no place like home
hi guys, happy sunday! we’re bracing for a storm and i’m hoping the east coast will be spared without too much damage. there’s a definite calm which may be cliché but truly is the case. i’ve sequestered myself in this weekend to write and it seems like i’m doing everything but! i’ve been playing around at home with my camera and now that i have my place back and it’s no longer a warehouse.
before i left i’d been working on shooting the stuff for the okl sale. i hung it haphazardly just to get it on the wall and protected. what i didn’t realize is how much i’d love being around it all.
so many of the images speak to me and i wonder who they were
and imagine the way someone spent their day creating a little masterpiece
above is a watercolor of a leisurely afternoon in a chateau garden
these engravings made me think a little more about what probably caused the revolution
and the one below just calms me down
i guess there really is no rhyme or reason with art and what we gravitate toward. the only problem i have is the attachments i’m making to it all. some pieces you can look at forever cause you’re always finding something new. i didn’t know i’d fall so hard for these little chef d’oeuvres that so quickly have become part of my daily inspiration.
in any event, i’ll be a big girl and give them up when the time comes but for now i’ll enjoy my moment with them. in the meantime i actually can part with something! i came home to an adorable book that was sent for review and a giveaway.
it’s a charming look at an american girl’s stay with a french family and all the things she learned about their perspective on life.
it’s a great gift so if you’d like to win a copy, just leave a comment and we’ll do the drawing this week.
and now, the sun has set. that means my deadline is that much closer and procrastination is no longer an option. (especially if i’m going to catch my housewives :)
so bon nuit, i’m sending prayers to everyone with hope of a mild hurricane!
the end of the road
bonsoir toute le monde! reporting from paris in my final hours. it’s already midnight and there’s some toe tapping going on since we have an uber early plane to catch. now i’m wishing we booked a night flight. it would mean another full day which you always seem to need here!
i love staying in apartments because they really make you feel like you’re a part of the neighborhood and you fall into little rituals right away. no matter which way you walk out of this apartment it’s a completely different experience. i wanted to cover a lot of ground but even just a block circumference is full of goodies. if i don’t record them now i never will!
our favorite place was just around the corner, affectionately known as ‘comptoir’. we would rendezvous there at the end of the day to grab a snack at the counter that was the epitome of gourmet. and they make nutella crepes too.
the hood could not be more picturesque, and the shops are not just tourist places, they’re real longtime establishments who set the tone for this petit pocket of perfection.
it’s one of those places where everything calls to you…
i can’t resist the lure of the bookstores and there are SO many!
not to mention tea salons
and chocolate shops
sorry i don’t have the addresses but all bursts out from the odeon metro station.
next time i’ll go out another block further. i’d love to see a map of paris like that…from the center and radiating out.
i’m more furniture than food but even i was called by the feast of a show that’s laid out before us each day.
and les fleurs, don’t get me going!
we had dinner at atlas our first night and had the BEST mussels in creme
across the street was our best french breakfast (we tried a bunch), at cafe paris. (11 rue de Buci)
the shopping of course was outrageous with everything from innovative home furnishings like the fireplace above
and the vintage treasures tucked in among the hi end boutiques.
but as it always does, the night must come and the days wind down. it’s officially time to sign off. i hope you enjoyed your little tour. maybe it will be my new thing, the one block radius overview! for now it’s off to bed. see you on the home front. have a bon nuit!
bohemian rhapsody
good morning! it’s our last day and everyone’s tapping their feet waiting for me. before yesterday evaporates into forgotten memories i just wanted to post a little of grand palais’ beautiful exhibit on the bohemians of paris.
in’ve been to the petit palais but never the grand.
the exhibit was pretty great and best of all i learned a little about the evolution of the romanticizing of the gypsies of egypt and how the myth and mystery of their story morphed into the bohemians of paris we think of today.
the pics are pretty bad cause i was taking shots on the DL
the artists of paris were inspired by the colors, passion, music and free-spirited lives of the early bohemian gypsies.
but they were they both feared and revered for their free and unconventional ways and remained on the periphery of society as outcasts.
eventually the bourgeois sort of wanted to be like them.
maybe sort of a grunge movement
where being down and out was romanticized
anyway i hope this gave you a little flavor of it. definitely a topic i’d like to explore and one i didn’t know anything about about till yesterday. et alors, i’m out the door to see what’s in store. have a great day, more soon!
same stuff different day
hey guys, happy sunday! we spent it with a lovely guest and hit the markets to give her the lay of the land. she asked me if it ever seemed the same each week. i had to say no even though it really IS the same things over and over in a way. i but t never ceases to fulfill the promise of something wonderful around every corner. i didn’t get a chance to take a lot of shots today but we were really focused.
i did pick up something for myself in a pile of books out back at clignancourt. it’s an old version of letters written from a mother to her daughter that chronicled an era in paris in a way that was both literary and a sort of diary.
anyway i always wanted to know more about madame her since she lived in one of the most fabulous places in the city, hotel carnavalet.
and i couldn’t resist a 200 year old book…
sadly carnavalet is closed on mondays and we did vow to do something cultural. maybe the musee des arts decortaif or the boheme show at the grand palais.
but if you know me, ask monument vs market and i’ll always choose the latter. turns out clignancourt is having another one of it’s famous fetes all weekend.
these old pics are from the program. crazy to think how many times this stuff really does go round and round!
i’m supposed to spend the next couple days writing about the markets for my book while i’m here. i realize now that you have to be obsessed with your subject to write about it.
and thankfully i am! tomorrow i’ll head back for one last day of fleaing till spring. ok well i’m off to bed. have a great night!
out the window
allo all! it’s been a couple days under the radar getting things together but i finally came up for air and wanted to say hi.
i’m writing from paris on an impromptu trip with a my guy, his partner and his wife, my good friend.
the boys go to a food show every other year in the same exhibition hall as the maison objet. but this one is called sial. it’s a gourmet trade show and showcases some of the best food products from around the world. he imports artisanal stuff so it’s a foodie playground for them.
anyway he asked me for a recommendation for an apartment to stay in so i steered him to my girl erica at haven in paris. when one of my favorite apartments was available, i couldn’t help but want to go! he surprised me with a ticket so here i am.
i stayed here a couple years ago wanted to share this place and its neighborhood. things got busy and i never really got to do it so over the next couple days i’m gonna try hard to post a bit about it cause every street is packed with deliciousness.
for the record i swiped all the pics above from the haven site. it’s home sweet home already and no longer picture perfect but oh it is very cozy!
just outside is paris on a silver platter.
directly across the street is procope, the city’s oldest restaurant.
just past that are a million incredible art galleries like kleinmann above.
and i can almost reach out and touch it from the window! well it’s getting dark and it is saturday night. everyone else is out waiting for me so i’d better get going. have a great weekend, more soon!
passage to india
happy sunday everyone! it’s about 5pm which means there’s still a lot of life left in this day off. i hope you’re up to something wonderful even if that means napping! i spent way too long treating myself to blog surfing and am finally ready to put the laptop lid down for awhile. my fixation today came from a tag i was awarded by a fellow blogger who happens to be indian.
i have a particular love for bollywood and indian films, both old and new and this was the perfect storm to get me going on a pretty path down the roads of india.
thank you to fashion by bollywood for passing this along. in order to accept i have to do all sorts of things like tell stuff about myself, etc but i figure you know me pretty well so i just went for the second part which is to link to inspiring blogs.
i went totally indian and got pulled into the charm and color of one of my favorite countries. i was lucky enough to visit once and hope to get back again soon.
in the meantime there are always the films to transport us!
anyway i just let fate lead from one blog to the next and i hope you’ll enjoy these colorful, passionate ladies as much as i did.
i focus so much on my frenchie side that sometimes it’s refreshing to mix it up a bit.
if you get a chance, stop by and check out their blogs and say hello to the other side of the world.
the one thing that i’ll never forget is the vibrancy of the sweet, gentle people who make the magic of the country. no matter where you go, women are dressed in electric hues and look gorgeous at whatever work they’re doing.
well, as much as i’d like to just keep going, i do have to get back to reality. but inspiration fuels the creative fire and i needed this burst of color and energy. hope you have a great rest of the weekend!
an everyday obsession
good morning all! how’s your week shaping up? the girls and i are taking an early morning road trip and i have about minute to sit here for some quiet time and blog. between all the havoc lately it’s been hard to enjoy what’s happening. i’m learning in my old age to not just stop to smell the flowers but really enjoy them. rearrange them, study them, photograph them. well my focus today isn’t really flowers but it’s some of the photos i found researching the book, this time on the bouquinistes of paris.
before these all ended up in the circular file i just wanted to post them. (i got most of these pics from wikipedia). when i’m in paris it never ceases to amaze me how we stroll the city like we’re the first ones there.
we look at so much of it as though it’s de rigeur but this tradition of sellig books along the seine has been going on every day since the 16th century.
with books becoming more and more rare it’s kind of comforting to know these sellers are here with precious cargo.
and that we share the same pleasures with our ancestors that we do today.
maybe in this fast changing world i just like tradition. and books are quiet volumes just waiting to be cracked open and enjoyed.
if you want to read about the history of ‘the only river in the world between two bookshelves’ check out wikipedia for a good start. ok this chariot is off! have a great day!
the sun also rises
good morning guys! how’s life in your world? i hope all is well and fall is in full swing with all the crisp freshness it brings. it feels like forever since i’ve had a chance to sit down in front of the computer for pleasure not performance. i got a chance to catch the sun rise and it feels like a brand new world was born this morning.
it’s been deadlines and boxes and utter mayhem in my apartment for about a month but as of this morning, everything is different. boxes are unpacked, orders shipped, and what’s here is organized and ready to be shot for tomorrow’s shoot.
although my shipment from paris with the big stuff didn’t make it and some boxes are MIA, we’re pushing ahead with what is here instead of worrying about what’s not.
the best part is really getting a chance to study the petit objets a little at a time. they’re scattered around my desk, each one a story in itself.
i threw everything up on the wall that could hang just to get it off tabletops but it has turned into a fun display wall even if it is all cockeyed. there are things i hadn’t noticed before and that’s my little guilty pleasure. wondering who was who, what she fought for or believed in. maybe this grand dame was a suffragette?
well it’s about time to head out for a very early morning rendezvous.
there’s still lots of prep to be done and i can play with my do dads tomorrow.
there always seems to be some old-new thing that turns up and it’s easy to get lost in a book or a letter. this little calling card was used as bookmark.
madame’s little revisions reveal so much from her move to paris to her meticulousness. i have business cards on my to do list but think i’ll skip those today and just practice my penmanship instead. how did they get those P’s in paris so perfect? well have a great day, more soon!
