Get on with it already!

By Amy

Lot's of brown around here. Everything looks dead.

Probaby because it is. It was 49 degrees today. I can SMELL spring. I can FEEL spring. But I don't see it. I see alot of this.

This is a good thing. Ugly, but good. Spring = green. Spring = tulips. Spring = a new neice. Spring = Paris. Spring = birds chirping. Where are you little birdies?

I know winter has it's own beauty and I appreciate it. But I'm ready for it to be over. Ready for some green. And new life. And Paris!

Ca-Ching!

by Ang

In my many hours spent on the web researching our trip, almost every travel website I’ve visited has a ‘Shopping’ section. Until today, I haven’t looked at ANY of these sections. It was very low on my to do list for this trip. But now that a lot of the major stuff is done, I thought it might be a good if I at least started perusing for some good shopping areas.

There is an abundance of places.
Of course, there are the stores that we’ll probably just walk by and not actually enter:

Hermes

Christian Dior

Prada (how cool would it be to live above Prada?)

And then there’s the ACTUAL places that we will be doing the majority of our shopping:

And you know what? I’m TOTALLY okay with that.

Buried By Buttons

By Amy

Orginally I wanted to post about preparations for Paris. Stuff I wanted to get done. Befores and Afters. But I'm in sort of a time crunch here. By Monday I need to sew 200 buttons on little felt circles. As was mentioned before, Ange and I are throwing a baby shower for our sis-in-law. This Monday we are getting together with her sister to create some fun stuff for the shower. Alas, the reason for the buttons.

Can't tell you what they are for, just in case my sis-in-law reads this, but promise to spill the beans on everything after the shower is over. Here's the twenty that I did so far.

Only ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY left!!

Getting Organized

by Ang

I like to think of myself as a fairly organized person. I kind of have to be, as I live in a one-bedroom apartment with limited space. I am not a hoarder, thank goodness. I try to live by the ‘one in, one out’ rule. And I do okay, for the most part. I don’t NEED more space, I just need to be organized and keep things neat and clean. So when there’s a lot of events going on in my life that require planning and ‘stuff’, I have to REALLY be organized so that I can create more space for the extras that I accumulate beforehand.

I start planning early and start buying things here and there that I will need, so that I’m not spending $100+ at Target the night before we leave. I’m on a budget and it helps to spread it all out. About a month ago I started purchasing a few things here for the trip. But now….where to put them. ? They all started off on a shelf in my linen closet, but that didn’t last long because the shelf is small and I also had a pile of the baby shower stuff there. So yesterday I cleaned out my coat closet and designated the lower shelf for shower and trip stuff. Hopefully it will stay contained.

Why, hello little lambs:

And vacation items:

Now if only I could find extra closet space for these babies:

French 101

by Amy

I have always been interested in the French language. In eighth grade I took my first French class. Madame Rulie taught me the alphabet, numbers and how to meet and greet. In high school I took three more years. Unfortunately, that was 15 years ago. All I remember now was what I learned in eighth grade....the bare minimum. When we decided to go to France I thought this would be a great time to brush up on my French and learn all that I had forgotten. I have found that my mind isn't as 'sponge-like' as it used to be. In fact, I think it is down-right soggy. Everything just spills out of it. I started with the basics. Numbers, introductions and simple questions and phrases. I felt pretty confident with my knowledge and thought, Hey! I can do this! But then I started to learn the nitty gritty...basic French grammer. Time to pull the big dog out.

This book has actually been very helpful in breaking down sentences, learning gender of the nouns and how to use regular and irregular verbs. It's really hard and it seems like the more I try to learn the dumber I feel. As seen in following posts, I have yet to master English. Why in the world am I trying to learn another language? To make matters worse, the French hate it when you butcher their language. So in Paris I may just smile and nod a lot. I'm not giving up though. It's good for my brain. And if some dirty French guy asks, "vous etes celibataire?" at least I will know how to respond. "Non! Je suis epouse!"

Le films

by Ang
I was organizing my movie cabinet (I do this frequently, I'm a bit obsessive about it) and I was noticing all of the movies that take place and/or were filmed in Paris. I have quite a few! I'm going to try to watch some before our trip. It's fun to see different shots and areas of the city.

I can start off with some classic Audrey Hepburn movies - Funny Face and Paris When it Sizzles:

And then watch Charade (also Audrey Hepburn). I love this movie. It is a GREAT comedy and definitely in my top 20 favorite movies ever!

And then we can move on to the newer ones in the Action/Romance/Comedy catagories:

Then take a trip back in time with Marie Antoinette and the famous Opera House:


And how could we forget Remy??

And then I could watch ACTUAL French movies, such as Diving Bell & the Butterfly, La Vie en Rose, and Avenue Montaigne:


Oh, and we can't forget The Netherlands! Oceans 12 with it's wonderful shots of Amsterdam in North Holland, and Girl With a Pearl Earring taking place in Delft, South Holland:


Maybe these movies will help cheer me up if I'm depressed after our vacation! :)

Oh, and on another sad note, yesterday I learned that my beloved Domino magazine is closing . This is probably the last issue I will receive.


Goodbye Domino. :(

Pieces of Paris....Now

When we decided to go, sister started buying me things to build enthusiasm. Not that I needed any further help. But it's always fun to get stuff! I love staring at these little treasures. They just remind me of what I will see, in the flesh, in eight weeks. Here's a picture of my little collection thus far.....

I love it all. Ange bought me everything except for this little gem....

I ordered this off of Etsy. I love Etsy. It is a website that people can sale their homemade goodies. They have the cutest stuff. I'm going to use this little pouch for my ipod. One of the first things that Angela bought me was this box.

It's beautiful isn't it?!! When I got it my youngest son suggested that I put my Paris spending money in it. I thought it was a great idea.

Think that will be enough? (: