Allons-y à La Pâtisserie!

Salut mes amis,

J'avais une vie occupée cette année! Je suis désolée que je n'avais pas écrit pour un bon moment. J'habite avec ma famille dans Paris maintenant parce que Juliette m'a manqué. Je t'ai manqué mon école. Je t'ai manqué ma vie française!

I have had a busy life this year! I'm sorry that I haven't written in a while. I am currently living with my family in Paris because I missed my sister Juliette so much. I missed my school. Frankly, I missed my French life, as much as it's been fun exploring les États-Unis. 

Before flying out of Boston's Logan Airport, I was able to meet up with Miss Grace Thomas, Girl of the Year for 2015. Her pastry shop, La Påtisserie de Grace, opened nearby, and I wanted to verify its "French-ness", if you will . . . which is my way of saying that I wanted to check the place out before I left for my world of true Parisian pâtisseries and boulangeries.

I really like the red and blue color scheme of La Pâtisserie de Grace; it's a refreshing change from the horridly overused shade of pink everyone is so fond of! The take-out window is a neat idea, for those of us who crave un croissant daily yet always seem to be late for school. I shall have to suggest this idea to my best friend Maëlys' parents as they own a boulangerie-pâtisserie right in Montmartre.

Grace herself is a lovely girl, albeit a girl so enthused with showing off her meager knowledge of the French language that she makes careless grammatical mistakes. But, I'll fault her not. I'll give her credit where credit is due; she does try. It's not like I haven't made grammatical errors en anglais because I most certainly have.

. . . she does seem to have a knack of changing her wardrobe quite rapidly, I might add. I don't know how she does it! She was wearing her apron when I first walked in and had changed into this Chanel-like number by the time I had found my table. Greeting me politely, she took my drink order and handed me a menu to peruse.

Once I had my drink in hand (my typical l'eau gazeuse au citron), I ordered a warm croissant, a slice of brie, and a mixture of blackberries and raspberries - my favorite! I figured that I needed to get something into my stomach before braving plane food for the umpteenth time. Ewww!

Once I'd finished my meal and had paid, Grace and I took an obligatory #selfie, but not before she could grab her red shrug and heart-shaped sunglasses! I didn't have the heart (no pun intended!) to tell her that those sunglasses looked straight from the 1990s.



With a full belly and time to kill before boarding my plane, I decided to venture into the American Girl store for a change. I don't go often, you know. I wasn't meeting up with anyone, unfortunately, but I love meeting new friends in the store regardless.

First, I decided to help this pretty redhead care for her horses. I loved this brown and white foal! I thought of Anya, my horse-obsessed classmate at Fair Hollow School for Girls, and tried to fight back the tears that were threatening to spill over. I had made so many friends and memories at Fair Hollow, as much as I couldn't wait to get back to the Parisian life! It would be hard not to miss them.

I really liked the color scheme of Julie Albright's revised bed and bedding. The purple bed as paired with the floral blanket is so groovy! Rock on, man!

I . . . sort of . . . fell asleep curled up on Julie's bed and had to primp myself up afterwards using Julie's new vanity. I liked the yellow color, but the stool was way too small for my butt! Ugh. The owl clock was adorable, though . . . in a tacky sort of way. I guess that's what you Americans call "kitsch", non?

I'll tell you what I really loved: Julie's egg chair! I loved it so much that I kicked Julie out of it and claimed it as my own! It was so comfy, and I loved the idea of listening to my own tunes through the chair's built-in speakers. Now that's radical! Somehow I don't think Maman would be too thrilled if I shipped this thing all the way to France, though . . . she had enough of the 1970s when she lived through them! An egg chair in my room would not go over well. 

After messing around with the horses and teasing Julie, I started to get hungry again. When I saw a sign for Tyson's Ice Cream Parlor, I decided to stop in and grab a chair at the bar. A petite brunette in a pink dress waited on me; I think her name was Samantha (which made me laugh as the only other "Samantha" I've known is Maëlys' Yorkshire terrier, haha). Anyway, I ordered pink peppermint ice cream on her recommendation, and it was so delicious! I think I have a new favorite ice cream flavor.

Samantha was even kind enough to let me get my own seconds! It was so neat to be able to work the old-fashioned soda fountain myself.

As I was eating the last dregs of my ice cream, I watched Samantha serve a peculiar-looking customer who was dressed in a nightgown! It was so difficult to keep from laughing. I mean, who goes to an ice cream parlor dressed like that?!

When the scantily-clad customer had departed, I helped Samantha count up that day's earnings and lock up the cash register. To thank me for my kindness, she invited me to a garden party. After she put on her pink coat and hat (man, that girl is obsessed with pink!), we walked to a nearby park that had a gorgeous gazebo. It was so refreshing to sit under the shade of the gazebo on such a hot day, and I loved just staring up at the lanterns and decorations someone had hung from it. At some point, Samantha introduced me to the party hostess, a girl who looked like a clone of Samantha herself (alas, I forget her name!). At least this girl had a better sense of fashion - I much preferred this green dress to the pink one Samantha was wearing!

 

 

When I'd said my goodbyes to Samantha and her clone, I started to make my way back to the American Girl store. On the way back, I met up with Kaya'aton'my, a 21st century Nez Perce girl. She'd set up her teepee as part of a Native American artifacts display. She permitted me to crawl into the teepee, and I had fun imagining how much fun it would've been to live in one back in the 1700s. When I realized that I wouldn't have had television or the internet, that's when I crawled out of the teepee and went on my way! 

I also met this girl named Addy Walker. Her dress reminded me so much of the dress I received last Christmas. I wonder if we got our dresses from the same store? I thought that it suited her much better than it suited me, though. I was literally enchanted with her beauty and asked to take a photo with her. I think she was a little taken aback by my abruptness, but she humored me anyway . . .

. . . isn't her hairstyle gorgeous, too? If only I had her long, thick hair!

 Back at the American Girl store, I snapped some photos of displays I really liked. I couldn't stop fawning over Rebecca Rubin's revised bed! I love the new color and definitely need to get this bed for myself.

Her new toys were really cute, too! I liked her matryoshka dolls and set of dominoes . . . 

I just hope Rebecca learns to take better care of her belongings because her kittens were already starting to play with it all!

I felt so sad for Ida Bean. She'd fallen over in her display, and I couldn't even fix her since she was behind glass!

Caroline Abbott's party treats looked so tantalizing, but I was actually glad these were behind glass. I was too full already!

I loved Addy's painted lunch tin and bird-shaped pin cushion. Too cute!

]I thought this illustration of Addy was really lovely as was her new nightgown. The matching ribbons tied in her hair were darling.

I sneaked a peek at the back of Rebecca's postcard to Uncle Max. Shhh, don't tell!

Samantha's basket of flowers for Grandmary was so lovely! I wonder if Sam grew them herself?

I felt so proud of Kit Kittredge when I saw that she finally had an article published in the Cincinnati Register!

I recognized my writing desk in Kit's display. How did that get there?!

I drooled over the doll in the blue dress. I want her in my collection! Perhaps I'll buy her for my friend Maëlys? Then I won't feel so bad spending the money because I'll show what a generous girl I am? I also really liked Rebecca Rubin's costume chest. The flapperesque costume inside would be perfect for my own "Gatsby" party!

I thought Caroline embroidered her map beautifully. It's a shame that a girl with such talent with a needle and thread is to be archived. Au revoir, Caroline! We'll miss you.

I didn't know Samantha had a green thumb! She has flowers everywhere, even in her bike basket.

I couldn't leave the store without finding some dance costumes. My sister Juliette loves looking at these! I was glad to see a plain black leotard; that's a staple for every fledgling ballerina!

This red sparkly jazz costume was quite the stunner! It almost made me reconsider taking up my own dance lessons again . . . I said almost!

Finally, it was time for me to head to Logan Airport to catch my flight to Paris. So, I grabbed my car keys and zoomed away! Oh, wait? I don't have a driver's license, you say? What is this craziness you speak of? Of course I do!

Mais oui, tu es correcte. I cannot legally drive yet, not even in les États-Unis where the the legal driving age is sixteen (as opposed to eighteen in France!) . . . which is why I took mass transit to the airport. I just couldn't resist sitting in the driver's seat of this VW Beetle on display at the mall. Hey, a girl can dream, right?




So . . . what's your dream car? Let me know in the comments! 

À bientôt,

Sophie