Paris under $5k

What does a neophyte traveler do in order to prep for a most-anticipated vacation? Research!! Although the internet a wealth of information, I like to start with tried and true travel guides such as the the all-popular Frommer's Guide to Paris and Rick Steves' Paris 2011. These were great launching pads for my research.

After identifying the region we wanted to be in and the places we wanted to see, I was able to set up a realistic budget snapshot for our trip. We wanted to keep the cost low but I don't think we can do this trip satisfactorily below $4k. Below is the breakdown:

1. Plane Tickets x 2= $2050
2. Lodging (x 8 nights)= $880-$1440
3. Food ($100USD/day) = $800
4. Local Transportation (Metro, all zones+Versailles)= $103
5. 4 day Museum Pass= $136.81
6. MISC (day trips, excursions, shopping)=$500
Grand Total: $4469.81 and up (depending on lodging choice)

The biggest variant so far is our lodging and miscellaneous expenses. I've traveled enough to know that the misc buffer needs to stay. That leaves lodging. Thanks to the travel guides, I narrowed down our choice of arrondissements to either the Latin Quarter (5th), Marais (4th), or the St. Germain area (6th). All three choices are located in central areas--the Latin Quarter is livelier and probably more fun for us. The loft we like looks like Linguini's loft (from Ratatouille!) with big, lovely windows, a fully stocked kitchen, a sitting area, and a loft. It is also the most expensive of the bunch. (Other less expensive 5th arrondissement rentals are teeny 200sq ft studios with convertible sofa beds).

Marais is a bit quieter but in the most beautiful historic part of Paris. It is across the Seine from the Latin Quarter and probably not the easiest to get back to at night. Still..it's very beautiful and picturesque. I think I will like the quiet charm of the area. It's in the middle price range and I think we're most likely going to stay here.

The St. Germain area is right next to the Latin Quarter but it is more artsy and bohemian and is the least expensive of the three. It's also centrally located so I don't mind staying here either. I just need to do some more research to find out which area is the most convenient.

We're also keeping an eye out on sales before we book so it'll be another month or so before we finalize our itinerary. In the meantime, I need to start working on my French! I've heard great things about this: Rosetta Stone V4 TOTALe: French Level 1
Has anyone ever tried it?

Paris, Je T'Aime

Bonjour mon ami!

That is about the maximum of my French language skills. Why on Earth did I listen to practical people who told me to take HS Spanish because it was more useful in the US when I really really prefer French? I mean, I struggled through Villette and had to guess through 1/3 of it because of the author's propensity to pepper in French conversations. Good thing it is not too late to learn because we shall soon be en route to Paris!

The only problem is that we can't decide exactly where to go. We only have 9 precious days because of our conflicting schedules. With just 9 days...should we spend the entire time in Paris and really soak it up? 8 days will be enough time thoroughly enjoy the tourist attractions AND get off the beaten path a bit. There is this little flat that I am thinking of renting...it is in a great area and looks like the little apartment in Ratatouille! We'd be able to really relax and it would be the easiest trip. We'd probably go to Versailles for a day too.

Another idea is to split up the trip a bit...5 nights in Paris and 3 nights in Northern France. A derivative of that itinerary is 4 nights Paris, 2 nights in London, and 2 days in Northern France, and then followed by a train ride back to Paris for our flight home.

The last idea is to fly into Paris and head south. We'd spend 5 nights in Paris, take a 4 hour train ride south to Nice, and spend 3 nights in the south of France. Since Monaco is so close, we'd probably take a day trip there too. The downside is that we'd need to take another 4 hour ride back to Paris to depart. Quite a bit of time will be spent traveling but I don't think we'll go back to France anytime soon so should we just go for it?

Food is lovely

This Saturday, Hubby and I went out on our first "date night" alone in months. Normally, we go out with our friends or or have some other family thing going on. We found ourselves remarkably free on a beautiful (and rare) sunny afternoon so decided to head downtown to do some grocery and window shopping. We weren't sure what to do about dinner at first but then I remembered that my friends got us a very nice gift certificate to one of the restaurants we've been meaning to try. Yes! Today was the perfect opportunity. (Now that I think about it...gift certificates to nice restaurants are one of my favorite gifts ever. It makes me try new places and allows us to splurge without hurting the bank too much).

Anyway...this is now one of my favorite restaurants! Everything was SO delicious! The plating wasn't overly fancy but it was done in a nice and appetizing way. The service was great, the ambiance was nice, there was a nice mix of young trendy-somethings as well as older couples. I enjoy people watching and my imagination sometimes gets the better of me hehe. To our right, the slightly awkward but exceedingly polite 50-something couple looked like new empty-nesters. They ordered lovely wine, appetizers, and tapas to share and I could tell that both made an effort to make this night special.

To our far right in a more open dining area, I saw a vibrant, elderly couple--the man wearing a tweed coat with elbow patches and the lady with white hair and a bored, languid expression. The woman was most definitely in charge. She ordered salmon with chickpeas (coincidentally, what I ordered) while her hubby ordered fried chicken. She ate delicately of her salmon and chickpeas until she had exactly 1/2 remaining on her plate. With out much ado, she made a gesture, held up her plate, and switched with her husband. I must say, the fried chicken looked extremely appetizing. How different their food sharing approach is compared to ours! Of course, I think hubby would prefer this lady's approach because I am always guilty of sneaking a fork over to his plate hehe.

Slightly behind us were a table of early 30's women wearing similar hair styles, fitted jeans, and variations of a loose tunic-style shirt. "Hiiiiiiiii" was the constant refrain. It looks like they had a very good time and it was most definitely a "girls-night-out" thing. Looks like fun! Best of all, there were no drunken displays of rowdy behavior! I suppose that is one pleasant bit about getting older :)

During this time, husband and I were having a wonderful time enjoying each course of our meal. We splurged since we had a gift card, so we ordered a charcuterie plate, an entree each, and umm...a dessert each. Along with a wine pairing. Yeah...we had a good time :) Without further ado, our dinner!







Umm..yeah. Our eyes were bigger than our stomachs. Because we both felt rather guilty for overindulging, we went to the gym later that night and worked out for about an hour. Then, this afternoon, we went on a hike up a mountain haha. Much better. Next time, no need for appetizer and just one dessert (the meringue was awesome!) will suffice :)

French Chic

Often I feel like I I make decisions without looking at the grand scheme of things...a very linear way of thinking, if you will. When we furnished our house, we made some quick decisions because we felt pressured to get some things right away. For instance, our dining table is a continual sore spot for me...we spent about $1100 on a set we didn't love but felt compelled to get because we had to hose a dinner for family soon after our wedding (and that family was flying back shortly). In hindsight, I wish we had gotten something at a local thriftstore or off Craigslist. There's some amazing things to be found if one is patient! Solid hardwood, beautiful hand turned legs, intricate detail...all that is lost in our "new" world of MFD and particle board. It was also really difficult, initially, to get past the ickyness factor of "old" or "used" furniture. I think it's an Asian thing to prefer things new: newly built house, new cars, new furniture...everything new. Maybe it has to do with superstition (bad jujus inhabiting the old?) but even when family homes are no longer in use, it sits there locked up in permanent abandonment. Once, my sister asked if we could just open up the family home and deed it to a poor family but my mother said that no one would want to inhabit it, and such a thing is just not done.

So anyway..,.yes, it took quite a lot for me to actually want used furniture. Not all things are good used: for instance, no mattresses. No sofas either. Maybe a chair if I can rip out the old cushion and completely clean the frame and redo it myself. I'm perfectly fine with solid wood pieces though. Recently, I took an old cabinet frame off Craigslist (purchased for $20) and turned it into a new liquor cabinet/landing table.



Add in some decorations and a IKEA frame hack, and we have this lovely Parisian inspired vinette!



Lately, I have realized that my style preference leans on the whimsical and feminine. It's completely opposite of hubby's preference for Swedish modernity but we're finding a balance. I know my taste will go out of fashion eventually so I don't want to invest in expensive pieces. Here's where thrift stores and old furniture comes in handy! I recently found this lovely provincial dresser that would be perfect for our guest room but it was sold before I got to it :(


Then, I found THIS today. Love. This. The perfect match to the first little dresser! The price is not bad at all ($150) but it doesn't fit the scale or personality of the house but wouldn't it be an awesome TV stand? (not to mention buffet/sofa table). Maybe if we didn't already get our classic style TV stand, I would have been able to hack this. I mean seriously, how great is the design and all those dressers? Cut out a hole in the back to let the electric components vent and use the rest of the cabinets to stash everything from remotes, DVDs, toys, kiddie stuff, anything. Love it--just wish we had the right place to put this!




Anyway...those are just some of the lovely finds waiting to be found at your neighborhood thriftstore:) The hunt is part of the fun so happy hunting!

January is the season of White!

I guess January is the official "White Sale" season because every major retailer is having a bedding sale. We've been making do with the most minimal and basic of bedding for the past 1.5 years mainly because bedding can be extremely tacky, like bed-in-a-bag polyester sets such as this gem:



to extremely expensive, such as this $400 (yes, for just the duvet) from Hotel Collection that I have been eyeing for over a year.



It doesn't look like much online but in person, the fabric is lovely and sumptuous, weighty, with a great hand feel and a lovely metallic sheen to it. It's more champagne with just a hint of blue. As you can see...I really liked it. In fact, I even bought it once when it went down to $210 but returned it the next day when I realized that I just couldn't handle spending $210 on some fabric, albeit nice fabric, sewn together. So...back it went and my conscious eased up.

Fast-forward over a year later...hubby and I are still using 2 separate blankets (apparently, I am a blanket-stealer), mismatched but happy. We went to the mall to burn off calories after the post-Christmas feasts (yes, plural), and discovered that the January White Sale was in full swing! We've had about $220 in Macys gift cards burning a hole in my wallet for over a year now so we decided to hunt for a new king sized down comforter that we could share in peace. Unfortunately, the down comforters that we liked were about double what I had in gift cards but luckily, a nearby Hotel Collection display was much more fruitful! No, the "Rings" collection we originally liked was not on sale but a brand new collection was even better!

Behold, the lovely Ombre Mosaic! Neutral? check. Classic? check. Cotton? Mostly cotton...can't expect 100% for metallic fabric anyway, right? As an added bonus, this set didn't require dry cleaning while the Rings did!



Thanks to a 10% coupon on top of the store sale price, we picked up the duvet cover and matching bedskirt. Since the color is so neutral (champagne ombre base with a subtle pearl colored patterns), we were free to mix and match sheets! Further digging in the 50% off lowest clearance price pile yielded this lovely beige Hotel Collection set (top and bottom sheets + 2 shams). It is almost a match of our duvet cover color so I don't mind the slight pink stitching detail.



We walked around with our items for a bit before taking the plunge to burn up the gift cards on bedding. Since we've had the gift cards for about 1.5 years now and never used it, we decided that it's better used on something we like and would use rather than letting it sit in my wallet until who-knows-when. After all is said and down, we only had to add about $30 for the duvet, bedskirt, and sheet-set. As soon as we got home, I laundered everything and everything held up nicely in the wash :) Now it is sitting pretty in the linen closet for when I get the opportunity to change linens!

New Year, New Beginning

I am a big fan of new beginnings so every time a new year rolls around, I feel refreshed and ready to take on the world! It still feels a bit unreal that we are already in 2011--I still remember how hazy and futuristic 2000 felt when I was in second grade (when I found out that I was c/o 2000 and had to draw our predictions for the new millennium). I thought we'd all be able to teleport by now and have robotic maids who spouted chocolate milk from their fingertips! (Oh wait, that was from some 80's movie that I can't recall the name of anymore).

Anyway...I thought so much would have changed by now, and while many many things have changed and far surpassed my wildest dreams, there are some things that have not changed. Well...I am not getting any younger (o ye fickle sands of time) and my bucket list hasn't even been created yet. For 2011...here are some of my resolutions. What are yours?

1. Treat my body better (more sleep, more exercise, cleaner foods, less caffeine/sugar).
2. Treat my mind better (relax, think positively, learn to laugh at myself, be less anxious).

Ever since I started working, I found myself becoming more and more introverted. Most likely due to the nature of my job but I became so caught up in rules and propriety that I really became a stick-in-the-mud and forgot how to just have fun. That, along with every day worries just made me a really stressed person. Over the past year or so, hubby and I have made a serious effort to go out more with many different people because I know that I was missing that part in my life. It's funny...for many people, going out with friends is as natural as breathing but for me, I got so used to just hubby for company that I was seriously relearning how to become extroverted again!

I read an article recently (I believe it was in the NY Times) about how people are now leaning more towards cultivating relationships instead of cultivating money/status/prestige like in the earlier part of 2000. That seems like such a happier and simpler mindset. I have it so good--caring and loving family, great and supportive friends...this year, I resolve to do all of the above and hopefully, improve in those areas of my life.

Other, less lofty ambitious but much more practical resolutions include saving more money. I've got a watchful eye on my graduate loans and a plan to clear it within 2 years of graduating if all goes according to plan. In order to make sure I meet that plan, I must be more mindful of spending. I feel a bit guilty...over Christmas, I spotted and fell in love with a Burberry trench coat without knowing it was Burberry. In a moment of utter greed and WANT, I persuaded Hubby to buy it for me. It is too late to return it (and I really don't want to return it) so it is mine. How can I be so conflicted--on one hand, so happy...and on the other hand...so guilty? The sad thing about relying on things to be happy is there is always going to be something else on the list to acquire next. So yep...I must indeed learn otherwise.