I'm exhausted, that's the least thing I can say. My brother came to visit us and for three days I was a tourist again in what's been our hometown for almost two-and-a-half years. Under the most pleasant Fall weather we walked miles and miles, talked and just enjoyed the city. And in between we visited a couple of exhibits.
On Thursday, I took my brother to the Centre Pompidou, to see the Soulages retrospective. If you happen to be in or plan a trip to Paris: this one's not to be missed! I highly (HIGHLY!) recommend the Soulages exhibit. His work is stunning, of a magnificent beauty and simplicity.
And then there's the Photoquai Exhibit, Deuxième Biennale des images du monde, a photo exhibit in the open at the Quai Branly. But hurry up for this one as it ends October 22nd.
Soulages, Centre Pompidou, Paris, October, 14th, 2009 - March 8th, 2010, entrance fee: 12 euros (covers visit of the entire museum)
La subversion des images, Centre Pompidou, Paris, September 23rd 2009 - January, 11th, 2010, entrance fee: 12 euros (covers visit of the entire museum)
Photoquai, Deuxième Biennale des images du monde, Quai Branly, Paris, September, 22nd - November, 22nd, 2009, entrance free
Reading - Don't go to France without reading Stephen Clarke's "Talk to the snail". Though I don't agree with everything he writes, it certainly is a fun read. From the same author: "A year in the merde" (and a bunch of sequels which I haven't finished reading yet) - a relaxing and fun read. Perfect for those boring Transatlantic flights. - If you'd like to get an insight in the nuances of the French language I recommend "Pardon my French. Unleash your inner Gaul." from Charles Timoney. Even after over two years in France I found this book quite intersting still. - Paris Mômes - not only a great source of information for activities with kids in and around Paris, but also nicely illustrated. highly recommended!
Weblinks - Vingt - Paris: ... a comprehensive hub for visual arts information and resources in Paris, nurturing our creative community through a series of art exhibitions and events.
This afternoon, I took the kids to the "égouts de Paris" (the underground sewer installation of Paris). To my surprise they really enjoyed this little field trip - well, except for the smell, that is. And it was really worth the visit! At the end of the tour we bought this nice water can, with a full detail of Paris' water composition. The design is very simple and it fits in the fridge, which our Brita filter didn't.
I did take my camera and took some pictures of the installations. They turned out a bit blurry - I didn't bring a tripod, didn't want to use flash nor did I take time to truly experiment with the metering. But these imperfections add to the "industrial look" of the pictures, I figured...
It's been exactly two years now since we arrived here in Paris. And what a time it has been!
I remember it as if it were yesterday, how me and my girls were sitting in that plane holding hands while it took off, taking a last look at what had been our home for five and a half years, and how the three of us started crying. The weeks before had been very intense - the packing, the farewell parties, saying goodbye to daddy who left earlier to get us installed at our new place across the Atlantic, the last hugs and goodbye kisses from our very best friends, the early morning trip to the airport.
But I also remember the feeling of relief when we finally got in Paris - the feeling of coming home somehow, being closer to relatives again, as if a weight was falling off my shoulders. Though I really loved our Californian life, and never felt homesick (except for Fall each year, mainly because we missed the change of seasons), I often felt some sort of burden: K. and I were the only family our girls had over there, their only roots. "What if something would happen to us?", often crossed my mind. But we had wonderful years there - a good life, surrounded by the best friends imaginable. California definitely changed me. Being a rather shy person, I opened up, for one thing...
And then all of the sudden there was Paris. It just happened to us, just like California happened to us. We never planned on going abroad, but we did. Paris wasn't an easy decision. The girls would have to give up a lot: their friends, the open space they'd been used to as long as they could remember, the pools, the lovely weather, and so much more. But our main worry was the language: the girls didn't speak a word of French... how would they deal with that?
That was then. Now, we've been here for two years and we love it. The girls are doing great, are both fluent in French - to be honest: they teach me how to speak French. I'm often surprised about their amazingly wide vocabulary. I've caught my self checking the dictionary more than once, lately, to look up a new word or expression H.'s been using. Unlike K. and me, they speak it with no accent. The English is still there, but the French becomes more prominent. People on the metro often look surprised when they hear us jump from one language to the other. Both girls made plenty of new friends, M. toughened up a bit which is a good thing (she's such a sweet, gentle and empathic girl it sometimes hurts...), and H. fits in perfectly with her natural flamboyant style. All this didn't happen overnight. It was a bit of a bumpy road. To be honest, those first six months were hard and I thought or even yelled more than once how much "I hated this place". That was then, this is now: "Paris, je t'aime!"
I'm planning on a series of posts about Paris the coming weeks. Let that be one of my blogging plans for summer...
Staircase at le musée Jacquemart-André - I (honestly!) didn't see the "no photographs"-sign at the entrance but got away with this one, when told not to take any pictures...
I'm so totally tired... but so totally happy, too!
My friend L. was visiting from the U.S. - she contacted me a couple of weeks ago to let me know her husband had to be in Paris for work and that she would join him on this short trip. We didn't see each other for almost two years. Our families were really close when we lived in California. We met through the playgroup she'd started and little M. and her little boy soon became best friends. We celebrated major holidays together, did many other fun activities with the playgroup kids and other moms. And our kids used to have their birthday parties together, being born just one day apart from each other. They were our "U.S. family", our real family living in Belgium. You can imagine the shock when one day L. announced they would move out-of-state - we had no idea at that time we would be moving to Paris just one year later...
So, now we met again. Here in Paris. It felt like we didn't spent two years on either side of the Atlantic - the sort of connection you only feel with the very best friends. L. and I took long walks through Paris on Thursday and Friday, talking and talking, we sampled macaroons from Ladurée, went for a visit to le Musée Jacquemart-André, and walked some more (we made it to the Merci!-store). On Saturday night, our husbands were able to join us for dinner and we made plans to spend the summer of 2010 together, somewhere... Italy, maybe, or the U.S.??
L. and T., it was so good to see you!! Thanks for visiting and lets move ahead with those plans!!
We had a relaxing, touristy weekend here in Pars. That's the weird thing about living in such a gorgeous city: it's almost like one forgets about all that's there. Since we realize that Paris might not be our home forever, we're planning to visit more of it and also because it's just fun to be a tourist "at home". With that in mind, we took the kids to the château de Vincennes on Saturday. Though Paris is crowded with tourists right now, the place was nearly empty. Clearly, le château de Vincennes is not featured in tourists' guides, though it is an interesting place to visit. We took a guided tour of "le donjon" which is highly recommended. Mistakenly we thought it used to be a prison, only. Not so! Several of France's kings have resided here and only later on it became a "dungeon" to some very famous men. If you're interested in finding out more about this historically important place, make sure to check out the excellent official site of this château, here.
The girls had packed their cameras and sketching books in their little backpacks. This is M. drawing a detail of the grid.
Back home the girls cooked dinner with daddy: Mac'n Cheese (from scratch - daddy's secret recipe!) for themselves and a Spaghetti Putanesca for daddy and me. Yum!
We took a slow start on Sunday, but in the afternoon we decided to take a stroll in the Quartier Latin with a stop at le Musée Cluny - aka the National Museum of Middle Ages. The museum resides a magnificent collection of tapestries, artefacts and sculptures of the middle ages, the most important pieces in the collection undeniably being the six tapestries of "La dame et la Licorne". Stunning! Unfortunately the place was incredibly crowded, probably because it always is and also because entrance is free the first Sunday of every month. I definitely need to go back there! After the visit we decided to head over to the Ile de la cité only a short walk from there.
on our walk to "l'île de la cité" we passed this charming bookstore...
Our feet growing tired - I was wearing my pumps, not ideal for taking long walks I realized - we went for a drink at Café Panis, which can best be described as an authentic, romantic Parisian brasserie, located near the Notre-Dame de Paris, a hot spot so witnesses the price list.
Café l'Imprimerie - I was sitting right under this light fixture. Of course I couldn't resist...
Since the weather was really nice we just kept on walking, now towards Châtelet and the Forum des Halles, where we planned to catch the metro. We didn't feel like going home, however, and ended up at another café, the very nice Café l'Imprimerie, 29 rue Coquillière, 75001, where we decided to have dinner. The nice decor, with accents reminding of the 30's, really good soul music coming from the speakers, a friendly and helpful waiter, and very unusual... 2 golden retrievers made this place the perfect "endroit" to end our touristy weekend. I had a divine salad with grilled toast topped with "confit de poires" and grilled goat cheese. So good! Might try to make this at home!!
Now, let that be my first post in the "Paris series" I promised. I didn't intend this post that way, I just came to realize it while re-reading it.
There's so much more I want to share about this gorgeous city. To be continued!
No, it's not my age, my twenties are way behind me!
Vingt - Paris, is the name of a French blog (but written in English) I came across recently and which I love. Vingt - Paris (until recently known under the name "I V Y paris") "serves as a comprehensive hub for visual arts information and resources in Paris, nurturing our creative community through a series of art exhibitions and events.", as they describe themselves. You'll find all sorts of information here about events, exhibitions, concerts, etc. but also lists - Vingt - hence the name. Yesterday's list had the very promising title "20 French Sex Symbols (Les Hommes)". Have I been here long enough to know these men, I wondered. Well, it turns out I know some of them, beside the obvious like Alain Delon, Jean-Paul Belmondo (I don't agree!) and Sarko. There's Thierry Henry, the captain of "Les Blues", the French national soccer team, and yes, he's handsome (without the moustache, that is). His "les Blues" team mate Yoann Gourcuff sure is cute (and I'm not the only one to think so, just ask my girls about him). How about Serge Gainsbourg? I don't think he had the looks (he's been referred to as l'homme à la tête de chou (cabbage head)), but his voice and music definitely sound sexy. We've actually been listening a lot lately to his 1971 concept album Melodie Nelson. Very Gainsbourg, psychedelic, highly recommended. If you don't know this record, here it is
Anyone missing in that list? Well, I surely was surprised not to find Sebastien Chabal, one of the French team rugby players, in that list. After the 2007 Rugby World Cup, this man with the viking looks certainly was "hot" in France, with the Caron "Eau de Toilette pour un Homme" ad on every corner of the street, just to give one example.
There have been many other lists at "Vingt", but my favorite one is definitely the "20 Arnaques (rip-offs)" - with haircuts featuring at the top of the list, which makes me think they're "arnaque" at any place in the world. They were in California, at least. I also particularly liked the "20 Expressions Françaises" , though I think the list is not complete. I might try to make a list of my own at some point.
And since we're talking about lists, yesterday as I watched 3 (!) episodes of Grey's Anatomy on French TV, I decided to make a list of my own. As you may know, in France every show on TV which isn't originally French, is dubbed. It took me about two and a half episodes of Grey's Anatomy, yesterday, to get used to the voice-over Patrick Dempsey (wasn't he considered really hot in the US a couple of years ago?) and Ellen Pompeo. The thing is Patrick Dempsey and Hugh Laurie (House MD) share the same voice-over, or that's what it feels like, which is VERY annoying. House MD, was actually another favorite show of ours, but just because of this dubbing thing we stopped watching it on French TV. His ranting simply doesn't have the same impact in French.
So here's my list - a random list of movie titles as you would find them here at the box office. I limited myself to just ten. As you will notice some of them get quite hilarious when translated back in English, others just give away the movie... I wonder why they keep doing this...
1. Jaws (1985) - Les dents de la mer - The teeth of the sea 2. Final Analysis (1991) - Sang Chaud pour meurtre sang froid - Warm blood for cold blooded murder 3. Lost in translation (2004) - Traduction infidèle (Canada) - Unfaithful Translation 4. From Dusk till Dawn (1996) - Une nuit en enfer - One night in hell 5. The Departed (2006) - Les infiltrés - The infiltrators 6. Cinderella men (2005) - De l'ombre à la lumière - from shade to light 7. The matrix (1999) - Les jeunes gens qui traversent les dimensions en portant des lunettes à soleil - The Young People Who Traverse Dimensions While Wearing Sunglasses - I can't believe this one's actually true, it must be a joke really, as I also found it as La matrice, which makes more sense... 8. Rebel without a cause (1955) - Fureur de vivre - the rage of living 9. Betrayed (1988) - La main droite du diable - the right hand of the devil 10. Dirty Harry - L'inspecteur Harry - Inspector Harry as opposed to Inspector Clouseau, Inspector Morse, Inspector Barnaby, ... I guess...
Little H. and I went for a walk along the Seine on Sunday afternoon. She needed another picture of her and Flat Stanley, on a bridge, to finish her project for school. So, we walked - and she talked - all the way down to my favorite bridge in Paris, le Pont Bir Hakeim.
Here are some of the bits and pieces we came across on our way - a slightly different view of Paris... (click on picture to get directed to Flickr for a larger view)
From left to right: 1. old fuse box, looks like the perfect spot for a bird nest - 2. liked the curve of these staires and the orange blinds in the back - 3. little H. and Flat Stanley on Pont Bir Hakeim - 4. the rattling sound of these blue metal blinds, caused by the wind, scared the hell out of little H. - 5. litter all over the place a not so unusual sight in Paris, unfortunately - 6. ever lost a bike in Paris? go check there. some parts might have gone missing, though - 7. "It's too bloody cold to dive for food..." - 8. Liked this window of one of the boats on the Seine: the boat themed curtains, the little canoes and Mickey Mouse, cheerful as always...
The first time I spotted them was fall, last year. Figs, growing in huge numbers at the park we pass through every day on our way to school. By the time they were ripe, however, the park was shut down for some serious pruning and trimming. So, sadly, we didn’t get to pick any to try. I was actually a little surprised to find them growing here, in the middle of Paris. I would think our moderate climate not to be very favorable to growing figs. This maybe explains why there seems to be less of them this year, at our little park. The many produce stores around here, however, have them “en masse” right now. This brings me to sharing this fast and easy, but, I believe, very sophisticated recipe. It actually is a “new take” on a recipe I got a long time ago from my friend Liz. She served this dish at a dinner party she hosted – the first one of many for us, as our families grew very close over the years. The original recipe asks for dried prunes, which I now substituted with fresh figs. And, it works wonderfully well, doesn’t it Nina?
So, Liz, Nina, this one’s for you!
Oh, and did you see the clear blue sky in the picture? That was yesterday. A lovely, sunny, autumn day… in Paris.
Marinated chicken with fresh figs
Ingredients: Pre-cut chicken breasts or chicken tenders, to serve 6
Marinade: Several cloves of garlic, pressed or finely chopped 1/8 cup dried oregano ¼ to ½ cup balsamic vinegar ¼ to ½ cup olive oil ¼ cup Spanish green olives (I usually take them marinated in olive oil and garlic) ¼ cup capers 3 bay leaves Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp brown sugar ¾ cup dry white wine 4 to 5 fresh figs, quartered lengthwise Finely chopped cilantro or Italian parsley, optional
1. In a large bowl combine marinade ingredients and chicken. Cover and refrigerate overnight or at least 8 hours. 2. Preheat oven to 350 F. 3. Arrange chicken in a single layer in a shallow baking pan and spoon marinade over. Add figs. Sprinkle chicken with brown sugar and pour wine all around. 4. Bake for about 35-40 min (less if using tenders). 5. (Sprinkle with cilantro or parsley). Serve. Can also be served cool or at room temperature.
This dish goes very well together with green beans or green asparagus on the side and couscous or boiled potatoes still in their peel (boiled with a crushed - but not minced - garlic clove still in its peel, one bay leave, a little dried thyme and coarse salt added to the water).
Wednesday night, I finally did what I had been wanting to do for a long time. I went for a walk - equipped with my camera - to one of my favorite spots here in Paris: le Pont Bir-Hakeim. I briefly mentioned this bridge in an earlier post. It's the bridge which connects the Bir-hakeim and Passy metro stations. To me this two-level bridge is one of the most photogenic spots in Paris. Not only do you get a gorgeous view on the Eiffel tower from there, either when walking along it at the lower level or when traveling by metro at the upper level, but the bridge as such is quite a beauty too. During the day, but especially at night. A nice piece of architecture if you ask me with its steel pillars forming a long gallery, the hanging lamps, the mysterious light they shed, the feel of walking in a dark tunnel, which it's not... Even the cars running next to it on both sides add to its beauty and the "film noir" atmosphere.
This bridge has been the scene for quite a few movies - Last Tango in Paris (1972), with Marlon Brando and Peur sur la ville (1975) with Jean Paul Belmondo, being only two of them. I haven't seen either one of them (yet) - I was definitely too young at the time but I was able to track down the particular Pont de Bir-hakeim scene of the Belmondo movie on Youtube. It was used by Cyndi Lauper (!?) for her "Right Track Wrong Train" (1983) video clip, the B-track of Girls just want to have fun ... I'm not too young to remember that one! And a typical Belmondo scene in my opinion...
I shot everything in black and white (well, you already figured that out, I'm sure), no flash and no tripod. Next time I really should take the tripod, as did the fellow-photographers I saw running around that night on the bridge - I wasn't there alone... My tripod is a bit bulky and very basic - It's a hand-me-down from my brother (Thanks, J.). Though I use it quite often here at home, I've never taken it with me on an outdoor photo shoot, also because I'm a bit shy, really. (I don't want to look "too professional" as I'm not - it took me a while to feel comfortable taking pictures in public). So, actually, no, instead of taking a tripod I should make one of these - this link was sent to me a while ago by Virginia of Color Informal - thanks, Virginia!
If you Google "DIY tripod" you can find many more examples - I just love these homemade equivalents to top gear equipment... Here's another solution , which I also really liked just using an... elastic!
No excuses anymore for shaking hands or blurred pictures, though this picture is intentionally blurred... taken from the stairs near the Passy metro station.
Part of my stash. I can't wait to cut little H's boots from last year to pieces - i like the little belts on them. M's boots have met my scissors already...
Often I'm asked where I find the leather I'm using in my crafts. I consider myself lucky to be living in Paris for many reasons. One of them is that I have easy access to everything imaginable related to making and creating. I have a couple of addresses at the Marché Saint-Pierre where they sell leather in any size going from full skins to just pieces of scraps. I've been told these skins and scraps are actually leftovers from big labels like Hermès, Chanel, ... I'm not sure if this is actually true, but I like the thought that I do carry a Hermès bag after all! The department store BHV also carries a nice selection in its hardware department, near the shoe repair supplies. Knowing that this information doesn't help a single bit if you don't live in the Paris area, I have come up with a couple of alternatives. The good thing about these is that they might turn out to be a lot cheaper as well because chances are you might own them already.
Leather boots: Did you grow tired of last year's boots? Are they beyond repair? Did your kids outgrow their favorite boots? Don't throw them out yet! Just cut off the shafts and you'll end up with two nice pieces of leather.
Leather jackets: Having an outdated jacket you don't know what to do with? Cut it to pieces. If you don't own an old jacket try to find one at a thrift store. You'll have plenty of leather to work with. The same applies to leather skirts and pants. Get out those scissors!
Purses and bags: You might be done with that old purse or book bag but before you throw it out, check if there aren't any parts you could still use. I'm not only thinking of pieces of leather but also of possible straps, belts and buckles which might come in handy.
Belts: by nature perfect as a strap, the buckle being a nice detail.
Sandals (and shoes): because of the straps and often also because of their decoration. They could be transformed in some nice accessories like a bracelet, a brooch, a hair clip, or could be used to add detail to a plain bag.
I'm sure you can add a couple more to the list. Now, if working with leather scares you but you do like the idea of recycling leather, then check out this site for quite some stunning bags and purses made from recycled leather jackets. You can find a selection of recycled leather bags on Etsy as well. I especially like this one here.
Yesterday, I visited "merci", a new store that just opened its doors in the 3° arrondissement in Paris. What's interesting about that, you ask? Well about everything about this store is!
merci is a concept store as well as a charity shop. Not a regular charity shop, though. I would rather describe it as an up-market (and dito priced) charity store given the fact they sell vintage items as well as designer items, clothes made by "des jeunes créateurs", used books in a "café bouquiniste", home and kitchenware and furniture. At merci, you can find flowers, fragrances and jewelry as well ... The "charity" part kicks in at the level of the seller, as all profits go to a fund to help kids in Madagascar and the staff consists of volunteers. An ambitious but beautiful project given the recession we're in. With its 1500 square meters the store is quite big and organized over three floors. Just the location - a former fabric factory - and the way everything is displayed makes this store worth a visit - and I'm sure once there you'll be able to find something to your taste... Just know that every euro cent spent will go to a good cause...
merci is located at 111 Boulevard Beaumarchais, 75003 Paris - Métro 8 - Saint-Sébastien-Froissart. You can read more about mercihere.
pictures taken with permission from the merci store manager
I received an award on Monday. The Kreativ Blogger Award! From Cindy of Quaint Handmade! Thanks, Cindy!
You won't get an acceptance speech, but instead I'm asked to share seven things which you might not know about me. Seven, really? I mean: only seven?
1. // Between the lines // - What's in a name? The hardest part about starting a blog was finding the right name. It took several weeks of thinking. I don't recall exactly when or how I came up with // Between the Lines //, but it felt right instantly. It reflects part of my personality, I guess - I like to stay within the lines, am not a risk-lover and usually stick to the rules. Also, I'm not a very open person, a bit private - sometimes you need to read between the lines to get to the deeper sense. And graphically, too, I like nice, clear cut and strong lines. Hence, // Between the lines //.
2. Tulips are my absolutely favorite flowers. My wedding bouquet was entirely made out of tulips. White with a twist of yellow tulips. So lovely!
3. I've been using the same fragrance for over twenty years: Cristalle by Chanel. I've tried other fragrances, but to no avail. Cristalle is the one and only for me. Fresh and subtle. I dread the day Chanel decides to take it off the market.
4. Though I drink only one or two cups of coffee a day (black!), I like anything coffee-flavored. Desserts, ice cream, macarons (yummy!), pastries, frapuccino's, ...
5. I mentioned our wedding already once and since February is our wedding anniversary month, here's one more: we found out we'd be moving to Paris on our wedding anniversary, three years ago. Only, in all the excitement that came with the prospect of moving to Paris we simply forgot about our anniversary. It was K. who called me from the office the next morning to tell me what had happened...
6. My feet grew one size bigger during my last pregnancy and never shrunk back, somehow.
7. I sob when watching movies (even kid's movies) which can be quite embarrassing. I remember watching "An officer and a gentlemen" at my uncle's when I was a teenager, and how I burst into tears at the end and couldn't stop crying... So embarrassing!
I finally got myself a real leather punch and I'm pretty pleased with it as it looks good, I believe. Simple, sleek, just the way I like it. Unfortunately, I won't be able to put it through the test any time soon. We've decided to move - No panic! We stay in Paris! As a matter of fact we even stay on the same block - just a different apartment, slightly bigger. But this means a lot of work in the weeks to come (we'll be moving the second week of April, most likely). No time for new tutorials, I'm afraid, but I intend to keep posting here. Pictures of things going on and - who knows - a little craft or so, whipped together in the wee hours, and a story or two...
PS: Cindy has a dog - I have a bird, don't you think?! It makes me think a bit of Mo Willems' pigeon. And talking about pigeons - I had a very bad encounter with a pigeon yesterday, or worse, with its droppings... I'll spare you the gross details, as gross it was... That too is Paris...
Last Friday, after posting the wire wrapped felted heart, I went on a long stroll through Paris. An inspiring walk, I must say! Except from buying some fabric and a Frappuccino, I didn't spend a dime. But I did get a refreshing load of new ideas - for free. A couple of years ago, I started making jewelry. It all begun with a two-hour beading class at the local fine arts center. Earrings, necklaces, bracelets... I made tons of them. I found my inspiration in JJill catalogues, the local farmers' market, and other places I can't remember ... Some pieces I still have, some I gave away as presents, some of it I sold at our moving sale. And then, all of a sudden, it stopped. I found some new hobbies like needle felting, collage, messing around with paint, baking, photography... I did a bit of sewing again. But I didn't make any jewelry for the past two years. And then, this weekend, some new ideas kicked in and I made this necklace and really had fun at it! Doesn't it look beautiful?!
Except for the bronze chain, pendant, split rings and pins, I had everything here at at home. The braid and fabric pompom, I had made a while ago. They were just sitting in my "crafts" box, waiting until I found some new inspiration to do something with them. The braid was made out of silk ribbon and fabric strips. Some of you might even recognize the fabric. It's the same one I used in quite a few projects by now (here and here) and which I originally got to make some pyjama pants with - which I never finished, by the way. I don't even remember where they ended up...But I guess I'm deviating. The pompom just "happened" (same fabric!). If you'd like to make one of these: they're really easy. All you need is fabric strips (about 0.5 cm) and a pompom template (I made my template with some heavy weight card stock) and you just proceed as you would for a regular yarn pompom. When done, you just trim here and there with scissors to get it into shape and ... done! Besides the gem stones and bronze flower pendant, I added a (tiny) leather strip. That leather, I got a while back at BHV, a big department store here in Paris. I had no idea what I would use it for - I just loved the color and needed to have it!(I've got some nice green too!) And see, it fits in perfectly with the rest and (the back of it) made the perfect surface to put the necklace on in the light box...
Now, will I wear it? I don't know. It might end up in my jewelry box just like the other stuff I made or I might put it on display against a wall. The thing is, I hardly wear any jewelry, but I love to make it... And I'm already planning a next one!
This blog might appear a bit messy and things might look a bit scrambled or different in the days to come. The reason is I want to revamp my blog a tiny bit. I've been wanting to do this for quite a while and now I found a couple of online sources which helped me on the way. Since some of these sites are very informative and might be useful to others - especially to Blogger-users - I'll share the best ones in a later post.
Also to come soon: an entire post dedicated to Paris, with some reading suggestions and interesting blogs. So, Paris-lovers, stay tuned!
Most of you probably know these sites - Apartment Therapy, Design*Sponge and there are quite a few more like that on the net. No need to list them, you probably know them better than I do. I visit these sites too. I even have a couple of them in my reader. To make sure I get the updates - what? 4 times, or is it 6 or 7 times a day. And sure enough, I like what I see - not always, but quite often. However, visiting these sites often leaves me frustrated as well.
Why don't I have a place like that? Who lives in these places? Or better: Does anyone actually live in these places? They probably don't have kids running around who like to move around stuff and just drop it whenever and wherever they grow tired of it. Why can't I ever see a crumb on the floor or dust building up on top of that nice vintage drawer? Or piles of laundry and dirty socks on the floor? Why don't I see pink tooth paste spills in the bathroom sink, the towels on the floor? Oh, and also: no unmade beds, unless it suits the picture. Because that does the trick, a little bit of clever nonchalance, helps to sell the stuff. No stacks of paper or clutter waiting to get filed in those homes, because, hey, they are right on top of everything. These people obviously know how to organize their homes and their lives.
Everything looks neat and clean on those sites and well... you know what I mean.
No matter how hard I try, my place doesn't look like that at all. Our apartment is small to start with. Too small, but this is Paris. We lack square footage and storage. Not all of our belongings are assorted because we moved a couple of times too many, and because we each had our lives before we met and we like to hold on to things - the wrong things. It looks unfinished too, because who knows when we might be moving again. So, yes we still have bare light bulbs after two-and-a-half years here, and no we don't have curtains yet (which I actually don't consider a necessity when you live on the 9th floor and don't have direct vis-à-vis from neighbors). The walls look like they could use a little paint, once white but now with dirty hands all over them and the remains of penciled but erased graffiti in the hall way.
So, most likely the above picture won't make it onto Design*Sponge nor Apartment Therapy or any other of these sites, but this doesn't make me less happy with our leather couch's mini make over.
We have a history of bad choices when it comes to buying couches. Luckily, we moved a couple of times, crossing the Atlantic, and the high overseas shipping rates were a reasonably good excuse for leaving behind whatever we didn't like, including sofa's. When we landed at our new home, here in Paris, we tried to buy the ultimate, perfect couch. And yet again, we managed to get one which this time was too small to sit four, too high to sit comfortably leg-wise and too low in the back. We didn't like our IKEA leather couch a single bit, except for the design maybe. According to K. it was the perfect waiting room sofa. So after a while we ended up buying yet another one, at a big department store sale and the IKEA one has been moved around quite a bit ever since (not that we have that much room to move around things like a couch, but let's say it saw every corner of the place). Last week, I was doing some major clean-up (my stuff!) in what we call "our studio" - this sounds so Design*Sponge - Apartment Therapy-ish, it makes me smile every time I use the word. "The studio", as part of the double séjour used to be the dining room but at one of our last extreme make-overs, we decided to concentrate all of our hobby related stuff in that area of the apartment and so far we love it that way. One of the things that also ended up there was the leather sofa we didn't like. It was hardly ever used to sit in, just to hold things (boxes, books, unfolded laundry, ...), or as a trampoline (little H.) whenever the aforementioned stuff wasn't taking up the seats. A shame really. And that's why, last week, I decided to give the thing one last chance. I moved it to the other side of the room again - the living-room/dining-room area (we're just talking about a couple of square meters, just so you know), to make a real sitting area. It cost me about an entire afternoon of shifting, pushing and moving around things - and a sore back - but the result looked nice. Except for the difference in height between both couches, that is. And that's exactly what was wrong with it all the time: a conceptual imbalance - it never looked right, it never sat right because of the height of its legs.
Well, you might have guessed it already, I took care of that as well. For my mini couch make over, I simply replaced the long metal legs with shorter wooden ones. Not only does it look better now, esthetically, it sits so much better now too - the angle at knee level finally feels right. You can actually sit in it now. It's the perfect spot to sit down with the laptop and a cup of coffee, drooling over the latest posts at ... Design*Sponge and... Oh, yes, you bet!
So, here it is! The revamped (so I hope, at least!) // Between the lines //! After a full week of hard work, often in the wee hours at night. I neglected everyone and everything for an entire week. You should see our place... Don't worry - The kids still made it to school every day with a set of fresh clothes and a healthy lunch box. And I didn't forget to pick them up, either. But other than that... Hum... (Although - I remember I baked two moeulleux au chocolat this week, fixed the goodie bags for little H's birthday party, went to two PTA meetings, ...) More than once I asked myself why I started this whole thing in the first place. And if it was really worth it. But then, I wasn't satisfied anymore with what my blog looked like.
So: Quoi de neuf? I wanted to add something so my readers would be able to navigate more easily through my blog. A lot of you visit my blog for my tutorials, to name one thing. Therefore, as of now you'll find a navigation bar in the left hand sidebar. A complete overview of my tutorials is now just one click away. There's also a link to my other blog, the lately much neglected // Between the lines // - Photography blog. There's also an "interesting links" section, where I'll put up links which I think might be of interest to my readers, links that have been useful to me in one way or the other (tutorials, articles relating to photography,...). Also new is the "Paris je t'aime section" - it's still empty right now, but I intend to add information on that page for the Paris lovers amongst you. I might add sections as I go.
In the right hand sidebar I added a "Photography Blogs" section, with links to some of my favorite photography blogs. Make sure to check them out!
Because of this extra sidebar I had to change the rest of the layout as well. Three columns instead of two. I thought this would be straight forward but it took me much longer than than I thought it would. The good thing is I learned a lot this week, about HTML codes, if-conditions, the importance of brackets in the right place, how to fiddle with margins and padding. I'm actually quite pleased with myself. My brain is still functioning and in the end I really got the hang of it. Not that I plan to repeat the exercise anytime soon. But still...
The only thing I'm not entirely satisfied with is the banner picture. You can expect some changes there still. (Suggestions, anyone?) However, I didn't want to put you on hold any longer. So here it is: le // Between the lines // nouveau! I hope you like it...
I can't believe it's Friday already... It's been a bit of a busy week somehow. To the extent that I didn't find the time nor the energy to post much.
It was a fun week though - the weather has been extremely nice here. L'été indien, as they call it here. And since the sunny days might be over soon, I decided to spend as much time outside as possible, in between the stuff that really needed to be done. I hope the weather will stay like this over the weekend and then hopefully we'll make it to one of the many parks with the kids...
And then, of course, there was the visit of a longtime very good friend. She had to be in Paris for work. Though really (REALLY) close during our high school years and way into our adult lives, we somehow got out of touch after I moved abroad. Sure, we kept each other informed of our pregnancies and sent birth announcements, but sadly we didn't actually manage to see each other for close to six, seven years. So now, she was in Paris and there was so much to catch up with, so much to talk about... And it was so much fun!
Oh, and since I hardly took any pictures this week, I just decided to put this one up. It's a new piece in my very own weekend artist's collection (LOL)... Like the previous one, I made it in between cleaning sessions. Just one way to make those boring chores a bit more pleasant... You should try it!
I'd like to hear from you! Comments and feedback on my projects are much appreciated. Feel free to link to any of my projects, but please contact me first before using my photographs or any of the content found on this blog. Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek!
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