paris: the hotel & palais royal

As you all may have noticed on my Facebook and Instagram, over Labor Day weekend I got the opportunity to go to Paris, France---it was an amazing experience! Exhausting, but amazing.

We left Louisville, KY on a Thursday afternoon and flew to the Atlanta airport. From there, we took an overnight flight to Paris, and arrived there early Friday morning. We got on our coach bus and headed to the hotel, which ended up taking over an hour because someone rented a stick shift car but had obviously never driven a stick shift and got his car stuck on the exit ramp blocking everyone behind him, in the Paris International airport! It was a mess, but it happens. I felt so bad for the guy, he had to be so embarrassed. Someone got out and showed him how to shift the gears but then he got back in...and got stuck again. He finally got over to the side enough to let people pass. Moral of the story: just get a cab.

The first place we went to was our hotel, but just to drop our stuff of in a "safe keeping" room. Our rooms weren't ready yet but they had a room for baggage so that you could go out to Paris and enjoy your day. I had never had that luxury when traveling elsewhere, and ended up carrying my things around with me, so I really appreciated it!

I'll be honest, I was disappointed when we drove up. It was in a new part of Paris with lots of concrete and zero charm. I was expecting quaint streets of paris in some old, historic building (you know me!) but this place was new, and in the "suburbs" of Paris. Here is what it looks like driving up to it.

But we spent so little time there, it didn't even matter. It was actually kind of nice to come back to a hotel that was newly renovated, and you won't find much of that in the center of Paris unless you pay a lot of money. The bathroom was super modern and clean, and the beds were basic but so comfortable. Honestly, I was so tired at the end of the day I could have slept on a cold, hard cave floor. They also had an elevator, which I never once saw in any of the nice, quaint, 'center-of-the action' places I stayed in Spain. It's hard to retro-fit elevators into century-old buildings. Plus, it was a one minute walk to the RER, Paris' express trains from the suburbs to the center of the city (basically a subway).

We first went to the center of Paris to visit the Louvre (no time for sleeping here!). We had a couple of hours of free time before we were to go in, so we were able to roam a little bit around the area. Upon the advice of our awesome tour guide, We walked to a small garden and courtyard, le jardin du Palais Royal. It was a beautiful, quirky, and surprisingly quiet spot in the middle of Paris. It is peaceful and not over-run with tourists. An artist, Daniel Buren, designed and constructed black and white columns of various sizes in the middle of the Palais Royal courtyard. This modern art addition in the middle of architectural history is supposedly quite controversial with the French...I liked it :)

A cute Parisian couple enjoying their lunch. 

Of course, I just had to climb atop one (hope that's okay) and snap a picture!

I would definitely recommend stopped at the palais royal while in Paris! It's less tourist-y and beautiful--and it is literally across the street from the Louvre! Getting a bite to eat at one of the local cafes near-by and taking it there to eat on one of the many benches or columns, (heck even the ground) would be a wonderful way to enjoy a part of Paris that is off the beaten-path of constant tourists. Plus, it's free. Beautiful, peaceful, quirky, with minimal tourists and free? Doesn't get much better than that.

-katie

decorating with memories

Hello everyone!

I figured it's time to do an update...it's been a while! You may have noticed, but I also made some changes to the layout of the blog.

None of the rooms are completely finished as far as decorating goes, but I guess I can still show you the progress! So today I wanted to show you what our living room looks like so far. Well, one side of the living room. The big front room is divided into two smaller spaces with columns like you see in this picture. I'm standing in the other side, or the "foyerentrywaysecondlivingroomidontknowwhattocallit" space. It is completely empty at this point. I have plans for a love seat, chairs and some unique thrifted pieces but those plans cost money, and we are on a tight budget! But that is life. So different than the beautiful, completely done renovations on HGTV.

Here is our couch! The couch is from Ashley Home Furniture. I heard good and bad things about them in the past. Overall, we had a really great experience and were able to get it at a good price (number one concern at this point). Obviously we haven't had the couch very long so I can't review its durability, but it's very comfortable! I also love the coral pillows, which are from Target. Also, my one ode to the fact that it is now fall are the pumpkins on the coffee table...we got a great deal on them and I may have gotten a little pumpkin happy while picking them out.  Leo was a trooper, nodded okay, and loaded them up. Well, it may have been more of a head shake as in "What is she doing??" but I'll take it! The rest of the pumpkins are on our steps, which I can't wait to show you all!

If you are in Owensboro, we got them from a "stand" on 60 East that is behind an old bank near Dairy Queen and the Flea Market. They have great prices -$3 for medium/large ones, $2 for small and 50 cents for the little mini pumpkins, or squashes. They also have a great selection.

Here is a closer picture of the shelves. I love all of the built-ins but man was the thought of decorating them head-spinning. And I might add with basically no money. So I made a call to one of the best "vignette" creators I know-my mom. I knew she could take my thrift store and clearance rack finds from the past two years and make something out of it all. And I think she did an amazing job! She even donated a few items from her "collection".

I also always want to try to incorporate things with memories--not just stuff bought off of a shelf (although those things are beautiful!) The blue glass is from Spain-it is a major brand of mineral spring water "Solán de Cabras" there that comes in glass bottles at restaurants instead of plastic.

The black and white drawing in the corner is from Madrid. An old man sits outside the Prado Museum and makes these paintings just by moving around black paint with small metal piece. He's been doing it for decades and was quite proud of it. He was adorable so of course I bought one :)

The faceted glass box is from an estate sale (50 cents!!), but I placed shells that we collected from our Honeymoon inside. Leo was also a trooper about my hour-long seashell hunts!

The wooden box was my grandmother's...her father was in the thrifting business and traded the box for something else. I swear thrifting is in my blood so I really can't help it...at least that's what I tell Leo when I yet again bring something else else "old" home.

It's not perfect by any means, but I still love looking at it and adding things to the shelves as I find them. What I don't love is dusting everything, however it's totally worth it.

The last thing, which is normally on the coffee table but got booted for the pumpkins, is the copper cup. I love it! I got it from Hobby Lobby when they had 70% off spring/garden section for about $3. I then bought the (fake) succulents from the floral department with my 40% coupon and voila. The white book is thrifted but is a collection of works printed in Madrid from Tirso de Molina, a Spanish author.

I would always encourage people to try to collect and use things from their travels while decorating their home. That's what makes it your home, instead of just a pretty house. It's all about the memories.

-katie