On TV!

Hello fellow blog people, so you know how sometimes you can just be in the right place at the right time?  Well, Daphné and I experienced this last week.  We went to this cool new café that caters to parents and kids.  Wednesday mornings is puppet show morning, so we went for the first time.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by the Channel 3 news team to ask us a few questions.  The report aired that night on the local evening news.

For those of you who don't speak French, my French is absolutely perfect in the interview!  (Ha!)  For those of you who do speak French, I'm trying so hard.  Your language is difficult to pronounce (but beautiful nonetheless, so I apologize when I butcher it).

Enjoy!

We were there early, so Daphné got to play a bit.

She knows this place well.  I'm so thankful to have a spot like this.  If only there were more in Nice!

And when you're done watching the video, you can check out the café's website: 

Café-Poussette // Maman les P'tits Bateaux

Love Linz

Christmas in a box !

Thank you Daddy, Momma, Tanner and Sarah !!!

We can't wait to open them all up =)

 Love from Agoura Hills

 French nutcracker from Tan and Sarah - Tonio and I had a good laugh.

I think most of the stereotypes have been covered - haha !

Once we get our tree, these will nestle nicely underneath.

YAY for family, for love, for Christmas, for gifts, for Jesus' birth !!!

Love Linz

10 days to California

Since I'm so excited about visiting my family, 

I thought I'd do a little 10-day France facts countdown...

10 was yesterday, and 9 is today, so we'll just go ahead and combine them.

Enjoy !!!

10...

did you know that French telephone numbers have 10 digits?

they all start with "0"  for example: 01 23 45 67 89

Plus(+): good practice with saying French numbers

Minus(-): very difficult to memorize by heart

We are in the "04" land-line-hood !

9...

 the number 9 (neuf), pronounced 'nuhf' also means NEW in French

Quoi de neuf? is a popular familiar expression asking 

"What's new?" or "What's up?"

stumbled across this interesting BLOG featuring 

an artistic project of DJs who mix 9 discs and record it

the Southern California breeze is just around the corner !

Love

Linz

my friend Carole

vous avez rencontré Carole il y a 2 ans en janvier 2011...

you met Carole 2 years ago in Januray 2011...

Vous souvenez-vous? // Remember?

Maintenant, on parle français ensemble.  Merci Seigneur pour mes ami(e)s !!!

Now, we speak French together.  Thank you Lord for my friends !!!

--Love Linz

ZEE frchrench

Still at it !

Learning a language is NOT easy,

BUT

it IS rewarding !

Fluenz French is one way I learn,

and this vocab/picture section is of course my favorite !

Which one do you think is the correct choice?

{answer below} 

How else do I learn?

• Going to the Alliance Française for 3 months of INTENSE language study when I first arrived in France.
• Speaking it.
• Writing emails, letters and yes even text messages in French.
• Reading French newspapers and books (kids books right now).
• Listening via the TV (favorite - Disney Channel dubbed in French).
• Speaking it some more.
• Thinking in it.
• Making errors.
• Having French friends.
• Having a fluent French man as a husband - hehe !

{answer: if you picked the lower left, bravo !}

--Love Linz

petit à petit

Summer Goal Progress!

the French have an expression:

"Petit à petit l'oiseau fait son nid,"

which means:

"Little by little the bird makes his nest."

It's kind of like our "Slowly but surely."

Do you all remember ::this post:: from June?

Well, on July 6th, I'm proud to say that I finished the 343 pages of 

"Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong."

I learned so much about my new country, about its past, its present, 

and even quite a bit about my husband...hehe.

Today I completed level 3 {finally} of my Fluenz French computer program.

 My goal is to complete level 4 by the end of August.

And yesterday, I started "The Call of the Wild."

I'm already in love with Buck.

What's on your summer reading list?

--Love Linz

creative spelling

don't feel bad,

even the French have a hard time with our last name

P e t u g n i a n i  means  P e t r i g n a n i

and

R é g l é  means  P a i d

This is a bag of buttons I ordered from a fabric store.

Finding joy (and silent giggles) in things like this

makes life a whole lot more fun.

What made you giggle today?

--Linz

ps - To give the sweet girl credit who wrote this note,

Petrignani is difficult.  And it's origin is not French; it's Italian.

So her little "iani" spin made perfect sense in that regard =).

summer goals

I've been inspired by friends and other bloggers 

to set some reading goals.

Reading does not come super easy for me,

so I choose to persevere !

Hoping to give you a little overview upon each completion.

If you'd like to read a snippet about each:

• Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong.

• Fluenz French computer program, hoping to finish level 3 and 4, maybe 5.

• Jack London Compilation.

• Le Petit Nicolas.

• The Weight of Glory.

Already almost done with level 3 in Fluenz.

Well into chapter 2 of Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong.

--Bisous (kisses), as we say in France,

Linz

God does listen

So, I had one of those "Wow!" moments the other night.

I've asked for prayer, perhaps from you specifically, 

that God would help me learn French.

In the middle of taking notes at our Tuesday night study, 

while my gifted husband taught Revelation 3,

it dawned on me...

...I'm writing in French !!!

I'm listening to French !!!

I'm understanding French !!!

I can speak French !!!

Thank You Jesus for hearing our requests and answering.

You deserve all the glory.

--Love Lindsey

j'y suis!

at church today, i was talking with sebastien, tonio's brother and a few girl friends - they were looking at pictures that seb had taken...i saw them a few minutes earlier

one of the girls handed me the pictures to look at, and i wanted to say "i already saw them" in french, so i scrolled through the canyons of my french brain compartment, and said,

"j'ai déjà vu"

then a lightbulb went on...that's where the term deja-vu comes from!
voilà...a peek into my actively learning brain.

[and the title of this post "j'y suis" is a way to say "i got it!" literally, "i am there!"]

i included these pictures of me and tonio as kids because....hmmm....i prefer text with pictures, and they are just cute...tonio is wearing a mischievous face and i look like a nerd - perfect!

--L