Au Revoir Victoria!

November 7th
Today this project of mine is due.
It is sad I know and I am sure you will all miss my very brief time here on blogger covering the french related happenings of my life.
(If you think a world without me is intolerable you can always follow my regular all the time blog here)
So I debated how to properly say good bye and it was determined that a french themed fair well picnic would only be right...unfortunately the other ladies in my class are too busy with exams so this will be a picnic of one...
Too make it truly french we were going to style it after the Beret Baguette video we watched for homework one day...only it's really cold outside so we were going to do it in my friends living room. Remember party for one here and I live in a low ceilinged basement sweet with few windows. I try my best!
First I must dress as a french hipster from the early 1900s, careful to throw in some stereotypes. I've got my mime stripes, beret and scarf. (Side note: the beret and scarf are actually from Normandy so there's some true authenticity in this blog post!)

Then I open the wine...only I don't usually drink wine because I really don't like it. Luckily, instead of going out and buying a bottle I would never drink, my friend Julie who I mentioned earlier brought me back a juice box of wine from Italy this summer. A genius idea really to have wine juice boxes in a nation of wine drinkers...though I suppose I lose authenticity points for it being Italian wine...I try my best.

Also since I do not drink wine I have no wine classes...only margarita glasses from Mexico. Oh well, the wine will still taste like wine.

Now that we have our wine! 

We are in need of some super classy, Frenchish, finger food! I know usually their appetizers would be much classier with a lot of attention to detail and care in each morcel...but I am a poor student on a budget. So we've got Grapes, sesame crackers, baked garlic and baked brie!

Delicious!

So there you have it! My final post to my french project blog. I hope you've enjoyed your time reading, perhaps I've inspired you to begin your own blog and the random occurrences of your life! Who knows where we will go from here but if we never meet again,

Joyeux Noël! And good luck with all your life adventures!

Cecilly <3 

Black Friday Bra Extravaganza at LaSenza

November 23rd
What an eventful morning this has been!
Today was Black Friday, possibly the most deadliest day of the year in America and who's bad consumer habits are slowly trickling up here into Canada. 3 years ago there never would have been a Black Friday sale in Canada, well maybe in Ontario but not in B.C. But as I was walking through the mall the other day I walked by La Senza...
I couldn't remember the last time I had bought a bra! And the wire in one my favorite bras had just broke the other day! So I walked into the store and it is so beautiful in there. The women that work there are like Barbies(Tall, perfect hair, permanent smile painted on their faces) certainly the type of woman every girl should aspire to be!

So this girl is talking to me about bras and the right one for my body and she tells me that I shouldn't buy anything today. I should really come back for the Black Friday sale, doors open at 8 and mad sales! Well OF COURSE I'm going to go!
So this morning I work up at 7 and bussed myself down to the Bay Center. And along with about 10 other middle aged ladies and a few of my friends we raided the store!
You can never have enough underwear and don't let anyone tell you different.
But here's some fun facts:
Did you know the La Senza is a Canadian Company?
Did you know they're based out of Quebec?
I didn't. But I think that's understandable, it could be French but the name sounds very much Italian.
But think of something else now. Where do you buy your bras? If your my mother the Bay, Sears or Zellers. But if you wanted to buy a sexy bra! Lingerie! Lace! Too make it just that more special where are you going to go? Well it probably depends on your age range but you might go to La Senza, or you might go to La Vie en Rose...which is basically the La Senza equivalent focused towards more mature women also based out of Montreal....

Do you see a pattern here?
Both have french names, both are based out of Montreal...There is a French monopoly on our undergarments here in Canada.
Am I complaining? No, they're certainly doing it right but what does that say about us as people. No one wants to be caught buying bras in the Bay, it's embarrassing, the Bay is not a sexy place. What is it about French exoticism that hooks us into their lingerie marketing world?
Does every girl have a secret dream of living out a harlequin romance novel with a well muscled man named Francois or Jacques or Antoine and the only way to attract one will be to wear stylish bras? Maybe like Rose in the Titanic we want to be painted like one of Jack's french girls who show no shame at being painted in the nude? I honestly don't know but the people in Quebec clearly do because they're doing it right and making a profit.
And I'm not even sorry for buying into it!