Bijoux, Anyone?

I'm getting lots of design ideas from living in Paris. They wear different stuff than what we do in the States. Cooler stuff. I like theirs a lot more, frankly. Being here has really worked on my design sense.

I have a passing brush with greatness, in the form of my aquaintance with one Pamela Ribon, also known to a vast number of people as Pamie.com. Pam's second (SECOND!) novel is being released August 1, Why Moms Are Weird. In addition to being rabidly jealous and unbelievably envious at Pam's many freaking accomplishments, of which publishing two full novels is only one (or um, 2?), I'm also stoked, both for her and because I really enjoyed her first book, Why Girls Are Weird. Not to mention she's getting great reviews.

::sigh:: There's really just no way laundry can ever compete with that. Even with pictures.

Jenie

Room With a View

I took this from my kitchen window tonight. I kinda like how it turned out. :)

Living In Paris - the Blog

I started a new blog for my Paris stuff. I'm thinking of writing a book about the experience of living in Paris, so I wanted to keep all that stuff separate. I'll probably still post here, but that will have more "in-depth" posts and explanations of what it takes to live here.

Ciao,
Jenie

Still no phone

I don't want to cast aspersions on the French or anything, but the stupid cable/phone guy did not come today, and I know it's because I was his last stop of the day and he was running late and did not want to work late, because the French are not into working late. Like, not even a little. So my window of 4-6 was obviously more a ballpark estimate of when he might stop by, should he so desire, and it was wishful thinking and sheer gullability on my part to think it actually meant anything. I even stayed late and waited, because in America, the cable guy never hits his window and will usually show up late, but when I asked my neighbor - in halting french - whether or not that was the case here, she unequivocally told me no. With a smile that clearly said, "Ah, you silly American, to think the cableman is coming at this hour; it is way past 6." It was 7:30, which also made it too late to get anything else done, since France is not the land of all-night commerce that America is. The French spend time with their families and friends, and that means no one works late and they all work 35 hour work weeks. Ah, France. I think I hate you. You know: in a loving way. ::sigh::

Also? I really need a phone and some freaking form of english entertainment. :( I hate the cable guy. And not in a good way, either. :(

The courtyard of the Palais-Royal

Begun in 1629, the Palais-Royal was once the home of Cardinal Richilieu. At his death, he left it to Cardinal Mazarin and Queen Anne of Austria, Louis XIV's mother. It was looted during the French Revolution and served for a time as home to Napoleon's cousin and advisor, Joseph Charles Paul ("Prince") Napoléon. Now it houses several agencies of French government.

These ghastly columns were installed in 1986, under the watchful eye of French artist Daniel Buren, who titled his 280 columns Cour d'Honneur (Court of Honor). Frankly, I find them an atrocity, and so do a lot of French people. Buren is also known as "the stripe guy," for which reason I think his god-awful columns make evident.



There are two of these fountains, one at each end of the Orleans Gallery, which separates the courtyard from the gardens. They were created by Paul Bury and installed in 1988, I believe. Might have been 1986. They are themselves not that attractive, but certainly more than Buren's eyesore, as well as more interesting. I didn't take any pictures of the garden this time around, as I really didn't find them as pretty as they have been in the past. All I have is a picture from under the arbor arcade, and really, you stand under one long straight section of trees and take a picture into the sunlit part beyond, and you've done it for all. I have better pictures and will probably take more, so I'll post those when it happens.



A bientot!
Jenie

French Nautilus

The steps to my apartment on the 4th floor.

Bon Voyage!

I am off for Paris day after tomorrow! I'm nervous and excited. Nervous because I really, really hate to fly. Like, more than anything in the world; I can't tell you how much I hate to fly. And since September 11th, I hate it even more, because now, not only do I have drunken pilots, mechanical malfunction, shoddy materials, stress fractures, foreign object damage, and weather conditions to worry about, I also have random psychotic extremists to bear in mind.

I really, really hate flying. In fact, since 1981 or so, about the only time getting on a plane hasn't filled me with indescribable dread was coming back from France in 2003, when I had heat-exhaustion and the flu and was so sick, all I wanted was to curl up in a ball when I got home, so after wrangling 80 pounds of luggage through the entire Paris Metro, the RER and Charles De Gaulle, sitting on a nice, air conditioned plane was the least of my troubles, whether it made it all the way home, or not. Then I hit Toronto customs and the hell that was juggling that same 3-piece 80 pounds of luggage while standing in a 7.5 hour line and involved missing my flight, so that final leg of the journey was more of a "ohthankgod-i'm-finally-on-the-plane" scenario than a "ohmigod, I have to fly again" thing.

But aside from that single day, I look at flying as a necessary evil, fraught with peril and disaster. Which is why I never fly without Pete, the Awesome Battlebear, and why I'm really anxious about flying again. Over the ocean. To London (and then to Paris).

::sigh::

Jenie

Hocus Pocus!

To quote Sarah Jessica Parker, "Amok, amok, amok, amok!"

Things have gone slightly awry. That being said, I have just finished up the last batch of Soothing Oatmeal Mask for the summer (barring any of my friends putting in last minute requests) and packed up the most adorable samples to send to Amy at The Little Black Box, for the June box. :) I splurged and went with little aluminum tins with clear plastic lids. Each one contains a heaping tablespoon of mask (4 or 5 applications) and they're seriously the cutest things. :) I'm really happy with them. I probably should have held onto them until I come back from France, but I wanted to send Amy something for the June box. And I suppose $40 isn't too much to pay for a little advertising...even if my shop won't be open again until November.

I begin to despair I will ever manage to get my taxes done. :(

I'm really excited about all the things I want to do with Dragonfly when I get back. The new skincare line is gonna rock. :) I'd like a few more testers, so if you'd like to volunteer your services and be among the first to try the newest stuff, send me an email with your name, address, the kinds of things you'd like to try, and your skin type (oily, dry, normal, combination, sensitive, etc. - be sure to cover all the bases on that). I probably especially need oily, dry, and normal/sensitive types. Please include your usual skincare routine in your email; that way I won't end up sending you stuff to test that isn't important to you.

I may send stuff out for testing before I go, so the sooner you want to send the 411, the better. :) I'm working to make the skinline as natural and organic as possible, because I think that's best for your skin, so if you don't like all the chemicals in the stuff you buy at the store, and you'd like to try a more holistic approach, this will hopefully be the skincare line for you. :) Again, I'm pretty excited about it. :)

Okay, gotta go. I have to do taxes asap, so I suppose I should at least *try* to find all my receipts...

Jenie