frame of mind

part of my class is in the louvre. c'est incroyable, studying art with the original right in front of you. while being wowed by the iconic works of art, i was also interested in the frames. i wonder if they're original, too...

how to open a wine bottle without a corkscrew

1. place the base of the bottle into heel part of your shoe.
2. pound the shoe (with the bottle and the shoe perpendicular to each other) against a wall
3. evenually, the pressure in the bottle from the force will loosen the cork, making it easy to pop open by hand

yay, things learned by the seine river! wooo.

oh boy(s)

now, i'm sure this is a topic of much interest to many people... are the men here hot? yes. do the men here dress well? yes. do they seem to look deep into your soul during conversation? yes. do you imagine yourself marrying a french man? yes. HAHA. i may be kidding about the last couple parts, but these french boys do live up to their reputation, c'est vrai. they are cool, collected, and strangely very animated in a stoic sort of way (if that makes any sense at all)--they often make sound effects and dramatic facial expressions to reinforce their point, but without a trace of humor in these amusing practices, for it is completely normal; their funny faces aren't at all bizarre to them. But as a non-parisian, IIII find it oh-so funny and cute hehhe.

i've heard it said before that americans are like peaches: soft, sweet, and seemingly perfect on the outside, but hardened on the inside. & the very opposite for the french, who are like coconuts: stiff and uninviting on the outside, but very sweet and open on the inside. these are just stereotypes, of course, but the american and french psyches are so different!

p.s. when the french try to speak english, it's fairly adorable

le monde

i'm trying to figure out if the world seems bigger to me, or smaller to me, now that i'm in france

why i love my creaky floors

so this past summer, I interned at the Muckenthaler in Fullerton. It's basically an old house turned cultural center--with a huge part of it about celebrating its history (because the house was so old--built in the 1920s)

WELL...here i am...now living in a house that was built in the 17th century.

yeah. the 1600s!

it's pretty fascinating, really. history here is so casual! my madame has a painting that dates back to the 1700s, light fixtures dating back to the 1800s, a tea set from the late 1700s, and these floor tiles? well let's just say that the exact kinds were featured in a historical special on the first abbeye in france. wowoo

this is the kitchen where i prepare my petit dejeuners every morning...and also my dinners when i can no longer spare the moneys. heh. i am oh so thankful <3

hats off to hats

so a couple weeks ago i was able to see a beautiful bride enter her own wedding, in a beautiful church. outside were beautiful children in beautiful outfits and beautiful bridesmaids with gorgeous hats!

since i forgot my camera this day, here's a picture i stole from a classmate:

it's hard to see, but a lot of women were wearing structured hats. i want women to wear cool hats at my wedding! hehe. they reminded me of the hats that philip treacy designed, and i saw, in a project runway episode.

which also reminds me, today i watched a special on the tele with my madame and monsieur after dinner. there was a little part on Lorenzo Re, one of the last hat block makers in the world. He's Parisian, of course, and scuplts wooden hat block which hat makers use to manufacture their hat collections. presently, he designes for haute-couture creators like dior, chanel, givenchy, and philip treacy

for example,

where to begin

there are so many things i can say that i now have no idea where to begin

"true friends stab you in the front"

"How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being?"


quotes from oscar, but also from paris je t'aime(: