signature pieces
i am a firm believer in signature pieces. i believe that every girl should have one or two pieces in her jewelry collection that she is known for. classic, versatile, yet unique and fun. several months ago, i found a piece that i fell in love with, and have worn it virtually every day since then. you will see it in the large majority of pictures
i'm in during that time period. it looks like this:
now don't get me wrong, i still love this piece. but, something came across my
bloglines yesterday that has me longing for a change. if you have seen casino
royale (arguably the greatest bond movie of all time), you will know that this year's bond girl (arguably the worst bond girl of all time) had her own signature piece.
i remember thinking, i LOVE that necklace, but it's in gold, not silver (and i just don't DO gold). then, lo and behold, i was made aware of
this, and fell a little in love. the only problem of course, is that my budget is too tight too allow for this little splurge for the
foreseeable future. with
paris, and now having to get serious about saving
money to move, it will have to remain a little dream for an indefinite period of time. i am posting it here so you all can see it and imagine how great it would look on me, and then we can all just keep pretending it is my new signature piece..k?
*****
oral surgery, part 721
many of you will
remember that last year, i underwent some fairly major dental procedures. though i have a healthy mouth and incredible smile (no snickers please), i had (through no fault of my own) two seriously problematic teeth. one of them was repaired with a root canal and crown, but the other was beyond hope and had to be extracted. that meant that i would have to have an implant. implants are expensive. so i waited. i put a ton of money in my flexible spending account this year, and now that i will most likely be leaving, i needed to get on the stick.
so, tomorrow, the first part of the surgery will take place. they will give me a local anesthetic and laughing gas, and then they will screw a very scary looking corkscrew-like screw made of titanium in my gum. once completed, it will have to sit for four months while the gum adheres to the screw, at which point they will put on a crown and voila!
as someone who thinks she can feel what she can hear and see, even if it is not remotely possible, to say that i am freaked out would be an understatement. last year's procedures were painful, and left me more than once a bit (or more than a bit) swollen, and this is the mommy of all those procedures. the only upsides? laughing gas and codeine. god bless the pain killers.
*****
top 10
paris favorites
(in chronological order)
1. the
carte orange-a week long unlimited metro pass that makes it really easy to hop on and hop off where needed. for this special pass, passport photos are affixed to a very official looking card, which, as it turns out, is only necessary if you ride the bus.
2. the arc
de triomphe. though we were in many places that provided spectacular views of the city, this was a favorite because the platform at the top is completely open. as such, you have 360 degree access to the bird's eye view. hitting this spot on a beautiful sunny day definitely enhanced it's coolness.
3. random parks in random places. this one happens to be off the champs
elysees, but it was one of many. i was seriously impressed by how much the french love their parks and gardens. they are clean, well manicured, quiet, and have many places to put up your feet for a spell.
4.
les catacombes. the
catacombes were one of three things on my 'must do' list for this trip, and they did not disappoint. the underground tunnels filled with human remains stacked in careful and ornate designs were creepily eerie, and well worth the 7 euro entry fee. i must admit that i have a certain fascination with the morbid, and this was one of two stops (the other being
pere lachaise cemetary) catering to that odd interest.
5. what the french have that we don't have. in this case, three of my favorites. on the left, bandages that come in one long roll which can be cut to size and is perfect for breaking in those new shoes. in the middle, a device that boils quickly, and made tea time a lot simpler. and, on the right, diet coke with orange. though it sounds strange, it was delicious. here's hoping it makes it's way to the states!
6. the train ride to
versailles. in and of itself, this would not have made the list, but during our journey, deb attempted to take a self-portrait of us. you can see the result below. having sympathy, the couple in the quad next to ours offered to take our photo. that offer sparked a conversation that would last the remainder of the trip. the couple was an older one from
argentina. celebrating their 30
th anniversary, they had been to
london,
rome,
paris, and were on to new york following that. our conversation was both delightful and entertaining.
delightful in that they were a darling couple, and gave deb and i both cause to hope that we can find husbands who will want to travel with us 30 years into marriage. and entertaining in that one of their first questions to us was if we were single. when we responded affirmatively, out come the wallet, and the pictures of their two sons, 25 and 28, who they then proceeded to try and set us up with. truth be told, they were both cute, and deb and i may have to take up their offer to host us in
argentina at some time;) i regret that i don't have a photo of the couple--probably the only regret of the trip. but i do have an email address and plan to stay in touch.
7.
versailles itself. my expectations of
versailles were low. my expectations of anything with high tourist traffic are low.
versailles exceeded all my expectations by leaps and bounds. the chateau is a large house and
i'm not really a house girl, but the gardens were the most incredible thing
i've ever seen. wandering around in them made me absolutely giddy.
8.
pere lachaise. the second 'morbid' stop on the trip was another favorite. i was fascinated at the sheer size and layout of the
cemetery, as well as the graves themselves. nary a traditional us type grave to be found, each was dramatic and ornate, or barring that, at least large. though we pit-stopped at
jim morrison's grave, the highlight was that of
abelard and
heloise, the oldest residents of the
cemetery. we knew virtually nothing about these two, but that they had been involved in a tragic love story. later, we consulted wiki to learn more. sadly, the monument was under renovation and did not allow for any good shots.
9. new french boyfriends. something i love about the french is their ability to express appreciation for beauty. i don't know why in our culture it is just creepy when you walk by a guy and he tells you you're beautiful, but it is. yet in
france, and a few other places, it's culturally integrated and thereby not creepy. this happened to us often throughout the trip, but the most notable encounter was when deb was accosted at
notre dame.
mirdi was there selling
keychains, and instantly took a liking to deb--sneaking up to stand beside her in a photo i was taking.
when he asked her if she was single and she said yes, i knew we were in trouble. i knew she was thinking she would have some fun, and then leave, but i also knew that i was going to have to be the one to get rid of the guy. my suspicions were confirmed when later--much later--she looked at me and said 'you're going to have to ditch this guy. i don't know how.' i find it ironic that this street savvy new yorker couldn't take care of it herself, but alas, that's how the chips
ultimately fell. beforehand however, deb's new french boyfriend, who knew 'the guy' at
notre dame, ensured that we did not have to wait in line, nor pay to ascend to the top. he also volunteered to take a lot of photos, so there are many of deb and i not taken at an arm's (or
quikpod's) length.
at the completion of our
notre dame excursion,
mirdi took us to meet his 'boat guy' friend who offered to take us on one of the seine cruises.
asen instantly declared me his future wife, and truth be told, if the circumstances had been different, i might have played with it a little more. but they were what they were, and eventually i got rid of them both. ultimately, the highlight of this experience was being able to tease deb that my new french boyfriend was way cuter than her new french boyfriend!
10. the food, of course! i had been dreaming of
croques and crepes and was not disappointed. in fact, at one point deb made the appropriate comment 'i never thought i could be sick of bread and cheese, but i need a break.' the unexpected surprises though came in the forms of
gelato and hot chocolate.
during our first day, wandering around our neighborhood, we stumbled upon a
gelato place. never one to pass up such a thing we stopped, and realized we had come upon a treasure. it was delicious and there was such a variety of flavors, that we stopped two more times on the trip. not only tasty, but pretty as well--the
gelatiers? took great pride in their work, crafting each cone into a lovely flower.
the other unexpected surprise was hot chocolate. at well known
les deux magots cafe, the hot chocolate is made from melting a chocolate bar into mile. you can only imagine how divine this must be, and even then, you would fall short. this 'meal' at
les deux magots cost us 32 euros, and worth every penny.
*****
season finale time
it's that time of year again, when good tv goes on hiatus. this year also marks the final farewells of some of the faves, so here are my brief thoughts and comments:
1. gilmore girls.
frankly, i've been an avid watcher since the beginning, and this series has seen it's highs and lows. lately though, it's been mostly lows, with just a few glimpses of it's former glory. it was time for this one to end.
2. veronica mars.
like gilmore girls, me, avid watcher, day 1. yet, unlike gg, definitely not time for this to end, and sadly, my vote doesn't count. in my book, this is one of the most witty, clever, and sardonically written shows out there, and i'm a little heartbroken at it's cancellation. especially with the likes of shows like 'pussycat dolls' being renewed on the network. i'll admit to watching my fair share of reality tv, but things are getting out of hand now. vm will be sorely missed, and i may be off the cw for good.
3. grey's anatomy.
i'll admit. i have loved and defended this show, but i think now, i have to be done. it's a shell of it's former self, and the only redeeming moment of this finale ep was sandra oh's final scene, which was powerful to say the least.
4. heroes.
this is one heck of a show. the season finale for the most part was fabulous, barring the last few minutes, which i felt were a complete let down. that's just not how you end a finale. i need the continuity editors to be at the top of their game, and i didn't feel like they were. if someone can explain to me why peter couldn't just fly himself out of the danger zone, rather than nathan having to do it, or why everyone thinks peter will recover from being blown into a million tiny pieces, when he couldn't recover from a piece of glass being stuck in his head, i would be ever so grateful. p.s. i know it's kind of sick, but sylar is dang hot, and this is one bad guy i really don't want to see killed off.
5. lost.
i have had such a love hate relationship with lost. this show is an emotional roller coaster for me, and this was how a finale should be done. we get some answers, we got some new questions, and my heart was seriously racing. there are a couple of things i just don't get, ie why charlie couldn't have shut the door from the OUTSIDE, thereby saving himself from drowning. i guess some might argue that he had just resigned himself to his fate, and he felt like it was the only way to guarantee the fruition of desmond's visions thereby saving the rest of the losties. i might even buy it, but i would have liked it if that scene was structured in such a way as too remove that question. ultimately what have we learned from this finale? sayid is always right. period. i can't believe i have to wait until february of '08 to see what happens next, but if those eps are anything like the last several, it will be well worth it.
*****
alright folks, i've given you plenty to comment on. free for all, anyone?
