Barcelona!

Shopocalypse

The Coppertone- Quicksand (Wood & Wires Session)

I can´t get enough of this one tonight

Barcelona - Change

Glee Season 4 Preview, Break-Ups & New Relationships: ENTV

Fountains Of Wayne - Sink To The Bottom [Official Video]

Thanksgiving Day Texas Jam

Secret Life Of Machines The Sewing Machine Part 1

Jenna and Dan get full credit for finding this gem of a show but I couldn´t resist stealing it to share.
Pure magic.

A last (North) American hoorah in Paris

My favorite Torontian, Jenna, came up from Lyon yesterday and we got to hang out a few hours we both head out of France and back to our respective homes. Evidently, we are both anxious about all the frenchy things we are going to miss so we soaked up all the culture we could in our final moments in the City of Lights.

First stop, the Hollywood Expo at the Hotel DeVille.

 En Suite, we headed over to the Swedish institute for some Meatball action. Desormais, they didn´t serve what we were looking for. So we grubbed out on BLTs, grilled cheese, and freedom fries at an American diner instead.

  

We skipped their peanut butter and chocolate ¨Obama¨ shake, and opted to share an Oreo one instead. You had me at sprinkles. We´ll definitely need some Obamacare after this meal.

 

 Then we headed over to

for some magical 

 in a genuine Quebecoise photo booth from the 70s. 

WTF, mynew favorite website

http://honestlywtf.com/cool-hunting/lessons-in-layering/

Himne del Barcelona - Official Song

Rob on Shark Tank

My friend Rob Dyer presenting his energy drink on an upcoming episode of Shark Tank.

RED HANDS - Walk off the Earth

Les Champs-Élysées - Walk off the Earth

Mazzy Star - "Fade Into You"

http://www.youtube.com/embed/SDsxkQk6DWw?fs=1" width="459">

Napoleon vs Napoleon. This is the best, next year´s halloween costumes.

Romney Sings Concession !!!

It´s not my fault, I´m hypoglycemic

real adventurers

real catacombs, real claustraphobia

top reason I will never spelunk

Deana Carter - Strawberry Wine

I haven´t gotten a hold of any new good music recently so I´m searching through my old collections. I forgot how into country music I used to be, before country got so bad. Really feel like putting on worn-out jeans and a flannel today.

It was fun while it lasted, Paris.

It´s official! After spending 3 years here, I´ll be out of France in less than a month.

The Beatles - The Ballad of John and Yoko ( subtitulada)

Britains Got Talent 2011 Olivia Binfield

Dream A Little Dream - The Beautiful South

Glee Journey Medley Full Performance Official Music Video YouTube

Dr Seuss VS Shakespeare. Epic Rap Battles of History #12

Mr T vs Mr Rogers. Epic Rap Battles of History #13 LEGENDADO (PT-BR)

No Doubt - Bathwater

Homeless Man Saves Dallas Police Officer From Attack | Video - ABC News

Homeless Man Saves Dallas Police Officer From Attack | Video - ABC News

Jimmy Carter says: "Election Process in Venezuela is the Best in the World"

16 ways I blew my marriage

I found this article yesterday about a man who has been through two divorces and had no encouraging words to give to his sister who was about to marry. After some reflection he figured out some of the top reasons his relationships sunk. Get it, relationShip sunk?

http://www.danoah.com/2012/10/16-ways-i-blew-my-marriage.html

1. DON’T STOP HOLDING HER HAND
2. Don’t stop trying to be attractive
3. Don’t always point out her weaknesses.
4. Don’t stop cooking for her.
5. Don’t yell at your spouse.
6. Don’t call names.
7. Don’t be stingy with your money.
8. Don’t argue in front of the kids.
9. Don’t encourage each other to skip working out
10. Don’t poop with the bathroom door open.
11. Don’t stop kissing her.
12. Don’t stop having fun together.
13. Don’t pressure each other.
14. Don’t label each other with negative labels.
15. Don’t skip out on things that are important to her.
16. Don’t emotionally distance yourself after a fight.     

Check out the follow-up...
http://www.danoah.com/2012/10/the-other-16-ways-i-blew-my-marriage.html

ahh, true love.


Feeling so cheesy after this post, maybe this will take me back to normalcy. 

 Major overkill but there were some good ones.

I´m a Mexi-CAN!
         and I´ll never forget, ¨Put the Bunny back in the Box¨ from ConAir
9:22  reminds me, why does Sean Bean always die so violently? He did survive Silent Hill.


 

"I'm tired of Bronco Bamma and Mitt Romney," said the sobbing girl

Game of Thrones opening sung by a cat

I just finished reading Game of Thrones and eventhough I am au courant with the show I couldn´t put the 800+ page book down. Now I have to try to finish the 2nd book, and maybe the third, before the season starts back up.  I still can´t decide if I´m on team Tyrion or team Snow. Tyrion definitely plays a better game but I´m just not sure how long he´s going to hold up now that he´s ousted. However, I think that many readers and watchers would be disappointed to lose him as a primanry character. Also, after some discussion with my uncle and my cousin who have almost finished all the books, I am really interested to see if Sansa and the Hound hook up and if Arya doesn´t try to kill the Hound eventually. I was a big fan of Dany to start with but sometimes she´s so dragon obsessed it annoys me. I know it´s farfetched but I would like to see Jaime Lannister ditch Cersei and get with Cat Stark. It´s so twisted, but Cat is kind of bitch anyways and her sister as well. Speaking of Cat.....



A Lannister always pays his PETS?

WHIGFIELD - SATURDAY NIGHT

Arbitrage Official Trailer #1 (2012) - Richard Gere Movie HD

Watched this yesterday in Madrid, not too bad.

Mapping "El Despertar de Casa Batlló"

Big Tex on Fire

Nina Ricci Fall

ON-AIRSTREAMING w/ ANGUS AND JULIA STONE - "YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I WANT"

Moschino Cheap & Chic | Fall Winter 2012/2013 Full Fashion Show | Exclusive

I spotted some of these gorgeous clothes at El Corte Ingles and fell in love but how dare they cal themselves cheap. The colors are inspiring for my next trip to the fabric store but I fear that the  the rainbow fur coat is not really a feasible DIYer.

If Simon, Garfunkel, and Freddie Mercury got together

they would all be dead from  aids, and their love child would sound like this guy from  FUN

My Little Paris, Fitnext

Even though I hate running, I love climbing stairs. In Paris, there is plenty of  climbing to do. Makes for a great fesse.

The Lumineers - Ho Hey (Official Video)

Angus and Julia Stone - Big Jet Plane (HD)

Manoush: La moda del París de los años 20

Oh My-noush! If only I could afford you!

P!nk - Blow Me (One Last Kiss)

fashiontv | FTV.com - IMPASSE DE LA DEFENSE best of PARIS PAP FALL WINTE...

Just texted my friend Jenna who is in town from Lyon that I will meet her at Gare De L´Est tomorrow at 11. After checking the fashion week schedule to plan out our day of fashion hunting I realized that par hazard the first show happens to be at 11 at Gare De L´Est. I have never heard of them before but they seem to be a bit like Desigual so it should be very interesting.

Creatures of The Wind | Spring Summer 2013 Full Fashion Show | Exclusive

I´m so proud of COTW because I´ve been watching them for about a year now and now they´re really making a name for themselves. This collection is really revolutionizing shapes of clothing and will introduce colors that are not customary.

paris fashion week around the corner!

http://www.modeaparis.com/en/fashion-shows/Schedules/Ready-to-wear

tuesday 25 sept.	wednesday 26 sept.	thursday 27 sept.	friday 28 sept.	saturday 29 sept.	sunday 30 sept.	monday 01 oct.	tuesday 02 oct.	wednesday 03 oct.
9:30 am					JUNYA WATANABE
10 am		DÉVASTÉE	BALENCIAGA	ROLAND MOURET		KENZO	STELLA MCCARTNEY		LOUIS VUITTON
10:30 am					HAIDER ACKERMANN			CHANEL
11 am	IMPASSE DE LA DÉFENSE	DAMIR DOMA	CARVEN	CHALAYAN		ANDREW GN	SACAI		TALBOT RUNHOF
11:30 am					TSUMORI CHISATO			AGNÈS B.
12 pm	FATIMA LOPES	GUY LAROCHE	MANISH ARORA	ISSEY MIYAKE		COSTUME NATIONAL	LÉONARD		ARZU KAPROL
12:30 pm					MARTIN GRANT			JEAN-CHARLES DE CASTELBAJAC
1 pm	MOON YOUNG HEE	NICOLAS ANDRÉAS TARALIS	ANN DEMEULEMEESTER	ANNE VALÉRIE HASH		CÉLINE			ALLUDE
1:30 pm					VIKTOR & ROLF		GIAMBATTISTA VALLI	HAKAAN
2 pm	LE MOINE TRICOTE	ALEXIS MABILLE	SHARON WAUCHOB			GROUND ZERO			MIU MIU
2:30 pm				CHRISTIAN DIOR	CACHAREL			VALENTINO
3 pm	JEAN PAUL LESPAGNARD	DRIES VAN NOTEN	BALMAIN			MAISON RABIH KAYROUZ	VALENTIN YUDASHKIN		MASHA MA
3:30 pm				ISABEL MARANT	VÉRONIQUE LEROY			JUNKO SHIMADA
4 pm	VÉRONIQUE BRANQUINHO	FELIPE OLIVEIRA BAPTISTA	BARBARA BUI			HERMÈS	CHLOÉ
4:30 pm				MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA	VIVIENNE WESTWOOD			PACO RABANNE	ELIE SAAB
5 pm	CÉDRIC CHARLIER	ROCHAS	RICK OWENS			JOHN GALLIANO	PEDRO LOURENÇO
5:30 pm				AF VANDEVORST	COMME DES GARÇONS			SHIATZY CHEN	en attente
6 pm	ANTHONY VACCARELLO	GARETH PUGH	NINA RICCI			AKRIS	AMAYA ARZUAGA
6:30 pm				SONIA RYKIEL				PAUL & JOE	ARAISARA
7 pm	AGANOVICH	PEACHOO KREJBERG	LUTZ HUELLE		JEAN PAUL GAULTIER	HEXA BY KUHO
7:30 pm				VANESSA BRUNO					LIE SANG BONG
8 pm	STEFFIE CHRISTIAENS	RUE DU MAIL (by Martine Sitbon)	LANVIN		LOEWE	GIVENCHY	SAINT LAURENT	ALEXANDER MCQUEEN
8:30 pm				YOHJI YAMAMOTO
9 pm		MUGLER	JULIEN DAVID
9:30 pm
10 pm
10:30 pm

The Road We've Traveled

London is calling

We´ll be going to London this month for R´s birthday!

Catalonia Next State in Europe 2014

Catalonia Calls to the World - Official English Version -

News Anchor FAIL Compilation 2012 || PC

David Guetta - Titanium ft. Sia

Reina Sofia

Settling in nicely here in Lagny. It´s turned out to be quite charming and quiet. Three times a week there is a huge market on our street where we can get rotisserie chicken, fish, cheese, fresh veggies, housewears, music, books, everything! Also I´m taking advantage of the miles of bike trails that lead into Paris and surrounding towns. Today I got a little lost and found a golf course in the neighboring village.

Last weekend we took a 48 hour trip to Barcelona for a baptism and a barbecue. The weekend before we took advantage of a business meeting to spend a couple of days meandering Madrid. In addition to checking out the museum of costumes I spent about half a day in my favorite museum Reina Sofia. The 2nd floor houses my favorite pieces of art including works by Picasso, Dali, Juan Gris, and Miró just to name a few.
I picked up a few prints to go in the house. I like the soft brown and blue tones of both paintings.
Dali´s Woman at the Window (1925)

Juan Gris´ La Bouteille d´anis (1914)

Some other honorable mentions from the museum:

Rosario de Velazco

¨Adam and Eve¨

Picasso

Cat and Crab

Alfonso Ponce De Leon

Self- Portrait (1936)

Miró

Hirondelle

Juaquin Torres-Garcia

Paisaje de Ciudad (1928)

Somewhere along the way of searching for these images I stumbled across this website. http://www.coldbacon.com/tshirts.html In light of the recent shooting in Aurora, Colorado and the ongoing arms debate I can´t help but find these shirts appropriate. I get so angered by the people who defend the right to purchase heavy ammo and rapid fire weapons. I wish they would wear shirts like these so I would know to steer clear of them. They claim only crazies kill people, it´s not the guns´fault, I can´t help but think why a sane person feels compelled to have to access to these types of guns. 

Gérald De Palmas - L'étranger (clip officiel)

Taking Paris by velo - day 1

Transistor- Living

Laura Amiss

I just returned home from my journey to Barcelona, Paris, and back to Barcelona again. In my mailbox waiting for me was something I´ve been excited to receive,  a beautiful graphic print that I found on Etsy from English artist Laura Amiss. I can´t wait to put it in my sewing room in our new Parisian apartment.

http://www.lauraamiss.com

Shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/lauraamiss

She even surprised me with an extra print that I LOVE. Red is my color so this is just the cherry on the cake. 

Thank you Laura!

When you love what you have, you have everything you want

My Anthem

Spent all day sewing.  Hopefully tomorrow I will have my party dress and a new skirt to showcase. In the meantime here is the new lining I´ve added. I had to recut the skirt pattern, but make it a bit longer.

 

 Lining is attatched, now time to shorten the hem & add straps. 

 Two weeks until we move to Paris. Nothing but heel heights & hem lengths.



The series finale of Gossip Girl was killer, can´t wait to see what Blair does with her new home. My money is still on Chuck for being the ¨real¨ Gossip Girl.  Now that it´s over there is just one more show finale left until the summer. Can´t wait until Sunday for Game of Thrones.....

Radical Face - Welcome Home

Party Dress

Working on my party dress because I finally picked out the material!

I start out with about 10 pattern pieces and will end up with  about 27 pieces of fabric to put together. The bodice has 7 pieces alone and with 3 layers of bodice including the outside, the lining for structure and the interior pieces, that comes out to 21.

My monster hanging,. Not too bad. Now it´s time to stitch her together. 

Later I will add some under layers to the skirt to give it more volume. 

Watching C.D. for inspiration.  How do they get so much volume into those skirts?

hablas español?

Weird dreams last night, in spanish.

You And I - Ingrid Michaelson

Regina Spektor - "Samson" [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

Frida and Crafty Chica

I got my amzing hard back book Self Portrait of a Velvet Dress finally, and I was totally inspired but had not idea how to incorporate what I know about sewing with the things I want to do. That´s when I found Crafty Chica´s Guide to Artful Sewing. Kathy Cano-Murillo is evidently the latin sew goddess I´ve been needing all along. She loves to spice it up and offers some really cute ideas for bags, clothes and house accessories that I can wait to get into.

Love Sponge - Gianni and Sarah

Pardon Me - He Is We Lyrics

Juices flowing

Today I´m studying up on sewing. I´d consider myself a novice at this point in the craft but now that I´ve got several projects under my belt it´s time to go to the next level. My good friend and partner-in-coudre brought over a wonderful book called Built By Wendy Dresses in which she describes so clearly all the important steps in making clothing. I´ve racked up a collection now of pattern books and others that don´t nearly explain so clearly how to go about sewing something you´re actually going to wear.

In addition to this book my Mary Thomas´s Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches just arrived. Because of my love all things Mexican I really want to learn to embellish clothing with colorful designs by hand.

Once this little gem below comes in I will be up to my ears in inspiration! Really I think I am Frida reincarnated or at least I wish I was so I could wear all these amazingly beautiful outfits everyday. Modernizing them will be the challenging part of the projects.

Feeling so Mexican today, I think we will break in our new pressure cooker with some Carnitas! 

Diet Days

So, I´ve been feeling sooo out of energy lately and my schedule has been all over the place with travels and such. I think it´s time to finally get into the health kick for summer and start eating a little better. No more crackers, cookies, breads and all those other things that drag us down.  Today I gave our new food processor a spin and made this yummy shake. Surprisingly I couldn´t taste the spinach.

I´m not a stickler for measurements so basically adjust the following to your liking.

Small low-fat yogurt
Banana ( I used about 3/4)
Crushed pineapple
1 cup of water
2 handfuls of baby spinach

Then mix and sip. Soooo good.

Source: greensmoothiespower.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Pillow

On Monday we visited a Japanese fabric store in Barcelona I´ve been dying to go to for a while now. There was so much beautiful fabric that was quality that I just couldn´t decide on what to get. So I picked up a couple of pre-squares for about 4 euros each and put together a little pillow at home today with some gold bordering I picked up at Toto.  http://www.nunoya.com/  I know it´s just a couple of squares but I put in a zipper and a separate pouch with the stuffing. I´m really pleased with myself.

Song of the day. So haunting. So beautiful listening to this in the park on this warm sunshiny day.

and for good measure, some of The Cure.

40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes

Baby Emma

Little Emma arrived one week ago and I couldn´t be a prouder aunt!

Since shopping for baby clothes, I´ve found that the enfant clothing industry is booming. Simple patterns, one sized everything, and sellers are taking advantage of the cuteness to charge waaay too much money.  Last week while searching for a gift for the newbie, I walked into the sweetest looking store in Barcelona which was literally Baby Couture.  It was filled with about 4 racks of baby clothes ranging in about 8 different patterns and 5 different styles that were duplicated for each color. A dress for an one year old costs 90 euros!!! The fabric couldn´t cost more than 8 per dress. Sure, they were cute but really there was nothing special other than they made the clothes there in the back of the store. Imagine the profit margin. I think I might be on to something and at the very least I can save the family some money. So today I wandered over to a gigantic cloth store a friend just tipped me off to the other day called Mondiale Tissus. The name fits because this was the largest fabric store I´ve ever seen and there was so much there I couldn´t even pick. So instead I went over to the section where the have the precut fat squares (about 50cm x 45 cm) generally used for quilting and I decided I would just make something for little Emma. After picking out fabrics I found some buttons, threads, ribbons and tassles. I could get in trouble in this place..

Here´s what I´ve got to work with..

First up, this adorable little baby romper. Not sure if 

I´ll have enough fabric but at the very least I can make the top and that headband is a must

Love this little summer dress.

For this I think I will combo the purple with the green. 

Another variation on the romper found at youcanmakethis.com. 

I found these adorable diaper covers from an Etsy store called pinkpoodlebows. Aren´t they adorable?

  

This fabric is nice and neutral for this project. 

I´m going to spoil this little girl!