Christmas

The past week has been busy with driving and seeing multiple families and groups of friends.  

On Thursday, 12/18, we drove to Nashville for the Andrew Peterson Christmas concert at the Ryman... Friday was lunch with friends... Saturday was breakfast with the Hendrixes and supper at Caroline's with last minute Christmas shopping with dad in between.  Sunday was church and lunch with Nana... and then a drive back to ATL to wash clothes and regroup for the next trip.  Monday we drove to Thomasville but then went to Winston to see some NC friends.  Tuesday we had lunch with Phillip and then went to High Point for the play of the 1946 radio show of Its a Wonderful Life.  Wednesday was lunch with Ric and last minute Christmas shopping... then cooking for Christmas.  Thursday was Christmas!  In the afternoon we went to Doug's cousin's house, with 25 other relatives.  Friday we left at 5:30AM (4:30CST!) to hurry to Nashville for my family Christmas lunch and presents... and then my mom's family came over for supper.  Saturday was Christmas in Centerville with my dad's side of the family.  Sunday was church and after-Christmas shopping and a couple movies at home.  Monday was errands, lunch at 5 guys, car serviced, and supper at Stan and Leanne's.  NOW, it is Tuesday.  Nothing to do... we might actually rest a little bit before we meet friends tonight at Calypso for supper.

NC

This past weekend we went to NC... we had a teacher workday Monday and election day off Tuesday, so I took off Monday so that we could stay for several days. We went to South Fork Sunday night and afterwards went to a young couple's house with some friends and were introduced to Rock Band. Although we both had our doubts, as neither of us enjoys "video games," it was incredibly fun. Doug talked about it all the way home. He wants to get PlayStation just so that he can get Rock Band! Monday I had breakfast with Sarah and lunch with Leslie. We visited Doug's Granny Monday afternoon. She had a knee replacement last week but seems to be doing well. His Aunt Iris flew in from Oklahoma to take care of her.

My computer at work has not been behaving at all. I can't open Explorer, Word, Outlook, Powerpoint, or Excel. So basically I can't do anything. The computers in the labs aren't bringing up my documents, so I feel quite behind. I really need to send out an e-mail about the Haiti meeting on Sunday, but I can't access the spreadsheet that has all of the team member's e-mail addresses.

Next week Alison Winstead and Jennie Rickleton are staying with us. That will be fun.

Doug takes the GRE Monday! Pray for him!

Nashville

5K in Germantown Saturday morning...

Trip to Centerville Saturday afternoon... with lunch at the Beacon Light...

And Joanna's wedding Saturday night

Precious Charlie

5K- not so easy!

Doug and I had a big surprise at the 5K yesterday!  We had both been running quite a bit, so we felt really prepared.  We knew that it was going to be a "cross country" course, but we had NO idea how hilly the course would be!  It was SO hard!  We still both got medals- I was 3rd for my gender age group and Doug was 1st for his gender age group.  Next week's 5K in Nashville (on the road!) will seem like a piece of cake!

September

September flew by for us.

First was a semi-relaxing Labor Day weekend...

then a not-so-relaxing Magazine Sale at GACS...

and my birthday weekend with a visit from Jess, AnnaRose and Jenny...

and there was the REI scratch and dent sale...

(6 pairs of shoes between the 2 of us)

and our trip to Colorado to the French World Missions Workshop...

(Castle Rock)

(Our wonderful host couple)

(mountains)

(weird airport)

and finally, my parents visited the last weekend in September!

Our October plans:

1st weekend: 5K at GACS

2nd weekend: NASHVILLE! (our first visit in nearly 3 months)... 5K, visit family and friends, Joanna Tenpenny's wedding

3rd weekend: ??

4th weekend: Jenny visits

Les Jeux Olympiques

Doug is enjoying our home entertainment center (antenna) by watching lots of olympics.  

This weekend we went to Greenville to Vicky's wedding, Thomasville to spend the night, church with the Williams', packed up Doug's bedroom furniture, stayed for his aunt's 60th b-day party, got stuck in traffic at the SC state line, and didn't get back til 10:15 Sunday night.  Yuck.  Monday we unloaded the furniture and rearranged the apartment.  The guest room looks REALLY good now!  It actually looks a lot better than our bedroom looks.  

This weekend the newly acquired furniture will get its first use with Amy and Crystal's visit.

Anyone else want to come visit???

Home Entertainment Center

After a year without TV, Doug broke down and bought "rabbit ears" for $9 so that we can watch the olympics.  The picture is not so great, but the sound is good.  We feel a little bit more connected to the outside world, but it doesn't seem like we have been missing much.

First day of school!

I'm so happy it is 3:15!
Today was long!
My throat and feet hurt!
But it was a good first day. I have really good classes! All of my "bad" students either switched schools or aren't taking French this year!

I'm looking forward to a new start and doing new and different things in my classes this year. I want to use more music in class... today I had Carla Bruni and Francis Cabrel playing as the kids entered the classroom. It was a good way to also talk about French politics since Carla is Nicholas Sarkozy's new wife.

Well, time to go home and relax... and maybe work on lesson plans. 4 more days til the weekend!

La Rentree

Monday is back to work... so we are relaxing and enjoying our last few days of freedom... and also trying to get a lot done!

Yesterday we went to the Social Security Administration office so I could finally officially get my name changed. They wouldn't let me drop or abbreviate Jane... so, my name on my card will be Jane Elizabeth Kittrell Williams. Uggh. I though things were finally going to be simpler with my name! My check card says "J Elizabeth Kittrell Will" my license says "Jane Elizabeth K Williams" and my passport still says "Jane Elizabeth Kittrell."

We also got my car serviced... they told us that A LOT of things need to be replaced/ cleaned/ fixed, etc. Not sure what to do... Doug REALLY needs a new car, as his is not reliable at all. But should we BOTH get new cars??

As therapy for these stressful conditions, we've been doing a lot of yummy cooking. I made watermelon sorbet on Thursday- it turned out really good! We made our own version of a Nicoise salad (without anchovies!) last night with yummy goat cheese toasts. Through Salud, we have discovered a delicous goat cheese called Capricco de Cabra (sp?). This morning I made Doug waffles. Now the creativity is going to switch to furniture rearranging because we are bringing Doug's bed back from his house in NC in a couple weeks. The goal is go get the daybed and the queen size bed to both fit in the guest room without being too crowded

More pictures from Hunter's wedding...

They had croquet, checkers, and Scrabble set up... so cute!

Uncle Bill and MamaJune chatting before pictures.

The kiss!

Reception

We weren't sure who all would be at the wedding (except for our family and Sarah Crump!) so we were surprised to see Justin there as the photographer!

Hunter's wedding

After camp, we met my family in Johnson City, TN, for my cousin's wedding.

We didn't mean to match so well!

At 1PM, it was POURING down rain, but it completely cleared up by the time we got to the farm at 5!

MamaJune was SO glad that Hunter shaved his beard!

Dad and Aunt Kaye from California

Anniversary pictures...

We went to the Melting Pot downtown Nashville

When we got to NC, we picked up a 6" five flavor pound cake (our wedding cake flavor) from Ketchie Creek.

Yum!

Hard to believe that a year has past since July 8, 2007!

Since France

We've been back for about 3.5 weeks.
We spent time in Nashville... we went to the Melting Pot for our anniversary.
We went to NC and CBC.
We went to my cousin's wedding in Johnson City, TN.
We're now in Nashville.
Monday is back to work :(

Saint Chapelle

Ceiling of stars in upper chapel

Bloody scene
Moses with horns... a poor translation during the Middle Ages said that when he came off of the mountain he had horns instead of glowing...
upper chapel
fresco in the lower chapel... oldest painting in Paris

MSM

We had read that the best time to visit Mont Saint Michel is AFTER the tourists leave in the evening... we are so glad we did!  It was beautiful and not too crowded!  We left in the morning right as tons of tour buses were unloading tourists.

First night in Paris pics...

Doug enjoying a Tartelette au citron while watching the sunset and Eiffel tower

Relaxing by a fountain in Tuilerie Gardents

Place de la Concorde

Place Vendome (right by the hotel)

Place de la Concorde

More pictures...

In Annecy... most photographed spot (former jail in the background)

Antique market through town

Water is sparkling

Beautifully clear water

Notice door is leaning!

Final Days in France...

Thursday evening we returned to the little Bouchon, this time with Matt and Laura.  The couple at the restaurant remembered us from the week before.  After dinner Doug and I walked around Bellecour.  

Friday Doug had a “sortie” with his class. After we met back and had lunch, we took the tram to the Hendrixes.  We enjoyed fresh raspberries from their garden and homemade whipped cream.  We were also able to use internet for a while and print of some confirmations for Paris.  Friday evening once we got back to the apartment, we were hot and tired and didn’t feel like making supper.  So, on a whim, we decided to go back to the bouchon one last time.  The man was very friendly and joked that he would give us a card so that if we ate there 10 times, we would get a dinner free.  Afterwards we walked around Vieux Lyon... we saw several people coming out of Cathedral Saint Jean, so we went in and there was actually a chorus singing... from California!  They were good, but Doug and I agreed that the DLHS chorus would have been even better.

Saturday, we went on an all day outing with the Hendrixes.  Pamela is as organized as Sarah Thomas, as energetic as Mrs. Branch, and as generous as Nana, so outings planned by her are very fun.  We drove east to Annecy, a little village and the cleanest lake in Europe.  It is in the pre-Alpes.  It is so weird to see water the color that we see in St. Martin, but surrounded by mountains.  It was beautiful.  We walked around the antique market in the old town and then drove to an inn for a very fancy lunch.  We then drove to an 800 year old Chateau.  The tour of the Chateau was theatrical… interesting and entertaining.  We went up to the top of a mountain and got a GREAT view of Mont Blanc.  It was a clear day, so you could see it really well.  

We had a “gouter” in the mountains and then headed back to Lyon.   It was sad to say goodbye to the Hendrixes, but we hope to see them in December while they are on furlough in the States.  And we have thought about coming back to Lyon next summer…

Sunday morning was church and goodbyes there, and then train to Paris.  After checking into our hotel in Paris (thanks to Dad’s Marriott points!!), we went to take pictures of the outside of Centre Pompidou and the Stravinsky (lips) fountain.  We also went to Place de la Concorde, but we couldn’t get too close to the Oblisque because they have already started setting up for July 14 parades.  We strolled through the Tuilerie Gardens before heading back to the hotel.

Monday morning we got up early to catch our train to Caen (which happens to be Nashville’s sister city).  We went to the Memorial/ Peace museum, which was very good.  We then took a train to Bayeux to see the famed Bayeux Tapestry (which is actually embroidery) and the cathedral where it was originally housed.  We unfortunately ran out of time to go see the American cemetery looking over Omaha Beach.  That will be on our list for next trip.  We took the train from Bayeux to Pontorson, and then a bus from Pontorson to Mont Sint Michel.  Mont Sint Michel was incredible… it can’t really be put into words!  We ate a yucky supper, but then spent most of the evening walking around and taking pictures.  The sun didn’t set until 11PM! 

Tuesday morning we ate breakfast and then caught the bus to Rennes.  From Rennes we took a train to Paris.  We ate some sandwiches in the garden by Montparnasse and then checked back into the hotel.  We did Rick Steve’s Left Bank walking tour in the afternoon.

We got cleaned up and then did Rick Steve’s Rue Cler walking tour.  We ate some hearty salads for supper and then went by the Eiffel tower before heading back to the hotel.

Wednesday was the Fat Bike tour of Versailles.  It POURED on us, but it was still fun.

Wednesday night we went BACK to the cafe on Rue Cler for supper and got two more hearty salads.

Thursday morning we flew back to ATL.  We unpacked, did laundry, and ate Moe's for supper.  We miss France already.  As we have NO food in the apartment, we are about to go get breakfast and groceries... will add more pics later.