stories on layaway

My first four months living in Paris have been strenuous to say the least. I meant to entertain you with my introduction to the dating scene, give you a tour of a French market, share how I was trying to be a "good expat", and tell you more about the internship I believe I only hinted at on Twitter. Yet many of my day-to-day anecdotes got lost in the shuffle of the adjustment period. Would you mind if I said I'd put them on layaway?

They'll be ready very, very soon, I promise. In the mean time, a few fun facts I've learned so far in 2013:

• Despite the fact that the Czech are incredibly creative when it comes to their postage stamps (see vast selection in the photo above), the system itself leaves much to be desired. My brother and sister have yet to receive the post cards I sent them nearly two weeks ago!
• 590: year Pope Gregory I invented a post-sneeze prayer--"God bless you"--as sneezing was considered an early sign of the plague.
• 1301: year the first guild of barbers was established in France, creating a union of sorts for hairdressers and surgeons. The two groups argued about overlapping duties, and it was decided surgeons couldn't treat the hair or scalp.
• 1858: year a Brooklyn woman invented an inset, made of coiled wire and padding, for a corset that made the breasts look bigger. She filled the pads with bark, grass, or curled hair, which she believed would be sweat-resistant.
• 2013: first year since 1987 to have four different numbers.

(Middle three facts courtesy of recent issues of Allure magazine--I'm catching up while I'm home).