My blog

Today my department at work - the TMA (Tierce Maintenance Applicative) had its trimestrial meeting, but this one was special. It was on a boat on the Seine! After a Powerpoint presentation downstairs, the boat started to move, and we were on our way…

A salmon tartare and a couple of cheese puffs later, we were passing by the “Pont Alexandre”…

And a quick view of the Eiffel Tower before my caramel white chocolate cream dessert. It was fun!

This weekend we went to Brittany so that my parents could meet Simon’s. It went really well! We had a great time showing them around. And I still love la Bretagne! These are some pretty pink hydrangeas in a town called St. Cado. There were tons of them everywhere. I just love this deep pink colour.

This is in Quiberon on our way to see the “Côte Sauvage”.

And this is the “Côte Sauvage” (the coastline). Isn’t it beautiful? We totally lucked out on the weather that day.

The following day, we headed to Concarneau to see the “Ville Close”, or the closed city. It’s a cute little village enclosed by walls. There were tons of little shops and restaurants. We ended up eating moules frites (mussels with fries). They were SO good! I love that dish. This is my bucket of mussels that I ate.

It was a great weekend. Next weekend, Simon’s parents are coming to Paris.

For my parents’ second night in Paris, we went around the neighbourhood by the Pompidou museum. Ended up eating at a grill near Les Halles called L’Entrecote. It was pretty good, although a bit pricey and the service was slow. But that’s ok, we were able to talk. Tomorrow, we’re off to Brittany to see Simon’s family.

Quick trip back to As’Art this weekend to pick up a couple of things. This is the cute little alley way where they’re located. Good news…they have a website now: www.as-art.fr. Next time I go back will be for an ostrich shell lamp. So cool!

This blog is about a week late…sorry. Work’s been kinda hectic lately. Anyways, last weekend we went to Brittany. It was nice to get away from the city…back to nature. This is a picture of a field we passed by on our way to the beach. We were lucky to have nice weather that day. We even went in the water!

And this is a little forest beside the country road we drove down on the way home. Felt like Bridget Jones when she went on her weekend getaway with Hugh. Hehe.

This weekend we went to the south of France to celebrate Simon’s birthday with some friends. We were able to visit the island of Porquerolles while we were there. It’s where Simon and his family used to spend their summer holidays. Beautiful island. We hiked up a hill to see a bit of the island. This is the view of the beach from the top. It was so nice out, at least at the beginning…

Found a cactus on our way to the beach…

Just as we got to the beach, clouds started coming in and the sun disappeared behind them It even rained on the ferry ride back!

Seeing as there was no more sun, I spent most of the time picking up rocks and pebbles from the beach to put with my bamboo plant at home. Simon and the others were brave enough to go for a dip in the water…the cold water…but I was content with my rock collecting.

The other day, my co-worker and I took a long lunch and walked over to La défense after eating. There were so many workers out smoking, talking, eating. And it was so nice out too! Almost too hot. This is the base of the Grande Arche.

And this is me sitting at the base of the Grande Arche. I love these shoes, although they’re a bit old.

Oh the joys of leaving work at 8pm. This is the RER station where I’ve been getting off for work for the last couple of months. I’ve never seen it so empty! Kind of a relief from the morning when I let 3 trains go by before squeezing myself onto the 4th. Glad I won’t be doing that in the summer!

These are the pretty peonies I bought at the market on Thursday. There’s a market just across the street every Thursday and Sunday, and I was able to make a quick run on Thursday because it was a holiday here. I think they’re my new favourite flower. They’re so pretty!

On the way to shopping today, I was quite happy to finally see an ad for Hocus Pocus in the metro. They’re a hip-hop jazz group I discovered in 2003, and I absolutely love them. They were independent before, and now they’re finally with a record company that I’m hoping will get them the media coverage they deserve. An add on the door at a metro station is a good start! We’re going to see their sold out concert on May 31st. I can’t wait!

Further into the metro station, I met up with Kylie. Apparently she loves H&M. There are a lot of brands getting celebrities to say they love them lately…Mila loves Mango, Scarlett loves Adidas. And now Kylie. What’s with that?

I read about a bubble tea place in Paris months ago, and today we finally went and got some. It’s called ZenZoo, and their bubble tea is excellent. I wonder if there are any other bubble tea places in Paris…

With matcha bubble tea in hand (Simon had taro), we went across the street to Square Louvois to rest my feet. This is the pretty fountain in the middle of the square, which apparently was where there used to be the 8th opera room in 1793. People used to watch Mozart’s enchanted flute where we were chowing down on our tapioca balls. So crazy!

On the way home, we stopped by a Japanese grocery store and picked up some soba noodles. So simple and so good. All you gotta do is boil them and rinse them in cold water, and sprinkle seaweed on them. Wow, I’m such a good chef!

This is the view from the top of Printemps, where I discovered their rooftop café yesterday (on the roof of Printemps beauté/maison). It’s an open air café decorated with bamboo plants and other greens. A chic destination that I may try on a day that’s less windy…depending on the pricing. I didn’t dare look at the prices. But who knows…they might be reasonable!

We met up with friends for dinner who introduced us to a really good Korean restaurant near Opéra. The food was excellent, and I tried my first ever Korean beer…Hite!