Happy Birthday to me

Well today is my birthday. My day of birth. I don’t feel any different.

Today was actually a good day. I usually don’t like birthdays because people stare at you more than usual and people like making a fuss about you. I like it when my birthday goes pretty much how everyday goes only with a nice dinner. Today was one of those birthdays. I woke up at my usual time. I went to school. I learned stuff in my classes. I had a normal lunch (besides the yummy cupcakes I had). I even had an in class essay. Some people told me that I should have told him that it was my birthday, but I don’t really think that should change anything. When I got home I did homework, and then took a shower. While I was in the shower my mum decorated the dining room with balloons, flowers, and ribbon. I realized today that there are some good things about birthdays; people are nicer to you,  you get told “happy birthday” by people you’ve never met, your English teacher will sing you Happy Birthday and while singing it get so into it that he will hold the notes for so long that the song will take three minutes to complete, and cake.

My mom is going to take me out to one of my favorite restaurants tonight. It’s  French and delicious. I am coming home to open presents and eat cake (yum(-:). Today was a good day.

Bittersweet Sixteen

Today is the last day I will ever be sixteen. I am sad to say that another year has gone by. I dealt with a lot of issues this year, and I tried to make the best of it. I’m not sure I succeeded though.  I know seventeen isn't that old, but I feel like a life time has passed me by already. I know life is about moving forward, but all I want to do is go back to kindergarten.  I’m going to take next year one step at a time and hopefully things will turn out splendidly. I am looking forward to the future, even as I look back fondly on the past.

How do you feel when your birthday comes around?

Halloween

It's still early, but I’ve already started thinking about Halloween Costumes. This year I am going as a cat. No a sexy cat thought, a cute cat. I got the idea when I was going through one of my friends pictures of her at Carnaval (she lives in Paris).  She went as a cat and had leopard accents. I want to do basically the same thing only I want black leopard tights and a black and white leopard scarf.  I will also wear a short, simple black dress, ears and a tail, and black ballet flats. I’m really excited!

Pride and Prejudice

I’ve never been one of those girls that spends her weekends reading chicklit and watching rom-coms. Honestly, I can’t stand them.  Growing up I saw action movies with my dad, whether I wanted to or not; and my mother didn’t like romantic comedies so I never developed a taste for them.  So over the years I have clung to action/thriller/fantasy/historical books and movies.  

 When I was my English class this year I saw an annotated edition of Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. This copy caught my eye because it explained the context of the novel. I saw it as an opportunity to read a book that’s been on my book list for years and learn a little history.

I ended up thoroughly enjoying the novel. I felt like I WAS Elizabeth Bennett that her struggles and lusts were my own, and by the end of the novel I had fallen head over heels for Mr. Darcy. The book was well written and kept me on my toes. I am now waiting for my Darcy.

You know the old proverb “don’t judge a book by its cover”? It’s true. I thought this was going to be a gushy mushy love story (which it was), but it also gave me an idea of what it would feel like to be middle class woman of that period.

If you haven’t read this book yet you should.

Shoes

I am always on the look out for a good pair of shoes. Ballet flats are my go-to shoes, the only problem is I can never find comfortable, sturdy, cute shoes; or if I do they are over $100. While I was on Gap the other day, just online window shopping, I found these beauties.

I started reading the comments looking for them to say that the shoes had too thin of sole, or that they were uncomfortable. I, however, did not read these things what I read said that the shoes were well made, cute, and more comfortable than walking on clouds. The only thing to look out for is that they run a half size too small, but  ordering the next half size up is easily done. I am really excited to order these.


So what do you think? Cute?
 Do have any favorite shoe stores?

Update: I got them in black, so that I could try them out before I make a big investment. They are one of the best pairs of shoes I've ever gotten. They are SO comfy. I highly recommend them.

Roses are red, violets are blue

I've been to the Bangkok Flower Market in Chinatown a few times now, but the last time that I went the pink flowers overwhelmed me. Pink, which is not my favorite color, has been growing on me in the last few months. When I saw all of the flowers I wanted to dress up like a ballerina and roll around in the flowers.

I love flowers. The only downside of them is that they make me depressed. they're beautiful for a short time in your home and then they wilt and die. The whole death thing is why I have potted plants everywhere, because the should last much longer.

What are your thoughts on flowers?

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Fashion is only the attempt to realize art in living forms and social intercourse.
Francis Bacon

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Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.
Anne Frank



I heart Macarons

I do heart Macarons!

What do you love?

My New Job

Yesterday was my first day of work ever! I am working at the American Embassy in Bangkok and a Summer Only employee. I have one of the better jobs that you could get. I basically help plan trips, parties, and events for the employees here.

The American Embassy in Bangkok

Yesterday after two hours of briefings I got to start. I made flyers for and up coming biking tour, prepared for an event on Friday were I will be reading to little kids then doing arts and crafts, and many more things. I was so busy yesterday and I am busy today too. Today I met the Ambassador, all of the summer employees were shuffled into a big conference room, then we had to wait for fifteen minutes for security to check the room. The Ambassador was very nice, she even has her own twitter account.

I work eight hour days with one hour for lunch. I have to get up at 5:00, just to get ready. This job is mentally exhausting, but it's also really fun. I realize tat I am very lucky to even have a job, and I really am enjoying every minute if it.

What are you doing this summer?

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It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man.
Benjamin Franklin

Cherry Pie

      It must be summer because I made Cherry Pie! Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of it. I gave the pie to my neighbors who will be moving out on Saturday. Both of my next- door-neighbors and my neighbors across the street are moving this summer. I made brownies to the ones that left last weekend and I plan on making a little somrthing for when the others leave in a few weeks. I don't think anything says love like home baked goods.

  

Pie Crust Recipe

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups of All- purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1cup shotening
• 1/2 cup of water

1. Combine flour  and salt in a large mixing bowl. Mix in shorteninguntil mixture resembles coares crumbs. Then, stir in water until mixture forms a ball. Now, divide dough in half, and shape into balls. Wrap in Plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or over night.

2. Roll out dough, but be careful not to over roll it!

3. Now you can use as directed in you pie recipe.

Cherry Pie Filling

Ingredients

5 cups cherries – cut in half and pitted
2 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup honey
egg wash (1 egg, beaten with a fork)

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Step 1 – Prepare your cherries (this takes a little time, but you can always do this in advance).

Step 2 – Combine your cherries, sugar, salt and honey(in a large mixing bowl. Mix well.

Step 3 – Pour your cherries into your pie crust.

Step 4 – Put the second crust over the top of your pie, and pinch the edges together all the way around. You can use a fork if you want it to look pretty. You can also get creative.

Step 5 – Don’t forget to cut a vent in the top of your pie so steam can escape!

Step 6 – Using a basting brush, brush a light coat of egg wash over the top of your pie.

Step 7 – Place the pie in the oven and bake for approximately 45-60 minutes or until the fruit juices start to bubble in the pie.

Step 8– Cool on a cooling rack, slice and serve.

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Sorry I've missed two days I haven't been feeling all that great.

Kung Fu Panda 2

While the rest of the world was seeing The Hangover 2, I was seeing Kung Fu Panda 2. I much prefer seeing movies that are aimed at little kids, than seeing over sexed comedies. I really liked the first Kung Fu Panda, and enjoyed the sequel even more. It is cute, funny, and deals with important issues. The prevalent issue in this movie was coping with being adopted. That is an issue close to my heart, because my father was adopted.  I thought that the movie got it's message across without being too preachy. I would definitely recommend this movie.

Have you seen any good movies lately?

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Summer Break is almost here!

After a long year of ups and downs, school ends on Friday. I only have one exam to go, it's in history and I am fairly confident about it. After my exam, I am having a photo shoot with my friend. I am the model, so you know, no pressure. Thursday there is no school, and Friday is a half day. It seems so unreal for the school year to be over so fast. This year was definitely a challenging one, but I learned lot about myself.

I will be working at the American Embassy here in Bangkok in June. In July I am setting off to America, Virginia and Kansas to be specific. I am going to stay with my dad for the majority of the month, then I am going to Kansas to visit the rest of my family.

If you still have exams, Good Luck!


What will you be doing this summer?

Weekly Quotes

I decided that everyday I am going to put up posts that are inspiring, funny, cute, or amusing in some way. I will also put up accompanying photos. I hope you them.

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.

Lucy Hale

Lucy Hale was on the cover of Seventeen Magazine, for the June/ July 2011 issue. Lucy stars in one of my favorite shows Pretty Little Liars, so I was excited to see her on the cover. She seems very down to earth and nice. She is definitely one of my favorite young actresses. I really liked her spread. It was bright, fun and full of energy; all of the things I love. These are my favorite photos:

What shows do you watch?

Prom 2011

I am the one in the right.

Dinner at Los Cabos

Full view of my dress

Two weekends ago I had my Prom.  The dress I wore was from Betsey Johnson. It was originally $475, but I bought it on sale for $125.! I was definitely one of the only one's in actual Prom attire. I got my nails done in the morning for only 6 dollars, that's for a mani and pedi. Then I started getting ready two hours before we had to go to dinner. I went to a friends house for pictures, then everyone headed down to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Our Prom was Hollywood theme so there were photographers an the "red carpet" when we arrived. Prom is a lot smaller here, but it was still fun.

Have you been to Prom? Tell me your stories!

Pirates of the Caribbean

I took a short break. I am back I was sad because no one was commenting on my blog  or following me. I now know that it doesn't matter, I am doing this for me.

Last Friday I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides. I enjoyed the movie overall. It was much better than the third movie, which in my opinion was too complex and confusing.  It was refreshing to see a new and interesting storyline, on the other hand I still felt that there were too many subplots. The simpler the plot, the better these movies are. I am sure they will make a fifth  pirates movie, so I hope they keep that in mind.

Astrid Berges-Frisbey

Sam Claflin

Penelope Cruz

Some new characters that were introduced and will most likely be in subsequent movies are Angelica (played by Penelope Cruz), Syrena (played by Astrid Berges- Frisbey), and Philip (played by Sam Claflin). I liked the new actors I thought they brought a freshness to a franchise that was getting a little stale. If you are on the fence about seeing this movie I would definitely say yes.

Prom Fashion with Teen Vogue

 I enjoy reading Teen Vogue. It usually has youthful fashion and interesting articles. I like many other girls getting ready for Prom (mine's this weekend) look at fashion magazines for advice. Teen Vogue's latest issue has a spread that centers around prom style, as well as a few other dress options (shown below). While I would be happy owning any of these looks, I also think that the looks in the spread are not very prom-y or youthful. The only one that looks like it would fit in at Prom is the red lace ISSA dress, minus the hair.

ISSA

ELIE SAAB

What do you think?

Putting the French in Pardon My French

                                                                    (translation at the bottom of the page)

Je vous écris en français parce que je pense que c’est temps pour moi d’explique le titre de mon blog, «Pardon my French ». J’ai étudiée français pour le dernier 10 ans. Maintenant je suis dans la classe de français BI.  Je suis American et mon premier langage est anglais mais je  tellement adore  français. Mon école première étés avait un programme d’immersion de français. Pour mes premier cinq ans de mon école un demi de mes jour avais été en français, et pendant ce temps je l’étudiée la culture de France et les francophonies. Mon goal est de connais plus des langues comme, allemande, l’espagnol, et le russe. J'ai fourni une traduction en bas de la page. Je voulais vous montrer une de mes passions. Quelles sont vos passions?

I am writing in French because I think it's time for me to explain the title of my blog, "Pardon my French". I have studied French for the last 10 years. Now I'm in am IB French class . I am American and my first language is English, but I love French. My elementary school had a French immersion program. For my first five years of my school, a half of my day had been French, and during that time I studied the cultures of France and the Francophones. My goal is to know more languages ​​such as, German, Spanish and Russian. I wanted to show you one of my passions. What are your passions?

MAROON 5!!! MAROON 5!!! MAROON 5!!

WHOOOHOOO!!!

So the Maroon 5 concert was a while ago. It was really fun, as you can tell from my all of caps. They were 30 minutes late, but when they got there they delivered. They played for an hour and a half. It was loud and high energy. 

At the end of the night, Lolo and I saw a whole bunch of people running to one side of the arena. Having seen many episodes of Law &Order: SVU, Bones, and other murder-mysteries; we decided to follow the crowd in order to lend a helping hand in any mysteries that needed solving.  Once we arrived we learned that everyone was waiting for the band to leave. We too partook in waiting for them; it was definitely the highlight of the night. After the security psyched everyone out a few times, they finally came out in a van (Thailand’s response to the limo) with the window open and Adam and Matty were videotaping us while we were videotaping them.  After that I was so happy, definitely a successful night.

Here are a few of my favorite of their songs:

Never Gonna Leave This Bed (Hands All Over)

Sunday Morning (Songs About Jane)

Give a little more (Hands All Over)

Tangled (Songs About Jane)

Stutter (Songs About Jane)

The Sun (Songs About Jane)

Hands all over (Hands All Over)

I learned a few things that night. 1) Adam and Matty are mine and Lolo’s BFF’s. The kind of BFF’s you shared everything during sleepovers that involve popcorn, rom-coms, truth or dare, baking rainbow cupcakes, and wizarding duels. 2) People in Bangkok don’t know how to attend concerts. Everyone sat down until Adam demanded that they stood up. Seriously, it’s not a movie. You paid a lot of money for a ticket, get excited. Gezzlouezz!  3) You can change people’s minds about things. Lolo did not like Maroon 5. I guilted her in to coming (I’m so evil), so she came. She has now learned that she does indeed like them. You’re welcome Lolo. 4) Zebra statues are cool. There is a plethora (SAT word) of zebra statues in front of the Impact Arena. They are awesome. I rode one. I by proximity was awesome too.

gLee and me

Ever since the new season of gLee started I have been back and forth between liking and hating the way the show is going. Last season I felt that I could relate to the characters much more than in this season.

My favorite character by far is Rachel Berry. She knows what she wants and how to get it. The only flaw I see with her is that she can't let Finn, who strings everypne along, go. I mean come on, get over it . Somehow everyone basically hates Rachel. I think of everyone, she has is right. If she was real I would be her best friend, if only for the mere fact that, is was she who brought us "My Headband".

The plot lines are all over the place and they no longer mesh. The tone of the show has changed for the worse, and the only reason I watched the most resent episode is because Jesse came back. I was somewhat disappointed by the prom episode; there was not enough Rachel, Blaine, Jesse, Sam, and Mercedes; and too much Finn, Quinn, Brittney S.Pearce, Santana, and Kurt. TI am glad  that they finally addressed the fact of how much incest there is in the gLee club. I think it's nice that they are passionate about glee club, but they can form relationships outside of the club too.

My love for gLee may be dying, but I keep coming back for Rachel. I'm not sure if I can put myself through the agony of watching the rest of the episodes much longer. Sadly, I think that I may be ending my love affair this week. I shall miss Rachel, but I just don't enjoy the show anymore.

What do you think about this season of gLee?

Coastal Fiesta

Anthropologie makes me want to have a Coastal Fiesta. I was shopping on anthroplogie and in the features there were two sections: Fiesta and Coastal. They both had this beachy vibe. It is more than mildly upsetting. Now while I sit and study for my exams all I can think about is having a costal fiesta. Which sounds anazing right?

 

 

Soon when school is out, I will be having a coastal fiesta of my own.