W is for WALT! and washington state

spring break this year found me traveling to texas and washington - a bit of business, a bit of pleasure... i got to hang out with my mom, play with my nephews, see a bunch of family, stuff my face with tex-mex, rock out with the w-g's, talk about linda lê, chat with my favorite vietnamese teacher... all ingredients for a pretty fantastic trip.

first stop, big D:

this is walt's magnadoodle portrait of uncle knox. i think it's awesome!

snack time at the straughn's - sam and harry take this part of the day very seriously!

walt-man, who turns 5 today!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WALT!

next stop, seattle and chez w-g! they fed me fajitas, sammies, and coffee, let me sleep in their living room, gave me rides to campus... friday night was also dance party night (the w-g dance party mix is very similar to the one k&i have going). bref, it was a good time.

hazel did my hair for dinner friday night and then took the picture - she's 6 and totally awesome

this is from the "specters of hazel" series (i think she is rocking out to lady gaga here)

specters of hazel, 2

dance party, self-portrait with nora - she was game for the pic but really just wanted to get back out on the dance floor

but as much as i could've spent the whole weekend hanging with honsdawg, i did have some conferencing to do... (no pictures of the actual conference, though i must say, the room we were in was amazing).

cherry blossoms on uw's campus - who could get any work done here??

with the ever adorable cn on uw's campus

the view from our conference host's home in seattle

mt. rainier

planetary coolness

i would say the only negative of this trip was the fact that i have apparently racked up some pretty lousy flight kharma. first flight cancelled due to crazy winds in paris (combined with a broken RER - i was NOT a happy camper); second attempt to leave paris was delayed 4 hours for lack of crew; seattle-dallas flight was delayed 4 hours for lack of plane; dallas-london delayed for 2 hours due to thunderstorms; london-paris delayed 30 minutes just because... it was a great trip but i'm happy to know that there are no more flights in my immediate future!

flight delay # 4, reason: thunderstorms over dallas

V is for vacances d'été!

vacance d'été :: summer vacation

...which we will probably not be having this year. sigh. i should save this post for june, when i'll be frantically trying to finish my dissertation and wishing we were back in provence, but i can't help it. the low today is 3 degrees C, which translates to... well, COLD degrees F! and it was in the 20s a few days ago! so, i'm hoping that a nostalgic trip down memory lane will help warm our spirits...

the fab four, almost arrested in beaune... not really.

so, a&n started planning this adventure shortly after their january 2007 trip to paris. i believe n's words were "F this cold weather, let's head south" or something along those lines... so, two short years later, they made the trip back over and we did just that. rented a car, packed some sammies, and hit the road (a&n deserve a medal for surviving the road trip navigation dynamic that k&i have going, by the way. we bicker a lot when we're lost and sometimes even when we're not. plus we had a fender bender... it was not pretty).

we spent a week on the road, stopping for drinks and photos (and often in that order) in beaune, bonnieux, and cassis. we ate well. we lounged about. we drank far too many bottles of red wine (some of which turned into late-night microphones during raucous dance parties, the photos of which i will not be posting here...). we burned ourselves crisp on the beach. we hiked. we drove. and drove. and drove. and we laughed. a lot.

blue skies, bluer ocean, early fields of lavender, farm houses, vineyards, cherries, cold beers with a shot of pèche, good music, vegetables, bread, cheeeeese, sandals, short skirts, floppy hats, sunglasses, card games, good books, better friends... all the ingredients for a fabulous holiday in the south of france!

behold...

road shot #1 (courtesy of andh - ah got pretty good at these after 7 days!)

road shot #2 (andh)

the view from bonnieux

the view of bonnieux

the backyard

an afternoon in roussillon (andh)

mont saint victoire and lac du bimont

ndh (ah gets such great shots of her...)

love these two! (andh)

this one's not bad either, even when he's grumpy

wine tasting at bouachon (totally lost on us thanks to the previous night's shenanigans, andh)

road shot #3, provence countryside (andh)

cassis - love it here

(andh)

(andh)

(andh)

back in paris, at the favorite neighborhood bar

indoor picnic, or, ah discovers cantaloupe and prosciutto