Then and Now

I started this blog over a year ago, and I had no idea what it would come to mean to Scott and I over time.  He loves reading your comments as much as I do.  We feel like we have so  many new friends.  Most of you we will never meet, but no doubt you hold a special place in our hearts.

We found out yesterday, that Scott's cancer is back.  It still seems to be contained, but in light of this news, I truly feel I need to step away from blogging for a bit, not that I'm super consistent anyway.  I have no idea how long I'll take off... maybe a few weeks, maybe longer.  I guess GirlMeetsParis will just pop up one day and surprise you.  I wanted to let you know why I will be MIA, since I've shared about Scott's situation in the past.  

I'm not trying to be over-dramatic, but my creativity seems really stifled... my mind is swirling, but I am at peace. 

I want to leave a few thoughts with you before I sign off for awhile....  Paris gave Scott and I both an incredible gift of opening our minds and our world to other possibilities.  We love Paris sure, but for us it represents so much about change, and growth, and keeping marriage fun and vibrant.  

Here we are in 2006...

Here we are last month...

If your marriage is in the pits... DO SOMETHING, anything, to get it back on track.  Do not take that man for granted under any circumstances.  Remember all he's done for you over the years, remember that he picked YOU out of all the girls he knew, and while he's not perfect... 

well, neither are you :)

A friend sent me this awesome framed art she did for me a few weeks ago.  It symbolizes how I feel, and what I'm hanging on to.  It sits next to my sink.

I actually gave this verse to her years ago, as her family was going through heart issues with one of her children... they are still walking that road.  Life is rough, no doubt, but through it all...

God is in control, and He knows.

I will still be reading your blogs for sure, and will comment when I can... 

now... go give your husband a hug and tell him  how awesome he is!

~Teri

Flea Market Lovliness

Working on a couple of projects...so we'll do "Paris in Real Time" over the next few posts.

This is the day at The Pig Fair.

We noticed this sign in a few metro stations.

As I've mentioned before, I am not a huge fan of the flea. I find them overwhelming and confusing. However, this flea market was totally manageable and easy to get around. There was no junk so to speak, and there were items in all price ranges. 

There were so many items we wanted, but we weren't prepared mentally or financially to ship stuff home. Everything we bought had to be hand carried on the plane, or put in our luggage... which I think worked in my favor and helped me edit all the things I wanted. One mental note about this market... almost no one spoke English, but that wasn't a problem. The MO (modus operandi) of the day was drawing imaginary numbers on my palm to come up with a fair price. I usually offered 25-30% less (I had read that somewhere) and they almost always agreed.

I would have taken a million pics, but I left my camera card in my iPad at the apartment from when I downloaded the night before! My camera allowed me only 5 shots on it's internal memory, and I was done... almost brought me to tears.  We took a few videos and that was it! 

 These are all very short, I promise.  

Getting there...

In awe...

Just for fun...

For Ruth at A Beautiful Life...click here if you 
would like to order a similar bottle rack :)

I've only been to a few flea markets in Paris, so I'm no expert, but if I ever go to Paris again, I would plan my trip around this event, which happens twice a year. It was that good and that fun. Scott even got into it, even though he finds haggling horribly embarrassing...he hung out outside of the stands as I made my offers. In the end he was shocked at my nerve, but excited to be saving money.

Next blog... Food at the Fair... hope you'll check back.

~Teri

An Outfit a Day

Okay ladies... I have TEN minutes to do this post and I'm out the door.  I find it so difficult to reenter my life after being in Paris.  Still adjusting, but wanted to do a quick post.


For some reason... I decided this year to have Scott take a picture of my outfit for each day.  I was thinking that if someone hasn't been to Paris, and they are planning a trip, I wanted them to know they don't have to invest a lot of money in new clothes... unless of course, they want to... in that case... go for it!


I almost always dress in solid, dark colors or white.  Not sure why.  I like to fade into the background.  I always felt appropriate everywhere we went, but then again, we don't hang out in the fancy places :)


So... I feel a little silly now, but without time to plan a lovely post, this will have to do.  I'm already down to 7 minutes!

I knew this wasn't the most flattering, but I love this vest and it was warm!

Scarf... 5€ on the corner.

I swear this was crisp and ironed at the beginning of the day.

This was flea market day.

If you click on the pic you can see these cute flats I bought. 

Everyone wears flats in Paris!

And here we have... drum roll... the Leopard coat!

So... as you can see... only on the LAST day did I take a risk.  I guess Fashion Week and the shop windows got to me.

Will blog again soon.

Teri

P.S.  I'm not MaiTai that's for sure! Her way of dressing is my dream!

Saturday In Paris

   

                                   

Au revoir Paris. You never cease to amaze, surprise, and delight me.

Until we meet again...

XXOO


P.S. Got in last night.  Daughter had a blast at homecoming, and she sent pictures to me while we waited for our connection in Chicago.  My parents went so far above and beyond the call taking care of her.  They might sleep for a week now.  My daughter can be quite high maintenance... in a good way! :)


As I walked through the Tampa airport last night, one thought overwhelmed me... 
"Everything is so clean, shiny, spacious, and NEW looking." 


Dog and home are fine.  I have to say... as much as I love Paris...
There's no place like home!

Friday in Paris

                                    

A hodgepodge of a day...can't get into it in detail...yet!

How about... time on our favorite bridge, Pont Alexander...

Dior Fashion Show...

 a scam almost run on me, until Scott said, "No way!" then an hour later, same scam by a different woman...

the Louvre...

George V...

 a late dinner in Montmartre where we laughed until we cried... for NO reason!

I'll explain later...Bon nuit for now...taxi coming early.

Thursday in Paris

                                     

Thursday was a long day of wandering...all over St. Germain des Pres. We started at Place Vendome, where Fashion Week was in full swing. We ate a fabulous lunch of steak and pomme frites, and took off walking. We ended up making a purchase...Scott was determined I get a new purse, but instead we found a coat. I've always heard you should use leopard as an accessory. Well, even petite me decided to use it as the whole outfit. Pics to follow. I guess the shop windows got to me. 

We were also walking along and found, quite unexpectedly, some perfume a certain blog friend asked me to pick up for her... we were so surprised, and so excited.  I had written down the perfume in detail, and the shop owner explined it all to us... why we couldn`t find it at Sephora anymore, etc...she was awesome, even with the language barrier!

We walked along the river, looking for the French version of Harry Potter that we saw before, and couldn't find again...sorry Meagan, thought you might like that.  Walked on and on to get my mom something I decided we had to get...then ended up at the Marias along tiny, crooked streets...so French.

One more day...so sad...but I do miss my kids and grandkids a bit! My youngest has Homecoming, which I am missing for the second year in a row, even though we planned our trip around the date. How were we supposed to know she would get invited to Homecoming at a different High School???

 MOM...take pictures please!

We ended the evening near the apt...doing something I said I would do for years...see top photo.

Teri