Beth Arnold

Letter From Paris: Champagne Windows

So Parisian--to cool champagne outside your window--though not for long.  Warm spring days are here.

                                                                         ---Beth Arnold

Photo taken by Beth Arnold on her iPhone.

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Obamafix: Barack & George W.

George W. Bush came to the White House to meet with President Barack Obama.  Here's how it went:

Letter From Paris: mode...information

Image via Wikipedia

Back from London.  Great weekend with generous friends, vibrant energy, delicious food and wine.  As much as I love Paris, I've got to get out of town a bit more, and the two hour trip on the Eurostar was just the ticket.  Boom, I was there!  So easy.

Back in Paris today, I walked in the sun with a cool breeze in my now platinum hair.  Here's one of my new favorities: On rue Croix des Petits Champs, new fashion and design book store mode...information has become part of the Parisian fashion blueprint.  The cooly crisp shop is stacked full of beautiful and chic magazines, books, and catalogs that define and link us to a forward fashion/design world.  I could drop a bundle.

  

mode...information
52, rue Croix des Petits Champs
+33 1 40 13 81 50

                                                                           ---Beth Arnold

Photo by Beth Arnold--taken on her iPhone.

Letter From Paris: Chinese Doctor and Tattooed Hands

Dateline:  London

Yesterday, I had a perfect afternoon in London.  Saw a Chinese doctor who gave me medicine for my cold, acupuncture, and a massage for the tight muscles in my neck and shoulders.  Then wandered over to Covent Garden, where an Egyptian man painted my hands with henna.  For the next few weeks, I am tattooed.

Photo by Mo at A Glimpse of London

                                                                          ---Beth Arnold

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Letter From Paris: Renovation of Palais Royal

At the Palais Royal:  With colored lenses for peeping at the work inside the red wall (the Cour d'Honneur) and a confetti of colored shadows cast.

                                                                             ---Beth Arnold

Photo taken by Beth Arnold on her iPhone.

Letter From Paris: The Cuban Dreamland

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President Barack Obama landed in Trinidad on Friday and promptly proceeded to do what he does best: put out the fires in our relationships with other nations and their leaders that have been charred by the Bush administration's global bungling. After Obama calms the men and women who really want to be our friends, as well as those who want to make their marks by taking a swipe at our powerful capitalist democracy, our president proceeds to build consensus by using his extraordinary community organizing skills. Thank God the global mutilation of our reputation has stopped, and the healing has begun.

I liked the Miami Herald's take on the recent Summit of the Americas:

Healing the breach in the Americas

OUR OPINION: President's words, actions help to reconnect with a trouble region

Those who criticized the slow progress of the G20 or this summit are taking the short view and not taking into account the foundation Barack Obama is building that will enhance every other interaction the United States has with these various players, friendly or not, over the next what I believe will be eight years. Remember what Kevin Costner said in Field of Dreams: "If you build it, they will come."

Obamarifix: Cuba Libre?

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

While some people are grasping at, excuse me, tea parties, President Barack Obama is on his way to the Carribean island of Trinidad for the 34-nation Summit of the Americas.  And what is hot on everyone's lips?  Cuba.  The Communist nation that Dictator-in-Charge Fidel Castro ran into the ground for the last 50 years, not bothering with little things like food, transportation, and basic human rights for his citizens.  (More on this in another blog in the next few days.) They are virtual prisoners on their home island.

But this American president is making much needed changes in our policies toward Cuba, and Cuban Americans and their families still on the island are getting some relief.  Obama lifted restrictions Monday on individuals visiting relatives in Cuba as well as on sending them remittances.  Whoa.  This move brought an unprecedented reply from Havana. Raul Castro, who took over from his sick brother, Fidel, a year ago, offered to talk to the Obama administration about all outstanding grievances.  This, my friends, is big.  Don't we all dream of dancing the rumba in Havana?

Michelle wondered how Barack arrived at this particular decision.  This is how their conversation went:

Obamas Return from Europe, A KO on World Stage

Image by Vaguely Artistic via Flickr

President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama returned from their knockout tour of Europe, where officials and the public alike were taken with the First Couple's brains and style.  The Obamas have quickly become the physical embodiment of the American Dream, which had languished in obscurity during the Bush era.  (Rumors circulated that it had been lost at the ranch in Texas.  Others said Karl Rove had eaten it for lunch, while some reported that Dick Cheney shot it while hunting.)

After the Obamas got off Air Force One, they were ready for a little down time.  A little celebration was called for.

Obama-rific!

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Daughter Bret's cute roommate Riley loved my Obamas.  He named them Obamarific, and I'm going with Riley on this. 

It was a hands down victory for the Obamas in Europe despite the riots.  Some people gotta riot no matter what and some people are gonna hate the USA no matter what.  Open your eyes, folks.  It's a new world in the USA and from the USA to you.  George Bush is out, and our president is working steadily on shoring up the American dam.  Give the man a chance.

The Obamas were rock stars here--despite the sniping at home about Michelle not wearing the right thing, actually touching the queen, whatever.  Some people are going to say anything to get more page clicks on the web.  To get a headline.  To get attention.  To get $$$$.  Some people who got our culture into this mess aren't on board to lift it up out of it.  The Obamarific response?  While they were spa-ing in Baden-Baden...

Obama in Strasbourg: Twitteriffic Photos

Image via Wikipedia

When I saw this ever-so-divine Obama candle, I had to buy, er, two of them.  And I carefully packed them up and carried them back to France.  I wish, I wish upon a star that I had a container of them to distribute or sell for a killing.

Yesterday, when I was glued to Obama--the Obamas--in Strasbourg, I whipped up these photos and twittered them.  You can count on my Saint Obama becoming a regular on these pages.  Love him and Michelle.  What a power couple! The people who are sniping about our First Lady's style are counting on page clicks for trash, or are jealous, stodgy, or mean. 

By the way, Strasbourg is a lovely city, and Alsace is beautiful with hillside vineyards, delicious wines, and outdoor Christmas markets that definitely get you in the mood.