6 mois (months)

veteran's day was good to us. our friend mallory came down to visit. with the day off from class and school and work we decided to sleep in a little bit and then head out to explore the country side. we read of a town that was actually one of the first towns to be powered by electricity in the mid 1800's because of the creation of a dams. so we head on over and found a nice little hike. it was just magnificient. jessie packed us all a lunch and it was delish. jessie even dared jump over a natural crater crack of some sort as seen in the above photo. i wanted to pull a stunt only seen in the movies but jessie wouldn't let. i thank her for so much. it was actually the mark of our 6 month anniversary. before knowing mallory would be there, i, if i may add, made a reservation at a sushi restaraunt in geneva for that evening. we were happy to have a friend accompany us. the sushi house actually had a creative functioning train make the rounds of the bar and on it were little plates of sushi. they were labeled white, green, red, and gold according to their prices. i told jessie that she would have to wait until our 1 year anni to grab any gold ones. haaa. it was a great day and i add that we are so thankful and blessed to have fathers represent the courage, bravery and strength of our dear country of America.

salut

john

thank.you.dads.we.love.you

christiana

 jessie and i read about a "self-proclaimed freetown" in copenhagen and it sounded so intriguing to us. we had planned on visiting the hot spot but we got lost in doing so. we jumped on a random bus and took it to the very end also know as a terminus in french. it took us to a beautiful opera house on the river overlooking the city across the water. we asked the bus driver where this so-called suburbian free town was located and he said he would take us right by it so we stayed on. it was only a couple of stops from where we had been when he waved us down indicating that it was our stop. we jumped off in the gloomy, misty weather. we still were a little clueless as to where to go but as the bus driver drove past us he pointed to a shady alleyway. wow, we said. as we approached the pathway, i couldn't help but notice a few odd characters walking our way. i quickly put on the tough mode john and we continued on. there was graffati everywhere. right before we actually walked through a broken fence we saw a large sign listing off the community rules: no photos, no running, just peace and love, something like that but one thing is certain is that it said in large cap letters YOU ARE NOW LEAVING THE EUROPEAN UNION. luckily just right before we saw the sign i grabbed this photo and it was the last i got. i asked jessie if she had ever seen teenage mutant ninja turtles because i felt like i had just entered the underground world of criminals where Shredder and his clan hung out. of course, she had never seen the movie, which if i may add is a classic. anyhow, a certain man told me to no photos no photos in broken english so i was sure to put it away. what we came across next is something i have never experienced in my life. there was a street called pusher street and it was also known as the green light district. there were so many boutiques some covered some not and what they were selling was pot. it came in all shapes, sizes, sorts, strengths, etc. there were rocks and crystals and i don't even know. we spoke to a dealer and he said that the pot they sold was not to get you high but get you stoned. woah. and of course there was a food court for those hungry citizens. as we were asking questions, which mind you we knew nothing about what we were even talking about, a huge angry individual came up to me and said "hey, no photos, cover your camera end of discussion" as i tried to explain i didn't have the cap, i just turned it towards me where you couldn't see the lense. jeeze. it was a very threatening situation but we just minded our own business and climbed up over the village and just took a breather on some benches where no one could see us. jessie and talked about how such a place could exist while the government and state just choose to not turn the head in it's direction just pretending that they know nothing. corruption or maybe it is just like the people of christiana proclaim it be, "peace project"?

salut

john

gotta.get.down.on.friday

Celebrity matchup

Cage

beauties

 

 

Nyhavn: (Danish pronunciation: [ˈnyhɑʊ̯ˀn]) (literally: New Harbour)

that is what these photos have in common. they illustrate that there is extraordinarily beauty in colors! especially in the color red. this harbor was hand dug by danish prisoners way back then. hans chrisitan anderson lived here for a while. it was said to be the happening place in town for beer, food and prostitution. jessie and I had to see it for our own eyes even though it was raining a bit on our boat tour. no worries it was covered overhead and heated inside.

salut

john

does.this.show.up.on.my.google.plus.thingamajig

a few shots

 

    

 

  

who ever knew that it rains everyday in denmark? I only brought the camera along our first day. if you read the christiana post you would understand why. anyhow. enjoy.

salut

john

time.to.go

Too good

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnzbZ2RA4qQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

forts

   

  

 

 

   

     

we searched for destinations to visit around our little village this afternoon and fort l’ecluse came up. it is a 15 minute drive from our home. it is a natural entry to france from switzerland. history says that the designated area of land was used for fortress grounds dating back to 58 b.c. cray. I guess there are no photos of the actual fortress on here but these are some of the photos that we took of our hike.

we still are not sure as to what we stumbled across on our hike but it was some sort of an old mountain bike trail. we found a number of palettes in this open area. I quickly drew up in my mind a fort of our own. I felt like I was 12 years old again back in the day when my friends, gracie and I would own the forest grounds. it worked as you can see from the photos. we also found a natural stream of water that we drank from. it was just what we needed today. as we headed back down I grabbed some moss to add to our collection of plants. we are proud parents of now three baby plants.

salut

john

banana.bread

saturday morning in carouge

 

   

           

so if you follow jessie’s blog you would now know that we own a french car. so this past saturday we took advantage of her and drove to geneva.

carouge: a charming district has developed over the years into something of a bohemian center, with all sorts of artisanal activity going on during the day and a wide selection of bars and restaurants to occupy you through the night. The Place du Marché forms the heart of the district, with its quirky Italianate church at one end and a regular produce market which has been in operation for over 300 years. www.viator.com

it was said that carouge was built to provide refuge to catholics  from the protestant power of geneva. italian designers were hired for the construction and you can see chapel in one of the photos. it was so fun. I even ran into an old man that I recognized from over 4 years ago. he serves as the old traditional candy man who pushes a music box around that also seats his feline friend. the children love him. they give him 2 swiss francs and in return they receive a lollypop.

we found a thrift store and I got an old leather briefcase for nothing. also a homeless man stole my breakfast while I laid it down for two minutes.

anyhow, I don’t have a photo editor yet so excuse the overexposures.

salut

john

we.are.heading.to.denmark.tomorrow

sometimes...

i miss america or better yet amercia me misses. french lesson:

The French verb manquer is a regular -ER verb. It means "to miss," but can cause confusion because it is sometimes used in an unusual construction.

Manquer + direct object means "to miss something," in the sense of not being at/on/in it

   J'ai manqué l'autobus.
   I missed the bus.

   Il va manquer le film.
   He's going to miss the movie.


Manquer + de + direct object means "to lack something"

   Vous manquez de patience.
   You lack patience.

   Ce thé manque de lait.
   This tea is lacking (needs) milk.


Manquer + de + verb means "to fail to do something"

   J'ai manqué de faire mes devoirs.
   I didn't do my homework.

   Ne manque pas de m'écrire !
   Be sure to write to me!
   (Literally, Don't fail to write...)


Manquer + à means "to miss a person, place, or thing,"* as in to feel the lack of it:

   David manque à moi. > David me manque.
   I miss David.

   Tu manques à moi. > Tu me manques.
   I miss you.

so as i was saying sometimes i miss america i mean america me misses and i play bon iver over and over again. jess nor i have yet to see him but we will one day. also pepperoni pizza me misses much.

salut
john
we.did.buy.a.car.and.to.see.more.go.to.www.jessicannna.blogspot.com

and so we wait

    

 

      

                  

binge

binj/

informal

noun

1. 1.

   a short period devoted to indulging in an activity to excess, esp. drinking alcohol or eating (pastries)

*I know the text above has nothing to do with anything but it is there to pacify my very need to be creative in silly textual ways. that job belongs to my wife though I guess. anyhow this isn’t important but perhaps I will include french words or phrases in the future like so. voila.

jessie and I take walks down to the small center of our little village from time to time. we have two main boulangeries in town. it is so fun to go search for fresh bread everyday. we haven’t yet decided on which is the best. we will keep you updated on that and may even post photos of our treats along the way. 

we decided to focus on mailboxes the other day on our walk which actually give a decent view of what we have been looking to everyday. to be clear, we have been waiting for almost now 3 weeks to receive our debit cards for our french bank account. the french are like escargots. slow pokes. they insist on sending you three separate letters from the bank which gives you the green light to go pick up your card at the actual bank only to tell you that the application is still not complete once you have received the three letters and make the 30 minute trip. so we are still waiting on our cards. and it wouldn’t be so bad if EVERYTHING else wasn’t contingent on that one debit carte bleu.

salut

john

we.might.buy.a.car.tonight

it happened

 

yup

we succeeded

and it was alllll done here

we even got some bread all so delicious for like 1 dollar

you believe that

artisan bread from whole foods

we actually have learned to love this place and this area in particular

it is where all the whole foods consumption takes place

the other jessie got off of work and we just hung out here

we took a seat at some table bar and just relaxed

I am sort of afraid of what our diet/meals might look like in the near future

for now they work and boy do they work

salut

john

what.are.you.sacrificing

the list

 

I have always been into shopping

I swear it is the only thing my family and I do when I visit home

I can really be a burden though

I have strong opinions and I usually, mistakenly voice them outwardly

there have been a ton of tears shed and feelings hurt on both ends

but I guess I would consider myself the culprit or at the instigator

jessie and I are trying to master this shopping thing

it can even be a hassle when shopping for stamps but the list goes on

we do succeed, especially when there is free food involved

we are giving it an attempt tonight and I will keep you informed

it isnt so much about the list but about the person

salut

john

i.spy.my.love.in.the.library

any ideas

 

does anyone have any genius helpful ideas for me?

you see I usually go to sleep around 2 am. but I start a new job tomorrow that will require me to wake up at 6 am. so ideally, I would want 8 hours of sleep considering the fact that I work from 8 am to 5 pm and then have class from 5 30 to 8 pm. so yah, I will need some sleep however what is the trick? how do I get to sleep at 10 30 pm? I am already past my bed time. I got some reading to do and maybe an episode of Portlandia and some journal but what is it going to take? the way I see it is perfectly depicted in these two photos. I need to a great idea and once I got that idea down and it has clicked I realize that it will actually be awful smelling. bummer. but here is to changing a little more for the better! even if it smells a little bit (which I actually love in fact). see you in the morning. maybe?

salut

john

thinking.and.feeling.all.day

numbers&digits

 

223 days

174 lbs

96 percentage grade

10 climbs

7 months

2 gifts

1 love

salut

john

moi.toi.il.elle.on.NOUS.vous.ils.elles

listen while you read

salut
john
i.cry

tune up

 

you know what I despise. I really hate it when my laptop decides to slow down. what is your deal, I ask. can’t you see I am busy. yes, netflix, pinterest, etsy, facebook, blogger, amazon, preferred caterer lists, taste of park city, google calendar oh and GMAIL (which is literally always open) are all important to me. what don’t you get? and then the cursor/pointer decides to start doing it “loading” thing which convinces me that my laptop is fighting back as hard as he can (I just gave him a gender). so I just move him all around from corner to corner as fast as I can. that is right. I am blaming the cursor now for what the laptop (well actually, the hard-drive) is going through. and then much to my surprise, I see a panel pop up from the bottom-right corner of my screen that reads “Tune Up – in 10 minutes” and what do I do? I don’t hesitate as I close him down to the ground. but now as I think about it, even if I wanted to tune my computer up I wouldn’t know where to go so now it becomes a waiting game until the next time my laptop feels it is appropriate to “tune up”.

sometimes and most of the times, our hard-drive knows what is best for us. and I hate saying this. he is just trying his best to make things work better for us. but we are so quick to close the program down. we think we know what is best for ourselves, well for the computer.

but I tell you today, that we need that “tune-up” and I need to believe in it. I can’t always be running everything there is all at once. we need to refresh our systems and restart back over again and again and again. I believe in the Master’s program. I believe there is hope. I believe there is faith. I believe there is Someone who knows what is best for each and every single one of us. these are not just words. this is what happens. everyday. and I can’t stand it when it does but I can’t wait until that panel pops back up and asks if I want a “tune-up”!

oh and please excuse me for the lazy eye. I was just trying to focus on this amazing-think piece of hair! it was glorious and will ever be!

salut

john

i.love.you.forever

hey you there!
just can't get enough!
cup of coffee?
no?
don't be disgusted!
or
sad!
no!
no being turned off!
yah!
smile!
whisle!
laugh!
there you go!

salut
john
i.am.here.all.here

make animated gifs like this at MakeAGif