never can say goodbye
good morning dear friends! i have to apologize for dropping off the face of the earth for the past few days (or was it weeks)? it’s been a long road but one that’s been fun and furiously fast paced. in fact the pace has caught up with us and the project we’ve been planning has finally taken shape and is about to launch this weekend!
my crew of companions who’ve helped get thru it are all staying for the next few days to embark on a giant slumber/packing party. claudia ii, candy and ellen are here to put the final touches and tweaks on it all. it’s been months in the making…and tada…our brand new OKL sale is launching this weekend! the busy work is done. the container arrived from paris, chairs have been restored and re-upholstered in silk satin, pictures are framed and matted and accessories have been painstakingly cleaned with toothbrushes and tarnx. now t’s almost time to say goodbye but it feels like everything just got here!
maybe i get too attached but i’m loving living with it at home. i feel like my apartment is a living, breathing manifistation of the work we’ve done. and now i’m holding onto it for dear life, trying to take it all in. i’m torn between being a collector and curator and want to relish each piece one last time before this day gets started and it gets packed and stashed for the sale. oh but it sounds like everyone is starting to stir so these are my last few moments of quiet perfection before the chaos starts.
i’m glad you came by and promise to keep you posted! we tried to make it vast and varied with something in every range for everyone so i hope you enjoy it! the sale will be from march 9-11 and starts bright and early on saturday morning.
by the by, the new book is heading into a second printing! there are still some first editions available amazon (if i promised you a book in the giveaway i’m still going to send it out) but otherwise there will be signed first editions on the sale.
ok, the girls are up and i smell coffee. more soon!
twenty years in the making
where does the time go? hi gang, ca va? how’s your brand new year going? it’s off to a pretty good start here. it’s officially 20 years since i opened The Paris Apartment and all these years later i’m still grateful to have it. it’s been my raison d’etre on so many levels, being both work and play, it gave me a reason to travel, focus my passion and was my very own muse. but how is it possible that every day for two decades i’ve gotten out of bed and straight to work from my 20s to my 40s!?
you’ve been so patient with me talking about coming out with a new book for sooooo long. i’m happy to say the new baby has finally arrived!
i only have one copy at the moment but it can be pre-ordered on amazon. of course i couldn’t resist hosting a giveaway since they’ll be here in a couple weeks, so if you’re interested let me know and we’ll draw 5 names next week. if you’d like to host a giveaway on your blog, just say the word!
it will probably be a month or so till they’re here so in the meantime, leave a comment i’ll get in touch with you directly to coordinate it. (just make sure you’re email is live when you leave it)
you can see some of it on amazon but here’s a sneak peek:
i’ve only skimmed it myself
and will share more
you may recognize some old friends
and finds
well in the meantime i’ve got to go collapse now cause the container of goodies from paris came today and we’ve been unpacking it in prep for another big old OKL sale.
suffice it to say it’s time to decompress and exhale this day. so have a great night and good, deep sleep!
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!
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 middle of the road of life
happy sunday gang, hope you’re in the throes of a blissful weekend! i’ve sequestered myself (practically) for the past couple days in order to get some manuscript under my belt for tomorrow and also get going on okl. i was on a roll when a book called to me like a magnet and i’ve been off in another world ever since. le livre de mon ami. once in hand i couldn’t put it down. everything from the three toned leather spine with raised details and gold letters. yum! and inside was original the silk ribbon book mark.
i’ve been thinking of taking a french class lately, or even starting to try and read it more. i can only imagine what i sound like to the french! so what better time than the present? the first line is in italian, translated to french. i figured if it was a phrase in two langues i had find out what it meant.
the google translations really got me thinking and this is my cue to take a break. the translation of italian to french went from, ‘nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita’, (in the middle of the journey of your life), and in french, ’au milieu du chemin de la vie’, which translates to ‘the middle of the road of life’.
anyway i better get back to it while it’s stil nice and bright. i’m editing the last of the pics for my book and the clock’s already mocking me. i’ve already gotten lost in this book for too way long. but then again, i could keep it closed and on a shelf or just to myself. or i could open it, read the first line and realize i’m ‘in the middle of the journey of life‘. and there’s always time for that!
sending good sunday wishes to you. have a great night!
driven to distraction
good morning guys, happy thursday! the weekend is fast approaching thankfully! what do you have planned? here at chez moi, i’m trying to focus on catching up but getting completely consumed by the few things i had a chance to unpack last night.
it’s just a couple of books but they’re sitting in front of me, begging to be touched, opened, held, read, and admired. they’re full of life and color, with gorgeous endpapers, vibrant bindings and delicious, perfect golden edges.
the placemark ribbons, the illustrations, the handwritten dedications (one even by colette)!
all i want to do is dive into this little pile.
but work calls and clients want to know where their handles are so i better get to stepping.
don’t get me started on the watercolors. more soon, have a fantastic day!
that’s what’s up
good morning guys! I hope you had a fantastic weekend. i’m finally recharged after getting to bed early every night for the past few days. i haven’t felt like i had much to say lately cause, as you know, i can’t write when i have a TO DO list, but it’s finally dwindling ever so slightly! i wasn’t going to mention any of the following press cause, well, it’s kind of self promoting but i thought what the heck, isn’t this a ‘log’ of what happens? and i have acknowledge and thank the editors and magazines for actually thinking of me for their articles. and since things can get tough and overwhelming, at least i’ll have this to look back on when i’m 100 and remember the good old days!
and now back to us! i’ve been meaning to do this giveaway since before the holidays and it’s now or never! gliteratti has sent two divine books from their new collection. the first is ‘stealing magnolias’ and the second is ‘three weeks with coco chanel in 1962′. if you’d like either of them, specify which and we’ll draw a winner for each on friday.
i wonder if the sartorialist would have stopped her today?
these are from the magnolias book, it’s filled with traditions and memories of new orleans and life in the south from yesterday and today. just gorgeous, i love both books!
well have a great week. i hope we all get a lot done and love doing it!
on the road again
hi guys. how’s life? i have about three minutes before i have to shut down. i’m at the airport on my way back to paris.
i got a call to take a client shopping that i just couldn’t refuse. i wish i could tell you who it is but this guy is such a major player that i better just keep it tight (for now anyway)!
liz and i tied up most of the loose ends and between drudgery of actual work i took pics of some of the stuff i’ve been bringing back here and there.
this pink book was in the plastic but i opened it to check it out and enjoy it myself. then i thought it would be fun to do another giveaway before the holidays since i love you so much and you appreciate booka. so if you’d like to win it, let me know! as for the winners of the chanel and the magnolia, the random number generator chose numbers 11 and 23. if that’s you send me your address.
this is today’s book! i have to board so au revoir and more from the other side!
what’s going on
hi gang, hope you’re having a great week! we’ve been busy over here working on the website and trying to get things photographed and listed. today’s pics are two little peacock colored vases i got last month in paris. they are about as big as large eggs and incredibly delicate.
liz is having me shoot more mood shots instead of just dry images for the site so here are a couple. she was having a blue moment and i went with it. it’s a lot more fun to play when you have a friend to shoot with.
in other news, we have our winners from the drawing the other day! would the following two darlings send your email to me at claudia@theparisapartment.com asap?
judy from petitcreeklavender.com
and mari of way good day
if you didn’t win that once, guess what? glitteratti is giving us these two more books to play with! they’re sending them over for review and i’m giving them away! if you’d like a chance to win just say so!
Coco Chanel by Douglas Kirkland
Stealing Magnolia’s Tales From a New Orleans Courtyard
playing catching up
good morning guys and happy sunday. it’s nice and early and i’m finally sitting in complete silence with a coffee and blank slate in front of me. actually it’s not completely blank, i’m posting today about some of the things that have been at the back of my mind that i can finally get to. the amazing difference between now and weekdays is that when i’m not rushed it’s actually fun. to start, above is a pic from my girl sophie atlan’s shop at the market in paris. i loved the black and pink and together. and it reminded me to that the first of my ‘paris profiles‘ series has started. the premiere article is about sophie who you may remember meeting in september. well, it’s now live on belle maison. you can check it out here, password joiedevivre. the editor is mimi bleu who also writes the blog bonjour romance from paris. she’s working hard with writers and photographers, (so many are blog friends) to create a really colorful, image filled subscription based online (and now paper magazine) from paris each month. check her out if you get a chance. we’ve become good friends and it happened of course thru the magic of blogging! 
in other news, i was contacted by glitteratti to check out some of their holiday books and they sent me the two below for review and a giveaway! both are really beautiful and would make pretty presents. i’ll send them out to the winner next week so if you’re interested let me know and i’ll take names from the comment section on this post next week. 
i’ll try to get a few more books for giveaways next week from them since looking over their collection it’s got a lot of great design stuff i’m sure we’d love (like this one below) so i’ll keep you posted on that and see which book it’s from. 
finally, i am very sorry it’s taken me so long to get out the little objets d’art from the markets to those who sent me their addresses last month, but i promise to do that, i did not forget about you! and also apologies for not announcing the winners of the ring and the necklace, it was teresa of splendid sass and linda who didn’t have a blog but i was happy to meet. ok well more soon, have a great morning, i’m off to art basel!
