Bonne fete de la Bastille!

Alexiane is our summer marketing intern. She came to Larsen from France through a strange trail of business connections and a lot of unreadable (on my part) paperwork. The decision to host Alexiane was very sudden, and we had no idea what to expect. Luckily, she's smart and sweet and a great addition to our marketing team.

Due to a slight language barrier, the past month has been a learning experience for all of us. But more so for my boss, Heather, who just found out the French greeting she's shared with Alexiane each morning has been anything but accurate.

According to Alexiane: "You cannot say that. It means nothing! I did not want to tell you."

She is so funny. I just adore her.

Because today is Bastille Day (also known as Fete Nationale or Quatorze Julliet, according to the ever-reliable wikipedia), we decided to honor Alexiane's heritage with an authentic French breakfast. We had croissants and baguette slices with French jam, hot chocolate, coffee and orange juice. Alexiane said this is a traditional weekend breakfast — during the week the French eat "cereal or nothing," because a breakfast like the one we had today requires an early morning trip to the bakery. (I guess they don't have Trader Joe's frozen croissants in France.)

To add to the "authenticity" of our event, Alexiane wore a little scarf tied around her neck, Heather wore a bright red beret and a red, white and blue medal around her neck, and I wore a black beret Alexiane brought for me. (Unfortunately the only photo of me in the beret was terrifying, and therefore not included below.) We had Edith Piaf playing on the stereo, French flags hanging around the room, and a silent video of people doing the can-can on the large computer screen.

It was quite festive, and very entertaining.

Now for the only word of French (I think) I know:

Au Revoir!