home decorating: dream apartment inspiration

I must say, my priorities lately have been allll outa whack. I got myself a job at the J.Crew women's collection boutique on Madison and 79th to make up for my spending habits abroad and have dedicated all of my time to that, in addition to keeping up with seeing my friends. Not too shabby, however, I have had little-to-no creative stimulation--not even when I am helping customers at J.Crew because A. I am usually way to flustered helping 28 people at a time find items in their sizes to think about styling and B. we have personal shoppers to do the job that I would love to do. Maybe this explains my long-term absence from blogging: nothing to write about! And I am declaring that there will be no more daily accounts on this blog unless completely relevant!

So, now we move onto what my blog will contain. The next few posts will be themed collections of photos from my trusty "inspiration for life" folder on my desktop. Until I learn to use Photoshop in my magazine layout design class in the fall, you'll have to bear with my basic photo format.

My first themed photo grouping is inspired by being in my summer apartment in the East Village. The little kooky details of the apartment--the Godzilla toy holding a wash cloth on the shelf in the bathroom, the Japanese Amelie movie poster in the livingroom--have got me itching to FINALLY decorate my own place in NYC next year.

Here are the images that will definitely influence my decorating endeavors:















Peace, Love and Neon,
Marisa

back in action, nearly

Hellooo my lovely NTP readers! I'm back in America and nearly back in action. I returned to NYC from my Spain travels last Sunday and have been bopping around the tri-state area all week seeing friends and finding an apartment--both a great success! I move into my new East Village apartment in approximately two hours and figured I'd spend this down time by writing a quick blog post.

Spain was absolutely wonderful and a total whirlwind, having visited 7 cities in two weeks [San Sebastian, Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla, Granada, Tarifa and Malaga]. The trip started off rocky, to say the least, after our flight to Barca was cancelled and we took four trains to get there over the course of a day-and-a-half. Long story. Crazy times. Sevilla and Granada were by far my favorites and Madrid was excellent too. We spent our days wandering the cities' streets, eating wonderful tapas, and checking out the sites.

Anyway, frankly, I'm pretty tired of discussing my travels after a semester of these blog posts and telling all my friends and family over the course of this week. Soo.....

THE NEON TEA PARTY AS YOU KNOW IT IS BACK! Starting with an inspiration image of a funky Madewell braided string bracelet, available now. But I'll be making one just like it for myself. Summertime = NEW STRING BRACELETS, duhhhhh!!


This has just been added to my usual summer to-do list. Yippeee!

Till the next post, kiddies!

Peace, Love and Neon,
[Yes, the English is back!],
Marisa

la vie à paris: la fin

It's currently 5 AM in Paris. I am still not done packing and I leave for Spain this afternoon. Yes, my semester in Paris has officially come to a close. Heartbroken. Beyond.

Tonight, my ladies and I had a long last dinner at Sir Winston, the bar/restaurant that we stumbled upon our first weekend in Paris. Dinner was delicious. Dessert was even better.

{sir winston, first weekend in paris}

{sir winston, last night in paris}

Do we look different? Older? Wiser? French-er? Maybe a little jaded. Definitely a lot sad.

Paris has changed me, changed us, forever. In what ways, I won't know until I get home and can gauge it against my routine American life. But the "it" inside me has definitely transformed in the past four months and Paris will be in my thoughts everyday.

However, I have not left Paris yet.. still a few hours left and those damn birds out my window are still singing.

Paix, Amour et Néon,
Marisa

la vie à paris: et maintenant, je pleure

I leave Paris on Saturday. THIS Saturday. Can someone please find the time because I don't know where it went?!

I know that I haven't been giving a day-by-day run down of the last couple weeks, but for some reason I felt it better to just let the last moments blend together like a sweet Parisian milkshake, if that even makes sense.

But as usual, I have kept myself extremely busy, making sure to finish checking everything off my to-do list and getting presents for my bestest peoples.

{rowing at versailles}

I have re-visited Versailles to see the gardens in their spring splendor, visited the Rodin, Decorative Arts, and Jewish Art and History museums, FINALLY made it to the YSL exhibit-which was ABSOLUTELY STUNNING!, returned to the Mosquée de Paris with my friends, spent more time on the Seine, had amazing hot chocolate at Pain d'épices on Île Saint-Louis and spent time at my friend Marco's new apartment where we all hung out till way late last night playing drinking games and laughing our heads off.

{rodin's 'the thinker' + invalides}

I also had the opportunity to hang out with some old and new friends. I FINALLY met up with my friend and fellow former Teen Vogue intern Alex for a late afternoon drink at Le Poisson Rouge on Canal Saint Martin. She lives and works in Paris and we have been meaning to see each other since I arrived in January! It was so great to catch up on life and also get her opinions on all things French that confuse me to no end.

{out for berthillon ice cream sundaes with josselyne and michael}

I also spent some time with my new friends Josselyne and Michael. Okay, let's see if you can follow this: my best friend Alex- her mom and dad are friends with Josselyne from years back. Alex also interned for Josselyne's casting agency last summer. So Josselyne and her husband Michael have come to Paris on vacation basically every year for the past 10 years and they always like to meet friends of friends who are there when they are. So, voilà! Moi! Alex told Josselyne I am here and we made brunch plans for last weekend at Rose Bakery in the Marais (which was outstanding and a major recommendation!). After brunch last week, we also made dinner plans for later that night (at the famous Le Grand Colbert seen in the movie Something's Gotta Give) and then again for Tuesday night! They are the funniest, greatest people and I had the best time laughing with them and talking about how much we love Paris.

So that's what I've been up to, in case anyone was wondering.

Now, I've begun packing. And crying. I watched the last two episodes of Sex and the City entitled "American Girl in Paris: Parts 1 and 2." It was so funny to see her get so frustrated and lost in Paris, making the same complaints I made in the beginning: the language, the loneliness, the dog poop. It was also very cool to watch these episodes, which I have seen countless times already, and to recognize all the sites!! I kept thinking to myself, "I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE THAT IS!!" I also, obviously, picked up more recommendations of sights to see and places to eat, including the Cador Patisserie by the Louvre. You know this scene. It looks like this:



Hopefully I can squeeze this one in to this my LAST week in Paris. Uh oh, here come the waterworks again ;-(

Although, I shouldn't be crying just yet. I'm going to SPAIN on Saturday!! For TWO WEEKS!! WOOT WOOOOOOT!!!!!

I guess my last Paris post shall come at the end of the week when my final French presentation is complete and my bags are almost packed. Strange concept.

Paix, Amour et Néon,
Marisa