A few of my favorite things

We are almost at the end of my Paris blogs. Hopefully, they aren't super boring.

Our second to last day in Paris was spent shopping. It was my favorite day. Before we shopped, we finally got to go up the Eiffel Tower. I definitely, 100% recommend booking online if you are want to get tickets in a reasonable time. We were given that advice before we went and I am so glad we took it.





I'm so glad that we do go up the Eiffel Tower. It was such an amazing experience to see Paris from above and definitely something we can cross off our bucket lists.

After we finished at the tower, we did a bus tour and made our way towards the Champs Elysees. I was a woman on a mission. When we decided to go to Paris last November, I started thinking about what my one big souvenir would be. I felt like there was one thing that came to mind when thinking about Paris, Chanel. So, I decided to start saving my money so I could leave France with THE name in French fashion.

We made our way to 31 rue de Cambon, which is where the original Chanel store is located and Coco Chanel had an apartment above the store. I knew exactly which handbag I wanted, but unfortunately they didn't have it at that store. The good news is there was another Chanel store a couple blocks away, so we headed to that store.



As soon as we got to the next Chanel store, I saw my bag. After talking to a sales associate I found out that it had been placed no hold. However, our sales associate was an angel from heaven and made a few calls and located the bag at another Chanel store. She went and got it for me and I finally had my dream bag.



I love love love my bag and do not regret purchasing it all. I have never been a big collector, but I love handbags. No matter how much weight you gain, a handbag always fits. I feel very thankful that I am able to purchase such a classic bag and I love my husband for not questioning me and letting me buy it.

We went to H&M and Zara and ate croque monsieurs at a sidewalk cafe. It was a very Paris day. We decided to go back to the Marais because I had seen a couple stores I wanted to go back to.

It was at one of those store, Sandro, that I bought another one of my favorite things. I got the cutest dress ever, but I did a little miscalculation with the exchange rate and paid a lot more for it than I would have. So if you see me this summer, don't be surprised if I am wearing this dress. I have to get my money's worth.



My last favorite purchase was my fascinator. I have embraced the British trend and I think it makes occasions much more special to have a fun hat. We were at a market and there happened to be a stand where they were selling clothes and accessories. I saw this fascinator and had to have it.



Finally, I have to mention where we ate dinner that night. Paris Perfect, our apartment company, recommended La Taverna and I read good things about it on Trip Advisor (which is where the picture of the restaurant is from). We had tried to eat there two previous nights, but the first night we couldn't find it and the next it was closed.




We were both very glad that we persevered and went back. The food was amazing. I had gnocchi and Daniel had rabbit. The restaurant is owned by a husband and wife. He cooks and she is the waitress. I always think it's a good sign when the majority of the people in a restaurant actually live in that city. I would recommend going if you're ever in Paris.

Remodel update

Since starting our remodel, we have made some decent progress. The first day was spent ripping down the ceiling. That's when we made the discovery that whoever lived here before us applied wallpaper directly to the wooden wall. No sheet rock, no nothing. What kind of person does that? But really, we were 3 hours into the project and already adding to the cost.

The ceilings were raised back to 10 feet and the whole room had sheet rock added where it was needed. The contractor thought they would be able to mud, tape and texture before the weekend, but they were only able to mud and tape.

Daniel spent his day yesterday cutting in can lights and a box for the new ceiling fan. Having an electrician on-staff has seriously saved us a fortune. I can have as many light switches and receptacles as my heart desires. Heaven.

The plan for next week is to wrap things up. They should be able to texture and paint the crown molding today. Hopefully, they will be able to paint in a day and get the crown molding up quickly, as well. We are hoping for everything to be completed by Thursday. We'll see.

Here are some pictures of the progress.






Hopefully, this week will go quickly and I can get down to more important business like shopping!

The Louvre

While we were in Paris we had to go to the Louvre. We decided to hire a private guide. It was a little expensive, but totally worth it. We got to cut the long long long line and she gave us the highlights. They say it would take 3 years to see everything in the Louvre. We had three hours.

The pyramid entrance.


A replica of the original castle and the walls they discovered while excavating.


Some of the architectural details.


Statues including the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.


My favorite statue - Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss


The very best part of the Louvre was all of the paintings. I loved art history in school.


And even more paintings.


The painting.



In order to get close enough to the Mona Lisa, you had to enter a Rage Against the Machine-esque mosh pit. It was scary.

After we finished at the Louvre, we ate lunch in the Palais-Royal. No wonder people say the French don't like Americans. Their Palais-Royal is a beautiful garden with high-end stores and apartments. Our Palais Royal is a cheap discount store.




There was a fashion shoot going on while we were there. It was neither anyone famous nor a past winner of America's Next Top Model, so I lost interest pretty quickly.

We then went on a French Revolution walk and learned more about what led to the revolution. It was pretty interesting, but I chose the absolute wrong thing to wear. Jeans + black t-shirt + ballet flats is not appropriate for a three mile walk. I felt like I was on the Bataan Death March.




One of the highlights of the tour was getting to see the cafe where John Galliano let a whole bunch of Jewish slurs loose and ruined his career. Not good.




I really liked the Marais area of Paris or as I call it the Mar-Hey Girl Hey! since it is the gay district. There was some really good shopping and my favorite store, Sandro, was there.

Oh, and we learned how to use the metro. It wasn't scary at all and was the best way to get around. I wish we would have tried to figure it out earlier in our trip.

I love the smell of a remodel in the morning.

It's that time yet again! We are remodeling and redecorating our front living room. This will hopefully be our LAST big project on the inside of the house. We still have to redo the garage and paint. But, the end is in sight!

I thought I would share a few pictures of our current living room and have updates along the way. The demo starts bright and early tomorrow at 10:30. This is bright and early to me because I happen to be starting my eight days off and in the words of Jessica Muncey have been dreaming of "sleeping in SO hard". I guess it wasn't meant to be.


The fireplace that I recently painted. It was way uglier before.


The view from the new kitchen/family room.


The living room from the front door


Another view.

We are planning on raising the ceilings, adding crown molding and getting rid of all of Daniel's old bachelor furniture. Sadly, those couchs are the only thing that remain untouched from the BH era (obviously Before Heather). It should be interesting to say the least. I'll keep you updated and let you know how many times I am reduced to tears.

Easter in Paris

Getting to spend Easter in Paris was an experience. The city pretty much shuts down for two days, but there are thousands of people in town for their holidays.

We decided to take a tour of the Seine and go to Notre Dame. Our schedule was full for the next three days, so it was nice to have a day to relax.

The Eiffel Tower is more beautiful in person than it is in pictures. Pictures really don't do it justice. We had tickets to go up in the tower, but due to our crazy way of getting to France we missed our reservation. After walking around the tower and seeing the line, really there were three lines with hundreds of people in each, we decided to try and get reservations again.



Then we decided to go on a cruise down the Seine. It was nice to see Paris from a different prespective, but it was super cold. We did get to see all the beautiful bridges. The French don't do anything half-ass.



We got to walk through Notre Dame. It was a little odd because there was an Easter Mass going on while we were there and the priest just kept on going. I can't imagine being at church and having tons of people walking around taking pictures. Odd.



We did get to see a beautiful carving representing the ressurection of Christ. It seemed pretty fitting for the day.



That was pretty much our Easter. It was nice to take it easy after going for two days straight.

Giverny and Versailles

For our second day in France, we took a day trip to Giverny and Versailles.

Giverny is the town where Claude Monet had his gardens and famous water lily pond. The town is so cute! It is everything you think a rural French town would be. There was one main road and lots of art galleries celebrating the Impressionist art movement.



Luckily, we got to Giverny early and didn't have to wait in line. By the time we left there was a line of about 100 people. The gardens were HUGE! If you like flowers, this is the place to be. They have tried to keep the gardens the way they were when Monet resided in the house.

Our first stop was the water lily pond.



Then we went to the main garden and the house. Seeing all the beautiful flowers really made me wish I loved gardening, but I would rather pay someone to do it for me. That's how I contribute to the economy.





After finishing at the gardens, we went to a restaurant in Fourges. It was in an old mill. We tried salmon terrine. I liked it, but Daniel hated it. If you can get past the congealed fat, it's not so bad.



After driving through the French countryside, we made it to Versailles. I have never seen so many people in a line in my life. Apparently, Easter is a popular time for Europeans to on vacation. We stood in line to get into Versailles for almost 2 1/2 hours. Maybe I would have appreciated it more had we not had to wait, but I was underwhelmed.



It was amazing to think that people lived like that, but we felt like we were in a cattle call. We were pushed all the way through, so it wasn't so fun. If I go 100 years without seeing a Chinese tourist again, it will be too soon.



The moral of this story is, don't go to France in the summer or around Easter. You will be surrounded by tourists and won't get to enjoy all there is to see. Regardless of when you go both Giverny and Versailles are both worth visiting.

We're back!

We are back from our trip to Paris! It was SO much fun and we really fell in love with France. They people are so much nicer than we have all been led to believe!

I am going to chronicle each day on our blog, so people that want all the details and to know what we did (and ate) can have that information.

Day 1 started off very eventfully. We were scheduled to have 43 minutes to make our connection from Amarillo to Houston. I woke up at 5 am that morning panicked because I had a feeling we were going to miss our flight. Guess what? We missed our flight. The plane was pushing back as we got to the gate.

The gate agents arranged new flights for us and we flew to London then Frankfurt and finally Paris. The silver lining was that the first class seats on the flight to London laid completely flat. It was the best slept I have ever gotten on an airplane. Plus, we got to be in London and experience a little of the royal wedding craziness.

By the time we got to Paris, we were exhausted. We checked in at our apartment as soon as we got there. If you are going to be in Paris for more than a couple days, I totally recommend an apartment. They are way bigger than the hotel rooms and usually have better locations. We stayed 2 blocks off of the Champ de Mars and right across from the Rue Cler.

The best part of the apartment was the AMAZING view of the Eiffel Tower. It was so surreal to watch the news in the morning and look out the window at the tower.

For dinner we ate at Le Florimond and it was delicious. I tried duck confit for the first time and really enjoyed it. Maybe that had something to do with the fact that it was fried. The owner explained the menu to us and answered our questions, which was a relief since neither of us speak much French.

All in all, it was a great first day in Paris! I'll blog more about the other fun stuff we did later this week!