Get a Clouseau

If you want to get in the spirit for the upcoming historic inauguration or if you just like to turn stuff into Shepard Fairey-inspired pop art, take a little trip to www.obamicon.me and upload a photo or two. I did - here is my favorite creation:

We'll always have bangles.

I just discovered these adorable bangles. Too bad they have an adorable price tag as well. I'm not usually one for items with cute phrases plastered all over but these beauties are too cute to scoff at. Southern ladies love anything with little bon mots on them like "It's 5 o'clock Somewhere", etc. as well as anything with hot pink polka dots and monograms. I have to admit, I'm a fan of the monogram myself.

Anyhoo, how I wish I had a Valentine to give me one of these precious bracelets! Maurice Chevalier would probably endorse the companion bangle: Que serait le monde sans les filles?

Not an exact translation of the famous song from the musical Gigi but a similar sentiment, nevertheless.

La vie en....bleu?

I saw the bluest sky yesterday even though it's freezing, gloomy and we've had a predominantly grey, overcast horizon for weeks and weeks. So blue that blue isn't good enough - cerulean, azure, sapphire maybe? Anyway, it reminded me of these photos my Grandpa took in Paris in February, 1960.

Blue is a popular color for January. Home decor magazines typically do Blue & White issues, cruise wear (collection croisière) is also ubiquitously blue and white, my favorite Frenchy blogger recognizes the blue doors of Paris and many the world over are feeling blue with Seasonal-Affective-Disorder. I think I will go make some blueberry pancakes.

Look at this adorable doormat I found!!! Fits perfectly into my Bleu theme and I bet it would look great with all of those blue doors in Paris.

Foux Da Fa Fa

My favorite Kiwis in a Parisian fantasy. It's a chuckle-fest. They're so adorable. Enjoy...

Rêvez-vous en chocolat?

I don't have much of a sweet tooth but I do love chocolate (I'm really a fruit, pastry and custard girl - especially if they're all together!) However, I fully confess I am guilty of chocolate snobbery. I would rather eat one piece of really great chocolate than one of those nasty "King-Sized" candy bars on the supermarket shelf. This is definitely a trait I share with French women - what's the point in wasting calories on something that is made of corn syrup, inferior chocolate (and little of that as it is), wax and other stabilizers? Where's the artistry in that?

I had one chocolate guilty pleasure: chocolate-covered hazelnuts (doesn't noisettes sound so much prettier? I bet they even have fewer calories.) Until tonight. I have picked up a freelance writing gig and in addition to spending a ton of time online applying for jobs, networking for introductions, etc., I have also been sitting in front of the computer, staring at the monitor, willing myself to come up with something interesting to write about so I can get paid. Needing a break, I remembered a confection I had picked up about a month before Christmas just in case I needed a last-minute hostess gift. (I always have hostess gifts on-hand, it's a Southern thing. I truly don't know the origin of the hostess gift, but I'd be willing to bet it's a tradition we inherited from European settlers by way of New Orleans or similar.)

Copyright © 2008 A Southern Belle Goes to Paris, y'all.

Anyway, I passed by my un-gifted hostess gift and thought I could go for a little treat. I also had a full bottle of La Demoiselle (my favorite) champagne in the fridge which was my hostess gift when my best Parisian friend visited me this Fall, gifted as "La Demoiselle pour ma demoiselle favourite" (oh my God, swoon!) I had planned to drink it on New Year's Eve but never got around to it. So I thought, I have a great bottle of champagne, a box of un-gifted chocolate, let's go to town! But... then I thought I would save my bottle of champagne to celebrate a new job (I thought it might lend a better sense of celebration than a can of diet root beer.) So I whipped up a café crème and cracked open the box of Hot Pralinés. Lordy, they were good. Three flavors: Maracuja (Passion Fruit) & Jalapeño, Pomegranate & Chili and Papaya & Chili. (This blogger likes them, too.) The standout for me was the Papaya & Chili - the chili really brings out the freshness of the papaya. So now I have a second pleasure, though admittedly an un-guilty one. Who can feel guilty about eating a little piece of heaven?

Bonne Année, (j'espère!)

A week into the new year. Still unemployed but remaining hopeful that 2009 will make 2008 look like chump change! (In a good way.) I have resolved this year to make no resolutions in lieu of focusing on the job hunt. Resolutions will be made when I celebrate la rentrée at the end of August with all of Paris, in spirit if not in person. Hope you are all enjoying the new year so far!