Miss Frenchie’s April in Paris Antique Show is this weekend.  Check out this great show with tons of antique dealers and many local artists with their original goods.  Here are the details:

Miss Frenchie’s
April in Paris
Opening Night,
Friday, April 17, 6-9 p.m.
$5.00 admission (For the Alexander Majors Fund)

Saturday, April 18, 2008
10 a.m.- 6 p.m.
$2.00 admission (For the Alexander Majors Fund)

Alexander Majors Barn (and Historical House)
8201 State Line Rd
Kansas City, MO 64114

Get more info on Miss Frenchie’s site!

-Betsy

Visit Paris in the spring !. Our upcoming tour will take place in April and we already have the date- April 11, 2009- April 18, 2009. The tour will be reserved to couples or women, we are still working on it. The tour will be posted on our website next week. The tour will include, transfers, apartment rental, breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as two museum passes per guest and metro ticket. To know more please visit our website, www.womendestinationclub.com and send us an email , we will send you the itinerary. To book with us go to our sister website, www.luxurytravelconsultant.com, our pay pal services are very convenient and very secure.

I have the pickiest hubby in the WORLD. Not his fault, it’s mine because I married him by choice, not force. This picky husband needs a new wallet and I love my husband and think he deserves the best. So, through my research and his specific needs I found 3 things that every guy needs in their wallet. 1) They need lots and lots of credit card slots. Even if you are still in college and have one debit card, one day you will have a girlfriend and will need a credit card or multiple ones. 2) It needs to be as slim as possible. Most guys put their wallets in their back pocket and it can’t be too comfortable if you are sitting lopsided because of your 6-inch thick money holder. 3) It needs to be stylin’! This wallet has to function for work, play, and those “nice dinner” dates. And when it comes time to pay the check (because you will have to pay the check!) you better whip out something snazzy. impressive, and luxurious, but still tough enough to sit next to your sweaty right butt cheek all day long. Sooooo, here’s my top 5 men’s wallets for the style-conscious connoisseur, otherwise called manly man.

The Güs Horizontal Wallet

This wallet is damn near perfect. It contains 6 credit card slots. I would put that as the minimum number, but it’s still plenty of room. It also has two side pockets underneath the credit card slots, which gives you even extra room for storage. 8 mm thick. You know how thin that is? Hand-crafted in Italy, this wallet is designed for the man’s man that appreciates aesthetics. The red stitching is unique as well as the split shot perforation (if you think that’s too much, the black can come with or without it). Güs is after my own heart. Or my husband’s. And plus it’s not logo-y, the quality speaks for itself. You can buy through their website for $145. They also have other styles that are based on the same premise.

Burberry Classic Check Wallet

8 credit card slots, parfait! This Burberry wallet is pretty slim for a designer wallet. The outside check pattern is coated to protect it from wear and tear and pays homage to Burberry’s signature look, but it is not overdone. My Hubby loved this wallet, but preferred the graphite/gray color that is not available on this particular style. Otherwise, the Italian leather on the inside is divine and hits my top three priorities in a wallet. Yay Burberry. You can purchase through Saks for $250.

Louis Vuitton Monogram Canvas Ten-Card Billfold

I love Louis Vuitton monogram canvas, but a little goes a long way. So a men’s wallet is perfect to carry around without being too loud. and LV only makes this one wallet that is nearly perfect to a man’s needs. It has TEN credit card slots. It’s a whopper, but those credit card slots are absolutely necessary. They even have 2 extra pockets for  receipts, condoms, whatever. Plus, Louis Vuitton is rockin’, you don’t see too many guys carrying it, and I know from personal experience that this material is nearly indestructible. Definitely the most durable and waterproof wallet you will find on the designer market that looks good all at the same time. So put away your duct-tape wallet and buy through Eluxury for $370.

April in Paris Custom Men's Wallet

April in Paris was founded by a lovely artisan that used to work for Hermès. So you know she knows a thing or two about leather and how to make the good stuff. If you go to her website she offers custom colors and leather to make the wallet of your dreams. You can choose between calf leather and alligator, but let’s pretend you are a cheap mo-fo and go for the calf leather. The wallet will set you back $650. But you get to choose the outside and inside color of the leather. It comes with six card slots, but what the wallet lacks in the storage department it more than makes up for in style. This would be one hot wallet, and custom options are always a nice perk. You can make your own custom wallet here for $650 for calf leather and $1,150 for the alligator. You would be kickin’ it.

Bottega Veneta Noce Fume Wallet

This is the wallet to end all wallets. I have seen high-end department stores with their exotic wallets, and to be honest they looked cheesy and cheap to me. I hate when they take gorgeous skin and make it look and feel like plastic. Not exactly the look I’m going for. Bottega Veneta is a superior leather goods company that makes classic, gorgeous handbags. Luckily for the men they make drool-worthy wallets too. Made from soft Noce crocodile, this BV wallet has 8 credit card slots. Are you still with me? It is to die for! The skin looks so rich, and even the inside leather is outstanding. Of course you would expect that coming from this fashion house and unfortunately it comes with a price. You can purchase through Bottega Veneta online for $920. But this wallet will last you years and if you have the dough to burn, put it towards this hot mess of a wallet. Life is too short to carry around your ten-year old velcro monstrosity when this beauty exists in the world.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames

“David Sedaris’s ability to transform the mortification of everyday life into wildly entertaining art,” (The Christian Science Monitor) is elevated to wilder and more entertaining heights than ever in this remarkable new book.
Trying to make coffee when the water is shut off, David considers using the water in a vase of flowers and his chain of associations takes him from the French countryside to a hilariously uncomfortable memory of buying drugs in a mobile home in rural North Carolina. In essay after essay, Sedaris proceeds from bizarre conundrums of daily life-having a lozenge fall from your mouth into the lap of a fellow passenger on a plane or armoring the windows with LP covers to protect the house from neurotic songbirds-to the most deeply resonant human truths. Culminating in a brilliant account of his venture to Tokyo in order to quit smoking, David Sedaris’s sixth essay collection is a new masterpiece of comic writing from “a writer worth treasuring” (Seattle Times).

Praise for When You Are Engulfed in Flames:

“Older, wiser, smarter and meaner, Sedaris…defies the odds once again by delivering an intelligent take on the banalities of an absurd life.” –Kirkus Reviews

This latest collection proves that not only does Sedaris still have it, but he’s also getting better….Sedaris’s best stuff will still–after all this time–move, surprise, and entertain.” –Booklist

Table of Contents:

It’s Catching
Keeping Up
The Understudy
This Old House
Buddy, Can You Spare a Tie?
Road Trips
What I Learned
That’s Amore
The Monster Mash
In the Waiting Room
Solutions to Saturday’s Puzzle
Adult Figures Charging Toward a Concrete Toadstool
Memento Mori
All the Beauty You Will Ever Need
Town and Country
Aerial
The Man in the Hut
Of Mice and Men
April in Paris
Crybaby
Old Faithful
The Smoking Section

When it comes to choosing the best recording of William Walton’s First Symphony, without any hesitation I would go for André Previn’s 1967 reading with the London Symphony Orchestra. In fact, towards the end of his life, Walton was so impressed by Previn’s tireless effort in promoting his music that he decided to write a Third Symphony for Previn. Sadly, Walton only lived to complete the opening page of the work, which bears a dedication to Previn. You can take a peep at the manuscript in Michael Kennedy’s marvellous Portrait of Walton (1989).

Rather than getting acquainted with the name of André Previn by way of his work as a conductor or Morecambe and Wise, I first came across his name in some of his early recordings as a jazz pianist for the Contemporary label in the last 1950s – My Fair Lady (1957), Pal Joey (1957), Gigi (1958), and the three extraordinary solo albums he made between 1958 and 1959, each one of them dedicated to the songs of a single composer (or songwriter, if you wish).

André Previn Plays Songs by Vernon Duke (1958), the first of the trilogy, is the most fascinating on two levels: firstly, the choice of composer, and secondly, the playing itself.

Vernon Duke (born Vladimir Dukelsky) is now remembered as the composer of popular songs – Autumn in New York, April in Paris, I Can’t Get Started, or Taking a Chance on Love – well known jazz standards of supreme intricacy, and yet, the number of people who can name the composer of these songs are few. Duke must be turning in his grave in a tumble-dryer fashion to learn that his serious concert œuvres, once championed by Diaghilev, Gershwin, Koussevitzky and Prokofiev, hardly see the light of day nowadays. His Zéphyr et Flore and Epitaphe are available on the Chandos label, giving a glimpse of the works of yet another underrated composer.

There is a list of jazz pianists whose names keep coming up in conversations on iconic jazz playing – Art Tatum, Erroll Garner, Oscar Peterson, Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans. Somehow, André Previn never quite makes it on to this list, and unfairly so. Listening to André Previn Plays Songs by Vernon Duke for the first time was a real ear-opener for me; perfect balance of technical sophistication and musicality; at times the playing got so complicated rhythmically one would wonder if there were two persons playing four-handed. I always had this funny image of Previn transforming into Vishnu at the piano when I listened to his early jazz recordings. His jazz playing got much mellower in his later recordings – After Hours (1989) and Uptown (1990) for example. To me, they are similarly loveable. But it is the electricity in these early solo recordings (which also include André Previn Plays Songs by Jerome Kern (1959) and André Previn Plays Songs by Harold Arlen (1960)) that is vividly etched into my memory. It is the same electricity that powers the extraordinary recording of Walton’s symphony.

This is really long and photo-heavy.  To save on your downloads I have tried to keep the photos small, but you can click on any of them for the full-sized versions.

Day 1: Galaries Lafayette

We were staying quite near the “Grands Magasins” (big department stores) so on our first day we went to our quasi-favourite*, Galaries Layfayette.  The craft department is a respectable size but I didn’t like any of their yarn.  I did, however, find a delightful set of stamps from a French company:

I didn’t take photos of the store as we’ve been there a dozen times but t has loads of photos, although you may have to search a while as he has sooo many photos from this trip!  I also bought socks and leggings there but I’m only showing the crafty stuff in this blog.

* our actual favourite is Samaritaine but it’s closed for remodelling

Day 2: Flea Markets (Les Puces)

Because it’s not very wheelchair-friendly, I walked this day — with many rest stops of course!  We saw so many wonderful things, but alas our budget was limited. I do somewhat regret not buying the wooden hat block that was only 40 Euros, but it was so old that I think I would have to baby it and I’d rather a sturdy new one, even if that means a plastic one.

We saw:  We bought:  

Again, a lot more pictures in t’s Flickr (see above)

Day 3: Closed shops on Rue Saint Denis

Unfortunately, it was Sunday and these shops were closed.  We never did get a chance to come back to them, but they looked interesting.

Knitting shop: Button Shop:

Day 4: Shop-a-rama!

We made it a point on this day to hit as many craft stores as we could.

L’Art du Papier: a paper goods store with stamps, scrapbooking supplies and lots of journals. This was my favourite craft store from the trip!

I bought a Fleur-de-Lys seal, an Eiffel Tower stamp and a nice “J” stamp

La Drougerie: Famous for its knitting patterns, I found the yarn selection pretty poor, the beads plain but the trims were mind-blowing! I didn’t buy anything as I don’t have any sewing projects at the moment and I couldn’t get the attention of any of the shop assistants as it was packed in there.

Bazaar du Hotel de Ville (BHV): I’d heard great things about this store (a department store with a very large arts and crafts department) but was disappointed as a lot of the material seemed to be American imports. Which is fine, if you’re not able to shop in the US, but as I’m spending most of the summer abroad I only bought a few things (erasable disposable fountain pens by my favourite brand). Their hardware section rocks though and we spent a huge amount of time there, I bought some washers for beading projects and a wooden wheel to make a spindle out of once I find a decent dowel for the stick.

Day 5: Montmartre, at the base of Sacre Coeur

This is fabric store heaven, with several very large establishments to choose from. Unfortunately, many are too crowded to get the wheelchair into so we chose Tissus Reine (Fabric Queen) and got some lovely stuff: upholstery fabric to make a bag, iron-on crystals and pirate patches. They had fantastic wool very suitable for re-enactment gear but it started at 17Euro a meter so was out of my price range.

Diagonally opposite Tissus Reine was a knitting shop that seems to be named “Laines” (“Wool”) that carries a lot of lovely Spanish yarn. I indulged just a wee bit

We saw a really cool shop in lower Montmartre, near the Place de Clichy, called Tombees du Cambion. It sells all kinds of antique bric-a-brac and ephemera. We didn’t buy anything as it was a little bit overpriced but man, they had great taste!  (Creepiness of the photos aside, t was just playing when taking them.)

Last but certainly not least, I finally found some craft magazines at the train station on the way home. The Marie Claire Idees is pretty beaten up as it was the last copy and I found it was nice but I’m not gushing over it. It’s sort of a very girly/romantic version of Martha Stewart and that’s not my thing. The Idees Magazine, on the other hand, is exactly my sort of thing, especially as this is the black and white issue — my favourite!  There were several other mags to choose from but as my French is still pretty limited I decided not to buy any more.

(Photo: Me in the Project Superstar shirt with the view from Sacre Coeur in Monmartre, Paris.  April 12, 2008.)

The Project Superstar photo program is people taking pictures of themselves in the Superstar shirt and sending them to Marian (the very crafty little girl having a bone marrow transplant whom I have mentioned several times here before, see the link for “I’m a Craft Artist” in my blogroll) who is now in the hospital after her chemotherapy.  I’m not the farthest away or the most exotic locations (a family in the Slovak Republic has sent in photos!) but maybe I can be the most posh locations

More photos, click to see larger:

My crafty photos are edited and on Flickr, I just need to write up the post about everything.  Which may be broken into several parts as there are a lot of photos! There are also many more photos of me that t is posting, these are not PS shots but are usually for the wheelchair travel groups or they involve a lot of wine and thus are not appropriate to send to six year olds ;0  If anyone really wants to see those, drop me a line.

So we’re back, and yes we had a lovely time.  Mostly because we abandoned all plans except eating (hitting many of our old favourites) and shopping in what craft stores I could find.  We had some problems with the wheelchair not liking the steep hills (it drained the battery very quickly) so t had to push a lot, and it poured down rain for two days, but in general it was a pleasant and relaxing holiday.  It’s going to take me a while to recover.

Paris has changed a lot in the four and a half years since our last visit.  We used to visit annually when we could afford it (this is not that grand — remember, it’s just the next major town over and only 2.5 hrs by train so it’s one of the cheapest possible vacation spots for us) but I guess the changes seem a lot more pronounced when more time has passed.  I’d read that many French people think that the city is becoming a museum rather than a living, vibrant center of life.  I didn’t want to believe it but I’m afraid it is true.  Maybe models find  places to party but it’s becoming a tourist trap; there are more tourists than locals in most of the city center and the shops and venues have changed to reflect that.  It’s a little sad, really.

I certainly won’t say don’t go if you have never been.  I won’t even say that I won’t go — I’m always researching the history of Paris and/or using the museums as resources for other historical research.  But just to chill out and mellow, I think we’ll go to Provence or back to Italy (where I lived for a while).  Or who knows, maybe somewhere out there is a city that really is wheelchair friendly. I’m not holding my breath on that one though!

We’ve got about 500 photos to sort through and tag, but I’ll try to post the crafty ones (shops and my purchases) as soon as I can.

I’m trying to catch up on everyone else’s blogs so bear with me!

Living in Boston after four years in Dublin, I really appreciate hot summer days. For reasons explained below, there never are hot summer days in Dublin. But as much as I appreciate New England summers, I miss springtime in Dublin, where spring arrives a full two months sooner than here.

Despite what the rest of the northern hemisphere thinks, in Ireland February first – not March 21st – is the official first day of spring. So today, while New Englanders continue to deal with winter, Dubliners are watching the daffodils popping up!

Why February First?

As every first grader is taught in Ireland……spring officially starts on February first to honor St. Brigid, who, according to pagan legend, was able to make even the rocky farms of Ireland productive. The pagans honored Brigid February first because it was the first day of spring in the pagan calendar. [Similarly, the pagan calendar had a feast on the first day of summer (May first), autumn (August first), and winter (November first), each tied to a pagan figure that had special powers vis-à-vis the growing of crops and wildlife.] Sometime back these four pagan figures were ‘legitimized’ by the Catholic Church by being given sainthood. And their Saints’ days became the official start of the Irish seasonal calendar. The result: No, Christian Ireland does not follow a pagan calendar; rather Ireland follows a ‘seasonal’ calendar — which just happens to coincide with the pagan calendar!

Why No Hot Summer Days?

Three factors result in Ireland’s temperate climate which does not change much during the year: a far northern latitude, being an island, and winter warmth from the Gulf Steam just off Ireland’s western coast. Regrettably, in the summer the combination of the northern latitude and the cool summer ocean breezes means that we just does not get Boston’s hot weather of June, July, and August. Fortunately, in the winter the warm breezes off the Gulf Stream mean that, despite its northern latitude, Dublin just does not get Boston’s cold weather of November, December, January, February, or March.

It may be “April in Paris,” but February and March are the months for Dublin!

The bottom line is that the weather around February first in Dublin equates to the weather around April first in Boston. Admit it — wouldn’t you really rather today was April first, not February first? AerLingus is practically giving away tickets to Dublin at the moment. Give it a go, even for a long weekend.