like writing "Oui" to a question instead of answering in a complete sentence or writing 20 € instead of writing the words out. But what I'm most happy about is that I feel like my comprehension and oral skills are really improving.

Yesterday, S asked if I could go to a couple of electronic shops and get some information printed on a particular product. And I did it! All in French! One shop even had someone who spoke English but I was determined to speak French! I'm not sure how pretty it was but both customer service reps understood me. Plus, I understood most of the things they said to me which is great considering just a few months ago I barely understood a thing. It was a great feeling to walk out of the stores with the information I needed knowing I'd tried my best.

Like no other class.

This morning my French teacher gave us the option of taking the exam or reviewing for another day. She informed us that using our books, notes, dictionary, and anything else we wanted was completely ok. Did I mention how much I adore my professor!  I love this laissez faire test taking attitude. It's brilliant! Some students were even talking to one another during the exam and helping one another. But it's hard not to see someone else's exam when you're sitting so close to them in class. Forget personal space. Is this normal behavior for an exam? I'm not sure but I'm fine with it. I'm not getting  a degree in French.

Half of the class took the exam today including me. I also requested to take the oral exam as well. Why not just get it done and over with. I didn't want to be worrying any more than I already have. The written exam wasn't too bad. I think I did fine but the oral direction section really threw me. What is it with me and directions? But I'm happy to be done. Plus, now I have two days free while the other students take the exam.

Preparing for this exam is helping me give up my old procrastinating ways... No more waiting until the last minute to study. And there is no way I'm pulling my famous college all nighters. I need to do a little every day. Dedicating some time making flash cards, working on extra assignments, and listening to more French cd's and podcasts will definitely improve my comprehension and oral skills. Just listening to 8+hrs of French each week has helped me tremendously and it's such a great feeling when you know what you're reading & can pick up bits of words here and there in a conversation.

Learning French

My head is swimming right now. Will I ever remember which French words are masculine & feminine? And what about the adjectifs - do they go before or after the noun and do I use mon, ma, ton, ta, ses, vous, leur, leurs.... Makes me want to pull my hair out. And tomorrow is my first French written exam. I'm a bit worried to say the least.

Initially, our written & oral exam were scheduled for next week with a three day review. But then two weeks later the professor moved up our exam a few days with only a two day review. Ok, that's not too bad. With the pre-lent break I figured I'd have some time to study but... I procrastinated and never opened the book. When we returned to class, the professor announced she'd give us both the written & oral exam this week and we'd spend one day reviewing! I'm sure if this class were in our mother tongues this announcement would not have gone over so well. Yet, none of us know enough French to dispute these changes so we just accepted it. But our professor has a good heart and is accommodating some students who won't be able to attend class which I think is great. But I'm a huge procrastinator so why delay the exam any longer. Would I really use the extra days to study? I'd like to think I would but I'm just going to go for it and hope for the best. Wish me luck!

Just call me by my other name...

That's right. I'm thinking of changing my name. I love my name but when the French pronounce it it sounds absolutely awful. I'm going to work on getting my teacher to pronouce it as an American would but if not, I think I may need to switch it to something more French... Maybe Élodie, Laudine, Amélie, or maybe Mimi.

Remember last week when I was making fun of the assignment on directions. Well, I was in the city the other day & I needed directions. Me, the one that was questioning why anyone would need directions when you can use a GPS. lol! Anyway... I stopped a woman on the street and said, "Excusez-moi Madame" and she told me, "Sorry, I don't speak French. I only speak English". lol!!

Please don't ask me for directions.

So... did I mention I'm taking French, again? That's right... I'm giving it another try.

In January, I enrolled in a French course that meets 3 times a week for three hours. Nine hours of French per week! It's intense but our teacher is moving at a slow pace which I like. And the best motivator? Exams. Which is good for me. I'm definitely the type of student that needs exams & assignments.

I really like my class. There are students from Thailand, Philippine, Uruguay, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Congo, Poland, Russia, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Great Britain, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and other countries I'm sure.  There is one other American besides myself. My instructor is amazing too. She speaks very little English but through her actions, words, and drawings we're all able to understand her. The course is subsidized by the government so it's really inexpensive. For a 6 month course I paid 72 Euros. You just can't beat that price!

This past week we're focusing on directions and the differences between a Boulevard, Avenue, Chaussée, Chemin, and Rue. I have to admit our lesson on directions make me laugh because it seems a bit old school. lol! With so many people using the GPS or Google/online maps does anyone really give out directions? lol! All you need to do these days is plug in an address. But I suppose even with modern technology there are times when you need to give or receive directions.

Last week our instructor paired us up with other students to work on two different assignments. And again I find so much humor in this lesson. I mean there are some people who give awful directions (you know who you are) and they're using their mother tongue! If you don't give good directions in your own language what makes you think you'll do any better in a foreign one. lol! Anyway, both of my partners did not speak any English. One of my partners was from Russia and the other woman... well I couldn't understand when she told me where she was from. But her French dictionary looked quite foreign-no letters only symbols. Not being able to communicate made working on our assignment a bit challenging considering I wasn't entirely sure what the teacher even wanted us to do in the first place! lol! Thank god, I speak Spanish because one of my classmates from Spain explained the exercise to me.  I suppose in some ways having to rely on my French to communicate will be a good motivator. Perhaps one day I'll be able to get to know my classmates through French but right now this outgoing grrrl isn't speaking all that much. lol!

I'm not the only one learning French. We really want C to become fluent as well. Little C already takes French in school and is involved in a French club but he still needs more help. I spoke with his French teacher and she advised me to enroll C in an after school activity with other French/Belgian children. But I don't think that's going to happen after the incident at the Ballet school. I need to take baby steps with C. If I don't, I'm worried he'll completely shut down and avoid learning French. And I don't want him to miss out on this opportunity. It would be awful if we lived here for several years and he moved back to the US without knowing French. So I've hired a wonderful tutor for Little C. He actually knows her from a few years back when he attended her summer camp. So C feels very comfortable with her. And so far so good. He loves that they play games together. I don't even think he realizes how much he's learning. During his lesson, I played a "Go Fish" type of game called "La Famille" where you have to collect all the people in de famille de sculpteur, décorateur, potier, architecte, etc. Very cute. It was great practice for me too. I must have said "Est ce que tu as?" (Do you have?) at least 15 times. lol!

Purging + Organizing

Things are slowing looking better around the house. The new washer & dryer are working great. So far the washer hasn't stained any of my clothes which is a very good sign. For some strange reason our previous washer randomly stained my clothes... like a splatter of dark oil spots that were impossible to get out. It was awful and no matter how many times the repair man came out to look at it he found nothing. And what was even more crazy was that the washing machine ONLY stained my clothes. S & C never had a problem. Over the past four+ years I did a lot of hand washing! Let's hope those days are over.

Our new refrigerator is completely hooked up too. Although, I almost missed the delivery again! For some odd reason, the delivery guys wouldn't knock... he just stood in front of the door. Very weird. It's a good thing I just so happen to pass by our front door and saw the truck from one of my windows. My goal with this refrigerator is to keep it free of clutter. Our last one had way too much going on... tons of artwork, calendars, photos, magnets, kitchen timer, and who knows what else. Little C found a box of magnet words and the next thing I knew he put these words on the fridg. It's the perfect. ;) I love it.

And the most wonderful news... our wardrobes are completely built and most of our clothes are all put away. Or at least most of them. One of the racks for my skirts & pants broke so I need to replace it. But the purging continues. It's ridiculous the amount of stuff I was holding onto. I was Skyping with my sister the other day and she asked me she could help me make some decisions about what to keep and what to get rid of. So I tried on a few skirts that I've been hanging onto for.... oh, I don't know 12-14 years or maybe more! Oh, that was embarassing to admit! lol! But I thought they were still pretty so I continued to hang onto them. Here are a few of the memorable comments my sister made regarding my pretty skirts....

"You STILL have that!"

"You used to wear your skirts THAT LONG!"

"T, that is totally OUT of style!

"Oh no, you've GOT to get rid of that... it's very Little House on the Prairie!"

Did she just say, "Little House on the Prairie"! That was a tough thing to hear! Little House on the Prairie! Are you freakin' kidding me! lol! I felt like I was on "What not to Wear."

When you hear someone else make these types of comments it really knocks some sense into you. Let me tell you, I couldn't get those skirts into the consignment bin fast enough. Someone else can look like they just stepped out of "Little House on the Prairie"! But it's not going to be ME!