Although this post comes a little late, we hope everyone had the most wonderful holiday season. And we wish everyone has a beautiful 2012! Thank you for being a part of our lives and thank you for letting us be a part of yours!
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January4th
No CommentsMerry Christmas
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December7th
Thanksgiving – Giving Thanks
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We’ve spent the last few Thanksgiving weekends in Minneapolis and again this year we made the drive up north. Here are a few pictures from our weekend with friends and family.
On another note of thanks. I received an email over the holiday weekend from a student who I had a few semesters ago. I thought it was nice message to pass along. It also reminds me that I should be sending out messages of my thanks to others as well.
Thank you for each and every contribution that you’ve made to my life conciously as well as unconciously. I truly appreciate the guidance and knowledge you instill in me and other students with all that you have! I am grateful for people like you in my life and personally wish you a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving. Enjoy ( : -
December2nd
Happy 4 Years Together
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We celebrated our fourth year of marriage while in France. We went on a dinner cruise up the Rhone River. It was a great night and a great five weeks together. If you can believe it, we spent every day together. Dusty was would work all day, I’d teach my online course in the morning and then go shopping at the market for lunch and dinner. We spent a lot of time together. A lot of people told us that they could never spend that much time with their significant other. This month away from distractions made me realize how much I enjoy spending time with Dusty and how much we have in common. Every year we get our pictures taken and although it took us six months to get them taken this year, they turned out great.
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October16th
Camping Adventures
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I don’t know what came over my husband but he decided that he wanted to take me camping. He said something about wanting to build a fire. I wouldn’t consider myself or Dusty big outdoorsy people but the weekend was a success. We drove a couple of hours away to Indian Cave State Park. Even though we had never been to the campgrounds and arrived after dark we got the tent set up and the fire started. It was a nice weekend away from our cell phones. We played yatzee, went hiking, watched the fire, and drank some wine.
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October2nd
Omaha Fashion Week
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July11th
Cinque Terre, Italy
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The last week of our trip to Europe this summer was spent vacationing in Italy. The Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. “The Five Lands” is composed of five villages: Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. We stayed in Vernazza and hiked to the other towns on both sides. It was so peaceful and relaxing. It was a wonderful ending to our trip.
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July10th
Milane, Italy
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June30th
Weekend Trip to Beaune, France
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During our adventures this summer we spent a weekend in Beaune. Beaune is the wine capital of Burgundy in eastern France and one of the reasons we went to visit (Burgundy wine is one of our favorites). If you can believe it Beaune is one of the key wine centers in France. The town is surrounded by some of the world’s most famous wine villages. Beaune is a walled city, with about half of the battlements, ramparts, and the moat, having survived and in good condition, and the central “old town” is extensive. Beaune has a major food market on Saturdays which we were able to visit while we were there. There are a large number of stall holders supplying a broad selection of products and specialties from Burgundy and the surrounding regions. We had a great weekend of sightseeing, tasting wines, and eating delicious food.
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June23rd
As we were planning our trip we kept telling others (and ourselves) that we were working in France, not just vacationing. No big deal, right? There’s just a couple of things that make working different than vacationing.
First thing, language is different when you’re living and not just vacationing. Dusty and I have both traveled to other countries, Dusty backpacked through Europe for six months after graduating college, I backpacked with some girlfriends for 2 weeks, and then we backpacked together for 2 weeks during the World Cup. So, we both know what it’s like to vacation in other countries where you don’t speak the same language as the masses. It’s so different living somewhere, where you don’t exactly speak the language though. When you’re a tourist you have a different frame of mind, I think. Dusty and I have learned so much French while we’ve been here but I still wish I knew more. I’m sure no matter how much French we knew I’d still wish I knew more.
The living part of things. I’ve really enjoyed the living part. It’s so much fun to not only learn how another culture lives but to live it yourself as well. Even though I told myself we were working and living, not just vacationing, it did take a little bit to really transition. Now that Dusty and I seem to be in the groove of things, it’s almost time to leave. It took us a while to work out when we both were going to work since there’s a seven-hour time difference. It also took about a week to get settled, find the necessities, and get acquainted with the neighborhood. Then on top of that, we had to negotiate when we could do the touristy stuff, because the touristy stuff is still important too.The work part of things. Sometimes I forget that we aren’t just vacationing and that I actually need to do work, and then Dusty nicely reminds me. Dusty’s been great at working remotely, I think partly because he does it even when we’re in Omaha. I, on the other hand, am use to teaching in a classroom and having office hours. I’m currently teaching an online course and although it’s been a great experience (my students have been great), it took me at least a week to realize I couldn’t procrastinate anymore. Once I got into the rhythm of things, it’s been easy to keep up with grading and answering student questions.
Things that are different now that we’re here. We enjoy cooking together in our apartment more than I thought we would. What I need for a “home away from home” is different than what I originally had anticipated, more on that later though. I thought we’d be overwhelmed with “touristy” stuff and we haven’t been. Even though we are doing quite a bit of sightseeing, it doesn’t feel overwhelming because we’re here for 5 weeks. I like that we can do a few things here and a few things there and not have to do everything in a 48 hour time period.
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June23rd
Market Days
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I love market days. For all of you who might not know, small and large markets with fresh produce, meats, cheese, and anything else you can dream up are a huge thing in France. I can walk back and forth through the market for hours. The closest market for us is just a couple of blocks away along the Saone River. The market is open every morning until 12:30pm except for Mondays and on Sundays there is also crafts and beautiful local art on the other side of the bridge.
Here are just a few things we’ve gotten at the market since we’ve bee in Lyon: tomatoes, avocadoes, potatoes, paella, cheese, fresh pasta, rotisserie chicken, baguettes, cherries, fresh flowers, and sausages.
One of my favorite parts about the market is that everything is fresh. French people shop for food daily and so when you go to the market everything is ready to be eaten within in a couple of days. I love it! Typically when you go to a grocery store the food isn’t always ripe and ready to be eaten. Often times you have to wait a few days for your produce to ripen. And I don’t know about you, but with some fruits and vegetables I don’t even know when the “right” time is to eat them. Well, at the market the wonderful people selling their produce are able to pick out the best produce, cheese, meats, etc. for you.
