Paris-Inspired Outing #2

So today I ventured out for another Paris-inspired outing, this time to Springville for some small-town charm, good lunch and a visit to the museum.


I checked online to see if there were any bakeries in Springville and found the address for one right down the street from the museum and left the house feeling quite pleased with myself for finding this info.


I had made myself a "Fall Outing Mix" cd for the road and was feeling rather pleased about that as well.

So the thing about flanarizing is that it's supposed to involve a general direction or idea but not an official plan. So when I circled the block 4 times looking for the bakery I'd scouted online and didn't find it, I rolled with it and decided to have lunch first instead.


I knew I wanted to eat at Art City Trolley because that place is an old favorite of mine and I rarely ever go there anymore.


This was my first time ever eating in a restaurant by myself! (How's that for expanding my horizons?) It was before the lunch rush and they seated me in a back corner, and all was well. There was no finger-pointing and laughing (at least not that I saw) and I ended up having a great, reading lunch and I didn't fall asleep! Perhaps I should read in public more often, then I'll stay awake! It was marvelous. The food was great, the reading was very pleasant and they had pebble ice! I read for an hour and loved it.


Upon leaving the restaurant I decided to walk down the street so I could check out a cute store I'd passed on my way there. I saw this sign en route and thought it went well with what I've been feeling lately.


The store I went to is a cute (somewhat pricey) home decor store in an old house. It was very pleasant walking through there seeing all their Christmas decorations and listening to the music. I didn't even feel inclined to buy anything, so that was a relief.


I finally headed over to the museum only to find that it was closed for Veteran's Day! $%#@! Seriously?! Isn't it bad enough that there's no mail delivery on this day? What does the museum have to do with it? Plus, the sign said they'd be open from 6-9 tonight and I could see people in there working.

Need I say more?

I just reminded myself that I was flanarizing and that things like this happen. So I took a lovely drive through Hobble Creek Canyon with my windows down and my Fall Mix cd up. Good times.


After 40 minutes of driving, my mind was still scrambling to come up with an outing to save this day, but my heart just wasn't in it. I ended up taking the long way home and stopped by Harmon's to get a bottle of the Basil dish soap Michelle got me hooked on.


And because I was so close to Michelle's house I did a little drive by and almost started crying. Maybe that wasn't the best choice.


I ended my outing with a stop at Sonic for a bag of ice and an ice cream cone. I love having Sonic gift cards in my wallet!


The other bit of news from today is that there's a mouse in our house! What in the world? This is a crumb-free environment people. In fact, the mouse ran in front of me (3 feet away) while I was vacuuming this morning! I couldn't believe my eyes. It's a good thing I'm not afraid of mice.

I looked online and found a video demonstrating this handy dandy, non lethal mouse trap. I made a staircase of books (which will later be Clorox wiped) to a bucket with peanut butter smeared inside it. The mouse just needs to be tempted by the peanut butter then will fall into the bucket and stay there until I take him/her to the field next door. I hope it works because I really don't want to resort to using neck-crushing traps of doom.

**Do you ever eat alone in restaurants?
Do you like small towns?
Are you bugged when the mail isn't delivered?
When was the last time you took a scenic drive alone?
Have you ever had a mouse in the house?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I read by the glow of my headlight while waiting for Whitney's art lesson to be over again tonight. I think I'm onto something.

My Paris-Inspired Outing

My blogging friend Rebekah's comment on my last Paris post said, "So, what has changed about you, the way you see things, what you want out of life as a result of this trip? I find that every time I go someplace new it has an impact on me, it changes me in some way." I thought that was a great question and it's one I'd like to answer (most likely in multiple posts).


As a result of my great trip and Michelle's fabulous "Friday Flanerie" posts I have decided to Flanarize here in Utah. So what if I can't just step out the door and be somewhere stunning or hop on a Metro and be at a world famous, historically significant landmark, there's still good stuff to be seen and experienced here and after spending 11 days in Paris I'm ready to go look for it.

A couple ideas came to mind right away, but those could be done no matter what the weather, so I thought of something I could do outside to take advantage of the gorgeous fall weather.


My first stop was a bakery to get something for lunch. I made this decision on the fly as I was driving and was so proud of myself for thinking outside my fast-food box.


It was NOT the same as a Parisian bakery, but this is American Fork...not Paris so I rolled with it. (I ordered lunch and then got a baguette to use for dinner...sadly it ended up being so hard that even after microwaving it to soften it up I risked serious dental damage trying to eat it.)


I happily snapped pictures of the cute decor and took a Michelle-inspired self-portrait in the mirror while I waited for my order to be ready. The people there probably thought I was crazy, but nobody said anything about it.


Next, I got back in the car and made my road trip music selection for the day since my destination was 45 away. It definitely felt like a Shawn Colvin kind of day.


So this was my destination for the day...ta-da! I had never been there before, so it was all new to me.


It was clear immediately that I had made the right choice for my flanarizing, oh the colors!


I walked around for about 20 minutes before selecting this area to sit at while enjoying my lunch. These aren't styling Parisian chairs, but they were still pleasing.


My lunch consisted of half (I wished I'd ordered a whole) Tarragon Chicken Salad sandwich, Sea Salt Chips (that weren't salty at all) and a tasty shortbread, chocolate-chip cookie. It was a very pleasant lunch, I just wanted more of it.


I love how plants grow and change throughout the seasons, and are often beautiful (I feel like I've overused that word lately) even in their withered state.


The sight of this woman doing some writing on a bench in one of the gardens was rather quaint. She had walked in with her notebook at the same time I did, so it was fun to see where she chose to end up.

I'm calling this one "Potential".

I happily crunched my way down these stairs.

I don't think I've ever seen a leaf's edges roll up like this before.

Ahhhh.

I made my way down to the perfect area for me to sit in solitude and do some writing myself.


I started a new journal (given to me by Cathy last Christmas) for my Paris-inspired outings. I love it that I have a stock pile of journals given to me from blogging friends. I don't always know what I'm going to end up using them for, but they always get used.


This was the gorgeous view from where I sat. There were about 10 ducks frolicking (that's right, frolicking) in the water while I sat there.


Most of the benches there have been donated in someone's name, this was the name on my bench of choice. I decided I'd like to donate a bench somewhere sometime (not necessarily after I die) because if there's anything I appreciate when traveling or being out and about, it's a well-located bench.

As I wrote about this in my journal I started thinking about some of the different benches I've sat on to rest my weary feet and thought how funny it would be if the benches in the malls were donated in memory of someone. They would have little plaques that said things like, "In memory of Robyn, who loved to shop" or "In memory of Lori, who loved a good shoe sale". I cracked myself up thinking about the possibilities.

My journal, my pen, leaves on the ground, it's all good to me.

After spending 30 minutes of peaceful bliss on this bench, I finally decided to move on and continue exploring the gardens.


Just to the left of where I was sitting was a bridge with this stream running out of the pond. I love the sound of the water rushing down the hill! I would love to have a nice backyard with some sort of water feature, that sound is just so soothing.

The view through the bridge on the other side.

More beautiful withering.

Hydrangeas in Utah...what the? I thought we couldn't grow hydrangeas here, so I was very surprised to see these dried out flowers. The sign said they were "Smooth Hydrangeas" so I'll have to investigate them and see if that's something I can cultivate at my house.


The sun shone more brightly at this point in the day and made the colors even more pronounced. I was rather smitten with the combination of the yellow leaves, red berries and blue sky.


I couldn't resist a shadow self-portrait (I had my big bag slung across my chest onto my hip).


This is another bench I spent some quality time enjoying. There were some very noisy Robins hopping around in the fallen leaves surrounding me, and I wondered if they were shopping for fall-nest decor.

I love this close-up of the leaves on the bench.

Black-eyed Susans are pretty even without their petals. I've seen these used as innovative fillers in fall bouquets and think they're very cool looking.

I spy a humpback whale.


I was taken with these again when I passed them on my way out.

Signs of the effort that goes into the gardens.

It's so rare that I find myself in Salt Lake and near Adam and Amy's house that I just had to drop something off to Amy. I stopped by the Red Butte Cafe and got her a piece of Raspberry Chocolate Cake. It looked mighty good to me. Amy wasn't home so I left it by the back door.

I had such a great day out and felt super-charged and happy after spending 2.5 hours at the gardens. I made it home just before the kids got back from school and felt like I'd gotten away with something. I'm definitely going to flanarize more often.

By the way, this post took me a long time to put together, just like my Paris posts!

**What do you think?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I went walking again today (that's 3 times this week) so I could soak up the fall goodness. I resisted taking my camera with me and tried to just be, but I really prefer being with my camera.

Flanarizing

I thought I was doing great with the whole time change/lack of sleep issue, but when we returned from our walk to the Eiffel Tower park I sat down on the couch and instantly felt sapped of all alertness; it was only around 5pm, so I needed to stay awake until nightfall arrived. Michelle made us some sort of hearty sausage, potato, lentil stew for dinner, but it wasn't going to be ready to eat until after 8:oopm, so I had a goal.

I made it until dinner, though it wasn't pretty because at one point I was sitting up with my head leaning against the wall in an "I'm not sleeping, just resting my eyes and doing some serious mouth breathing" position. I was only kidding myself (what a new and fascinating thing for me).

Long story short, dinner was tasty, filling and accompanied by fresh baguette...need I say more? I was too tired to take photos (gasp!) of it, but it was another one of Michelle's gourmet delights.


I finally went to bed at 9:38pm. I got all comfy on the bottom bunk of my guest suite (which doubles as the dining room) and zonked out, waking only briefly twice during the night, and finally woke up at 9:30am when my back hurt from lying down for too long!

Michelle and got ready and set out for Friday Flânerie (I purposely scheduled my trip so that I'd be here for 2 of them!)


We walked about 20 seconds down the street to the patisserie (I adore this window).

We bought almond croissants for breakfast.
Words can't quite describe the tastiness involved here.

We took the metro a couple stops and went to the Pont Alexandre III bridge. The weather was brisk and gray today, such a contrast to yesterday's gorgeous blue sky and fluffy clouds, but Michelle and I were thrilled to be bundled up and not the least bit hot!

This is one of my favorite shots from the bridge.

Michelle in action with her camera.
It's still Creative Friday here in Paris!

We walked up the street to the Champs Elysse and saw this cool exhibit lining the sidewalk. It is 40 years of Vogue Magazine Covers (Claudia we thought of you.) We decided they were more playful and had more variety back in the early years of the magazine.


There were awesome tables and chairs all along the street (I have way too many photos to post them all) but this one we saw from across the way struck us as particularly charming.


Even in our sensible footwear (I even have cushion inserts in mine) we still needed to sit for awhile. I could happily sit on a bench and people watch all day! There is so much to see and it walks right by.


I have no idea how French women (or any woman) can wear shoes like this! She must cry herself to sleep at night, and she didn't look very happy during the day either.


We made our way all the way up the street to the Arc De Triumph (I didn't see it last time I was here) and cracked up at the hordes of Asian tourists everywhere. Michelle was approached by several people to take their photos and one girl even directed Michelle where to go to take her picture and then had her take several shots including a silly one of her with her arms out as if she were in-between the sides of the Arc. What the? We're sticking to self-portraits.


We were getting tired and my legs were really giving me grief (I am so NOT happy about feeling 80 years old here) so we took a bus the rest of the way down the street (sweet relief) and realized just how far we'd walked.


We found a cafe and sat outside (I adore the outside seating everywhere) and had lunch; an omelette for Michelle and Penne Boulanaise (with basil) for me. Do I even need to say it was delicious?


We continued to walk down the street and were treated to seeing Napolean himself at one of the souvenir shops; I don't know if he worked there or was just shopping for Josephine.


We ended up by the Louvre, which is so beautiful that just walking around the outside of it is a treat.

Even on such a gray day, everything is beautiful!

We ended up sitting on this bench, in a raised garden area and had it pretty much all to ourselves.

This was the view from where we sat.

The view to the left.

I remembered I had some peanut butter m&ms in my bag from my flight, so we shared those and upon dropping one on the ground were immediately swarmed by pigeons, including one with only a nub for a foot and only 1 toe on the other foot! Don't feel bad for him though, he was equally fat and aggressive as the others.


We wandered around inside the shopping area by the Louvre looking for a bathroom (what the? How can they be so hard to find, there are A LOT of people in Paris and surely they have to pee too!) but only found what appeared to be a bathroom store type place where you pay to use their facilities and where people are working. Instead, we fled to the metro to make our way back to the apartment, but first stopped at the cafe on Michelle's corner for some dessert.

Creme brulee anyone?

And then the rainy weather disappeared and turned picture-perfect again, but we were way too tired to wander any more.


We hobbled (Michelle was hobbling at this point too) back to the apartment.


Could it be any cuter? It's right over (with the geraniums) a stationery store, that's just good for the soul!


The happy sight of one of the family room (or should I say salon?) windows.

Should every home have iron work window boxes with geraniums?

In the apartment, Max was doing school work on the computer, Lucas was playing the Wii, Marc and Eva were playing a game on his iTouch, Michelle was reading a book on hers and I laid on the couch to get my legs back to normal again. Michelle and I both ended up falling asleep. Not a bad day!

Comment Window Tidbit: I have no concept of time. It's night time here, but early at home and my body thinks it's both!