Purple Blooms at Jussieu

\\my metro stop showing its spring colors

Signs from the Stars

|||You're the zodiac's dreamer, who sees the world through a kaleidoscopic viewfinder. |||

After I made dinner for the girls the other evening, we were having a very girly hangout and happened to start discussing horoscopes. I am not much for them but I am a believer in the God and this incredible universe and therefore can enjoy the predictions in the same way that I have faith in something much deeper and bigger. Reading our 'profiles' on Elle brought laughs and some agreement, until we came to mine. Everyone was nearly quiet in disbelief of its accuracy describing some of my tendencies. Generalizations undoubtedly, but some strangely hit the mark...

Matt & Kim - Daylight

Remember this song?
 Its undeniable boppy-ness has been making it revive itself on my iPod for spring. 

Matisse at the Pompidou

Paires et Series

An absolutely amazing exhibition at the Centre Georges Pompidou. 

Matisse's work is shot through with underlying ideas of duality and repetition - a series of opposition between colour and drawing, sculpture and painting, easel painting and wall painting, reference to and reprises of ancient works, series of studies and of variations and so on. The most singular of these would seem to be the pair - two canvases of the same size, on the same theme, created at the same time. This phenomenon of series and pairs - expressing a fundamental doubt, a reflexiveness regarding methods of painting, and a desire to exhibit the creative process - offers a new insight into Matisse's work and allows it to be understood in the fullest sense.

"La blouse Roumaine," 1939-1940 y "La Blouse Paysanne (La Reve)," 1940 

"Creativity takes courage" - Matisse

{from the exhibit, he photographed his works' evolution to document his artistic process}

In this singular and radical way, the painter allowed people to see the genius of his works, which had usually been kept secret. He showed the complexity of the conception behind the apparent ease that is characteristic of his work.

"Lux, calme et volupte," 1904 y "Le Gouter," 1904

"I found myself or my artistic personality by looking over my earliest works. They rarely deceive. There I found something that was always the same and which at first glance, I thought to be monotonous repetition. It was the mark of my personality that appeared the same no matter what different states of mind I happened to have passed through." - Matisse, 1907

"Le nu II" y "Le nu III"

More profound thoughts ------->

Rue La Vieuville

 Ascending to Sacre Coeur from Boulevard Clichy in Pigalle.

Sunday Afternoons & Mint Tea

A Royal Wedding

The wedding we did this weekend was like whoa.

Abbaye Vaux de Cernay meets Nollywood.

(yeah, Nollywood = African Hollywood)

---Whoa---

Babar and the Ballons

It's been weeks and I still cannot get over how cute this illustration is.

Little Thing that I Love #292834

Bringing home fresh flowers is such a joy.

Descending Sacre Coeur

The Lumineers - Ho Hey

The Lumineers have the kind of soul that makes me think of my dad's old bluegrass records.
.

It makes me feel close to my memories, close home. 

I like, I like.

Musée Rodin

For a massive picture post

------>

La Marmite

What are you so surprised about Carly?

Mmmm. I see.

Ooooooooh.

On 2 Boulevard Clichy in Pigalle you will find these absolutely incredible salads at La Marmite. 

Do it.!

Around Notre Dame

It is so incredible in Paris right now, I can't even describe how I feel when I am meander through this city.

From the Pont des Arts

 The Louvre to the left, the Assemble National dome to the right, Notre Dame in the distance.

Hôtel de Ville

The city hall looking important in the spring sunlight.

Carré Rive Gauche

 If you wander into Paris from the Left Bank Quai across from the Louvre in the 7th arrondissement, you will enter narrow streets lined with stately buildings...

 impressively large doors..

(avez-vous quelque chose a déclarer?)

[[Do you have something to declare?]]

And absolutely incredible art galleries.

Pictures would be rather a faux pas here (even for me!) but trust me, you want to check it out.

--Very cool things--

Skies of Purple and Blue

the beauty everywhere is so distracting.

Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile and Bastille

 Built by Napoleon (have I told you I am obsessed with the idea of that little man?) to regally enter Paris with his new Austrian bride Marie Louise.

(and some Laduree, macarons = always a good idea.)

And Bastille, the former state prisons that were infamously stormed to incite the French Revolution in 1789.

With the Opera in the background.

Canal du Midi of Toulouse

Meaning the Canal of Two Seas.

The Canal du Midi was built to serve as a shortcut between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, avoiding the long sea voyage around hostile Spain.

Its quiet water lined with big, old trees made for a beautiful meander on Easter evening.

Walk with me by the banks--------> 

Easter Dinner in Toulouse

(look, Anne-Marie had my name tag already prepared! see it?)

The cliche is true. 

Traveling away from home expands your world. 

But it also makes you see what you love so much about the world that you know.

And I miss so much my family's traditions, they are incredible.

But was very lucky to be accepted into another wonderful family this Easter.

Back to Toulouse

A beautiful basilica, built between about 1080 and 1120.

Can you imagine how formidable a building like this was compared to peasant hovels and huts.

The power of the church in that era made erect.

 Playing with fire in the Capitolium Square. 

[how do people get started with such a hobby?]

The courtyard in the Musee Fondation Bemberg 

From my Sunday Evening around Paris

Ile Saint-Louis

 Wandering with Christina and her wonderful mother, Francois, who I was so happy to meet. 

You should too ------>

A Treasure Trove

Reason #32943 Why I Love My Internship:

As I am sent about this marvelous city, I get to discover more and more about it. Sometimes, even hidden treasure troves. Case in point, this absolutely amazing place completely tucked away in the back streets of the 11th arrondissement. Entry only permitted if you are a professional working in film, theatre or events, it is like the most enormous and best edited puce that has ever existed.

Rooms full of chandeliers, thrones, candelabras, leather trunks, taxidermied animals, china... endless treasures. 

plus, plus, plus! ---->