I Gotta Feeling WOOHOO

Ok so this video is sort of old, but I thought this was one of the COOLEST things EVER and it's a great song for new year's eve!

2010 HERE WE COME!!!!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1....

Well I hope everyone had a great Christmas (or any other holiday you may celebrate!)...I know I did! I absolutely LOVE the holiday season and the hope and joy that we are surrounded with. This year, I was extremely touched by an article I read online. A man in Tenessee paid for 80 PEOPLE'S GAS at a gas station in the name of holiday cheer. And it's not even like he was super wealthy or anything. Now that is TRUE holiday spirit! I cried when I read the article.

Anyhow, it is now time to prep for 2010! As we wrap up this decade, I am personally looking forward to a new and exciting year that will be full of change and new adventures :) I hope you all picked out your sequined, shimmery party wear (I know Forever 21 has some ridiculously inexpensive outfits!) and are popping out the bottles of champagne to get ready to watch the ball drop!




GET READY TO CELEBRATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More to come next year!!

FY,
N

p.s. Song of the Day: Tik Tok - Ke$ha

Merry Christmas!

Quick post before I go stuff myself with fat holiday food while watching the NBA Christmas double header. I love love love the a cappella group Straight No Chaser, which has released two amazing holiday albums already. Their version of "The 12 Days of Christmas" incorporates "Africa" in the second half, which is one of my favorite songs anyway. It's so catchy, you can't help but feel happy!

Happy Holidays!

Happily Ever After

The princess and the frog may just be one of the best movies ever made. This disney masterpiece captured just about every emotion possible and was by far my favorite movie of 2009. A great way to end this year. GO WATCH IT!

I swear Tenny and I are twins separated at birth...or at least we're related in some weird way. Great minds DO think alike. In fact, the day before Tenny posted that she was reading Complications by Atul Gawande, I ordered that book from Amazon! However, it was being sent to my dorm in San Diego and it hadn't arrived by the time I left for winter vacation. I'm excited to read it when I go back though! How was it, Tenny?

So, Atul Gawande might just be my new idol. He is amazing in so many aspects and Better is a really inspirational, educational, and worthwhile book for everyone (not just doctors).

To Tenny:
1) I am VERY glad you didn't get stuck.
2) I am super jealous that you got to drink legally in France and got served champagne on the airplane.
3) I shall see you very soon and I am SUPER EXCITED!!!
4) It would have been okay if you bought the dress too. haha.
5) It has been WAY too long.
6) I miss you.
7) I love you.




Song of the Day: Quelqu'un m'a dit - Carla Bruni

Great minds being mine and yours, Nisha, of course.

1. I got the same H&M magazine in France, and translated the 25 resolutions from French into English and copied them into my notebook, hoping to post about them. What a coincidence! However, upon seeing the real English version, I have realized I translated some of the resolutions a little strangely. For example, I have 5) Stop dreaming, live your dreams, which isn't that weird, but 18) Care for your skin has nothing to do with the English version. Clearly I was slightly deluded while translating.

2. In the pages and pages of internet known as the Forever 21 online store, I eyed that exact same dress while in Paris. However, I did not buy it so no worries on wearing the same thing.

3. Nisha is reading Atul Gawande's Better, while I just read his Complications. Gawande's resume is so shiny and perfect it makes me want to tear up. How is Better, by the way?

On another note, can I please just say how lucky I got in coming home from Paris? It had been snowing three days before I came back, and it started snowing the day after I came back. Europe entered a massive cold spell that has killed dozens; flights across the continent were canceled, trains were derailed, no one was getting anywhere. Add in the potential British Airways strike, which was the airline I flew, and I still cannot believe I am home and not stuck in some airport right now. 

Sure, one of my checked bags didn't show up until a day later, but a) at least it wasn't lost amidst the holiday scramble and b) I got upgraded to business class for free, which I think makes up for everything. It was so amazing!!! I sat down and nearly instantaneously, a flight attendant brought me champagne. I then ordered a Kir Royale (last legal drink for a while) with my lobster dish. I pushed a button and my wide wide seat became a flat bed. Basically, it was a Christmas miracle.

Nisha, when am I going to see you?? I hope the East Coast weather is getting better!

Getting Ready for 2010

So I realize that it's not even Christmas yet, but I came across a list of H&M's 25 best tips for a great 2010 in their winter issue of the H&M magazine and thought I'd share the list with all of you :)


1. Fall in love!
2. Learn how to make a scrumptious chocolate dessert to perfection.
3. "Find yourself and your own unique signature style rather than trying to be 'of the moment'." -Dita Von Teese, Burlesque Queen
4. Take a dance class
5. "Don't dream it, be it." -Stephen Jones, Designer
6. Go to the movies during the daytime.
7. Call your friends instead of texting them.
8. "You have to take risks. We only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen." -Paul Coelho, Novelist
9. Send postcards.
10. "Listen to loud music and let your hair down." -Pixie Lott, Singer
11. Go to as many picnics as you can, and don't let bad weather discourage you - have a picnic on your living room floor.
12. Fly a kite on a windy day.
13. Record the sound of the summer and play it on your iPod in the dark months.
14. "Wear a fabulous smile, great jewelry, and know that you are totally and utterly in control." -Donatella Versace, Designer
15. Find a new favorite song.
16. Wear glittery eyeshadow on a rainy Tuesday.
17. "Happiness is a state of mind. Joy is a state of heart. I prefer Joy!" -Elle Macpherson, Supermodel
18. When in doubt - always dress up.
19. "Express yourself through your fashion and nails." -Sophy Robson, Celebrity Manicurist
20. Do things that scare you every once in a while - for the endorphin kick and the sense of pride afterwards.
21. "Eat healthy, excercise regularly, and listen to really good music." -Perez Hilton, Blogger
22. Think harder. No, harder than that!
23. If nobody buys you flowers - buy them for yourself.
24. "Be at least as interested in what goes on inside of you as what happens outside. If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place." -Eckhart Tolle, Spiritual Guru
25. Be kind.


...Now what's on your list?

FY,
N

p.s. I caved and bought the dress mentioned in the last post.
p.p.s. My songs of the day:

• Empire State of Mind (Part II) - Alicia Keys

• Haven't Met You Yet - Michael Bublé

I have fallen in love...

...yet again, with a dress from Forever 21. Now, I thought I was over my Forever 21 craze, but this dress happened to catch my eye and I am in love. About 4 years ago, I was flipping through a Teen Vogue magazine when I came across a similar white dress with large floral print on it an desperately wanted it (but it was $345) so when I saw this one, I was ecstatic. However, I have spent all my money Christmas shopping (for myself and others) and am now too broke to buy myself anymore clothes, so I guess this will just have to wait.

http://www.forever21.com/product.asp?catalog_name=FOREVER21&category_name=dress&product_id=2063024766&Page=1




On another note, TENNY IS COMING HOME TODAY!!!!!!!!! However, I cannot see her until I get home, but I can't wait to reunite <3

I really want it to be shorts weather again. This snow is getting to be a bit much and I hope it doesn't rain or anything in California when I get back. Speaking of shorts, I am looking for a good pair of dark denim shorts that aren't too pricey. Unfortunately, all the stores I have looked at seem to think that people won't buy shorts in the winter and therefore do not sell them. Any store suggestions?

OH and I really REALLY want these black oxfords from Urban Outfitters.

Check them out!

I am the definition of a shopaholic.

So today, I finished reading My Stroke of Insight by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. I highly recommend this book to everyone. It is quite a remarkable story of a neuroscientist who survived a stroke. It is a bit repetitive in parts, but has some great tips on living life and improving our personalities.

My songs for today:

Broken Strings - James Morrison & Nelly Furtado
Through It All - Alicia Keys

Flying home, please don't snow!

I am finally flying home tomorrow, but dear God, please do not snow tomorrow! If my flight gets tampered with in anyway, I will cry. It's been snowing quite a bit in the past couple of days, but the weather forecast tomorrow it'll be clear.

Paris doesn't exactly look all white and gossamer, because everything melts and turns into this nasty gray, treacherous ice hazard, that is made for slipping on. This is why I live in California.

It's the holidays, and the Galeries Lafayette are lit up super beautifully at night. The huge department store glitters from the outside, but inside, the ceiling looks like gifts are falling down on you! My kind of place.

I almost bought Nisha the Sartorialist book for Christmas! Good thing I didn't.

I'm reading Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, a memoir of his time in Paris in the twenties. It is so amazing, because many of his passages about Paris I have experienced exactly the same way! Hemingway said to a friend,

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.

 And tomorrow, leaving my home of three months, I think I'll keep this in mind! 

Let the countdowns begin!

2 days - UNTIL TENNY COMES HOME!!!!!!!! (I'm SO thrilled by this it is ridiculous)
8 days - UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!!!
8.5 days - UNTIL I COME HOME!!!!!

Gotta love December :)

So I went shopping today! (surprise, surprise! haha) and bought my own Christmas presents with the Christmas money I got before Christmas! haha. Anyways, I found the most amazing coat at a store called "Urban Behavior" which fit BEAUTIFULLY and it was only $30!! I highly recommend shopping there for winter wear. I then went to H&M where I found a navy blue silky tank top which I fell in love with and bought as well. And finally I bought a pair of Uggs seeing as how the only close-toed shoes I had were a pair of suede boots that don't like the snow too much... so here are the boots I got :)




And then my parents got my one of the best Christmas presents - The Sartorialist book!



I expected the book to have more text, but it is mostly comprised of pictures...but the photographs are AMAZING and capture so many different styles and people :) It's a great book to look through for unique ideas.

Anyhow, I don't have much else for now but I hope everyone is having a very happy holiday season!

FY,
N

Missing home!

Today in Paris, the high with the windchill factor was 28 degrees, and unlike Nisha's Connecticut it's not snowing...definitely missing home, rolling hills, warm breeze!

Joyeux Anniversaire Tenny!!

I now know how to say "Happy Birthday" in French (despite the fact that I needed to confirm with Tenny this morning that it really was "Happy Birthday" and not "Happy Anniversary") but regardless, HAPPY 19TH BIRTHDAY TENNY!!!!

I am currently in my aunt's house in Connecticut, surrounded by a blanket of snow, looking at Christmas lights strung up throughout the street in 30 degree weather and it feels so magical! (and cold.) We just landed tonight and I already have an agenda of things to do tomorrow. First of all, I need to buy some rain/snow boots. Preferrably fashionable ones. Over the summer I went to the Marc by Marc Jacobs store in New York and saw the CUTEST pair of rain boots for only $28!!(pictured below) Unfortunately at the time, I had shopped way more than my suitcase or wallet could handle and I reluctantly put them back on the shelf. However, I now want them desperately so I shall go on a hunt for these magnificent Marc Jacobs rain boots tomorrow. I am also very excited to eat breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts!! It's been way too long since me and munchkins last had a reunion.

Well I have to go finish a take home final now that is due tomorrow so I can REALLY TRULY enjoy my winter vacation!

Love Always,
Nisha

What Lasts

La Grise (the grey) has settled in nicely in Paris these couple of days. Usually I would be really depressed when it's rainy all the time, but the cloudy sky created the perfect thoughtful mood during my visit to the Montparnasse Cemetery today. Serving as the final resting spot for many of France's brightest minds and most well-known characters, I paid homage to composer Camille Saint-Saens first, while listening to his music, then Serge Gainsbourg.

As I went searching for other luminaries, along the way I found many beautiful, eccentric tombstones, if you could even call them that.

LEFT: Dedicated simply to "Ricardo, our big friend," this mosaic cat made me smile. 
CENTER: Resting spot of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, perhaps two of the best-known philosophers of the 20th century, also lovers.
RIGHT: Sculptor Leopold Kretz's own work; stone reads "My work is my prayer."

LEFT: A soldier of World War I, for whom "Credo" is very fitting.

CENTER: One of my favorite poets, Charles Baudelaire, who said, Always be a poet, even in prose. I couldn't agree more.

RIGHT: Bettina, whose red filigree tombstone stood out amongst the gray.


LEFT: Playwright Eugene Ionesco, who wrote some of the funniest plays in any language.
CENTER: A startling discovery, because first, this tombstone in Chinese and second, it says "Family of [my last name]." Made me quite contemplative.
RIGHT: Another surprising tombstone, a pelican. I would have liked this man had I known him, I think.

There's a certain peace you feel walking along all the tombs, certainly not from being alone.

THE French Bag...

...is by Longchamp, but it isn't that shiny black one. (Also, when I was in the Cafe de Flore, it did not look like that).

Which of the little cartoon people from the Longchamp website is holding the bag that every French woman loves?

Number four! The affordable Le Pliage bags from Longchamp are the most representative bags of Paris, not the Louis Vuitton Speedy or Chloe's Paddington. Who can afford those things?? Food already costs an arm here, one does not want to give up another appendage for an expensive bag.

The Pliage bags are durable, easy to clean, lightweight and simple. EVERYBODY has one here, it's like Rainbows in California. If you buy Longchamp in Paris it's like 25% cheaper than in the U.S, so I bought a large tote for my mom for Christmas! God, these bags are so versatile!! They fold up into tiny little self-packages, hence the name Pliage, so they go everywhere.

You can bring one on the airplane:

You can carry school stuff in one:

You can walk around the city with one:

Basically do anything.

Say Cheese

Four of us went cheese-tasting at Fromagerie 31, right near our school. I must admit, I was a little worried when we walked in and a pungent wave of fermentation went into my nose. Umm, am I going to smell when I walk out of here?
We ordered the 12-cheese tasting plate and a bottle of Brouilly. The cheese was arranged in a circle, in clockwise order of mildest to strongest flavor. The avid note-taker I am, I whipped out my cahier and dutifully recorded the names of the cheeses. Unfortunately, they were not easy to spell, like "swiss," "cheddar," or even "harvati," so of course I looked really stupid asking our server to spell out the words! The circular cheese with a gray rind is the first and mildest.
1. St Maure (good minus weird gray thing around it)
2. Crotin
3. Valencay
4. Delice du Morvan (yum!!)
5. Echourgnac (very soft)
6. Morbier (did NOT like, tasted like fish in the bad way)
7. Comte (thought it was emmental)
8. Camembert (really good!)
9. Morvan (weird mushroom aftertaste)
10. Livarot
11. Pont-l'eveque
12. Bleu auvergne (did NOT touch due to fuzzy blue fungus thriving throughout)

My roommate!

Strikes, Christmas, and Hot Chocolate

Well, speaking of strikes, that reminds me of one lecture we had in Economics my senior year of high school where my teacher discussed how the French strike constantly for less work, etc. when the hardly work compared to us over here. haha. (remember Tenny?...I think it was in Econ :] ) Anyways, I second your opinion that we should strike more over here.

On to happier things. We completely ridiculously decked out our suite for the holidays here and it was SO exciting. We have a six foot tall tree with 56 presents under it! And we get to open them tonight! I can't wait :) I feel like a little kid going near the tree trying desperately to sneak a peek without getting caught.

I'm also drinking hot chocolate right now and I have to say I am very disappointed because I bought this box because the cover looked deceivingly yummy but it is quite bland. The hot chocolate in the picture above, however, looks delicious.

OH and as I was looking on style.com earlier, I came across someone's lookbook of a collection of things that can be worn day-to-day from different designers (things that weren't TOO runway-ish) and I fell in love with this Donna Karan ensemble. I especially like the bracelet that she wore with it because it's simple, yet adds so much to the outfit

La Grève

The poor Louvre on strike.

I get in to the Louvre free because I'm an EU resident under 26 years old, so I go there often. Thank you, socialist party. Yesterday, I got to the Louvre, and it was on strike. And apparently, the entire museum/monument system is on strike in Paris. Versailles, Centre Pompidou, D'Orsay -- they're all striking some time soon. I was disappointed, except for the fact that it was funny to complain and shake heads in disapproval with an old French man.
But then, I shouldn't have been so surprised. French people love their grèves, or strikes. In the short time I've been in Paris, I've seen so many strikes, each strike is like a little cultural tourist sight. The second day I got here, there was a strike on education in front of the Hotel de Ville. There's been like ten strikes by metro employees, each time forcing me to walk. People in my French class are 20 minutes late every strike, and the professor is so used to strikes she doesn't care if you show up an hour late. There's gay rights strikes, farmer strikes, postal worker strikes that delayed my package like three weeks...all kinds of strikes. Which makes me believe we need to go on strike more. Hello, we have way worse problems than they do.

Sonia Rykiel for H&M debuts in Paris

Last night, the Paris launch party for Sonia Rykiel for H&M saw the Grand Palais transformed for around 2,000 guests. And while I was not one of those guests, it's still good to know I was closer [proximal!] than usual. Yes!--I was writing an essay just twenty minutes from the party! Can we please celebrate that? Apparently it was a "magical," "so French" gathering that made some Colombian designer forget about the economic crisis, so it must have been good. See the extravagance for yourself in the video, which was streamed live during the show. And no, that is not the real Eiffel Tower.

Sonia Rykiel is a beloved French designer known for her quirky, colorful knitwear and her whimsical sweaters. A lingerie collection is coming out December 5 worldwide, and the knitwear collection, which I am more excited about, will debut in February 2010.
Sonia Rykiel has been called the Queen of Knits. Plus, she was the first person to put seams on the outside of a garment, and to print words on her sweaters -- both genius ideas that we take for granted. She famously printed the word "OBAMA" and his face on garments in a 2008 collection. Ahh the French, always one step ahead.

Vogue Covers and Interns

Look at the three people in the middle right -- don't they evoke the three Goldilocks bears walking in synchronized steps?

So I realized I was talking more about food than fashion, and this is Fashionably Yours, not foodily. So, Vogue has a huge presence in France, more so than in the States. Walking along the Champs Elysees, I came across an outdoor exhibit of classic Vogue Paris covers. They were definitely more creative with the covers back then than they are today. Still, at least French Vogue uses models on their covers. The American edition's use of celebrities is getting old and boring. Who needs to see Sienna Miller featured three times? Not me.

There are always Vogue interns or editors walking (teetering) around, running errands. The other day I was buying bread at Eric Kayser, and there was an intern there complaining on her phone, "I can't believe she wants us to check all these stores and run all these pages by tomorrow!" I wonder which of the mean editors she is referring to... In my experience, these interns can usually be identified by a)nice shoes, usually Louboutin, b)well-coiffed hair, and c)a Vogue tote, probably carrying portfolios, photos and copies. I sneakily snapped a photo of an intern along Rue de Rivoli below; note all three qualities have been met.