I think I’m still getting used to the fact that Paris actually happened for me. It’s only been a few short weeks since we’ve been back in the States, but I still feel the Paris city spirit lingering around us like remnants of a lovely dream. Since it’s too much to put the whole trip into one post, I’ll break it up into a few so I can point out all our favorite spots and excursions along the way. Here’s our first few days in the City of Lights!We were one of the first flights of the day into Charles de Gaulle airport (we got in around 5:45am), so we actually had a relatively stress-free navigation of the airport since there were hardly any travelers there yet. I’d heard so many horror stories about the airport so I was a little worried, but it actually went pretty smoothly. We bought our Paris Museum Passes at the tourism desk on the main airport level, but had to wait a bit since they didn’t open until around 7:30 or 8am. We should have had them sent to our house ahead of time before the trip, but didn’t think of that until it was too late (I assumed you could print them online after buying, and you can’t). Anyways, we only had to wait 30 min or so for the stand to open, and that was a lot less time than it would have taken to navigate somewhere else and buy them at another location. Once we had our passes and luggage we were off to catch the train into Paris! I will say though as my first Paris “tip”, unless you only have a fanny pack for luggage, I would suggest using cabs for transportation from the airport to your hotel. It’s a little more expensive, but having several suitcases on the packed morning trains into town and going up and down (and up and down) all the metro stairs when changing lines was totally not worth it. I promise! We took a taxi on the way back.
I was so thankful to get the suggestion from so many readers to rent an apartment rather than book a hotel room. Not only was our adorable Parisian flat cheaper than a hotel room of the same quality, but it was bigger and we had a full kitchen and living area as well so we could spread out a bit and get to know what it feels like to be a regular Parisian at home. Our flat was located in the 11th arrondissement (Bastille) but it was just outside of the super trendy 4th arrondissement (Le Marais) and only a few steps from a metro stop. I loved that almost everyone we saw around the apartment was a local so when we went to a nearby café or pâtisserie, we felt immersed in the French way of life. We went to the supermarket the first day and bought a few staples and then we stopped by local pâtisseries everyday to get fresh croissants, baguettes, and my favorite, pain au chocolat.

Once we finally reached our apartment after getting off the train and metro, we dropped our bags off and headed out to explore (and try and stay awake!). We found a spot just down the street called Pause Cafe and had a delicious little lunch. This was also a great spot to have a coffee outside and people watch if we had a few hours to kill on other days. Since it’s apparently a bit of a faux pas to order a café crème (coffee with creme) at any meal other than breakfast, I would usually get a “noisette” instead during the day which is an espresso with a dash of cream. I guess the French don’t do as much cream with their coffee as Americans, but they always have sugar so I usually added a bit to my cup as well.

So many beautiful blue doors in Paris!For our big excursion on our second day we did a Highlights of Paris tour through Left Bank Scooters, and I have to say, it was one of our favorite things we did on our trip. We loved it! You only need some scooter experience to do it (or you can rent a side car and be driven) and you get your own personal guide who leads you around the city on a second scooter and gives you a bit of history at each stop. Todd grew up driving scooters and motorcycles so he’s an awesome driver and said the Paris traffic was a cake walk compared to an 8 hour motorcycle trip he did in India this past year. I was a little more nervous on the back of the bike, but I loved it too. The tour was great because we got to see so many things that would have taken us days to get to on foot in just a few hours and it really gives you a feel for how the city is laid out directionally for the rest of the trip (it’s not as big as you think it is!). You really do learn so much about a city by driving around in the traffic and seeing all the sights and sounds with the rest of the local drivers.

If you aren’t a scooter driver (or rider) then I would totally suggest taking a tour of Paris in a brightly colored 2CV car with a driver instead. It’s basically the same idea and the cars are so cute!!
That night we did a dinner river cruise on the Seine. Ever since I watched the movie Charade as a kid, I always wanted to do a night time boat cruise down the Seine like Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, so this was my special treat for the day. The boat that we did the cruise on was really nice, and the city at night was just as magical as I’d hoped it would be, but I wouldn’t recommend the dinner cruise that we did as the food was pretty bad. I mean, I figured it wouldn’t be the best meal we had there, but it was pretty bad banquet food for the price. Anyways, next time I would definitely do another boat ride at night, but maybe something that just does drinks instead of dinner (or find a better dinner one I guess!).

It was really fun to go past the Eiffel Tower at night just as it was lighting up though…We loved our scooter tour so much that we decided to keep the scooter an extra day and drive ourselves to the Palace of Versailles that’s about an hour outside of the city. It certainly was an adventure getting out of town and racing up the Champs-Élysées with the rest of the morning traffic, but once we got out of the city we just had to wind up through some smaller towns until we saw the gold gates of Versailles gleaming in the sunlight. I mean, they were actually glowing in the sun—it was like a scene from a movie.With all that Versailles has to offer, I have to say I was a little surprised there were no flowers. I guess I heard “gardens of Versailles” all my life and assumed there were tons of rose bushes and what not. Well, no flowers, but it’s still pretty awesome. I love those types of manicured hedges and topiaries, so I still got my money’s worth for sure.As cool as the main palace is, I think I liked Marie Antoinette’s little house on the grounds the best. It’s cute and private feeling, and she had this mini village built in the back of her house so she could see how the commoners lived and had farmers who made it a working village.
The hall of mirrors in the main palace really is off-the-charts breathtaking. I actually gasped aloud when we turned the corner and saw it for the first time. No pictures could really do it justice.The best part of scooters is that you can park them almost anywhere. We literally drove the scooter up to the gate and parked it along the wall of the Palace. Best spot in the house!

Not too bad for our first few days, huh? Stay tuned for more posts about the trip, I still have a lot of photos to sort through! Until next time, à bientôt!

xo. Laura

Ok. This is probably one of the most difficult things that I’ve ever attempted to do. I mean, hello?!? What am I supposed to wear in Paris? I mean it’s PARIS for crying out loud, this is not a drill people. I knew we wanted to do our trip this year at some point, but I didn’t know when it would be or how much notice we would have before we left, so I’ve actually been shopping for clothes since December to get a head start. How (you may ask) did I know what to buy if I had no idea what season we were going in? Good question. I knew we wouldn’t go in winter for our first trip (although I’ve heard you certainly have the city to yourself as the fall ends and winter arrives), so I knew I didn’t have to shop for chic parkas. That left spring, summer, or fall, so I figured dresses I could layer with jackets would probably the best bet. Is it summer? Take off the moto. Is it chilly spring or fall? Throw on some tall boots! I thought it was also best to go with all neutrals rather than invest in bulk editions of pink floral patterns only to actually go in October. Thankfully, the Parisians share my love for classic black and white color schemes, so that was totally fine with me. Here are a few items that I have my eye on for the trip (or already have in my closet awaiting its Parisian debut):

1. Zara City Bag: Super cute and small but has enough room to hold my big girl camera. Also has a cross body strap for when I get tired of carrying it.
2. Kensie Stripe Shift Dress: I don’t care if it is cliche to wear B&W stripes in France. It’s what I wear at home too, so no surprise there.
3. Zara Collared Shift Dress: Really comfortable, love the mini collar, and it has pockets to hold all the macarons I’ll snack on throughout the day!!
4. Vaneli Farren Flats: Flats are my kryptonite. I can’t figure them out, I don’t get the allure, and it’s nearly impossible to find ones that I think look good on me. Being only 5’3″, they always make me feel squatty and rather dumpy compared to my favorite heels, but a lot of walking is certainly on the agenda for France, so I made an effort to find a pair I liked. These seem pretty comfortable so far and I like the clear sides. Weirdly enough, just that little bit more of skin showing and the small heel makes the shoes much more flattering and legs appear a little longer than all the other flats I tried. I own flats!?!
5. Sister Jane Bow Swing Dress: Feels so Brigitte Bardot to me, and when is that ever a bad thing?
6. Round Cat Eye Sunnies: I wanted a pair of sunnies that were cool, but not so trendy that they will ruin all the photos I’m wearing them in 3 years from now (had that happen looking back on my Italy trip-ugh!). I think these are a good mix.
7. Asos Peplum Hem Dress: Another classic dress that can be worn with flats during the day when hitting the museums or with heels for dinner out. Pockets included!
8. Finders Keepers Cuffed Sandals: I wanted some open-toed shoes in case the weather is rather warm that week and these are pretty comfortable with a thick heel. I also have boots on call as well just in case the forecast calls for them…

Items that are très français but maybe pas pour moi:

1. Trench coats: Who am I? Inspector Clouseau?? I get that it’s a “must pack” but I’m more of a leather moto kind of gal (although I wouldn’t mind trying this one).
2. Blazers: I have two blazers in my closet. Both black. I have worn them exactly 0 times in the last 3 years. I should probably get rid of them but always think I might need them for something. Something like Paris where it’s the unofficial uniform? Nah…
3. Tweed (even Chanel style): Not to say that Coco needs to take any advice from me, but tweed always reminds me of a professor’s jacket with the leather elbow patches. I don’t have tenure at Harvard and I don’t wear tweed.
4. Oxfords: I tried. I can’t. I won’t.

Basically, it took me months to figure out the right Paris persona. I want to feel like the best version of myself without standing out in an obnoxious way or look like I’m trying too hard. I eventually settled on a bit of a 60’s mod feel with a little leather thrown in. French style looks oh so easy-breezy when done right (even if your tousled bedhead hair took a while to get just right), so even though I probably am overthinking it, I don’t want it to look that way. Less is more. And, ok, let’s get this out in the open. I AM an American, I AM packing sneakers, but come on! Look at these Michael Kors sneakers!! Totally cool. And I promise not to wear them with a fanny pack OR a visor of any kind. My word is my bond.

Anything I’m missing?

xo. Laura

In case you hadn’t seen a recent series of my Instagram posts regarding the following, we just bought tickets to go to Paris next month!!! I say “just” and that makes it sound like it was done on a whim, but nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve wanted to go to Paris since, well, ever since I can remember. Instead of cartoons, we grew up watching old movies of Audrey Hepburn and Gene Kelly dancing and singing their way around Paris and I’ve been quite the Francophile since. I thought about requesting to go for our honeymoon when we got married, but planning a wedding is such a big job, that I really wanted a relax-on-the-beach-with-a-drink honeymoon rather than one that involved maps, metro line explanations, and foreign language dictionaries. European trips are definitely worth it, but you have to put in a little more effort than a resort vacation for sure. Anyways, I’m turning 30 within the next month (eek!) and we want to start to think about having kids soon after that (triple eek!) so I’ve been trying to make this Paris trip happen for the last year as a “last hurrah” to hurry up and do things I’ve always wanted to do before any bebes come around. Not that you can’t go to Paris after kids, but it certainly has more complications I’m sure.

The biggest problem with trying to go on any sort of trip (let alone a dream European vacation) is that we never really know Todd’s schedule until a week or two before the day arrives. Hell, I can’t even plan a birthday party until right before the day because I don’t know if he’s going to be here, so a Paris vacation seemed rather impossible. Todd had to miss almost half of the only vacation we’ve ever taken together last year for that very reason (which is why we never go on vacation) so I was pretty nervous to actually buy tickets and book apartments since things never are sure thing with his job. But you know what? You’ll never get to do anything worth while if you don’t take chances, so we waited for our best chance to go and we’re taking it! You seriously have no idea how excited I am. I’m been shopping for clothes since December to get the perfect Paris wardrobe and I’ll share a bit of my choices with you soon. I didn’t know what month we were going in, so that was a bit of a challenge to work around, but I think it will all come together. The night we bought our tickets we celebrated with a bit of champagne and homemade banana nutella crepes to get into the spirit of things. Those french creperies aren’t even going to know what hit them by the time I’m done…à la prochaine!

xo. Laura

I can’t believe it but it’s actually been a year since I’ve been to a MuteMath show with Todd. The last time I was out was last March when they played nearby in Rolla, MO, so I was thrilled to drive down to Chatanooga, TN with him last weekend for a show. Since we basically drive through Nashville to get to Chatanooga, we decided to stop in Nashville for a few days on our way back to break up the drive and visit a few of our favorite spots.
Since we woke up in Chatanooga on a Saturday morning, we decided to keep our traditional weekend brunch schedule alive and sample some local food at a spot called Food Works. If you’re ever in the area, I totally recommend it and you can get $1 mimosas with brunch! $1!!

My sister Rachel and her husband Jon live in Atlanta just a few hours south of Chattanooga, so they came up to hang out for the day and brought their incredibly sweet local friends Barbra and Nick with them to show us around the town.I loved this local coffee place called Milk & Honey. The decor was adorable and my sis and I shared a salted chocolate chip cookie that was to die for!We also drove up a mountain nearby and visited this amazing old tudor house that was nestled into the mossy mountain. The fog from the rainy day made the area feel straight out of a movie scene. You could have told me it was Ireland or something and I would have totally believed it.So great to see Todd play and it was the first time I heard some of the new songs for the next album played live—it is going to be an amazing record you guys!!After the show we drove up to Nash the next morning and we sat outside in the warm sun at The Pharmacy where I got the most delicious homemade orange creamsicle soda. AMAZING. It was actually my first time to eat there, but I’d heard such good things about it over the years so I was happy to finally cross it off our list.Overall, it was really good to see Todd play and remind myself why we live the crazy life we do. He is SO talented and I want as many people to know and see that as humanly possible. Good mental fuel to keep me going on a rough week when he’s gone, etc. As fun as traveling together can be, it’s always comforting to get home to the kitties who are usually ready to catch up on snuggle time. Doesn’t matter how far we roam, where the kitties are is definitely home!

xo. Laura