Friday, April 25, 2014

February

And on to February!

The Sutherland's came to visit for a day and a half on their way to Africa. I met them at the airport and stayed the night with them at their hotel.... it was like a mini vacation.


Then we all came into Paris the next day. They were the first to see my apartment (besides Meg). It was like having my parents here, they bought me groceries, helped me carry them home, took me to lunch, and then it was already time for them to go. I was so so sad! But it was great to see them!


Bought some flowers! It was the first time I had had enough courage to buy them! Now, I have them all the time. Aren't they beautiful! I had/have no vase so they are in a water carafe that actually has quite a narrow neck.. but it works.


It was sunny! So being extremely hungover from some dinner party the night before, I bundled up in layers, layers, layers and went to the park to read.


So usually, I buy flowers on Sunday on my way home from church.


Walked out onto my steet to find that I was in the middle of a period movie shoot... that was cool!






Later that night went to the grocery store and saw this beautiful moon!



Next day decided to go for a run. Key word being "decided" and not "ran." Instead I stayed home and ate ice cream.


Now it appears we're at Valentine's Day. I've been collecting all of my wine corks. Even for the number of bottles imbibed... still was not enough to complete the heart.


Then came the four weeks of no water from 8am - 4 pm. Enter washing my face with Evian.


Made some chocolate covered strawberries.




Okay so now enters where my school went crazy. They decided to shorten the length of time we had to do all of our classed but still maintain the same amount and workload. One girl in my class described it perfectly. "The best part of my day is the five minutes I have to shower. It's like my break." Basically, I have never done that much work so continously. Everyday... all day, class, work, repeat. This table was a staple in my success. Acutally, if you notice, I was sitting in that red chair so much that I finally had to start sitting on a pillow.

I also started drinking more vodka tonics.... making that vodka pasta a few weeks earlier really came in handy.

Actually, now that I think about it... the weeks of endless work actually began in January. I think here you are seeing exam studying. Also, you can see that my Christmas Tree is still "up."


Here's the table up close. Everyone was getting a little nutty.


Saturday morning I had had enough, went crazy and made myself a little American breakfast...had no idea what trend this would set! By the way, maple syrup is so so cheap here!


M&M's from Milds.... and the last Hershey kiss!


Here's a sample of the wonderful material we had the oppurtunity to study.


View from my street.



And we made it! Went to a bar called Havana after our last exam! Not a great picture of anyone! Had to keep it fair! Also, this "cuban bar" had no one Cuban item on the menu!


Somehow, even though we were done with classes and exams, we were not done with school. At a wine store for yet another project.


Made a salad.


My walk to my French School. Finished MBA classes and went right into French!





Pont Neuf!


More studying and flowers....


I think here I am doiny my business plan.




On my way to present my business plan. Picked up this amazing pastry! Wow! Incredible!


And back to drinking.


Then Anna and I concocted the world's best quesedilla's for dinner. Who ever imagined that dill could really bring Mexican food together!


Finally received the Syrian Tapestry from Meg and hung it up! So cool!


I'll let you guess what is happening in this picture!



And scene! Onto March!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

January

So i've been complaining to myself for months that Stasha hasn't blogged since December... enter brittanyburkhalter.com, where the last post was from Novermber! So much has gone on since then I can't even begin to catch up!

People visited, went home for Christmas, school ended...kinda, my friends threw me a birthday party, I took a wine class, I went to the Alps, I started taking French and now I think that about covers it! I a perfect universe. I would go back and cover all those things that I just mentioned! And I really want to but tonight I think that I am going to start small... so here we go. Looking through my pictures... what looks like fun to share....


January!
Took some pictures of Hawaii before I left...





Then flew overnight from Hawaii to Seattle where I got to see Max for a few hours. Problem was, I did not sleep on the flight to Seattle, it was a red eye, and then I wanted to hang with Max! I arrived around 5:30am .... yay.. Wating for Max to come get me in a Starbucks... yay... working on a project at 7am!


 Pikes

Went to lunch with Max at the place from Sleepless in Seattle I think. It was nice and the view was killer. Ironically, everytime I go to Seattle, the weather is like this. I don't believe that they have bad weather there.... knock on wood!



Mt. Rainer on the way back to the airport!



So I got the airport super early to see if I could finagle my way out of my crappy seat. I looked terrible becuase I was so tired... like my face was just done and needed rest. But no luck there. Super

Anyway, now I had a ton of time to kill before my flight.. so and this is not a joke. I went into a corner prayed that God would give me a better seat, but whatever happened happened. Then I proceeded to download as many episodes of Chuck as I could so I would at least have something to do when I could sleep sitting straight up.

So quick, let's back up a few years. Who knows, 8 years ago, I was flying from Atlanta to Honolulu, and a man cut in front of me in the boarding line and when they scanned his ticket, it beeped and a new ticket came out and the lady said, "Wow, it's your lucky day, you got a new seat." It was up front. Since that day, I had always wondered if I would have gotten that seat had he not cut in front of me. Obviously, probably not and it was just wishful thinking.

Well anyway, they call our flight and I go to board. I can board early anyway so I go up the line, they scan my boarding pass..... and it beeps. The lady looks at me and says, "Looks like you've got a seat change." It was 5C.

5 Ficken C on a 10 hour international flight where I need to sleep! God is good!


So I ate and drank... duh!






And then slept!


Made it back to my place around 11. Had a group project meeting at 4. Accidentally fell asleep again, woke up to Anna or Astrid telling me they were at the store where we were suppossed to be meeting. Excellent.


Few days later, beautiful morning.


So January began the next few months of insane work, stress, deadlines... I mean it was crazy. I took a picture one day during  a break.



This is a frozen yogurt place down the street from my place that I am dying to go to.... obviously, it is closed frequently in winter... bummer.


And then..... I got the flu with a really high fever. Yes!


I lived on my couch for four days.


It was not great. I was really really sick.


However, that did not mean that the projects ceased. About about week about the flu... our deadline was there! Deadline midnight... it's about 11:30 here. Also, just before this picutre, the snickers commercial had never been more true... who knew! A bag a chips literally saved the project.


And then of course we celebrated that yet another project.. mind you this one was one of the toughest was done! So we celebrated in the appropriate fashion. A delicious meal made by Astrid with champagne at midnight.


Also can't forget dessert. This is the French Christmas/New Years cake.  There is a charm in the middle and I forget what it means if you get the charm.


Traditionally, the youngest person goes under the table and dictates who gets what piece.





Not bad for a January recap! Quick but done!!! On to February!