Hello, Friends. How are you? What’s up with you this week? Are you doing anything fun for Valentine’s Day? We typically do a Valentine’s Day breakfast for the kids, but this year, they asked if we could do a dinner instead — because they would rather sleep in a bit. : )
Something fun at our house: We had a big feature in the regional Ouest France newspaper today! We didn’t know it was coming out today and it was a fun surprise. The kids found out about it at school from their friends, and Oscar brought the newspaper home to show us. You can read it here in French. I like that it focuses on us as a couple and that it came out on Valentine’s Day.
Another fun thing at our house: A two-week school break starts this weekend! So we are hitting the road and driving to Switzerland to find some snow and see the mountains. We’ll be visiting Zermatt and Chamonix, and we’re staying in Leysin. It won’t be a long trip — we’ll be back on Wednesday night — but we have a great schedule planned so far. Tobogganing, and a spa, and I think we’re going to take a famous train ride — the Glacier Express.
We’ve been to Switzerland in the summer before, but this will be our first winter experience. And we’re so excited! We head out first thing tomorrow, and there are piles of snow clothes around the house at the moment. Have any Switzerland tips or recommendations for us? I’d love to hear.
One more fun thing: Olive is joining us from Montpellier! Her host family has a two-week school break too. (Another time I’ll tell you how much I like the French school schedule — six weeks on, two weeks off.)
And now, let’s head to the link list. Here are a few things I’ve been wanting to share with you:
– Why we need difficult women. “Changing the world won’t make people like you. It will cause you pain. It will be difficult. It will feel like a struggle. You must accept the size of the mountain ahead of you, and start climbing it anyway.”
-14-year-old Jalaiah Harmon choreographed the Renegade dance in her Atlanta bedroom last fall. Months later, it has became one of the biggest things on the internet and she got no credit. (NYT)
– Related, want to now the history or sources behind a meme? Try Know Your Meme.
-This is discouraging. Border Patrol Will Deploy Elite Tactical Agents to Sanctuary Cities. (NYT)
– The best thing you’ll read about Valentine’s Day.
-Reynaldo Gil called 911 for medical help for his wife Damaris Rodriguez, but instead police took her to jail. For 4 days, jail staff observed her vomiting, stumbling in circles, lying on her face & other erratic behavior and did nothing. Then she died.
-People keep recommending Bojack Horseman to me. Have you watched it? I haven’t, but I saw this article from the creators with a guide to get started and I bookmarked it.
-I’m ordering some new sneakers. I’ve been wanting yellow and this Adidas pair is my final pick.
-64 different women have filed 40 different lawsuits against Mike Bloomberg for sexual harassment and discrimination. For this and many other reasons, he’s a big NO for me.
-Strong opinions about cooking with a cast iron pan.
-We’re going to listen to the audio version of Machine, Platform, Crowd on the drive tomorrow. Have you read it?
Here are some tweets I saved for you:
-Lots of reasons to celebrate today.
-Same. Please explain.
-A history of redlining.
–You don’t need to like rough or violent sex.
-A thread about justice in America and how it is definitely not blind.
-A thread about twin variations.
I hope you have a love-filled weekend. I’ll meet you back here next week. I miss you already.
kisses,
Gabrielle
