One of the many things that I often heard from my American students when I worked in study abroad, was that they could seem to figure out how to meet French people. You would think that for young students it would be easy, so if they were having a hard time, then what do those who are beyond university years, or even in their 30′s, 40′s, 50′s and beyond do? Are you traveling here soon, and want a fabulous way to meet the locals? Book your hotel room, and then book your dinners with Voulez-Vous Diner, all in the homes of Parisians! What a great way to enjoy the culture here.
Category Archives: parisian
A Parisian Portrait : Alain, the bouquinist
I was secretly thrilled with myself for having resolved to lug my camera around with me all day, the day I met Alain. I was wandering along the Seine, happily snapping shots of everything that pleased me, not a care in the world could bother me that day. I had free time, I live in Paris, and Spring was peeking its head around the corner. Trees started sprouting vibrant green tufts of leaves and plush pale flower buds. The rain came and went as I happily popped my red umbrella out only to tuck back in my bag a few minutes later. The sky was a manic mess of gray clouds and blue patches. It was wonderful. I felt similar to myself a decade ago when I had a student’s luxurious schedule and could wander from café to book shop on a whim.
I was wandering past the famous bouquinist boxes along the river when I spied him, this wrinkled and weathered little Frenchman, pulling books out of the path of another impending rain shower. He did so methodically, without rush, handling each of the volumes with a delicate gesture that attested to his love for books, words and literature. A little rain did not scare him. I wondered how many years of stress and worry taught him how to react with such serenity. Or maybe he was born with serenity. I am sure in his style of life, stress is not a helpful factor. Continue reading
Intense Macaron Indulgence
Fauchon… you know the brand? I do! I walk by their store at the Place de la Madeleine almost every day. It’s French, pink, divine and elegant. I love to offer gifts from their stock of delights and indulgences. I even put some Fauchon chocolates in my party favor bags at the Prête-Moi Paris 3 year party. So you could say, I am a big fan of this French power house of delicious things to treat oneself to!
So when they contacted me to ask if I would like to try some of their new line of strawberry and yuzu infused products, I replied an enthusiastic “OUI!”
A pretty box of macarons came in the mail just days later.
Continue reading
Quinntessences & LH Designs
Missing You In Paris from Prete Moi Paris on Vimeo.
As a Paris expat blogger, I am always happy to let you all know about my other fellow expat friends and bloggers. I am thrilled to present you with two fabulous ladies today!
Quinn Connors as the model and stylist of the mini style story above, and jewelry designer Leonor Heleno of Leonor Heleno Jewelry Designs.
Both of these two are expats in Paris, and are talented and creative ladies in their own right. Continue reading
More…Pretty Paris Pictures
I have done posts like this a few times before. It’s my way of sharing my snapshots of Paris that I take randomly…
Night…
Le Petit Parisien – New York
Post by Frank Cierpial
Sometimes the hustle and bustle of New York can be too much for anybody and it is nice to take a short journey into a quiet mountain town. This mountain town is in the Garden State of New Jersey. It is called Montclair and I know it well, because I go to Montclair State University. Montclair is a town full of sidewalk cafés, cute little independently owned businesses, and is known for its French community. Baptiste and Leme Maldonado are part of this French community. They came here from Versailles, France two years ago, and just 8 months ago opened this adorable French Pastry place called “Le Petit Parisien”. Continue reading
A Grand Moment
I had another one of those starry-eyed moments the other night. One of those catch-your-breath-oh-my-god-is-this-really-my-life moments.
I work for the most prestigious luxury house in France, and every year they throw a big event for all their employees in the Paris region. They have a ceremony to handsomely recognize those who have loyally worked for them for 40 or 50 years, and then graciously throw a party for the rest of us. Every year the event is held in some magnificent venue, this year we were told it would be in the Grand Palais.
Pretty Paris Pictures – II
A picture is worth a thousand words, and Paris is worth a thousand pictures..or more…
Here is more of my contribution!
(see my previous pretty Paris picture post here).
Photo : Prête-Moi Paris
Photo : Prête-Moi Paris
Photo : Prête-Moi Paris
Photo : Prête-Moi Paris
Photo : Prête-Moi Paris
Andy Tauer – Perfume Launch – Loretta
The second edition of Andy Tauer’s perfumes for Womens’ Pictures has come out! And as I have told you before, these scents are sold exclusively at the Marie Antoinette boutique in the Marais. One of my favorite boutiques in Paris! Chéri and I are regular clients of Antonio’s shop. I know I have something from there waiting for me for Christmas!!!! I don’t know what but I am very excited to find out. Maybe it’s Loretta….!
My Red Bubble Paris boutique!
Bonjour mes cheris!
I was introduced via twitter to a site called Red Bubble. A place where designers and creatives can create products with their own designs, and *gasp* sell them! I LOVE the concept! Being a creative junkie myself, and always hungry to “make” something…I hoped on that bandwagon in a Paris minute.
So far I only have a few iphone cases designed, but I hope to soon add more.
iphone case deisgn by Prête-Moi Paris -TM
As many of you bloggers out there know, owning and curating a site like this takes a lot of extra cash, and time (and time= money, as they say)…and sometimes it is nice to have a little bit of a return on the investment. And what’s even better is that I get to be creative in the meantime!
Check back often on my Reb Bubble shop and see if I have added anything new. I will surely let you know here if I do!
Riding the 4 Roues Sous 1 Parpaluie
Nathalie Malric (editor in cheif, photographer and co-founder of Peut-Être magazine) was the winner of the gift offered by 4 Roues Sous 1 Parapluie, that was offered as one of the gifts raffled off at the Prête-Moi Paris 3 year anniversary party. Here is her experience in her own words!
Nathalie Malric (rédactrice en chef, photographe et co-fondatrice du magazine Peut-Être) a été la gagnante du cadeau offert par 4 roues sous 1 parapluie, qui a été donné dans des tirages au sort lors de la soirée pour fêter les 3 ans de Prête-Moi Paris. Voici le récit de son expérience!
Photo by Nathalie Malric
Pretty Paris Pictures I
A picture is worth a thousand words…they say.
And Paris is worth a thousand pictures…(hmmm, maybe more).
Here are a few to start!
Prête-Moi Paris photography
Nécessaire de Beauté – Serge Lutens
Recently I was graciously invited to join a small panel of bloggers for a presentation of the Serge Lutens make-up line and what he calls the “nécessaire de beauté”. Beauty essentials. I love the Serge Lutens boutique at Palais Royal and have purchased and tested several of his perfumes. I love his work for its originality, it’s search for artistry with a palette of scents, and the way his perfumes can whisk me away somewhere else or invoke a striking emotion. So, of course I was curious to discover what he can do with make-up.
Récemment on m’a gracieusement invité à joindre un petit groupe de bloggers bien choisi pour assister à une présentation de la ligne de maquillage de Serge Lutens et ce qu’il appelle le “nécessaire de beauté”. Les essentiels de la beauté féminine. J’adore la boutique de Serge Lutens au Palais Royal et je suis une cliente et fan de plusieurs parfums. Son travail m’attire pour son originalité, et la recherche artistique avec une palette de parfums et sa capacité de m’envoyer en voyage ou invoquer une émotion simplement avec l’odorat. Alors j’étais bien évidement curieuse de voir ce qu’il arrive à faire avec le maquillage. Continue reading
The Paris Money Can’t Buy #PricelessParis
This past summer I was invited to the Rolland Garros opening day by Happy Curious (a PR, communications and social intelligence firm) and Mastercard France for their project Priceless Paris. The goal was to offer a “priceless” moment to a selected bunch of Parisians (and I happened to be one of them! Lucky me!). But the project was more than just an afternoon of tennis. Happy Curious spent the Summer concocting and conducting a study for Mastercard on what Parisians feel are priceless moments in the city of light.
Happy Curious soirée for their MasterCard Priceless Paris study results
And so I was invited recently to a dinner at the Chambre des Oiseaux restaurant (a darling place with REAL homemade food, that I will surely return to) with a group of Paris bloggers for the revealing of the results of the study. What was discovered surprised me. I was heading to the dinner expecting to hear all sorts of “priceless Paris moments” that were full of wildly opulent desires and luxurious memories, costly events and exclusive venues. But no, the Parisian is much more simple than I had judged…the Parisian appreciates that which money cannot buy. My faith in the Parisian has hence been restored. 
Photo : Léna Balacco de La Chambre aux Oiseaux)
Biennale des Antiquaires 2012
At the Grand Palais….it happened…
September 14-23rd, 2012.
Le grand Palais
Scenographer : Karl Lagerfeld. (LOVED it!). Karl gave the immense venu all of that old-style authentic Paris charm, with a modern twist. The white gallery windows paned and lit with warm lighting on the inside made walking the alleys seem like strolling down quaint streets in nostalgic Paris, with a giant striped hot air balloon overhead to really drive home the vintage feeling. And then, strategically scattered throughout the alleys at their intersectinos were giant metal sculptures of the different major monuments of Paris. I think the scenography was just as wonderful to see as was the art and the jewels. Continue reading
Chapeaux!
30 rue Mirosmesnil 75008, Paris
I like things that attach to my extremities… shoes on my feet, rings on my fingers, gloves on my hands and hats on my head! Sadly I have never felt I had a head for hats, but I LOVE hats! I will buy them because I imagine myself sauntering around Paris with this frivolous thing decorating me like some kind of ultra chic Audrey Hepburn character, and then when I bring it home at look at myself in my evil mirror, I feel like a silly cupcake. So I hang the hat on the wall and thus have found a new and interesting way of decorating my wall space.
Buuuut… I recently discovered the Alibaba cavern for hat lovers with heads for hats or not, because there IS a hat foreveryone in here! This place is full of head (or wall) decorations! And they are not just any type of hats, they are authentic panama hats, and hand made “ceremony” hats. The luxe de luxe of hats. Continue reading
Tea adventures with Mariage Frères
I love tea. But if you have been following me for sometime now…you know that already!!
I LOVE Mariage Frères tea. Aesthetic and refined, it is the perfect example of French tea. The Mariage family that began the company that is now known as Mariage Frères (since 1854 on rue Bourg-Tibourg) had been in the tea trade since the late 17th century.
Mariage Frères is a French tea brand that makes classic and specialty teas and tea products. If you have never tried their teas, you should.
They just recently launched a new tea flavor that intrigued me, by its very name alone : Full Moon Party tea. For the mad hatter in me, this sounded like just the perfect tea for my next unbirthday party. Chéri and I took a Sunday stroll the other day to the Marias and stopped in the Mariage Frères boutique on rue Bourg-Tibourg to give it a taste at the salon de thé. I drank nearly a whole pot (but then I do that every morning when I wake up!) of the Full Moon Party tea and Chéri had a glass of iced Havana French Summer tea.
Le Crillon, Jardin d’Hiver in the Summer
As Summer draws to a close I thought it would be nice to show you my favorite place to relax in Paris this season. The Crillon has one of the most tranquil, pretty and soothing places to sit quietly and enjoy a beverage with a friend or two. Le Jardin d’Hiver patio. Jardin d’hiver, means winter garden, but it’s my little escape in the Summer time. Continue reading
Paris Jazz Corner
5 rue Navarre 75005, Paris.
I ran across this charming boutique one day while exiting the Arènes de Lutèce. The façade and winddows looked intriguing and I couldn’t quite make out what they were proposing with their display until I got close (and until I read the bold letters above the door). Jazz. But not just any old jazz…jazz on vinyl (mostly). Continue reading
Ville et Cinéma Film Festival
I have recently been reading (no, devouring) several novels by Douglas Kennedy, who’s charachters are usually writers, often live in Paris for a period of time, and ALWAYS love the cinema. Those of his characters that come to visit the city of lights always find solace in the vintage cinema theaters of the 5th and 6tha rrodnissements. These are independant cinemas and they don’t play the latest blockbuster, but rather they play the classics, the vintage, the independant etc. films. Going to the cinema seems to be a vvery Parisian thing to do anyways! Continue reading
