Retail Cheeseball

 Don't mess.

 Rough night.

Incredible reflection in bathroom mirror.

Paris, in Lag Time

**Another post from this week in Paris, delayed because of my internet issues....**

I have been working at the TW store on Blvd Haussmann for the past 2 days, at the request of my boss so that I can get to know the product better and let him know my thoughts about the store, etc.  Also, it's because he had to go to China right quick and wouldn't be able to spend any time with me on my first week.  

I must admit, I've never worked retail before.  And it's grueling--especially for this old lady!  

Yesterday, I took notes on the store and all of the fabrics, etc… and then I helped unpack stock and put security tags on clothes, all the while apologizing to customers who asked me for help in French.  How confusing for them.  I looked like I was doing something official when I was writing stuff down in my notebook, surely I worked there.  The worst was when I'd apologize and say I didn't speak French… and they'd ask me in ENGLISH and I'd still have to defer to someone who worked there!  I didn't know what the heck was going on in the store!

Today, I got there at 8 am (it was still dark... boo) to help change the store around and tag things for sale, as well as to help change the window displays.  As someone who'd never dressed (or undressed, which is really what I did) a window before, I must admit that I was pretty charmed to be able to do it right on Blvd Haussmann, among the "Grands Magasins"  (Printemps and Galleries Lafayette).  Everyone that walked by looked in to see what I was up to in the window;  I would have been curious, too!  

And to add to my first full day in retail, I headed out to lunch at McDonald's with the team because they invited me.  I was secretly really excited about my team-building McDonald's lunch, but was sad when my Royal-O-Fish did not have any cheese on it like the plain ol' Filet-O-Fish sandwich in the states.  Oh well.  That crap is still crap in any country.  Tomorrow I have promised myself a fancy sammich from the Galleries Lafayette gourmet counter, which is across from the Mickey D's.  

In opening the plastic bags of new stock and putting on security tags, I realized that I would probably be good at an assembly line job--and quite possibly really enjoy it!  It's like sitting on my ass on the computer all day, but without the computer.  Not bad.  :)

After my full day of work (and my realizations about my skill set), I hit up the Galleries Lafayette, but only the gourmet floor (I. Can't.  Even.  It is the best place on earth.  Wasabi tarmamoussalata?!?  Anything else you can dream of?!?) and the shoe floor.  Tomorrow I do the collections. 

 Pony shoes with cats on them.  The best.

 Amazing gourmet floor.  My head almost exploded.

Galleries Lafayette, you're so pretty.

And then I saw this.  The amazing holiday displays are still up in the Printemps windows:

Divine!  These marionnettes are attached to the ceiling.  There were risers set up for the kids to enjoy the show.

Oh, Paris... you're growing on me.  I am excited to start looking for an apartment of my own!

Camping in Paris

**This week was my first in Paris.  I took a job there and will keep an apartment there and divide my time between Paris and Brussels.  I am currently staying in a work-sponsored temporary apartment that is without internet, so I was unable to post all week.  I wrote the below on Monday night and am just now posting.  Blarg.**



I don't know when I'll actually be able to post this because it seems my temporary apartment is without an internet connection, which coupled with the fact that I'm working with a French keyboard at work (I keep hitting "w" for "a" and I still can't find the apostrophe--frustration!!!!) is about to put me over the edge.  

Today was my first day in Paris and my first at my new job.  This is not meant to be a giant whine because I know how lucky I am, but suffice it to say my first impressions of Paris as a place to live were less than stellar.  (I must also note that I have been up since 5:45 am, and that was after only getting maybe 3 hours of sleep--first day alarm clock jitters, weird outside "street cleaning" noises, temperature issues, and cat-on-bed placement all promoted this.  So forgive me if I couldn't find my rose-colored glasses in all of that hullabaloo.)  

I am sitting here in my temporary apartment that is cute as a button but is giant if it's 20 m2.  The rental agent lady kindly told me that it used to be a servant's apartment in this fancy building.  Nice.  At least the (tiny) bathroom and (tiny) kitchen are new, but there was nary a towel (for either bath or kitchen), so I had to pop into Muji and buy a new towel that I'll have to use without washing (totally gross to me, but I'm weird about that type of thing).  I also had to buy toilet paper and paper towels because neither was provided.  Way to roll out the welcome mat…. here's your new "furnished" apartment, now go find something with which to wipe your arse.  I must note that there was both a corkscrew and a French press... but no fork or spoon or knife.  (Note from the "future me":  for the rest of the week, I ate my morning yogurt with a plastic fork I saved from my Monday night falafel.  You have got to be adroit to eat yogurt with a fork, I assure you.)  

The place is right smack in the heart of the Marais, which has the highest rent of any part of Paris.  So I know it ain't cheap.  And I appreciate how small it is because there are no creepy hiding places or scary closets.  There's not even room for a ghost!  (These are the things I worried about moving into an oooooold Parisian apartment.... ghosts.  heh.)  But there's also no heat besides a plug-in radiator, which has now been rolled out to the end of its electrical tether to be as close as possible to me where I sit on the "bed."  I quoted that because there isn't room for a full bed, so there are two twin mattresses that are against two (tiny) lengths of wall that meet in the corner.  So it's an interesting set-up.

Behold!

Note twin beds pushed against the walls, daybed style.  Also note radiator placement in center of room.

Using radiator as point of reference, this is looking into the kitchen.  TINY!

 And this is the kitchen.

I am grateful for it in all of its tiny-ness!  I swear!  It's just, well... not home.

Speaking of which, today in Paris made me realize how much I've come to love Brussels and how it is home to me.  To be honest, when we first moved to Brussels, I wasn't necessarily excited about Brussels itself, mainly the fact that it's a city in Europe.  I mean, it's Brussels… not Paris, not London, not Berlin…. Brussels.  Still European, but "meh," right?  

But the last 9 months and now being here in Paris have made me realize how much I love Brussels and its pace and conveniences--and its people.  Our apartment in Brussels is huge.  And nice.  And modern and lovely but still with character… and it's HUGE.... did I mention that?  Plus, it's right by the metro and an incredible bar (where families and hipsters alike kick it) that serves breakfast, too.  I've gotten to know my neighborhood pharmacien and corner restaurant proprietors, and the lady at the grocery store tries to make conversation with me all the time, and today a man helped me put my luggage on the train. 

Brussels, you give me the warm and fuzzies!  

And then there's Paris, where the apartments are ridiculously tiny and old and the stairway is dark and dingy and loud and the lights keep turning out before I can walk up to the 6th floor.  I know I will come to love living here, once I can find my own place and live here on my own terms.  I have heard horror stories about the French being total jerks lately (for example, no one giving up a taxi for a pregnant woman in labor) and I am worried I won't be able to find people of the caliber of the Brussels peeps I've come to love.  

But still, it's Paris.  I've read plenty about the sacrifices people make to share its spoils.  It's going to be a good experience, I know it.  The city is electric (would those people outside please be quiet soon?!) and bustling (though people rarely say "pardon" when they bump into you) and one of the most magical places on earth.   

I am thanking my lucky stars to be here.

Stay tuned.  

I end with more scenes in and around my apartment building....

Looks Familiar

So fancy!  When did he sit for this??

Shop Windows

Favorites from Antwerp.

Throwing gang signs at Escada?

Wearing in the New Year

The last outfits of 2010.

Dress Club Monaco, shirt Gap, tights UO, sweater Cos, boots OC, necklace vintage.

New sweater obsession from Cos (and a nice treat from B!).  Who am I kidding?  I am generally obsessed with EVERYTHING at Cos, but the seaming and mix of stitches on this cardigan rule.

 Amazing vintage necklace from Wilbur in Philly.

I may be showing a bit too much petticoat in this one... oh well.

Jumper vintage, sweater H&M, necklaces Comfort Station and Digby & Iona, tights ?, socks Old Navy, boots Frye.

Can you spot the cat hair in this one?  As vigilant as I am, I am losing the cat hair battle.

Anyway, check out the beautiful Comfort Station necklace B got me for xmas!  It is filled with pieces from a vintage score of Handel's Messiah.

And this was NYE.

Sweater BR, shirt Gap, necklace Comfort Station, skirt vintage, shoes Joie, tights ?, hat vintage.

Fooding (in the Ghetto)

Need to catch up on the eats!

Mostly what I've been eating is potatoes with creme fraiche and caviar.  Yup.  Roasted potatoes topped with some of the best stuff on earth.  It's been my mainstay for the past 3 days, but it's really too fancy to keep up for much longer.

It's so good it just feels wrong.

It's a variation of an appetizer I usually make for new year's eve--sliced fingerling potatoes with a dollop of creme fraiche and then topped with caviar.  But since it's just for me this year, there's no need for a fancy presentation.  So I get right to it, just spooning the cf and caviar over a bunch of potatoes.  YUMS.


Anyway, here are some other recent indulgences:

Wouldja look at the oozy goodness of the vacherin on the right?  Oh boy, was it good!  And the guy on the left's our main squeeze, tomme de savoie.  And there's a smidge of ostrich sausage left from the market in Antwerp.  

For xmas dins, we had a reindeer shepherd's pie and salad.  Kinda weird eating Rudolph on Christmas, but trust me, it was delicious.  Wickedly delicious!

Finished xmas off with a vegan chocolate cake with raspberry filling and a quite non-vegan whipped cream topping.

Cochino had a very merry Christmas, tucked under the covers from her ghetto-looking headquarters in St-Gilles...

I mean, really.

This place looks rough.  They don't pick up the trash in the snow, there's a new tag on the metal curtain that falls when the nightshop is closed, some db broke our front window (only through the outer layer of glass, but still) so we've got a board up until the insurance replaces it, and well... we wanted to live in a "real" Brussels neighborhood--this is it!

Another Post in Praise of Antwerp

It is impossible not to be charmed by Antwerp.  Go there and try, I dare you!

I mean, if the train station's that good, you can be fairly certain the rest of the city will not disappoint.

Pretty, pretty Antwerpen-Centraal.

See?  Charming!

I always find myself fantasizing about living there.  And wishing I could pop into the cool apartments with interesting architectural and design details that I spy from the street.  Or better, have one of my own.

The architecture is incredible.

And there's a nice mix of modern, as well.

And they have robotic dogs!

Found this cool "graffiti park" in a new (to us) area of town as we made our way to the RA Concept store (which happened to be closed... boo).

Megan's aglow.

This cracks me up!

Can't go to Antwerp without going to Fiskebar.  Every time... it's so good.

Spotted this vagrant with her plastic-bag wallet in line at the atm.  heh!

Even the Starbucks in the Centraal station is nice.

Training it home.