She's a good girl, loves her mama, loves Jesus...

and America too.

I'm home! After more than 24 hours of waiting in airports, standing in long lines, and luxuriating in a 4-star Paris hotel, I survived and made it back to the States!

Regularly scheduled programming on the ol' blog from here on out.

Things I'm looking forward to now that I'm stateside:

fruits and vegetables!

my 21st birthday

Las Vegas

cuddling with Riley

exercise

Cannot wait to share all my memories! I'll be starting a new series next week so that I can share things one at a time.

JK, Paris. We're not over yet.

Remember when I said I was leaving Paris today?

Yeah, me too.

Well, the Air France pilots had other plans for me

and decided to strike.

My flight got cancelled (naturally)

so I got stuck in Paris another night.

Though I suppose maybe stuck isn't the right word

considering the fact that it's Paris.

There are far worse places to have to spend an extra night.

So for now, I'm lounging in a bathrobe, laying on my uber comfy bed, eating a Kinder Bueno (try one immediately) and trying to stay awake late so that I can sleep on the plane tomorrow.

Paris, it's okay if you don't want to see me go. I'll be back again very soon.

photo above is just a little teaser for all the fab photos i'm about to send your way :)

Goodbye.

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.

I can't believe this month is over. I feel so different but so the same. Paris is a place that moves you. It's nearly impossible not to fall in love--with the sights, the history, the food, the people on the streets. Paris is inside me, an inextricable part of my heart and soul. Wherever I go from now on, I carry a little piece of Paris with me.

Au revoir, Paris. Until next time.

why?

why does blogger hate me?

it has taken away my ability to post photos and edit font.
how can i go on?

Spotted in Amsterdam: Leopard Print Scarves

via

I saw a lot in Amsterdam. Things I will never forget. But the one thing that stuck out were the leopard print scarves that literally almost every woman was wearing. Business suits, casual outfits, and sundresses were all topped off with a chic leopard scarf.

Am I behind the fashion times? I didn't realize how popular this was.

I want one! My mission for today is to find a cheap, cute one in Paris that I can rock for the rest of my trip.

It so perfectly pulls together a casual outfit, and could dress down a suit. I would pair one with fitted jeans, black ballet flats, and a cardigan.

What do you think of this trend? Yay or nay?

Grateful for everything.

This trip has made me truly grateful for everything.

Grateful for macarons, crepes, and paninis.

Grateful for the Metro, the Louvre, and LIDL (the French Costco).

Grateful for my friends, my body, and my mind.

But mostly it's made me grateful for my parents

who have allowed me to have this incredible experience.

The memories I've made and will continue to make are ones that I will never ever forget.

And that's more than enough.

I don't know if it's the rain or this 15 page paper,

but I'm feeling tremendously introspective today.

I love my life.

Top: Me at the Opera Garnier

Middle: Notre Dame at sunrise

Bottom: Panoramic of Paris from the top of the Arc de Triomphe

Random Monday musings

Friends, I survived my weekend in Amsterdam!

It was seriously so incredible.

I can't wait to share all the photos.

And I still have Bastille Day photos to post too!

I'm about to be one busy blogger.

For now, I'm stuck writing a 15 page paper.

(and by that, I really mean exploring Pinterest all day)

And wishing that Paris would be sunny and hot again!

I've got cute skirts and dresses I still need to wear.

What did you all do this weekend?

Happy Monday!

Five Things Friday: Paris (are you guys sick of this yet?!)

I officially leave in two weeks.

That means I have 14 days to find a French man to marry

or come up with another legit excuse to stay here forever.

As my time here is winding down,

Kate and I are crafting a list of all the things we still need to do.

Five Things Friday:

5 More Things We Must Do in Paris

1. Climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I can only imagine the photos.

2. Go to mass at the Notre Dame. I would feel like such a terrible Catholic if I didn't do it!

3. Shop on the Champs-Elysees. We decided to save this for the end of the trip so we'd have a better idea of how much money we have left.

4. Go to the Sorbonne and buy a t-shirt. We didn't study there, but no one (except you all) has to know that.

and one thing that was on our list but we just completed last night (more details to come!):

5. Stay out all night until the Metro reopens at 5:30 am. We watched the sunrise over Notre Dame and had a photo shoot on the Seine. The most wonderful night of my whole life.

Off to Amsterdam!

Bon week-end, mes petits!

Framboise

Kate and I stumbled upon a Mickey D's in Paris today that serves mini macaroons!

Aaaand I discovered this awesome new flash feature on my camera.

Today was such a win.

Restaurant Review: Sinatra in Barcelona

The dinners were definitely the highlight of Kate and my Barcelona trip.

I'm a foodie, what can I say?

The first night we stumbled upon this little plaza and had paella.

The second night we went to the plaza again and one of the promoters told us about this awesome restaurant.

It was down a dark alley, so perhaps going to it wasn't our smartest move, but it was well worth the potential danger.

Friends, I present to you Sinatra.

The food was sort of a fusion American/Spanish.

I had the best risotto with walnuts (interesting combo but so delicious) and a Tequila Sunrise (to match my sunburn).

The decor was old Hollywood, and they had a movie screen up with Casablanca playing silently. I died.

If you ever find yourself in Barcelona, Sinatra is right off of La Rambla. You must go.

second post of the day...it happens.

Today is a rainy day in Paris.

And I'm resting up before going out tonight.

So why not ramble on some more?

Are y'all on Pinterest?

I'm obsessed.

It's like DIY heaven.

Thought I'd share some of the best things I saw today.

when I'm a grown up and throw Super Bowl parties I'll make these!

sugar cookie fruit tacos - i die.

i dream of being this organized one day

aren't these freakin' cute? perhaps i'll make them on my first day back in America

yum yum yum

drooling

appropos, non?

...huh...

all food related.

so typical.

click here to follow me on pinterest!

I see a little silhuetto of a man...

Last week my friends and I went to an Irish pub and this live French band was playing (American) music.

Bohemian Rhapsody came on and I sang along. It was one of the best moments of my life.

Good beer.

Good friends.

Good music.

That's about all I need.

Barca via iPhone and why I'm about to have the best week of my life...

1. View from the balcony of our hostel

2. Legit spray paint on a wall--so euro

3. My polka dotted shirt!

4. In the plaza where we ate dinner all three nights

sangria and walnut cake--life doesn't get much tastier.

Friends, have you ever been to Barcelona?

Spain's city on the water is the most popular place for people from my school to go abroad.

Kate and I jetted there for the weekend.

We feel like mortal sinners for admitting this and I know my generation will collectively disown me but

...we didn't like it.

The humidity was oppressive, the city was really dirty, and it's very Americanized.

We did manage to have some fun and got to see a friend from school, so I'm very happy we made the trip.

I'm going to try to upload more photos, and I have a restaurant review planned, but I have a very busy week ahead of me so it might have to wait until next week.

You may have noticed the title of this blog post...here's what I got cookin' this week:

Tomorrow: (post-midterm...the only gray cloud on an entire week of sunshine) Shopping on the Champs-Elysees, then seeing Harry Potter at midnight (because France is baller and releases movies on Wednesdays)

Wednesday: one of our friends in our program is turning 21! And Bastille celebrations start Wednesday night.

Thursday: BASTILLE DAY. Since I missed out on the 4th in America, I plan to live vicariously through France and its independence day. Red, white, and blue, get ready!

Friday: Amsterdam!

It's okay to be jealous of me. I'm jealous of me too!

Five Things Friday: Paris II

Kate and I are running around Barca this weekend!

While I'm a little sad about leaving my wonderful Paris,

I'm thrilled about soaking up some Spanish sun.

Today's Five Things Friday

is Parisian-themed again,

just like last week.

(okay, let's be real...this whole blog is Parisian themed, at least for the next month)

This week I'm sharing five of the most amazing things I've seen in this gorgeous city so far.

Trust me, this isn't even the half of it.

I hope I'll be able to fill you in on everything,

but that could take a while.

Like maybe until December.

But we'll see what we can do.

1. The pyramids outside the Louvre. I felt like Tom Hanks in The da Vinci Code (just with better hair). They are visually stunning and completely stand out from the traditional Parisian architecture. And the big one is sneaky--it's actually an entrance to the museum, which I never realized.

2. The Mona Lisa. Everyone told me seeing it would be disappointing, and it definitely was (it's tiny, you can't get that close, etc) but it was so exciting to see something so famous! And my boy Leo was pretty damn talented, even if the Mona Lisa is kind of a let down.

3. A whole windowsill dedicated to macarons. If I could choose any dessert in the world to eat for the rest of my life, it'd be those bad boys.

4. The religious iconography in the front of the Notre Dame. The detail that the 13th-century sculptors put into it is just astounding.

and last but certainly not least...

5. The Eiffel Tower light show at night. The highlight of my life thus far. If you've seen it, hopefully you know what I mean. If you haven't, I can't describe it, except to say that it is incredibly amazing and you need to get your booty to Paris. Visually stunning, and it made me feel like a part of something really special.

Adios!

Hope you all have wonderful weekends!

I promise to show you the highlights of Barcelona next week.

Don't you Louvre it?

So I've been getting some feedback.

And y'all seem to like all this Paris nonsense I've been rambling on about.

I figure, you gotta give the people what they want!

So fret not, I'll continue to speak of Paris

24/7

365.

Today's adventure covers

Le Louvre.

What is especially cool about the Louvre is that it is free for art history students (which my ID proudly boasts--I'm studying the history of Paris through its architecture, y'all!). A group of my friends and I took advantage of this sweet deal and headed to the palace on the Right Bank on our third night in the city. It was the second-coolest highlight of my trip thus far (you'll see the first tomorrow!). The Louvre is the most exquisite combination of modernity and ancient history that one can imagine. I could ramble on for hours on end about its magnificence, but I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Pretty dang cool.

I still have a museum wish list:

Musee d'Orsay

Ann Frank's House (Amsterdam)

Van Gough Museum (Amsterdam)

Paris: A Foodie Perspective

Food. A topic on which I could ramble forever. It's just so dang good.

In the months leading up to my trip to Paris I was really strict about what I ate.

Tryin' to make room for some Parisian food, y'all.

And boy have I made up for it in these 6 days.

One important point, though: Paris does not love vegetarians.

I'm making do, but most menus don't include any just veggie options at all.

crepes, sandwiches, macarons,

oh my.

my favorite thing so far was the croque madame sandwich (directly above) without the ham.

i got it after my orientation at a cafe right down the street from my school.

guess where i'm going tomorrow.

also, new goal for the trip: eat at least one crepe or macaron per day.

it will be a miracle if i haven't gained 300 pounds by the time i get back.

First Purchase in Paris!

Good news, friends.

July is the unofficial sale month for pretty much all of the stores in Paris.

Meaning every store you walk by

has SOLDES

written in big letters.

I plan to take full advantage.

These shoes only set me back 21 euro

which I am telling myself is less than $30.

Too hard to say no!

Happy Birthday, America!

I love the Fourth of July.

The colors,

the fireworks,

the red, white, and blue,

and most especially,

the history behind the day.

Those revolutionaries were badasses--

they saw what needed to change,

and did it.

So Happy Birthday America!

Though I am not around to celebrate your special day,

know that I think of you often

and will settle for wearing your colors on second-rate Bastille Day.

Happy Fourth of July!

And thank you to the service men and women who work to keep our country safe everyday.

how will i go back to real life after this?

paris, je t'aime.

Five Things Friday: Paris Edition!

Hello blogosphere!

Happy July!

I'm in Paris!

For the past two days I haven't had internet access, but I just got it set up in my dorm and am so excited to upload pic

tures and catch up on blogs!

This week's Five Things Friday

consists of all the things I had heard about Paris that have turned out to be true thus far.

1. The food is amazing. oh.em.gee. It will be an absolute miracle if I don't gain 500 million pounds during this month. We've had wine and dessert with every meal thus far. Yesterday we walked around St. Germain eating a baguette, and we bought three boxes of Petit Ecoliers (my favorite cookie, even in America!), which were only one euro! For lunch today I had a Croque Madame, mais pas de jambon. Parfait! I am literally dying over the fact that I still have a month left of this food!

The first dinner: quiche au saumon (salmon quiche) with a delish salad

2. Everything is beautiful. Like literally anywhere you look. The architecture is tres magnifique, and I cannot wait to start my class (which is History of Paris: An Architectural Perspective). I haven't even seen the big stuff yet (Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe), so I know I have lots more gaping to do.

Kate and I in front of the Notre Dame

3. French people smoke...a lot. It hasn't bothered me so much, except when you are walking behind someone who is smoking and they get ash on you.

4. The metro is dirty. Seriously, it puts BART's level of gross to shame. It's dirty and smelly, and always tremendously crowded. But it's so convenient and fast that it makes it worth it. Today we lugged dishes and groceries all over Paris, but the metro made it much easier.

5. One thing I've found not to be accurate: the notion that Parisians are rude to Americans. We always speak French as a greeting, but I suppose our accents must not be very good because the French always respond to us in English. They have been nothing but absolutely lovely so far!

I am absolutely loving this city so far.

I am so grateful to have this opportunity!

Tonight we are going to Le Louvre (because people under age 25 get in for free on Friday nights! Gettin' my Mona Lisa fix) and then out to a bar near the Notre Dame with people from our program.

Tomorrow we are taking a bus tour of the city (I'll post pictures of all the amazing things I see!), and on Sunday, we're going to...Eurodisney!!! (The little girl in me is dying!)

Au revoir!