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Send Yourself to Paris When I miss Paris, I indulge in some of my favorite things that transform me (in my imagination? lol) to Paris    1) Surround yourself with little Parisian things: a t-shirt, a small cosmetic pouch, ladurée, & many post cards of Parisian café chairs and tables   Photos courtesy of Daemonds foods & Bobbette and Belle 2) Bake Macaroons: I have attempted making macaroons once before (mine turned out like cauliflowers gone bad) You might have better luck with a better recipe on Desperately Seeking Macaroons - i'll try this recipe soon, je promise  3) Give yourself a break on a Louis XVI chair and.. philosophize about your life, ..dream beautiful. 4) Listen to Peter Sarstedt: I simply looooove this song  5) Get a fluffy poodle: and adorn it with a rhinestone collar, ..and if you wish not to have a real one, go to the nearest Accessorize shop and buy a cell phone charm version ;p 6) Take a virtual tour through Saint-Germain: ..walk by Les Deux Magots, the Dior boutique, and the seafood restaurant tucked on the left sidestreet, ..mmMMmmm View Larger Map   6) Send your Pet to Paris to window-shop: Carol Gillot from Paris Breakfasts paints gorgeous water colors of your pet windowshopping in Paris. I'm soooo sending my horse and Tantra there =D & I say horse because I haven't made up my mind whether I'd want her to paint a portrait of IB or Sultan yet >_<  7) Have a cup of chocolate: preferable in a glass cup, with a biscuit in the beautiful outdoors (a la Paris)  8) Hang it on your front door: A typical door knocker in France is one made with brass, a hand holding a pomegranate -- buy it here     9) It's all in the wallet: keep photos of Paris' shop fronts and cafe chairs -stacked & otherwise- in your wallet, take them out while waiting for your appointment at the clinic, or while getting electrified in your painful laser session - guaranteed to make the pain subside. 10) You are the one for me, for me, formidable: ..and finally, sing along Charles Aznevoure You are the one for me, for me, for me, formidable Labels: Books, La Dolce Vita, Music, Travel $3 in my moola box | link | email this post Le Bonheur & DIY Magic: Turn the Ugly Black Duck into a Gazelle N'ayez pas peur du bonheur I've been away for too long, living up the days and events that have just passed, so let me first catch up all I've been up to, the nows, & the things to come. How pleasant is it to write a blog post while having a scrumptious breakfast outside of your room's window? The few drops of rain on my macbook don't bother me, nor does the dust under my bare feet; soon it will be completely wet, & the smell of trees and sand will rise in the air -- Oh how I love that smell ♥ Happy belated Eid, Happy National Day, Happy Holidays, - Yes, that's how long I've been gone. At work, to say that it has been hectic would be an understatement - so much to deliver before end of the year, it's that busy book-closing time of the year. On the personal spectrum it has also been busy, a series of explorations and discoveries - pleasant ones for the most part. I've also been quite busy with with latest horse acquisition: Robinhood. A very pleasant boy who doesn't seem to mind jumping obstacles up to 145cm so far. My living room at home still looks like the after-effect of an atomic bomb, catalogs are still lying everywhere, I'm still decorating my château one room at a time; so far, there's the blue room, the dusty rose, the taupe, and the living room of course which -the more I look at, the more hesitation I feel towards execution of current palette- Yesterday my first order was taken, I decided I would execute plans for 1 room, observe the quality of stitching and upholstery before I give a green light for the other 2 rooms, it would be a lot easier to fix one thing that goes wrong than 10. In the meantime, I'm still contemplating the colors, fabrics, & textures at home. Mom brought over a huge piece of voile that will come in handy for the bathroom vertical windows and the servants' quarter outside, perhaps even for the extra exterior building which I intend to convert into a Gîte I've also been enjoying getting creative with things that have a chance for beauty. Let's face it, we're not surrounded by beauty all the time, in fact, not even most of the time, but nearly almost everything around us has a shot for beauty, the potential to be enhanced an look better. Those were exactly my thoughts when I eyed the black photo frame at IKEA with a giant yellow price tag AED.120 -- It looked like it would make a nice bathroom mirror, after a substantial amount of work, of course. Without hesitation, I bagged it into my trolley and headed away to the cashier. My next stop would be ACE Hardware.. I picked up the one and only plastic-specific paint can they had, the only one that seemed to work anyway, and the color was a light shade of pistache. Next, I've underlined the frame with newspaper to save my tile floor, & painted gradually, one layer at a time, occasionally pulling the paint can farther to capitalize on the original dark color of the frame and create an 'antique' effect by spraying a lighter color on top in an uneven way..      I then had Rasheed stop by a mirror-cutting shop to make a piece perfectly suited to fit the picture frame, et voilaaaa! I now have a gorgeous mirror that will hang in the washroom on the ground floor of my château in France ♥♥♥ I have to say that the final product was sooo much more than I had anticipated lol, I was so happy with the result that I went and bought another piece, recreated the same thing -though not identical- but would be happy to hang it in the gîte nonetheless The former experience encouraged me to explore, and while I was walking through HomeCenter, I couldn't help but notice a very very ugly 1-bulp sorry-excuse-for-a-chandelier which you'll see below:  Lightening struck, and in my head I could allllllmost see it perfectly beautified ♥ When I asked Serena to buy it, she gave me a hesitant second look as though she couldn't believe I had just asked her to take home something so ugly, but she did anyway. Now, think ACE hardware again -- this time, metal-specific paint, color of choice? Khaki.   I had also sent Serena & Co. to brush through the lighting shops of Abu Dhabi in search for chandelier beads and crystals, luckily, she found a couple of shops that were willing to sell. I bought 500 pieces of the small beads, and several larger pieces (the larger pieces from Dubai) -- I made strands of beads to beautify the basic bland and boring metal frame, & added the final pieces -- the outcome? Spectacularly pleasant experience, and prettyyyyyyful mini-chandelier that will go into the small laundry area of the château by the kitchen. I ♥ it! Have a prettyful rest of the day x Labels: Deco, Domestic Goddess, La Dolce Vita, Music, Pony Tales, Videos $11 in my moola box | link | email this post Do We Perceive Beauty? "A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule. A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk. A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work. The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. Every single time a child walked past, he or she tried to stop and watch. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on. In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition. No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars. Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston (each seat @ $100) . Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context? "It was the most astonishing thing I've ever seen in Washington," Furukawa says. "Joshua Bell was standing there playing at rush hour, and people were not stopping, and not even looking, and some were flipping quarters at him! Quarters! I wouldn't do that to anybody. I was thinking, Omigosh, what kind of a city do I live in that this could happen?" One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?” - via karroozi - read the full article as published by The Washington Post here Labels: Music, Personal Philosophy $6 in my moola box | link | email this post Be Mine  If I had some influence, These days, I find that nothing complements a nice bath like David Grey's Be Mine, listen to it here x Labels: La Dolce Vita, Music $6 in my moola box | link | email this post Twinkle Twinkle Little Paris  In a gale of teasing merriment, I bagged my animated spirit, my passion for long walks in narrow streets, the after taste of freshly baked french bread, & ...boxes of linen and antique silver, and headed back home. Lovely Paris was left behind last night, and I arrived this morning with many photos and many stories to tell -- I missed home, I missed IB & Co. (the whole family of pets) & I missed, misssssssed the comfort of my bed. Off to get a much needed beauty sleep, until tomorrow, lots and lots of love x  $9 in my moola box | link | email this post   About my previous post, well, apparently pooches don't need visas, but Tantra can't go anyway. Her Rabies vaccination was given to her when she first came into the UAE & for her to travel, she would have to take another one 30-days before her travel date. I also found out that Etihad does not allow pets as excess baggage, & instead, they're treated as cargo - seriously! How vicious! So I suppose Tantroti would have to stay with the other two musketeers in the meantime. On a different note, I'm developing this combination of extreme curiosity & thirst for knowledge and acquisition of antique silver pieces, particularly flatware -- Ideally, I'd like to build a whimsical and complete mix of sterling silverware that makes up a full set of both old and new pieces, ..this pursuit in itself could take a lifetime, but alas, I'll get started and see how far I'll get. My action-plan is to start by educating myself on the different makers, their brands, era/period of craftsmanship, and the unique markings adopted by silversmiths over the past two centuries or so. My search yielded pretty interesting results that fired up my fascination, I never knew the knowledge around silver was more than skin-deep. Still, not sure where and when silver utensils were first used in history, I've taken a deeper dive into the different silver hallmarks through out history. During my antique shopping adventures scattered over the past few months, I've seen many items that have small little stamps with shapes that have nearly faded away -to see them, you'd have to be carrying a magnifier in your pocket, coupled with a list/guide of celebrated hallmarks of silver. On utensils, these hallmarks often stamped on the back side and give information on: + The material/alloy the piece was made of (silver, gold, a mix of both) + The maker/craftsman who made it + The time/period the piece was made in + The city/region where it was made + Paris/Departments Silver Hallmarks +  From 1798 to 1809  From 1809 to 1819  From 1819 to 1838 + Some English Silver Hallmarks +   source: Jackson's Hallmarks Additional resources: + Full list of French hallmarks of silver from 1797 to present. + Pattern index + Miller's: Silver & Sheffield Plate Marks: Pocket Fact File  + Jackson's Hallmarks  Before I go and on a completely different note; I'm loving enrique's new song <3 Does his double-chin look more attractive than usual? or is it just me? lol -- & Ciara's voice is absolutely charming <3 <3 Enjoy! Labels: Deco, Domestic Goddess, Music, Videos $8 in my moola box | link | email this post The Gold Hammer I love lol! $3 in my moola box | link | email this post Don't Stop Rolling     OMG? SERIOUSLY? I missed youuuuuuuuuuu! Terribly sorry about the down-time but it wasn't in my hands. I keep running into these glitches with my host for using up bandwidth for visitor's traffic and I never get an alert informing me of reaching the blog's quota. Alas, I'm officially on the look out for a dedicated server to host banoota.net, 10 (going on 11) years now of shared hosting, it's about time, non? To update you on the past week, well, here goes: + Did the small window bring in flying objects? Or a brighter light? - Non, pas de tout. Nada. Nothing at all. But, I'm still keeping a positive vibe, ..it will happen, it will happen.. it will. + Highlight of the week? - Lamya, Yaz, & Hamda being in Abu Dhabi (yep! All the way from Dubai x) The three of us went for a couple of rounds of 9mm Pistol Shooting at Caracal shooting range, and indulged in Vascos' chocolate souffle <3 + Anything else? - Yes, cooked mexican rice in my mimi-cocottes sans water (seriously! I didn't use a single drop of water) I've emptied a large tomatoe, stuffed it with the rice, and cooked it on mid-low temperature for a couple of hours, the rice was cooked with the natural evaporated juice of the tomatoe. I love experimenting with food. Today on my playlist, Chaka Khan's through the fire, listen to it now now noww (forget the hair lol) ..and this: $5 in my moola box | link | email this post The Weekender II Yesterday: Brunch with Mme. et Mr. Cochet felt like home coming. I love spending time with this couple for the value they bring into my life; it's like a whole different perspective and another way of seeing things. Our conversations often start with something marginal, elements of everyday life.. appointments, food, or travel plans.. and slowly shift into discussions of history, geography and philosophy for which we could spend hours speaking without a flicker of boredom. Yesterday was also my best friend's birthday, she's probably the only Gemini I know who likes to keep things low-key and refrain from celebrating her birthday. Extravagance was not an option, but I had other means of wishing her a beautiful birthday (& this is one). Here's my soundtrack for the day, enjoy x Labels: Music $3 in my moola box | link | email this post A Chauvinist in the Station I miss home, I really do.. but the plan was not to be back before the 20th. Life happened and the circumstances dictated an unexpectedly premature return, and as a result, I had to send for my pieces of luggage that I had left in the south. Naima would take the train first thing in the morning, pack my stuff, and bring the luggage back to our hotel in Paris. At 5:30AM she was on her way to the station, my phone rang at 6:07AM and I heard her voice at the other end of the line telling me that the chief on board refused to have her on board because the credit card which was used to pay for her ticket was not present with her. Well OF COURSE not, the ticket was bought for her. I asked her to pass the phone to him in order to understand the basis of his objection but he refused, and asked her to get off the train. Now, I may not like to admit this, but I knew it wasn't about the credit card at all, but rather, the fact that Naima is a very conservative woman whose religious beliefs and personal values come across very clearly. In France, the chief on board has the final say on things (much like the captain on aircrafts) I -out of all people- know that if the chief wanted her on board, he would have had her on board (I took a train once without a ticket, all I had to do was speak with the chief) The train would depart in two minutes, and there was nothing she could do. It was pointless for her to wait any longer, I knew that he wouldn't let her on the train and that was that. It was heart-stoppingly annoying to say the least. I asked her to head back to the hotel, and I knew I would sort it out myself later. I didn't want an impulse reaction, but rather, wanted to understand what is it that annoyed me the most: was it the impact that had on our travel plans? was it the non-refundable stamp on the billet (french for ticket)? was it the fact that Naîma had to bear with a person of such low-education and morals to match? I wasn't quite sure, but I knew that by the end of the day I would have an answer. At 7:00PM of that day I headed to the ticketing office inside the station, dressed in UAE national attire despite the fact that it was pouring rain outside & anyone who knows Emirati national attire would know that it's nowhere near practical in normal weather conditions, much too less in the rain. Walking through hallways animated by hundreds of people, my mind did not escape the turning heads to take a glimpse of the obvious foreigner amongst the crowd.. and while Khadhem Al-Saher shuffled Ahibbeeni into my ears; I took my time walking to the ticketing office observing & toying with people's reaction as I walked by in a floor-length black Abaya and Sheila -- it was seconds before a police man came forth and said "vous êtes une princesse?" - "No" I answered. - "Une actrice?" - "No" and added "Je suis Emirienne d'Abou Dabi" - "Vous êtes très belle, ..très belle" - "Merci", said it with a smile and walked away There were looks of curiosity, others of admiration, and some sick ones too -- it didn't matter, there I was dressed in as Arab as it gets, and there was nothing that could stop me from loving it, ..every second of it. Before I knew it, I found myself in front of a line with multiple windows and clerks. Some looked approachable, positive, and welcoming; others looked like they were receiving a slow death sentence. Knowing my luck in situations like these, I knew I'd get a death-sentence person to serve my request -and it was true. The death sentence person was a 30-something male with crooked teeth, a yellow smile, and pink skin. When I explained the situation to him, he shrugged before I continued the rest of my sentence and said "zeir iz nosing I can do about it. You 'ave to buy anozegh ticket pour tomogho if you want 'er to go. I can 'elp you do zat now only" I hate it when people just don't let you finish what you have to say, don't you? -- I also hate being taken for a fool. I paused. "attendez s'il vous plaît" I said, and added "She was not late, the cheif asked her to get off the train -Why?". - "Soghy, I cannot 'elp you" he said. I realized that frustration would yield nothing, and despite the fact that I was experiencing a mild volcano explosion in my guts, I broke into a smile.. expanded my eyes into a look of hope and in a low tone I asked if there's anything he could do about it, perhaps speak to the supervisor? - "No! zegh iz no supeghvisogh" he said in a sharp tone. I pretended I didn't hear him correctly, and asked "OH! You're the supervisor? Sorry, I didn't realize.. you're too young to be a supervisor" -- I honestly doubt he understood what I said, but one thing was sure: he knew that what I said was some sort of compliment, and suddenly said "Wait. I come back".. He got up to speak to someone, and came back saying "It's OK! But next time be caghfool (careful).. don't buy ticket pour anozegh peghson!" -(Yeah! Okay, whatever) I thought- And with a curious look he added "de quel pays êtes vous?" - "I'm from the Emirates, Abu Dhabi." - "You like to 'ave dinner wiz me?" (Dinner with Mr. Crooked yellow teeth? Seriously? Seeeerrrriously?) - "Non, merci" - "Dghink?" - "I don't drink." - "Pas de tout?" - "Pas de tout. Nothing" - "Café? Thé?" (Mr.Crooked yellow teeth has guts and is apparently persistent) - "Non! Merci pour votre aide, but I'm taking a flight tonight" My flight, was a lie. I walked out, and exactly like the way I walked in, people were looking; men to be precise, but alas.. I had made my point clear, I knew that what had annoyed me the most is the lack of respect for people who dress in clothes that convey their religious beliefs or origin and I didn't like that. What you choose as a God is absolutely your business; it doesn't change the fact that you're human. Respect is mandatory, and the lack of it should not be tolerated. Sometimes unfortunately one doesn't have a choice to enforce manners of behavior on people. I sadly didn't get to make that point on the chief on board that refused to host Naîma on the train, but strolling in the midst of hundreds of people in clothes that clearly convey my orientation and origin that I'm very proud of made me feel better about the whole situation. I don't do it often, I don't look for 'creative' ways to substitute a sheila with a brightly colored Hermes scarf on my head and overlay knee-length dresses with jeans and 300 other pieces of clothing under and above. I like to keep it simple, with or sans, that's it. Quoting George, my driver in Saumur; "Now I know why women in your country wear veils, ..because they're very, very, very beautiful"This goes out to all of you veiled Emirati beauties x $14 in my moola box | link | email this post La Vie en Rose First, play this song: ..& then, read the rest of the post. With Edit Piaf's Lafoule playing in the background, I woke up with eyes so eager to brush every small little road of every district in the city of inspiration. Pink would be the color of my dress, and a pair of repetto flats to match, & an oversized Canon camera strapped to my shoulder would give away the tourist flag -- but who cares? It's spring, Paris is packed with tourists anyway Our first Welcome to Paris was paid to us by a little bird that decided to join us for breakfast and opted for the freshly baked french baguette and croissants.. it then decided to hop on top of Naima's head lol, a classic! I took a photo of this and soon will share it in an album with many others. The fact that all stores were closed yesterday for bank holiday left no room for a pilgrimage to the Hermes FS.H boutique, instead, we walked through Montmartre (& picked up a truly beautiful water color painting that would hang in the bathroom sometime when the house is ready), we then headed to tour eiffel (how could one resist the view of blossoms with tour eiffel as a backdrop? je ne sais pas -- I couldn't).. On our way to Victor Hugo to take the metro, my eyes caught a book store selling a small collection of books, I couldn't resist that either so I went in to have a look -all in french, needless to say- I was easily captured by the photos, and titles like "Mon petit mari" lol, before I knew it, I was holding a tower of books in my arms (including Mon Petit Mari, of course) and was headed to the cashier when a gentleman shopping in the store stretched a Marlboro Ad smile and said something quick to me in french, he spoke so fast that I couldn't understand anything but his sheepish smile; - "Je ne parle pas bien français" I said, and added "un petit peu" - "Don't buy all the books in the store, leave some for others -- the rest of us" he replied, in immaculate English. That was when I noticed the stack I was holding, & I was slightly concerned how would I manage to take them back home with all the passenger baggage weight-quotas the airlines are imposing. Perhaps it would be best to have them shipped in a box instead, I don't know. Yves, Gwenealle and I watched Coco avant Chanel & it was beeeeeautiiiiiful, my favorite parts were the horse scenes, the black one was so gorgeous that I released a gasp when that scene was played. I wonder why hadn't they mentioned anything about how horses were introduced in her life, there was no mention of Saumur (where she was born) and the Ecuyers of Le Cadre Noir and their influence on her designs which I think is one of the most fascinating things about her life as a fashion icon. Nevertheless, Audrey Toutou? super cute, and she played the role well -- so glad she was picked for this role. To celebrate the movie, I opted to go for a classic chanel look, with a contemporary flare of color for the skirt <3 More to come later x           Labels: Music, Travel, TV and Movies $12 in my moola box | link | email this post Free Falling Waking up in the morning to a song in your head is something that happens on weekends normally, when you know you have all the time in the world to stretch, daydream, toss around, and get out of bed. This morning, I woke up with Jim Croce's 'Operator' held hostage in backdrop of my mind, something in my eyes you know it happens every time..   Instruction lesson before entering air tunnel  knee-pads, just in case you take a free fall? It's one of those rare weekends when you have nothing to do but attend to yourself freely. No plans, no deadlines (not today at least), and no obligations towards anything, or anyone. There's a charming air of liberation in that which we often overlook, it's easy to forget to notice that kind of freedom when your responsibilities escalate quicker than the time you take to breathe, and you struggle to find that 'me-time' that you've gotten yourself used to having. To be honest though, c'est la vie and that's the beauty of it, when stress-levels overflow I make a point of reminding myself to take a break -- whether it's a warm scented bath at the end of my day, or a tough sport that consumes me to my very last drop of sweat; the point is to channel it out. Yesterday, I opted to take a sky-diving experience. Four minutes of nothing but utter lightness of being - brilliant! Riding horses and pilates have been the biggest contributor to the success of that experience, balance was not an issue, nor was the oversized pink goggles and forest-green overall suite that made me look like a gardener from the suburbs of mexico; the real problem was that I realized that with all the physical workout and training I've been doing, I still felt that my arm/shoulder muscles were 'working out' in those 4 minutes -- meaning, whatever I've been doing for the past God knows how long is quite.. well.. useless, to say the least. Great experience and will definitely do again, but in the meantime, I think I'll camp on my Pilates cadillac, and IB's back would become my residential address, I'd conduct my conference calls on a canter, and move the entire office to the stables in winter, and inside my pilates studio during the summer -- is that too much to ask? >_<; Okay. Maybe yes. +++ +++ +++ +++ I don't know if I ever shared this video, but I think it's hilarious lol, please watch it if you haven't already.. & have a fa..fa..fabulous weekend ;p Labels: La Dolce Vita, Music $3 in my moola box | link | email this post |
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