And the winner is ....

Drum Roll please!  Congratulations to Mary Morgan of The Muffington Post.  Proud new owner of French delight.  Thank you so much for participating in the giveaway, I love each and every one of you. 

As well as getting a box of goodies I am adding The Muffington Post to my side buttons.  So excited to feature her.  Please have a look at her absolutely beautifully motivational blog. 

 

The pine cone family wanted to personally congratulate The Muffington Post. tehee.

French giveaway ending soon

Hello all!!  This is one of my most favorite feel good pictures ever.  Unfortunately I do not have the link to the original picture, but I would love to give credit to the photographer if anyone knows who it is.

I wanted to let everyone know that as of June 1st 2012 I will be selecting the winner of the French giveaway.  So if anyone wanted to enter still, subscribe to heart&thrift and leave me a comment.  Love you guys.  Hope you enjoyed this happy little fox as much as I do.

You can view the giveaway here http://heartandthrift.blogspot.com/2012/05/giveaway-from-heart.html  There are also some other goodies included.  Good luck :)

The Last Meal in Paris

What do women eat when they can have absolutely anything in the world ? Ice cream and the best apple cake ever (I would liken it to a pineapple upside down cake)... Deeericious. We just landed in the states it's 840pm here and my body says its 440am. Glad I got my movie watching in because I think for the last leg of this trip the backs of my eyelids will look great!

Parisian Doors

It is fitting to have the doors of Paris as an ending post; yes ? I can't believe this is the last night. So many amazing things to reflect on, wondering what reality will feel like. I'll miss the food for sure. The closest thing that I have found to an authentic French baguette is actually the baguettes from panera. I think I will be frequenting the restaurant often.

Thank you for following me on my Parisian dream. Time to start the next adventure. Where have you traveled ? I am definitely up for suggestions.

Suchard Rocher

Ok ... yum. These are by far the best thing that you could ever possibly fathom putting in your mouth. The key to it is that you have to warm them up in your pocket for a bit before you eat. A slight crackle, rich creamy hazelnut chocolate, a few nut crumbles, the best thing ever! After you are done make sure you check your vitals because you just hit heaven. This brand of chocolate is in no way affiliated with Ferrero Rochers. Has anyone else ever had the pleasure ? If you win the giveaway you can bet these will be in the box!

Taking the last bit in

 

I can really feel the trip coming to a close. We leave on Friday, and it has just been the best experience. I feel like I have learned so much about myself. I now have a clear head about how I want to leave the next few years of my life. Hopefully it all goes as well if not better than planned.

Now for the pictures! I have this ever lasting loooove for eggplant. If you ever get the chance to put a few slice of eggplant and onion on pizza please please pleeeease don't hesitate. That blue sign says that the building has been there since 1582. How absolutely insane is that? That building was made for the statement if only the walls had eyes. While walking down around Place Vendome we spotted a photo shoot !! Not sure what kind of car that is, but there were definitely Louis Vuitton bags piled high and it was taken in front of a Cartier store. I will keep my eye out for an advertisement in Vogue ha. I think there would have been much more paparazzi around if that was Kate Moss ... but there are some slight similarities. Maybe I'll just pretend that's true.  From glamor to trash Paris has it all !!  Seriously do you see that garbage truck trying to go down the little street?  French people love eating outside, and I literally saw people moving their bar stools and tables to get out of the way of the garbage truck.  Not to mention the 100's of people walking around.  It was a ridiculous site and kind of makes me want to squirm just thinking about it.  Definitely navigating a huge truck down little side streets would be the worst.

That's all for tonight.  I think that if I have a chocolate rocher I will do a candy photo op otherwise, till tomorrow !!

A few Thoughts on Travel

There are a number of things that I am sure we all LOVE about traveling.  I might love more than a few, but I have shortened the list to these select few.

1.  Experiencing a different culture.  It is nuts how seeing other people living their daily lives can open your mind.  In America we often times forget to stop to smell the roses so to speak.  Seeing people  in the same bakery every night to buy their bread, gathering their children from school on a Saturday, kids rolling around on scooters.  These are things that might happen in Colorado but I don't always notice them because I take them for granted.  Here it seems unique and I appreciate it.

2.  FOOD ... I looooove food there are a number of flavors here that are not available in the states.  For instance I am addicted to diet soda (I know I know chemicals!!!)... here they use different processes to flavor their soda and drinks.  More commonly they use beat sugar rather than corn syrup.  Nothing has that throat burning sweet taste.  When you drink peach tea here, it literally tastes like you are biting into a ripe peach picked at it's prime.  A lot of foods here are picked at the proper time and sold at market the next day, whereas I think a lot of us are use to fruit picked while still green and ripened on a truck to our grocer.  If you have ever seen that episode of King of the Hill where Peggy goes "these tomatoes taste amazing" and Hank says "don't be crazy Peggy we all know tomatoes don't have a flavor."  It's kind of like that.  Ha.

3.  Style !  We all are capable of wearing fashions that are up and coming.  Sometimes it just the way that someone wears something though that makes it different.

4.  Sense of accomplishment.  I am completely refreshed and ready to take on the world again when I get home.  I have a new list of diys to complete... got a couple of job applications in, paintings to paint.  People to see you know, things to do. :)  

Here are some future diys that are in the works for when I get home. I am sure that I missed a zillion things about the wonder of travel, but feel free to fill in the blanks.

Steak Yums

Such good meals today. The ice cream store we visited is called Berthillon. Absolutely amazing. I got the nougat au miel which is nougat and honey. I have seen bigger scoops of butter on pancakes ... hahaha .... but it was very good and to my surprise just the right amount. The steak and pomme sautee I had was too good for words, probably the best potatoes I have ever had. It seems like a simple recipe involving oil and garlic and little else. Guess sometimes the simplest things are the best. I can't believe I ate all the steak, all the potatoes some salad a piece of bread and a triple mini serving of dessert. Seriously was food wasted by the time my mom and I walked out of the restaurant. It rained like crazy tonight. Some how the birds all started chirping when the rain stopped. Do they have a sense to chirp after it rains? Really did not hear a bird all day until it stopped raining. Everything seems a little silly I must still be drunk on food.

Paris Insta

Some flowers, love and taxidermy c'est parfait ! I saw that dear little antelope in the window the other day. So of course I had to go back with my camera and document his existence. Glad that I found him again looking just as dapper as the first passing.

It's official there is one week of Paris left. I came here wanting to move, and honestly I am not sure I feel that way anymore. It's almost a burden lifted. Having been to Paris several times before it has always made me sick to think that I couldn't live here, or come back here ... silly as that seems. I don't know if it's because I am getting older, or if it's because Paris is less like Paris every year; and more like New York. Life here seems incredibly hard, and getting harder and it's really expensive. I would liken it to a class change. You would need to be in a higher rung of society here to maintain the lifestyle you were accustomed to in the States whatever that might be. There are just so many luxuries we have that seem necessary that are just not available here. I am loving every second here. But as of now I know that my future is not pointed in the direction of France as I so desperately hoped for in the past, and that is extremely refreshing. Seems so weird to say out loud or write, since it has always been such an intense goal of mine. Anyone else ever have an experience like this ? where something was so important to you and then all of a sudden it no longer was? I would love to hear about.  Oh and my apologies it seems I dropped my smile in that picture ;)

Paris Instagramed

I just have to say that instagram is pretty much the coolest thing ever. I have yet to invest in any fancy editing programs for my blog. I kind of have been flying by the seat of my pants so far. With instagram though, it really feels like you can make a picture 100% better. This is a sort of compilation from the last 2 weeks. A couple of the photos have been featured on other entries, but they just came out so vibrant on instagram, I think that it is worth showing them twice. I believe that I will be in the market for some photo editing equipment soon. Anyone have any suggestions? Anything super user friendly? (because I will need that for sure!!) Hope that everyone is having a great week! Don't forget to sign up for the giveaway. Till tomorrow little birdies.

Giveaway Update

Well here we go. Finally got a few snaps of the giveaway. There is a super cute necklace that almost looks handmade, a pack of cards that has different French scenes, a little Eiffel Tower, a reusable shopping bag from monoprix, and also a French date book to keep yourself organized. I am still shopping around, and you can certainly bet that there will be candy in the bag as well. Make sure and sign yourself up for the blog and then leave a comment to double your chances. Much love little birds.

A Bit of the Life in Paris

Well this post is a bit of a cluster.

As you can see from the top picture, the French army is not something that you want to mess with!  Those guys were just strolling around with giant guns like it was nothing.  A little unnerving I am not going to lie.  It seems that the country is quite monitored.  Every single store (even what we would consider a small gas station) has a security guard.  If there is even a rumor of a protest there are cops everywhere.  We are talking like 15 buses full of cops with riot gear on.  At least they are prepared for the worst?

A little further down in the Seine we spotted a guy swimming with flippers on.  Hopefully you can spot him on the wall; seemed a little bit dangerous, but I guess that's one way that you can get your exercise in.

Upon seeing the Nicholas Flamel sign my mind immediately ran to Harry Potter.  I normally watch those movies every night to fall asleep to.  I think that is probably the only thing I miss about home .... falling asleep to movies that I have literally seen around 5000 times.

Despite all the walking that we have been doing, I do believe I am still managing to gain weight.  I guess an entire baguette and 2-3 pastries as day is too much?  Who knew?  ha.  I am now trying to monitor the food intake a bit more.  Goodness me it is hard with so much temptation.  In the states normally I gorge on fresh food, here in a hotel that is a little bit harder to do.  I was craving veggies so bad today I actually went to a Chinese buffet, luckily they had sauteed vegetables!  They also had some crazy fruit too.  Has anyone else tried a waxberry also known as a yumberry?  Had to look that one up!  Really good.  Definitely tried some things that I have never seen before.  That gooey ball pictured is a coconut ball.  It was sooo gooey I thought that I would be able to blow a bubble with the "dough".  The middle had a coconut paste in it and it was AMAZING.  Chinese food in France is a little bit different that in the States after all.

If I get motivated I will post some of the goodies I have bought for the giveaway so far.   Hope that everybody had a great day!  Till tomorrow little canaries.

Parisian Walker

We are continuing to live the Parisian lifestyle. I don't know what I am going to do when I get home and have no baguettes !!!

 I seriously could not imagine crafting here. It seems really hard to get any supplies ... especially at a good price. I was happy to see a little store that had some hand made things. They might be mass produced but they had a personal touch added.  Can't really say that I agree with anything that Walmart stands for whatsoever .... but my cheap side is thankful I can buy tights for $5.00.  Unlike here where even at the grocery store they run at cheapest 15.00 euro.  As you can see from past posts America is definitely getting their claws in Europe.  I spotted a mcdonald's next to chiptole next to a starbucks across the street from a subway.  Seriously odd.  How mad would you be spending $5000.00 on your little French apartment smelling french fries all day?  Nature of the beast. 

That fallafel is seriously the best thing!  L'as Du Fallafel is really well known around France.  It is in the Marais which is the old Jewish Quarter.  Apparently whenever Lenny Kravitz comes into town it is a must eat for him.  I can totally understand why.  My mom and I have had it at least twice in a week already.  I can't say that I am getting grossed out on food, but there are slight waves of nausea that are hitting.  Ha might have to take it easy if I want to be able to waddle around town anymore.

 I sure am glad that I don't have to pay to use the restroom in the states.  Usually the bathrooms are monitored very closely, so it does ensure a clean space.  They are scarce around town too, so paying is totally welcome after holding it for a few miles ha ! 

So thankful to spend Mother's Day in Paris with my mama.  Love her so much.  Hope that you all had a nice Mother's Day too. 

French Foodie

 

Woah French food you are just too good. When they cook the chickens they let all the fat drip into a holding tray. Said holding tray holds little potatoes..... can we all say delicious !!! You can get a chicken and potatoes for about 10Euros or about $14.00, definitely worth it. All the vegetables always look crazy fresh... saw some mangoes that were seriously the size of my head. Most things are local if not from a farm on the country side. Not sure if you can see that yogurt .... but the French definitely have a love affair with dairy products. That yogurt aisle is probably the size of an average sized super market's chip aisle. So far I have dabbled in the vanilla yogurt, flan, cheese, butter and mousse. Everyday I wake up I immediately think "oooooh YES!!!! I get to eat again!!!" I have yet to get sick of anything. Can't wait to wake up again tomorrow.

Parisian Street Art

Has anyone else heard of Konny?  Really loving the art.  I did a bit of research and not much is out there.  Any knowledge would be appreciated.  In a city with so much history street art takes center stage and adds to the ambiance.

I haven't lost my touch for collecting random things.  So far I have a button, a rock and a broken piece of glass.  These are my most treasured finds from Paris ha!  I use to rummage through the garbage when I was little ... at least now I have graduated to trash on the street.