Full of Paris

Oh la la,

The car is no longer on the last posting so here it is now along with more Eiffel tower pictures.

France Fully-amazing

Welcome to part two of my trip to France. This picture was taken by Chloe near the gite we stayed in about 4 miles from the Maison where the Julie Arkell workshop was held. Chloe rode a bike down to the sunflowers (through a wickedly strong sprinkler) and I walked. It was a really nice time for both of us. (yes we actually had one or two of those...)

I had a great time at the workshop (close to the town of Verteillac- good luck finding it on the map).

When we got off the train to meet our ride to Verteillac, Chloe and I met 4 other women crazy excited to be in France and at the workshop. It was so infectious that we didn't even mind when the car would not start during the heatwave and we had to eventually all crowd together in the Landrover. (hello Clare) From then on it was an amazing journey with some very special women. Each one of them had their own gifts to share as well as quirks of personality. I wish I could tell you about each one of them.

We met Julie at the Maison and had an amazing dinner. All the food was incredible during our stay. The ice cream was to die for and Dave made a great fish curry.

{Picture notes: Here is Julie during our final show and tell with our finished creations. There were some amazing things.

The other photos here are of the Maison backyard, the gite and my true love blue car. I wish I could have taken that back.}

Anyway back to the workshop. On the first day, we ooed and ahhed about what everyone brought(you know fabric, crocheted flowers, notions...) Julie had a lovely display of many of her magical pieces to inspire us.

We spent the day sewing and rummaging through the rag bag/rag floor.

During the five days, we also took a trip to the market and to a french brocante (old things type of store). It was amazing what these women found on these trips.

The part of the trip I enjoyed the most was sitting around the table as everyone sewed their bits together and talked. There were English, Swedish, and American accents. I miss hearing Joanna talk so much I feel as though I have to call her.

Julie A is a wonderful person and I am so glad I got to meet her and spend 5 days with her. Although we did not talk too much, I loved her personality and the way she thinks- plus each day the clothing she wore was a visual treat in itself.

Next time I will write about what I missed and what I made. (yeah Sam and Margo- this is where I talk about you two... just kidding). Until next time mon amies.

Oh a little give away- tell me which word I over used in this posting(and how many times) to win a small souvenir from France. I'll randomly pick one person from the posted comments.

Full of Paris

Bonjour mon amis,

We are back from France.

Ah Paris.... Lessons learned:

1. Contact me before you consider taking your 14 year old daughter to a different country. "Mom, they all speak French here!" (Not said in a delightful tone.)

2. I need at least a year in Paris to really experience it.

3. Those macaron cookies are very unique. They are really pretty but don't taste that great, except they grow on you and you definitely decide to eat them instead of throwing them away and then actually want to buy more.

4. One euro sounds cheaper than it really is.

5. They have nicer clothes in Paris.

6. It is great to come to Paris during the end of June- soldes everywhere. (sales)

So what did we do in Paris you might wonder? Well one of our first excursions was to Monet's garden on the train. Chloe decided she wanted to go since it would be a good photo opportunity. It was quite a haul to get there, but very beautiful. Chloe is standing on one of Monet's bridges in the picture above.

Most of the rest of our time there was spent shopping. (or sleeping in Chloe's case) Chloe was happy to find H&M and I was thrilled to find Lille Buelle.

We ate pizza many nights as little Missy did not want French food. I was just thankful I didn't have to take her to McDonalds.

I finally got to go visit Nathalie Lete at her studio. It was an amazing place filled with color and loads of her work. I was really taken with her rugs and can't wait for her Little Red Ridinghood book to come out in September.

On our last day we went to the Eiffel Tower and took a zillion pictures. We actually walked up to the second level by the stairs(vertigo) and then took the elevator to the top level where we were greeted with a rain storm, but that didn't stop my little model/photographer from wanting to take pictures. We returned to the Eiffel tower after our pizza dinner at an Italian restaurant and a chocolate mousse at a touristy brasserie and admired the lights and the 5 minutes of twinkling. Chloe got some good pictures of that. While we were waiting for the twinkling we kept hearing sounds as if a protest march was coming our way. We could barely figure out what they were saying but finally decided it was a memorial walk for Michael Jackson.

My next posting will be of the French countryside and the Julie Arkel workshop.

Au revoir

FULL OF PINK (or.. it's all about me)

Here are some pink stories because you know I adore pink. This is my new pink bike. I stopped my membership at the gym (at least for this month) so I bought a bike instead but the workout is not the same. I tried running outside- tres chaud and now I am without a good exercise plan but the proud owner of a pink bike. Actually a little friend of mine has clung on to this bike so I actually had to ride the clunker to Publix yesterday and she rode the Rolls Royce. Predictable.

Over here I have two stores in one. First off the pink box. I don't know why I took it other than it was pink. I was at Costco. They even asked me, did I need a box and I said no, but upon leaving the store I saw this lovely pink box and couldn't resist. Only a pink lover would take an empty pink box without any purpose in mind. And yes I still have the box sitting around.

I found this cowboy sock monkey in my drawer by accident. I was looking for something to wear and I found this wrapped up tissue paper thing. I opened it and inside was this cowboy. I am sure I must have bought it but have no recollection of when and why. I wasn't so sickly monkey crazed then. Cowboy monkey had fun in school shaking hands and talking cowboy talk. One little girl (Angelina Jolie- no kidding) finally brought him in a toy horse because he was getting tired of riding the cat someone made in the 3D sculpture center.

Not pink news: here is the sock monkey I just finished. I think I am giving it to Natlelie Lete in Paris when I meet her but I will need to accessorize her. She is small and obviously handmade. It will be hard to part with her, but I shall.
For those of you thinking I am already in Paris so you do not have to correspond with me... wrong. I leave on June 26 and will be back on July 8 so there is still plenty of time to send me messages, treats, cupcakes, sock monkeys, books, the works. I'll be waiting...

NOT full of baked goods

Yummo- These cupcakes don't look that great but they were pretty tasty. Notice most have a little piece missing from them(or the whole layer of frosting!)? That's because Chloe loves me so much she has to sample each one to make sure I don't get sick from them. 

When Chloe says she is going to bake something for the family it means she will bake it and the family can clean up. If we are lucky she will give us a small sample before it goes into the Chloe vault somewhere in her room. Me being the luckiest, usually will get asked the next day, "Do you want a cupcake or macaroon?"  I of course say yes and I get one with half of it already missing. I know- she is just making sure they are still good- or maybe she is helping me watch my weight.

This is who really is eating all the baked goods in the house:

Here is the little darling after "discovering" I made her a knitted hat. See Lisa, I never even knew I could knit a hat. Actually this knitted piece is to be a felted purse, but hey I always wanted to make a hat. You can't see, but the top of it is still open. Sorry about the blue underline. I know there is a simple way to fix it, but I have not discovered it yet so someone let me know.


What ever you do... don't tell Chloe her picture is all over my blog(and these are not very flattering pictures of  my little darling). She will get really mad and probably leave home.. hmm.... Just kidding but Renee, I would get the guest room ready. Once she sees these she will be outta here- as I am. Time to make dinner (story of my life).

Stay tuned for next time when it's all about... you'll just have to see. 

Full of Lisa stuff

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA C.

OOh ooh I can't believe I remembered.   Hope you had a great day and lots of chicken kisses. Sorry about the blurriness. 

The next picture is of the give away prize that Lisa finally is getting from my last giveaway. Yeah I know guys... it's all about Lisa but tomorrow if I am not too tired after work it'll be all about me. Well actually all about Chloe's baking and the next blog after that will be all about me. Yeah to keep you in suspense or something like that. I am having trouble getting my text where I  want it today so I guess I'll just face the chore of making dinner instead. Keep visiting. One day it might be all about you...

Sunfull

I love these sunflowers created by a first grader. They make me so happy to look at. This student is an ace at drawing. He drew this street scene from the 1920s or whenever the model T car was around. He even included a house with a mansard roof.

Yes, I renewed at the gym, but so far only month by month. We shall see. The gym seems to be going down hill. You have to bring your own towel now and can easily get locked out of they don't key you in. Still running outside in August can't be that wonderful.
OOH I am a lucky bunny. Not only will I meet Julie Arkel in France, but I am going to Nathalie Lete's studio in Paris. I am in Artist Heaven. Kelly, I really wish you could fit in my suitcase. I'm only bringing carry on so it could be a challenge.

Anyone who has stayed in a nice yet reasonable place in Paris, please give me the details. 

Oh yeah, that reminds me about the drawing. I better get the names down. Okay the winner of the what should Taylor do about her dud workshop/plane ticket dilemma is...the lovely Lisa C. Wow Lisa you won last time too. OOH I'll let you know if I need your address again. Thanks  to the rest of you for your suggestions.

I'll be back soon because I have a fun picture to show you but I still have to download it. Til then...