GHETTO STYLE - nice!
DA QUEEN - okay!
NOT NICE - if you say so!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Island Specialty: Part IV
I took a hiatus taking pictures of car decals, but was prompted to go back to it after seeing some new ones on the road that made me laugh. There are all kinds of proclamations on various parts of the cars and here are a few of the latest that I got:
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Coquine
The word used the most to describe Manolee by our French friends is "Coquine".
I always thought that this word meant "cute" and not thought much about it. Then one day while I was describing one of her mischievous endeavors, my MIL says, "elle est tres coquine, eh, elle est malicieuse". I stopped short in my tracks and said "malicieuse????" MALICIOUS, my little girl?
Then I started doubting my understanding of the word "coquine". Maybe it doesn't mean cute after all, and all this time when I thought people were paying my little girl a compliment, they were actually saying not such nice things.
I consulted Google.
Coquine, adjectif
Feminin
1. Tres malicieux
2. Vif d'espirit
3. Bandit
Hmmmm. 1. Very malicious. 2. Lively spirit. 3. A bandit!??
My MIL was taken aback that I took affront to the word "malicieuse" and assured me that in French, malicious does not mean a bad thing. Huh? So I had to google that in turn, and it says, "Qui a de la malice" ("One that has malice" - not much better)..... and then it helpfully provides an English definition, which is: "mischievous".
OK I can live with mischievous. That surely describes Manolee to a tee. As for Coquine, I think I will choose to live with the definition #2, Vif d'esprit, because she is that too.
However mischievous and naughty she may be, I can never stay mad at her very long - especially when she provides such lovely notes, as below:
I always thought that this word meant "cute" and not thought much about it. Then one day while I was describing one of her mischievous endeavors, my MIL says, "elle est tres coquine, eh, elle est malicieuse". I stopped short in my tracks and said "malicieuse????" MALICIOUS, my little girl?
Then I started doubting my understanding of the word "coquine". Maybe it doesn't mean cute after all, and all this time when I thought people were paying my little girl a compliment, they were actually saying not such nice things.
I consulted Google.
Coquine, adjectif
Feminin
1. Tres malicieux
2. Vif d'espirit
3. Bandit
Hmmmm. 1. Very malicious. 2. Lively spirit. 3. A bandit!??
My MIL was taken aback that I took affront to the word "malicieuse" and assured me that in French, malicious does not mean a bad thing. Huh? So I had to google that in turn, and it says, "Qui a de la malice" ("One that has malice" - not much better)..... and then it helpfully provides an English definition, which is: "mischievous".
OK I can live with mischievous. That surely describes Manolee to a tee. As for Coquine, I think I will choose to live with the definition #2, Vif d'esprit, because she is that too.
However mischievous and naughty she may be, I can never stay mad at her very long - especially when she provides such lovely notes, as below:
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Beach days
Hana has been going to the beach with friends and she has become quite a wave expert! Look at the face of determination as she *tries to* take on the wave below:
Manolee, who is not yet a very strong swimmer, prefers staying on the sand when the waves are tough. The other Sunday she helped PeeWee build a huge sand pit - complete with stairs and built-in chairs:
It's funny when a sand pit or a castle is in progress - various kids and adults stop by and pitch in for various lengths of time. It's as though they are waiting for someone to start, and once it's started, they all want a part of it at least for a bit of time (till they get too tired or too sunburnt). Fun for all!
Manolee, who is not yet a very strong swimmer, prefers staying on the sand when the waves are tough. The other Sunday she helped PeeWee build a huge sand pit - complete with stairs and built-in chairs:
It's funny when a sand pit or a castle is in progress - various kids and adults stop by and pitch in for various lengths of time. It's as though they are waiting for someone to start, and once it's started, they all want a part of it at least for a bit of time (till they get too tired or too sunburnt). Fun for all!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Take 2
It’s time to face it – I’m no good at this blog thing. In my book these days, putting up a blog posting ranks in priority somewhere between plucking my eyebrows and wiping up that annoying stain in the corner of the kids’ sink – in other words, very low. It’s true that I’m letting go of a lot of things that I used to find indispensable. I no longer wear any make-up except for eyeliner (I am rethinking this, by the way, ever since one of my best friends, M, exhorted me to go put on some make-up; however, this was three months ago and I have not changed my ways yet), and I no longer work out except for climbing up and down the step stool in the kitchen. Plus I’ve had a crazy busy end-of-year, what with moving house pretty much on my own that dragged on for like 13 days, and took about 6 weeks to recuperate from.
So that is why this blog has been left in a semi-abandoned state. I am in two minds about whether to continue or not. I know I am writing more for myself than for anything else, but it’s also taken the place of my handwritten journal (in which I was writing more and more seldom as well). So I think I will give it just one more try. If I find that I’m not posting at least once a week, I’ll just put a stop to the nonsense. So here we go again.
So that is why this blog has been left in a semi-abandoned state. I am in two minds about whether to continue or not. I know I am writing more for myself than for anything else, but it’s also taken the place of my handwritten journal (in which I was writing more and more seldom as well). So I think I will give it just one more try. If I find that I’m not posting at least once a week, I’ll just put a stop to the nonsense. So here we go again.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Cold No More!
We were in NYC for Halloween. While I love my hometown, this trip reaffirmed for me that living in a cold winter climate just does not cut it for me anymore. Above is a picture of the girls, about 3 minute after stepping out of the airport upon our arrival. I just kept on putting on layer after layer on them. They were laughing but clearly in shock.
Speaking purely from a physical standpoint, here are my issues with cold weather:
Sore shoulder muscles:
When it's cold, I tend to scrunch up my shoulders - for hours at a time. At the end of the day, my shoulder muscles are all sore and painful. No such problems on the island.
Chapped heels:
In SXM my heels are baby smooth. I do not do anything special to them, I don't even put lotion on them, but I think the perpetual humid climate just lubricates my heels in a way that they never have been before. In contrast, in any other cold-winter climates, my heels are always chapped and cracked. Not only are chapped heels aesthetically displeasing, I have a tendency to mindlessly pick on cracked skin - I'm glad to have dispensed with this issue on the island.
Bunion pain:
During this past trip to NY, I had to cover myself with a heavy down blanket (and I was still too cold during the night). The trouble with this is that the comforter weighs down on my toes. No joke, this actually hurts my left bunion. Granted, since my surgery my bunion is not as prominent, but the pain is still there. On the island, my feet happily sleep without the cover of any blankets.
Multiple layers of clothes:
The first day out I made the girls put on a pair of tights and then a pair of jeans. Manolee has a tendency to say out loud what I think only to myself, and she blurted out: "it's hard to fix my wedgie with so much clothes on!"
On top of all these issues, we had a freaky October nor'easter and got over a foot of snow when we were staying with friends in NJ. The kids had a blast building snowmen and having snowball fights, but I made sure I didn't step out unnecessarily.
Of course, there are many many things I miss about NY, but it's safe to say that I don't regret leaving the cold climes.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
French Diet Tip
According to Readers' Digest (as read via Yahoo!):
You could try fitness guru Valerie Orsoni’s “Le Petit Secret”: “A number of French women wear a ribbon around their waist and underneath their clothes when they go out for dinner. It keeps them conscious of the tummy—particularly if the ribbon starts to feel tighter as the evening goes on!”
Really????
You could try fitness guru Valerie Orsoni’s “Le Petit Secret”: “A number of French women wear a ribbon around their waist and underneath their clothes when they go out for dinner. It keeps them conscious of the tummy—particularly if the ribbon starts to feel tighter as the evening goes on!”
Really????
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