Monday, April 30, 2012

Ashley Judd and her amazing response.

Photo borrowed from the internet

There was a link going around a few weeks ago.  A letter Ashley Judd wrote in response to her looking "a little puffy" and having work done.

 JD Roberto, a well respected television host and Daddy Blogger, The Hands On Dad, brought Ashley's letter to my attention. JD wrote "I hope to raise my daughter to have the kind of self-confidence and sharp mind Ms. Judd puts on display here."

 I've been thinking about that letter a lot lately and must share.

Ashley Judd's letter.


Thursday, April 19, 2012

The French Are Dramatic

Shaboom sends us her update from Paris, France:

When I lived in LA, I worked in the commercial production industry for over a decade. So although I now live in France and rarely watch television, I still have an interest for the snippets of real life that are exaggerated and mirrored in advertising. Here's a cell phone spot where the customer is expressing herself regarding the choices, the prices and the decision making process. It's funny to me because this is actually how the French talk and although it's over the top, so are they at times. So they can make fun of Americans and their "OH. MY. GOD!" (à la Janice on Friends) all they want, but they have the same counterparts, albeit more chic.



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Wednesday, April 18, 2012

The Real Shaboom

Shaboom sends us her update from Paris, France:

When Karen first asked me to share my skinny French lifestyle with her (which became what we know today as the French Skinny Experiment,) I had recently moved to France and was listening to Feist on repeat on my iPod. Since I was looking for a job, I knew I couldn't delve into the details of my life on the blog in case I was being Googled. So I had to pick an alias. This was my inspiration...


Today is the first time I've seen this video. It's so different from the images I used to have in my head when I listened to this song.

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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Having A Shaboom Moment

Shaboom sends us her update from Paris, France:

I was random googling the other day and thought it'd be interesting to search for "Shaboom".

Check out the post on Urban Dictionary that made me LOL. CLICK HERE and pay special attention to numbers 2 and 4, which if I think about it are actually pretty accurate regarding myself. Urban Dictionary even lets you buy tees and mugs with your favorite definitions HERE.

Otherwise, it was interesting to know that I don't show up until page 4 of the Google search. So that's good.


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Monday, April 16, 2012

Easter Rabbit

Shaboom sends us her update from Paris, France:

For the last ten days, I've been dying to tell a very embarrassing story but it's just too mortifying for so many reasons that I can't spill the beans in real life. I have to get this disastrous story off my chest before I explode, so thank goodness for my web anonymity. How did people survive their own big mouths before the internet and blog aliases?

Fact: I am maybe kinda sorta a prude. Kinda.

Fact: If you are my parents, my boyfriend, my boyfriend's parents or anyone else stumbling onto this blog and you think you might know me, please stop reading now.

Fact: I don't know how to say no.

I'm weak and impressionable and am high on paint fumes so can't be held responsible for this post at all. Blame Karen! If her life wasn't so complicated and busy right now, I wouldn't be blogging so much and thereby led into temptation!



SexySultry and Cashew are not what you could consider the best of friends. She's very kind to him, as she is to everyone, but he doesn't really match her in kindness or consideration. In fact, the last exchange they shared was 2 months ago while I was radio silent and ignoring all communication from him. Their "argument" basically started with him egging her on, dying for any kind of response from either one of us. She was having a bad day and he pushed all the wrong buttons. Their conversation ended with the sweetest, most compassionate (but still French) woman on earth screaming F@#K YOU at him and that was that. He never tried to apologize to her. He did send us an Easter package, however, that I had been conveniently avoiding telling her about.

When Cashew showed up in Paris on Good Friday, we ran into SexySultry unexpectedly. Just a few hours prior, when Cashew brought up the Easter package he'd sent us, I made it crystal clear that I was never going to mention it to SexySultry as I found it inappropriate. He thought he was being funny by bantering back and forth with me, threatening to email her with the detailed information I was so desperate to hide. When we ran into her, she politely greeted him and asked him how he's doing. He didn't even bother to partake in the same polite greeting before he announced, "I got you a surprise, but Shaboom won't give it to you!"

I did my best to put the kibosh on the whole conversation but SexySultry was not born yesterday. Quel dommage. So when I sat down to tea with SexySultry after Cashew flew back to America, it was no surprise that she immediately started grilling me before I could even tell her about how everything had gone over the weekend. I was very adamant that she would never know, that I would die with this secret, that she could torture me like the scary, tooth-extracting Chinese guy on Alias and I still wouldn't tell. But damn she's good. Sneaky good. And I still have all my teeth!

Because Cashew had tried EVERYTHING to get me to respond during those 3 months of silence, he dug deep into his arsenal of deviousness and decided to go on-line and buy me an Easter Rabbit. He figured he'd already tried bribing me, enticing me, pissing me off, offending me, being sweet... but he hadn't yet tried to embarrass me. He didn't care what he had to do, as long as he could get me to talk to him again. So the day before he showed up and knocked on the door, the postman brought a non-descript package that I eventually opened later in the evening. I cut through the tape and lifted first one cardboard flap, then the other. I lifted up the packaging materials and caught a glimpse of a millimeter of the contents for a nano-second before I slammed the package shut and hid it under a pile of crap.

Cashew bought me an Easter Rabbit and thought it was such a great idea that he bought a second one for SexySultry. I'm not talking about a live, Bugs Bunny rabbit. I'm talking about a battery operated, adult toy that we all saw Charlotte discover on Sex and the City. Yeah.

Needless to say, SexySultry was offended as she interpreted his peace offering as an insult. To her, it was his way of saying that she's so pathetic that she can't go out and find the real, live, breathing deal on her own. I had to painstakingly explain that he really is a nice guy and didn't mean it that way at all but that he is backwards and obviously misguided in his sense of humor. She eventually calmed down and may have forgiven him a little, but not before she made me extract the Easter Rabbits from their hiding place to complete our little show and tell session.

MORTIFIED!

Stupid boys.


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Sunday, April 15, 2012

Joyeux Dimanche - I love Paris in the Springtime

Shaboom sends us her update from Paris, France :

April is one of my favorite months in Paris. I hope you're enjoying the spring colors wherever you are.

Happy Sunday!!



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Saturday, April 14, 2012

Elles

Shaboom sends us her update from Paris, France:

There's a new French film to be released soon with Juliette Binoche called "Elles".




Happy Saturday!


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Friday, April 13, 2012

Another Reason I Can't Sleep

Shaboom sends us her update from Paris, France:

I was rudely awoken this morning by an extremely loud drilling which seemed to be coming from inside my head. I started wondering what I drank the night before. I know my memory is bad, but I couldn't for the life of me remember having a crazy bender or anything unless of course I was sleepwalking...

Then I realized the drilling was real, it was coming from the roof directly above the bedroom and holy crap was it ever loud! Here are three short 30 second videos I took of the enormity of the noise. You can't really tell how loud it is, but know that during the drilling, I'm shouting to be heard. And in the short intervals where there was no drilling, there was hammering. In that video I'm talking in my normal inside-voice.





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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Lull You to Sleep

Shaboom sends us her update from Paris, France:

In France there is a program on television that starts at about 3am where an attractive, young woman reads to you in her gentle, soothing voice. It always makes me laugh. You would think it'd help me with my insomnia, but no. This week she's reading Homer's Odyssey. It reminds me of college when Greek classics succeeded in lulling me to sleep. These days, not so much.


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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Where Am I?

Shaboom sends us her update from Paris, France:

You can often find me in the Starbucks near Opera Garnier in Paris working on the book, or blogging...


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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

No Pants SexySultry Tuesday Birthday

Shaboom sends us her update from Paris, France:

Today is SexySultry's birthday!! Have a great one, my sweet friend. I can't imagine what my life would be like without you!





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Monday, April 9, 2012

Food For Thought

Shaboom sends us her update from Paris, France:

I hope everyone had a great Easter/Passover weekend filled with chocolate eggs, bunnies, family, good food, and fun. The French celebrate Easter much in the same fashion as you do in America. They also have (surprise!) a special cake for the occasion. Read about that HERE

Last year, Cashew and I celebrated Easter with a bunch of Expats in Paris and I don't remember much beyond the fact that there was way too much champagne served at a point way too early on in the day. Those Expat friends got together again this year but I rsvp'd no. Cashew and I broke up a few months ago and I didn't want to be reminded of him and yet another failed relationship all weekend long.

But much to my surprised, Cashew made an impromptu appearance on Good Friday. He hopped a flight from Chicago to Paris and came a knocking on my dog house door with roses and a chocolate croissant. "Please talk to me. Let me fix this. I can't bear to lose you." Oh, yeah... I guess I should tell you that I went completely MIA since January and have refused all contact with him. Drove the poor man insane.

We spent the weekend together walking around Paris and eating some mouth-watering food in some of my favorite restaurants.

We went to JaJa in the Marais...


Truffle Risotto Appetizer

Pumpkin Canneloni


Seared Fois Gras Appetizer

Utah Beach Oysters

Langoustine Salad

We went to Atelier Maitre Albert de Guy Savoy in the Latin Quarter...


cute placemat


Cream of Artichoke Soup with Mushroom Biscuits


Shrimp Salad


a delicious fish the french call BARBUE


the peas and rice that came with the fish


a wonderful red wine from bordeaux


chocolate mousse (Cashew's favorite dessert)


goat cheese with sour cherry marmalade


the menu

We went to Le Comptoir in Saint Germain des Pres...






Cream of Artichoke Soup with tapioca and fois gras


Pot de Paté de la maison


Seared Tuna


Stuffed Cabbage (I swear that is what it was called on the menu)


Rhubarb panna cotta


Café Crème


the menu

We also went to Café le Baron, Corso and Mariage Frères.

It was a delicious weekend on all accounts.






















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