and here is a post that's been sitting in my head since saturday.
i call it,
i love soup.

the first time that i really remember falling in love
with the idea of soup and bread, as a meal, was in switzerland.
in grade 12, we went over
for a two week jaunt through a couple countries,
and stayed at this little place in lucerne
(???..anybody remember? i'm lookin at you trish).
i don't even remember the meal at all,
just that they served soup before the meal,
with a basket of bread, and i went nuts. NUTS.
its all i wanted to eat. it was a revelation.

fast forward 12 years (HOLY SHIT),
to this lady living in paris,
often finding herself short of a little cash now and then.
whats a girl to do
but make a large pot of soup on sunday
and thus sustaining herself throughout the week
for mere centimes a bowl.

i'd done this in the past, when living in vancouver,
more out of a idealistic, look at me,
making a large pot of soup, kinda way.
it rarely moved out of the chicken/beef stock,
celery, potatoes, carrots, barley/noodles.
i usually froze 2/3 of it,
and i can't even tell you how much old,
freezer burned, homemade stuff
i threw out that last week in september.

BUT.
then i tried this recipe.
and hold lord have mercy baby jesus
if it isn't the most beautiful, gorgeous soup i know.
i made it again yesterday for this week,
and i think its the third week i've done this.
same soup! every day! not sick of it!
probably cause its not healthy.
although hearty, rich and warming.
i rarely eat more than one bowl,
before being really full and done with its richness.
a perfect blend, not to thick, not so runny..
perfect for mopping with baguette.

alor, et voila, ma potage prefere.
(the only thing to keep in mind
is that you have to bake your potatoes in advance.
well worth it.
and i kept the skins on. vitamins, you know)

BAKED POTATOE SOUP

3 bacon strips, diced
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups chicken broth
2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup half-and-half cream
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
Shredded Cheddar cheese

In a large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp.
Drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings.
Set bacon aside. Saute onion and garlic in the drippings until tender.
Stir in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well.
Gradually add broth. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes.
Add the potatoes, cream and hot pepper sauce;
heat through but do not boil.
Garnish with bacon, cheese.

well, tis the monday.
just sitting down to type after aiding the poor babe to sleep.
waaaay more fussy in his bed than normal (normal is almost no fuss)...
turns out little dude had a belly full o gas.
almost as soon as i picked him up..RELEASE.
and now he sleeps soundly.

brunch with tom and mandy was so lovely.
they make a wonderful little newlywed couple.
it was good, just for the morning, to be free from effort.
effort to communicate, effort to express..
instead to just make some good scones, some good coffee, some potatoes and eggs...and just relax. wonderful.
ma coeur est pleine.

just about ready to leave broke-town.
this here is the beginning of the last of three weeks.
hurrah!
i would do it all over again however,
since i camped out here in order to take the little week holiday.
so in that regard, broke town rules.
its just in leaving, what sort of self control will befall me?
i'm having visions of new bags and shoes...

hurrah hurrah
tom and mandy are in town
and are coming over for breakfast tomorrow.
you know what that means.

...
..
...

those scones.
(happy shiver)

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this is the only decent photo i could find of tom and mandy.
and its not really even that decent.
i mean, mandy has good grounds here to smack me upside the head.
but they just got married on sunday!
they are here for 'leur vacance de noce'.

new post. new post. new post.
a direct response to aimee and her faithful, loving comments.
so three weeks tomorrow morning i'll be a coming home.
and what a week to be coming home to,
i feel like i've a staff of 12 social coordinators on payroll,
the week is nearly full and i've not lifted a finger.
and all at the same time i'm excited,
overwhelmed by the love,
can't wait to do everything,
worried that there won't be enough time for everything,
incredibly greatful...

what a treat to be going somewhere,
and that somewhere is home.
i can't get over it.
its like i finally understand dorothy
from wizard of the freaking oz,
there is no place like home.
surrounded by wonder and beauty and the unknown of oz/paris..
there is no place like home.

so.
while i'm home one of the main things we're focusing on
is breakfast every morning.
since going out for breakfast remains my favorite meal out,
there in lie all my favorite restaurants
(except for faux bouregois..but i mean really, french food?).
deacons corner, dockers diner, odegards, jethros grub...
pick a day! join me/us/whoever!

oh and in the funny vein of things...
i acutally considered buying
a train ticket to berlin for a shoe sale.
!!!!
my favorite shoe makes, makers of my orange boots, zeha,
is based in berlin, and the three stores there
have marked ALL their shoes at 50% off.
ok now i'm considering it all over again.
:)

i made cheddar apple scones this morning...
good lord in heaven praise baby jesus i only made half the recipe...
i ate two thirds of my yield.
they were soooo good.
i can't reccomend highly enough this recipe.
perfect for this chilly day. with a cuppa while the babe is sleeping.

happy friday!

ringing through my head this week
paul oakley's song, kiss the river

i am longing
waiting ‘til the rain
becomes a river,
swelling like a flood
so I can dive into the sweetest love

feels like this promise i've been given.
just requiring of me a little more patience.
so i will. be patient. and happily.
whatever dryness now...it's rich too.
you know?


i splurged a little this month,
and bought a plane ticket to vancouver for a week!
i honestly don't think there is a better place to vacation than home.
especially since being home will help mark a certain birthday
in a way that swells my heart.
there is no better place in life,
than with those that know you,
and love you with all that knowledge.
ugh. five weeks is going to crawl by so slowly!

good for new years.

another good day..
three hour skype with those whom i love,
and have a standing tradition with,
to create thoughtful new years resolutions.
just slightly adapted this year. :)
but three hours of discussion and encouragement, ideas and love.
good.

i just had a pretty stunning two days for the heart.
simple, as most things of the heart are, but stunning.
went out walking for what turned into an epic three hour doozy, through la marais, ended up by the louvre, and then back home again...
and walked into my bedroom to see this huuuuuge pile of letters and packages. everything came at once! (except for the boxes from my mom and sister..tracking numbers anyone?)
letters and cards and gifts, and bank statements! apart from acutually having the card in my wallet, i now have a french bank account! which can be a whole other story. who has to go the bank five times to finish things up for a bank account? thats right, french people. or english people, who don't know how to work the french system. me.
but ya, it was so great to suit there and rifle through all the handwritten, handmade, handwrapped wonder.
thank you's to shona (and jord!), britt, trish, lisa and stephen, adam and elyse..wait for your official gushy thank you email.

and today was wonderful and simple because i baked, had tea with my roomates girlfriend, and laaaauugghed, and then talked to those three little people in vancouver who are the same shape as my hole. for over an hour. ohhhh. its good.

merry christmas!
currently sitting in cozy central london flat, quiet for the moment as 6 of 8 have gone off for a blustery day walk and last minute grocery shop for tomorrows epic christmas day breakfast (the cinnamon buns are currently proofing behind me next to the radiator).

this paragraph here is a massive, gratitude filled, overwhelmed emotional shout out to robin cicansky. my partner in skipping the country for year crime, she's studying up in northern england, and thus i have someone to regularily chat with on the same time zone, which in itself is a wonderful gift.
however, upon arriving here in london, a couple hours into conversation, my hosts casually mentioned that packages had arrived for me, and continued on to tell the story about going to pick up the packages from the post, only to be disapointed that they were for me. it took me a second to process this, but then finally.. "hold on, hold on..what???! there are packages HERE?? for ME???" i can't even tell you the level of excitment and joy i felt upon seeing that it was true. my hosts thought it was no big deal beacause they just figured i'd been giving out there address to everyone so that such a thing might occur. they didn't count on the surprise element. and neither did i. only later upon checking facebook did i see that ms. robin cicansky confessed to the jig. oh man. that everyone should have people like this in life. i can't believe the thought and generosity. robin. thanks.

tonight is the midnight christmas mass at paul and louanne's church, which i'm stoked about, followed by chistmas day service tomorrow, and then the whole christmas day to chill out and eat and read and play games.
we've already broken out the skip bo, which playing last night felt so right amongst the music, and conversation and coffees..louanne even said that she might be able to get her hands on a box of settlers of catan, which i admit i over reacted to. settlers? on christmas day?? can christmas day possibly get any better?

sufficed to say,
things are really, really good on this little island (that has cheerios!).
so merry christmas.
i miss you all.

well my dear folks, i am thrilled, and relieved, and overwhelmed with gratitude that i can say,
i'm going to london for christmas!
for those of you that know them,
paul and louanne enns graciously opened up their life in london for this lonely canadian paris dweller.
two nights ago i went and bought my ticket aboard the eurostar train, which i'm excited about in it own right. a two hour train that goes underneath the english channel.

and this pesky lonliness thing.
i sat thinking about it the other day,
and in coming here, leaving my huge life in canada,
i was risking it.
and come what may,
choosing to embrace that experience is paramount.
so right now i'm embracing the lonliness. and it's good.

alright i'm going short again come hell or high water.
here are my inspirations.
imput appreciated.

bad news folks.
last night my computer finally crashed for good.
it's been on the skitz for a couple months now,
so not a huge surprise, no.

just really sad.
i've still access to internet and the like through work,
but so much for the grand uploading of daily photos.

i'm still trying to figure out, budget wise, when a new computer is feesible,
it's looking like january at the soonest, probably febuary.

sigh.

julie and a little parisian appartment splendor.

later tonight i'll upload a couple i took this morning.
a continuous few of what my view is coming out of the metro each morning for work.
it's pretty good. stay tuned.

i really, really, really want these. and have for some time now.
especially when they have the ability to become these.

there has been some badgering from some corners of the world,
and i was thinking about it today,
that henceforth, i'm going to make more of an effort to photographically document goings on here.
i think i'm, mostly sub-conciously, a little conciously, averse to carrying my camera around and whipping it out..that somehow it takes away from me just experiencing. and somehow too, not wanting to paint an unrealistic picture of life here.
because on a bare level, thats what it is for me. just life. just life? hmm.

i guess i should confess that i'm not experiencing paris to it's fullest. i can blame this and that (exaustion, stomach flu, no funds), but i think i'm doing what i tend to default to. which is lay low, make time go by holeing up on my own.
but in being here, is something. something bigger than i'm currently embracing it as.
and i'm wasting it. wasting me.

these were my thoughts today, smoking out the kitchen window, after giving it a pretty decent scrub down (except the floors. still have yet to purchase a damn mop/swiffer thing). i'm not living. i'm letting. it took me a long time in vancouver to acknowledge the same things, but by the time i did, i had a solid, amazing amassment of people in my life. i turned myself from a recluse into a host. which was a huge thing. maybe not recluse..but anyways.

even though i don't have the same amassment, or a person, i need to break out. choose..something.
for now, that something is taking more photo's intentionally, intentionally being creative. using that eye. we'll see what happens next.

confused by the previous post?
don't worry, it's to enter a contest. to win a rug!! seriously.

so i bring to you today,
things that i'm happy about.

1. the coffee machine in my metro station has a 'caramel cappacino' option. only 1.20.

2. i just found out that i'm getting off three hours early tomorrow due to american thanksgiving. i'm going to see harry potter matinee!

3. the bakery downstairs. well its a love/hate thing. amaaazing bread, but always sold out by the time i get home. i kind love that i have to strategize to get bread though.

4. cheap medicine at the pharmacy. i've either food poisoning, or this mysterious 'gastro-intestinal 24 hour thing'. either way it's wreaking havoc on my middle section. and my temperature levels.

5. i was going to write earplugs, but they end up giving me a severe headache in the morning after wearing them all night. gah. so not earplugs. still hunting for fall asleep quickly idea's.

6. bacon.

7. impending mail for my mailbox. 202 rue du faubourg st-martin, 75010, paris, france

8. buddy miller's new album in the new year.

oh look at how that floor is bare.
i sure could use a rug right there.

well looky here looky here.
i just found something very cool.
in vancouver one just opened up a little while ago by the faux bourgeois...
a drop in sewing cafe!
with tuesday night knitting workshops!
and the best bit, is that it's in my neighborhood.
so now i think on tuesday's i'll be knitting.
and once a month they have an all day class where you can make one of their patterns with one of their instructors.
yipeee.

anyways.
super stoked.
pip pip.
talk soon.

yesterday i met people.
real people actually talked to me!
then i cried.
the strength of the emotion surrounding it blindsided me a little.
i went to a service called verticale, put on by the fonderie,
which is the church that had piqued my intrest before arriving in paris.
turns out they don't have regular services,
just this once a month thing.
BUT.
BECAUSE PEOPLE TALKED TO ME
i was able to find out about a tiny little artistic church,
with real musicians,
that meets every week.
you guys. my hopes are freaking high on this one.
i cannot wait to go and check it out.

churches here have been pretty disapointing.
one was super old school evangelical..i caught myself wincing a couple times.
the other which i also checked out yesterday,
was RAH RAH!! we're hip!
we have a ten piece band!
and none of us are over 24!
nor do we have any musicianship whatsoever!
the funniest thing was that whenever anyone prayed,
(everything was in english and french)
their voice automaticaly went into this southern drawl.

you guys i'm looking for people of the heart.
which reminds me,
i've been reading jean vanier's becoming human (again)
and its killing me.
i miss mosaic something fierce.
a living out of the reality that we're all very broken.
bu broken together. and somehow it's gorgeous.

a list of things that they have in france, but not in canada. that i love.

1. butter with sea salt crystals
2. a kick ass public transportation system.
3. baguettes
4. pain au chocolate (i know it might seem like you have those last two in canada, but i assure you, you don't)
5. dijonaise. mayo! dijon! it cheap and dirty sqeeze bottles. we prob have that in canada actually.
6. FANTASTIC 4 dollar wine bottle at the grocery store.

a list of things they have in canada, but not in france (and are the worse for it).

1. MOPS. oh my god.
2. peanut butter
3. cheddar
4. sourdough
5. dryers
6. washing machines that take 1/2 hour. (2-3 hours a cycle here folks)

my body has lots of good robaxacet in it right now.
oh ya. going to be a good sleep tonight folks.
which hasn't really been happening these last few.
its the first time in a long time that i've only had one pillow at my disposal,
and its wreaking havoc on my neck and shoulders,
causing a terrible headache during the day.
ah, first world problems.

single bachelor boy has no mop.
let me tell you just how severly the kitchen floor needs mopping.
i asked him if he had one somewhere,
and darn'd if there wasn't a word for mop in french!
trying to describe,
we finally came around to the idea of cleaning the floor with bob marley's head.
also no chef's knife.
cutting up vegetables with a paring knife blows.

darned it also if
coffee from a little metal pod, that you put into your machine,
isn't a really, really good cup of coffee.

came home from a long day,
to a good supper,
and a perfect chat with a much missed christoph.
he's in LA for a guitar conference or something,
and is going to the house of blues tonight.

this robaxacet is makin me feel so good,
i might skip watching an episode of man men tonight,
and go to sleep! yeepee!

bisous.

i'm incredibly happy to say that finally i've a home.
i've just arrived not a half hour ago,
and in the process of rearranging everything,
sorting out this and that, getting myself aquainted.
tedious, but wonderful.
(i oddly enjoy this bit, knowing that when i'm done,
i'll have a space. a sanctuary of sorts)

i had to sit and write to tell you all though.
my address is
202 rue de Faubourg Saint-Martin
75010 Paris, France

i'll double check to make sure thats all that you need, you know, to write letters and things. :)

it's been a long month, and i have to thank you for the prayers and good thoughts, because it got me here i think.
i hadn't though it would be as hard as it was,
but i look forward to figuring out what julie looks like this side of the hard part.

so i'm here.
and home.
and thankful. incredibly thankful.

how are you?

my temporary roomate is making what she calls a savory cake.
right now i'm smelling bacon.
cake? bacon?
call me intrigued and excited.

a lot of stuff on my computer is randomly showing up in french these days.
like the blogspot log in page..
once i logged in, it's all back to english..

ok.
so while i still need prayer prayer prayer,
i wanted to express gratitude too.
i'm not homeless.
i'm not home..but i'm not suffering.
i've got a wonderful person putting me up, for a somewhat reasonable price,
this place feels homey.
she has also said that i can come back after i head to cannes next week.
so this november 1st deadline, while still something that i'm working towards,
is not the end.
if i need, i can come here and keep searching for a permanent place while i work.

and she's fantastic. kind, generous, easy going, loves friends and making things, reading, thrift store hunting..
she's also a massuse. hoo BOY!

i'm living in a bit of peace.
the gross sense of desperation has abated,
and i really feel held and somewhat directed.
there are still two apartments that i'm really, really hoping for,
but it's not with the stomach turning panic of last week.

i'm going to cannes.
south of france. cote d'azur. awesome. jacuzzi.

i would like to find something, if i'm meant to, before i go, beacuse it will be quite hard while i'm there.

i've found the beeesssstttt bakery right here in little africa.
when i'm feeling sorry for myself and/or a little extravagent,
i'll go and buy a ham and cheese baguette sandwhich. at only 3.80..it's not shabby.
i can't even describe the baguette.
it's the perfect crispy, chewy, most WONDERFUL thing.

i have a dream of getting a library card.
oooo. english books.
guess what? there are none here!

ok to all my praying friends.
here is where i stand in paris.

1.
there are currently three apartments that i'm waiting to hear about,
all three i think i have a pretty good chance of getting.
but the dilemma is,
while i'm waiting to hear,
do i keep working like a dog to set up more go-see's,
or relax and sleep?

2.
i can just barely afford the damage deposit for each place at this point.
which of course leaves the first months rent.
i'm praying for something miraculous. can you too?

3.
guess what.
for 4 euro's, i bought a baguette, a liter of milk, half a pound of coffee grinds(*), 6 eggs and a carrot. pretty good hey?



* omg the first person to send me some jj grinds wins the lottery. (i haven't seen any grinders here..maybe i just havn't met the right coffee loving people yet.)


so i'm now in my second week long lodging. last week was with this older crazy lady called lotilde. sweet as anything, a christian as it turns out, but a little loopy.
i'm in my second day here at sylvie's. a young 30 something zen addict WHO IS LEARNING HOW TO BE A MASSUSE AND NEEDS TO PRACTICE. boo ya. i've already had two. she is super lovely, very sweet and helpful, and her home, unlike lotildes, acutally feels like a home. i find myself prone to flopping on the couch and watching bbc, or writing blog posts. and it feels so good.

ok. i probably miss you if you're reading this.
seriously sheree, pictures of henry. stat. the tooth.