Easter Basket Treats...Happy Friday

Hello! Happy Friday! I hope that you had a great week, I am sure that like mine you were busy. Life is like that sometimes. I never did find my Excel spreadsheet and had to start over, my dog was under the weather and had an emergency trip to the vet ( will post about that another day) but I did get my locks highlighted and cut! And am busy planning a few trips...Paris and Scotland are in the works.

 I am excited by the prospect of a weekend planting my pots with some beautiful lavender and geraniums and perhaps some sweet potato vines, and thinking of yummy treats to bake for Easter.

As I was perusing the grocery store the other afternoon and seeing all of the jelly beans, chocolate bunnies and Peeps I was wondering which kind of Easter candy was your favorite?

When you were small and unwrapped the cellophane from your basket and peered into the grass what did you hope to find? Whopper Eggs, jelly beans, Reese's peanut butter eggs, marshmallow eggs, Peeps?

A beautifully wrapped chocolate rabbit or perhaps a marshmallow cream egg?

Or a Cadbury Creame Egg?

Peeps! Chicks or bunnies?

Jelly Beans or speckled eggs?

I hope my friends that you have a fabulous weekend! Enjoy your family and friends.

Thank you to my new followers and to my blog supporters, I appreciate your kind comments and your visits!

Be a Paris Muse... Win a Carla Coulson Portrait Shoot

As I was doing my daily blog reading a few days ago,  I came across a wonderful give away at Vicki Archer's blog, French Essence. I am sure that many of you are familiar with Vicki, she is an author extraordinaire and purveyor all all things French.

In addition to her wonderful books, French Essence, and My Life is France Vicki shares her life and  favorite things about France, the French, fashion, scents, foods, art and so much more. Both of Vicki's books are filled with stunning photos that were taken by photographer Carla Coulson.

Book images from the French Essence Blog

Carla's "day job"is as a fashion photographer, writer and photographer of three books of her own, Chasing a Dream, Paris Tango, and Italian Joy;  and writes the blog Carla Loves Photography and Paris, and Italy and Life. She is an unbelievably talented lady and has begun a new venture.

via Pinterest

She writes, "It was whilst photographing fashion that I first witnessed the incredible transformation of a woman. A model would arrive, looking just like the girl next door and within hours, with the help of an incredible hair and make-up artist she was transformed into a butterfly. She would finish on the pages of a magazine with a beauty that seemed impossible. Women have the conception that these models are ‘extraordinary’ and I have learnt that they are just like us." (From Carla Love Photography and Paris, and Italy and Life on March 27, 2012).

To celebrate her new adventure Carla is offering all women the opportunity to look like a model in a magazine! The give away is a double shoot at her studio in the Lancaster Hotel in Paris or a shoot in Sydney, Australia. You could enjoy a wonderful day with makeup artist and hair dresser with your mother, your sister, best friend, your daughter or your granddaughter, which ever you chose. Or perhaps you would just like a day to yourself being pampered and styled into the best you that you can be... or a Paris Muse.

 If you visit her blog at this LINK, and follow the directions you could win the shoot! Let us know if you do!

Personally, I think it would be a lot of fun to do a photo shoot with my sister's or my mother, especially in Paris, what a trip to remember.

via Pinterest

 

I hope you have a great day!

Meet an Austen, Quizilla and Me!

I have heard it said that as you get older time passes more quickly, I am not sure about that but I do know that usually on Wednesdays I am already counting the days to the weekend and I am hoping the next two days go by faster. I mean really who doesn't like the weekend, two days where your time is your own, you do not have to accomplish anything if you do not want to, you can relax and put aside work for a bit of time, you can stay up late, sleep in...should I go on?

Today, because I am trying to put my mind off the fact that I lost five days of work on an Excel spreadsheet which seems to have disappeared into computer oblivion, a bit like a sock in the dryer, but much more important;  I thought it would be fun to visit a new blog. I discovered this one a few days ago and I love it!

The blog is called, Emma Adaptations and is solely devoted to TV, film, and other adaptations of Emma by Jane Austen. My favorite part of the blog is this  QUIZ where you answer different questions to see just which Jane Austen heroine you are. After answering the questions as truthfully as I could here are my results.

Image from Wikipedia

My results: "You are Marianne Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are impulsive, romantic, impatient, and perhaps a bit too brutally honest. You enjoy romantic poetry and novels, and play the pianoforte beautifully. To boot, your singing voice is captivating. You feel deeply, and love passionately."

OK, for those of you that read my blog and have not met me in person, I would say that the above description is pretty accurate, except for the fact that I have never played the pianoforte, I did play the organ and the piano for a bit but I was not a big fan of either. As far as singing, I sing to myself and I would not really go so far as to say my voice is captivating but is passable. I am impulsive, romantic and my family would say impatient.

If you try this quiz and are looking for more, such as "Which female character are you from Downton Abbey?"

Image The Daily Mail

 Or "Which Chocolate dessert are you?" you can go over to Quizilla and join in the time wasting fun.

As for me, I am off to work to redo all of my hard work on my Excel spreadsheet. I hope that you have a great day and would love for you to take the quiz and let me know Which Jane Austen Character are you?

A side note: If you would like to know a bit more about me, I have used my limited computer knowledge to discover that "pages" are separate entries on a blog,  now have an About Me page.

Champ d 'Or For Sale

Are you having a good week so far? I was dragging yesterday, today though I know will be a better day because  I am taking a break to get my highlights touched up ( OK I am getting the grey covered up) and thinking of a new style but will have to decide in the moment. That always lifts my spirits! What about you, does a trip to the salon give your spirit a life?

Many of my blog friends or blogs that I read are having a tough time selling their homes. I know their pain because in 2006 before the market crash we put our house on the market in Florida, 18 months later we were still waiting for it to sell and were living in our new place. I won't go into the details and tell you about the stress but I will tell you that I had a lot less stress than the owners of the Champ d'Or.

Have you seen or heard about Champ d'Or? I have seen this house in a few newspapers lately,  it is going up for auction soon because it has been up for sale for a eight  years and they have not had any luck selling it. Personally, I am not sure they can just blame the economy.

The house was inspired by the Vaux le Vicomte, if you know it, Vaux le Vicomte was built for Nicholas Fouquet, the superintendent of finances for Louis XIV, outside of Paris and was the inspiration for Versailles.  Having visited Vaux  le Vicomte I really do not see the similarities but perhaps the architect took some creative licenses.

Champ d'Or is a 34,000 square foot house that is definitely one of a kind; it is located in Hickory Creek about 15 minutes from the Dallas Fort Worth Airport on roughly 112 acres.  The owners spent five years building their dream home, making each room to their specifications:  a two story master closet that is designed to look like the Chanel boutique in Paris, including a replica of Coco Chanel's famous staircase; a hall of mirrors ball room inspired by Versailles; and a tea room designed after New York City's Tavern on the Green to name just a few. Oddly before the last workman left the site the owners decided the house was too big for them and the put it on the market.

  

It has been on the market for the last eight years from $78-$38 million. The owners are tired of waiting for the house to sell so they listed  the house with Concierge Auctions and the bidding starts with a reserve of $10.3 million!

Chanel Boutique inspired closet

Ball room inspired by The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles

What do you think of this house? Personally, I think it is a little over the top but hey, "to each his own". I do think that the new owners who ever they are better have a lot of extra cash because it has been mentioned that this house requires a full time staff of four, and the taxes are quite high, not to mention the utilities!  But I guess if you have to ask about those things than you cannot afford it. I hope the house finally sells for the owners, it is very stressful to have a house on the market for so long, especially one that has been referred to as, "the best little teardown in Texas."

I hope you have a great Tuesday! I know I will!

ALL IMAGES FROM CHAMP D'OR

Welcome Monday! Spring Break Ideas

Welcome Monday!!! I had to say it with a little enthusiasm because I feel like I am dragging today, I think it's the weather,  It is hot, hot hot, than cold, cold , cold! Is is Spring? Summer? Who knows?

I do know that my many of my friends and family are on Spring Break, doesn't that sound fun? Are you on Spring break? If so are you going anywhere fun? I am not on Spring Break myself but it did get my mind racing, if I was where would I like to be? What sort of adventure would I like to go on?

Would I be at a resort and relaxing at the pool?

Or would I be in the city?

Taking in a few shows?

Taking a trip to Paris?

Or would I just stay home and tackle a few projects? I am not too sure which sounds the best, perhaps a combination?

Do tell what are you up to this week? If you are relaxing on the beach with a pile of books and magazines and a box of bon bons tell us so that we can feel as if we are there with you! If you are walking along the Seine in Paris after sipping a chocolat chaud and snacking on a few macaroons I definitely want to hear about that. And of course if you are at home working as I am I want to hear about that too?

I hope that you have a fabulous week!

Rome Farther Afield...Ostia Antica

Image here

I have shown you a few sights in Rome in the last few posts but today I thought I would show you one off the beaten path, a place that will give you a  taste of  old Rome but also a sense that you are walking in the steps of real Romans  and of what is also one of the the best- kept secrets in Italy! It is called Ostica Antica and it is like going to see Pompeii but you get to skip the four hour ride, and you also get to experience what life was like for the real "masses" of Rome and not jut the wealthy as much of Pompeii is. (Now, don't get me wrong if you have the opportunity and you will be in Naples than Pompeii is a sight that is not to be missed, I loved visiting there.)

IMAGE HERE

Ostia Antica is an 80 acre archaeological sight out side Rome, it can be reached by a short train ride or a boat ride. Whichever way you chose to to get  there you will enjoy a day away from the crowds and a chance to see what was formerly Romes seaport before a drop in sea level and silting of the last few centuries moved the shore two miles into the sea. 

Image from Ostia.org

I won't go into the history of the town but I will tell you that while visiting here you practically have the place to yourself to wander and imagine. You can see the baths, the apartment blocks, imagine buying your fruits and vegetables at the the markets, watching the gladiators at the the amphitheater, having a drink at the wine bar, worshiping  at the synagogue or the Temple and any other things that you would do in your daily life.

One of many well preserved mosaics

 The mosaics and the weed infested ruins offer an amazing opportunity to see what life was like in the time of Caesars.

Image from Ostia.org

 If you have the time to go outside of Rome and you enjoy history or archaeology than I think you would really enjoy Ostia Antica.

Image from Ostia.org

I hope you are having a fabulous weekend!

Sights of Rome: La Scala Santa

As I mentioned my sister is going on her first trip to Rome this year and we have been talking about "must see" places, the Vatican, the Colosseum, the Spanish Steps and the Trevi fountain are just a few of the places that are on the schedule. On of the places that I suggested, is the La Scala Santa.

Do you know them? The Scala Santca or the Holy Stairs are one of the most important relics of the Catholic Church, they are the stairs believed to have been climbed by Jesus on his way to trial before Pontious Pilate. The stairs, according to legend were brought to Rome in the 4th Century by St. Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great. For centuries, the Scala Santa had attracted Christian Pilgrims from around the world who wished to honor the Passion of Jesus, or just to have some of their sins absolved.

I  have been to Rome many times, with friends, with my husband and once as a chaperon to 20 boys from an all boys school in Chicago who had never been outside the country (that story we will save for another day), and in all the times I have visited Rome I have only been here once. I had been in Rome with my husband on that trip and he was working, so my friend who lived in Rome and I and her friend (who was on a pilgrimage) visited here. I had heard of it but honestly I had no idea what to expect.

What I did not expect was the "stairway to heaven" ( or that is what it felt like because I was delirious with pain), 28 MARBLE stairs, encased in wood that you MUST climb on your KNEES, let me reiterate, you climb them on your knees while saying a prayer on each step.  Now, that probably would not be so bad if you could go at your own pace. But you are at the mercy of the people in front of you which in my case were apparently some VERY DEVOUT pilgrims or something because after the 25 minutes on  my knees on warped marble I had only made it up 7 stairs. I have to be honest, by that point I was just praying that I did not pass out from the pain and fall backwards and hurt some faithful pilgrims. There is an official set of prayers, you can find them here, just in case you want to say them while you are visiting.

If you do not climb them on your knees you cannot go on the stairs, you can climb the stairs erected on either side and look down upon them and see the beautiful relics at the top.

ALL IMAGES FROM SCALA SANTA

The stairs lead to the Scanta Sanctorum (Holy of Holies), the personal chapel of the early Popes in the Lateran palace, also known as the chapel of St. Lawrence.

All joking aside, I am a Catholic and this is a very sacred, moving and beautiful place. I think it is a great place to visit when traveling to Rome, especially if you want to see something other than the norm.

All images from here. For further information, hours and pricing check this LINK.