An American Biddy in Paris: January turns to February

I am happy to report that the weather is finally getting a bit nicer in Paris. Though I long to see the sun, there are days when it peaks out and I swear, I almost see Parisians smiling! So there have not been any large events since my last posting, just some smaller ones like a birthday party for a friend of Boris', a visit from our french friend Nicolas while he was on business from Seattle, another visit from a friend of Boris' from college (Adrien) + his Estonian girlfriend (Eneli), lots of good eats, one sunny and warm day spent with Pauline in Montmartre, a house warming party for our friend Theirry and Neila, and my first rugby match.

First off, there have been numerous parties I have attended the past few weekends and I have met lots of very interesting people. Luckily, everyone seems to be pretty fluent in English and excited to speak it with me. There was even a party this past weekend where I met a British girl living in Paris for work who doesn't speak French either. We have plans to get together and speak all about our English speaking experiences in France! There have also been some other ladies that have been good to meet (so nice to have girlfriends in Paris) and I plan on doing Zoomba with one of them. Apparently, it is a type of dance workout that is popular amongst the trendy and clubbing crowd. It's at a gym so I am classifying it as Biddy working out time! (Yes Carli, you would definitely LOVE it!) At the house warming party, the girlfriend of Boris' guitar playing, math teaching friend, Neila works for Yves Saint Laurent...unfortunately, she claims to not speak English well enough to talk to me. Yet, her friend from YSL was at the party so it was good to talk with him and connect about working in Paris for luxury fashion companies and how to best get started as an American with little experience in the actual field. So everyone cross your fingers for me and hope that the French fashionistas will like me! Here are some pictures to show off these events

Boris directing the music for our pre-dance party @ our friend Benjamin's flat

Our friend Francois and I @ Benajmin's enjoying some wine


Pauline, Boris, Eneli, and Adrien

My day in Montmartre. Since Pauline starts work soon, we decided to squeeze in a day of girl time this past Friday. Luckily, it happened to be the nicest day since I arrived in Paris with the sun shining and temperatures around 14*C (about 57*F). Sooo nice! We decided to walk around my new neighborhood since she has never spent much time there. I showed her my new building and then we just walked around and went a hunt for food. Here are some pics so you can visualize the day!


Pauline and I stealing a quick photo on a random Vespa

Next topic:

Wall art outside at the restaurant we ate at

Lunch wine....hmm I have never eaten or drank wine on astro turf before! FANCY placemats! :)

A building near where I will be living that is pastel pink... LOVE IT!

Pauline's kitty ...or shall I say, her chat

Wall graffiti

This street had not only Le Petit Parisian (the little Parisien, though this is the masculine form, it still counts) for my little tiny Parisien Pauline...they also had...

Pauline Po! How appropriate a street to be walking on!

This weekend, Boris and I are off to Caen again to spend the weekend celebrating his sister's birthday. We will also be getting a bunch of Boris' old housewares and boxed up ready for our move the following week! Yay! I will leave you with some more pictures of random things I have seen on my days about Paris and of course.... FOOD! Yum yum!

Galleries Lafayette- amazing department store!

Galleries Lafayette- I love when this place is on Soldes... 30-70% off?? Yes please!

Galleries Lafayette Ceiling

Statue outside of the Opera

Cool building/apartments near our place in the 13eme that are AMAZING on the inside

Random street art in Bastille

Men singing and playing really cool music in some shelter from the rain in Bastille

Awesome modernized vintage shop in Bastille

Same store- want it all!

My dessert from when our friend Nicolas was in town on business from Seattle... Raspberry, Strawberry, and Current ice cream/sorbet with whipped cream & almonds! YUMMY!