franglais

it's been two weeks since i've returned to the côte d'azur. i've only started to concentrate on what's going on out here after having l.a. withdrawal, and a couple of hangovers.

the fam celebrating mom and dad's birthdays during our mexi-cali champagne brunch at el torito's, originally uploaded by mjane.

my cousin zach celebrating his grad from jr. high, my dad & uncle edgar celebrating their birthdays at the mendozas' villa, originally uploaded by mjane.

coco and my nephew arthur, gorgeous like his mama, originally uploaded by mjane.

my sister's porch in ventura... so cali, *sigh*, originally uploaded by mjane.

mark doing his thing in the office at lakai, originally uploaded by mjane.

lonely bike on the way out of pete's cafe with mills, deesteez, and mia (only we could pull off bluecheese fries, bread pudding, soco and soda, a shot of jack, a shot of tequila, and coffee in one sitting), originally uploaded by mjane.

quirina, peace princess warrior, originally uploaded by mjane.

this one's for mackenzie: terried sake house. it's there waiting for us to indulge in tuna sashimi, tofu steak, teba, ton katsu, butter asparagus, and lots of sake one day!, originally uploaded by mjane.

my first and last american breakfast (country-fried steak with gravy, hash browns, and eggs over-medium) of the trip which i had with mom and dad hours before i got on my plane back to nice, originally uploaded by mjane.

as soon as i got back to nice, mackenzie picked me up from the airport and when we got to the car chris lipomi was sleeping in the front seat... quel surprise! so he was in town until the weekend, and i got back just in time for the france/togo match. they won of course, and needless to say, after beating the brazilians the town is pretty damn excited... allez les bleus!

after chris took off to carrera, italy, and my nursing a couple of hangovers, it was high time to get mackenzie and me a place to live in barca. after one email from oliver referring us to the website he used to find his flat out there, we found our cute little studio not even an hour after! thanks oliver darling! we're moving in on august 1st. how exciting. until then, my lucky ass gets to enjoy this hot july in our spot at atoll beach for three more weeks. enjoy it miss mjane cuz the whip's gonna be cracking come august. and en español... ayayay!

mack and julz and our fave pub, manolans, cheering on the french. by the way, have you seen the french team? they are hot., originally uploaded by mjane.

lipomi and mack, drinks later at ghost, originally uploaded by mjane.

flo won the best trick contest at the 4 wheels skate event in antibes, originally uploaded by mjane.

mack and a miró during the le noir est une couleur opening at fondation maeght, originally uploaded by mjane.

the floor in fondation maeght, originally uploaded by mjane.

french flag chillin in traffic after the france/brazil match, originally uploaded by mjane.

the weekend

i haven't actually had a "weekend" in a long time. before this past one, my weekends landed on sundays and mondays and consisted of sleeping and sunbathing. i almost couldn't handle anything more than a nice dinner or just drinks at the irish pub as working at the shop was like full-time socializing and hosting.

anyway, this past weekend was packed with social events from my parents' birthdays to my cousin's graduation to checking out some events in this great city.

friday night. my bro and i at soundlessons at star shoes. this man right here finished 2nd in his team for his first triathalon.

d steez is moving to nashville in july... huh??!!

saturday afternoon. my ate's new ride. on the way to tita carol's pad in the scv, what.

sunday eve. chilling at mia's pad.

later that eve in downtown. am feeling this spot right here introduced to me by mia and mills. this place is telling me, "wedding reception." hmmm...

same spot. poolside. mills snapping photos.



ms. mia keeping our glasses full.

and there's a jacuzzi. mackenzie would love this spot.

view from poolside. seriously, this place is calling my name.

later, later on that eve at little temple.

mills saw this sign on the way home, "the sign is handmade," a rarity these days.

in between all of these special moments, don't forget world cup! even after some long nights, i still have my t.v. set to turn on automatically at 8:30am on univision to check out at least one game per day. thank goodness for gatorade to keep those hangovers away. i wonder if they sell gatorade in barcelona...

speaking of gatorade, talk about wonderful. a bottle of champagne, a huge shot of tequila, and 4 hours of sleep didn't stop me from having a great monday with little q, her little ponies and the playground.

and speaking of great products, boost mobile is the real deal. for someone like me, pre-paid cell phones are your best friend. and in this case, not only are boost mobile's pay-as-you-go rates the best, you have the option to get unlimited daily web access for only 20 cents per day. i'm saying, you can check your email, get directions, chat, upload photos, update your blog, etc. from your phone any time, any where (did i mention that they're powered by nextel?). where you at, for real.

week in photos

although i had planned to have an easy schedule since my last day at work (a.k.a going to the beach every day), it's turned out to be pretty damn exciting. some photos. note: am working off a pc right now. they are of the past and should be left there. everyone should have a mac.


my sweetheart. mackenzie and i went to texas city last thursday before checking out ms. coppola's latest, marie antoinette. probably the worst excuse for a feature film she's ever done.


i saw this quick burger ad at the bus stop last friday. from the looks of it this burger is more dark and evil than anything sunny.


sunday afternoon. the rumbling of exhaust pipes woke me up as mack and i were napping, and when i went out to the terrace to see whose car was the source of this noise, it turned out to be not just one car. apparently a rally car race was to come, and the city held an event for all the racers this day.


wednesday afternoon at studio city dental group. that's my mom doing her magic on my pearly whites. she's worked on abc 7 news anchorwoman laura diaz's and tom hanks' teeth.


wednesday night driving with mia. the fabiolus cafe on melrose. flo and mackenzie used to throw parties here. those were the days.


mia took me to lola's where we met up with evan and darryll. lola's bathroom.


evan on fairfax.


mia and i on fairfax. overdid the eating bit at lola's. held my tummy for the whole ride home, "my tummy hurts."

which brings me to today. it's the first day i've woken up after 9am since i've been home. but i think that's mostly due to having this huge upset tummy. i think i need to chill out on being so excited to eat all the food i've missed since mack and i moved.

me n you

the eisenhours at the heineken experience in amsterdam (photo: jm.miyoshi), originally uploaded by mjane.

did you know mackenzie and i got married on november 10, 2004? just less than 2 months after we flew away from our chillin spot at 1306 armacost to France. our wedding day was a tuesday. we got hitched in st. paul de vence by the town mayor, 4 being the total of guests who were able to be there.

a week after - traditionally the time when the happy couple goes off on their honeymoon - mack and i moved to paris straight up. we hadn't even found an apartment to live in in paris yet. this is for real. we moved with a small suitcase and backpack each, and we stayed at the peace and love hostel in the 11th arrondisement while apartment hunting. the room was so small that a room for 2 consisted of bunkbeds and a shower. mack got the lower bunk. the newlyweds didn't even get to sleep together! but at least we got a view of the canal st. martin. luckily we got to check out of the hostel only after 2 nights as mack hooked up an apartment he found through a friend.

our new place was 10 meters squared. if you don't have a picture of how small that is, our bed was also the sofa. while sitting on the toilet, you could reach the kitchen and stir what's cooking on the stove. and this is the best: you can't close the door to the toilet "room" (if i can even call it a room) because the room is only big enough for the toilet, not for someone actually using it. to be blunt, mack and i were forced to do our shit on the toilet in front of each other.

that was our first few months of marriage.

when we moved back to the south of France, we stayed in mack's old bedroom at chez eisenhours. that went on for 6 months before mack seriously hooked up our current spot in st. laurent du var. right on the beach. and a 5-minute walk to Galeries Lafayette and the mall. does my man know and love me or what?

now, after having this spot for almost a year, we're moving again... à la belle ville de barcelona. i'm not even going to speculate what we'll find as a proper apartment for a married duo like us over there. j'en pense pas. as long as i'm doing this with mackenzie right here next to me, it's all good. this guy has got my back for real.

good times

this is my last week of work at hot rod. looking back, i'm happy with the experience. met a lot of people, got the opportunity to work with a lot of good brands, and made some loot. the best thing i'd have to say about my job was working with the guys from 4 wheels. they've had my back since day 1 at this job, and i've learned so much about the biz from the homies next door. if you ever find yourself in nice, a visit to 4 wheels skateshop at place garibaldi is a must. besides being the spot to kick it, you want to be friends with these down-to-earth, ultra-cool dudes. they are where the party's at.

4 wheels 8-year anniversary shindig in april, originally uploaded by mjane.

greg providing the ambience for the anniversary party, originally uploaded by mjane.

romi, toto, joe, & mack checking the footy, originally uploaded by mjane.

bumper to bumper

even though i could give two shits about being stuck in traffic in l.a., it can be quite unnerving while experiencing some in the little town of nice. first of all, traffic here is usually exceptional. granted, there is some new traffic due to the tramway construction, but nothing "l.a." enough where you're literally sitting in the same spot on the road for more than 5 minutes. then there's the exceptional traffic - one could usually expect to find traffic on a tuesday after a long weekend, during the cannes film festival, or during the week of carnaval right before lent starts.

in this case, nicolas sarkozy, the interior minister of france, was in town holding a conference for all the regional interior ministers of france. heavy duty. they closed off the major road from the airport to nice centre ville. that causes a bit of a problem for little impatient me at 7pm as all i want to do is get out of nice. so with no buses running and mackenzie stuck in traffic somewhere on the promenade, i had no choice but to walk a little bit in order to meet mackenzie halfway. a lovely sidenote: while clinking champagne glasses on 5-star-hotel rooftop terraces overlooking the mediterranean, sarkozy and the other interior ministers were scheduled to discuss terrorism and immigration. meanwhile he had cops on standby everywhere to ensure his security.

cop cars holding shit up, originally uploaded by mjane.

chillin cops, originally uploaded by mjane.

the walk to meet mackenzie (okay, i shouldn't even be complaining about traffic if this is the detour), originally uploaded by mjane.

the experience

every wednesday night at the source is the blues co. jam session. it's like open mic/amp for the blues. bastien was planning on playing, so we headed over there to see just how buttery his fingers are on the guitar. his being the same guitar that jimmy page had, mind you.

no sweat. he went on stage, murmured something to the rest of the band, and the next thing i heard was the intro to bold as love. fitting as he was sporting a jimi hendrix tshirt. did i mention that he sang it, too? that, and some behind-the-back guitar playing.

sylvan & bastien, originally uploaded by mjane.

the sesh, originally uploaded by mjane.

bastien on the mic, originally uploaded by mjane.

the party, originally uploaded by mjane.

toto, lydia, romi and tudor (trying out bastien's blazer and fedora), originally uploaded by mjane.

tudor nice pants & sylvan, originally uploaded by mjane.

toto, mack and bastien's ring (blues on ice), originally uploaded by mjane.

spring cleaning

my inner mjane is telling me that it's coming close to that time to move on to the next big project. maybe not as gigantic as moving to france - assimilating, working, tolerating, frenching and all that other shit. but who knows, i might surprise myself and my dream of having the same physical stamina as i did when i was 16 will come true. actually, it wouldn't be that surprising.

in any case, aside from the occassional "eh" and "umm" i insert in my sentences while speaking french, i've triumphed over all the challenges i had set for myself when i landed in france, hungover and sedated (effect of feeling trauma, shock, sadness and euro-vacation-like excitement all at the same time) in '04. so it's time for a new set of challenges that i want nothing more than to conquer.

one recurring question comes to mind in regards to new goals and new projects: what do i want to do now? it could be anything, really. it's just a matter of which one of these anythings will turn into that something just for me.

. . .

bastien is in town this week. the first day he came by 4wheels he showed up wearing a fedora, a flip t-shirt under a pinstriped blazer, his signature jeans, and signature shoes with a fender guitar strapped to his back. all the kids are starstruck. yesterday, one kid looked like he was going to suffocate if he didn't get to shake bastien's hand. no worries, he did.

. . .

not to sound like a blog or anything, but i am seriously feeling the vibe and style behind married to the mob. so refreshing. seriously. read this. and this.

spring

this kitty has blue eyes, originally uploaded by mjane.

the town's been warming up since easter. there are more tourists around, too. i can always tell who's a tourist because they dress more in harmony with what the city has to offer, i.e. sun and beach. thus, they wear brighter colors, less clothing, and casual footwear. unlike the locals who tend to stick with darker hues, coats, scarves, and dress shoes. it's rare to see women in fur coats and way-too-pointy-toed high-heeled shoes along any beach, but they roll deep down here.

lunch break, originally uploaded by mjane.

comedy

photo by ms. mia on hollywood alongside bacon-wrapped hotdogs. one ridiculously funny night., originally uploaded by mjane.

i love laughing. i'm feening for a good laugh today. it hasn't really happened yet. usually i can depend on flo to make me laugh, but since his internship ended last week, it's been kind of dead.

yesterday was super funny. i had barely been at work for half an hour when romi jumps on some random kid walking by after the kid asked romi if he had a staring problem. seconds later, toto is trying to break the two up, a chair is picked up but taken away by an adult before it was thrown, yelling in french ensues... more yelling... walk away, come back, separate the two, walk away, come back, separate the two, and it was over.

of course i didn't laugh when it happened - romi is 16, works at the skateshop and is pretty much their adopted son - but it was funny. i was laughing to myself the whole day.

maybe that story wasn't a very good example of funny. obviously violence isn't funny to me. but considering that they were two little high school punks, it reminded me of when i was a kid in santa clarita and the valley. lots of shit-talking... and sometimes stupid shit-talking confrontations that were pointless... except that they were hella funny and pointless.

back to (non)life

our heini experience, originally uploaded by mjane.

after a relaxing week hiding out in amsterdam, i'm back in nice. the one great thing about having nice as homebase is that the weather is always warmer down here. i got to sunbathe for a couple of hours before we got on the plane to holland and the same again the morning we returned to the south. not bad.

and work is going a lot better for me. although it's still ghetto, i'm happy with that. basically, when i got back to town i decided to see what it feels like to stop using my brain. granted, it's not something that i want to get used to, but while i'm here "not thinking" works. you now what i'm saying? hey jane, i need you to take the prices down on our best-selling spring lines because i like losing money. sure, no problem. take this successful collection off the floor because i'm pissed at the designer. sure, no problem.

i've never hustled anything this way before, but how could i possibly contribute my juices and flow to an environment that prefers the mindless cycle of small-town drama to progress? whatevs, for a grand a month, i don't mind. and i'd like to reiterate, temporary.