While Watching CSI...

Tying up loose ends in the final week before I leave! My mom and I just hit Costco and Target, I have an eye appointment later today at 4:30 (for contacts and eyeglasses), and my Visa appointment is early tomorrow morning at the Los Angeles French Consulate...Wild...! Hope to see you in LA.

New Lomo Camera

Hey ya'll, I just bought a new camera online! It's the Fuji Natura Classica, a Japanese model that captures natural light. Here's the microsite off lomography.com. Check out some pics from the gallery of photo taken with the Fuji Natura Classica:


I got the package deal that comes with the camera and 20 rolls of Agfa Vista 800 film. I'm super psyched to take it to Europe with me! Well, off I go now to run some necessary errands...Passport sized photos, vitamins, and other travel acessories...PS the Carson family (minus Dad) killed time at The Container Store while waiting for a family dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. The wait was OUT of control, and we found out that it was National Cheesecake Day...Of course. Anyway, we decided to suck it up and wait it out for 50% off all cheesecakes! Plus, while we strolled around The Container Store I found loads of neat little gidgets to buy. I always do.

Hopefully it'll ship soon. I expect I'll get it in a week or so; just in time for Paris!

Flight Update

So we finally booked my flight!

My mom found a ridiculous deal through Air Canada - only $737 roundtrip! That's about half of what it normally costs from the west coast to Paris and back!

I'm leaving August 17th at 11:45am from LAX, arrive in Toronto at 7:25pm, depart 9:00pm to arrive in Paris (CDG) at 10:05am on the morning of the 18th. The duration of the flight is 13hr20.

Turns out my brother and I won't be leaving two weeks before to travel Europe by ourselves anymore! What a shame. My dad decided that since my brother Justin isn't working this summer a Eurotrip is out of the question...Especially since Justin just went on a Hawaii trip with one of his best friends. Oh well! I'll get to go my own meanderings in Paris a few days before the Accent Program orientation.

Back in the Groove

So I'm back from Lake Arrowhead! Rocky and I made the drive back down to San Diego around 2pm on Tuesday afternoon. It was a lot faster driving back. The minute I got home I pulled out my laptop, put on a movie, and promptly passed out...I woke up again around midnight and thought Oh well looks like I'm charging through the night...And woke up around 7am the next morning. All in all, Lake Arrowhead was an amazing adventure that I wish only could have been longer. We hiked around the mountain, boated around the lake, went kayaking, went wake boarding, ate gourmet buffet food...got at least three shades darker...It was brilliant! I never used internet once, nor my cell phone. We had a bbq dinner out at the softball game; it really was a jam-packed thrifty vacation chock-full of activities.

I'm off to go run the Torrey Pines Reserve!

-B

Lake Arrowhead Day 1

I'm killing time at the gym until Rocky's ready to hit the road to Camp Lake Arrowhead! One of my best friends from high school, Heidi, has been working there as a counselor and fishing guide all summer. Yesterday was her 21st birthday so Rocky and I are headed for the hills!

This brings up a niggling question that has been dormant until just now: are there gyms in Paris? (Let alone France?) Kaitlyn eagerly pointed out to me that while a local gym membership may be as scarce as dental floss, the grandiose number of parks and general foliage provide for a prime running environment. I've never been much of a gym rat (always preferring the bite of the crisp outdoors than the crowded stench of judgment and machinery) so I'm really looking forward to breaking in my new pair of running shoes...Asics again, of course.

Looks like ill be giving them a spin though up in the "montagnes" eh? Early morning runs and blistering heat...woo! Here's to a mild weather forecast!

Over and out, -B
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Test Post

This is a test blog post from my iPod Touch...after this I swear I'll
quit playing around with it!

Sent from my iPod

Prepping for Paris

There are only a few more weeks until I jet off to Paris for a week of independent travel and then a immersion into the USC Paris Abroad program. I just recently purchased the iPod Touch; it was recommended to me by my friend Kaitlyn (who spent the last Spring semester in Paris) that I buy one to upload all the city and metro maps, along with numerous guides and helpful utilities. The purchase of the 16GB gadget of course started a 24-hr iTunes App Store frenzy, which entailed no contact with the outside world and my eyes shriveling to raisins from computer screen glare. Now that the dust has settled, I'm happy to play around with my yet another addition to my growing collection of i'll-just-die-if-i-ever-lose-it personal electronic supplements to my ever so important life. I sit here in my old bedroom (which my brother Justin promptly claimed, literally and figuratively-smells like socks) with a slight breeze blowing right by the window, on a perfectly perfect summer afternoon and I've already plowed through the last season of The OC and the Director's Cut of The Watchmen. The highlight of today was an impromptu appearance at the Solana Beach Library's French Club meeting, a charming potpourri of international Frenchies and Francophones that eagerly welcomed me and my dad into their bi-monthly 3-hour bonanza. So now I'm back to lamenting about my languor, where did the day go? At least I finally scheduled my appointment with the French Consulate in LA to apply for my student visa...Time to get my rear in gear and get a workout in, before I find another self-indulgent distraction to keep from summer productivity (oxymoron?)!

A Bientot!