What do Easter, dog sitting, and baguettes have in common? Or, my very late-night ramblings.

ok, so i'm not so good at the regular blogging. how on earth do people blog every day? i don't understand it. a few people have been not-so-subtly urging me to blog more often (ahem, lc, ahem). so here you go. due to my current lack of mental energy (and the fact that it's 2:30am), it'll be of the stream-of-consciousness genre. (p.s. i love how the french use the word genre. we definitely have not yet discovered the full potential of this word in the english language. they use it in so many different ways and it's brilliant).

we're right in the thick of easter weekend. i love easter. i love taking 4 whole days to celebrate the most amazing act of love the world could ever know. i love the traditions, all of them, from start to finish. (i also love the easter package with the cadbury eggs i got from my mommy today). but easter is busy. i work at a church. this is busy time.

today i discovered that french people, who are stereotypically rude in customer service-type settings, are excessively helpful in situations involving a dog. today i was dog-sitting Talli, my teammate Dom's dog. i'm walking Talli through town and we're right in the middle of the place de la mairie when all of a sudden she stops, sits down on the ground, and starts throwing up. then she starts violently trembling, and falls over on her back. i think she was having a seizure or something. do dogs have seizures? well, i'm freaked out and have no idea how to care for a seizing, barfing dog, but immediately at least 4 people rush over. two immediately drop to the ground to see what's wrong with her while the other two are inundating me with advice on how to care for her. one french guy was actually on his hands and knees, massaging Talli's stomach. well after a few minutes of lying there trembling, she hops up and starts to walk around as if nothing had happened. and she had no further problems for the rest of the day, so i guess she's fine. but i share this story for all those of you who are convinced that the french are so rude. it's just not true.

i'm rediscovering how wonderful it is to live in this city! a few of my new favorite things:
place to eat lunch-- on the steps in front of the palais de justice, soaking up the sun. i've enjoyed this lunch spot the past 2 days in a row. i bet if i eat lunch there again tomorrow, it will turn into a regular habit.
cafe-- la madeleine. delicious coffee, and i could sit there for hours. when you're inside you feel like you're in paris.
bakery at which to buy my baguette- emile bec. i went on a quest for the perfect baguette, and the winner is without a doubt the baguette at emile bec. it's important to get a baguette with the right consistency, not too dense, not too crusty, light and airy but not lacking in substance. trust me on this people. i was a psych major- i'm trained in research methods and statistical analysis. this was a systematic study- the best bread in aix is the emile bec baguette.
mode of transportation-- walking. if i ever have a lot on my mind, by the time i walk home i've had a chance to process it all out. how did i ever get any thinking done when i had a car?

blogs soon to come (i promise!): stories of all our easter festivities (and there may be one entire blog on the easter meal i'm going to have that i can safely predict will knock my socks off); blog including lots and lots of pictures of our awesome super fun youth group- it's growing and thriving, we do crazy wild fun things, but also have been having some really amazing deep conversations; and a blog about how i'm revolutionizing france with the game telephone pictionary.