Tunes Tuesday, "Wild Ones," Flo Rida Featuring Sia

A few years ago, I stumbled across free tickets to a concert by Sia at 9:30 Club, and she completely won me over.  Not only is her voice incredible, but she was genuinely funny and sweet.  Her fans threw a variety of gifts at her, which she called "prezzies."  See, cute, huh?

Now Sia's has not one but two top 40 songs!  Get that cash, girl!  I'm choosing the Flo Rida one over the David Guetta track.  Bet you never thought you'd see a Flo Rida track on Tunes Tuesday.  But I love Sia and I think her vocals give the song some heft, plus the chorus is fun to sing.  Don't bother looking for her in the video because she's not there #lame.  Just pocket the money and don't worry about it, Sia.

Denim Jacket + Little White Dress + Metallic Sandals

So I've been wanting to have more fashion content on my blog, but I feel like a jerk taking pictures of myself and posting them on the Internet (I told this to Debie and she said, "umm, you HAVE seen fashion blogs before, right?"). Also I am definitely not a model.  But despite all these obstacles, I'm plunging ahead with an outfit post.  I put a lot of thought into this particular outfit, and the barista at the coffee shop complimented me on it, so we'll start here.

I admire women who can wear a million accessories and patterns at once and have it look good (like Song of Style), but I try to only wear one or two crazy fun things at once.  What could be more classic than a denim jacket and a little white dress?  The crazy part comes in with the sandals.

I wanted to buy these metallic sandals for months and made a special trek to get them when they went on sale. Love them!  Pretty comfy and you can get them for a better price now.  But if you buy them, whatever you do, do not let your shoes touch each other because the silver can rub off. Oy vey!  Learn from my mistakes.  The shoe department at the Chevy Chase Bloomingdale's hooked me up with a new pair after mine got scratched within four hours.  The new pair is holding up better.

My earrings are supposed to be pieces of coral (well, plastic pieces of coral) but Joe said that they look like chicken feet.  What do you think?  Now chicken feet are all I can see.

Oh yeah, I got bangs! Did you know that, according to the NY Times via Cup of Jo, 2012 is the year of the bang? 

Here's the before picture, where I was rocking 4-inch roots and praying that it looked purposely ombre.  Stefeny at Fringe in Georgetown worked wonders.  PS - her expert tip is to spray a big of hair spray from far away and then curl the bangs over the cylinder of the can.  And yes, I brought in a photo of Zooey Deschanel to illustrate the bangs I wanted #cliche.

I was a little scared about heavy bangs, but as long as I style them it's working out.  Anyone out there jumping on the bang-wagon?  Hahaha, apologies for that one.

Tunes Tuesday, "North Side Gal," J.D. McPherson

Takin' you way back for today's rockabilly tune.  Even though this song was recorded recently, sure doesn't sound that way.  Gets your toe tapping no matter what year it was made.

Coolhunting in Soho

While I'm out gallivanting in France, I've scheduled a long overdue post about my recent weekend in NYC.  Carolyn and I traveled to Soho, our friend Linda's new hood.  Such a fun place to explore.  Here are my pictures in chronological order.

Friday, 7:30 p.m.: After an interminable bus ride, we finally arrive and immediately eat fish tacos at Tacombi NYC. There's a VW bus parked inside the restaurant. Of course, I fell in love with the place.

9 p.m.: Soho walkin'

I'm now convinced every other New Yorker owns a French bulldog.  Cah-yuuuute.

9:15 p.m.: Cupcake break at the aptly named Little Cupcake Bakeshop.

12 a.m. Savoire Adore concert at Mercury Lounge.  They are also cah-yuuute.

12:20 a.m.: Hoodie-wearing dachshund, where have you been all my life?  [American Apparel, duh.]

Saturday, 1:40 p.m.: Young Designer's Market.  "She's making jewelry now, she's got her life on track."

2 p.m.: Fiat Cafe lunch.

3:30 p.m.: Boutique shopping for leopard face swimsuits.

Let me check out this furry purse... Wait a minute! It's moving!

4 p.m.: Giverny exhibit at The Hole gallery.  Pretty fake flowers and Astroturf and an intensely naked sprite.

4:15 p.m. Snapped a picture of a wedding photo shoot.

Sunday, 11 a.m.: The magical Cafe Gitane.

Hip chicks...

Tunes Tuesday: "Keep You," Wild Belle

Parlez-vous Français?

Yes, we are Paris-bound on Thursday!  I can't believe it, I've been literally crossing off the days on my calendar.  This was just a gleam in my eye a few months ago, when I took a gamble and bought cheap-o tickets to the French Open on the day they were released, with neither a plane ticket or hotel booked, just a dream of Roland Garros clay.  Joe and I talked about going on vacation during Memorial Day weekend and France was batted around, so I impulsively clicked buy when I was able to get the tickets I wanted in my cart.

The next steps: convincing Joe that we should indeed go to Paris (bloody hell, were the plane tickets expensive).  He wanted to see Mont Blanc, so we are headed to Geneva too, then getting out of Switzerland before we have to sell a kidney to pay for our $$ sandwiches, and staying in Chamonix for some mountain hiking and ambling.

This is one epic vacation.  My friend Serena is worried about the fact that neither Joe nor I speak a lick of French.  "Maybe you should keep your expectations low," she said.  Au contraire, my expectations are as high as they could possibly be. 

I spent some time on this BBC website called "Quick Fix French" trying to learn some key phrases.  I tried to speak all the French I learned to Serena, which took about 30 seconds.  All she said was, "Oh no!"

What, no good?  Of course I also have Rosetta Stone French but I was lazy about it and all I know how to say is "Le garcon boit."  The boy drinks.  That will be extremely useful.

I even have the headphones.  Joe came over and worked on a Rosetta Stone lesson where it grades your pronunciation.  He got through the whole thing and then the program cheerfully said "Au revoir!"  "Au revoir," Joe said.  But it wouldn't acknowledge that he had said it correctly.  He kept saying it over and over again, at least 30 times, in a monotone.  "Au revoir, au revoir, au revoir."  Finally he got it right, but I couldn't stop laughing.  "That was the one thing I thought I knew," he said.  Later my roommate Christine asked, "Was Joe saying something in French many times in a row?"

I think the lack of French will be OK, people speak English and we'll muddle through.

To Do:

• Re-read David Sedaris's "Me Talk Pretty One Day" essay.
• I want to do a bike tour or a boat tour on the Seine, thanks to Linda's great advice.
• The usual: Saint Chapelle, The Louvre, Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Latin Quarter, the Musee d'Orsay, the Tuileries Gardens, Le Pompidou, the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees. That might be ambitious.  Maybe Versaille or Giverney.  Again, ambitious.  We will be in Paris for about 5 days.
• Check out a few of the cool restaurants mentioned in that Bon Appetit magazine, or restaurants/patisseries recommended by David Lebovitz.  His book, "The Sweet Life in Paris," is laugh-out-loud funny.  The blurb on the back says, "People are always saying to me, 'It must be so fun to live in Paris!  What do you do all day?' I don't think 'I avoid Parisians' is quite the answer they're expecting."  Ha, I think we will try to avoid talking to Parisians as well to avoid embarrassment on our part.
• I want to stop in at Princesse Tam Tam as inspired by this fun article in Conde Naste Traveler, "Lingerie Shopping in Paris."
• Hike in the Alps and maybe swim in a mountain lake? Is that crazy?