The best friend I made...

I say:  I have a fancy wedding to go to this summer.  It says on the invitation that "the mother of the bride will be wearing a hat". 

She says:  Oh you can borrow one of my dresses.  Do you want to come and try them on next week? 

I say: Sure, you probably know much better than I or B does about what a girl should wear to a "chapeau" wedding. 

I think: I doubt my slightly-taller-than-a-woodland-creature-self will fit into your average height, average weight and average chest-size dresses (damn you and your averageness!).  And I fear you have floral prints. 

Next week at her house...

She says:  Let me just get my dresses out of the closet and we'll take a look. 

I think:  How am I going to politely say no without offending her floral-print-pattern-taste.  Maybe I'll just take one with me and then say I found something else.

Unzipping the plastic protector.  

               Gold and velvet hangers Louis Vuitton.  

                                             Dress labels: Kenzo, Christian Dior.  

I think:  Oh right.   I am the jerk thinking that you wear curtain dresses. You work at LVMH.

She says:  What size shoe do you wear?

I think:  Are you my fairy godmother?

I say: 36


She says:  I'm 36.5 but let's take a look, we might be able to find something.   

Cue closet filled with shoe boxes full of delicately made Louis Vuitton shoes.
 
I think: I love you. 

This last weekend

It is cool to forget where you are.  Not like - I forgot I drove to Vegas last night.
More like - I took a 2 hour flight to visit a friend (who speaks perfect english) and we looked at Christmas lights and sang Christmas carols to her new baby so I forgot that there was also this out the window...

Stockholm city hall where the Nobel banquet is held.

"Ladies First!" said Pamela Purse

I am the fourth child.

This meant the sleeves were long, the ski pants two seasons old, the sports equipment has already seen 3 lifetimes of use and, if we are continuing the "seniority" theme, (which is the case 99% of the time) I never get the front seat or first pick.

And now, my friends, I live in France where it is all about beautiful women. At first, this was a bit disconcerting. I couldn't understand why my boss would literally hold every door and wait until I went through. Why at the dinner table I am served 2nd (sometimes 1st if there is not an older woman at the table).

But now I'm over it. Being served 1st suits me just fine.

Suck on that Meggan!

(PS I still love you)

6..7..8..9..10

Clocks in France are all 24 hours.
This means you may have a "rendez-vous" at 20h30 (pronounced twenty hour thirty). And you know that it is p.m. Unlike when you have a flight at 8 and you forget entirely to verify if it is morning or evening. Only to arrive at the airport at 6p.m., ticket in hand, and the desk clerk tells you that you are 11 hours late.
20h is just practical. Plus, people don't leave the house here before 8h30.
I think the U.S. should have 24 hour clocks.