La France Vient Chez Nous

This weekend, we were thrilled by the visit of some friends, who not only brought us tales of Paris, but goodies galore, and hugs, and lots of fun. We spent four and half days with Aimee and Julien, and their ".5" who is due sometime in March. We talked, we ate, we shopped, we relaxed, we watched a really silly but highly enjoyable movie, we hit the yarn store, we knitted and we pretty much ate our weight in great Madison takeout and restaurant fare. (And they didn't complain once about dragging me around in the wheelchair we rented.) It's been a long time since I've seen Dr. B that happy as he and Julien played dueling Mac laptops and sampled some of the local brews (I think the last time was pre-knee injury) and I felt nearly whole again with one of my best friends right in the same house with me (well, as whole as I can be with only one knee). What a treat! Aimee even took me to Target and let me look at clothes and shoes and really cute pajamas that have dogs on them that look like Lucy, kind of, with Milk Bones. Those are on my Christmas list. (Dr. B just doesn't have much patience for that kind of stuff.)

Wisconsin did not disappoint, either--combining 65 degree sunny weather, fog, rain, cold, wind, sleet and snow all in one weekend!

Then on Sunday, Andie, Etienne and the two munchkins came by for brunch. We had a nice meal, got a chance to talk, catch up and laugh for several hours, and Gab enjoyed watching Muppets in Space and Family Guy (he's too young to understand how inappropriate that show is), playing with his cars, and chasing Lucy--he'd pull her tail and giggle, and she'd wag it and then turn around and kiss him on the cheek. Of course, Miss Bliss is adorable, calm and very snuggly. What a treat to see her!

So today, it was back to the grindstone. After a grueling PT session, I headed to school and Dr. B came home to welcome our french stuff, that we shipped on Aug. 23 from Paris, which was supposed to arrive the first week of October. Yeah. Really prompt, no? Blame it on US customs. Grrr.

By this time, I was getting pretty tired of the 3 cardigans (1 blue, 2 black) I had been trying to keep fresh by pairing them with slightly different shirt/pant/scarf/earring combinations, so I am relieved to see our things are finally here.

Everything made it, including some extra stuff that's not ours, but the furniture did not fare well. Bottles of wine? Fine. Glassware? No problem. Click Clack Bed? Damaged. IKEA dressers? Trashed. Shelving unit? Snapped in half.

Dagnabit.

Oh well.

At least they didn't break the wine.

(Thanks again Aussielass and the Muffin Man!)

PS: my cameras were in one of the boxes--so I'll finally be able to take some photos again soon! But first, we have to get rid of all these boxes in the living room. (It seems like I've said this before...)