My panicked American self generally urges me to do As Much As Humanly Possible here in Paris at all times. There are museums to see, streets to roam, markets to explore, shops to dig through, things to eat, treasures to unearth, go, go, go, go, go, go there’s no time to breathe!!!! But, one thing about living in Paris is that, compared to the sort of crazy, frenzied rush I’d constantly be in if I were a tourist, living here means I can slow down a tad. I feel entitled to a little break from checking things off my “to do” list every once in a while. Usually, my normal, do-everything brain yells at me to get it together, you’ve got a million things to do and see, but I hushed it and decided that, today, I could be lazy. Instead of going to a museum today or shopping, I pulled on my favorite slouchy sweater, took a leisurely walk through the Jardin de Luxembourg, people watched, and generally spent my sweet time doing everything. Hey, I’m no tourist! I Live in Paris! I walk everywhere! I sit in cafés! I can pair my lazy sweaters with Chanel! Of course, tomorrow I’ll probably feel like I should do twice as much, but I guess that’s why I’m not really French…

Oh, and I have no clue why I haven’t taken pictures of these Chanel wedges I got a while back, but they are very dear to me.

Love my giant snake earrings, too.

Wearing Urban Outfitters sweater, vintage skirt, Chanel wedges

Bisous,
Lauren

Foret Noir, a delicious, chocolate-y creation strewn with cherries.

It appears that summer has finally reared its head in Paris. The sun’s out (vaguely), it’s actually warm, it hasn’t rained in 3 days, and the streets are swarming with tourists. To celebrate, I did absolutely nothing today, because that is what you do in Paris on Sundays. Nothing.

And it occurred to me that I didn’t have any pictures of this bustier, which, though a nice color, is a tad bit uncomfortable. They’re definitely not a piece of clothing to be bought cheaply, good quality is of utmost importance. I also haven’t taken any pictures of my Lanvin ballet flats, which, honestly, aren’t very interesting, but I love the color and they’re indispensable on the cobbled Parisian streets.

Wearing Topshop bustier, American Apparel sheer t, Lanvin ballet flats

Bisous,
Lauren

Thwarted by a 2 hour wait at le Petit Palais the other day, I was looking for a museum to swing by, so I decided to make it a contemporary art week and visit the Palais de Tokyo. I wasn’t disappointed, it was great.

I had the beautiful Salle de Matisse all to myself, it was wonderful to be in such a large space with his works in the eerie silence.

Malevich needs no introduction.

Seeing Delauney left and right around these parts.

A little playlist, to go along with my ceviche. It has no comprehensible style or flow, just some random chill songs to groove to while making my ceviche. In case you were wondering what I was listening to at the time. Here ya go!

Tracklist:
01. Boy (RAC mix) – Ra Ra Riot
02. In Ruins (Baths remix) – Fol Chen
03. Ready for the World – How to Dress Well & cokc dokc
04. Champions (Edwin Van Cleef Remix) – Housse de Racket
05. When You’ve Got Music – The Knocks
06. TAOS – Menomena
07. This Space – Royksopp
08. I Do (King Most mix) – André 3000 x King Most
09. Lies (The Phantom’s Revenge remix) – Fenech-Solar
10. Coast to Coast – Ray Cameron, Alan Hackshaw, and Alan Parker

My friend Wyles and I were discussing ceviche the other day, and we decided that, though we probably couldn’t recreate the amazing oyster ceviche he tried the other day, we could at least make some ceviche period. And thus, the ceviche pact was born, and we each set off to make our own style of ceviche.

I, like Wyles, needed a little something to start me off, but instead of Blue Moon, (ahh, I miss my pretentious beers. Not that Blue Moon is pretentious, but I really don’t drink a lot of adventurous beer here for some reason.) I chose…

one of my precious bottles of Dr. Pepper. Mmmm.

I would show nice pictures of the whole process, but my kitchen is so small I can’t really fit in it anyway, and it’s hard enough to cook considering I have no cutting board, cooking knife, or really anything else that might be useful to cook with. So I’ll spare you the horror of seeing me go into battle with raw foods. I didn’t use radishes like Wyles, because I kind of hate radishes, but I added some avocados, because they are delicious, and back home I do eat a fair amount of them, so it was a nice little California nod. Et voilà! Cevicha à las gambas.

I thought, “hey, why waste the avocado shells?”, so I scooped the ceviche into the empty shells. I’ve got a weakness for plating after years of watching Iron Chef. On a side note, I only added the avocados right before serving, I didn’t think it’d be very good for them to marinate in lemon/lime juice.

And for dessert, some delicious white nectarines with dark, dark chocolate ice cream. I couldn’t get my ice cream to look nice, though, because I don’t have a real freezer, and apparently my freezer box isn’t cold enough to really keep ice cream frozen. Hrm.

All in all, though, a pretty awesome meal.

More pictures from the Pompidou Center! I had so many pictures, I had to split it up into two posts for fear of inducing a photo-coma on the world. Mostly modern art in this one, scrumptious!

Yeahh, jealous, aren’t you?

An amazing Pollock.

I’ve found that I have quite a thing for metal as an art medium. I’m not sure why, but it may have to do with the fact that it literally shines, and from my deeply rooted love of jewelry and metalworking.

Absolutely beautiful.

This all makes me want to get serious about starting my art collection (Come on, everyone should have a nice little art collection, shouldn’t they? Not necessarily crazy expensive stuff, but pieces you love and save over a lifetime.).

I need a heavy chain for the new horse pendant I got at Les Puces last weekend. There’s something kind of deranged-looking about him, which is why I like him so much.

Wearing Imitation shirt, Topshop pants, Ann Demeulemeester boots, vintage pendant & bag

Sorry, nothing interesting to say about what I’m wearing, it was cold, I kept warm.

Bisous,
Lauren