#16: Creme Brulee

I don't know how to make accent marks on the internet. So sad.
#16 on Auna's List of Loves is Creme Brulee
Now if that picture doesn't make your mouth water, I don't know what will.
I never even thought about adding a dessert to my list of loves, but when I had birthday creme brulee the other night, I couldn't resist adding it. After putting that first spoonful of sugary, creamy, crispy custard into my mouth...oh man.
I believe it was Amelie (or the narrator of the movie, at least) who first introduced me to the wonder that is creme brulee. One of Amelie's favorite things was cracking the hard sugar shell on top of the custard. I can say without hesitation that it is one of my favorite too. There's something so...satisfying about breaking through the hard outer shell and having your spoon sink through the custard underneath.
And the taste...OH the taste!
I should put up a warning right here: I have only had creme brulee TWICE in my life.
Creme brulee experience #1 = a famous bistro in Paris, France
Creme brulee experience #2 = a local Italian eatery in Grand Rapids, Michigan
I can say without hesitation that they rivaled each other quite a bit. I don't know which was better.

In any case, there's nothing that I love more than a good creme brulee. I'll have to go back to this restaurant that I ate at the other night and eat it more often. :D


And in very, very happy news...
I GET A KITTY!!!!!!!!
My landlords have agreed to allow John and I a kitty cat. I am ecstatic.
Now begins the long, arduous process of trying to find a Siamese kitty that suits my liking.
Which is also why the next post on Auna's List of Loves will be...
#19: Siamese Cats

#12: Ask.com's Commercial "Chick's With Swords"

#12 on Auna's List of Loves is the new Ask.com commercial "Chicks with Swords"



There aren't many commercials that are able to capture my heart.
This one? This one takes the cake. :)
I saw it at the beginning of June, I think. I first thought it was an eBay commercial (you know, the singing eBay commercials, where people sing about all of the crazy shit they've found for sale on eBay). As soon as I realized it was not an eBay commercial (or GAP, I like GAP commercials too), I scoffed it off. That was until...
...the "chicks with swords" search bar popped up.

Greatest commercial ever made? Quite possibly, yes.

Since, they've made at least one other commercial, but I don't think it's anywhere near as funny as this one. This is definitely my favorite. Almost makes me want to use Ask.com!
Almost.


Next up on Auna's List of Loves!
#16: Creme Brulee

Presents!

Happy Birthday To Me!

That's right, it's my birthday. Hooray! :)
I hope I can get a kitten like...
this
(SO CUTE!!!!)
or this
(EEEEEE!!!!! CUTENESS!!!)


List of Loves will be updated soon!

(My font is messed up on this post, and I don't know why. I apologize for that.)

#9: Astronomy

I was going to do astronomy next, right?

YES!
#9 on Auna's List of Loves is Astronomy! (Note: NOT to be confused with astrology. I don't like astrology)
There isn't really any reason that immediately comes to mind why I like astronomy so much. I always have. Part of my blames my astrology (oh goodness, astrology coming into play here...). I am a cancer, which means that my astrological sign is the moon and evidently, if the internet is not lying, I was actually born under a full moon. Go figure!

Now if I'm going to be truthful here. My first love was the moon. The rest of the stars didn't come into play until later. Me and this moon thing, we have a weird connection. When I was little, I used to howl at the moon (like a little wolf!) and I don't know if this is something that my family taught me and then convinced me to do often because it was cute or if it was something that I picked up on my own.
Yes. I do howl at the moon.
No. I am not crazy.

Next came the stars in the sky.
If you read the last post that I wrote, my 10th love was sailing. It is no secret that people who sail at night sail by the stars. Well, I couldn't read constellations until I was in middle school at the very earliest so that doesn't really apply to me. However, stars are pretty.
I became obsessed with seeing shooting stars though. I don't think I actually saw one until I was a teenager. My parents would always point them out to me, but shooting stars are fast little buggers and when you're looking in the wrong part of the sky, it's very likely that you're going to miss them.
However, the thing that I love and the thing that mystifies me the most? The Aurora Borealis (i.e. Northern lights).
I didn't actually see one of these until I was in high school. The first time that I saw them was during the Perseid Meteor Showers at it was probably four in the morning. Let me tell you: amazing. This was also one of the most spectacular meteor showers that I've ever seen too. The sky was literally flickering orange and yellow and there were falling stars everywhere. It was awesome.
The most amazing Aurora Borealis that I've ever seen was in my own backyard (which is amazing considering that I live in the city). There was some crazy solar flares going on that day or something because the entire sky was pink and red. It was...beyond amazing. AND! It happened at 10 at night! I mean, seriously! That does NOT happen!
My favorite thing about summer is traveling off into the wilderness to hopefully get a glimpse of the brilliant night sky and northern lights. Unfortunately, I am absolutely a city girl and it's hard to see the night sky when you're downtown.
Around the end of high school, I started to contemplate studying astronomy. Hell, I still contemplate studying astronomy. The only unfortunate part in all of this is that I am not mathematical. Or scientific. Actually, the only kind of science I know anything about is rocks and very basic elementary astronomy stuff.
Doesn't matter. I still love it.

I love it so much, that two years ago, I got a tattoo of it.
(Apparently I don't have a better image of it, and I'm too lazy to take another right now)
I knew from the age of probably...15 that if I ever got a tattoo it was going to be of the moon. It's one of the only things in my life that I have actually loved for as long as I can possibly remember. The other few things are: my teddy bear Baba (which frankly, would be a really creepy looking tattoo) and my kitty Willow. And of course my family and all that unconditional love stuff.
I waited until I was 20 and finally decided that I was going to get this tattoo whether or not anyone else liked it.
And I love it. :D

So now I can carry around my love for astronomy for the rest of my life and when I die and archaeologists unearth me in a few hundred years and see the ink pigments left on my remains they can know a little bit about me and the things that I loved. :)
Or they'll think that I was a pagan and worshiped a blue moon.


And that finally brings me to the next topic for my next post:
#2: Archaeology!

'Til then!

Auna's UPDATED List of Loves

I figured that since I'm adding some more things to my list as I go along that I would update it!

Auna's UPDATED List of Loves

1. The Office (US) - DONE
   
2. Archaeology - DONE
   
3. France and all of Europe - DONE
   
4. Knitting
5. Food
6. Arrested Development - DONE
   
7. Spinning
8. Underwear
9. Astronomy - DONE
   
10. Sailing - DONE
    
11. Vanilla Vodka
12. Ask.com's commercial: Chick's with Swords - DONE
    
13. Sleeping
14. Anthony Bourdain
15. Closer (the movie)
16. Creme brulee - DONE
    
17. Cherry pie
18. The number 8
19. Siamese Cats - DONE
    
20. Writing
    

#10: Sailing

Number 10 on Auna's List of Loves is sailing, and appropriately so. I have been sailing (quite literally) my entire life.
Don't believe me? Here's a picture of my family's boat.
(Hey mom! Look at that! You now have a picture in my blog!)
I should note though that they no longer own this boat. It blew over in a windstorm about a year or two ago and they now have a different boat -- that I have only been on once.

Now I know what you're all thinking. "Auna, go back to what you said before about quite literally sailing your entire life!" And yes, it is true. Provided that my parents have not been filling my head with lies all my life, my first time on a sailboat was when I was 2 days old. Two days. Yeah, I'd like to see someone else stake that claim.
This isn't to say that my life and the sea were all sunshine and puppies though. I quite hated sailing through my teenage years -- and quite honestly, who wouldn't? Sharing a space on a 36' sailboat with your mother, father, brother and kitty cat. But people always told me, "Auna, you'll love it when you're older..." "Auna, you'll miss it when you're older..." and you know what? Damn it all, they were right.
Would I go on another 6 week vacation with my family on a 36' sailboat? No, actually, I probably wouldn't. But that's just because that's a mighty small space to share with three (four including the kitty) members of your family.

And certainly, I do love sailing more than any other recreational activity of the sort. And I love all kinds of sailing: sailing big boats, sailing little boats, windsurfing, parasailing, pirating...okay, so those last two I'm lying about and I have never done, but the rest are honest!!

And there is no place that I'd rather venture by boat than the north shore of Lake Superior (which my parents are re-visiting this summer which. Me = jealous).

Maybe someday when I have a job and I get my summers off, I'll buy a nice livable sailboat. Because really, I do love sailing. :)


On a completely unrelated note, I am going to be in a comic strip! My good friend from school, Carl, writes and illustrates an online comic and after a lot of persuasion from me, he agreed to make me one of the characters! So check me (and the rest of his comics) out!
http://crazycstudios.com

Next up on Auna's List of Loves:
#9 - Astronomy

#3: France and all of Europe

That is right ladies and gentlemen. I am in a writing kind of mood this summery evening so I am going to write about #3 on Auna's List of Loves: France and all of Europe!

Ever since I was a wee little girl, I wanted to go to Europe. I think it is probably one of those common goals that most everyone has in life.
"Oh someday, before I die, I am going to go visit Europe and see all of the sights!"
I got to do just this (almost exactly) two years ago.

Let me tell you all the story of my life. :)
I have studied French since high school. Unfortunately, the foreign language programs at my high school were probably the worst that you could ever imagine a foreign language program to be. In the two full years that I studied the language, I learned about as much as a person would learn in one semester at college.
So when I went to college, what did I do? I studied French damn it!
Initially, I signed up to take 101 and 102 French my freshman year of college. My dad told me that I should take a placement test to see where I place, but I decided not to even bother. I knew my French was crap. I had a couple of friends that went to other high schools in the area and were in French classes and were EONS ahead of me as far as the learning process went.
101 was pretty easy for me, it was basically review and when 102 rolled around, I started learning some of the good stuff. Because I liked it so much, I decided, "What the hell!" and I kept going and signed up to take 201 and 202 the next year.
It was sometime in my second year of French at college that I realized learning the language was almost a waste of my time. Really, I was just taking it for fun. I had no need for it (going for my B.S. at the time). By the time I reached 202, I had efficiently passed my B.A. requirement (keep in mind, I was still aiming for a B.S.) and I had no intention of not taking French classes.
It wasn't until one day in the anthropology lab while sitting around talking about those damn French classes of mine (I secretly loved them) that one of my friends pointed out how utterly useless it was that I was taking a language. So what did I do? I upped the anty and decided that I would study abroad.
Oh wait, but it was still utterly pointless for me to study abroad, with the exception that it would look good in the future. So what did I do next? I went ahead and added a French minor. I vindicated my existence in the French program, wahoo!!!

I made a lot of people jealous with my trip to France, and I bragged about it a lot because let's face it; I was really freaking excited.
Late June of 2005, I boarded a plane to Paris -- my first plane trip ever (my mom will disagree saying that I flew as a baby, but what do I remember of that? Nothing), and I made my way across the great blue ocean.
I hated Paris. The city that I had wanted to visit my entire life and I hated it. Note to all of you people out there thinking about planning vacations and trips to distant cities and countries: Do not go with a group of 20+ people.
Now don't get me wrong, we saw some really cool things, and the time that we had that we could spend on our own was really great. Without that time, I wouldn't have gotten the chance to see places like Pere Lachaise (and yes, I realize there are no accents in there) Cemetery which is quite possibly one of the coolest places I have ever been to. And I certainly would have gotten completely lost on a number of occasions without my professor getting us place to place. Still. It was a very unpleasant experience with so many people.
We were in Paris for a week, and I celebrated my 20th birthday in the city. It was a very crappy birthday, believe it or not. It rained that morning if I remember correctly, I went back to the hotel, took a nap and when I woke up there was no one that wanted to go out to do anything with me. Very disappointing.

The study abroad was not in Paris though, it was in Nice.

I hate Nice.
The only thing that I like about Nice was Fennochio's ice cream and my host mother. My host mother was an amazing woman (with an amazing home) and was one of the most gracious and kindest women I met in France. I still miss her a lot, two years later.
The problem with Nice (and the program in general) is that it's during the summer -- during tourist season. Now really, maybe there's no good way to do a summer study abroad since that's when people travel. But for the love of all that is holy, a study abroad program should not take place in one of the biggest tourist cities in France.
Bastille Day was pretty awesome though.
I won't lie either. The little towns around Nice are really awesome.
For exampe:
Antibes (I love Antibes)
Ville Franche


Although I hated Nice and wish to never return, I was very sad to say goodbye to my host mother.

However! In departing Nice, I traveled to Italy!!! :)
My friend Kate and I traveled together. We were both kind of the "outsiders" of the group. We weren't big fans of going to the clubs or the bars, so we had kind of separated ourselves from everyone else. We both were spending two more weeks in Europe and we had no one to travel with.
So where did we go?

Rome!
Rome is an awesome, awesome city. Especially for the archaeologist inside of me. ;) We spent most of our time around the Forum and Palatino because it was such a cool place (and close to our hostel). We also spent a morning and afternoon at the Vatican museum, but the highlight was definitely the archaeological aspect.

From Rome, we traveled to Venice
Venice is the most beautiful city in the world. And it rained the ENTIRE TIME we were there. Now that's saying something.

From Venice, we traveled to Florence
Don't really have a lot to say about Florence to be honest. We were only there for an afternoon.

And from Florence, we traveled to the second most beautiful place in Europe: Cinque Terre
I'd go back here in a heartbeat.

Sooo...remember how a little while ago I said that I hated Paris?
Yeah, that changed completely.
Kate and I had to go back to Paris to catch our flight back to the United States at the end of our trip. We arrived in Paris two days before we left, just so we could have a little bit more of a chance to sight see, check out some of the things that we didn't get to when we were there the first week and go and re-visit some of the things that we liked.
I fell head over heels in love with the city. It was amazing. Leading me to believe that studying abroad with a group of more than 10 people really sucks ass.
Kate and I spent an entire day walking around the area of the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre (note: we did not actually go inside the Louvre) and Notre Dame. We got some great photos in the process too.

The picture of me and the crazy mysterious clown man is my absolute most favoritest picture in the entire world.
We also went to the Musee d'Eroticisme! That's right ladies and gentlemen, The Museum of Eroticism. Hands down, greatest museum in the world -- greatest museum you will ever visit in your lifetime. I guarantee it. We also walked around Montmartre and just had a fun ol' time doing whatever the heck we wanted.

So all in all, the last two days of my month and a half abroad made up for all of the really bad experiences.
Now, don't get me wrong, I had a great time abroad and I have some really great memories from it, unfortunately, most of those memories are from when I was off on my own. This leads me to believe that it is much better that I go back on my own accord and do what I want instead of letting people dictate what I do.
I really want to go back to Europe, I really want to go back to Paris. There are a lot of other places that I want to see and there are a lot more things that I want to do.
I loved this area of the world.

Next up on Auna's List of Loves!
#10. Sailing