Paris: Lost and Found

So I have to tell you about the classic tourist mistake I made. After arriving in Paris on a red eye, finally getting the key, and then taking a moment to rest my eyes (which turned into a five-hour nap, whoops), we went out to dinner at a bar in our neighborhood. I took the photo above of my delicious duck entree and then put the camera down by my purse.

The next morning, we got ready for a day of sightseeing and I went to grab my camera. But it wasn't in my purse. It wasn't anywhere. Where was it? I couldn't have been stupid enough to leave my fancy camera outside the bistro. Could I?

Cue many tears and rending of garments. We went back to the bistro, and I tried to ask if they had found a camera. French wasn't even an option at this point, so I made a universal pantomime of a camera complete with an index finger click. "Oh, we'll take your picture," the man behind the bar said. No, no.

So Joe consoled me and I resigned myself to the fact that I had lost my $400 camera on the very first day of our vacation. I tried to pull it together and we set out to visit the Musée d'Orsay and Notre Dame. The following pictures are from Joe's camera.

We walked around the Jardin du Luxembourg and watched Parisians sun themselves, children playing with sailboats, and an extremely lazy middle-schooler take a tennis lesson while Joe heckled him.

Sainte-Chapelle is so gorgeous.

It's so touristy, but I loved the Seine boat tour we took. Being out on the water on a gorgeous day, learning more about the city, what more could you want?

The guide on the boat tour told our group if we made a wish and kissed while going under a particular bridge, it would come true. I wished that I would find my camera. The choice was clear. Apparently, Joe made the same wish. (We both contemplated whether we should wish for the other one to love us forever, but went with the more pressing camera wish).

After the boat, we went back to the restaurant and the same waiter/owner from the night before was there. "You're back for the camera!" he said, and lo and behold, he pulled my camera out from behind the bar.

Ahhhhhhhh! Isn't that the nicest thing you've ever heard? He saved my camera for me! He didn't have to, but he did. And what are the chances of getting a lost camera back on vacation? The French will always have my heart after this.

We were so happy, and so thankful. Joe told the owner that he wanted to buy him a shot in celebration. As is American tradition. We all take a shot, then order beers. A few beers later, the owner said he would give us a tour of all the bars in the neighborhood. He left his post, leaving his lover/business partner at the helm and we proceeded to stumble in a bunch of bars, to be introduced as the owner's "American friends."

"Is he going to steal our kidneys?" Joe asked as we walked to the umpteenth bar.

A few shots later, I remember going back to the original bar, eating some sort of fromage/frites combination, but then all I remember is waking up in the apartment. No recollection of the walk home. When I opened up our door in the morning, the insole of my shoe was outside lying on the doorstep.

Paris! Day 1

Hellooooo. I've been remiss in not filling you in on my Paris trip. It's been overwhelming. Where to begin? Keep in mind I took 700 pictures.

"How did you take 700 pictures?" Joe said.

"Well, remember the cat we saw on the roof in our apartment courtyard," I said.

"Uh huh."

"I took three pictures of that cat."

That's how you end up with 700 vacation photos.

But I suppose Day 1 is as good a place to start as any. I'll try not to bore you. Here we go:

Lucky me, I was able to rent a charming Airbnb apartment, with exposed brick, rafters and giant windows overlooking a courtyard. So adorable. Airbnb is fun because you can pretend you are a local.

The only problem with Airbnb is that there is no front desk, so you have to arrange the key pickup. My host said I could ask the shopkeeper at the cafe next door for the apartment. I practiced on the plane ride with a French dictionary (thanks, Alix, for letting me borrow yours!), painstakingly looking up the words and trying to memorize one phrase: "Where is the key?"

So after toting our suitcases on the metro and around town, we arrived at the shop and I marched up to the shopkeeper and blurted out my phrase. She looked at me like I had three heads.

That's it, I'm out! I got nothing after that.

She claimed to not have the key, then I thought we were getting closer when another lady at the cafe gave us the code to open the courtyard door, but still no apartment key. We're talking back and forth in English, I'm writing down the host's phone number for her to call on her cell phone, she's telling me she loves America and is going to Palm Springs. Meanwhile, Joe is standing on the street with our suitcases, and then a guy rides by on a bike, looks at Joe and says, "Adele?" Close enough.

Turns out that guy worked with the Airbnb host and he asked if we were doing alright. "The shopkeeper doesn't have the key," Joe said. "Oh yes, she does," the guy said. He went in and talked to her in French and voila, she pulled the key out of a drawer, with a shrug of her shoulders and a roll of her eyes.

Miscommunication? Or was she messing with me? Or both?

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.