tofranceandback.com

I can’t hide…my colors are too bright, my hair is blonde, and my taste in jewelry is sometimes bigger and bolder. So what makes the French stand out as being French?  It’s a je ne sais quoi!

The Men

It’s true. Heterosexual French men wear skinny pants, pink shirts, and pointy dress shoes. Skinny belts, man bags (i.e. purses, usually cross body), and in summertime, almost always very cool sunglasses. When it’s hot outside, younger men wear ‘American-style’ shorts – not as baggy, but length around the knees. (No Martha’s Vineyard / Georgetown prepsters here!) Although honestly, you’ll see more skinny jeans and snug pants than shorts. And short sleeved collared shirts, as well as cotton ‘t-shirts,’ a la Eddie Bauer or J. Crew, similar to your normal American male closet.

However, you’ll almost never see men’s shirts with logos!  MAYBE the local rugby team (like the ASM) or a national soccer team, but that’s it.  Generally tight, too – the French girls like them that way.  No college teams, no shirts with the national flag, no Eiffel Tower graphics, no camouflage, no Bassnectar symbols, no personal statements (Keep calm and speak French…).  Black, white, navy, gray… it’s a well defined dress color code.

And the women – where to begin? 

There are a million articles about French style.  I can only tell you what I see!   

The French look is don’t-look-like-you’ve-tried-too-hard.  It’s polished and frequently black.  It’s elegant, even when it’s not.  Again, “je ne sais quoi.”  It’s why a plain black t-shirt, jeans and sneakers or heels can look so effortless on them – and boring on others.  French women wear clean lines and streamlined silhouettes.  French women ‘[got] it’ but don’t ‘flaunt it.’  They are sexy in a classy way – nothing overt.  Sexy underwear – yes.  Cleavage – not usually.

And THEY RARELY WEAR SHORTS, even in the heat. They just don’t! The exception is the under 21s, and even then, only one in 10. They wear dresses and skirts and pants, even when it’s very hot outside.  I counted yesterday – of the first 30 women I saw on the street, there were 21 dresses, 7 pants, and 2 shorts (with both shorts being on girls under 20 years old).  It’s part of the French allure, very feminine and smooth – rarely fussy designs, loud prints, or pink.

All black is France’s specialty: French women are masters with texture and tone on tone, while American women tend to pick a bright focal color or statement accessory when wearing black.

And although French women can be very casual, they wouldn’t be caught dead wearing athletic/gym clothes to shop, to the grocery store, while getting gas, or on the street…they consider it a matter of personal self-respect.

They DO wear sneakers and ballet flats, because hard walking and cobblestones demand it.  Fashion sneakers, preferably white, in public = great.  True running shoes (unless you are running) = horrors!  (Sure sign of a tourist!) Maybe there are a pair of heels in their big designer bags, which of course they have, because ladies, it is ALL about the bag…

If you see a woman on the street in France with bright colors (Hello! That’s usually me!), she’s American. Or possibly Irish! (They are fun, too!) Or Indian – they are beautiful in their hot colors.  If she is completely non-descriptive in clothing color, she’s English. (True, in my experience.)

If they are chic, they ARE French.  If they are wearing big ruffles, brightly matching beads, chunky costume or statement necklaces, or large bulky earrings, they are NOT French.  If they are smiling at strangers, they are NOT French.  If they are talking in a medium or loud voice in a restaurant, they are DEFINITELY NOT French.  If they are drinking a ‘regular’-sized cup of coffee, they are NOT French. If their nail polish or lipstick is a color other than red, they are NOT French.  If they obviously look you over, they ARE French.

Lots of telltale signs!

Coco Chanel – the legend of elegance and high fashion (a Nazi sympathizer – true – but I love Chanel No. 5 and Gabrielle perfume) – had a wonderful quote.

“You can be gorgeous at thirty, charming at forty, and irresistible for the rest of your life.” ~ Coco Chanel

Here’s to the quest for being irresistible!  

Bisous,
Mindy

  Hmmm…let’s think about this…

France is a deeply secular country.  They lean towards “anti-religion” in their stance to keep religion completely separate from the state.  The Revolution of 1787 aimed to decimate the Church and destroy all of its power (long story there, corruption on both sides), and France even abducted Popes from Rome – twice!

The French version of separation of church and state, called laïcité, is a product of French history and philosophy.  The 1905 law even included removal of priests from the administrative committees of hospitals and boards of charity and the substitution of lay women for nuns in hospitals.

But wait a minute!  When it comes to church-related HOLIDAYS — now THAT’S different! DON’T MESS WITH OUR FEDERAL DAYS OFF OF WORK – of which many are completely religious in nature!  8 of the 13 national holidays in France are deeply rooted in the Christian church.

• 19 April: Good Friday (Alsace)
• 22 April: Easter Monday
• 30 May: Ascension of Christ Day (40 days after Easter)
• 10 June: Whit Monday – also known as Pentecost Monday
• 15 August: Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
•   1 November: All Saints’ Day (La Toussaint)
• 25 December: Christmas Day (Noël)
• 26 December: Boxing Day/St Stephen’s Day (Deuxième jour de Noël)

So – no to religious presence in business or government (including Christian cross jewelry or Jewish skullcaps) – but YES to religious federal holidays! 

Just an observation…no deep philosophical argument hiding within THIS blog!  

An Interesting Article here

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So you know about the fire at Notre Dame – the whole world watched as the most iconic symbol of France burned.  The cathedral is a national treasure and, rightly so, people were aghast at the damage.

What you might NOT know is that all distances in France are measured from Notre Dame Cathedral!  There is a small circular “marker with an eight-pointed bronze star embedded in the cobblestones. It’s engraved with the words Point zéro des routes de France, and is the point from which distances are measured from Paris to other cities in France.”  And underneath it are architectural ruins found in the 1960s when building for an underground parking garage was underway.   Read more here.

Cool, huh?  Now you are ready for “Trivial Pursuit – France!”

Bises,

Mindy

PS – It’s hot.  It’s July.  French air conditioning – which we didn’t have last summer, due to a delay of 10 weeks in repairing! – just ‘ain’t like home.’  Men sweat.  Women ‘glow.’ It’s going to be 100 degrees again next week…#glowinggirl

30 hours and 5,000 miles later…(each way, of course!) YOU know what it’s like, because many of you have made the trek, just to come see us! 🙂

    Today I was the

LIVING DEFINITION of GRIME!

In the last three weeks, I have flown on 13 different flights, three trains, the metro (92+ degrees, no AC, windows shut on the trains), Uber (good), Parisian taxi (bad), and popped up all over the eastern United States, like a guest that just won’t leave!

The prevailing diet was Mexican, the A/C was a continuous 72 degrees, and the water came with ice. The car keys never left my hand, I didn’t bring my own bags to carry groceries, and I was delighted to hang with Robert, Leslie, Brendan (several times), Mom, Myrna, Larry, Cheryl, and of course Mom’s posse on a regular basis – Jody, Carol, Eleanor, Cindy & Gerald, the crew at Phill’s Diner…

We won at the Casino (well…ahem, De De won….), lost and celebrated the life of a dear friend Jack, and kept the Viber conversations going between France (Tanner) and my various adventures in the US, despite our seven hour time difference! I DID actually do some French review, so I wouldn’t just be an idiot upon ‘La Rentrée.’ [http://mamalovesparis.com/la-rentree-france/] The four hour wait for the train from Paris today gave me the opportunity to remember just how bad my French proficiency is with local people in the Parc de Bercy…but I’ll go down swinging! K K ꓘ (for you baseball-ophiles*)  

De De proved she will eternally be a kid at heart and her little dog learned to hide when I had the bottle of ear drops in my hand. Sinatra, Hepburn & Tracy ruled, Perry Mason solved the crime nightly and there was Blue Bell ice cream – BEST EVER.  In cones, of course.

I had some lovely hours with Myrna, Larry, Leslie, Brendan, and Robert – and saw my niece Heather before she deployed for the first time on a ship with the Navy. Had GREAT dog-time with Riley, Bear & Neo (temporarily satisfying a dog-fever itch!) and played in mom’s little slice of Eden – I miss a yard of flowers!

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 I DID get to see the 4th of July televised fireworks from the New York City harbor — but missed the fireworks for Bastille Day on July 14, La Fête Nationale in France, from our rooftop terrace!

What I MISSED on this trip was deeply satisfying time with life long friends – but in three weeks (just about the time it will take me to recover from this voyage!), Tanner and I will be back on the plane heading west across the Atlantic (Déjà vu) and doing it all over again, with our kids and friends on the South Carolina coast.

WHICH WAYYYYYY TO The BEACH???

 

More to come. Zombies have nothing on me…walking dead, right here!

Bisous,

Mindy

PS! I know that ‘going down swinging,’ baseball-lingo, would read “K-K-K.” However…that connotation didn’t seem so good (ya think??), so I decided on the backward K (which is striking out without swinging…didn’t want you to think I didn’t know the difference! ) #scorekeeperonceuponatime

 Happy New Year!

There’s a ‘cleaning guru’ on the web known as the FlyLady – aka Marla Cilley – and her motto is, “You are not behind. Just jump right in where you are!” 

After taking a small break from my blog (AHEM, that would be 6 months’ worth), my 2019 NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION is to not let the IWC / social-butterfly-disease take up all my time and suck up all my creative juices!  I won’t remember the details of being IWC President – but I’ll look back over my blog in years to come and be glad that I did it!

JANUARY 2019 – Just got back from a 12-night jaunt to the USA – one night Brendan, 10 nights Mom, Larry & Myrna, one night Robert & Leslie…not enough time with our kids, to be sure, but a fulfilling trip overall!  (Some of these are from Christmas.)

The return was an adventure…what, Augusta airport is shut down over power failure? EEEEEK – jump on the last seat on the airport-provided bus to Atlanta.  Roll into Hartsfeld-Jackson, zoom through security, and be the last one on the flight to Raleigh.  Raleigh???  Yes, Raleigh.  From there, DELTA ONE BABY to Charles de Gaulle in Paris.  What total luxury to lay flat on a 9 hour flight…(thank you, Brendan!).  Then it gets interesting…I have five hours to make the train, so let’s be creative.  Instead of Ubering (what a verb) to the train station, I took the RER B train inside of the airport to Chatelet metro, made the change to Line 14, and got off at Gare de Lyon.  Which is NOT my train station, but a short 20 minute walk with suitcase later, I arrived at Gare de Bercy for my 3.5 hour train ride to Clermont Ferrand!  From the time I left the Espey’s house in Augusta to arriving at our apartment, it was a 30 hour journey. 

We aren’t in Kansas anymore, Toto!

It really is one foot in NORMAL WORLD and one foot in ALTERNATIVE REALITY…hard to grasp that yesterday I was HERE 

and today I am HERE!  

 I’ve skipped so much…a half of a year of travels, company, life lessons, ironic situations, and laugh-at-yourself moments…darn it!  I’ll do better!

So I’ve been IWC President for nine months…if I’m gonna make the break, need to do it ASAP — otherwise, we’re looking at another year stint.  We’ve made great progess, IMO, and increased members and participation by word of mouth and some great newspaper articles.  We have good monthly events and lots of activities every week…in fact, Cafe Day is today! It does take a lot of time to coordinate, plan, communicate.  I’m waffling, though…arg.  Decisions, decisions…. the newsletters (https://mailchi.mp/ad5e12873d2c/january2019-293369) are getting in the way of my blog-writing-time!  🙂 

    

 

 

 

Next week, we’re off to Morzine, France for some Alpine activity…skiing for Tanner, chilling for me.  My torn rotator cuff doesn’t lend itself well to skiing! Tom and Sheryl Praktish are going with us to see what trouble we can get into. 

And in between there’s French lessons (and homework) to take from Elisabeth, taxes to prepare, groceries to buy (always), a TEDX speech to craft (I’m speaking five minutes on Alzheimer’s), a senior citizens’ English conversation class to teach on Monday, several people we owe dinner to, Cafe Day to attend…oooooh, I think I’ll go take a nap.  🙂 

 à la prochaine,

Mindy

Yes, we are ALIVE!

Hang tight with me….blogs are on their way! Loire Valley, Vienna, Prague, Danube river cruise, Sete on the Mediterranean, and the ancient village set into the cliffs at Rocamadour…good cardiology reports…how to prepare a “French-style” dinner for French people, how to scrape your car, and how to say no when asked to lead an organization (do what I say, not what I do!).  AND invite 40 people to meetings at your house within two weeks, balance the books/French lessons/beaucoup cooking/and travel plans, and cook “payback” dinners for five different couples…

In the meantime, check out the photo gallery (click here)!

I just let myself get a little jammed up in April and May…..I’m on it!
Bisous,
Mindy