Visiting Paris Without Speaking French Part 1

Paris has always held a special place in my heart.  Not only was I among the millions of people who had their honeymoons there, let's face it: it's kind of difficult not to like the "most romantic city in the world," what with all the historic buildings, the parks in the middle of the city, the wafting smell of fresh pastries from the bakeries, the fab wines, and of course that certain "je ne sais quoi."

In the last few years, I've been lucky to have visited the city several times.  One of the first things I noticed was how much friendlier the locals are now towards non-French speaking tourists.  Compared to ten, fifteen years ago, most of the locals now speaks fluent English and are willing to use it.  Despite common perception that French people tend to be a little 'snooty," I strongly disagree.  In fact, the service industry (such as restaurants, shops, hotels, and even the transport system) has really improved, and as much as I hated to admit it, it seemed to be better than services in the US (in particular, the last several years).  The locals were very accommodating, willing to help out, and definitely more patient (compared to US cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and definitely New York City, for example).  I noticed, at least in the case of the salespersons I encountered in the US lately, there was a trend among them to show sour grape faces and "I-don't-really-want-to-be-here-if-I-have-a-choice" attitude whenever they serve their customer.  Was it due to the bad economy, or was it just the fact that they didn't like my face?? hmm...

A view from a corner of some random street

The Church of Notre Dame -- Could you spot Monsieur Hunchback?

Parisien buildings

An old-fashioned bookstore at St. Germaine

The whole shop was lined from ceiling to floor with books!

Back to my Paris trip...  I was lucky enough to have stayed around the 7th and 8th arrondissements, which is where Rue du Faubourg, Rue St. Honore, Rue Cambon, Place Vendome, and Place de la Concorde are located.  My hotel was also within walking distance from the famous Champs Elysee and the bustling Madeleine area.  These were all famous streets where most of the upscale boutiques, museums (such as Musee Louvres and Musee d'Orsay), and other historical landmarks were situated.  It was also pretty close to The Eiffel Tower (about 10 minutes drive), and to the increasingly hip St. Germaine area (where the Church of Notre Dame's located) .

A Paris experience wouldn't be complete without indulging on the French "cuisine."  No, I'm not talking about the fine dining kind at one, two, or three-starred Michelin restaurants.  I'm talking about hot, Nutella-filled crepes and crispy waffles from street vendors along Champs Elysee or the Moulin Rouge, the mouthwatering omelette, risotto, and entrecote steaks with "truffles," the delectable macaroons the colors of rainbow, the juicy croque monsieurs from the local neighborhood bakeries at Montmartre, the savory, melt-in-your mouth souffles (au chocolat, au Grand Marnier, au fromage, take your pic) from sidewalk cafes at St. Germaine, the creme caramel with butter and sea salt... and the pastries... the jambons...Oh la la!!!

Omelette with Black Truffles from La Maison de la Truffe

Entrecote Steak with seasonal truffles

"Isharya" Macaroon with Rose Water from La Duree

Cappuccino avec creme fraiche (!)

(To be continued...)

Hop a Little Tuesday (Week 13) and Follow Me Back Tuesday

Hop A Little Tuesday [Week 13]

There are 3 different linkys. You can link up your Blogs, Facebook [fan pages ONLY], & Twitter accounts! Click on the hop button above to link up!

Hosted by: Little Boys are Made of Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails and Love You Always and Forever.
And... Mommy Katie and The How to Mommy.

As always Follow Me Back Tuesday is Hosted By:

Survey Junkie, Little Yaya’s & Boobies,BabiesAndABlog

This week’s Guest Hosts are:

Jodi from A Mom Having Fun!

&

Kristin from Mommy Miscellaneous

Meet Me on Monday June 12th, 2011

Welcome to the 48th edition of

"Meet Me On Monday!"

Every Sunday Never Growing Old will post five get to know you questions that you can copy and paste into your own Monday post and we can all learn a little more about each and every one of us!!

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Question #2 compliments of Maureen at A Sudden Alarm of Donkeys!!

If you have a question suggestion please email me at: nevergrowingold@hotmail.com and if I use your question I will give you a shout out! 

Questions:

1.  What is your favorite yogurt flavor?

2.  Ankle or knee socks? and on the same theme, white socks or coloured??

3.  How is the weather right now?

4.  Are you a fast typer?

5.  Red or White Wine?

Answers:

1.  I'm not a yoghurt fan, actually.  Unless it's Pinkberry's.  Then it's the original flavor topped with fresh strawberries and blueberry sauce :)

2. It really depends on the kind of shoes and whether or not it matches the color of my clothes.  Yes, I'm Ms. Prim and Proper in this department.  I prefer plain white, nude, navy blue or black though.  Not really into patterns or colorful socks... they tend to make my already giant feet look even more humongous.



No



Um, nope

No!

NO WAY!

WHAT THE HELL?!?

3.  Am in Paris right now, and the weather's great.  In fact, I have the details right here:

4. My mother hired a tutor for me one summer when I was thirteen just to teach me how to type correctly.  So yes, I'm a fast typer.  Even if it's just because by now I've had years and years to practice, and because my mother was an anal retentive who made me into the anal retentive person that I am today.

Yes, I came from a generation where keyboards used to look like this

My tutor never taught me how to type like this though

5.  I prefer reds.  Or champagnes.  They're much quicker than whites in making me become a happier person.  But I'm OK with whites too, especially if they come free of charge.



Or at least that's how I usually got mine

  

My sentiment exactly.

  

My Happy Ending

This week's Red Writing Hood prompt is to spread a little joy and write about happy endings.  Obviously, I sucked big time, as you can see from my friend's Shanimals' Crackers' comment below.  LOL.

I waited for him in the rain, beneath the sequoia tree.  With my eyes closed and my hands locked in prayer.  He told me he's leaving on a trip to no-man's land; who knew when--if--he's coming back.

There was the sun, and then the moon.  But it kept on raining where I stood.  Beneath the sequoia tree, where last he said goodbye.  Away he went, without a backward glance, on a trip to no-man's land.

Love stood by, but he kept on walking.  He had forgotten, you see.  About our sequoia tree.  That's why, he said, "don't wait for me.  Let's say goodbye, for it's dawn, and I'm gone to no-man's land."

But I knew the day would come when Thy Will be done.  He'd still be gone but I won't want.  Where wings would fly and send me high.  Above, beyond our sequoia tree, that's where I'd be.

Gone, into my promised land.

What Do I Want? What Do I Really, Really Want??

Many thanks to Allison, the mama behind Mama Wants This, who's been such a supportive and loyal friend.

I joined the Red Dress Club many weeks ago, but until now had been too chickensheet to actually do any of the writing prompts.  This week's prompt has a lot to do with character development: "What do you want?"

It's funny, to be asked about what I want, because it just occurred to me that at least for the last couple of years, I've been living life without really thinking about what I want.  In a way, this writing prompt really made me pause and re-evaluate my life today.

Oh I remembered what I wanted growing up: I wanted to be a full-time wife and mother.  I bought into the whole fairy tale and happily-ever-after idea pretty much as far back as I could remember.  Nothing--not my parents' divorce nor their subsequent failure in relationships, or even when life proved to be way different than Disney's glitter and glow--was going to stand in my way.

At times when my friends aspired to be doctors, engineers, scientists, superheroes, and famous actors, I secretly wanted to be a housewife and stay-at-home mother.  I was too embarrassed to say it at the time, though.  I didn't know anyone else who wanted what I wanted (perhaps those who did were too embarrassed to say it out loud too).  So I came up with a brilliant answer should my aunts, uncles, parents' friends asked me.  I told them I wanted to be a cashier, at a supermarket.  Yeah, brilliant.

Came college time, I still wanted to be a housewife and stay-at-home mother.  But until I actually found a gentleman who would love to marry me and have babies with me, I've got to come up with a back-up plan.  So I studied psychology and economics, just in case. 

I mean,do you know how difficult it was to find 20 year-old boys who just can't wait to get married and have kids?!?  Most of the ones I knew would most likely be running-pants on fire style-in the opposite direction if I so much as mentioned the M word.  And being a young, not-so-bad-looking (ehem) woman, I also preferred young, good-looking (haha) gentlemen closer to my age.  Hey, don't tell me you didn't feel that way!  When you're twenty, anything above 30 or 35 were "eww waaaay too old"--remember those times?

And then there's also the prospect of being disowned by my mother  if she ever finds out that her only child would rather be a housewife and stay-at-home mom than follow her footsteps in attaining at least a PhD. degree.

Of course I've also stopped telling people I wanted to be a supermarket cashier by then.  Now I told people I wanted to be a psychologist, because apparently being a psychologist was more fitting than a supermarket cashier when you happened to major in psychology and economics.

Mucho boyfriends and bad dates later, a man finally decided he wanted me to be his wife and mother of his future children.  And yep, even after I told him all I ever wanted was to be a housewife and a stay-at-home mom. (Yay!  Finally there was someone who didn't run away after finding out that um, his girlfriend actually wanted to settle down and commit! And that there's no such thing as free sex, guys!!!)

Today, I'm no longer a newly married, nor am I a new mom.  In many ways, life has been kind to me and I'm blessed because I am living the life that I've always wanted.  Like any marriage, mine had its ups and downs, but if I had to do it all over again, I would stil choose the same man to be my husband.  I am not the perfect mom, I even had my share of postpartum depression.   But I love my daughter and I treasure every moment of raising her and watching her grow up.

As I mentioned earlier, the prompt to write about "What do I want?" actually made me pause and the more I thought about, the more it scared the living $#!^ out of me.  Why?  Because if I am living the life that I've always wanted, wouldn't it mean that I should be content, or at least smiling my ass off? 

But I'm not smiling my ass off.  So what does that mean?  Did what I want changed somewhere along the way?  Or have I been as blind as a bat, taking for granted what I have, always wanting more?  I asked myself over and over again what I want, but you know what, other than the same ol' "I want to be a housewife and a stay-at-home mom," I honestly don't want anything else.  

Oh, who doesn't want great health, lasting beauty, lots of money, and a string of luxuries;  it's not like I'm going to refuse if anybody were to offer those things to me.  And yes, my husband would probably screamed, "Are you shittin me???" if he ever found out I said this, but the truth is, other than "I want to be a housewife and a stay-at-home mom," there's really, honestly, nothing else I really want.

Let me tell you, even as I'm wrapping up this post to an end, I'm still asking myself this simple, yet mind-boggling, question.  I'll leave you with my final answer--the best answer I can come up with right now.  What I want is to be a housewife and a stay-at-home mom.  But what I need to do right now is to find new ways to appreciate what I have, to realize that I have what I want, and to work on keeping what I have so that when my time comes and I closed my eyes for the last time, I can say that I've lived a life that I've always wanted. 

Terrific Thursday Blog Hop! Week 17

Terrific Thursday Blog Hop Week 17
Hosted by Rondi from WAHM Resource Site and Crystal from My Life as Mom and Wife .
This weeks guest host for the #3 spot is Create With Joy!

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1. Please grab the blog hop button to spread the word.
2. Please follow the two hosts and guest host – WAHM Resource Site and My Life as Mom and Wife, and guest host Create With Joy
3. Please do not link up your giveaways, blog hops, etc. (These will be deleted.)

Link up your blog, visit and follow the blogs that interest you and have fun! 
You only need to add your link to one linky for it to show up on all participating blogs. The linkys will open every Wednesday at 8:00pm CST.

My Genius Mind Came Up with This

Hey, you know what...  This had just occurred to me, like five minutes ago, as I was washing my hands.  Well, it's not the kind that would make Mr. Archimedes shouted "EUREKA!" or anything like that, but I thought my little "enlightenment" could be useful to some of you.

So here it goes (drum rolls please): do you know that the type of dispenser your hand soap comes in can save you money???

Yep, that's it.  That's what I just discovered! Yayy!!!  (If this is not news to you, just suck it in and let me have my one-minute of glory, okayyy?  Jeez, people could be so mean nowadays).  

I noticed this because I just bought a new bottle of hand soap to replace another that's almost finished.  Both from the same brand (Duane Reade) and had the same amount of contents (221ml), but just different in their packaging style (lol). 

The older one (the clear one in the picture), was far more economical because whenever I pressed on the dispenser, the pump felt more snug (more airtight?) than the newer one.  It gives you more control on the amount you want to use per pressing the dispenser.  The newer one (the yellowish one in the picture) automatically squirted too-much soap whenever you press the dispenser.  

So unless you're one of those "you-won't-believe-how-unhappy-my childhood-was-and-that's-why-I'm-THIS-anal" people, who would purposely remember to apply just an itty tiny bitty pressure on the dispenser every time you wash your hands, you might want to get a hand soap that has a good, snug pump so that it doesn't squirt more soap than you need per hand wash. 

Take charge of your hand soap.  Don't let it control you!!!

PS: seriously, I really have nothing better to do right now than to write a whole post about hand soaps.