My Grand Pa's Birthday

 

In July we celebrated my Grand Pa's 84th birthday. As time goes by, I see him more and more like a mischievous kid. He has this sparkle in his eye and he's always up for anything.

 

 

Family Time

Another afternoon spent with my family. :)

I had lunch with my Grand Pa, whom at 82yo decided he wanted to get the internet and a tablet. We've been working with him these past few weeks to give him the best information we could so this transition into the virtual world would be as smooth as possible. He bought his tablet last week and will be hooked on the network in a few days.

I can't believe how thirsty he is for knowledge and technology, he's awesome.

'Claire unbuckled the seat belt of her stroller and she fell (in Nantes)'

'Claire said GrandMa'

My Grand Pa gave me this, a little planner from 1985(I was born in 1984) where my Grand Ma wrote all the little things I was doing day by day. How cool is this! Very moving as well. I keep it on my bedside table now.

We visited my Dad and he was completely exhausted and uncoherent, a few days later we learnt he had pneumonia and had to go to the hospital. He spent 10 days there and he is now out. It was quite scary.

Brother. :)

Christmas Eve

I didn't quite feel the Christmas spirit in 2015. I felt kind of sad and sick (probably because of the oysters) on Christmas Eve. Christmas day was not better, we went to meet my grand father, my dad's father, and my parents found him in a coma on his bed. He's going downhill since.

I like making presents more than receiveing them. I also love wrapping them. And I get so nervous and exhausted by the time my family opens them that I usually throw up. I fought it hard this year, it worked. But I felt like crap all night. I'll stop whining now.

Greg and I took a walk with my Mom before dinner and I really didn't want to and was pretty sulky about it. I really don't know why, I couldn't feel the joy this year (well, last year now).

My Mom's ladybug slippers.

Traditionnal picture of my Grand Pa opening the oysters.

Daughter and father.

My dad. :)

I am glad the holidays are behind us. 2016 started way better than 2015, and right now I'm really counting my blessings. 

I realize nobody's smiling on my pictures... Whoa.... It wasn't such a sad Christmas, really! It wasn't the best but it was not that bad.

Happy Holidays

Christmas is behind us now. And this year I just didn't feel the Christmas spirit. And the whole thing flew by anyway and boom! I was at work again.

Ever since I was a little girl, I get sick on Christmas Eve. I don't know why exactly. In my family we have a big dinner on the night of the 24th, we have oysters, foie gras (made by my Grand Pa) and smoked salmon. Then the main course cooked for hours by my Mom. Then cheese and salad, evrything with copious amount of wine of course. And then, right before dessert we open the gifts. And that's the precise moment I get nauseous and have to throw up for a while. Sweet right? :) 

Well, I'm used to it now. When I was a child, it was like that as well. I guess I was just so excited about the presents I would make myself sick with excitment. My Grand Ma would hold me in her arms until I felt better. Every Year.

Here is something I've been wanting to share here for a while. We spent a night at my parents' after Christmas Eve feast so I was finally able to snap pictures of my old bedroom newly decorated.

A couple of month ago, my Mom did this. She gathered a bunch of Crayola drawings I made on plywood (not sure if it's the right word, but I don't even know how to call the material I drew on in French). I made these drawings in 2005, so they're getting pretty old now. :) 

Anyways, she gathered five pieces and framed them herself.

The first time I saw this, I was overwhelmed.

First because, the very second I moved out of my parents', my Mom put all of my stuff in the attic and redid the whole room and claimed it as hers. My brother had moved out a couple of years before me and his room is still untouched. I don't care that much about this but I still wonder. But really I'm OK with it. Even though it reminds me of this Friends episode in which Monica explains that the moment she moved out of her parents', they turned her room into a gym and left Ross's room as it used to be when he was still living there.

I was touched she added a 'touch of me' in my old bedroom.

But the main reason why I felt so overwhelmed was because my Mom has never been really supportive of my arts and crafts, she doesn't get it. 

She doesn't understand why I'd like my jewelry to be my job. Maybe not my full time job, but something I could get credit for from her. But in her eyes, it's not a real job and never will be.

But that's Ok, I know what I want to do now.

I've been feeling pretty weary and uninspired lately.Since I'm working part time in a 'Grand Magasin' (Huge store like Macy's) in Paris, the Holiday Season has been rough on me. Some customers have been pretty awful and of course we had tons of work. The manager I worked with at the store quit in late november and a new person came along but she hasn't been trained yet so I have a lot of extra work to do in her place. It's taking a lot of energy and I think about work a lot more than I should. 

I haven't been cooking for a while, nor drawing, all I think about is work, work, work! When it's not work at the store, it's my jewelry. I feel like the thoughts in my head just can't slow down and in the mean time, I'm not getting things done. Things I enjoy.

I spend a lot of time on my tablet, playing stupid games and surfing the interwebs looking at useless stuff. I've had the feeling that I'm wasting my time right now.

Well, not right now. I've missed writing here so much. I feel like I'm doing something constructive for once. :)

I know what I need to change for 2015.

Last sunday we had our Christmas lunch with my Grand Father, my Dad's father, who lives in Paris.

We always go to the same restaurant right on the corner from where he lives and then we take a walk in the Père Lachaise Cemetary.

It was so cold this time!!! We stayed there for maybe half an hour. That's it. It was a very sunny day, as you can see.

That's it for today's post. I hope I'll have the time to write more soon because once again, I really missed this. I can't wait for 2015 to start. 2014 was overall a great year. Well, I tend to gauge how great a year was trip-to-the-USA-wise, I've been to the US twice in 2014 and had the best time so that makes it a rad year. :) But now, I'm just tired and want to turn the page. :) 

Rings Rings Rings

I don't wear a lot of jewelry, well, that's not true, what I mean is that I always wear the same. The other day I did a post about my necklaces. Here's one about my rings.
I love the fact that they all have a story, as uninteresting as they must be, these stories mean a lot to me. :)
I wanted to share about what my jewelry stands for for me,.
I wear these seven rings almost everyday. I say 'almost' because I like to take them off when I sew or draw, and since I do that all the time, I mostly wear them when I go out nowadays.

I wear these four on my left hand. The three rings I wear on top of each other have all a story and a person behind them. My most precious ring is the blue one at the bottom (you'll soon know why) and I like to think of the two others on top as protecting it.

And here's my right hand. I wish I had more fingers. :)

My favorite ring used to be my Grand Mothers' on my Mom's side. I remember when I was a little girl she had this box of her jewelry in the living room and I would always get this ring out and try it on. It was way to big at the time, but I loved it! I never thought it would be mine one day. But about 2 years ago, my Grand Pa took it out of the vault at the bank to see if my Mom was interested in some of my Grand Ma's jewelry.
I saw this ring and tried it on, perfect fit! I had to take it, my Grand Pa let me. :) It's trully one of my most prized possession.

This one is lapis lazuli. My Mom brought it back for me from Chile. I don't think it's really pretty but as the clear blue stone represents my Grand Ma, this one stands for my Mom.

Next ring was a present from my Dad on one of my birthdays years ago. We picked it together in a jewelry shop in Montparnasse in Paris. On my finger it's on top of the two blue rings, it protects them. :)

My late Grand Ma on my Dad's side bought this ring for me when I was 15. I used to visit her every October. She lived in Paris and we would spend our days shopping. We found this ring on one of our shopping sprees. :)

Talking about shopping spree, I got this ring with my good friend Estelle on one of ours! She bought one as well with a star and red stones. They were really pricey but hey! It was around Christmas 3 or four years ago and we would keep repeating, 'We only live once! We might as well buy these expensive rings!'.

We bought them in our favorite jewelry shop in Paris, at Saint Michel. It's a tiny shop with such a great selection of antique jewelry.

These two are the last ones I got. I bought them last September on a market in Chicago, in the beautiful Lakeview neighborhood. It was such a great day, we hit the market, the record store and the bookstore that day. Then we headed to our favorite diner for some lunch. *sigh*

And that's it! :)