oh. hello.

Has it really been five weeks? Hm.

The events of the last month have been...time consuming and very, very stressful (at least to me, which is all that matters, right?). To summarize: While I should have been learning how to be French by baking little butter cakes and drinking du bon café (and let's be honest, du vin et de la bière aussi), I instead returned to my homeland and pretended to be happy about it. "Pretended" is a strong word. I more tolerated it, because it was the only place I was legally allowed to be. Globalization and international citizenry my ass. Ahem.


And while another visit with the parents and grandparents has been swell, the time has come. I recently received the all clear to move to France. For real this time. Like really. I leave in 5 days 3 hours.

Let's try this all again.

madeleines!

fête du travail

Today is the French Labour Day! A public holiday to celebrate when, back in the olden days, American factory workers won 8-hour work days. This is interesting to me, because these days French people never work more than eight hours in a day. And if they do, they save up their hours for days off later. So really, the French celebrate Labour Day everyday!

No matter, the point is that today I got to make a bunch-o-homemade-spaghetti:

...and Vincent bought me a new plant!

The spaghetti was for lunch, my in-laws came over. My new plant is a lily of the valley. Everyone gets them today--it's kind of like the tradition. I'm super excited, because it seems that this plant can live through anything. This is good because when I'm back in the States next month, Vincent will be "taking care" of my plants while I'm away.

 *And yes, I did notice that my wedding band ended up in the spaghetti. Don't worry though, we didn't eat it. It fell off in the leftovers as I was putting them away in the fridge. Yeah! Lindsay didn't lose her wedding ring!

dreams of cheese and running.

We live in France now! Well, at least Vincent does. I'm just visiting. Our apartment (ahem, I mean the one Vincent lives in) is just lovely! You can even see the Eiffel Tower from the balcony.

Dreamy right?! I'm taking French classes and doing linguistics most days. And cooking. I cook a lot now. Oh! And running. I kind of run now. I'm pretty slow and ridiculously out of shape, but it's a huge improvement from the last 6 months when I could barely get out of bed and needed a cane to get around. It must be the French air. Or the cheese. Hm.

be vegetarian...even if it's only once or twice a week

I became a vegetarian on a dare when I was 18. My mother said I couldn't last 3 weeks without meat, and I said I was going to prove her wrong. It's been 12 years now.

I think I won the dare.

While I started out my meat-free livelihood on a whim, over the years the reasons for vegetarianism have been stacking up. And now, it seems, I may never go back to the world of steak, hamburgers, and chicken nuggets (although, these taste pretty convincing, ask vincent) that you all seem to enjoy so much.

While I could go on about the morality and ethics of eating dead (or living) animal flesh, I know most of you just don't care.

However, eating meat is not only a moral issue. It is an environmental one.

Studies are showing that the livestock sector is responsible for more than its fair share of C02, methane, and ammonia emissions while also accelerating deforestation and polluting our waterways. (see here, here for examples).

You all care about the environment right? Right?
So how about you go find a few new recipes to try out this week--VeggieNumNum and My Darling Lemon Thyme are good places to start. Eating vegetarian, even if only once or twice a week, can greatly reduce your environmental footprint. More than if you bought a hybrid! (Not to mention it's also cheaper and healthier than a meat-full diet.)

It's time to start addressing the real issues affecting the planet. Not just the ones with solutions encouraging us to buy more fancy stuff.