Bonjour, salut and coucou, mes amis!
It's official. Summer is coming to an end, the tadpoles are back in school, and I'm back from my blogging break. So what's been keeping me so busy this summer? Right. Glad you asked...
1) Hello. My name is Samantha and I'm a word cutter.
I revised my manuscript, cutting more than 20k and adding (OH FREAKS ALIVE) 60k. No, these changes weren't self-inflicted. I'm working with an extraordinary mentor/editor. And the slices and dices feel so good.
2) Not wanting to be influenced while in edit mode, I caught up on some reading after I sent the revise to my mentor— namely two memoirs I'd been meaning to get my grubby little paws on: Wild by Cheryl Strayed and Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. Next on the list are Jenny Lawson's Let's Pretend This Never Happened and our monthly book club pick, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach.
3) This is the way I roll. I taught myself how to make sushi 'cause you can't find shrimp tempura or caterpillar rolls in France. And I was jonesing for them.
I also made homemade coconut ice cream.
And a lot of other rolls.
4)
When The Frog (a dive-master) took me into the Med on the annual company scuba trip our conversation went a bit like this:Me: Aren't you going to give me any instruction?The Frog: You've done this before.Me: One time. Two years ago.The Frog: So?Me: She didn't speak English. I might have missed something important! I could die!The Frog: Ready to descend?Me: Noooooo!
Hello, panic attack. Alas, I swam back to the boat, fins between my legs. The Frog ended up giving me private scuba lessons in his sister's pool...instead of the middle of the choppy sea. We're going diving again in two weeks. If you don't hear from me, well, accidents happen.
5) I may have wimped out in the water, but I was still an adventuress. We hiked and played in the pyrénées mountains, zipping through the trees. He, Tarzan. Me, Jane. Kids, monkeys.
6) Great love alive!
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| (Blond) Highlights from the Summer of Love |
The frog, tadpoles, and I partied all night long at his sister's wedding. French weddings don't end until five in the morning. And, man, can my frog bust a move.
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| A brilliant idea! Each table was assigned a "chef" (a.k.a. guest) who carved up the main dish! |
7) I saw Provence by voiture, vol, and voile. (Okay, it was a speedboat, not a sailboat. Humor me.)
Phew! So that's what's been keeping me from the blogosphere. I'm really looking forward to catching up with all of you! I'll start blog hopping on Monday. In the interim, tell me: What was the highlight of your summer?
p.s. It wasn't all fun and games. The air conditioning was out for a bit. "Refinishing" les volets is never fun.
