Here, There, Everywhere

Still feeling scatterbrained these days... So this entry shows some of what we've been up to.  Kyle gave me a lovely bird feeder for Mother's day, and it has been wonderful to have so many avian visitors (mostly cardinals, titmice, and chickadees if you're curious).  Well, the blessings come with a curse~ squirrels.  I had left the bag of bird seed on the porch.  A crafty little squirrel ripped into the bag and feasted on our seeds almost entirely unnoticed.  When I did spot him, I fussed like crazy.  Greedy little rodent...

The cutie bird feeder mounted by our t.v. antenna

The aftermath of that squirrel's binge

Caught in the act!  We need some sort of Gandalf to ward off these sneaky snackers a la "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"

As I mentioned recently, Kyle and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary on Monday.  It was excellent because Kyle had the day off work.  I love being married to him; he is such a good man and we have the best time together.  He's so smart, thoughtful, cute, fun, social, godly, and kind.  I love that we run together (well....not currently) and that he loves to cook and bake and that we enjoy being together in large groups of friends or just the two of us at home.  Being married is such a blessing~ there is no relationship like it.  He belongs to me and I belong to him; we get to be the best representatives of Christ's love to one another.  I think God spoiled me by giving me Kyle; I hope to be as good to him as he is to me.  Here's a little now & then....

Day 1 of marriage~ vows were just spoken and I became a "Mrs.".  I love how Kyle snuck his hand into my bouquet to hold my hand.

Day 365 of marriage~ we got fancy to see a play, but not before posing for a picture on our narrow porch in France.  I picked out that dress especially for our anniversary; oh how I wish I could wear it now.

Day 730 of marriage~ Kyle has his whole little (or big, depending on your perspective) family on his lap.  We were a lot more casual this year spending the day at my parents' house reading lots, watching Food Network, and napping.

A couple of French lifestyle things came up this week.  We have friends who receive a share of fruits and veggies from local farmers who sell their goods weekly at outdoor markets.  We were offered their helpings from two different farmers' markets~one in Chamblee and one here in Norcross.  Well, we only ended up collecting the Norcross one (thanks Rusty & Kirsten!)  Why is this like France?  We went to markets and even a nearby farm to collect fresh produce to enjoy what was in season.  Here's our plunder!

Leafy greens, yummy potatoes, baby carrots, and a very tiny onion~ how cute!

Another French thing (for me) is being artsy.  We didn't want to put holes in our dorm room walls in France, but they were too white and bare to hang nothing.  I ended up painting (admittedly very amateur) water colors and using putty to fill our home with some color and life (I shouldn't fail to mention that my students & card senders also filled our walls with art).  I haven't painted anything since we came home from France; we really haven't even found placed in our apartment for the paintings I did abroad.  For lil Mr. Hamilton's nursery I wanted to make something cute especially for him.  I copy pretty much everything I ever paint so no originality points for me, but I ended up feeling pretty happy about my cute recreation....

Colorful birds in a blue tree to match his nursery colors

I couldn't overlook my sweet husband; he deserved a little watercolor.  I copied this little piece from a card I saw in Southern Living.  I think it's too cute!

Little lemons love to lock lips!

If I haven't gone all over the place already in this entry, let's do one more random thing.  Ready to see my pregnancy progress?  Baby boy is growing right on track according to our OB visit last week.  We are officially going ever two weeks!  Eek!  He'll be here in no time!

29 weeks~ can we really get any bigger?

This baby enters every room before I do.

There you have it!  My thoughts and pictures are more scattered than Waffle House hash browns.  Hope you are having a wonderful start to June!

Audrey takes on Metz

Well well well~another entry about the sites, sounds, and smells of Metz-ville.  You may have had your fair share, and may even believe that I have shown you all that is to be seen in our small eastern French town.  (Here's a sampling of entries that feature some of our touristy days~ holidays visitors and peanut-butter, weekend de bonheur, england hath long been mad, gonna take some time to do things we never have, my husband turns 26, divers divertissements, and super mega awesome date day)  Anywho, we ventured out and enjoyed places completely new to Kyle and me.  We kicked Saturday off with a trip down town to play in the new park area at Esplinade then made our way to an amazing creperie which had a crazy nautical theme going on.

This thing is like the fry guys at McDonald's playgrounds back home.  You just kind of stand there and shake a little.  Not optimum excitement....

Kyle's method of left foot off and look over the right shoulder didn't seem to make it any more entertaining.

For lunch I decided to eat a light little salad... I love how the French will put an egg, ham, and fries on a bed of lettuce so one can deceive themselves into thinking salad is the best meal ever.

Audrey's galette (that's a savory style crepe) topped with rice and seafood.  I'm glad Audrey is a foodie like Kyle.

Kyle's dish was just seafood and a whole lot of cream sauce.  We're talking mussels, shrimp, and scallops~it was tasty.

After lunch we strolled by the cathedral and took in all the stained glass.  We enjoyed a nice beverage at Place St. Louis while watching tons of kids ride on the merry-go-round.  It was a very relaxing afternoon after all the traveling Audrey and I did the day before.

Audrey~are you doing the Ashley Teffeau?  I think I'm looking a little sluggish after throwing down that salad.

Sunday we played hooky from church.  For shame, I know, but Jack Mac is out of town and the other preacher is very hard to understand.  Plus Audrey speaks only un petit peu de francais.  We opted to go to the secular church of France....

The Museum~This is the brand new Centre Pompidou.  It's been called a Smurf house or a Chinese hat; no matter what, it is a funky building.  Seriously, French folks are lined up outside this museum all day long on Sundays~it practically is a place of art worship.

These are all Audrey's pictures~well done capturing the very cool wood frame in this picture.

A view of Metz from the 3rd story gallery

This large painting on the left is of a fishing excursion~I kid you not...

Now shall we SHOW & TELL?  I've missed this time since school let out, but I'd like to share with you two pictures of art which left an impression on me.

Please ignore where my head is in this picture~nice job, Audrey.  I am marveling at the detail in this number because it is no photograph.  It's all drawn with pencil!!!  Even his suit had a small tweed pattern (which is what was so engrossing to me.)

It's not the real one~painted by some Italian copy cat.

A la Brian Regan~It's a stack of books.  Just put an F on there and let me go home.  Well, it's a stack with books in it; I call it Stack of Books.  You should move on now...

Double rainbow!  What does it mean?

We just chilled out the rest of the day, and Kyle and I prepared some French foods for dinner.  It was nice having one of my best friends in town for a bit.  It's crazy that we'll likely be able to hang out whenever in just a few short months (assuming K and I are back in ATL).  Hopefully you've enjoyed this installment on what there is to do in Metz.  The next few weekends Kyle and I have some trips planned so you'll be seeing more travel-style entries for a bit.  In T-3 hours we'll be roadtripping with our friends, the Reindls, down to Lyon.  It'll be my first time back in 6 years after doing the Georgia Tech LBAT program there.  On a side note, I only lived in Lyon for 6 weeks in the summer of 2004, but when I came home everybody I knew was either wild about Napoleon Dynamite or The Notebook.  If there are some crazy fad movies with faithful adherents all over the fruited plain in the U.S., would you mind giving me a heads up before venturing home?  I'll have none of this quoting a movie at me and then make me feel like a fool for not getting the reference...

Alright~like I said, just a few hours until departure, and I'm still lounging in pjs with an empty backpack.  I'd better be off~happy weekend friends!