exorcised the ghost of notre dame

(topshop sweater) oh my friends, i know it has been so long since i've checked in with you all. for those of you dedicated souls who still stop by once in a while, merci beaucoup! i have been so remiss in keeping up with my blogs since i returned from paris and i do apologize. you see, the thing is, so many things happened to me in paris that i still have a hard time talking about them in addition to so many other events that have happened since i have been home. i really don't know where to begin. i do feel, however, that at this point in my life, i must write a book. i'm just not ready to go there yet. so i will ask for your patience, and hopefully, get back in the swing of things toutes de suites! i do now have in my possession my beloved paris photos so i will get them on to the blog very soon. that is to be continued... so as you may know, i was in paris for work. one of the many parts of my job is to install the trade shows that we do for pendleton home. paris and the maison objet show is still relatively new for us and i was selected to work the show due to process of elimination (our designer was preggers so i lucked out and got to attend). this was THE most stressful thing i have ever done for my job. it was very last minute and i did not sleep for at least a month before i even arrived in paris. the day i saw my shipment leave portland for the show, was a huge day for me. i can't believe i was able to pull it all off so quickly. i convinced my best friend to go with me to help with the set up. i mean, why would you not want a free room in paris with very little work expected of you? ha! boy were we wrong. from the minute our feet hit parisian ground, we were off and running! we began by checking in to our super cute hotel directly across the street from notre dame. it was designed by christian lacroix and was absolutely adorable (said with a french accent). after check-in was a lunch of salad and croque monsieur at cafe de flore followed by a shopping trip to monoprix (i always have to stock up on lots of petit marseillais shampoo). the next day we met my shipment at the show and set up our booth. the following day we had a lazy start. we walked over to the right bank to run an errand, bought some things for the booth and then headed back out to the show to finish things up. we wrapped up the set-up and had a full day off ahead of us the following day. and this is when it all went wrong! on our day off, we walked all the way to the eiffel tower, which believe it or not, i had never seen...only from a distance. from there we took a taxi over to rue st. honoree and walked the shops. it began to rain on our way back to the hotel but we walked anyway. when we got back, we dressed quickly for dinner and then headed out to catch a cab to have dinner at au 35 in st. germain a few blocks a way. to say the least, the driver wasn't too keen on taking us for a drive a few blocks a way and tried to scam us by taking the long way (hey, i'm a good tipper, why so rude?). i think i was so flustered and exhausted at this point that i paid him at the restaurant, hopped out and left my purse in the cab. about two minutes later, i realized what i had done but at this point, he was long gone. let me reiterate how exhausted i was so i clearly wasn't thinking straight. because i had everything in my purse, and i mean EVERYTHING! my money, passport, credit cards, jewelry... i have never done anything like this in my life. so to say the least, it put a damper on the rest of my trip, and i still had not even begun my job at the show yet! i was so upset but my friend was such a savior and i can't even imagine what it would have been like had she not been there. i seriously would have lost my shit (figuratively AND literally). all in all, i can say i survived and it made me a stronger person. it just wasn't what i had imagined for myself on a trip to paris. after the weekend, i got my beloved credit cards back and could go on with my life for the last few days in town. i felt so much better! my coworkers and i found some really great parisian spots when we could finally sit down for dinner at about 10 o'clock every night. thank goodness all of the restaurants stay open late in paris. a few of these spots were, cafe de l'industrie, le fee verte, and le procope. not to mention all of the help from my fabulous staff at the hotel notre dame that were there for me every step of the way (even though i'm still convinced that hotel is haunted). the funny thing is, i'm going back in september, and i can't be more excited! i'm just putting everything in my safe this time and strapping my purse down for sure.

and while we were in paris, we heard firsthand the sad news that johnny and vanessa had split. it just took a while to make it to our shores. i must say, though, there definitely was something amiss in paris while we were there. rip johnny and vanessa, i really had hoped it would work out and i could come to visit you in your fabulous montmartre pad.

has etiquette left the party?

hello my dears. i hope you had a wonderful long weekend. i know i did, i got in some relaxation, hang time with friends and family and some much needed bikram yoga...oh yeah, and i watched the latest sex and the city movie. and so for today's post, in true carrie bradshaw style, i need to ask, "has etiquette left the party?"

i bring up the subject of etiquette because in the past week, one of my closest friends has experienced the complete opposite of etiquette if you ask me. and i'm no etiquette police, believe me. i grew up in the west and now west coast and laid-back is definitely our style of living and i like it that way. but these latest occurences are so tacky that even i can't take any more.

offense #1 occurred after said friend attended a destination wedding for her east coast friends in the dominican republic. when this particular group of people were invited to the wedding, it was clearly stated that no showers or gifts were expected, only the presence of their dearest friends. well most people, my friend included, still opted to give a little something as a gift. however, one couple in particular, who had just recently gained a baby and lost an income chose not to give a gift as they had spent more than their fair share to attend the wedding. a few weeks after the wedding, the groom texted the guest asking if something was missing from their card. as i type this, i hear in my head a loud record scratching and somebody saying, "wait, go back..did you just say he asked what happened to his gift?". oh yes he did! is this what our generation has come to? i'm not saying we are all like this but come on, so not ok. if you expect guests to pay thousands of dollars to fly down in the middle of the year to attend your blessed day, not to mention tell them no gifts are necessary, then you by no means ask what happened to the money that should have been in their card. am i wrong here?

offense #2 followed up this latest offense to the very same friend when a girlfriend of hers emailed her to let her know a party was being thrown for her girlfriend's signicant others' 40th birthday. in this email, girlfriend stated that she would like various guests to bring food in which she assigned them a particular dish to bring based on the theme of the party. my friend's dish is taco rolls and her girlfriend included a link to the recipe and noted that there would be approximately 40 guests at the party so to be sure and double the recipe. are you kidding me? i have thrown many a party and i would never, ever dare to ask someone to bring a dish to feed 40 people!

is this what we have come down to? if you cannot deal with the consequences of the possibility that you may not a. receive a wedding gift or b. cater your own party, then perhaps you should rethink your plans. maybe i'm still a little old fashioned in that way.

image courtesy of mad men

louise bourgeois

last september when i was in new york, i discovered an artist that i had never heard of, louise bourgeois.


i walked up to the guggenheim and was happily surprised by their exhibit of her work.


apparently, she's nick-named spider woman.


this is her exhibit, maman, in the guggenheim.


she also does these incredible vignettes of which they had several installed at this show.


you don't see her paintings as often but i really liked her work--a cross between frida kahlo and georgia o'keefe.

she made her start with her family in france who repaired tapestries. she would draw the pieces of the tapestries that were missing. she later became a student of cubism and moved to new york with her husband in 1938.

bourgeois is now 98 years old and still keeps her studio in chelsea.

oh coco

well, i don't think i need to tell you how much i love chanel, i'm sure you've already figured that out by now. and although i'm not quite in the income bracket that allows me to dress in chanel, i still manage to wear it everyday. their lipstick, that is.

i mean, most any girl can afford some chanel lipstick!


i always love their ad campaigns including the new one with vanessa paradis as their new spokes model for coco rouge lipstick.

she's another french girl with great style.


did you see the movie girl on the bridge? if you haven't, i highly recommend it. paradis plays the muse to a knife thrower who jumps off the bridge to save her after she tries to take her life.

it's a beautiful film and she does an amazing job in it.


i swear she has not aged a day since i first discovered her in 1993 when she was working with lenny kravitz.


i love her cat-like features.


and she always dresses in her own funky style. maybe she learned from the funkiest dresser of all, her husband.

why i blog...

lately i've been thinking a lot about why i blog. i only discovered blogging because a friend helped me set one up for my store at work. well, once i saw how easy it was, i immediately set up my portland blog. and then my portland blog became an outlet for my dog so i set up my lucie blog. and then both of those blogs were way too specific so i set up my rouge blanc noir blog so i would have a place for any of my random thoughts. and here i am. and i must say, the decision to blog is one of the best things to ever happen to me. it is just what i needed at the very best time. i have an amazing home life and work is good and now i have something that is mine, just mine. i've connected with so many amazing poeple via readers and other blogs that i never would have known otherwise. so i want to say thank you so much for being out there. there really are no boundaries, we can only go up from here!

a year in pictures

check out the year in pictures for lulu and hawthorne girl over on lucie's blog.

here's to a happy 2010 with many more posts to come!

black out

someday, when i'm no longer renting, i would love some black walls in my house. i think it would be really cool in the dining room, particularly, but it could work in a kitchen also. here are a few black walls courtesy of marie claire maison.


this one is my favorite. i love that the walls look almost charred black. i could handle this bedroom!


chalkboard paint in the kitchen is a good way to go. you could use it for grocery lists and menus. i always like the cafes that go this route for their menus.


for a dining room, i'm partial to this glossy black look.


this is a cool black lounge. i would definitely hang out here drinking red wine or cocktails with little asian umbrellas.


black on black. even the trim is black, an alternative to the white trim we most often see paired with black walls.


a black wall in a children's room would work, especially if it were the chalkboard paint. that way they could draw on the walls to their heart's content and nobody gets in trouble.

what do you think? could you do black walls in your house and if so, where?

soundtrack: paint it black by the stones

seeing hearts

bonjour friends! i just wanted to say how much i've missed you all this past week. i had to go out of town for a business trip and i did not have time to get any posts up before i left. however, i'm happy to say that i had a really great, inspiring trip and i'm looking forward to continuing with my newest blog.

i'd like to wish you all a happy new year and i look forward to spending much more time with you all!

(photo courtesy of dieversa)

i would really love...

a bmw bavaria

lorenzo and i were on the highway today talking about all of the different cars and it got me to thinking about my dream car. i've always wanted one of these and just missed the opportunity to buy one that i had been eyeing several years ago. it's just not practical for me to have this as my primary vehicle but when the days comes that i can have a second car, this would be it.

did you know jackie o drove one? so cool!

i'm listening to...

right now i'm listening to the amazing yael naim. it's a quiet overcast sunday. i have my critters here with me and we are planning our day. lorenzo wants to go have sushi. i can always go for sushi! afterwards, i hope to get out to take a few pictures. we're having a very relaxing long weekend here in portland. how are you doing? did you enjoy your new year's fete and 3 day weekend? happy sunday!

cherry blossom girl

one of my favorite things about the blogging world is discovering a new blog. there are so many amazing people out there doing some really cool things and this girl is one of them. she's parisian, gorgeous and talented. her still life photos are inspiring me to get to work at home on my interior styling projects. she also has amazing fashion sense. check out the cherry blossom girl.

i see a pattern...

err, i mean stripes! a little obsessed am i?


lou's off the shoulder look.


pete yorn rocks the stripes. yes, i even love them on men.


the scarlett tunic. i found one like this at american apparel.


audrey as coco.


and the original coco.


this one i found at ann taylor


not sure how i would feel about all my friends wearing them though.


rose mcgowan, great haircut, great shirt, cute baby.

i love striped shirts so much i could seriously wear them everyday.

mmm cupcakes

i don't know why but all day today i've been thinking about cupcakes. perhaps it's time for another cupcake baking party. here are a few to get me motivated.


look at these gorgeous things! this is my favorite photos. oh what i would do for one of these.
(photo from bakerella)


so pretty.
(photo from the bachelorette pad)


red velvets are my most favorite ever. what's your favorite flavor?
(photo from woman's day)


simple and cute.
(photo from juicy)


such great cupcake liners.
(photo from kenzie kate)

are you hungry yet?

i'm reading...

the glass castle by jeannette walls

we began reading this book outloud in the car while we were on our recent roadtrip in the southwest. eerily, much of this story mirrored the places we were driving through or heading to as well as many of my own life experiences growing up in the southwest with somewhat non-traditional, eccentric parents. and while the heroine's experiences were a little more outlandish than my own, it made me laugh and appreciate all of the things i learned in life...it also made me realize that my life wasn't so bad after all!

i highly recommend this book for it's humor and insight. it is a very quick read and one that you will find hard to put down.