First Century B.C. Meal

 

 

 

 

My sister Kayley surprised us with this well-researched and beautifully presented ancient meal for the first day of Rosh Hashanah. We ate fish, leek and barley soup, yogurt cheese encrusted with herbs, hummus, red wine and vinegar, French bread... the least authentic part of the meal..., grapes, Greek olives, and date and fig cakes. I'm so glad we were all able and willing to eat together that night. I don't remember everything we talked about- aside from the food itself- but I know it was a good evening.

Origami Animals

 

 

 

 

My aunt gave my sisters and me an origami calendar for Christmas, and it's one of the things that gets me to wake up in the morning. These here are so simple but capture the animal's shape and spirit so well that they've become my favorites.

Slumber Party

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Andrea invited the little girl she used to babysit over, and we played Apples to Apples, made strawberry ice cream, painted nails, and watched Garfield and Friends.

End of Summer/September 2014 Wish List

Doesn't this look like a longhorn cattle skull?

 

Mow the yard. Pay attention to the growth of the grass and beat my dad to it!

Take my camera outside one morning, one afternoon, and one evening, and observe what summer looks like in my neighborhood.

Eat hatch chili pepper tortilla chips. I already bought them; I'm just waiting for the perfect occasion.

Alter my white dress to fit me better, and wear it of course.

Alter my navy blue shorts while I can still wear those too.

Finish the flipflops I started in February! I almost forgot about those!

Plan and do something special for Labor Day.

Visit the Katy Contemporary Arts Museum.

Watch the Spring/Summer 2015 Fashion Shows online. Here's the schedule:

• New York: 9/4-11, 2014
• London: 9/12-16, 2014
• Milan: 9/17-23, 2014
• Paris: 9/23-10/1, 2014

That's plenty to keep me busy!

The Paris I Lived In

Train station in Charles de Gaulle Airport.

 

First fruit stand I shopped at in Paris. When I was still trying to document everything. In the end I shopped most frequently at the supermarket; it's cheaper. Honestly, I didn't think the fruit in Paris was very flavorful regardless of what vendor it came from. The strawberries I bought from the stand above- I'd swear they sprinkled sugar on the top. The strawberries started out sweet and got progressively blander as I ate towards the bottom. It's a touristy area, maybe that's the problem. On the other hand, all the dates I got in Paris were huge, plump and deliciously sweet.

 

The sort of thing you might see out your bedroom window in Paris, six floors up.

 

Of  course the Pantheon is being renovated while I'm in Paris. It's still open, and I did go in. And into the crypt as well.

 

This was my first view of the Eiffel Tower.

 

The kitchen in my Paris apartment, with barely enough room to turn around in. The hot water heater is right above the fridge. The old gas stove and oven had to be lit with a match; that was fun, but I didn't die.

 

I loved the wood furniture.

European keys!

 

Peeking through the keyhole. Luckily it had a privacy cover.

 

The elevator and stairs in my building. It was hard to believe that elevator actually functioned but it did.

 

Metro stairs.

 

An unusual metro entrance next to the Arènes de Lutèce.

 

They're marketing Ford SUVs in France?!

 

 

This ancient French queen is being restored, but in the meantime you can view the artistic cover they made for her.

 

This is what the Eiffel Tower looks like in real life. And it gets soggy and yucky in Paris when it rains.

 

Movie posters are still going strong in Paris. They're in gilded frames all over the Metro stations too.

 

Chocolate sculpture.

 

The other half of the chocolate sculpture.

 

I chose the wrong day to visit the Place de la Concorde. Getting ready for Bastille Day. And it was wet, which makes it the wrong day for anything. I think 50% of the days I spent in Paris were rainy.

 

Probably the ugliest photo ever taken of this fountain!

 

It's sort of hard to get a good picture in front of the Arc de Triomphe.

 

I risked my life for this photo. Not really. I was on a median.

 

Neighborhood laundromat. This place just eats money. I learned to buy my detergent at the supermarket, wash as much as I could in the sink at home, and take the clothes that won't wrinkle too badly home to hang dry.

 

Fabric shopping in Paris. You have to dig, but you can find almost any fabric in Paris. And the leather scraps- so many gorgeous skins!

 

Restroom in the art gallery/studio above the Louis Vuitton boutique. My favorite thing about the whole place.

 

Is this the Parisian version of barbed wire?

 

Sometimes the buildings I happened upon were my favorites. Unfortunately this lovely church building was closed for the noon hour when I passed by.

 

The lens cover didn't open all the way, but I like the effect.

 

Absolutely love the stylized eyeglasses hanging above every optometrist.

 

Sweet park I passed on my way to church. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of the parks where I went to sit and draw: Arenes de Lutece and Jardin des Plantes. The Jardin des Plantes is home to thousands of the most unusual plants I've ever seen.

 

Fire station and a corner bakery.

 

Was so tempted to buy more flowers for my apartment.

 

Just an ordinary evening in Paris. I love how they twinkle the lights every evening when they turn it on- at least I think it's every evening. I had other things to do like homework and laundry and sweeping the floor in my apartment.

 

Chausson aux pommes. Not my favorite pastry. The best I had was the croissant aux amandes, a flat, shapeless pastry with sliced almonds and a dusting of powdered sugar on top. It's not the prettiest so I didn't think to photograph it, but it tasted so good.

 

Eating lunch by the fountain on a green bench.

 

This is what the July 14 Champs-Elysses military parade looks like. And this is what it looks like when you're already standing on a lamppost. Some people brought ladders from home. No kidding. Saw them coming out of the metro with it.

 

Mini pastries = a very good breakfast choice. That's pain au chocolat in front. Yum.

 

My Australian roommate: "You don't have artisan coffee in America?" We do, of course. It's just that I'd never had artisan coffee before, if a cream doodle on top makes it automatically qualify as such, so I had to take a photo.

 

More fabric shopping. I wish I'd taken pictures of my favorite mannequins before an employee told me that no pictures were allowed. The fashion got way better than this.

 

They were all over the store. They were darling. I love that coat.

 

Pastry flavored yogurt, with Vermeer's milkmaid on the front. Had to buy it when I saw that.

 

This bearded fellow made me laugh. So this is a Nutella shortbread cookie sandwich. It was bigger than my hand!

 

A favorite spot.

 

A pink patissier. Too cute.

 

So they have Office Depot in France. I would never have guessed.

 

Most darling little toy store. See Settlers of Catan?