First Day Stateside

We landed in New Orleans around midnight last night. We've worked out a pretty good system for beating jet lag... in the 21 travel hours it takes to get here, you can't sleep. It's really hard, but if you can do it, you're rewarded with total exhaustion upon arrival, which ensures a full night's sleep. We woke up feeling pretty normal.

We got to celebrate my brother's birthday today. He always gets the shaft since we're usually travelling on the actual day, which means a lack of phone calls and certainly no posts. This year was no different... he turned six yesterday. But apparently he's been celebrating all month, so extending the festivities one more day wasn't a problem. Here's Liam, smiling after opening our present.


And here's a family shot. He's tall for six, right? I've lost all knowledge of normal age characteristics. There was a time when I was surrounded by kids (being the oldest of many grandchildren on both sides of my family). But now, there are so many years separating me from the younger ones, and my brother and I in particular are 23 years apart! For his last birthday, I thought about getting him a book in Italian... figured it might be fun, until I ran the idea past Ryan. I got the, "you are crazy if you think he wants a book," look. Now, I know to ask my stepmom what toys he might like. She knows. I don't know anything. I don't know what verbal skills are considered normal for a six-year-old, so I'm always amazed when he communicates so effectively. I don't know what size is normal, so I'm surprised when he looks so big. When I'm around him, sometimes I just sort of watch... he dances, gets really excited, tells jokes, is sensitive and very sweet, sings normal radio songs, wiggles his whole body, and notices the mall Santas don't look alike (so they can't be real). All of these things are amazing if you don't expect them.


Tonight, the other side of my family got to play with an early Christmas present. Here's my stepdad flying the AR Drone. I think Liam would LOVE it. Although, I'd have to ask Paula to be sure.

Being Grateful

I have a list of blogs I go to in my down time. The weird thing about blogs is that sometimes they help you keep up with friends, and sometimes they help you keep up with perfect strangers. Thanks to a friend's favorite list, I've followed a blog (for quite some time) of someone I don't know and will never meet. And that person unexpectedly lost her daughter who was only 20 months old last week. I can't think about it without getting a tight ball in my throat that I can't swallow.

We've just been so lucky lately. Today for example... it was snowing, the streets were strung with lights, there were poeple playing Christmas music on every other corner. It was perfect. I have moments like today when I just look around and think, how did I get here? And it's at that exact moment when someone else is going through impossible pain.

This family's most recent post talked about being grateful for what you have, and hugging your family a little tighter. It's weighing heavily on my mind, so I thought I'd just send the message along... I'm sure we could all use a wake up call. And those of you who believe in prayer, this family does too, so maybe you could spend time thinking about a little girl named Evie. She leaves behind her twin sister, her parents, and judging by the comments on their blog, hundreds of friends.

A White Christmas Market

Sometimes when I don't post for a while, I feel bad. This is one of those times. However, school at this point is simply oppressive, we leave for Zurich tomorrow, and we leave for the US on Tuesday. Things have been a bit... hectic.

In Europe around the holidays, you hear a lot about how good the Germans are at Christmas, all due to their famous Christmas Markets. Picture snowy streets, lights everywhere, wooden stalls, homemade crafts, mulled wine and lots of sausage. I was trying to push for the real thing, but these last few weeks have been packed, and there was no possibility for a detour to Germany. So the next best thing is travelling to the German part of Zurich. Where it will be -9 and heavily snowing!!! It is in those conditions that I expect to accomplish the last bit of Christmas shopping, so wish me luck.

Even though the weather will be brutal, I could not be more excited. I love shopping, I love Christmas, I love Zurich, and I love Ryan. This might be the best weekend ever.

Big Ben Christmas Dinner

Last weekend, we went to the Big Ben annual dinner. Big Ben is a British social club, and we were invited by friends from church who are members. Us and our friends Sarah and Tom were the youngest, by kind of a lot, but it was so much fun. It was a great excuse to celebrate Annie's birthday (the vicar's wife - I'm going to try to use as many British terms as possible in this post), get suited and booted (dressed up), and experience a proper, English meal. We had stuffed turkey, roasted veg (they say veg), sausages, white sauce, trifle and Christmas pudding. What I was looking forward to the most was Christmas crackers. Here we are, hand over hand, breaking the crackers, which brings about the crack sound they're named for. There's a sort of firecracker inside, and when they're pulled apart, it's set off. I obviously don't know how to describe this proces... maybe you can google it. They're all filled with bits and bobs (again, English)... namely, paper crowns and little gifts. Mine had playing cards and Ryan's had little scissors. Jackpot!













Here are some scenes from around the table. And of the birthday girl - check out the candle! I bet she was dead chuffed (really pleased).















After dinner, we had a bit of dancing. People called the music "swiss" but Americans would have called it polka. And it never let up, so it was a little hard to dance, but we still managed.














After working up a sweat on the dance floor, we hit the balcony to check out some snow.




Here are some other British phrases we've been learning that I couldn't quite fit in... nick (to steal), cock it up (mess it up), and gutted (disappointed). Here we go - we were so NOT gutted the night of Big Ben. No. That doesn't really work.

Another reason I haven't been posting...

One of my group projects for a class called Digital Marketing is to create an online campaign for our final paper. I've been assigned the task of moderating our blog (some posts come from other members, and I put them up) because I'm the only one in the group that has done one before (that was surprising to me - the 29 year old usually never wins a technology race with 22 year olds).

So, if you want to see where I have been posting for the last couple of weeks, take a look. And, if you're into marketing, look specifically to my "Lessons Learned" post - today I wrote about a very common marketing question (in the age of social media, should you still be advertising?). It all comes from notes taken in class, I'm certainly no expert, but it's worth a read if you're interested. Our teacher is an expert (one of the highest in the field of social media), and I'm learning so much.

The blog is called FMCG Edutainment, because our task was to concentrate on the Fast Moving Consumer Goods industry. And, if you're feeling really helpful, download the report. It takes no time, and it adds points to our grade (since that's one of the objectives of our online campaign).

You didn't know you were being exposed to advertising here, did you? Silly unsuspecting readers.

Christmas Shopping in Milan

The semester is coming to a halt, and it's been harder to find time to write. But there's a lot to write about, and I'm off today (besides picking up the mess that's been accumulating from the past three weeks of neglect), so now I'm sitting on the balcony, enjoying the view, and remembering all the things I forgot to tell you.

First up, Christmas shopping in Milan. In Memphis, I'd always get excited about putting aside one whole day just for gifts... we'd go to Carriage Crossing (which is a nice, outdoor mall), start with a Starbucks, and basically just get in the Christmas spirit. This year, we did the same, only in Milan. We enjoyed it so much we did it two weekends in a row. The first time we took the train. The annoying thing about taking the train is that you have to always be conscious of time, and the last train available doesn't allow you to have dinner (because it leaves at 7:30, and the restaurants don't even open until 7:00). So the next weekend, we rented a car. Ryan pointed out that it only took a year to find a reasonable rental option. There are smart cars going for $120 a weekend! That compares to the $400 we spent last year for the same amount of time. Still, the learning process has its limits. I had to pick up the car the Friday before by myself, which I was nervous about. Lots of things can still go wrong here, and unfortunately, they all did. My iphone map wasn't working, my directions were a little off (I kept going in circles), and when I finally found the place (after asking a stranger for directions), I couldn't start the car (too smart for me), was probably being laughed at by all the men in the shop, and had to ask for help. It was a mess, but in the end, we had a car! And an argument, because Ryan didn't pick up his phone while all this was happening. Apparently he was in a meeting (terrible excuse). Luckily, my frustration didn't last too long, and we had a great shopping weekend. We had lunch at a restaurant we really like. We had some wine, ate homemade cheese (simliar to mozzarella), and tried chocolate salami (which is a dessert that just looks like salami, with the white speckles being bits of cream). The place was full of young people in graduation gowns (I guess in Italy it's cool to wear yours home). And this guy was apparently extra special because he had a wreath on his head.














After lunch, we set out to shop. We really didn't get a lot... you'd think we'd be exposed to tons of unique things, but in reality, so many of the stores are the same. And the stores with lines to get in - requiring a security guard to monitor the entrance - Gap and Abercrombie! We couldn't believe it. The Gap store was brand new, so that might explain part of it, but as for Abercrombie, they just love it here.

The streets were really crowded, and it was slightly raining, but it was so fun. They started to put up a big tree in front of the Duomo, the lights on the sides of the buildings were pretty, and the streets were strung with... bread? We couldn't figure this one out.


















Then, because we had the car, we got to go to our favorite sushi place. This was our view from the table. Not much to see, but I just wanted to capture the cozy, Christmas feeling, so it works for me.


And finally, here's a little video of some lights were thought were cool. They're on the outside of the craziest mall we've ever seen. It's really upscale, and people are dying to get in - there's always a big crowd at the escalators. Anyway, the lights were all sparkly, and were very pretty in real life.




We're going to a dinner tonight, so I'll have to write about the other happenings tomorrow. A domani.

Another Big Birthday

This is not a birthday blog. However, in the last month, two very special people have turned two very special numbers. And this is a big one... today, my Maddie cake turns 18.

Before she was born, the Cerise side of my family had been going through a bit of a baby drought (the Majeau side produced a pretty steady stream). It was just me, Aubrie and Adam for a while. So when Cissy got pregnant, it was something special. And at 12, I got to be the godmother! In 5th grade, it doesn't get much better than that.

She was the first baby I ever fell in love with. She had CRAZY hair, and a big personality. We would listen to the same lullaby CD in the car every morning on the way to school. I remember how Cissy could detect Maddie's cry from the others. We'd be walking through the hallway at school, she'd hear something in the nursery and say, "wait - I think that was Maddie." Then she'd stick her head in and make sure everything was okay. As Maddie got older, I remember picking her up from the toddler room. I remember the day they put her shoe on too quickly, and her little toe was bent backwards. She would come into my volleyball practices, strip down to her bloomers, and dance on the stage. She loved to sing. I wanted her to call me Nanny, but it turned into Ninny. She told people I was her fairy godmother. She was one of the best swimmers at Pat Taylor's (she didn't mind getting her face wet - that's a key performance indicator in the pool). Sports came naturally, which wasn't a surprise. I remember Nick (her hamster) biting her so hard, I got scared and called her mom. I remember summers of slathering sunblock, watching Trading Spaces, and trying to keep Jack entertained so her and Bizzy could have their own play time. I remember helping her choose an outfit for a talent show. I was so nervous picking her up from camp that day, just hoping that everyone loved her song. I remember going to the mall and helping her pick a cool pair of glasses. I remember the way she looked in her Ursuline uniform, her hair when it didn't reach past her shoulders, and her smile before braces.

Then, because I was away in Memphis, the memories have gaps. I remember coming back, watching her play volleyball and thinking - when did she get this good? I remember trying on clothes, noticing she was my size, and thinking - when did she get this big? I remember her telling me about losing an election, and she didn't break, she didn't get angry, she just understood that there were other things she could do. And I thought, when did she get this mature? When did she grow into this smart, completely undemanding, positive, amazingly older person?

And now she's 18. She's going to graduate soon and go off to college, and I couldn't be more amazed at who she's become. She's someone you'd want to be best friends with. Someone you'd be very lucky to have in your family. And for me, in some small way, it kind of feels like she's mine.

And did I mention beautiful? Tall and gorgeous. Happy birthday Mat! You deserve the best day.