En fait, I am alive

So, franchement gotta say things aren't looking that good for me keeping this puppy up. But, for those of you reading this aka probably only me right now, I did get into Rennes safe and sound and everything is going ridiculously smoothly so far which is unheard of in France and I am, therefore, awaiting something terrible to happen, but ça va très bien pour le moment. Will (or won't) write more later! A+

Somebody's ready...and it ain't me

Avoiding packing is my current activity of choice. As organized as I am, I'm also overpreparing like it's my jizzidyob and, therefore, I am at a crossroads deciding whether I should just buy some stuff in France(markers, stapler, tape, ruler...mostly school supplies) or if I should lug it along to avoid spending unnecessary money, but make my luggage heavier in the process. With the exception of one pack of markers, I will be leaving all that behind, btw. The idea is to be the minimum amount of overprepared I can be....that's the best I can do. Fewer sweaters, less warm-weather clothes...I can do it! I'm driving myself seriously folle. I would love, love, love to be done with packing(as much as I can pack that I don't need before I leave) by tonight...but, as you can see, I have chosen other useful things to do such as write about it. Blech. I also am screwing myself up by taking a backpack instead of a second suitcase because there is just not as much room. The fact that my shoulders, back and arms are going to be jello by the time I get to Rennes=not a happy Leah. I WILL suck it up, but I also WILL complain a lot...to myself of course since I'm gonna be all by my lonesome. Boo hoo for me.

Tomorrow is taking Sienna to the vet day(along with another French mani!) and that'll be fun....NOT(whoa, saying "not" is totally circa 1992!) But anyways....so tomorrow is check-up, rabies shot, MICROCHIP(AHHHHHH!) and health cert...she's not gonna like it!...good thing the 21 hour long trip is TWO DAYS LATER. I'm a cruel pet owner. Oh well, besides the vomiting and accidents, I'm sure it'll be a great trip-please insert sarcasm. At least she feels nice and safe in her pet carrier I have left out for her for many weeks now...too bad that'll last a hot minute and then the hatred will ensure. Poor little muffin.

Can I also just ask: Why is it that your life always seems great right before you're about to leave? Why do you only think of the good things about the place you're in and the bad things about the place you're going to? That always happened during college, study abroad and the first time I did the assistantship. My mom's already cried thinking about me leaving. I really dislike that part...thinking about leaving behind my fam and friends...especially fam. Oh, that reminds me...I forgot to share my fun times at the Shore with the Blog World. Moving on from the sad part...

Here she blows...so, I went to Ocean City with Kev and Shan who are two friends from UR that are the funnest ever. I hadn't seen them since Montreal when they visited me soon before I left...so I guess 2.5 or 3 months earlier. They are just so jokey, silly and we make fun of each other the entire time...I love it. So, anyway, we all made it to Kev's shore house on Fri night and had a nice night of drinking and playing this card game called "Crowns" that I learned to love...espec since I only got last place once...and we played it many a time.

We were all exhaust, so we went to bed on the earlier side(for us) and got a good night's sleep so we could be ready for Atlantic City the next day. The next day, we walked all around the boardwalk, caught a movie and K&S even took part in an impromptu dancing sesh.
We got back to the house that evening and just lazed around watching episodes of Next that were the most bizarre ever, played some more crowns, downed some wine(unbeknownst to Kev) and got dinner after driving around to three different places and finally deciding to order out which still took a freakin hour!

After din, we got all pretty, had some more alki(I was def way fine by this point) and headed to the casino. We had decided to take a cab there and back so no one had to be the DD. Long story short, we were prepared to win millions and Kev and I both came out 15 bucks richer and Shan, 90 richer!(although she did have a cheat card to play Blackjack with...oops...which we later found out is illegal...double oops.) Shan had the winning strategy also in drink ordering...we'd each order a round for all three of us and, that way, we could save mulah by tipping 2 dollars total instead of each paying 1 per drink if we ordered separately...so smart, that one! Side note: I miss Europe and the non-tipping.

So, needless to say, I was pa-retty sa-mashed by the end of the night. I mean, I wasn't OOC, but I did fall asleep in the cab ride and apparently K&S were trying to wake me by talking smack about me...but it didn't work. Double side note: my "n" key on my keyboard just fell off...that's just great. Moving on, Sun was a beach day and then Shan headed home to NY and Kev and I to his beautious house where we had din with his rents and sis and hot tubbed it for a little while before heading to bed. Ahh, such a nice relaxing slash wild weekend...just how I like them. Better had be off to continue my packing...such fun awaits me. Ralph upon ralph.


Update: "N" key has been fixed courtesy of Dad...thank goodness, I would prefer not to have a mini panic attick if at all possible...and paying for one more thing would do that to me!

Bling blingin'

So, I mentioned a bit back that I had a jewelry par-tay with my sis where we showed off some Lia Sophia goodies and our friends and fam bought a good amount of stuff along with me and the sis. A few weeks back, we received a big package in the mail at my sis's and got to check out and try on, I mean, sort out everyone's jewelry for them...hehe. Well, for your viewing pleasure here is the jewelry I got along with a few necklaces I bought at someone else's party, complete with a fake engagement ring to ward off the dragueurs that are bound to prey on this poor ricaine!

More to come about my weekend plus tard! Biz!!

NB:Engagement ring not shown(just realized I didn't take a pic of it, but I assure you it is a beaut!)

Addicted

I have been a big H2O drinker for years now. My handy Nalgene ensures that with just two full containers worth, I get my daily 8 glasses of water. Often, I drink a few glasses more of water every day just because I'm not a big juice, soda or coffee drinker at all, so I usually have that or milk with meals. I attribute my good skin to all this water and when given the chance, I recommend people drink more water if they're trying to be healthier. So, water has never done me wrong...until now that is...dum, dum, dummm(can't you just see the Lifetime TV movie now?)

Ever since I started my summer job, I have been chugging back agua like there's no tomorrow out of boredom, fatigue, etc. It wakes me up, it makes me have to go to the b-room(don't even get me started on my tiny bladder, I'm infamous for "breaking the seal" and popping a squat-and franchement, couldn't care less). Besides those two pluses, it happens to be good for me to boot. Well, I have been usually throwing back a minimum of 16 glasses at work and then at least 4 more when I get home. So, I've been downing 2.5-3 times the amount of recommended water, folks. Sure, I've had to go to the b-room, that's expected, and I actually heard it was cleansing..not to be gross or anything. So besides those many, many trips, it hasn't ever been an issue.

Well, last night, I was just lazing around and I thought wow, I could go for some water, I really need some pretty bad, have I hardly had any today so I went and filled up my Nalgene and called it a night. This morning, I thought about it and realized, why in the world would I have EVER felt the need for water when I had previously had about 16 glasses worth? That's right, I had about 4 less than my average, but still a good amount. Then, today, after I polished off 4 glasses in about 4 sips, I thought, I could go for another Nalgene's worth! And, as I sit here, water is actually sounding pretty good right now. Have I gone crazy? No. I have decided I am a water addict. Hello, my name is Leah and I'm a waterholic. Can that happen to people? If so, sign me up for WA because I gots 99 problems and a sip ain't one. Mot to your mere, I'm OUTTIE.

As Robert Palmer would tell me(if he spoke franglais, that is): might as well face it, you're addicted to eau...

I heart Labor Day

So, in America which I love(this weekend, at least) it is labor day weekend. What that means is that I don't have to work tomorrow aaaand it's only a four day week which equals that Leah only has 9 more days left of work!!! I heart you, forefathers or whoever came up with the idea of labor day. Anyhoo, this weekend, L came down from Boston to visit with me and P for possibly the last time before I leave. Let me just say, L is one loud, crazy m-effer. She is hilarious and so bold and a ton of fun. It is honestly pretty tiring keeping up with her, though, as silence is not an option, she talks wicked fast and jumps from one subject to the next in, like, .5 seconds. But, it's worth it fo sho. Just to fill you in-L and P are friends from High School(2 of about 4 good friends, one being the BFF, I have left from HS...and then there are the 3 stragglers besides those 4) and it's refreshing to get to hang out with them because they are just so genuine and nice...yet, they still have an edge. I love me some multi-dimensional peepz.

We got manicures and pedicures(just a mani for me as I'm trying to be good about spending mulah) and I was too excited as I can count the manis and pedis I've had in my life on one hand: 4...3 being manis and 1 pedi(for the first time this summer, I'll have you know!) I dunno, something before just made me uncomfortable with people buffing, washing and lotioning my feet. Call me crazy, but it all seems a bit too patronizing at times...plus I dislike my feet...feet in general, really. So, I opted for just the mani and I loooooove it(hence the photo for today's post) Isn't it pur-ty? After the manis and pedis, we headed to a Thai restaurant on the recommendation of some random at the salon and let me tell you, it suuuuucked. Besides the interesting conversation and the cutesy setting, the whole experience was a bust. It took us 30 mins to get seated(it wasn't even that busy either!) and 30 more mins to get our appetizer. We noticed the trend of waiting, and we were starving like crazy, so my friend, L, whips out not one, but two Cliff Bars from her bag and we all chowed down like the classy ladies we are, haha! We were about ready to eat the Bamboo off all the tables, but managed to stick it out for another HOUR until our food came. We all started to practically inhale the stuff and a few bites later I said, "do you guys even like your food?" And they were like "actually, not really." We were just so effing starving that we started eating without really thinking about it and realized soon after that we were very unimpressed. P had the Pad Thai, it was saucy, yet bland. L and I both had something called Chicken Raam, it too was bland and just altogether bo-ring. No thanks to the Green Papaya. All that time for nada!

5,000 hours later when we were finally done, we headed to Blockbuster and picked up a random movie with the girl from Scrubs and the guy from Ed thinking they're funny, it could be funny. Nope. No luck there. I normally just say no to random films, but I was actually the one who suggested it because nothing else looked good...scratch that, it was more because L has apparently seen almost every movie known to man. Anyway, about 15 mins into it, I proclaimed, "I'm bored, how bout you guys?" They were thinking the exact same thing, so episodes of Will&Grace were quickly proposed as the solution and all was good.

Ok, I just realized most of you reading are probably sleeping out of BOREDOM by now, but I guess I can write a lot about nothing really. So, ignoring your boredom, I'll continue! Today, L left with a potential plan to help see me off at the airport, which would be nice. ALTHOUGH, last time consisted of me saying goodbye to my fam all smiles and jokes until I turned, went through security and tears started streaming down my face. So, I don't know that another person that I will miss will really help that situation, I'm hoping my cat giving me the hairy eyeball for packing her up and taking her trans-atlantic will be enough to avoid "tear fest 2006" as I have decided to call it. Besides that, I went to the mall to buy more makeup that I probably(definitely) don't need...but wait, that shade is a little darker than that one and this one has a sheen to it. I'm ridiculous. Umm, what else? Oh yeah, went to Petco and Border's...boring, I know. But, I am hearting this free feeling I'm having knowing that Sunday doesn't mean the next day equals me back at work. Ugh, good riddance! Tomorrow will probably consist of me lazing around, organizing something or other(can anyone say anal?) and auditioning to be a hand model. Kidding on that last one, of course! K, better end this as my towel wrapped around my hair like Erykah Badu is really turning into an Erykah Ba-DONT(stole that from W&G, of course!) I'm out like trout, a bientot!!

Girlie girl slash chill weekend

So, this weekend turned out to be about being a girlie girl like whoa. On Fri, my sis and I held a jewelry party at her apt where we had some friends, family and coworkers over to check out some gorge Lia Sophia jewelry. We had been to a party at sis's friend's house a month ago and really liked the jewelry and the lady that was selling it, so we decided to host our own party and invite our peepz. Well, little did we know how much work we would end up putting into it. I was organizing, cleaning and cooking like nobody's business, but it was well worth it. Everybody had a fab time and got to buy some super cute jewelry(including me and sis) and it was nice to see some people we hadn't in a while. About being girlie, if the fact that we hosted a jewelry party doesn't already testify, let me also point out that my sis made Sangria and we also all drank Smirnoff Twisted Watermelons. Yummo...I likes me some girlie drinks(and beer too!) Anyway, needless to say that there was a looooot of estrogen up in that piece.

On to more girlieness, my sis and I spent a good bit of Saturday making cards. That's right, folks, we were Stampin Up! I'm talking glue pens, glitter, flower-shaped paper punches, painting chalk, stamps and varied shades of cardstock. I made cute frenchie ones that I can send to peepz in the states (you know, guilt them into sending me stuff...haha!) and then I also made one that I messed up and tried to salvage, but I just continued to make worse and worse. Looks like the rents should be expecting a card from me sometime soon! I basically spent almost this entire weekend lazing away at my sis's, which was so nice to do- I felt like I was on vaca! Going back to work tomorrow is gonna be rough, that's for sure. But, between jewelry shopping all Fri night, stamping my little fingers off on Sat and organizing cards and postcards people have sent me recently today, I'm pretty girlied out. That being said, I'm dying to get my paws on all my albums so I can go through them and pick out pics I want to bring to France with me to hang up and also to have in a little album-I'm gonna try to not bring as many frames this time and none of my major albums, but it's hard since I loves me some photos. This girlie girl is spent, though, so I'll have to say à tantôt for now!

Lauren and Pam saying hell to the no to the food

(Un)Prepared mélange

Disclaimer: Please bare with me if this is a)boring b)sucks in a major way, c)is poorly-written or d)all of the above. Have pity on me, peepz, I'm a newbie!

So, I have an entire month before I leave for France, wait, lemme rewrite that, I only have a month before I pack up my shizzle into a big suitcase that will be packed to the brim along with a hiking backpack. Yikes and a half. With the new restrictions on any sort of liquid not allowed on the plane and people feeling that nervousness again that goes along with flying after 911, I can't help but hope with all my heart that things won't feel so unstable when my time comes along to "hop" on a plane and cross the ocean yet again for the 50 kajillionth time. Ok, so I'm exaggerating a tad, I think this is more like the 50 bajillionth time. Despite the fact that I feel fairly accustomed to moving abroad and starting fresh, it gets more difficult each time.

I think the dealio is that I get used to being over there and there's this certain feeling I have when I live in France that I just love(J, l'anglaise, can attest, I know.) So, it gets harder every time to fall in love with France, so to speak, and then have to pack up and ship out...for the umpteenth time. This time around, I'm hoping to be able to stay past my contract or at least come back for la rentrée in 2007. So, this post is a mix of old feelings resurfacing as well as a new-found sense of hope along with that exciting what's-going-to-happen feeling I get every time I start up something new. And here you thought this post was starting to sound all woe is me and all that shizzy. No, folks..that's just a taste of the crazy roller coaster ride you'd get if I actually keep this puppy up and running!! I'm a rambler.

Well, I have to get my a$$ to bed as I have to get up at 6:30 for the jizzob I only have to withstand for 17 more days...you betta b'leev I gots me a countdown! 34 days til I leave for France!! On that note, I'm outtie. Peace, suckas:)

Debating starting my own blog

So, I don't know if I'll start this up or not. But, at least now I won't have to be in grey with my name not underlined if I comment on someone else's blog! If I decide to do this, I'll let you know. For now, I'm just gonna let it sit and decide later. Word to your mere. I'm out.

PS-That's my kitty and she is completely unrelated to the post, but entirely adorable. Aaaand, I got to practice my blogging skillz.