Mary Poppins wears trousers and has a loud voice

... I know it, because I've met THE purrrfect one this morning.

We (parents) had a meeting with the teachers, at Lola's school today.
The opportunity for the teachers to talk of what they plan to do, and how, during the year.

Lola has a *he* as a teacher, a "Mr Poppins". No, much better because he does not sing the way she did (phewwwwwwww!), and ok, he looks much beDer too, not wearing any umbrella night and day!

I was very excited to go there, because I remember so well how it was to be a pupil at school, that being now a "parent" is really funny and enjoyable!

After almost 2 hours of Mr Poppins talking, I got convinced Lola had the best teacher I could imagine!
His approach sounds perfect.
He's the kind to invent stories to explain why there's a lil ball on top of the i letter. The kind who explains letters must be treated like friends, you can make gifts to them, they will love it. And the letters will make gifts to you too.
etc etc

Oh, I want to go back to school and learn everything again! (with a Mr Poppins, naturally!)

I was wondering about another tattoo

... and it won't be a buDerfly! Sorry, you crystal ball!

You Should Get A Butterfly Tattoo

Girly and funky For you, tattoos are a thing of beauty - not toughness

What Tattoo Should You Get?

But they're right on one point (not the swimsuit, lol): as I have no prison to break, I get tatoos only because I find them beauDiful! :)

(Mel', your results are much more groovy! Pfffffff, dat's unfair! ;-)

32 years old, yet...

I still feel uncomfortable when I show some of my paintings of nekkid women to my parents!
I usually show them very very VERY quickly.
Dat's stoopid, of course, but I guess it's simply linked to the fact that sex and parents are usually 2 concepts that can't get on well, from the kids' point of view..

Not far from the:
"the whole family watching a movie.
The blond one kisses the beach boy"
scene

2 reactions:
The parents: pretending not caring or the opposite: "haha -nervous laugh-, what a nice kiss!"
The kids: -rolling eyes- "yuck, dat's disgusting"

Both side feeling uncomfortable.
Dat's funny, but I fear I still have the "uncomfortable" reaction from a teen!
Do you think it's linked to the education I've got? I think it's simply a normal reaction.

I don't find I'm prude or anything like that... except with my parents.. damn!

The song in your head

I think we all have different approaches when it comes to discover new pieces of music.

I've discovered lil jewls while working on my puter, just letting my "yahoo music radio" (which is way beDer than 95% of the webradios) run. Wunnerful selection that really stick to your tastes.

Otherwise, I never listen to the radio, it's just not one of my habits.
I never buy music magazines (or at least I stopped when I was still young and innocent), and the only criticism in which I have blind confidence... is the *music page* from Voici, a French people's magazine. lol, I'm not even kidding , they really influence my musical exploration!

I enjoy checking what's new in specialized shops, but usually never trust the top 20 or anything like that. People like crap... as many are right to think I enjoy crap too by the way! :P

And advertisment does not work at all here. If I see 400 posters of Johnny Hallyday's new album in the metro, be sure I'll still never ever buy anything from him!

I also read a lot people's comments online about new albums. But it's not easy to get an idea, fans can tell amything about their beloved bands.

And I don't listen much to my friends' advice (2 exceptions, here, Penny and Esox), in the same way, I don't recommand really anything, music tastes are so personnal.

Anyway, to sum up, my exploration in the musical field is linked to a mainstream radio and a people's mag!
But I swear my tastes are not THAT bad!
hehe

What about you? Do you enjoying discovering new stuff? Or do you prefer sticking at your favorite albums?
How do you "explore" music ?

Just *breathe* deeply and tell me :)

Loving big surprises...

...such as discovering my art blog is part of Geoloc's most active sites! And yesterday my personnal blog, this one, was part of the "geotop"! lol
I have no idea how many visit my blog, but that was a pretty big surprise!

Loving lil surprises...

...such as discovering that popular Orlando Bloom played with ol' and sexy (cough, I have to think hard about this one) Inspector Barnaby! lol

I'm easily pleased, ya see :)

No way I will bite you,

... and dat's my karma that tells it!

You Have Fantastic Karma

You are a kind, sensitive, and giving person. And all your good deeds will pay off - if they haven't already. But you're not so concerned with what you get in return anyway. You have an innate caring nature - and nothing can change that!

quizz found here

How's Your Karma?

Here's the scary thing:
I'm not a sociopath, I have a high karma, I start to be good at cooking cookies, I read Marie-Claire every month and some top-secret mag every week, I buy bio products for my babes, etc.
Enough reasons to get upset!!!!
So in case I ever attend a tupperware meeting or tupperware conference call (that exists, no kidding!!!), then please remind me I married a troll wearing his "Full of Hate tour" t-shirt! lol

What does YOUR karma tell today?
Into tupperwares too I bet!!!

Room for imagination

(only read this post if you've time to waste, and I don't under-estimate my own post, only telling the truth)
(too late you've read too much!)
:P

I don't know how really but I've discovered an album, "the room" by "harold budd". I haven't heard any song from it yet, I've no idea who this Harold is, but the titles inspire me enough to explore. Yeaaaah, these titles rock:

1. The Room Of Ancillary Dreams
2. The Room Of Oracles
3. The Room Of Stairs
4. The Room Of Corners
5. The Room Alight
6. The Candied Room
7. The Room Of Mirrors
8. The Room Obscured
9. The Room Of Forgotten Children
10. The Room Of Accidental Geometry
11. The Room Of Secondary Light
12. The Flowered Room
13. The Room

I wanna be a poet like that with my paintings!

Lola Diva

The shrimpette is about to turn 4, (in a couple of weeks)...
I love her so much! She makes me laugh and scream, she makes me *happy sigh* most of the time.

Here, she made me laugh. She did not play the lil diva, nenene, she was that lil diva! hehe

The Sociopath in me ...

...is hibernating apparently!

You Are 20% Sociopath

You're empathetic, loyal, and introspective. In other words, there's no way you're a sociopath... but you can spot one pretty easily!

Are You A Sociopath?

Phewwwwwwwwwwww! I'd find it hard to live with a sociopath self! In that case I'd have turned schizophrenic I think!

So, till I show you the hungry and develish alien purring in my stomach, I think you're pretty safe wiff me!
Wanna a cupotea?
hehe

Pshhhiiiit: in case Jack, and anybody else, wanna do more quizzes, my quizzes guru's here

My monday aura's ...

...in perfect harmony with the season ;-)

Your Aura is Orange

You're a bit of a loner, but you're never lonely. You know how to entertain yourself. Whether you're trying an extreme sport or a new weird food, you always live on the edge. The purpose of your life: testing limits - both physical and mental... and then telling people about it. Famous oranges include: Timothy Leary, David Blaine, Tony Hawk, Carey Hart Careers for you to try: Snowboarder, Circus Performer, Undercover Agent

What Color Is Your Aura?

"extreme sport"? "living on the edge"? "Testing limits"? LOL, that's about everybody but me!

So I'm in some kind of orange mood today...lemme see... Generous pumpkins, dying leaves and the falling sun, yusss, that suits me, it's inspiring!

And what's color is your aura? today, hm?

Our weekend was on a speeeed mode, we had time to work on the hobbit house, time to enjoy a very summer-ish Saturday and time to realise we've golden hands!
(lol! Can you imagine that.. since Martin and I have started the works, the value of the house is now minimum 3 times higher! I had not realized that at all! Wawwwww!)

PS: JL, you've been lucky for we decided to not bother you on Friday! hehe ... Oh and while you're here, we've watched Battlestar Galactica! C'est pas mal prometteur dis-donc! Maintenant qu'on y a goûté, va falloir qu'on se fasse la saison!

PPS: for other quizzes and posts full of vitamines, it's here

You're gonna be jealous, really jealous (I just know it!)

...because someone's about to celebrate the first day of Autumn in the most appropriate place!

And guess who is this someone, hm?



We're off to Bretagne tonight! weeeehoooo!!!!
Have a great end of week!
mwaaaaaaaaaaa**~~**^*

1 man, 1 woman, 1 house : zillions of possibilities

I've realized I had not shared any photo here of the works we've made in the hobbit house on summertime!
And we worked a looooooooooot! I'll show you here maybe 40% of what we did!

I start with a lil touch in the garden Lola and I made together.
Before there was just the dusty road along the stones' wall.
Now we expect lovely flowers for next years (lavanders, roses,bellflowerrable bellflowers, etc).


in process


done

My mom often tells that when you renovate a house (what she does too), you must take care of the garden pretty quickly. I thought that was not a priority, but when I started with trees and flowers... I realized she was right!
Organizing one's garden helps a lot to stand big works in a house!
When you're tired of the dust and noise, you just go out and breathe and watch your baby garden growing up!

The essence of renovation

...is giving back its beauty to what's been hidden for years!

And here, we're renovating the living-room:


click here
the living room as it was before (cleaner than now, I know! lol), plaster on the wall, ugly wood hiding painted old beams, etc


click here
this time we have to make the floor above the dining room, so we started with a real tough work, getting rid of the old floor/ceiling


click here
First step was getting rid of the old ceiling, then we had to renovate the very old oak beams (the work on it was so hard that we had to use pneumatic drills!). As you see them here, they are renovated ;-)

Because our feet just LOVE wood

..we've started to work on a new parquet.

Now we're just above the living-room, with the new floor to make from A to Z. And when you have no more floor at all, believe me, that's a challenge!


click here
the room as it was before (except that on the pic the window is new already, it was not there at the beginning), dirty walls, the floor was almost "alive", it could fall anytime.


click here
First we had to install new "light" beams to put the parquet on it


click here
Martin starting to fix the parquet


click here
70% of it done (phewwwwwwwwwww!)

Most exciting job on earth: varnishing stairs!

Bloody job indeed; I think I've killed 3 t-shirts and 2 pairs of jeans with that fookin varnish... pffffffffffff



The worst is that once you've put varnish, you think great it's done, but nenene... you've to work on the wood again before putting another layer! pfffffffffffff!!!

Crazy for pumpkins!

I promise, no I SWEAR (spitting far), that I won't talk of Xmas before November... but let me start with Halloween, it's just in a month or so! (we'll be in Hamburg to celebrate it by the way! weeeehooooooooooo!)

I'm working on a Halloween series of paintings. I've added 2 new paintings lately to my gallery.You don't know my blog gallery yet?
...huuu, you arrive just in time then :P

For those who know it already, I've also made a few changes, done the "bio", "about", and "faq" in English AND French.

Martin has also added a rating plug-in that allows you to give 1 to 5 stars to the paintings, in a complete anonymous way (no name, email adress, underwear brand required). A good way to really tell what you think of a painting (lol, trembling in my boots now!)

And if you wanna be the firsts to discover new paintings, here's the RSS thread!

Voilà, nothing to add for today, except that the weather is so grey that I feel like wearing big thick sox... but nene, I'm not about to abandon my summerish birkenstock yet!
(lol wunnnerful conclusion for a post!)

Another cupotea, hm?

With such results, you might wonder why I keep doing my blog in English! lol
I don't care much if I'm not so good... I just wanna everybody (my French, English, American, German, Japanese friends, etc.) to be able to read my bloggies!
Well... and I LUVE the English language!
But wait, I don't need to justify meself :P

I just worry about the vocabulary, hmm, you're sure you always understand my posts???
(come on, tell me the truth!)

Your English Skills:

Grammar: 80% Punctuation: 60% Spelling: 60% Vocabulary: 40%

Does Your English Cut the Mustard?

PS: thank you my testouilles guru, for this new quizzzzz (I wait for the zillions of others you promised :P)

The wunnerful advantages of getting up at 5.45 am..

..on a Sunday.

Well, there are zillions of advantages indeed.
First of all: it's Sunday, you want the weekend to never end, so here you go, your Sunday will be really LONG :)

And then, see it's lunchtime right now, and I've had time to:
-take care of the babes (change, feed, dress, change, dress again, them)
-have a (not long) bath and wash my hair (women know THIS takes time)
-ironing an everest of clothes
-cooking for Loup, then for Lola and for us. The 3 *lunches* are ready.
-cleaning all around
-emptying the washing mashine twice
-working on my art blog
-writing a few bloggies here
-checking on bloglines new posts (so far, Etolane, France et Penny have been blogging, well done, goils! hehe)

If you wondered what multitasking meant (talking to guys here! .... kiddin!!! .... well... ;-)), there you go.

PS: Penny, I know after reading this post, you suddenly feel like having a nap (I know you!), sooo here's the purp' sofa... sit down and relax, dat's an order! hehe

I'm a teenager !

teenager... dat's how I feel when I sit in front of my tv d'amour to watch another of my fav' series!
I turn into a fan, heart beating fast, giggling, getting stressed and excited, jumping on the sofa, screaming when the girls in the screen scream, etc etc

And I'm that was with Desperate Housewife, with Lost too, and recently with Prison Break. Halala Prison Break, my friends, is really something!

The gang of caracters is brilliant! They all make me shiver, in different ways, of course.. lol

Have you watched it? Don't tell me you don't like!



Ha well, I may be a Scofield fan, but I still enjoy a lot Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby! (so no, that confirms I'm not a teen anymore!)

Oooops!

I think in my own way, I can translate quite much from French into English... but here's one of my limit: a 3 years-old goilette swearing in a 3 years-olg goilette way!

moi: "Dis-moi Lola, tu me répéter ce que tu viens de dire, j'ai entendu un truc bizarre!"

Lola: "Mais maman j'ai dit MERDRE parce que le MEC de la télé il s'est cassé la FIGUEULE"

moi: ha oui c'est logique, mais... va falloir qu'on discute ma puce :-)

Five

(thank you, Penny, for inspiring me again!)

Five things you'll never hear me say:
1. I'm thinking about having a third baby!
2. No thank you, I don't drink alcohol
3. I've burnt my vote card, I don't believe anymore
4. Merry Xmas, I knew you'd love white socks!
5. I love country music and reggae!


Five things that scare the bejeebers outta me:
1. Swimming when you're far from the coast
2. When I see my babes bleeding for any reason
3. Being bloked in a room with a pigeon (or any kind of bird)
4. Driving
5. Not being around when my babies need me


Five things I like about myself:
1. I can easily make people feel comfortable, I think
2. I'm very receptive to details and *signals*
3. I can make my lil family happy
4. I still believe I can live from my art one day
5. I have dreams and I want to make them happen


Five areas I know I can do better:
1. Cooking (frozen pizzas and quiches everyday at the moment!)
2. Being less stressed
3. Driving as if I was born with a wheel in the hand
4. Resisting yummy cakes
5. Accepting that i can be wrong and that I can lose at games


Five things I've learnt from being a Mother:
1. You can sleep 5 or 6 hours per night and still be alive
2. Travelling takes more time and requires to be a bit more organized
3. I'm like a shelter now, our babes count on two people, Martin and I
4. I cannot swear as much as I want
5. Life was not complete -for me- without my babes


Five words that sum me up:
Caring, curious, faithful, naive, optimistic

Crazy for dawn

I've just added a new painting in my gallery

At the moment I'm working on a series for Halloween (the series being just 1 painting so far! lol), and I also work on a new version of a couple of old paintings that I love but that I'd make differently now.

Gimme days of 50 hours!

The best seller in the world

He is tall, dark haired, happy father of 4 kids, always talking of the last cartoon on screen, looking like Gepetto but in a younger way, always smiling, remembering the name of your kids.
He sells toys.

I went in his shop for a simple plastic bucket yesterday. 3 euros, I promised myself I won't spend more than 3 euros. I swore I would not!

I left his small shop with a heavy bag, after spending more than 20 euros.
Among other plastic stuff...I bought..what??? another balloon?!!
Oh but trust me, really do, this balloon is unique, fantastic, you can throw it on windows, they'll never break, and now touch it, it feels so sweet no? and you know Loup being already so strong, he can bite it, no problem! And look at this range of coulors!!! As usual it's a German product; Gawd German are really good with toys!

Wawwwwww, what a balloon! I just *needed* it!

...

Shit, the young Gepetto is good, fooking good!

(sigh)

Charlotte forever

Has anyone listened to Charlotte Gainsbourg's new album?



I haven't, but it seems so promising, that I could buy it just right now! I'm very confident. 5:55 (the title of it) has been made with the precious help from Air (Air, -sorry to sound as an excited teen, but..-, one of my fav' band!!!!), soooo, I think I already recommend it to you :P

There are other artists (Metallica, Beck, David Gilmour, Bjork, Depeche Mode, etc) for which I do not need any proof about any new album. I could buy their new album without hearing one single note. I'm confident in their talent. It's not so stoopid you know, it's a matter of love, and it works with any kind of art I think.

Marine and Esox

you don't know it yet (no time for email or for a call so far), but you are the 2 chosen Ones (lol) that we plan to visit in the next weekends.. I give you both enough time to fill the fridge ;-)

hot Paris, clever devil and proud mama

ok, next year I take my holidays in September!
30°C today again, it's summer! While Lola gets the expensive habit to try every icecream possible, Loup is more into trying just about ... ANYTHING. The cheaper the better in his case! lol
Eating stones, grass or sand and drinking (not so) fresh air has turned to be a habit now!



With that you could expect a very thin baby, but nenene Loup is almost 12kgs now (which is not just nothing when you're only 10 months-old) for 76cm.

Oh! And I was to forget... tada... he's just made 3 steps all alone today!
(happy sigh)**~~*^* *

WTC, media and selective memory

I hear people complaining that we simply hear too much about the 11th of September!

I can *feel* a certain degree of anti-americanism in that. Ok, the media focus on the event since a few weeks, but we're free to turn off the radio or tv no?

And what is it about comparing what happened in the WTC with people dying from AIDS in Africa?
Of course it is terrible that the media never focus as much on people dying from poverty, hunger, disease or from war, as on people dying in a *spectacular* and massive terrorist attacks.

But let's respect the death of the WTC victims as much as we respect the death of others.

Now it's the entire fault of the media if they only focus on such events and not on others.
The fault of the media.
huh.
But the media are only here to feed us and give us what we want. *W*e buy the papers, *we* watch this kind of tv.

We simply have some kind of bad consciousness I guess sometimes. And me the first, no problem.

A big comforting thought to those who lost someone dear to them in the WTC attacks**~~*^* *

Contrasts

While outside the temp's reaching 28°C, that everybody's having a nap before enjoying bits of summer, I'm about to start working on my paintings enjoying a new perfumed candle smelling "nature after the rain" ;-)

I can hear a popping cork outside, is it champ'? At 4.00pm, t'is a bit early, but why not.
I'll have a coffee anyway.

Now it's quiet again, not even a damn pigeon to bother my lil ears. Too hot for them too maybe?
I'll enjoy loud music anyway. Something electronic, helping me working fast enough. Fluke maybe?

...grabbing my pen...woooooooosh!

an angel under construction

my younger sister is expecting her third baby!
Yeeepeeeee!!!

That's done then: she and I do not live on the same planet anymore!
She's just entenred the "heroic parents" sphere, I'm impressed!

Impressed and smiling too, smiling for remembering that my lil sister used to drive me crazy when she raised white mice, about, hmm, 20 years ago.
Life has changed but her maternal instinct has continuously improved since then it seems!

**~~*^* *^^* *

Victim of the fashion (but not really a fashion victim!)

Ok, I know, you are already looking at the doodle below and you think (with a lil devilish smile, yes yes don't deny it) "Candy has put on weight it seems"!
hehe

nenene, sowwwy my devilish friends!
It happens that I need a new pair of jeans soon. And it happens too that it's getting very hard to find normal jeans!
You will find normal ones, yes, but cut for ladies beyond 80s maybe! (sowwy grandmama, I've nothing against your jeans!)

So I have to make a compromise... the cut that I want with a low waist because... the fashion is in the hands of the LOW WAIST!
Which is a problem for those who are feminine (I translate for the devilish minds: a problem for those who have wunnnerful curves!)

To fit in a low waist jeans, you've to be rather skinny or very hungry, otherwize with these jeans (being like 6 centimeters below your bellybutton), you risk a explosion above, the lovely love handles turning into bloody love cushions or something like that.
Poor love handles, they do not deserve such a treatment, they're shy! They don't like to be exposed that way!



Free the love handles, don't let the low waist rule!
(come on, sing wiff me)
Free the love handles, don't let the low waist rule!

Ya remember school lunch?

It was a first time for Lola yesterday...
She's having lunch at school 2 times/week (then she has 2 other opportunities to eat something made .... with love, you know?! :P)

And for her very first time, she got really what I hated at school when I was a kid! lol
She had sardines as a starter and ... (getting very pale here) rice pudding for the dessert!
eeeck... but she liked!

I remember also how much sick I felt when there was on the menu ... hachis parmentier (kind of smashed potatoes mixed with meat), or beetroots, or beef tongue!
(faint)

Can you remember what you had for lunch at school? Did you enjoy?

But I think food at school has improved a lot, the meals are pretty sophisticated and made by food specialists. So sophisticated even that some parents start to complain: their kids need to eat basic stuff too, like pasta and potatoes sometimes too! lol

Mon bonheur du jour

(my happy moment of the day)

... is now, just right now ... enjoying a glass of dark red wine, enjoying music, with my babes fully asleep!

+

Haaa my lil devils, I Love you as much as you can feel it (and much much more), but a quiet moment is also much welcome sometimes!

Have a sweet peaceful night, my babies

(yeeeeeeeeeeeepeeeeeee!!!)

I did it ! My new blog's online!

Yeeepeeeeeee!!!
Ok, I should wait before talking of it because my new blog still needs some work but... I can't help it!

My other gallery will close in the next couple of days and I'll only use my artblog from now on. More practical for me and I guess more simple for the visitors.
I really hope it will be pleasant for you, I (with the help of my techie guru, of course) made this blog, always thinking about the visitor. A minimum of "clicks", simple presentation, etc.

I've added a few new paintings, and comments about every painting I present.
From the idea of an artblog to its achievement, there have been zillions of neurones boiling and burning here...
Watta work!

And now thinking I've to take care of 2 blogbabies! This blog, which is rather a teenblog (worse!) and my other one! Pfffff...

I need a nap now :P

Geoloc's heartbeats

I've just intalled the free version of the geoloc map (not the static one) on Gulli!
Dat's kewl, before you could have this lil map for 10 euros/year I think. Now it's free and I love watching the lil green circles like heart beats on that map.

(Sitting down on my chair, enjoying another coffee, waving at your heartbeats :P)

Back to school

Lola's left to start her second year at school.
She's not even 4 and she has to spend her mornings and afternoons there. A bit long when you're that young!
The French system, on that respect, is really not so well adapted.

But she left without any stress (unlike what the photo seems to show), she was happy to discover her school teacher, a man, and find her lil friends there!
I hope everything's ok! Stressing moment for a mama ;-)

4 hours

Dat's about the amount of sleep we got last night.
I feel a bit like "huh, it's gonna be a bloody final battle between you -Sunlight- and I, zombiegirl"



But it's our fault, ok. Jumping into bed at 2.00am when the lil devilish one starts to make noise at 5.15, is not the best idea...

Anyway, despite feeling a lil bit tired, the weekend's started wunnerfully: on a lazy and greedy mode! Phewwwwwwww, I think I can survive with that!

Amour sur la peau

I've found it!

After more than an hour suffering testing any kind of perfumes (including those you've recommanded in a previous comments), I found my new perfume. 60 euros! ouch!!!

My new Amour is a mixture of scents: "heliotrope ,white tea, frangipani and cherry blossom, thanaka wood, vanilla and musk".

I find it soft, very light, I love the flower and sugary touches in it, and I find it deliciously pleasant to wear.
It's KenzoAmour, another perfume from Kenzo. I guess his perfumes are definatly made for me 'cause I've tried zillions of other perfumes, determined to take the ONE that will suit me! And I fell for Kenzo again :)

A blog is born

A blog is dead, but a new one's just born.

it's here, it required hours of boiling thoughts and hard work from the blogpapa, but the baby looks really good!!!

A yummy goodie for a purrfect Friday

Simpsons


just got it from Martin, in case you haven't seen it already... hope you enjoy! :P