0 March, halfway

It's been a great month so far.


My Running Challenge hasn't been without hiccups - I've gone four times in the past six days. Yes, I've already broken my 6-day a week rule, but it's certainly an improvement from the one or two days a week I was doing before. Plus, forcing myself to run over the weekend in Bordeaux actually turned out to be amazing, as I went along the river and, for once, wasn't gawked at for running in France. On Friday it was sixty and sunny and I passed people sunning themselves on lounge chairs outside restaurants that faced the river. Now I know where my next beautiful-day lunch destination is.

It's hard to believe that my flight home to America is scheduled for less than two months from now, and that my best friend Laura, whose visit once seemed so far away, will be arriving in Bordeaux in three weeks. Now is the time that I'm becoming extremely envious of my English friends, who can stay in France visa-free, and can come and go between here and home affordably. The thought of leaving this country in seven weeks literally gives me a pit in my stomach, and I'm beginning to think of ways I can stay in Bordeaux this summer - ways that are both financially and legally viable. Wish me luck as I embark on my summer job hunt!

0 Forty days

Over February break, Celeste told me that she was giving up Facebook for Lent, which I thought was a fantastic idea. If I had to choose, I'd give up something food- or drink-related, as those are by far my biggest vices. But I'm not particularly religious, and I thought it would be wrong for me to give something up without taking the time to consider the meaning behind it.

That being said: I have, for personal and spiritual reasons, decided to embark on my own forty-day challenge. While giving up red wine, white bread, chocolate or any of the like would severely damage my enjoyment of my last two months in this wonderful country, I figure that adding some physical activity couldn't hurt. I can take my running sneakers with me anywhere, and I bet more exercise will make me feel great and make all those yummy French foods feel a bit less guilty. So I'm going to run everyday for the next seven weeks, taking off one day a week. The goal isn't to complete certain distances or times, but to pry my lazy butt out of bed, lace up my sneakers and get out there, even if it's only for twenty minutes. Wish me luck!


By the way, today was perfect. 60 and sunny again. I went to market, I played guitar outside, I watched Glee (really good episode, by the by), I cleaned and rearranged my room. Oh, spring: for you I am infinitely thankful.

1 Biarritz: The food edition

Did I mention that we ate like kings? Biarritz is in the Basque region and there is a ton of Spanish influence in everything, especially the food. The best meal by far was dinner on Friday night: tapas like mussels and octopus, and the best Sangria I've ever had. And being right on the water, it's needless to say that the seafood was outstanding.

Whole dorado with fried garlic, roasted red peppers, and parsley

Octopus with paprika and chives, sautéed in a red wine sauce

Tapas: mussels in white wine and garlic; octopus sautéed in olive oil, garlic and other various deliciousness; some sort of amazing buttery local ham with a piece of bruschetta in the middle; fried calamari strips with a tartar-like sauce; and the bombest of bomb sangria

All-star meat brochette (pork, chicken, duck and beef) with roasted vegetables, a baked potato with butter and chives, and salad with roasted red peppers

Not pictured: Prawns rolled in salmon with a sweet potato purée; seafood salad with smoked salmon, shrimp, fresh red peppers, and a creamy chive dressing; awesomely tender cheeseburgers dripping with a secret sauce (ordered from the kids' menu), and lots, lots of dry white wine

0 Travel light

When you travel, you have both limited space and a limited budget for new clothes. To say I'm tired of my clothes would be an understatement. But as the sun comes out and the weather turns warmer, I'm fantasizing about easy, breezy spring clothes: light-weight shorts and rompers, cotton tunics and dresses, and lace-up booties that look cute with all of the above.

1. Toast Chambray Shirt Dress 2. Toast Ankle Boot 3. ACNE Sensational Short

1. Heidi Merrick Painting Tunic 2. Lucca Couture Chiffon Scallop Short 3. Madewell Oxford Slingback

1. Madewell Music Hall Romper 2. Toast Linen/Cotton Button Front Pullover

2 Biarritz

I spent this past weekend in Biarritz, a seaside town in the very southwest of France. What started as a somewhat cloudy Friday turned into an ideal beach weekend - 60 degrees on Saturday and Sunday, without a cloud in the sky. I would love to go back one more time and take a surfing lesson. We may or may not have slept through ours on Saturday.

3 Resiliency

I got this flower at market on Saturday. It began to rain while I was in town, and on my walk home I discovered that the stem had snapped. But I put what survived in a small jar on my desk and it flourished and made me smile during an otherwise gloomy week.

0 "New Romantic" by Laura Marling

I was already loving this girl, and then she sang about Ryan Adams and I loved her even more.

via daily poetics