Could I be any happier? Maybe, but not much.

Okay, Kiwi Fresh'ins should pay me for how much I am going to talk up their shoe inserts right now.

In Paris I bought a similar product--a disposable shoe liner--to wear in all my ballet flats that I didn't want to wear socks with.

I have wanted to buy them ever since I've come home, but never found them in the US. Well, today I found them online at Kiwi for Women!!

Seriously, if you like to wear shoes without socks, and you hate the tiny footie socks (since they fall off half the time anyway), you should get some. Find them here: Kiwi Fresh'ins (a.k.a. every girl's lifesaver). They are only $3.99 for a six-pair pack.

I haven't tried this particular brand before, but I think they would have to be seriously unfortunate to disappoint me.

Hooray! (And you're welcome in advance.)

I'm a Sucker For...

... books, earrings, and anachronistic correspondence items.

I bought a glass pen today at my favorite writing store in Paris, l'Ecritoire.

I love it. It writes beautifully with the stylographic ink I bought. I'm going to have to go back and buy some calligraphy ink, though, because it's a bit thicker and more opaque.

I even bought invisible ink and wrote letters to Taylor and Easton that I'll be mailing on Monday. Shhhh... Don't tell.

I also love wax seals. I think they're so cool, and I need to use the ones I have more often. Who doesn't like getting a letter sealed with a cool wax design? (Seriously, who? If you don't, let me know... 'cause I'll try to never send you one.) I know I love it.

Proof of the book problem? I sent an entire suitcase full of books home with my parents, and I'll be bringing another full suitcase of books home myself. It's kind of sad, really. Though since one day I plan to have a library in my home, I guess I have to build up a book collection somehow, and accumulating books over the years seems to make more sense than buying hundreds of books once the library is built. (The problem is where to put them in the meantime, right Jessica?)

I've started packing. One suitcase is all ready to go, my books are in piles with Post-Its indicating the pile's weight in kilos on top, and everything I won't be using in the next two weeks has been piled into my recently purchased enormo-gem of a suitcase.

We'll see how much I end up shipping...

I Found...

... some great little stores over the last two days. And I bought cute and cheap earrings at both of them.

I think this officially brings the total number of earrings (pairs, of course) that I have in France to 100. I left quite a few pairs at home... but I obviously brought more than I left. :)

I'm thinking about doing a '100 Earrings in 100 days' "challenge" for myself, where I don't allow myself to wear any of my earrings twice until I've worn them all. It doesn't sound challenging, but I'm lazy enough that sometimes I just grab the first pair of earrings that "works" and head out. This shallow little "challenge" would involve a little more thought. And pictures. Then you can see all of my earrings. (Or--truth be told-- you could just go to Target and look over their jewelry department, since that's where I got most of them, anyway. :) I lose things... so I don't like to spend a lot of money on my earrings.)

Blah, blah, blah. I digress. Here are the earrings I bought.

But first, the pretty packaging from the first store. This store is right across the river from Notre Dame. And a couple of storefronts down there is a restaurant that only sells tarts. Of all kinds. Must go there soon.

I love that these green ones have the look of felted wool.

Mixed metals tend to be a big turn-off for me, but I really love these.

And these are very similar to some turqoise tear-drops I have, but these ones have more pronounced imperfections and they're about 4 times as big and have more of a bright jade green hue to them than real turquoise (it's hard to tell from the picture).

Soldes

In France, companies don't have the right to just declare a clearance sale. They can have promotions (buy one, get one free... or... buy one, and we'll throw this other thing in for half price, etc.), but apparently they are not allowed to even use the word "sale" in their marketing outside the semi-annual "Soldes" time periods. "Sales" are government regulated and they only happen twice a year. Companies can actually get fined for promoting a sale outside of these two "soldes" periods.

Well, I happen to be here during the lovely "Soldes", and I am trying to take advantage of that and buy myself some boots that have a mostly flat sole and a thicker heel than the ones I brought from home.

I am not meeting with a lot of luck. But I am meeting with a lot of shoppers.