27.8.08

petits trésors

i had the best of luck shopping in paris this weekend. the theme for my 'finds' seemed to be little treasures {or should i say petits trésors en francais} and from the pictures you'll see why!



i've never seen such detailed and beautiful die-cuts before. i'd be afraid to use them in any crafts for fear of ruining them!

there are 25 of these petit little story books, each hand illustrated by the artist elisabeth ivanovsky.



j'adore the madeline books and it seems even more scrumptious in french! don't you love the illustrations?

if you can believe i found all of the above--- the die cuts, madeline book and mini stories all from the musee d'orsay gift shop? never underestimate where you may find things!

i found a collection of amazing vintage hand drawn postcards from marché aux puces de st-ouen in the antique market. these two are just a few that i'm going to keep & frame--the rest i'm going to hopefully get onto a new etsy shop sometime soon. the postcards all are early 1900's french {obviously} and are in my opinion adorable works of art.


you can see how much detail went into this when you look at it up close! i love the color and how their eyes are so permeating!

25.8.08

distractions

musée d'orsay (inside)--photo by me


recently distracted by:

asparagus and pea risotto {courtesy of the eurostar}
the métro on a friday night

antique dolls at musée de la poupée
booksellers along the seine
beautiful painted women at
le musée
looking out over the city on top
little books at the gift shop
jardin des tuileries
sephora on the champs-
élysées
shopping at comptoir de famille
catching up on sleep in a big bed w/fluffy pillows
grilled salmon & chocolate cake at aubergine
'i love paris' & jazz playing in the background

french breakfasts {all you can eat}
a 3 mile run w/the locals through jardin des luxemburg
seeing tai chi in the gardens
exploring the antique market
the accordian player on the métro playing 'la vie en rose'
adorable hand painted antique postcards
walking through the park in the rain
the smell of crêpes
warm quiche & frites at 'pauls'
wandering around st. germain des pres
side streets

windows with closeable shutters
fresh 'non london' air
cafés
catching up on my day dreaming
the best hamburger & chips in the world

mini pain au chocolat & croissants
champagne
vegetarian quiche & lemon tarts
comfy seats and nice french hostesses on the Eurostar
the french countryside
a glorious long weekend

15.8.08

what's in your belly?

my friend rebecca did this great post/tag entitled 'what's in your belly'. it reminded me of when i used to be a check out girl in the grocery section of fred meyer {such fond memories--ha ha}, i always thought it was interesting seeing what people bought for food. what you eat gives such a huge huge insight into your life! so i thought it would be fun to play along with this & post pics of the food sources currently in our flat.



so here are the rules if you want to play too:

rules:
  1. link back to the person who tagged you {their name linked to their blog}
  2. post as many pictures as it takes to reveal all the sources of food in your house. also, just for fun post a picture of what your refrigerator looks like
  3. tag as many people as you want.

so..................i tag:

sherrie
erika
jess
michelle
lori

12.8.08

singing in the rain

this weekend we went to our long awaited diana krall concert up in north london {kenwood house, hampstead--beautiful}. you would think that being august & all we would be guaranteed at least some semi-decent weather. staying true to british style-- it rained for nearly half of it and it wasn't just a little bit it was like a freakin' torrential downpour. the last time i was that soaking wet was in thailand bamboo rafting in the middle of the jungle. i'm surprised it wasn't cancelled and diana krall kept asking if we were all ok--which i thought was nice of her considering we were freezing our behinds off.




besides the weather it was an amazing concert. diana krall was more than great & i managed to get a signed cd as well out of it. i've loved her music for ages & it was fantastic to finally hear her live. to lighten the mood she sang a few rain songs & even elvis costello {her husband} made a surprise on stage appearance. although we only managed to have a tiny bit of our 'picnic' during the rain breaks it made for great leftovers the next day.


so----i'm glad we went even if the weather was the way it was. all the mud, rain & freezing cold make for a much better story & memories! can't wait till next year!

4.8.08

boys, girls & understanding what's between

James & I, Rome 2008


i think i can count on one hand the number of dates i had and a total of '0' long term boyfriends before meeting james. growing up i never talked to boys much cause i always thought they wouldn't be interested in what i had to say or who i was. i never pictured myself in a white dress like most girls do or even pictured myself as a mum. never went to any school dances, my first date wasn't until my mid 20's & my first kiss much later than that.

so i guess you could say i was a bit slow on catching the boat when it comes to trying to understand the whole boys & girls thing. james is my first real boyfriend and i went from pretty limited experience with boys to being in a pretty serious long term relationship across the ocean. i think we both needed each other & were lonely & we both happened to fill the gap at the time. but talk about adjustment--heck you could say its been a bit stressful at times. we've played a lot of catch up emotionally & gone through more in 8 years than most have gone through in 25 years worth of marraige. we're best friends & we've had so much fun over the years. james completely changed me & i'm glad that he came into my life when he did as i don't know what my life would be without these experiences here in london with him.

its just lots of doubts coming into my mind as i don't know if i'll ever understand boys or ever be good at relationships. i think its difficult anyway to live with anyone but a member of the opposite sex can be like trying to figure out how to put together a playpen from ikea with instructions in japanese. i struggle to keep my patience, to love no matter what & to forgive when mistakes are made especially ones that hurt him & me so much physically & emotionally. i want to be compassionate & make him feel like he's the only person in the room. i really doubt if i'm capable of a relationship sometimes but then i try to think about what my life would be without him and i just get weepy. surely it means something that we've got such an amazing friendship?? i can't just let all of that go because i'm doubting myself or scared can i? i dont know maybe i'm just weepy cause i don't want that feeling of emptiness if he wasn't in my life. i just don't know.

lots & lots of emotions recently swirling round our place & i'm just really unsettled because of it. i wish i could just make every day peachy when it comes to our relationship but i know that things like this are just hard work. i know he's worth all of this effort, but i just wish i didn't doubt that everything will be ok. i just gotta take one day at a time, focus on what i can do, remind myself of all the positive things & hope that everything will start becoming clearer. easier said than done though & i just wish things weren't so seriously complicated!!