Confessions of a Brat- Paris Edition



Yesterday was Valentines Day,
and I was in Paris, France
with my dear love.

Everything about that sentence is perfect.

I have always loved Valentines Day.

Even though I never spent it with a boy
{until the first year I was married},
I've always reveled in the idea of one day
being all about love.

My parents always pampered us
with a card, some candy
& my mom's yearly dinner 
of heart shaped meatloaf.

After I returned from teaching my off-site class
with an armful of flowers & a enormous macaron cake....

{Editor's Note: If you ever teach in Paris, assign your students
to take you on a "date" around Paris on Valentines Day. 
Maybe one of my finest moments in lesson planning.}

Tyler had arrived from a quick trip to London
 and was waiting for me to start our day together.

He wanted to take me back to Guerlain
and pick out a perfume for myself.

How sweet,
but unfortunately, it was late & the store was closed.

Optimistically and feeling all lovey dovey,
we opted to head towards the Opera
and visit Galleries Lafayette instead.


In case you haven't heard of Galeries Lafayette,
just image Harrods gone French.


It's gorgeous, massive and the ceiling looks like this...






We happily strolled through the main floor 
and upon visiting the Guerlain display,
were disappointed to not find the perfume 
we had originally fell in love with a few weeks back.


We can find something else,
we said in agreement
 and continued on through the store.


As I found replacement treasure 
after replacement treasure,
Tyler repeatedly shook his head no....



I was picking things that he thought were too expensive,
and I was getting frustrated with the guidelines of 
"Pick whatever you want..." except for anything that I actually picked.



Our carefree attitudes soon melted away
and all that was left an annoyed brat 
weaving through displays and plush designer displays
and her dismayed husband trailed behind.


image
We didn't end up getting anything.


We headed straight on to dinner
via of the metro in silence
feeling completely annoyed at the other.


{Why is he so cheap?}


{Why can't she be thankful for a gift?}


We both eventually got over it
with a distraction of amazing food
& fun night talking to just each other.


The gift expedition was a fail...
and as I thought about it today,
I realized how ridiculous it was 
for me to get so annoyed.


For goodness sake, 
I used to get giddy over this holiday
because of grocery-store confetti and 
heart-shaped meatloaf with ketchup arrows drawn on them...


How could I not have a good attitude now?


I guess when so many things are going well,
it's easy to start picking at some of the smaller things...
which as luxurious as it may sound, isn't something I strive for.


Yes, I think I've adjusted my attitude back to "non-crazy,"
but I don't think any of these items I found last night 
are out of the question for being completely awesome.


Maybe if I can't call them my own,
we can at least enjoy them here on my blog. 


Guerlain perfume | Chanel No. 5 | Goyard wallet | Miu Miu wallet | Yves Saint Laurent scarf














13 comments:

  1. Oh, I think women all over the world can sympathize with your Valentine's Day. It is a day that comes with high expectations (doesn't every holiday?) and I think that's okay. I mean, if we didn't expect much out of life then how could we ever know what we really want? But I love that your 'fight' was just for a nano second. Such easy going people deserve each other.

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  2. I had many of similar fight (with exact thoughts) But loucky you for being in Paris for V-day!!

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  3. How beautiful and poetic! I loved this post :)

    XX Kathryn

    http://lacoquettedelamode.wordpress.com/

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  4. You are so not a brat, but I am glad your inner brat confessed.
    pve

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  5. I find myself doing the same thing occasionally, right here in good old Texas. Shame on me!

    Your blog is lovely as usual. Ah, Paris!

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  6. haha, love this post. I'm always having brat moments then feel silly afterwards.

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  7. well even with the little blimp and annoyances is still sounds like a great valentines to me

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  8. im glad you two made up.. i had a bratty moment on valentines day (h and i agreed not to get each other gifts and i was stillll a little disappointed when i came home and nadda). we ended up having a great valentines day with homemade pizza --good thing he is cute ;) xoxo jillian:: cornflake dreams

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  9. I think it's only considered "bratty" if you both don't make up within 12 hours. Though, I might turn bratty if the YSL scarf was staring at me and I couldn't keep it. :)

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  10. I love the Galeries Lafayette! (See my blog post with photos from my recent Paris trip earlier this year: http://thingsicovet.tumblr.com/post/15964115813/finally-have-the-opportunity-to-post-some-pictures) It's hard to walk away from Lafayette empty-handed, especially when tons of tourists are buying more designer handbags than they can carry on their own, as if they are necessary to survive some upcoming apocalypse. Most importantly though, you walked away from your Valentine's Day experience this year remembering how lucky you are to be facing such dilemmas in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Also, that YSL scarf is fabulous! It should be on your Vday wish list for 2013.

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  11. You're right - sometimes you have to step back and look at the bigger picture. Galeries Lafayette is a fun experience and the Paris Opera - heaven! :-)

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  12. Girl, I so needed to read your post today! I had a great Valentine's Day, but I was a brat too, sulking over no gift. :) ha!

    Glad you are doing well!

    Andee

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  13. We spent valentines day in Paris & were surprised that there wasn't really muchh going on that gave it a romantic feel.. plus couldn't find anywhere nice to book to eat as Im a veggie & all they had that night was meat. Still we had a great day.

    M x

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