The Final Countdown

I wouldn't dare say that I look as cool as Joey Tempest in my head-bang-worthy stupor of excitement regarding my trip to Paris, so I think you should just watch the video to get the picture. Plus, my hair is brown and straight, so it's just not the same. I know the video says "We're going to Venus...," but 7.5 hours of flight time is close enough, right? I'm packing my bags and ordering Euros today! Ahhhhh!!

La Ville-Lumière

Remember when Paris was tugging on my wanderlust heartstrings? Simultaneously, as serendipity would have it, my friend Hanban from college was preparing to be relocated to the City of Lights for a three-month-long work project. Through a series of a several phone conversations and a ginormous string of emails, I'm very eager to announce that I'm going to Paris for a ten day excursion with my friend J, and Hanban has graciously agreed to host us!

My passport came in the mail two days prior to purchasing our plane tickets (insert sigh of relief here), and when we finally purchased the plane tickets, I was overcome with joy. It was the kind of joy that I hope to experience if I ever get engaged or something...I am excited to share more about the trip planning in posts to come, but we're still deciding on exactly what we want to do. I keep asking friends who have visited Paris in the past: 1) What did you love about it? 2) Is there anything you did/saw while you were there that you wouldn't do on a future trip? and 3) Did you have regrets about not doing/seeing something while you were there?

Honestly, I am most ecstatic about just being there. As a side note, I am weirdly excited about taking a bateaux tour of Paris. Like, I want to ride a boat on the Seine every day we're there, and I don't even like boats (but I had fun on my river tour of NYC a few years ago).

Image: by Kelly Anderson-Staley via Conde Nast Traveler

How does everyone have a friend named Kat except me?

Yesterday Miss Smart and I drove back to Charlottesville from Lebanon, and amid the hilarity of the countless, random conversations we had in four hours, she started in on a tale that went kind of like this, "Oh oh, and when I was in Austin [blah blah blah], my friend Kat and I [blah blah blah]..." Stop right there. What is the deal with everyone having a friend named Kat? I know several friends who have a friend named Kat, and Kat is usually the coolest person they've ever met. Kat goes to yoga with her. Kat wears the coolest clothes and the coolest shoes on planet earth. As far as Miss Smart's Kat, I have no idea what's actually cool about her because I derailed her story to throw a pity party about the lack of a Kat in my life. I'm out of the loop; so it's official, I'm in hot pursuit of a BFF named Kat (and she can't be small and furry and purr like a Honda engine because I'm allergic).