Sunday, November 30, 2008

Wow the logistics to our wedding can become a bit confusing at times. Right about now i'm quite happy we waited almost two years between engagement and wedding, honestly can't imagine how we woud have dealt with the amount of stuff to organize if it would have been a shorter time frame.

Just a little taste: right now my wedding earrings and invitations are shipped to a friend in Texas who will bring them to Paris in january. Whilst the wedding bands are shipped again in the States to California where the best men will pick them up bring them to London in january and then to Paris in february ( i think),then we will take the rings earrings and such with us to Budapest in the spring. The Claret is ordered now from the French countryside shipped to us in Paris and from here driven to Hungary by my stepdad. The Champagne on the other hand will be picked up in February by DF himself from the suppliers cave somewhere near Reims , then driven to my stepdads in Germany who will then drive it to hungary before the weddig. How on earth the wine will get from Austria to Hungary or who will help us pick it up for the moment we don't know.

OK sorry , that must have been confusing to read. On the other hand though we'l be completely broke around Christmas with so many costs, timetable wise we are ok , just need to fit in marriage lessons at the church and get all the official papers sorted and we're fine. I guess it might also be the semi-destination style of the wedding but i can't believe how daunting the whole organization of it is even having a planner in Budapest.

Oh and we signed up for a wedding list this Saturday at 1001 listes, which is apparently THE place in Paris to sign up.Now just have to figure out technicalities oon the website of the listpace.So Saturday night both of us got immersed in the world of Descamps satin sheets, silver champagne buckets, christal liquer tumblers , and more of the like.
Pictures from descamps.com

Saturday, November 22, 2008


Things that make me content right now...

Being curled up in a blanket on my sofa with a cup of tea and a good book to read after I finish this post.

The fact that its almost freezing outside,and that most of Europe had some snow , increasing chances that it might snow here too.

That I can sleep in tomorrow.

Knowing that I'm invited to a Thanksgiving party tomorrow to D's place, and thus dont have to be alone Sunday eve.( the only night of the week where it rally bugs me to be without DF)

Having two weeks holiday in January to look forward too.

the caramel-au beurre sale ice cream i just had.

the fact tat after months those flowers actually grew some roots.

The fact that DF gets me (and my obsessions) and bought me Chantelle lingerie sets on venteprivee.com, we so shouldnt have , but shoes lingerie, magazines,macaroons, just a few things i can't resist. Then again it was master O. who said 'I can resist everything except temptation'

And on that note .... Have a lovely Sunday!

Friday, November 21, 2008

In between


Right. So my boss wants us to work wihout break , but deigned to give me two days off for Christmas (no pause at new years oh no!) df wants me to stay around and never go home, and my mom wants me to go home but only when she's there , meaning christmas, or march as she's wintering in Germany.

So I'm in between, my boss is happy with the two days off , working from the 27th till new years eve and beyond (and I mean NO sundays working) but gave me the holiday I need for end of january so I can fly to Budapest; choose the menu, have as many dress fittings as it takes, meet two priests , a florist hairdressers , make-up and planner. Of course now my mom is not happy because that means I would spend a fortnight in our house without her being there. But wedding wise , march is just too late. So I'm back at sqare one where somebody is unhappy with shedulings.
Wow I honestly don't know how people with actual families and kids do this.Oh yeah and I forgot Dior had the lovely idea of all of us having to take an oral quiz next Monday. Basically learn all the dates, occurances and symbols of Christian Dior's life by heart. Yeah like in school. Its not that I think its hard or a big deal but I do find it ridiculous.And I spent a big chunk of my day chasing down 45 Dior candles for Sir Elton John (his assistant called).Candles for Elton john , what else!So thats my insanity right now.

No wonder I'm wishing I lived on a farm on the Canadian coast. But I guess thats for when I retire,until then there is a whole lot of city life to live. Guess if we talking city life there is worse places then Paris especially when it twinkles so endearingly under my windows.

And I have the Thanksgiving Sunday at D.'s place to look forward to.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Dreaming on...





Mommy is having some marital worries that have me worried and though DF and me are doing great it shows me how hard marriage can be. Even when one knows the other for years there is always issues to deal with.
So I'm dreaming on and away from the mess, and will share my dream house with ya'all. By some funny irony my absolute dream house is the villa Christian Dior grew up in (am working for Dior now and less then loving it). Its very bourgois , surrounded by an English garden and overlooks a cliff.

Absolutely georgeous, makes me project all my gardening , child rearing phantasies on it. I first saw an image of the villa when I was 14 in a magazine cut it out and pinned it on one of my wall collages. So this house has been in my phantasy for quite some time. (And yeah its pink) Today it is a museum , showcasing some of Dior's earliest designs and photo exhibitions. Told DF today that we should go sometime as a little weekend trip. But really I just want to meet my dream house, even if it completely unobtainable.

And speaking of unobtainable Dior related stuff how about that 50's wedding dress designed by the master himself that would be so perfect for a Marie (official) wedding dress. As for the rings if I ever had the choice to choose an engagement ring version that doesn't feature a center diamond, these Dior Gwendoline rings are amazing. Graceful and poetic (made of white or red coral and gold) I prefer white, though I know a certain J. who has the perfect fitting red rose earrings so I thought I'd include both versions.

Enough of the Dior centered stuff. DF and me just ordered our invites and though we had some back and forth on the topic of wording in the end we did include both my mom and my stepdad on the host line. We also started working on the information sheet we will include in our invites for out of towners. I will make them public here at a later date as we are including some Budapest travel tips, and found some nice hotels , though when it comes to cosy romantic hotels my belowed hometown isn't up to scratch.

All pictures from www.ville-granville.fr and www.musee-dior-granville.com and diorcouture.com

Sunday, November 16, 2008


Hmmm just wrote a post then when I tried to publish it my pc froze , hate that .Now either I rewrite it or look like a lazy blogger .I was describing my deliciously lazy grey November Sunday sleeping in lazing in bed till midday , baking fig tarte for DF and watching the wizard of Oz on his afternoon break cozied up on the couch.

yesterday on the other hand was pure excess , drink-wise food_wise and financially ... but soo worth it. Can I just say fois gras pasta for lunch merry go round in the Tuileries , champagne in musee d'orsay (some art too ) then pre-dinner drinks at the Heminway Bar in the Ritz and a big birthday dinner at Afaria for a philippino pal.Love the Hemingway bar its like Tiffany's ,pure comfort, luxury and nothing bad could ever happen in that place.
Quite exhilarating and don't even dare think about the money I managed to spend in one day. TRhus the satyng in today. That and the fact that i have another 6 day week starting tomorrow. Wish i had red ruby slippers to think myself away . DF is already planning his bachelors trip through Europe for ,fingers crossed that he makes it to the wedding in time.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

London stuff + 2 epiphanies





Two intense days back at work and it feels like the long weekend and trip to London was ages ago . So to remind me I thought i ought to post a little recap. Well we left Sunday morning , did the usual TGV annoying kids in the seats behind us trip and met with friends J&J at their apartment (who were fashionably late but hey more time to peruse Topshop).
I love taking a peek at other people's living quarters,its so often such a perfect reflection its inhabitants. And their place just like them was a perfect little jewelbox of victoriana style. A few beautiful pieces of furniture on a tiny space with a grand bathroom , it was so lovely I was ready to move in. (No worries I'm quite happy to be back home).

Of course as usual two bottles of champagne and mimosas turned into liquer for the boys and a wine-soaked (and rain soaked-this being London) pub lunch, from which we very drunkenly and barely hungry made it to the big family Birthday dinner of my father in-law-to be. It was pleasant enough once we recovered from our drunkenness. Though I must admit I was quite proud of DF pulling himself together. He was really tipsy in the train to Wimbledon but once in presence of family made himself seem quite sober.

We stayed at Df's sister and her susbands place nearby and though their apartment would benefit from some decorators TLC we found the most beautiful touching thing in the morning. We were just getting ready to leave and looking around for the amazon DVD's that we had waiting for us in England. Both DF's sister and her man have left already when in the hallway bookcase DF found a hardcover book with Wedding Gift written on it. He looked (can I underline here that it was NOT me snooping)and apparently it was a gift his sister had made to her husband for their wedding day. A professional leather bound book with at least 200 pages that contained all their E-mails to each other during their courtship, had chapters with their special stories and was the single most touching thing I've seen in a while. So much effort and love. Of corse we didn't read any of it , just leafed through it quickly (we needed to leave) but it was very sweet, a little peek behind the curtain of another couple's relationship.

Our wedding stuff are in the works E-mails going back and fourth between our planner and me . And we should buy our proper invitations this weekend.

Am going to finish here , finally have all those deliciously girly movies I ordered a while ago and can't wait to watch the specials of Sex & the City , then moving on to Some Like it Hot , Gilda, Steel Magnolias , How to Make an American Quilt ....

PS. two epiphanies 1, my ideal bachelorette party would be just a tiaras & pyjamas pajama party with lots of champagne and girlfriends in a suite.

2, i think DF should open a restaurant with an old fashioned burlesque show (none of that modern peep-show crazy horse stuff) i think it would work amazingly in Paris.

Saturday, November 8, 2008




Week was had quite some ups and downs.But hey survived it and I guess hope still lives on in the end. I'm all for change when it comes to Americans electing Obama like 90% of all Europeans I guess.

But seriously in my professional life need a bit less change , andn more constancy. So this Tuesday all hell broke loose at work when the Dior people announced in a meeting with our boss that they will not continue the contract with our company after Dec.30th. So yeah we were all shocked and scared for our jobs. I mean that is huge bad news, Dior has been doing their customer service with this company for 5 years . It was kind of ironic going to the Dior private sale on the brink of becoming unemployed , and spending like no tomorrow , then again who knows when one gets the chance again.

And the week ended with a rosier outlook as our boss told us that chances are good, we will all be kept and working on the newly signed Hermes team. Would suit me just fine, prefer Hermes to Dior anyway, so fingers crossed. Anything is better tha n looking for a new job in this economy and 6 months before the wedding.

The private sale though was worth the getting up at 5am the wait outside for two hours, the bounty was fine!;, A white leather bag for about 10% of its original price some gorgeous flats with crystal detailing (for the dancing bit of the wedding) some camel summer heels, a valet, lingerie , and I couldnt resist a little Baby Dior dress. Completely pointless but hey just hope by the time we'd use it, it won't be completely eaten by moths.
Of course there were raks and raks of amazing John Galliano for Dior evening gowns and summer dresses and even wedding dresses. But honestly they started at 300 and went up to 700, still a bargain compared to their original price but it just seemed more sensible to buy stuff that get worn than one evening dress that has to sadly sit in my wardrobe for most of the year. That and the fact that John Galliano's dresses are mostly bias cut and very slinky . Great for tall skinny girl with no boobs . But curvy girls need structure, so nothing for me. Sadly.

So excited about getting out and going to London tomorrow ,really looking forward to seeing friends and even DF's family anything to get a bit of a break of Paris.was at WHSmith today getting some magazines for the trip and gift books an fell in love with the Domino book of decorating, wish I had my proper home already there is just so much effort I will put in a rented apartment , the wallfull of paintings and silhuettes and the fancy wallpapers will have to wait. Sometimes phantasize of the things that one could do with my parents-in-law to be's house in Wimbledon. Classic english house huge and so lovely , but in dire need of some redecorationg.Guess my mom's interiour decorating genes come through.

All images from dominomag.com. such amazing decorations!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008



Pause of blogging this time can be blamed on DF (ha isn't it great to have a man around to blame) he decided to download all of Weeds season 3 and 4 and that show is seriously addictive so have spent the last two evenings in a haze of Weeds (fitting expression , no?)

In any case wedding-wise the news are that our friend A. is saving us and the safe arrival of our invites in january by going home to the states over christmas and being an angel in volunteering to lug our invites back as well as my earrings . Just hope it all works out we were worried that nobody was going back to the states , so this is seriously good news. How is it though tha all things wedding are so much classier and cheaper in the States. Except for England Europe doesn't really deal in elaborate wedding details , which makes it quite a bit harder to organzie and explain my ideas to planners , etc. Oh well I guess on the upside things are a lot less commercial and a lot more improvised here.Now i just have to kick things into gear on the Budapest side of things and all should be on shedule.

In any case I'm looking forward to our 24 hour trip to London this Sunday / Monday. Mostly family stuff with DF's parents but this time we are going to stay with his sister and brother in law, which I'm hoping is quite a bit more relaxing than staying with his parents (lovely people but still not exactly chilled out). And will get to see our fabulous friends JJ the ones of the mythical English castle wedding, unrivaled fabulousness and yeay we will have boozy champagne lunch on Sunday.So good news all around.

ps , picture is from perfectdetails.com, the earrings I'm vying for.