Dinner tonight ^_^

Roasted Eggplants topped with homemade tomato sauce, mozerella, breadcrumbs and shredded cheese. ^_^

Cannes Film Festival Round Two!

And one more time, we were able to get invitations to a showing at the film festival!

This time we went to watch an American film, named Foxcatcher, based on a true story about an olympic wrestling champion.  Although there were parts that were a little long, it was overall a good movie and the actors did very well. So....here we are...walking up the stairs again ^_^

A little rushed this time, didn't have a chance to take a better picture

Smile ^_^

Us inside the theatre

Look at that big screen!

 At the end of the film, people kept on clapping and cheering the director and the cast. We were in the same room as Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo! How cool is that??

The actors live on the big screen

They're sitting right there!!

And I realized the other day that I haven't posted a picture of our tree in a while, but look how much it has grown!

As tall as Germain now!

Cannes Film Festival

So what did I do this past week?

I walked the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival and attending a showing in the grand theatre.....

=P

The Cannes Film Festival started this past week and through a friend of Germain's parents, we were able to get tickets to the showing of "Mr. Turner" (a British film) for the main showing at 7pm on Thursday night. Although the film itself was not extremely exciting, the experience itself was worth it.

Since it was a night showing, dress code was/is very strict. Being a black tie event, men have to come in with bow ties and women in evening gowns. My only fancy long dress was my red chinese dress, so that's what I wore....but as usual, based on what some other women were wearing, they seem to be a lot more lenient for women. Still, many people dressed up quite fancy.

Selfie!

Not particularly a fan, but LOOK it's Blake Lively!

Darn guy taking a selfie!

Looking fancyyy

The red carpet from the top of the stairs

In the grand theatre waiting for the movie to start

Spring Break 2014

Vacation... Ah...nice to have some relaxation time.

So for this vacation, we didn't plan a big trip, instead, I rested at home and figured out some lesson plans. But of course, we took some time to go out, whether it was to eat or to explore.

First, I've been craving Chinese food, so we went to an all-you-can-eat restaurant to eat our fill. It was a little expensive and the options were not plentiful, but the food was fresh and the environment was very calm and relaxing.

Little buddha chillin by the fountain

Also during my week of vacation, we took a visit to....i guess you can say it's a nature store. It sells predominately flowers and plants, but they also have some animals. We bought two plants for our balcony which are said to help keep away mosquitos.

He was thristy!

Aww...sleepyhead

I also had a little more time to make food! Of course, I forgot to take pictures of some of them (too hungry!) But here was dessert one night!

Apple Turnovers. Since I used store-bought puff pastry, I didn't have too many options on how to fold over the dough, so I tried two different options. What do you think?

This way allowed me to stuff more apples

This one had less apples, but looks more like a turnover.

And then there was our long walk. We drove about twenty minutes inland from Cannes. From there, we arrived in a cute little village where we started our hike up the mountain. Our destination were the remains of an old defense fort.....However, it was a bit disappointing. There wasn't much to see. Luckily, the hike up the mountain was pretty.

Pretty view

I think someone had fun arranging those rocks....so I added the top one ^_^

Pretty trail

Cute little wild flowers

So....that was vacation.....still not ready to go back on Monday =P But the year's almost over!

Oxford, UK

Over the weekend I spent a few days in Oxford. Although it is not very far, it was not an easy destination to get to. Since there are no airports directly in Oxford, I had to first fly into London then take a two hour bus to Oxford. Whew, it was a long trip.

But once I got there, I was welcomed by streets of red brick and old stone walls. There was a definite charm about the city. Oxford is the name of the city, but is also the name of the univerisity....Oxford University.....which is comprised of many smaller colleges. My workshop took place in Queen's College, but since we registered late, I stayed in Oriel College's dorms.

My tiny room, luckily, I had my own bathroom tho

Inside Oriel College

Oriel College Dining Hall, doesn't it remind you of Harry Potter??

Inside Queen's College

 During my workshop, we took some time to visit a museum (you know, being an art workshop and all) This museum, however, was not just a fine arts museum, but an artifacts museum as well. There were some pretty cool stuff there.

Look at all the different types of marble used!

Very pretty details

And of course, the city of Oxford itself. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to explore. It was workshops after workshops and then networking with other art teachers. But from what I did see, it is a very cute city. 

Looking down High Street

Cute little church

Pretty bridge between the buildings

Old buildings

No clue what this is (passed it on the bus) but pretty neat!

Too bad it's so difficult to get to, or I would definitely visit Oxford as a tourist. At least a one place to check off my list!

Marineland

The weather last week was absolutely beautiful. It wasn't too cold (a bit windy tho) wasn't too hot, and not a drop of rain in sight. So instead of staying at home inside the apartment, we went to Marineland for a day. Marineland is a tinytiny version of Sea World...more like the Miami Seaquarium. It has a couple of shows and a couple of aquariums. Nothing much. It was nice to be out and it was fun to see the animals preform, but I think living in Florida my whole life has put my bar for "theme parks" quite high.

Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable day. Here are some of the sites!

Penguins! They're actually a lot bigger than I thought!

Steller's sea lion: a specific species of sea lions. They're huge!

Killer Whale show. They had a baby killer whale too!

Not marine life, but present at the park. Pretty

"Dude!"

Dolphins

Different rays

Little clownfish

They have several different habitats to choose from (like that ice cave in the background)

They were really good at this!

Osaka

Last stop in Japan was to Osaka to see gaje in her new city!

with cutecute totoru!

Osaka is a city known it's unique foods and eateries. Unfortunately, time did not allow us to eat everything =( There are too few hours in a day and our stomachs are just too small. But, we did what we could. If we were not eating, or exploring the many little streets, we were shopping in Osaka. I mean, it was our last day in Japan...why not finish using all our yens?

Cute little chicky breads.

In front of the Glico man....still don't know why it's a must-do

Interesting manhole. Even a manhole looks all pretty and clean!

One of the busy streets in Tennojin

We're in Japan together!! How cool is that?!

And of course, our last meal in Japan....for this trip at least! Thanks to gaje, for both finding this place and for treating us, we were able to eat a delicious and very exclusive type of beef. Fancyyy! What seems to be a tiny hole in the wall, we struggled to even find the door to the restaurant. Randomly, a wooden door slides open and closes again without an invitation to enter so that the hostess could find our reservation.

The door startled her! lol

Once we were in, we were seated in a tiny booth which had a sliding bamboo curtain to provide privacy. The rest of the meal was absolutely delish! You can read more about what we ate and each cut of beef on Always Hungry's blog. So just as a teaser:

Yummmmm.....look at them shine

And that's our trip in Japan! It was a wonderful experience and definitely a place we'd like to visit again....there is just so much more to see (and eat!)!

Until next time Japan, you will stay as a unforgettable memory. =)