I think I need it...

I entered a blog contest yesterday, I had to. Once you see the pictures I am going to post and then check out the etsy shop where you can purchase these lovely bags, you will understand. You might enter the contest too... Man I should have posted this a little later. 

Anyway, you have to check these out!  They are handmade by a stay at home mom! What?  I am a stay at home mom and the only thing I hand make is dinner.  Even then it is throwing some nuggets in the oven like tonight.  Pretty impressive.  Here are some of my favs.

Beautiful! Can go with a lot too

Cute kinda vintage-y feel

Love, love, love this pattern!

probably my favorite because of all the colors!

So you have to check this person out. To see her store on Etsy click here.  The giveaway that I entered was at The Undomesticated Momma.  Check her out, love her blog, super cute! 

Sometimes I wish my husband read my blog so he could catch this hint and just get me one.  But he doesn't and wouldn't catch the hint even if he read it. haha And he is sooo against Valentine's Day, so that isn't gonna work, I don't even bother asking!  But I can't complain, I am leaving on a jet plane tonight for LONDON!!  Yeah baby!

Amazing Race

Okay, so lately, I don't really know why, but I have really really been wanting to apply for the Amazing Race.  I have it in my head that I could actually get on the show!  I think my dad and I would be perfect candidates.  I actually think that Lavar and I would get on the show because we are so different, black/white, captian cautious/crazy, loud/quiet, you get the picture.  But for two reasons that wouldn't be a good idea (so says Lavar).  1. Lavar doesn't have an American passport, okay fine.  2.  He says 'No thank you, I like my marriage!'  haha, okay okay.  I think I would get farther with my dad, he is more competitive.

So here are the reasons I think my dad and I would dominate:

1.  We would work well together.  We have a good relationship already.  We are both smart logical people and I think together we could do any task. 

2.  Competitive.  Need I say more?  I don't know anyone more competitive than my dad.  He would pass on and die on the floor before he let someone beat him.  We ran two 10Ks together and he beat me both times.  And he is over 50... not my proudest moment, but I did finish the race!

3.  He is not afraid to push me, and push me hard.  He isn't all sweet sugar coating type encouragement.  Like 'come on, just do your best!'  No my dad is like 'come on Natalia!  You can do better than that!'  The summer I was going from high school to college I was training really hard for my first year as a collegiate volleyball player.  After we came back from a ski trip my dad and I went out to the field to do some sprints.  Well I must have pulled something while skiing, because I could not run.  It was so painful.  My dad said 'fine, let's quit.  Everyone else is out there doing their sprints, but you, your quitting.  That's fine, let's go home.'  Needless to say, the athlete in me made  me finish the sprints, but it was not fun, and I was in pain.  But my dad never let me quit.  I think that would a good quality in a race like that!

4.  We don't have any big fears.  We aren't afraid of heights or water or slides or whatever.  I think we could do pretty much every challenge.  My biggest difficulty would be eating something nasty.  Or if there was ever anything with snakes, I couldn't do that for sure, but they don't usually have stuff like that. 

I think my dad and I are the PERFECT match for a race like this, and we would do so freakin awesome together I am sure.  I am gonna apply someday, I just don't know the timing of when to apply.  I would LOVE to be on that show!!

My Life in France: Part two ~ The fun side!

I sounded like I hated life yesterday.  Not true.  I actually love love love my life.  I am so thankful for my blessings.  There are hard things that come along with this crazy life we lead, but I would take them, hands down, any day. 

As you know, my husband is black, from the Bahamas, brought up in a different way than I was.  Not bad, but different.  I love who he is and it is only from God that he could be the man he is from what he has been through.  In our marriage we deal with raising mixed kids, dealing with comprising with not only eachother, but our cultures, dealing with the differences and difficulties being an interracial family brings, etc. etc.  Some people would think about how hard it is and how they wouldn't choose it, some might think I am crazy and say it isn't a big deal (they are wrong) and some, although I think very few, might sympathize with me. 

I love exposing my sons to the multiple cultures that we are a part of.  We go from Simi Valley, mostly white, to the Bahamas, mostly black, to France, where they just don't care.  We are more 'normal' here they any of the other countries we live.  No one looks at us funny or stares, it is normal.  Yes, both other places we are not normal.  Although that doesn't bother me, I welcome stares and questions!  But I love that my sons get such a great experience in life.  Many people never visit these places, and we get to live there!  Blessings!

I love love love learning another language.  I feel so good after I have conversations in French.  I just got off the phone with one of my friends not to long ago and I feel so proud of myself.  I can communicate in another language.  It is so fun, and I love it.  It is becoming weird to me (I know it isn't really weird) that people only speak one language and don't care to know another.  If you have the chance, take it! 

I love the different cultures.  I love going to the Bahamas, because I love the people.  Yes, I love the beaches too, but I love our friends and family there.  We are so welcomed and loved.  Everyone is so hospitible and relaxed.  No problems, no hurry, just chill.  I love it.  I miss them when we aren't there and love it when we get the chance to visit. 
I love France also for the nice people we have met.  I have been overwhelmed with the kindness some of these people have shown us.  I know France is known for more of a rude, uptight place, but once you get to know the people, I think more personally, they can really blow you away.  I was not so sure I would be so nice to someone in California living there, not speaking the language very well.  I know now I would.  I love how it isn't 'keeping up with the Joneses' here.  (another phrase that didn't quite transfer to French)  The houses are nice and small and cozy.  No one tries to be too rich or show off their nice cars, or make you feel like you have less. I am convinced you wouldn't know if these people were poor or wealthy. 

I also love the way living here has forced me to have an open mind about other countries and the way they do things.  For example, they have here somethin called CAF.  It basically gives money to people who have kids, French or not.  I don't think it is the smartest idea.  That is why France is going broke.  But among all of the benefits of CAF there is one that allows a new mother to quit work and she receives a stipend each month to stay home with her newborn baby until the baby is 3 and after that schooling is free.  I think it is good incentive to allows mothers to stay home with their children.  Just my opinion, what do I really know about that stuff?

Anyway, now today I might sound like I am gloating a bit or something.  I think that people are different and enjoy many different things and I think there are many people who could not and would not want to live our life.  And that is okay.  But personally, I enjoy it.  Now if I could only conquer this language!!

My Life in France: Part one ~ the difficult side

Today I sat with some of my French friends speaking Franglais (little english, little french) and they were fascinated by me and the way I choose to live my life.  The way I choose to think about things and handle what a lot of people can't and wouldn't handle.  (I tell me husband everyday how lucky he is to have me, don't worry! :))  Anyway, I thought it might be an interesting thing to write about.  Because people don't often think about the things that might be hard for me or different or crazy.  It sounds romantic to live in another coutry, learn another language etc etc.  And for me it is.  I choose to like it.  But don't be fooled, it is not easy.  Let me break it down a bit.

I have two kids.  Mothers out there know how hard it is to raise kids.  Most of the time we have other mothers around us, and back home I do too (but thank God for facebook!), to help us, give opinions, and offer different suggestions as to rearing kids.  I personally love it, once it is offered in a humble, loving way, bring it on!  Here I don't have that.  I don't have people who think the same way.  I do know other moms and might ask for advice, but I am not sure we are raising the same type of kids.  I want my boys to grow up strong and independent and able to 'handle business' (a phrase which this morning I could not translate into French).  I am not sure how having a binki at the age of 5 affects these kids, maybe it has none at all, but it is just weird to me.  Why there are kids screaming and crying throwing fits and peeing their pants when their parents leave and my son waves by and smiles.  That most definitely could be personality, don't get me wrong, but I do think that Lavar as a man in Tae's life has had a huge impact on how Tae is.  I am proud of him.  France isn't exactly known for the toughest nation... But who knows, just a thought.

Think about a grocery store run.  Easy, right?  Just run right in, grab what you need and bounce.  Wait, I don't know where it is.  Okay, how do you say 'where is the peanut butter?'  Wait, they don't have peanut butter here, how do I describe peanut butter?  'beurre de cacahuètes'?  Il est quelque chose american, il s'appelle peanut butter?'  (it is something american, it is called peanutbutter) Yep, not so easy anymore!  Now, lately, I am a lot better at my French that I don't have problems any more. 

Hanging out with friends.  Here is a tough one.  Because as I mentioned, I don't have too much trouble in the grocery store or simple conversations like that anymore.  But I have a few friends who do not speak english.  We have nice conversations and I am getting a ton better.  But here is the absolute worst.  I am trying to explain something and they just stare at me.  They cannot understand what I am saying.  What?  Seriously, you can't understand?  Man, am I that bad?  I was so encouraged with this whole conversation, and now I feel as stupid as ever.  Or, here is another one.  They make a joke in French, but I didn't get it, and I laugh just to get out of asking what they meant.  But then they catch me with the fake laugh.  ugh  stupid again.

Or when I get Tae from school and the teacher asks me or I have something to ask.  It is hard.  Once again, I am getting better, but it is just every day things that people wouldn't think of that I have to. 

Obvisouly the hard things like missing family and friends back home.  But that isn't so hard for me anymore.(sorry mom! jk)  I love my family.  But I know that someday I will be back living close to them.  And when that day comes, I will enjoy it.  But I don't want to spend my time here wishing I was somewhere else.  How silly would that be?  I want to experience everything and make sure I have no regrets from the time we lived here. 

I know I sounds like Debbie Downer today.  But don't get my wrong, I love my life.  I am so thankful that the Lord has given us such a wonderful opportunity.  I don't think 'normal' would cut it for me.  But later I will write about the things that I love about living here.  Just thought I would share!

Oh and down side of learning another language.  I am already a horrible speller.  Now with learning another language, I can't spell anything.  So disreguard (sp?) my mistakes.  And I can't find words in English sometimes, like it is hard to sometimes put a sentence together because I try to think in French.  Just a side note!

Milan

Okay, so this is a serious bummer.  Our computer was broken, as you might know, and the other day we finally got it back!  I was excited on so many levels and decided to load all of the pictures onto it.  Since we haven't had a computer in a while, I had a ton of pictures and the memory space on the camera was full.  So I chose the option to delete the pictures after loading them... I am sure you can guess what happened next.  The previous two posts I got up and then after that the computer crashed again.  I lost all of my pictures from Milan and Christmas.  And every other picture I had on my computer... Talk about a serious bummer. 

Milan was great.  Beautiful drive, fun family time, awesome new culture.  I loved it.  Not really a city built for families, but if you know our family, we make things work!  We had a good time stayed at a nice apartment/hotel so I could cook to save some money... (hmmm... where's the vacation for me?)  But it was nice.  I did the things I wanted to do, see Duomo, a huge beautiful cathedral, eat pizza, see the Last Supper (well sort of see it. Ok maybe not), and eat gelato.  My favorite being... you guessed it!  Gelato!  It was heavenly.  I don't know if there are words.  It was awesome.  I want to go back just for the gelato.  Duomo was the next coolest.  Here is a picture of it I found from the internet.

Pretty awesome, huh?  The only difference is that when we were there, the weather was terrible.  But still a beautiful thing!

We actually got some family pictures too, but like I mentioned, they are all gone... forever!  Okay, a little dramatic, but seriously, bummer. 

I had some awesome pictures of the Alps too.  beautiful!  Did you know that people live in the Alps??  Like up in the mountains?  I had no idea.  I know I sound pretty stupid right now, but that is crazy to me.  That has to be freezing.  And pretty exclusive too.  I definitely couldn't handle it.  But I guess these people are used to it.  Thank goodness there isn't any teams in the Alps.  No thank you!

I am so thankful this year to be able to experience so many more things.  Like this trip to Italy, the trip we took to Switzerland in October, and my trip coming up to London (YAY!), and yet another trip to Switzerland when my family comes.  What awesome experiences.  I love my life!

Different

I got to thinking about this the other day.  We are probably as different as they come.  Black guy, from the Bahamas, different background and upbringing.  White girl, from Simi Valley, pretty sheltered, you get the picture.  Our boys are obviously mixed.  Most people would say this isn't a big deal, and I don't think it is, but the reality of the situation is that some people still don't fully accept black people or interracial couples.  {Mostly in America, France is a lot better with it.}  So I was thinking how lucky our boys will be.  Not only are they sooo handsome, they are intercultural, interracial, and speak another language (I was thinking about the future when we move back to the States).  I would immediately be attracted to that boy, if there was someone like that when I was growing up.  I love different.  I think it is attractive and interesting.  So why wouldn't people be interested in my boys? 

But then a thought hit me.  Not everyone is like me...  Some people don't find different intriguing, they find it strange and intimidating.  Not to mention we will probably be going back to Simi Valley to live, with all of like 3 other black families in the city.  All the little white kids at church and school might not find it attractive or interesting or someone they would like to get to know.  Heck, they might have never even seen a black kid!  They might think they were a little scary and intimidating. (After all, they will both be huge!)  They might not want to bother with them when they already have their comfort zone of friends. 

I guess who really knows.  Maybe it won't be like that at all and they will be completely accepted.  Just another thing that we have to think about that most people don't.  Not bad, just different.  Something to be aware of and careful for but also we shouldn't assume this will be the way it will go.