Odds 'n Ends

Been a little quiet on the blog lately, so I figured I would let you in on a few odds 'n ends that have been going on these past few weeks. We've had lots of fun but not really took the time to document it so here goes...

{Sunset over Juan les Pins}

-A head cold/sickness has been going around. All of us wives got it at the same time but it has lingered for weeks. After a self-diagnosis of walking pneumonia, I spoke with the team doctor about my dizziness, weakness, coughing, difficulty breathing and overall crappy feeling to which he replied, 'that seems normal around this time'. Note to self...get a new doctor. (FYI, feeling better finally after 3 weeks.)

-Shaun's team is 5-0. Yep, 5-0... 2 more wins than he had all of last season. After their 4th win, Coach Weisz and Shaun had a giggle about that since they were together last year with that other club 'that shall not be named'.  (Well, actually they will most likely be named in the multiple lawsuits they are going to face, or so we hear.) On a side note, Coach Weisz left practice with silver hair and the next day it was a nicely uniformed dark brown...hmmmmm. Being the person I am, I asked him if he did something because something seemed different about him, he said 'nope'. Stick with it my man, stick with it.

{Photos by Romain Robini}

{You be the judge on the hair. Photo by Romain Ribini}

-On a late night out with the team, it was revealed what was said before the games in the team huddle. Apparently, Leslie (one of Shaun's teammates aptly nicknamed 'crazy') yells stuff, and by stuff, I mean anything. Words, sounds, noises, numbers etc....While I am sure it is funny when it actually happens, the re-enactment was 'piss your pants 'hilarious.

{A whole lot of gibberish going on. Yep, Romain Robini again}

-The '3 goggles' that bball players do when they hit a 3 pointer has been resurrected here since Shaun pulled it out on the road a few weeks ago. The only problem is that the players are not keeping their promises to do it after hitting a 3 ( I am talking to you Trevor) so us wives have to pick up the slack and do it from the stands...and sometimes from even further... like California.

-It has cooled off a bit here. Still warm enough to be at the beach during the day but now a light jacket is needed at night. So because of that, we asked the team to help us with our heater since neither I nor Shaun could figure it out. Fast forward a week (that is fast in French times) and the team sends a 'guy' over to help us. Now this 'guy' is the jack of all trades 'guy' for the team. He does the laundry, drives the players around when needed, is the towel/water guy during the game and apparently, a handy man to boot, or not. After 10 minutes of huffing, puffing and pushing buttons he left us with no heat and no hot water mumbling something that there was a problem with the water heater. To me, the only problem may have been the multiple valve twisting and button pushing he did since we had no issues with the water before he left. However, seeing their erroneous ways, the team sent someone ( a professional) over asap that informed me that the water valve and gas had been shut off in our 'guys' attempt to help us.

-We have been religious with our salsa lessons and have improved, majorly. Each lesson, we become more and more comfortable and I am happy to say I am no longer threatened to be in the front of the class. Shaun, on the other hand, is happy to stay in the back ever since the 'clap heard around the world'. (Before and after each class we warm up/cool down with some dancing steps and a few timely claps. Well, Shaun must have been a little off because his clap came a good second after the entire class and it was the loudest clap known to man. Not kidding, it was so loud it startled everyone. Since then, it has become a running joke....and Shaun has hovered around the back).

-On the last road trip, I dog-sitted for a teammate. Bear is a Jack Russell (questionable.... since he is pretty large) but unbelievably well behaved and a breeze to watch. We took long walks on the beach, enjoyed the sunset and overall, just hung out. Kind of what I do with Shaun come to think of it.

{Ahhhh...to be a dog}

-There has been a fight going on in my head with the desire to do fall-y things, eat comfort foods and embrace the start of the holidays with the fact that it is still summer weather here. I have taken my apple bread recipe out of the box the last 2 trips to the grocery store only to nix the idea and wait until next time. I've compromised by making lots of cookies and finally using up those baguette ends by making breadcrumbs in anticipation for frying things. But I'm telling you, I am pulling out the pumpkin recipes around Halloween whether it's hot or not!!

{We will have breadcrumbs for months!!!}

-I've started to get back into running. I am all over the map with it though.  I will run 4/5 miles a day for 8 days straight then not run for a few weeks after that. I am sure it humors Shaun. What was not humorous was the fall I took a few weeks ago running on the boardwalk all by myself. I ended up with a skinned elbow, cracked Iphone and a severely bruised ego. Since then, I have made sure not to run too close to the street for fear of another graceful fall followed by being run over. It seems like it is only going to get better since my mom has informed me that she has fallen un-provoked a few times these last few weeks. And I am not talking the type of fall that just happens. I am talking about those violent falls that make onlookers cringe, then laugh.

-We saw this guy at the beach. No explanation needed. He clearly hasn't heard....crack kills.