OK guys, I guess I am finally less bitter enough about being back to write again on my website. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will be redesigning my site to also hold my portfolio ( I know I have made these promises before, but this time I have actually started my portfolio). Atlanta isn’t so bad, thanks to my boyfriend, CBQ, for taking such good care of me, and James for letting me stay in his great condo. Oh yeah, and the rest of my family and friends have been spoiling the crap out of me as well. This is the best Jodi Appreciation Month ever! So now that my resting place is on this side of the world, I am living vicariously through a few of my friends who left to go to Europe a week after I got back. Kristin is attending the same study abroad program in Barcelona that CBQ did last year. She is staying in the same hostel and probably trying out all the same restaurants and venues since I sent her way too much info on the stuff that CBQ and I like to do there. Her website is www.kristinvadas.com if you would like to live vicariously through her too. CBQ just got it up for her, so hopefully she will update it soon. Also my friends Kevin and Omar are travelling through Europe for a little over two months. I am sure they are also having a blast, even though I haven’t heard from them or seen any updates on Omar’s website (www.omarzaki.com), but I am sure there will be news from them soon.

My friend Carl, who stayed in Paris after our trip, is doing well from what I heard. He went to the Greek Isles last week, and he said it was gorgeous. I guess since I don’t really have the opportunity to make a weekend trip over there to see it for myself anymore, I will have to bookmark it until the next time I am in Europe.

As for me, I am job-hunting today. Wes is job-hunting at Commune, where CBQ works. They seem to like him, so maybe I will get to see him more if he is working with my boyfriend. Also, I had to mail my keys to my Parisian apartment back to Anja a couple of weeks ago, and they still haven’t arrived! The French postal service was on strike last week, so maybe that has something to do with it, or maybe they are just generally slow. I guess that is one reason to appreciate the US. You can count on companies executing what you paid them to do. I better not speak too soon, though, because I haven’t talked to the US postal service to learn the real reasons for the delay. Since this is the most exciting thing going on in my life right now, I will keep you updated. A Bientot - Jodi

OK guys, I guess I am finally less bitter enough about being back to write again on my website. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will be redesigning my site to also hold my portfolio ( I know I have made these promises before, but this time I have actually started my portfolio). Atlanta isn’t so bad, thanks to my boyfriend, CBQ, for taking such good care of me, and James for letting me stay in his great condo. Oh yeah, and the rest of my family and friends have been spoiling the crap out of me as well. This is the best Jodi Appreciation Month ever! So now that my resting place is on this side of the world, I am living vicariously through a few of my friends who left to go to Europe a week after I got back. Kristin is attending the same study abroad program in Barcelona that CBQ did last year. She is staying in the same hostel and probably trying out all the same restaurants and venues since I sent her way too much info on the stuff that CBQ and I like to do there. Her website is www.kristinvadas.com if you would like to live vicariously through her too. CBQ just got it up for her, so hopefully she will update it soon. Also my friends Kevin and Omar are travelling through Europe for a little over two months. I am sure they are also having a blast, even though I haven’t heard from them or seen any updates on Omar’s website (www.omarzaki.com), but I am sure there will be news from them soon.

My friend Carl, who stayed in Paris after our trip, is doing well from what I heard. He went to the Greek Isles last week, and he said it was gorgeous. I guess since I don’t really have the opportunity to make a weekend trip over there to see it for myself anymore, I will have to bookmark it until the next time I am in Europe.

As for me, I am job-hunting today. Wes is job-hunting at Commune, where CBQ works. They seem to like him, so maybe I will get to see him more if he is working with my boyfriend. Also, I had to mail my keys to my Parisian apartment back to Anja a couple of weeks ago, and they still haven’t arrived! The French postal service was on strike last week, so maybe that has something to do with it, or maybe they are just generally slow. I guess that is one reason to appreciate the US. You can count on companies executing what you paid them to do. I better not speak too soon, though, because I haven’t talked to the US postal service to learn the real reasons for the delay. Since this is the most exciting thing going on in my life right now, I will keep you updated. A Bientot - Jodi

OK guys, I guess I am finally less bitter enough about being back to write again on my website. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will be redesigning my site to also hold my portfolio ( I know I have made these promises before, but this time I have actually started my portfolio). Atlanta isn’t so bad, thanks to my boyfriend, CBQ, for taking such good care of me, and James for letting me stay in his great condo. Oh yeah, and the rest of my family and friends have been spoiling the crap out of me as well. This is the best Jodi Appreciation Month ever! So now that my resting place is on this side of the world, I am living vicariously through a few of my friends who left to go to Europe a week after I got back. Kristin is attending the same study abroad program in Barcelona that CBQ did last year. She is staying in the same hostel and probably trying out all the same restaurants and venues since I sent her way too much info on the stuff that CBQ and I like to do there. Her website is www.kristinvadas.com if you would like to live vicariously through her too. CBQ just got it up for her, so hopefully she will update it soon. Also my friends Kevin and Omar are travelling through Europe for a little over two months. I am sure they are also having a blast, even though I haven’t heard from them or seen any updates on Omar’s website (www.omarzaki.com), but I am sure there will be news from them soon.

My friend Carl, who stayed in Paris after our trip, is doing well from what I heard. He went to the Greek Isles last week, and he said it was gorgeous. I guess since I don’t really have the opportunity to make a weekend trip over there to see it for myself anymore, I will have to bookmark it until the next time I am in Europe.

As for me, I am job-hunting today. Wes is job-hunting at Commune, where CBQ works. They seem to like him, so maybe I will get to see him more if he is working with my boyfriend. Also, I had to mail my keys to my Parisian apartment back to Anja a couple of weeks ago, and they still haven’t arrived! The French postal service was on strike last week, so maybe that has something to do with it, or maybe they are just generally slow. I guess that is one reason to appreciate the US. You can count on companies executing what you paid them to do. I better not speak too soon, though, because I haven’t talked to the US postal service to learn the real reasons for the delay. Since this is the most exciting thing going on in my life right now, I will keep you updated. A Bientot - Jodi

OK, it is finally starting to hit me that this is almost over. My last day has come. The shuttle is picking us up in the morning to take us to the airport. Where did the time go? What have I done here? What am I doing with my life? You can see how these questions can quickly spiral me into devastation. So those of you who were worried about me getting all my stuff back home were completely justified in doing so. My big bag weighs a whopping 30 lbs. over the limit. Luckily they will charge you $50 for an overweight bag not exceeding 100 lbs. (which is what mine weighs), so I figure I am getting the most for my overweight fee. I am also wearing a couple of layers of clothes that wouldn’t fit in my bags. Thank goodness they don’t have a weight limit for passengers. So I will be seeing all of you pretty soon. I am looking forward to it, especially CBQ. He doesn’t know what he has gotten into. He has to put up with me full-time now, as if putting up with me on the other side of the world wasn’t hard enough.

And one thing that I would like to complain about is our idiotic flight home. We are flying from Paris to Houston, TEXAS, completely passing over our final destination, extending the flight time by a couple of hours, and putting us 7 hours behind in a different time zone. Then we wait around a little while, hopefully find some Taco Bell in the airport, and get on another plane to come back to Atlanta, where we go back one time zone to finally make it to Atlanta at 10 p.m., which is actually 4 a.m. in the time zone where our bodies are adjusted. But if you have ever met the woman who scheduled this for us, you would understand how something so asinine could happen.

After filing a report with the city’s lost and found for my purse and Wes’s stuff that I left in a cab, and hearing no response, we got a call from this little old lady who found my keys and Wes’s wallet on the sidewalk. He had a copy of his passport in his wallet, so she tracked him down through the American Embassy. Ofcourse he had already cancelled his credit cards and there was no money left in it, but at least I don’t have to buy him another Coach wallet when we get home. Also, I don’t have to get my locks changed since she found my keys too. So at least I was redeemed a little.

My mom and my Aunt Terrie are here this week visiting. I was a little nervous at first letting them loose in the city by themselves, but now they think they can go anywhere and do anything on their own. We are having a good time. I am finishing up my school work during the day and hanging out with them at night. They got pretty lucky with the weather. It has been absolutely beautiful around here lately. Hopefully it will stay this way.

I have my plans confirmed for spring break as well. First Barcelona with the class field trip (those are always fun), then Becky and I are taking a night ferry to the island of Mallorca where we are staying in a nice beachside hotel (it even has a bathroom in the room!) for two nights. We also have a balcony. Then we take a day ferry back to Barcelona. Quinn says the day ferry has lounge chairs and a pool, so that will be fun. Then we are hanging out in Barcelona for a few more days, getting some good food and sangria, then we are returning to Paris. What a rough life!

I think there should be a limit on how many stupid things that can happen to one person in a certain time period. When Quinn was here I stepped on the wrong place on an escalator, got my new black boot heel stuck and ripped it off. Not only did it rip off it fell down into the escalator and jammed it, so I couldn’t get the heel back. Then last night, amidst our St Patty’s Day celebration, I got out of a taxi and accidentally left my purse in it. I had my wallet/handbag (which is usually the only thing I carry) in my hand from paying the driver, so I didn’t lose my credit cards or anything. But I was holding Wes’s wallet and cell phone in my purse, so I lost all of his stuff, including his favorite Coach wallet that can’t be replaced until we go back to America. I think that actually makes it a worse tragedy, because the only inconvenience I caused myself was the loss of my keys and a really cute bag. I ask myself, “Why do these things always happen to me?” and the only answer I have arrived at is that people have been telling me the truth all these years when they said I was a moron. I should place orange cones around myself to caution others of the weird happenings that are sure to occur in my presence. Besides this trauma, we had a pretty good time celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. Wes and I went to dinner a couple of blocks from my apartment in this small little bakery on Rue Mouffetard, where we were the only customers…..until this gorgeous woman walked in and sat down behind me, who happened to be Cheryl Tiegs (huge model from the 70’s). She still looks as perfect as ever, and Wes and I felt very lucky to be in her presence. Every conversation of the night began with this bit of info. So another weekend gone by in good ole Paris. C’est la vie.

Just to clarify, Jessica is “ma na na.” It is a slang way to say “my woman” in French. I think I might have actually made up the term, but anyway. The first picture was taken by Quinn on our routine walk down this street that usually happens between 1 and 2 a.m. The rest of the pictures are of Quinn and me just cutting up and random times and places during the week.

I have always said that this city is made for lovers, so it is no surprise that last week was so perfect. Hopefully with the beautiful weather and the memories of last week, I won’t come down off of this high to be in the bitter mindset that I used to have. I love Paris, but I do have to admit that when the weather is cold and you have no one to snuggle with or kiss on the sidewalk and you must watch everyone else doing it, you develop a bitterness towards happy and warm people. My friend Kerem put it the best way I’ve heard by saying, “Paris is made for walking and kissing. If you have nowhere to go and no one to kiss, then you are screwed.” For this last stretch of my time in Europe, there is no way possible for me to be brought down. The weather is too nice and the surroundings too beautiful, and I can’t think of one place that I frequent that now doesn’t contain a memory of me and CBQ being there. So what more can you ask for?

It has been officially one week since Quinn was in Paris for the last time to visit me ;-( so I decided that it would be a good time to catch up on my picture entries. All of these pictures were taken by Quinn or on his camera, and they are all currently on his new and improved website along with many others if you would like to go there and view them larger. We had a fabulous time, as always, just hanging out and doing a whole lot of nothing.The weeks here go by so quickly, and they speed up even more when he is here; I guess that is what happens when you are having too much fun.


From top to bottom, left to right: Dinner at Jessica’s, she is a great cook. She completely undermined my domestication efforts. Casey and me posing, then Wes and Annie. Jessica and Quinn, then me touching Wes’s nipple. Next row, me and Quinn being cute and in love.
Then Casey, Annie and me, and Wes and Quinn (in the middle of a “who’s cuter” argument like usual).
After dinner we went to a few of our favorite bars. Me, Marissa and Sean in the first picture, and me, Casey, and Jessica with Steve at Steve’s Bar (better known as the Galway) in the second.

Days like this really make me realize how fortunate I am to be in such a beautiful city. The sun was out, the sky was beautiful, and the weather was perfect for wandering throughout the city if you were wearing a coat. If it wasn’t for my friend Sean Quinn, I probably would have stayed indoors all day working on homework and other miscellaneous chores. So I went to a nice lunch with Sean, followed by a short walk around the Chatelet/Hotel de Ville area, bought some ink cartridges and looked at some cool games for our macs (he has one too), and then got some coffee on this trendy, non-touristy street near the river. What a perfect day in Paris. Does it really have to end soon?

These pictures are actually part of a video that Jessica shot late one night (or shall I say early morning) in our hostel after we experienced what Prague’s nightlife had to offer…..we are big fans of the absynth. We were hungry, so we bought some groceries to make sandwiches, while Ian tried to convince us that it would be cool for him to eat the middle of the pepper that I was slicing. Oooohh Ian (imagine me shaking my head while saying this).