Postcard from Hawaii!!

            

I particularly dedicate this postcard to all the people I met who asked me if I wasn't afraid of getting bored with staying 17 days in Hawaii. Well, if you really want to visit the archipelago, you'll actually need a lot more than that. 

Of course, if your goal is only to sleep on the beach, I guess your time there depends on how long it takes you to disconnect from the real world and on how many days straight you can lay on the beach doing nothing without loosing your mind. 

Red Sand Beach, Maui.

This Monk Seal I guess is my illustration for people sunbathing on Hawaiian beaches :)

We decided to widely visit the two islands of Maui and Big Island (Hawai'i), leaving Ni'lhau, Kaua'i, O'ahu, Lana'i and Moloka'i for an other trip. 17 days was just enough to explore them at a good pace, getting up with the sun (sometime around 7am) and stopping any visiting activity by sunset (shortly after 6pm) - as we were camping most of the time, this actually means stoping all activity at pitch black 8pm.

I don't think a post on the blog can describe how great this trip was, and I'm sure the picture (even the best ones) don't represent 1/10th of the awesomeness of that place. To summarize, spending time on Hawaii is the dream life: it has ocean, mountain, every kind of climate, gorgeous flora and delicious food... what else!? The scariest dangers being sharks, black widow spiders, (americans?) and erupting volcanos (non of the above I've actually encountered).

Pele, the Goddess of Fire, Lightning, Wind and Volcanoes.

Since we came back to Toronto (and oh we're lucky it was only Toronto, we couldn't even imagine how a shock it would be to transitione in only a few hours from quiet peaceful Maui to Paris..) we keep talking about all the amazing things we've seen and experienced and about living there. 

Just to be able to live there I think it's worth fighting for the Green card... unless Hawaii regain its independence soon... 

Swimming with Sea Turtles.

Anyway, I highly recommend a cure of Hawaii! I'm pretty sure it would treat anything: it has sun, fun, happy people, beaches, hot surfers, vitaminful fruits, iodeful fishes, ocean fresh air, a complete set of climates to satisfy every mood, a few over 10,000ft mountains to concentrate your blood with haemoglobin, a language mouthful of vowels, fun and colorful animals, wild orchids growing on the side of the roads! 

Strawberry papaya, which seeds have been removed and replaced with lilikoi (passion fruit) seeds and lime juice!

Rambutan. 

Starfruits.

But also friendly hippies who come with zen and aloha power: i.e. yoga, naturopathy healing, and fresh healthy organic food stores... 

And it is really a place where they call "Women" as "Wahine"!! (as a kid I love that word but I was sure it was either made up or just a baking powder brand, now it all makes sense!).

They also have great coffee (Kona Coffee), grown on the West side of Mauna Lea Volcano on a very fertile soil and constantly humid. FYI: this is a freshly harvested coffee cherry.

Colorful orchids. 

Star Stinkhorn Fungus and Great Smell Plumeria.

After a few nights sleeping in the tent on windy Maui, surrounded by hippies (that last point was not that unpleasant but just got perfect for the rime), we definitively packed up the tent and arranged the trunk to sleep in the car. Way better against the wind and a quick escape mode in case of a Tsunami alert. We noticed that every single campground (as usually on a Beach Park) was in a Tsunami Evacuation Area... which I wasn't really comfortable sleeping around.

 Ok, there's one thing about Hawaii that apparently my body doesn't quite appreciate: it's the mosquitos. I know they usually like my blood and they don't go easy on me, but this time... I thought Canadian mosquitos were the worse but I was wrong. Hawaiian mosquitos are vicious, they act solo and they are so discrete I didn't know I got bitten until a few minutes later when my body was not itchy but would literally hurt! I wore mosquito repellant (natural or chemical usually doesn't make a big difference in my case so for my own sake I use natural ones since I need to heavily cover myself with repellant) and I indeed was the only one bitten. (Greg didn't put not even a drop for the whole vacation and didn't get a single bite!?!?). But as much as the first bite of the day crually hurts, I felt that over their numbers (sometimes 6 in less than 10 minutes...) I would loose sensation in these areas. It's like alcohol, after 3 mosquito bites I loose all sense of humor or creatism (that's how this amazing bamboo forest is completely missing in my portefolio).

 One of the only - blurry - capture from the Bamboo forest in Kipahulu.

Moreover, I used this eco-friendly anti-itchy remedy which consists in teasing yourself with a mini-teaser Mousti-click... not pleasant and pretty ineffective on Hawaiian mosquito bites. After 5 mosquito bites I loose total control and over 10 I do not feel anything anymore; I'm all swollen, my body is totally high from its own load of anti-histaminics. I wonder how I could survive in such a country with malaria.

Greg in Haleakala crater (and yes, we were wearing winter clothes!).

Inside the main crater on Maui (Haleakala crater) there is almost no life, just a few exotic and almost extinct species. I feels like being on an other planet (at least as I could imagine it would be...).
After 7 days on Maui, a 10-seats plane shuttled us from Kahului to Kona (Big Island of Hawaii). That was relatively unstable but definitively and experience. No check-point, no security, just pilot, co-pilot and locals!

Sunset from Mauna Kea, Big Island of Hawaii.

Petroglyphs on Puu Oo.                              Torch Ginger.

Among the other things that we've seen: a macadamia orchard with 250,000 trees... all hand picked and a thermal pool of ocean water. We talked to a few locals that were partying on the campground, we've witnessed people trading a haircut over a pound of fruits :)) we have snorkeled in crystal clear water and we hiked endlessly on lava field to reach brand new flowing lava... 7 miles one way and we were still not able to poke the lava with a stick despite the advices of the rangers.

And for Christmas we've booked ourselves a tiny cabin (no commodity included) in Volcano National Park and we ended up spending the night in a huge house just for the two of us with heat and hot shower! They made a mistake during the check-in/check-out of two other people and they ended up overbooking our cabin. Lucky us/them one of their employee just moved out of his house but still had the keys. This guy was so fun, he wanted to make sure that we were gonna be comfortable in his house... but you know, after 2 weeks of camping..

Huge butterflies.

Enormous spider, very thoughtful, it draws a thicker line in the middle of its web for you not to get taken in :)

Gecko.

Whales.

And yes, we are in the U.S. Imagine this sign on the road: "Speed limit enforced by laser"... like they're gonna cut my car with laser if I go over the limit? And there is of course Hand sanitizer at the waterless washrooms of the most secluded campground of the island.

A big 'Aloha' to you all, see you in no time for new adventures!

And if you don't have enough with these pictures, take a trip to my Flickr set! Mahalo!

P.S: for those of you who follow my blog for the craft, here is an incredible work from an Hawaiian woman with polymer clay. She makes perfect fake orchids out of polymer clay. It's just stunning!

The Summer made me younger, but the Fall took it all.

I've been invited to participate in a photo challenge about Gourmandise. France is probably the best place to be gourmand (I've already explained that idea of gourmandise, which I would translate as state of non-restriction in front of yumminess and good food, in a previous post). To make sure I got the perfect picture, I went to a couple of bakery and catering places and picked up a few nice, tasty and delicate cakes (I didn't eat them all, but shared them with my host family). Anyway, here is the picture. And yes, it's photoshopped.

If you think this is a good one and is worth publication, please vote for it on this link, make your friends, family, neighbors vote for it too!
Speaking of publication, I was finally able to celebrate the publication of the paper from my PhD!! Direct link to its Pubmed page.

Besides being an infinite catalog for photo inspiration, I re-discovered the country I was born and raised in. I've lived in different countries, I loved living in Sweden or in Canada, but there's nowhere similar to France. As one of my friend said, for us (we are both born in France) everything here is so smooth, so easy, so natural. There are tones of things that are completely irrational, cities that are dirty, people that are crazier/stupider than anywhere else but we share a common culture, language, state of mind, humor: there is a connection that facilitates the communication. At the same time it's like I moved to an unknown country and also as if I moved back to my home country.
Because I focused on the bad side of France and french people lately, I will add that it was very unexpected for me... to like it so much! I fell in love here.

I fell in love with Bayonne and the Basque Country... It's so beautiful and I met very kind, interesting, diverse and motivating people.
That leads me to describe a little bit my 3 months experience in France. I came back because of the immigration system in Canada. It was supposed to be for 2 months, but I got a summer job for 3. I stayed! I was depressed to leave Canada and my life there. I almost didn't take my ticket back to Toronto!

In the past three months, the Olympic Games took me a lot of time! Let say sport in general took me a lot of time since I've been working in a French sport store (http://www.decathlon.fr/), and preparing (oh I'm still so behind my program!) my second half-marathon. I've had a very entertaining training: from running on the sand to hiking or doing splits up and down hills. But best, I've been doing long distance run on the Atlantic shore... and that is incomparable to any other run.

Most of all, I enjoyed working full time as a vendor in a sport store. I've never ever worked in sales before, I discovered how to manage stocks, how to expose products and how to deal with clients! Clients were the best part. Oh these clients; I saw all kinds: from tourists (French, Parisian, Dutch, Spanish...), to angry and stressed mom, but also happy runners, injured runners, over-seventy runners, old lady (often the nicest client of the day...), to 10 year old who want to be a great sprinter. I also got the angry-against-life teenager, the friendly winner of the local trail race but I missed the famous actor and famous football player... To sum it up, I'll say that it was pleasant to give advice, to give my opinion on running shoes, to help people run injure-free, and I'll be happy to do it again, maybe not all my life.. I miss science.

And I was delighted to talk to motivating people who were doing crazy challenges or huge trail in the Alps... they made me dream! they motivated me to try more things! they made my adventurous side come back to me! and I'm glad they did.

Even if that was a full time job, because the store is open 11 hours a day, I wasn't in there all day every day, and my schedule was perfectly adjusted so I could enjoy a week day off or half a day! I was able to visit my own country, I was able to go swim or in the ocean before work, I was able to party or spend time with my friends!

In a word, I had a good memorable time in France, surrounded with French people! And I would do it again!

The Summer made me younger, but the Fall took it all. That's how I feel now. I've been working and living with people who were younger than I am, who didn't know how old I was, most of them thought I was between 23 to 26 (which still had an impression of old to them... that's the disappointing part)!! Good to know! That was pleasant to talk and hang around with them, it actually made me feel and behave younger. I've been partying reasonably for a summer time (well, not that reasonably a few times but in average that was not that much). And despite 2 great sleepless nights, I found myself a bit older than I thought. But Summer is over, all the young ones went back to school and I am getting older again, looking and interviewing for a job, in a few days back to where I was 3 months ago.

Postcard from France

I was feeling nostalgic today and I wanted to just take my time and wander around alone (try not to escape from my nostalgy nor transmit it to others). I could have gone running and make it go away but I felt like this one needed time, and fortunately I had time, so much time I can even share it with you! Accompanied by a breeze of fresh marine air telling me "come to me, let you go", I walked for hours, camera in one hand, "pain au raisin" in the other, sad musik in my hears (mostly Tom McRae and the Pixies).

Why am I sharing this here you will say, first of all because I haven't posted in a long while and second because I realize something: it's only 2 months after I came back that I realize how much I missed France and what was exactly that I was missing. 

This morning I took great delight in the smell of toasted French bread, the smell of the bakery, the smell of the newspaper kiosk stand, the smell of the coffee place at the train station, the smell of bar and cigarettes, the smell of good cheese... And lately I also got to taste again true vermouth Martinis, mini tiny delicious espresso amazing cheap well cooked meat, and most of it all I got to experience THE OCEAN again. All of the feelings from being on the beaches of the Atlantic in the South of France: from the smell of warm pine trees you get a glimpse of the horizon and then the smell of the air. I thought this year the water was pretty warm and it was really not an issue to throw yourself in the waves (yes, because of waves - and they were kinda big last week - you can't just enter gradually, you literally have to throw yourself in it). Then in the middle of the ocean you get the smell, the touch, the taste and the anger of it! That's what I was missing the most in Toronto, and I got it all here!!

I also love visiting a city and getting lost in its streets. Well, in North America there's no such things as small streets in a star-shaped city. For some reason, Bayonne is just the perfect city for me to get lost in: I can't get my way properly in Bayonne, my internal GPS is completely off . Wherever I want to go implies to  get lost where I didn't expected to: I found it annoying at first, but today I was amazed how bad I could orientate myself in there and that gave me some excitement.

Last thing, before coming back I was saying how I hated french people, how arrogant they were, how judgmental, sad and annoying I found them... well, don't get me wrong I met those kinds of people here, but I also met a whole lot of very nice persons: open-minded, talkative, social, they like to party (especially here in Bayonne there's a huge one called Les Fêtes de Bayonne - I wanted to make it easy by sending you a link to Wikipedia but they don't point out the fact that the maire just gives out the city to the people for these 5 days...)
And most of all, they have some peculiar sense of humor!!! :)

I wasn't inspired for pictures, but here are some that could easily be post-cards pictures: espelette pepper, pepper again, xistera and the ocean.

On non-fiesta day, I wish I could wake up behind these louvers every morning.

I wish you all spent a nice summer.
xoxo

Speaking French in Canada

Let's talk about the confusion that I have about the francophone community in Canada.

First truth: when you think of Canada, you think of a bilingual country. Well, it is, there are people speaking French and there are people speaking English. And they all have learnt both in school. It just that there are historically anglophone cities and francophone cities, and practically, the ones living in an anglophone city, very rarely speak French or just don't speak at all (and vice-versa).

But there is the so called Official bilingualism in Canada that describes the policies, constitutional provisions, and laws that ensure the legal equality of English and French in political and juridic institutions of Canada, protect the linguistic rights of English and French-speaking minorities in different provinces, and ensure a level of government services in both languages across Canada.

I was terribly surprised to see that assuming that bilingualism, a lot of French-speaking people in an anglophone province would get mad if there is no waiter in a restaurant that can speak French. And they would speak French only or just leave for an other one.

I have to admit that before I came to Canada, I had in mind that a lot of people would be perfectly bilingual in every part of the country, but let's face it: how can you expect 34 million people to be fluent in both French and English, especially when a dozen million are immigrants and already speak a non-French, non-English language.

From the census in 2011, 98% of the population speak either English or French, 59.7% (57.8 speak English only) are native in English, and 23.2% are native in French (22.1 speak French only). 17.4% are considered bilingual English/French. Most of the canadian kids receive basic knowledge in French until high-school.

Just to make a point here, neither French nor English are actually native language in Canada, but the numerous aboriginal groups speak a lot of other dialects that are only considered with an official status in the Northern Territories. Most of these dialects have disappeared or will not survive in long term. English and French are spoken languages in Canada only since the 17th century. And I will just remind non-canadians that Canada is presently governed by the Queen of Great Britain, as part of the Commonwealth.

Most of the time Canada-wide firms have a name in English as well as in French, also for their advertisements. This means that I ear or read many French words everyday and most of the time I don't understand what they mean or I laugh so hard from the translation. There are also time when I get angry at the let's-translate-everything conspiracy.

Same on every edible product, everything needs yo be specified in both languages. And that's when it becomes strange and funny. Because there are different French languages spoken in Canada:

- French spoken by immigrants from France (they claim the right to frenchesize every word);
- Quebec French have their own dialect (old French);

- and Francophone outside Quebec (they are taught french French but speak something cruelly different from both French and Quebec French). 

There are pure French minorities in english-speaking regions as well as pure English-speaking communities in Quebec.

In France when you watch an american movie that has been translated in Quebecois French, you always get scared when they say names... they can't hide such a strong american accent that you couldn't hear until then. On the other hand, for the French-speaking community here it is unforgivable to see any English word that is not translated, may the translation be literal and mean something or not. Even better, French movie that made it over the Atlantic have for a title, the litteral French translation of their English title... one example: Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain in France, Amélie in North America. And best example of all: The Hangover in North America became Very Bad Trip in France and Le Lendemain de veille (litterally, the day after the eve) in Quebec. Good struggle when you're looking for a movie at your nearest video store!

But you also have the people from France living in an english-speaking city. What scares me all the time is when they try to speak street names... every rule falls off. For example, a francophone company would write its address in French... I always wonder how the english-speaking mail-delivery man manages to accurately route the mail.

When I first came to Toronto, I had to make orders on the phone... every company as a service in French... but this is Quebecois French... and while the waiting time to get the customer service on the phone was usually shorter, I eventually ended up spending more time than if I had gotten the service in english... just because our French v.s. Quebecois communication was scrambled. And both the customer person and I ended up getting upset because none of us would make an effort to translate in the other language that we would never thought we didn't speak.

I guess it's hard for them to find French speaking people for customer service, so last time I naively asked for Service in French, they got me someone in English accompanied with on a third line, a English/French translator who translated literally every single word I'd say. I kindly declined the service of the translator and managed it myself in English.

There is one point I am confused about, is the claim francophones from Quebec make: they want to protect their culture and their language. And by doing so, they try to keep as much French as possible, and as I have previously stated they go as far as literally translating every single english expression. Just to cite a few: week-end (fin de semaine), snowboard (planche à neige), e-mail (courriel). These ones are ok (correct), but sometimes there is already a word in French to say it, but they had to put the literal translation from English into their vocabulary... and this is where I loose my mind. There IS already a French word to say melon d'eau (watermelon), this is PASTEQUE! There is already a word to say batterie (battery), this is PILE! What is the point? To me this is not protecting their culture, this is creating a new one.

While writing this post I discovered so many more examples listed here: this Wikipedia webpage is a gem! 

Don't take me wrong, this post is not meant to be an offense, neither for French nor English speaking people in Canada, I just try to understand or make a pattern. And I will certainly not feed any pro- or anti-Quebec debate, neither will I speak for or against its pride and independence.
I will say that I love Canada, the mix of cultures, of languages! I am trying so hard to stay here, multilingualism is so stimulating!

And to close that post, I will just notify that to apply for the permanent residency (in Quebec as well as for the the rest of Canada - the Quebec procedure is actually different) I need to pass a test in French that attests of my abilities to speak and write in my own mother tongue... just saying... and hope this will be french French... not some kind of quebeco-francophone dialect!

A few updates.

First, and I can say I did it! I entirely fixed my bike! It's been almost 6months that I wasn't using it anymore (I briefly fixed the old one but it ended up breaking both breaks so I was only walking for a long while). Following advices from the internet and from friends, I changed both break pads, break wires, both inner tubes and the seat! It's all brand new and it's working!

Before 30 I learnt how and fixed my bike! I've asked my dad to teach me the same thing on cars for a long time, but it takes a lot longer and we never found the time to do it for now.

Second, I just wanted to update some of you about the ending of the French elections. François Hollande (left-hand party, socialist) has been elected president. He took is functions on the 15th of May. He has nominated a left-hand government, but they shouldn't settle too much as the legislative elections are in June, to elect the National Assembly.

Third, and to continue on the creative path I've been trying to follow since February, Greg and I were official photographers at a wedding on the 5th of May. It was tiring (from 8:30 am to 4pm), my fingers were sore from continuously carrying the camera, flash, tripod and lenses everywhere. We took 2,400 pictures in total and that was quite and experience! We are not entirely satisfied with the work we've done, as are the newly weds. A few moments were very brief and mostly in a dark room, but we got a bunch of really good shots. We learn by trying, so now we'll be better for the next one (by the way, do you know anyone for the next one?).

And this wedding allowed me to score one more "before 30 thing": take a limo. The newly weds have booked a limo for the bride to ride the few hundred meters from her hotel to the restaurant, and then to drive them home. Because they wanted us to take pictures of them in the limo, we jumped in there! So here we were, visiting Toronto on a busy sunny Saturday afternoon with a loving couple.

Speaking of work, the work permit I was planning in applying for Canada is "sold out" so even if I have already sent a couple of job applications, I need to figure out something. It won't even be my B plan, I think I'm already reaching the E or F one... I won't stay steady, I have a couple of ideas in mind.

I've also been back into training and practicing sport. A knee sleeve, a few stretches and muscle exercices from my physiotherapist apparently helped, since I was able to fully run a 10K. I was a bit disappointed as my Nike GPS is a few hundred meters off and gave me incredibly good results during the run, and I discovered on the finish line that I run the 10K in 52min (my goal was to be below 50min). I haven't trained much and my knee still hurt at Km 7, but I should have been able to run it faster.

Since my knee hasn't entirely recovered and that I understood I need to change my way of running, Greg and I bought these so uncommon Vibram FiveFingers "shoes". We wore them for hiking 3 days in a row this week-end, and they really feel great! You're like a mix between Frodo, Spiderman and Avatar!! I love walking barefoot at home, and these shoes allow me to go barefoot on any surface!

My new goal is to learn to run in these and be able to run the 6K in Paris in September (La Parisienne). I'm still looking for a girl friend to join me!! (sorry guys, this is a female-only run!).

And finally, I experienced for real a north-american sport. It's like this sport that you see in every movie (no, not american football) but that you don't understand the rules (I don't understand the rules of american football anyway), nor why this guy in particular is a national star, while it's a team game... Anyway, we tried baseball... well, not exactly, we played Softball. Explanation for the newbie: this is the baseball rules, on a baseball field, with a baseball bat and a big baseball glove, a bigger (still tough) ball and a few softer rules (since I'm not sure of the rules for neither of them, I encourage that we both google them).

So far I can hit the ball... once every 5 to 10 pitch, and I can catch the ball when it's on the floor... My friends signed me up for a beginner league!!

THE 12 inches glove with the huge, tough ball.

World Turtle Day on May 23rd.

The Torontoist was looking for writers for their daily column, after a lot of hesitation I decided to apply. They asked for a description of who I was and a writing on what could be one of their Urban Post.
I somehow ran into the Ontario Science Center schedule that advertised for their exhibition on World Turtle Day, on May 23rd. I figured that could be part of my write-scientific-articles-for-everyone project (that I haven't yet substantiate by the way). Until today I didn't know there was a World Turtle ay, and I don't have any special love for turtles; one of my friend have turtle phobia, while an other is a big fan of tortoise. Sure, they're cute, and of course it's crucial to care about our environment, but I would have made a similar post if I had known that there was a World Raccoon Day (just googled it and a few people seem to be talking about it... sigh!).

So here is my Urban Planner writing on World Turtle Day:

Urban Planner: May 23, 2012.

Happy World Turtle Day everyone!

I'm still amazed there's a noticeable Day for everything, from International Woman Day (every March 8th) to US National Garlic Day (on April 19th). Anyway, May 23 is THE day to talk about turtles, and for once, not eat them. It is a great occasion to come discover what these strange hard shell animals have in common with their close friends lizards and crocodiles. The Ontario Science Center is featuring an expo on these reptiles for that special occasion!

Turtles have long been hunted for their eggs and flesh (which remain delicacies in Asia). But, while we instinctively think of turtle as endangered species, a lot others are more invasive than endangered. Most sea turtles are critically endangered, because of over fishing and also because they are trapped in fishing nets or because they are destroyed by heavy engines cleaning our coasts, the land turtles are less endangered, especially that cute little Red-eared slider that you neighbor cherishes as a pet, that doesn't want to die and that he can't trow in the pond behind your house or this thing will grow crazy and jeopardize every single other aquatic species in the neighborhood. 

There are a dozen of endemic turtoise species in Canada: most of them are mud and pond turtles but a few of them are also sea turtles. It appears that the largest of all living sea turtle – Leatherback sea turtle – also wet on our shores, in Quebec, New-Foundland and Labrador some time of the year. They cross the Atlantic ocean in a few days to get food. Their face is a love or hate scenario but you should be thankful because their almost sole source of food are jellyfish. They clean the ocean so you can safely swim in during the summer! Problem is, they can mispicture a plastic bag for a jellyfish and die from plastic bag ingestion.

Eventhough it can grow up to 3 meters  for 800 kg, and live for a few decades, this is a Critically Endangered species. They can't breathe under water, but they can dive for about an hour. They have that reputation of being very slow on land, but in water they can swim at a cruise speed of 3 meters per second (which is the pace of an average runner). 

This big sea turtle nests a hundred eggs in the sand at night, and then leave right away. They orientate toward their nesting place with the moonlight and artificial light can compromise their clutch as they will nest on land and not on the beach. The eggs hatch a few 16 to 17 days later, giving a 3 inches big turtle barely able to make it down the beach to the ocean. The temperature in which the egg has developed determines whether the egg becomes a male or female turtle. Until they are a few months they remain an easy prey and only 15% of the clutch makes it to adult.

On May 23, at the Ontario Science Center, you will learn all about Ontario's turtles and where to see the endemic species. You will participate in saving endangered turtles lives through being taught everything about their disappearing habitats around the world and discover how you can help protect them. Awareness is the first step for a sustainable world.

And while you're at the Ontario Science Center check this out: you've always wanted to be part of a scientific project? make science discovery happen? get research go faster? Take this opportunity while you're at the Ontario Science Center in participating in the Research Live project!

Which post I would probably have accompanied with a picture like this one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/westbound/3888089606/

April Fimo projects.

I spent the last two weeks doing paperwork, arranging for the wedding photography work and doing fimo! Thank you Natasha for that great entire day playing with fimo and thank you Julie for introducing and teaching me the technics.

This time it will be a post with more pictures than text. All about polymer clay projects. 

First of all, big beads, made around aluminium foil. This was my first attempt in making beads with aluminium balls and with the cat wanting to play with them that didn't help in making them perfectly round. 

I also wanted to diversify in my macaroons collection, so this time they are smaller and 2 or 3 attached together. Since I don't wear earrings, I have no idea if they are heavy or not. Anyone wants to try they on?

Plus, a couple of tries with different technics, using sugar, aluminium foil and also eye shadow and stamp. 

My plan was to make flowers with polymer clay, and I'm quite happy with my rose. I will have to make it in different color gradients and make other shapes.

I said I would not do any figurine, but I ended up making these octopuses using different technics. I really like how they look like but they are so fragile.

The octopuses were a present for my boyfriend, who liked them so much he told me he wanted to try and make some more. So we ended up spending an entire Sunday afternoon making these 6 animals for the newborn of two friends of us. They were then put together as a mobile sculpture to hang in the baby's room. 

I'm happy with what I have produced so far with fimo, but I'd like you to tell me what you really think of it, which item you like and which ones you don't; which you would probably wear or expose at home, and which ones you won't. That will help me a lot! Thanks in advance.