Where do you even begin about Paris? It's the most enchanting place I've ever visited, yet also the most difficult. The pulse of the city was embedded in it's history, culture, and dignity. The people watching was amazing. Men with flipped up collars, wearing stylish glasses, with impeccibly trimmed sideburns. You wouldn't even flinch at the sight of a young beautiful man walking down the street smoking a pipe. Women walking their little dogs on leashes, while wearing heels on cobblestone paths. Scarves draped artistically around their necks. I could feel the sense of obligation to beauty & a higher sense of style from everyone living there. At times it felt like walking in a fine tailored dream.
We stayed on Rue Pont Neuf in a very old section of Paris, where the colors of every building bleed together, so every geranium, colored doorway, or awning gleamed in rebellion with their bright hues.
We heard every language imaginable, mused over all of the couples we saw enthralled by romance, and drank our cups of tiny espresso slowly at the corner cafe every morning as we watched the world go by.
I marveled over large gold gilt horse sculptures, and paintings by the masters in the Musée d'Orsay (the Louvre was closed when we tried to visit, never go on Tuesdays!), took note of all of the tiny cars and vespa lined streets, and met a very odd guy named Luke (pronounced Luuu--- ick!) who told us all about how he got kicked out of his exchange program in Bakersfield California. Which if you know anything there is to know about that area, there isn't much to say!
We saw every beautiful thing you could imagine in Paris and at the Maison Object show (a tradeshow so amazing it truly deserves it's own post). And I got very lucky. As one of the biggest highlights of this trip was that two of my friends who live in Europe came to meet me. On Sunday Yvonne took the train from Belgium to Paris. We took the day to sightsee, and got teary eyed as we rode the lift on the Eiffel tower and saw the city for the first time from above. It was so visually moving, I could feel my stomach float with butterflies as we rose up above the buildings. We took a water taxi on the Seine around all of the monuments and relaxed after a long day of walking with a glass of wine, on the deck of a boat cafe across from Notre Dame before we said our goodbyes at Les Halles station.
Later that week my fellow adventurer & PaPaYan Eli and I met up with my college roommate Pauline who now lives in Paris, for dinner and the following day took a trip to Sacre Coeur. As we were walking up the stairs of the monument one of the human statues sprang to life and pointed at her exclaiming "oh la la"! (Only in Paris!)
She guided us through the hilly streets of Montmarte (where Amelie was filmed). We had lunch at "Tire Bouchon" a crêperie where notes, drawings, clippings, photos, etc. are tacked on the walls from travellers passing through Paris. My favorite was the tiny passport photo that said "Don't worry, I'm still alive!!". So it goes without saying that, we were destined to leave our mark too.
Here's a peek at PaPaYa's booth at the National Stationary Show in New York last week before the crowds moved in.
Shawn's been traveling back and forth a lot up north settling all of our loose ends, while I work down here in Ashland. This last week, he accidentally left with my camera in his glove compartment. Dispite bad lighting and dismal weather, my iphone came to my rescue again.
Even Wendy Addison suddenly wanted one, when I took this photo of her with my good friend and inspring creative director Anahata at the stationary show. Wendy's work was featured at Tinsel Trading Company's booth. They are the cutest, so much talent right here! (You can peek into Wendy's studio, The "Theatre Of Dreams" at Ana's blog here, and Pam's here!)
Although we spent most of our time at the show, Ana and I managed to spend some quality time at the Pearl river mart in SoHo. Ah, the lanterns... as my friend Yvonne would say "the mothership has called me home"!
We also visited Tinsel Trading Company in person, what an enchanting store!
Here's a snapshot of jewelry artist Jill Schwartz's amazing booth. She's one of my muses. I keep a folder with images that inspire me, hers are some of my true favorites. The image on the right is one of them, and comes via Earth Angel toys, an online shop that sells her pieces.
I also got to visit some of my oldest blogging friends Hope and Leslie at the show in their booth representing their stationary lines Paper Relics and The Paper Princess. It's been amazing watching their businesses grow these last few years. Such paper divas! We all met in hell's kitchen for dinner one night with our other good blogging pals Jess and Dawn. Jess brought us all lovely handmade bracelets. She sells her artistic jewels at her online shop Junque Revival.
It was such a whirlwind of a week, I'm really glad I got a chance to visit with all them!
I'll be returning to New York with my pals of the PaPaYa crew this August for the big International Gift Show, as one of "New York's Newest". The lure of the big city's already calling to me.
