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Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
~Thomas Edison

I stole this quote from off of my aunt's blog www.suzannewoodsfisher.com

Le dejeuner ce weekend

I am very excited because this Sunday, I am finally having all of the French families I know with young children over chez moi for lunch. I have been trying to organize this 'connection lunch' for months, but OH MY GOODNESS everything is harder with kids. It's a miracle that all of these families are free on the same day. One of the families I know from church (I did Sunday school last year with their two children and have babysat for them a bit and give them piano lessons- the mom is American, the dad is French. The owners of Pasta Cosy (an italian restaurant in town) are coming with their two children. Fabien and Cecile are both French. Fabien speaks english, Cecile does not. Cecile is the chef at the restaurant, so I am a bit nervous about cooking her lunch- ahahah! The rest of the families that are coming are all French and I teach English to their children every Wednesday morning- mainly through music. I am hoping that either some of the children and/or parents will like each other. I know the kids will definitely have fun playing with the kitten!

Loving the Countryside

Dom and I had lunch with Marie Francoise (my host mother from last year), and we went on a walk through the hills near her house. It's one of my favorite areas in all of Aix. Just a few minutes walk outside of the city center and you are surrounded by olive trees & vineyards, and have a fabulous view of Mount Saint Victoire. It's quieter in the country and you have more sunlight. In town, all of the tall buildings cast shadows on the maze of streets. Marie Francoise loves parties, and she opened up her home last night for a Birthday party. She hadn't even met the Birthday boy, Riahd! Riahd is a restaurant owner some of us have gotten to know, and he is one heck of a jimbay player! He brought some of his drums last night and people were dancing- African style! Different people played music and it was a great time. Dom and I have been looking at apartments, and after last night's late night loud partying, I realized that only if we lived in the country could we throw a party like that. The neighbors in the buildings in town would have been fuming. It was a great mix of friends from work and church and locals.

Quick Update

My grandma, Honey, broke her hip over the Christmas vacation. AND my grandpa, Poppy, got lost (Alzheimer's). Not the funnest of times. Please keep them in your prayers. Check out my aunt's blog (suzannewoodsfisher.com) for more details. So I gave my first piano lesson today in a long while that didn't involve Christmas music. A nice change. But the season isn't completely over for me yet since just last night my roommates and I finally opened our gifts for each other that were still sitting under the fake tree that the cat keeps attacking and knocking over. Today, Dom and I started looking for our future apartment (this whole 'getting married' thing is starting to become real). The *No Smoking Inside* law has taken affect here in France. It's so odd to see people standing outside of bars and restaurants to smoke.

Christmas music BLITZ!

The best thirty euros I ever spent was buying santa hats. I cannot believe the mileage I got out of those things this holiday season! I must have used them at at least six different venues.
As you can see from some of the pictures below, there were a ridiculous amount of Christmas conerts this year. It was a lot of fun! I will try to get a few recordings of some of the actual live music up on the blog soon.

HEATHER CAME TO FRANCE FOR 2 WEEKS! We spent one of the weekends in Paris (check out the restaurant 'Dans Le Noir'). Then Heath and Dom and I flew to Cali together. I have just returned to France and have the worst jet-lag ever! ahahaha!