Paris Paris Paris.

Il n’y a que deux endroits au monde où l’on puisse vivre heureux:  chez soi et à Paris.

                                                         -  Ernest Hemingway

I’m moving to Paris. It’s final. Maybe not this month, or this year, but eventually -

 We were amazingly lucky with the weather and not so lucky with accommodations –  but in any case, my  Paris mini-vaca was perfect.

First day

Starbucks, obviously.

The Dior Carrie busts her ass in!

Frenchy Square

Walking tour of Paris!

Champs Élysées

Tour Eiffel

Day Two!

Musée d’Orsay: No photos of the art allowed, so I just bought postcards.

Montmartre Tour

More Starbucks

Amélie’s Café

Van Gogh’s Apt.

 La Maison Rose

Paris’ Last Vineyard

Sacré Coeur

 Louvre

Day 3: Shopping!

Don’t get me wrong, I love museums and culture and tours as much as the next tourist but when in Paris, shopping deserves its own day!

We started at the Paris flea market, where I ambitiously looked at Chanel bags and dresses. But was pleasantly surprised to find cute trinkets (in my price range) instead.

Love this necklace! The top and belt in the photo below are from Les Mistinguettes, the shop I adore in Nice

We were shopping around in Paris after lunch and saw a women with a bag that said “Etsy Supermarché”

We proceeded to freak out and ask her where she got this bag! Luck was with me for once, because Etsy just happened to be having a one-time-only weekend expo around the corner with selected vendors! We died.

As expected, they had the neatest decorations imaginable!

And amazing vendors!

One vendor caught my eye specifically. He was selling a lot of old dresses, vintage from one place or the other. I was sifting through several that I thought were nice, I would be happy to take home. But then, I spotted one on the back of the rack. Still heavily wrapped in plastic, hiding from everyone. I of course asked for a closer look… and you know when you just know? You know that something was meant to be yours. The Paris shopping moment I’d been waiting for happened. 1940′s Japanese vintage. It became my Versailles dress – stay tuned for photos.

spot of tea at Merci

Where the Phantom lives

Late night stroll on the Seine

Traffic

Day 4:

VERSAILLES

The Dress!!

On a boat.

And more Eiffel Tower

I want to go back.

Off to Paris!

Currently boarding my flight to Paris. Couldn’t be more exited!

Shopping Off May Showers

Well spring sprung. And April showers just kind of brought more showers. Metaphorically speaking mostly, but in my defense it has rained a bit. Kicked off my good fortune by falling off my velobleu bike on the tram tracks while trying to get away from a guy on bicycle-hot pursuit trying to snatch my purse. (Once I fell, laying there in the street, he rode over my bicycle!) Turns out, post-fall and embarrassment I had a huge sprained wrist as a souvenir.

However, I was super jazzed to have narrowly escaped creepy-bike-guy and his thieving ways. I really shouldn’t have spoken so soon. That weekend I got robbed on the train. ever-y-thing gone! Thanks to some good Samaritans and some even better friends I had help filing police reports in french and recovering my entire American identity from across the ocean.

Huge sigh of relief for a wrist returning to normal size and color and a new wallet in my bag. But then! …Everything I had lined up for nyc this summer, just fell apart. The sighs of relief became deep breaths, which quickly turned into short, rapid breaths – you might call hyperventilating. Not dwelling too long, I began emailing all the lifelines I had in New York who could help. Only to find an empty inbox at the end of the week..

What do you do?

Shop.

for clothes, shoes, cosmetics, craft supplies, antiques, anything.

Anésidora: Knick Knack Shop

Old Town Leather Shop

 best leather goods

Zara

Splurged on this open back jumpsuit. I own nothing like it and never dreamed I could pull it off.                                     Upside of the downside? Being a tad adventurous.

 something different

La Droguerie

Now this place deserves an introduction. It is a perfectly organized yet cutely cluttered craft shop. A beautifully painted, colorful refuge for the downtrodden (craft enthusiast). It is quite expensive, but I would just pop in and look around and buy a bit of ribbon here and there. One day, when I own my dream bakery/craft workshop hybrid it will probably be somewhat inspired by La Droguerie.

storefront

ribbon

lovely jars

yarn

fabric

amazing.

a little nice treasure

Les Mistinguettes:

Favorite little boutique in Nice. Super pricey but super worth it.

I will miss it!

I need to be dragged away from this shop.

My room is cluttered with their shopping bags and my bank account is pretty severely bruised.

For lifting the spirits:

I never paint my nails any color besides simple dark reds and on special girly occasions, pink.                                          Recently I have turned to colorful nail polish and clothing for mood boosters!

Sherbet Zara pants, H&M purple flats, and polka-dotted nails. 

And a few days later – switched it up to sparkling orange!

celebrating spring, prepping for fall!

 Nice Antique Market: Heaven

So all in all it’s been a tough few weeks. But all my new purchases keep my mind occupied for an afternoon. Plus spending the evenings with brownies and Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda has also really helped.

Perhaps venturing to new color palettes isn’t the only upside to the downside – hopefully wardrobe bravery will bleed into my personality and push me to keep reaching out to people and applying and writing and calling until something comes up!

On the much much brighter side, I’m flying to Paris tomorrow!

For 5 days I will forget about the loss of id’s, credit cards, euros, jobs, wallets, and opportunities and prance around the most magical, romantic city in the world toting baguettes, berets, and a much stronger backbone. 

Pâques Crafts

I obviously got a bit excited about Easter crafts this year. Instead of dying eggs we used acrylic paint for more intricate designs. We spent the whole day painting eggs, creating tissue decorations, napkin masterpieces, and knitting (or learning to knit in my case).

It was the craft day of my dreams.

(btw Pâques = Easter en Français)

paints, tissue paper, stickers, yarn, eggs, card stock, napkins, ribbon and candy for fuel

We were clever enough to purchase white plastic eggs from the craft store instead of real ones so they wouldn’t start smelling weird in a day or so.

The acrylic paints worked perfectly

The craft genius herself

Jessica’s little chick egg

She showed me how to create Martha Stewart’s Tissue PomPoms!

Used them for cubbie decorations

Note my Paris savings jar – I am ready to spend

Flower Napkin Coasters – Video Instructions Here

We even got around to hanging my curtain!

bows, bows, bows

and more bows

And finally (after trying for 8 years) I learned to knit

Now I am addicted

And then rewarded ourselves with dessert of course!

A brilliantly crafty day and an amazing start to a relaxing spring break. I also bought this snazzy thing at the craft shop

Yep! It’s a plant in a can – Lavender

The seeds will germinate in about 2 weeks and then it will bloom in a month or so! If I have the good fortune of watching it grow I will take loads of photos :]

Lucky for me the Easter Bunny delivered an entire new shop on Jean Médecin here in Nice. Pull & Bear (owned by Inditex Group, the same company as Zara and Bershka) has tons of feminine yet edgy styles and amazing shoes.  Upon realizing my entire wardrobe was set for the fall I decided it was time to add some pastels. Here is the super spring inspired top I gave into

 I love the lace detail on the collar and cuffs

Hope you all had a delightful Easter!

à bientôt

Pancake Party

Recently I have been spoiled with the amazing culinary skills of my friends Angela and Jessica. Every day it’s fajitas,  pasta carbonara, or rosemary potatoes or made from scratch brownies. I just eat delicious italian-spanish- british inspired home cooked meals all the time. I fear I can never return to my diet of cheap fast food in New York. 

In any case, I decided to make a very American breakfast-for-dinner meal for the girls and flex my domestic muscles – by making pancakes. Just about the easiest thing in the book. But in my defense they are an amazing contrast to their French counterpart, the crepe – which I am not particularly fond of. Next time it will be a real Paula Deen, southern meal – maybe baked mac and cheese, cornbread, and dare I say – fried chicken? We will see.

 

I think they liked them :] 

A litte Easter Fashion

A throwback to the love I left in New York – bowties

 These springy sweets are from Forage

Next post should be littered with Easter inspired crafts and  French things

A tout a l’heure!!

Le Lazy

I’m the worst. I drop all responsibility in NYC to move to France where I literally have 5 days of free time a week and I don’t post anything for  two months. My apologies; the only excuse I have is years of overdue laziness spilling out all at once. Also the south of France is breathtaking and I rarely spend time at home.

I am pleased to report that my French has improved considerably, but because my program is in English; not as much as I had hoped – I am just getting to the point where I can understand films (…sometimes) .   So far I have traveled to Cannes; Antibes, Monaco, Arles, Marseilles, and Rome, with Paris in May and soon Corsica, hopefully. Everyday the weather is amazing so we spend tons of time outdoors at the beaches and parks and riding bicycles. The idea of moving here with Patrick is becoming more and more serious the more I fall in love with France.

During Patrick’s visit in early March I was tickled that he took to France so quickly, it made it much easier to sell him on the idea of our future ventures. We visited surrounding cities, tons of museums, monuments, and ancient ruins! I couldn’t possibly catch you up on everything so I made a short video to try and capture my life here. ENJOY!!

As you can tell those last few images are not actually in France but in Rome, Italy. …And yes I jumped in the fountain at Piazza Navona with crazy Kristen. We were then asked to get out by a policeman. Totally worth it.

As for the fashion, here’s a recap!

I was so thrilled to get this entire outfit for 55 Euros at H&M.

I found this amazing boutique in Vieille Ville, Les Mistinguettes. Every adorable dress I tried on fit perfectly and luckily my darling Patrick was feeling generous enough to buy the whole lot. This one has sweet little umbrellas and bows all over!

Dress: Les Mistinguettes, Scarf: New York City Vendor

Dress: Naf Naf, Jacket: Zara (Cannes), Satchel: H&M

Dress: Les Mistinguettes, Belt: H&M, Bag: Tommy

Dress: Zara, Boots: Anthropologie, Earrings: Frank Herval

Cardigan: Ann Taylor, Shorts: Thrift, Necklace: Gift from Grandma :]

The weather here has permitted me to dress for fall which is perfect for my wardrobe of long dresses and skirts and the sun keeps my spring collection in check as well. The fashion I have seen so far is …. well, not impressive. I think of anyone in Nice, my French Culture professor has the most style. Shops like 1-2-3, WEILL, and the small boutiques give me hope though. I also have high expectations for Paris – both scoping and shopping- I seriously, unlike my wallet, cannot wait. I have to be on my best behavior and save save save so that I can shop until my heart’s content in Paris.

I am so excited for my next (and sadly last) 2 months in Nice. While I miss New York, my cozy Brooklyn apartment, and all my friends, France feels more like home now. I am, however, going to start spending my free time more wisely, and stop being so Le Lazy. I recently started cycling and jogging in the mornings, snagged a library card today, and if everything goes according to plan my utterly British friend Jessica will teach me to knit while the amazing Colombian, Angela will teach me to cook with spice! One of the best things about studying abroad is meeting people from all over the world. I feel so lucky.

Until next time!

A French cliché

(Thanks Jessi!  I stole it a little bit! )

Catching Up

Needless to say I was drowning last semester. Turns out having a part-time job, internship, a full course load, planning for study abroad, and editing/writing a newspaper is super difficult. But I’m still here, so I can’t complain. Time Out New York published 3 articles I wrote, I was accepted to the study abroad program in Nice, France (Which I leave for in 3 days) and I already secured my summer internship at Country Living.

Issue I was published in

I would be lying if I said I didn’t receive help from anyone. My boyfriend (Patrick Quinif) was beyond patient during my violent fits of anger which would lead to hours of hyperventilating/crying. I also had a lot of support from my family, not to mention several cups of coffee, hours of Mad Men, Arrested Development, The Larry Sanders Show, and candy for most meals. But now, I’m preparing for 4 months in the south of France. I hope to document my time there with videos, photos, journals etc. I’m super excited to work on my language skills and see what influences their wardrobe. My friend Kristen and I will be hopping from one country to the next and I will try my hardest to post each time I travel.

Below are some photos of my outfit choices when I was doped up on Betty Draper!

Browsing at the 23rd St. Magazine Café

All I need is a scowl and a cigarette. 

Photos 1,4: Tommy Hilfiger sleeveless turtleneck, homemade necklace, Anthropologie skirt, and BCBG wedges.

Photos 2,3: Express classic button down, Anthropologie skirt, Tommy Hilfiger bow tie and collection pumps.

I am up to my ears in excitement and more recently anxiety about my trip to France. New language, New culture, New super frenchy food. I hope you all check in to see how I’m dealing with my major culture shock. But for now, here’s a recap from the past few months in photos, a lot of photos.

Me and my sister reppin' our team! Go Pens!

My Bio class at Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

Coney Island Boardwalk

Café Angelique

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Gift Shop

Patty and I at the Museum of Natural History

My precious lamb Kale! at Prospect Park Zoo

Conservatory Garden at Central Park

Decorations for my favorite season!

Krissy and I at the farm!

Queens County Farm

Halloween Treats

W27 takes DC

Political Journalism Conference D.C

First time my name was published!

My mom and I on Thanksgiving!

Patty and his root beer float.

Rockefeller Center Ice Rink

Christmas with Kozy!

Playing pretend under the princess blanket!

Patty and the monument!

Smithsonian American Art Museum

First snow in 2012

Watching the snow from my window

 In between all the crying tantrums last semester I had a pretty good time. I am super lucky! Looking forward to more adventures and less stress in France. Stay tuned friends.