watching 'couples retreat'. If i

watching 'couples retreat'. If i could have a yoga instructor that looked like that, I'd go on a retreat to!! lol

figured out our neighbor's names!

figured out our neighbor's names! lol

And we were trying different things We were smoking funny things Making love out by the lake to our favorite song Sipping whiskey out the bottle, not thinking 'bout tomorrow Singing Sweet home Alabama all summer long

So. I did some research (like I would of had Vin informed me he was going to Devry), on account of Jami, and sure enough. ALL BAD REVIEWS. Ranging from bad to AWFUL. Let's see if we get our 50 dollar application fee back. ($50. really? It's an ONLINE school. For Crouse it was on $30.) They said we would.

Vin's friend works at the admission department. She is prolly going to hate my fb post, but oh well. I found like 3 good reviews. One of them said "Devry is a grate school". Grate? Seriously. Are you kidding me. Must be a wunderfle skool. haha.

I have applied at CCC and OCC online for him. He doesn't know what he wants to do, so at least this way he can get his liberal arts done (cheaply) and online. I figure have him only take one or two classes to start since he hasn't gone in 5 years.

We have a birthday party for our nameless neighbors son (whose name is Christopher). I hope some how we don't get put on the spot by not knowing his name. We have known our neighbors for 2 years. They ahve given the girls soccer balls, and their pool, and always come over and chat with us when we are outside, and give us fresh vegetables. I am afraid, it is far past the polite time to ask their name. Maybe after the first week we could of. Or the first month. Hell, even the first year. But.....we are on 2 years now of being friends with our nameless neighbors. haha.

I have bought all the stuff to make Artichoke Rissotto and Vegetable Bayladi tomorrow. I am excited. It is easy to pick the vegetables you don't like out (Jami), so don't worry. I hate artichokes, but the rissotto taste nothing like it (may be the 3 lbs of cream in it. haha). However, I am excited to test the method of peeling (i forget the right word) artichokes. I did it at the class, not very well, but I did! lets see if the food comes out edible. If not....we always have delivery! haha.

I am making cornflake bars tonight, as well. 

My dad is on his way over to get his luggage, and the coffee table book of the French Rivera that his company got him (the book musta cost at least a hundred bucks, but I have real life pictures and experience that I think are better. haha.) 

I have something funky going on with my eye. I think it may be a sty. on the top and bottom lid. great. it is getting pretty darn painful. sigh. HOw do I keep getting sty's? I swear. My eyes were super dry and bloodshot everyday when I woke up in the hotel as well. I think I may be allergic to the goose feather pillows and comforter. or something.

well. dad's almost here. 

au revoir

sigh

really, Vinny, really?

He had signed up (without even mentioning it to me) that he was starting online classes Aug 30th. Gee. Thanks for telling me. My issues were, as follows;

He should wait until he gets laid off so he has more time to focus on it. He is going to need a lot of time, patience and help. We have none of the above. Well, I can help him, but I am on my last semester and don't have enough free time. or any.

The whole money thing. We have none during layoff.

....and the most important one.

He will HATE it. He randomly decided to do Medical Billing. HELLO?! For anyone who knows my husband even the tiniest bit, will know that he will HATE sitting in a cubicle doing medical billing. He is a people person. Duh.

Then this morning I was like fine. Just take the prereq's and you can figure out the rest later. Start in August. I will support you, but won't have a lot of time to help you because of school.

then, BANG. He cancels everything and says it's because I am an unsupportive wife. After I tell him to go for it. Repeatedly. What the hell?

not to mention. He makes it sound as tho my reasons for wanting him to wait FOUR months were unreasonable. FOUR months. and he threw a FIT over it. FOUR months is all I wanted him to wait. Until I was working, and we had a little extra money and time. I don't want him to be stressing working 60 hours a week and doing online classes when he hasn't been in school in 5 years. I was thinking of him.

I told him to go for something else. Like an xray tech. anything else. something that will not make him miserable. He just jumped into this (with the help of his friend who is the administration person or whatever at Devry college) without even thinking about if it is what HE WANTS. Just got all excited about it and didn't think "will I like sitting at a cubicle typing on the computer (which he doesn't even like computers all that much) for the rest of my life?" he didn't. but I did. So now, everyone thinks I am unsupportive and don't want him to do anything with his life but manual labor and blah blah blah. Sorry for thinking about what would benefit my husband. What he will not HATE to do. Having him go during layoff so all he has to focus on is school.

but, silly me. I was just being an unsupportive wife.

needless to say, we are not on speaking terms.

Dear Friends

Dear Friends/Sister-in-law/sister.

You know who you are. I went to France and Monaco for 5 days and NO ONE updated. Except Stephanie. Good Job, Stef. Everyone else, I leave you unsupervised and the blogging world goes to crap? oh la la helas!!  Haven't you learned anything from me?

Maybe you should take lessons from Stephanie. She at least gave it a TRY! Bon Travail!

Au Revoir.

my nieces.

I gotta feeling, that tonight's gonna be a good night, that tonight's gonna be a good good night, that tonight's gonna be a good night.

Ok. So I am going to write about my trip to France and Monaco (which is a country, btw) and the only way I will be able to remember everything we did is if I do it in chronological order. So.

Dad and I got to the Syracuse airport at about 11ish, maybe a little after. The plane left at 1230ish and we got to JFK a little after 1. Our flight to France boarded at 515 and we sat on the tarmac until 8ish. The AC was broke, then they fixed it and said we were going to take off. We taxied out a little ways, then they stopped, said we were going back to the airport, because the sensor was broken for the AC, and our flight would be rescheduled. They ended up finding another plane, and we were scheduled to leave at 1040pm. We ended up leaving a little after 11pm NY time, (5 am France time) and got to France around 1 pm-ish France time (7am NY time). 

The drive from Nice, France to Monte Carlo, Monaco was about 30 minutes. It was a nice drive. I was in awe with the whole country. It was soo beautiful. We got to Monaco and it was even more beautiful than France. It was right on the Mediterranean. Our hotel was literally ON the Mediterranean. By the time we got there, it was time to get ready for the welcoming reception which was held on the roof (which was level with another street, which took awhile to get used to--all the layers of Monaco and France), which was across the street from Place du Casino, which was the site for filming of Ocean's 12, and THE worlds destination Casino. Monte Carlo is the playground for the richest of the rich. There are no grocery stores or laundrymat's or anything in Monaco. Just 36 Euro Burgers. ha.

The reception was nice. Hord' vours or however you spell it, and people passing around free beverages. Mostly wine, altho they had beer champagne, orange juice and water--all in wine glasses. lol. It was first class service for all of the company's events. I met Jake and Charmaine, and Anna and Jeremy. jake and Anna work on my dad's team. There were a few other's that I talked to that were nice, but mostly we hung out with Jake, Charmaine, Anna and Jeremy.

Then we went to bed. We were exhausted. It was like 11pm France time, and 5 pm NY time. The next morning we met for breakfast (the company served breakfast and dinner everyday) and went walking around town with Jake and Charmaine. I had never seen anything so beautiful. The town was just amazing. The maze of roads that crisscrossed up the mountain. The Mediterranean Sea so close, the beach was 2 ft from the hotel and the whole city was surrounded by it. Our hotel balcony hung over the Sea. We could see Italy. altho I didn't know it was Italy for a couple days.

After we walked around for a while we spent a couple hours on the roof by the pool reading and people watching. There was a topless 80 year old woman sunbathing. that was not a pleasant site. 

We had the Dine around that night (sunday) with Jake, Charmaine, Anna and Jake. We went to quais de artiste or something like that. I had salad exotique for the first course which was a bowl made out of watermellon with shrimp, avocado, kiwi and mellon and lettuce in it, then I had a duck pot roast with Foie Gras (duck liver) (which was yucky) and I got Cheese Mousse encased in a darkchocolate shell with raspberry sauce for dessert and dad got creme brulee and I had some of that. that was marvelous. And we got a bottle of wine. For 6 people, dinner came to 488 Euros, which times 1.39 is the American total. holy crap. Good thing the company was paying. lol. We got back to the hotel and read for a bit, then went to bed around 1130ish. 

The next morning (Monday) Charmaine and I had the cooking class in Vence, at Alain Llorca, which was super cool. There was about 12 of us, and the restaurant had a super super beautiful view. omgosh. We made Artichoke Risotto, Vegetable Baylard (or something) Salmon, and Lemon Meringue tart. SOOOO good. we learned how to cut/peel artichokes. That is like super hard to get it perfect. lol. I got to use a torch to like cook or broil or whatever the tart. Then we got served all that with champagne and wine. and Olive TAPANDA. OMGOSH. THat stuff is DELISH!! you spread it on fried garlic bread or whatever. it is sooooooo delish. omgosh.

After that we went up to St. Paul de Vence. That is a city that is up on top of the mountain that has a stone wall around it, and about 700 residents in the fall/spring/summer, but in the winter, only 15 because you can drive down the hill in the snow, but you can't get back up it, and there are no resources in the city, like a store or bakery or anything.  It was beautiful. the whole town was gorgeous. 

We came back from that and it was time to get ready for the awards ceremony. It was elegant dress and I got to wear my red dress and the guys all had to wear a tie and jacket. It was beautifully set up, and there was a red carpet to the ballroom and everything. Live music (there was live music at all the events), after they did the awards and we ate (around 1030pm) we (jake charmaine dad and I) went walking around and watched all the people at the casino, and went walking around the streets and parks. Seeing halfmillion dollar cars became normal, but then we saw a bugatti, which is the worlds fastest car and is a million and a half dollars. Everyone there takes pictures of all the cars and stuff its kinda funny. altho I did the same thing. haha. It was beautiful at night, the fountains were on and lighted and the hotel de paris was just gorgeous and the place du casino was just beyond words.

The next morning was the sailing regatta (or rigata as the french pronounce it haha) and that was fun. we got on the sailboats (about ten went out each time (morning and afternoon) with 10 on each.) and our sailor man hardly spoke english, which worried me a little since we were going out to the middle of the sea with him. haha. there wasn't enough wind for the regatta, so after our sailing lesson, and after we got out there, we just dropped anchor and jumped into the Mediterranean sea. OMGOSH. The water was sooo warm, and I just swam around and treaded water for about 30 when we had to head back, and then we had the regatta and we didn't even know where we were going. we did not win. haha. it was fun tho. I like sailing. alot. we sailed up and investigated the yachts up close. there were multimillion dollar yachts. it's nuts.

After that, dad and I went parasailing. It was at the Monte Carlo Beach Club, which had just rows and rows of halfmillion dollar cars parked in front of it. We got on the speed boat that took us off shore aways, and the water was super choppy and we were going super fast, but it was super fun. then we got all hooked up, the boat sped up, and up we went. it was such a beautiful view. omgosh. I can't even explain it. we had a great view of Italy as well. 

After that, dad and I went and got pizza (where they only gave us one plate, again, what is up with the french and lack of plates) and then we went to a little shop and I got a purse that has a picture of the Place du casino and Hotel de Paris on it. I got shirts for the girls and Vin. Then we walked all around, in the opposite direction than before, and discovered yacht land, where all the yachts dock and people get off. Super crazy down there, and more expensive than other places. altho the general area is 4x the price of here. lol.

Then dad and I went walking around 8pmish and found a mexican restaurant and we had dinner there. it was really good. Really good. lol. Then we went and packed and passed out before we had to get up at quarter to 6 to leave and head to the airport. 

our flight to JFK was delayed like 40 minutes, and that threw off everything. we got to NY around 2ish. Our flight was supposed to leave at 345. however, by the time we got off the plane, it was 230, and then we had to go thru customs and baggage claim, and recheck our bag and go BACK thru security. Thankfully, they moved us to the "late for your plane" line, which was only about 15 minutes long, instead of 3 hours. Then we RAN and got our plane. We arrived at Syracuse about 45 mins later and discovered that our baggage did not run to the plane as well. ha. I am hoping to get it sometime today.

on the plane on the way home, I watched "date night", "cop out", "the bounty hunter" and part of "when in rome", oh and "two and a half men". haha. They were all good movies.

It was a great trip, altho I am incredibly happy to be home. The french are incredibly rude, or maybe it is just in Monaco, because they are all overly rich. They don't use plates, or ice, and their butter is always frozen, when there is actually butter. The bread is french bead, and hard enough to break teeth. They don't use mayonnaise, and are awful drivers. I can't tell you how many times our shuttle drivers almost hit people, or cars, and cars that drove on the wrong side of the road to speed ahead 20 other cars. scooters that drive whereever they want, whenever and park wherever they want. scooters galore. Crossing the road is a dangerous choice down there. Hell, standing on the sidewalk is a dangerous choice. lol. It was hotter than dickens down there, but it was a nice experience. I wish we had one more day tho. It woulda been nice to go to Nice and do some shopping at their outdoor markets, but I chose Parasailing instead, which was nice. I wish I had been able to go hiking with dad and Jake, but they went when Charmaine and I went to St Paul de Vence. 

I missed the girls and Vin an awful lot. One of the nights that I talked to Gracie I asked her what she did at ms. gretchens. she said "well...I didn't color. I didn't swim, either. I didn't paint" I was like what DID you do. and continues "I did't eat pizza, I didn't play with playdoh..." hahaha. 

I missed Vin so much. We met them at Denny's after the airport, and Madalyn wouldn't stop hugging me. haha. I just wanted to hug Vin and never let him go. He keeps texting and calling me today saying he misses me cuz we didn't really have time to talk or anything when I got back. I was so exhausted that I passed out the second I got the girls in bed. It had been almost 24 hours since I had slept. 

Now I am catching up on my L word. I missed it. I am almost done. one more episode, I think.

lost luggage, I presume. at least it's in the US. Somewhere. haha. prolly JFK.

Dear Syracuse, NY, USA. I love you and have missed you dearly.

not the best of arrivals back to America. But we made it, and now back to good ol' Syracuse!

yep. twenty minutes to get to plane and we r standing in worlds largest security line.

prolly missing our connection to syracuse...we'll see how fast we can get thru customs and security n to our gate...not even off plane yet. 90 mins til it leave