Welcome to Billings

    I just got back from my week long trip to Billings, Montana. I went up there to visit my older brother and his family. I have the cutest niece and nephew that are 2 and 5. I had a whole week of playing mommy which is a much harder job than I ever realized. All of my experiences with young children usually end after a few hours when their parents come to pick them up and take them home. This week I was with them at all times including the middle of the night when they would have nightmares. It was a very eye opening experince. I watched more cartoons to last me a few years, and tried to teach my little nephew how to say hello in different languages. The whole family took me up to Beartooth Mountain. We had a picnic in the woods by a lake which was so beautiful and peaceful. Then we drove all the way to the top of the mountain. On the way up we saw snow, waterfalls, and amazing lookout spots. When we finally got to the top it didn't even look like we were in the mountains anymore. It looked like a prarie with rolling hills of grass. We kept on driving and found a huge wall of snow that showed deep the snowfall was before the roads were plowed. It was taller than me! On the top of the mountain I saw a sign that said Welcome to Wyoming! I loved that the state line went accross the mountains and so did I! I had never been to Wyoming before even though it looked the same as Montana it was still very exciting. We took pictures by huge lakes that were created just by the snow melt from the winter.   We also went to many spray parks and Lake Elmo while I was there. We spend a lot of time in the water because it was close to 100 degrees everyday! I loved getting to know my niece and nephew better   Owen wants to grow up to be a gemologist and Eveylnn thinks she is a kitty right now and acts like one all the time :) At first Eveylnn kept calling me Grandma instead of Auntie which I thought was hilarious! She finally got the hang of Auntie Kelsey near the end of the week. Owen had his birthday party today and it was Pokemon themed. I dressed up Evie as Pikachu and Owen as a sharp looking 6 year old. 

        I was very interested in the fashion that I saw there in Montana. They are a little behind Los Angeles fashion. I saw a few styles that I had seen before in past years. I however sported my new maxi skirt and floral onsie and got a few stares. My nephew even asked me why I was wearing that, and told me that he liked me in my jeans. I was very inspired by all of the scenery and adorable shops that I saw while I was there. I am back home now and looking very forward to sleeping in my own bed and getting ready for the rest of my summer!  Here are some pictures from my trip!

        
                                                    Here is sweet little Evie on the swings

 The beautiful lakes at the top of Beartooth Mountain.

 The large wall snow that I had to run across the road to get to!

 I had never been to the snow in shorts before!

 Welcome to Montana!

 Then I ran around the sign and was welcomed into Wyoming!

 The official welcome to Montana

 Evie keeping herself busy in the car.

 Evie, Auntie Kelsey, Owen, and Tessa

 Owen and I at the top of the world!

         

Party in the USA!

 I am back!!! I got to the airport via metro on Sat and was told that my flight was cancelled completly and the only option I had was spending another night in Paris. Although that doesn't seem like a bad punishment I was a little nervous because I had never dealt with a flight cancellation before and I had absolutley no where to stay and no transportation. They took care of everything for me! We got rebooked for the next day, and upgraded to AirFrance and a non stop to LA! They shuttled us back into Paris and put us up in this really nice hotel is an area I hadnt really explored! They even provided a fabulous dinner and breakfast for us! I met some really nice and interesting people and got a night to explore and relax before my big flight the next day. The flight was 12 hours long but I was so excited to be headed home :) I couldnt relax enough to sleep on the flight so by the time I got home I had been up for 24 hours! I was exhausted! It was so nice that my whole family came to the airport to pick me up! I missed them so much. While I have been back I had faught jet lag, unpacked, and got my nails and hair done. I really needed some pampering after roughing it for five weeks :) Anywhere here are my last batch of pictures! I will be leaving for Montana soon to spend a week with my family and neice and nephew! I have learned so much already this summer about being street smart, learning how to survive in another country, and a world of history from France.




My trend forecasting board

 Inspiration board

 On our way to the Chanel Show at the Grand Palais!

 The Chanel show and its followers :)

 Street Fashion

 The Valentino show and the luckiest little girl in the world

 Grace Coddington the Creative Editor of American Vogue

 The largest size peanut butter I could find in France

 Our last dinner in Paris

 Tour de France

        

I offically feel like a Parisienne now :)

     Whenever I would daydream about what my time would be like here in France I would see myself walking along the streets to class or to the store, completely blending in and looking confident. After 5 weeks of living here I finally feel like I have accomplished that! I know where I am going, I am confident, and happy to be here and happy to be going home all at the same time. I have absolutly loved my time here in Paris. I have learned so much about the culture, history, and fashion. I thought I knew a lot before I came here but I was wrong! If I was able to tell myself some of the things I have done or learned before I came I don't think I would have believed myself! haha If that makes any sense at all. I do miss you family, friends, home, and school though. I am so lucky to have many more plans this summer and I can't wait to get to them. I made a list of tourist things I had to see and do while I was here to make sure I didn't forget anything and I checked them all off! I feel so accomplished and I am glad because that will make leaving this wonderful city a little easier. I know that I will be back here one day and I find comfort in that and the fact that when I do come back I will be able to fit right in :)


The other day we went to the Trend Union for my Trend forecasting class. This is a company that Li Edelkoort started. She is an amazing woman that is so successful and inspiring. This firm works with many different companies, not just fashion ones either, to forecast what people will want to buy in 2 years time. In the class I am taking we have to do similar predictions for couture houses of our choice. It was a great experience and I may be back in Paris sooner than anticipated if I take an internship with them :)


Yesterday I missed the fourth of July which for me is tragic! I love that holiday and it was so hard to see everyone talking about it on facebook and being here with no one celebrating anything. I think that the universe sent me a little present though. It is Paris Fashion Week here which I just found out and my class and I went to the Dior show yesterday and stalked all of the people that actually had invitations to go inside. While I was standing there a group rushed by me and I am positive that I am in the background of a lot of poperazzi pictures. After someone ran into me I looked after them and realized that it was Nina Garcia! I guess I was lucky to be standing there :) There were a lot of other people there worth mentioning but I didn't really know them that well because they were French celebrities. Tonight we are going to stand outside of the Chanel show at the Grand Palais!!! I have heard that sometimes they will have some extra seats and let random people in so here's hoping!


I went to Le Madeleine the other day because my french teacher from school had told me that she had a friend who worked for Ralph Lauren that had a store in that area. All I had was his name, the district, and the fact that he had his own store there. I didn't know if it was a personal boutique or something different and I was really nervous that I was on a wild goose chase in Paris. I took some friends with me to later explore the area and right when we came up from the metro I see a huge Ralph Lauren store! It was such a sign, then I walk in and show an employee the name I was given that I can't pronouce and he tells me that he is upstairs! I went up and talked to him and he gave me a lot of great advice, a location of one of their exibit fashion shows, some magazines and paperwork, and the business card of the womens wear department head. He told me to to call her on Monday and set up a time to meet! I sent her an email right away! It was such a great visit and I recieved everything I was expecting and more!

I went to the Dior Haute Couture show! This can't be real life!!!

It seems like this trip just gets more and more exciting as it continues! I got to go down into the Catacombs last Friday which was a huge goal of mine for this trip! I was actually scared once we started walking down farther under the surface. It was so errie down there but I think I just had to get used to it because once we got to the bones I was so jazzed and ready to enjoy the creative way in which they were all arranged. The bones of 6 million Parisians are buried down there and only a small section of the windy tunnels is open to the public! It was so much fun and at the end of the tour I made myself touch a skull! 

Stop! You are about to enter the empire of death

They went so far back! I was so glad I had a flashlight with me :)

This is where they show you what the ceiling looks like after it caves in, I guess it happens a lot :/

Le Madeleine! This church is dedicated to Mary Madeleine

The shops in this area were so precious, this one had slidding pink doors!

This was a small mustard shop that had mustard on tap!

Lavin!

An Aston Martin

Automobile club of France

This was one mean machine

This is where we had the famous hot chocolate that tastes like you are drinking a piece of chocolate cake!

Saint Sulpice Church

It was so beautiful we went inside and caught some of a service, it was a Sunday morning

The insstitiute of France

Shakespeare and Company bookstore!

Notre Dame and the Seine

This is a random man that I met in my courtyard and he invited me to his jazz performance and when we all showed up the next day he couldnt believe it and was so happy that we came out to support him!