The basket that we made...?

Coucou, tout le monde! C'est Aurélie et Sabine! Aujourd'hui, nous voulons vous montrer le panier que nous avons fait pour une fille qui s'appelle Molly. 

Here we are with the basket and things we need to put it together. Here is the list of things we included:
-the basket
-a lollipop
-the Maurader's Map
-a necklace with a Pokeball charm
-an origami turtle
-a t-shirt with the Mockingjay pin
-two pins (Harry Potter and Hunger Games-related)
-pretty tissue paper in spring-appropriate colors
-green ribbon
-a card with our names

I decided to put some tissue paper in the bottom of the basket to make it more colorful:

Here we are with the completed basket!

Here's a close-up of what we included:

I wrapped it up in tissue paper and tied it off with the ribbon:

Here we are with the basket in its completed-and-ready-to-be-mailed stage! 

We received word that Molly did, in fact, get the basket we sent her, and she was very happy with it! De rien, Molly! We had fun shopping for things and just putting the basket together. We definitely want to participate in the swap again next year. 

Bisous,
Aurélie et Sabine

The Arrival of My AGPT Spring Basket

Coucou! C'est Aurélie!
This year, I participated in the AGPT Spring Basket Exchange, and my basket arrived today. I was pleasantly surprised to see a box for me when I got home from school.

I knew what it was immediately, so I tore off the paper and opened the box...

...and removed all the tissue to reveal the most adorable, brightly colored basket! It rains all the time in Lille, so the basket was a nice reminder of sunshine. It was filled to the brim with the most adorable goodies.

I found a card with my name on it, and I thought that I would open that first. After all, it just makes sense. Plus, I wanted to know who sent me the basket so I could properly thank them. 

After opening and reading the card, I pulled out a beautiful pink (my favorite color) box of tissues. Not only will it match my room when I am finished redecorating it, it will also help me to combat seasonal allergies.

I then pulled out an adorable stuffed doll. If Alice in Wonderland were a ballet, I'd imagine Alice looking just like the doll. Needless to say, I think I'm going to name her Alice. 

I also got a framed needlepoint image of ballet slippers. That will go perfectly in my room, too. I also love that the frame has fleur-de-lis on it; that is a symbol of Lille.

I loved the note cards and little posters that I got as well. My birthday is coming up in June, so I'll definitely send invites using my new cards. The posters were cute, too. One was of a ballerina, and the other featured a girl holding a an umbrella and standing in the rain. Both are perfect for me, seeing as I want to dance professionally and I live in rainy Lille.

Last but not least, I received pink and green floral hair accessories, a small tiara, and the cutest crocheted chick. 

Merci beaucoup to AGPT member JG* and her girls for thinking of me! I loved everything!

Bisous,
Aurélie

PS: Are you curious about the basket Sabine and I put together for somebody? We will share photos as soon as the basket arrives to its recipient. We don't want to spoil any surprises in case she reads our blog. 

Brilliant Blogger Award!

Salut, tout le monde! C'est Sabine!
Our friend McKenna, who is guest posting on our friends Sophia and Emma's blog, nominated us for yet another award. This one is called the Brilliant Blogger Award. Thank you so much, girls!

Here are the questions that go along with the award:

1. If you could have a 'flower pen name' like we have here on the blog, Violets and Daisies, what would is be? 
"Every Rose Has Its Thorn", named after a cover that Miley Cyrus sings ;)
 
2. What is your favorite ever Bible verse and why? 

I don't have one, and I don't think my friends do, either. We aren't overly religious, plus religion and faith are personal matters in France. It all stems from our country's history, the religious wars, etc. I could probably do a whole post on this topic...

3. What are the blogs that inspire you most?

All of our friends' blogs inspire us to keep writing! We love hearing from our readers and reading their blogs.

4. If you and your friends could visit any country in the world, where would you go?

Julien and I would definitely go to Spain. This is kind-of warranted, Julien being the hispanophile that he is. Plus, I speak Spanish, too, and think Spain is gorgeous. I want to go to the US with Aurélie since she has never been there!

Now, it is my turn to tag five people:
Dani
Reese
Wendy
Saoirse
Cate

All you need to do is answer the questions and nominate five other bloggers.

Thanks again, Sophia, Emma, and McKenna!

~Sabine

A surprise after school

Salut, tout le monde! C'est Sabine! Aujourd'hui, j'ai reçu une surprise...

When I got home from school today, I noticed a package near the door. Normally, my mom places packages in the kitchen. I wonder why this one was the exception.

I bent over and saw that it was addressed to me! I always love to get surprises in the mail, so I checked to see who the sender of this lovely surprise was. My friend Ava, whom I've blogged about before, sent it to me. She lives in North Carolina, but we go to the same summer program. That's where I met her. I wondered what she sent me. 

I threw my school stuff on the floor and set down. I tore the top part of the mailer off out of excitement. Ava has never sent me anything before, so when she asked for my address, I was instantly curious.

I unfolded the pretty blue (my favorite color, nonetheless) tissue paper...

...and I squealed. I don't squeal about a lot, but this was totally squeal-worthy.

She sent me a Miley Cyrus concert t-shirt! Ava included a note saying that she was cleaning out her closet and found this shirt from when she was 9. She said that I could probably fit into it since it was very big on her when she had it, and since she hates Miley Cyrus, she thought that I would like it. I do! Not to repeat myself, but Miley Cyrus is probably my favorite singer and actress in the entire universe. I've loved her since 2006, and I just couldn't outgrow her. I love having a concert tee, even though I've never been to one of her concerts myself.

Thank you, Ava, for thinking of me!

Have any of your friends surprised you with a thoughtful gift? Were you ever or are you a Miley fan?

~Sabine

Des problèmes dans la vie quotidienne

Salut! C'est Julien! Je n'ai aucune idée pourquoi je n'ai pas écrit, mais je trouve que je suis timide. Alors, Aurélie a eu des problèmes avec la danse classique et Sandrine, et je lui ai parlé. Malheureusement, cela a créé des problèmes pour mon rapport avec Sabine...

As close as I am to Sabine, I definitely think that Aurélie is more like me personality-wise. We are both on the shy, quiet, and reserved side of the personality spectrum. We best express ourselves through our favorite hobbies--mine being football (soccer) and hers being ballet or playing the flute. However, it is hard when the thing you love most is also the thing that is tearing you apart. Aurélie doesn't really like to verbalize her problems with Sandrine to Sabine because after all, Sandrine is Sabine's twin sister. Although Sabine has her fair share of problems with Sandrine (and shares all of them with me), Aurélie still doesn't want to hurt Sabine's feelings. Though, I doubt that Sabine's feelings would be hurt. Aurélie is just way too nice.

Anyway, I have been spending a lot of free time with Aurélie, and we have been discussing some of these problems. To say the least, Sandrine is extremely competitive and views Aurélie as her only true competition. Aurélie, in some ways, does take that to be a compliment. Sandrine only views true talent as competition, and I know that Aurélie is a beautiful dancer. However, Sandrine makes Aurélie feel very uncomfortable by giving her dirty looks, making rude comments, and talking about her to other dancers. Plus, Sandrine is interested in studying la dance classique at the Conservatoire de Lille alongside Aurélie. 

Aurélie cried. "She is making me hate my one true passion, Julien. I was going to drop my private flute lessons so I can dedicate more time to dancing, but now, I'm considering dropping ballet. That would mean dropping my dreams, though. I want to dance professionally for le ballet de l'Opéra National de Paris more than anything in the entire world, but so does Sandrine. I don't want to have to deal with her."

I told her that she should never quit. She's worked so hard to get where she is today. It is ridiculous to give up because somebody is being nasty, and I told her that she needs to get tough. I just can't see anybody who wants to dance professionally as being weak. I had to get the courage to defend myself against my dad; now,  it's Aurélie who needs it to stand up to Sandrine and continue to live her dream. 
I gave Aurélie a hug. She said, "You are right. My ballet instructors aren't exactly the nicest, but I can deal with their criticism. I just can't deal with Sandrine's nastiness. Like you said, though. Competition does seem to dominate the professional world...especially when it comes to promotions and getting contracts resigned."

Now, as for my problem? Sabine thought that I had a crush on Carlota, Aurélie's exchange student from Spain. Fortunately, Sabine got over that and admitted that it was a misunderstanding. Now, she thinks that I have a thing for Aurélie because I've been spending so much time with her. I just feel like I can understand Aurélie more than Sabine can. I know what it's like to be quiet and have a hard time raising your voice; I can relate to Aurélie. I don't want to lose Sabine as a friend, but at the same time, her jealousy of other girls I might talk to is getting ridiculous. I'm not interested in a relationship. Relationships in France have an entirely different stigma than they do in the US. I don't want to get into it, but because of that, I don't want a relationship at this time.

What advice would you give Aurélie? What advice would you give me?

-JH

Poisson d'avril

Salut, tout le monde! C'est Sabine, et aujourd'hui, je vais expliquer le poisson d'avril. Le poisson d'avril, c'est similar au jour américain, "April Fool's Day"

Le poisson d'avril is like an April Fool's Day prank, but it involves taping a fish to somebody's back. I decided that I wanted to prank Aurélie when I visited to help her with some homework.

Since pink is her favorite color in the whole entire world, I decided to draw a pink fish that kind-of resembled the American snack food called Goldfish. I'm sure you remember reading about Micki's obsession with Goldfish on my blog, right? ;)

I then carefully cut it out...

...and took it with me chez Aurélie. When I gave her la bise (familiar French greeting consisting of four kisses on the cheek)...

...I quickly slapped the fish on her small, bony back.

"Ah, Sabine!" Aurélie laughed. She took the fish off her back and taped it to the wall of her room. "Bien, non?"

We sat on her bed to talk. She told me about her problems with Sandrine during their practices for their studio's spring ballet, Coppélia. Sandrine is highly competitive in nature, and she tends to see the best dancers at their ballet school as serious competition, so I tried to tell Aurélie that Sandrine's attitude towards her should be taken as a compliment more than anything. Sandrine obviously thinks Aurélie has talent! However, maybe I shouldn't have said that. My mom thinks I enable Sandrine's bad behavior and make excuses for her. Maybe she's right?

So, did you pull any pranks today? Tell me about them, if you did!

~Sabine