beauty.

all day today i have had a wonderful song stuck in my head... "i looked out the window and what did i see..." its a little bit out of control.

that aside, today has been absolutely lovely. we had to get up bright and early to make it to church on time, and we actually ended up being about 25 minutes early so i got to practice with the choir. church was really good, and i felt like i understood even more than i did last week. i even made a comment in sunday school (en francais of course)... well allison and i made a combined comment. and i think everyone understood what we were saying? sacrament was wonderful and i loved getting to sing with the choir. we sang cantique 80 - Dieu, Notre Pere, with a little violin and piano and i thought it went fairly well. i love singing in french. mmm.

after church we headed back home and allison and kira came with us to le vesinet to meet the madame (its official - her name is Nannick, with an N) and see our house. they loved the green countryside that surrounds us, and so do i! we all joined together for a lunch of apples, bread, cheese, and nutella. yum. apples + nutella = heaven. who are we kidding.. anything + nutella = heaven. after lunch the girls headed home (allison had some great experiences riding the RER) and emily and i got all bundled up and went for a little afternoon promenade around our fairytale town of a home. i have been dying to get out with my camera and just explore and take some pictures, and i took quite a few, so here are some of the best. it was a freezing cold but a perfect afternoon, and apparently a post lunch walk is the thing to do... everyone was out and about walking around the most quaint little neighborhood. we have this giant park that just goes through the center of all the homes and follows along a little river. it was gorgeous this afternoon, hopefully some of the pictures i took can do it justice. enjoy le vesinet

view from my room, itching to get outside. can you see me?

our little dining table

the tulips i got for Nannick

our 'front door' - i still can't figure out how to lock it

our 'half house' - its that white wall with 2 windows

the beginnings of our walk

gorgeous old trees and little bridges everywhere

looking at the park - i love the people sitting on the benches

some great fur hats out for a stroll

more beauty and bridges

the colors are divine

the sun begins to set

even the houses are fun to look at

birds are everywhere!

i love our swans

little vesinet children playing by the riverside, straight out of a story book!

frozen river

shadows

make sure you click on them and open them bigger, they are much prettier that way! it really was an absolutely gorgeous walk, and here are a few extra treats:

french shampoo, and i finally found some conditioner!

at church standing around the heater (le chauffage!) to get warm

and of course. shoes.

au revoir mes amis!