Bonjour, Pareee!!

Who ever said that once-in-a-lifetime can only happen once, or twice?

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After 8 macarons, a sampling of foie gras, 4 multi-course meals, 2 Alaia shoes, a vintage Givenchy skirt and 10 new scarves, our shopping & dining Parisian adventure is now over.

But before I turn into a fat sack (yes, I gained weight which I don't know how after all the walking we did which seemed to have been as far out to the moon and back!), and before I officially start my wallowing over the end of our vacation, let me share with you all how each of those fabulous day unfolded right from the very first day!

DAY 1

Arrived in this very comfy travel outfit:
-- shirt: Karl Lagerfeld Key to Cure '08 -- sweater: BCBG --- jeans: J Brand --
-- belt: Banana Republic --

Stayed at Le Meridien Etoile.
When we stayed here for New Year's Eve '08, they upgraded us to their Club President suite and given a free continental breakfast at the club floor with views of the Eiffel! This time, not as lucky. Oh well, we're in Paris and nothing could ever dampen our spirit!

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For dinner, we went to Leon de Bruxelles. This is our favorite place for 'moulet et frites' and is probably our 5th or 6th time here! Yes, for me, it's THAT good! So good we even went on a foodie pilgrimage last year and visited their original restaurant in Brussels!

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Was feeling so jetlagged so at 8PM, we called it a night and I then slept for 10 hours. I know, such a waste of time to be sleeping for that long while on holiday but it was much needed because day 2 was packed with a full-day shopping itinerary!

-- shirt: Gap -- skirt: Moschino C&C --- flats: Fendi -- jacket: Target --
-- scarf: bought from a vendor when we were first here in '05! --

The Other Twin

-- drape dress: BCBG -- layering top: Forever 21 --- necklace: Banana Republic --
--sunnies: Fendi -- pumps: Jimmy Choo --

We had the honor to be godparents of our good friend's baby boy last Sunday. The baby baptism was held in St. Paul, the twin sister city of Minneapolis!

While I'll be forever fiercely loyal to Minneapolis (for obvious reasons as it bears the name of this blog!), St. Paul had the honor to be the state's capital. The pics here are taken in front of the State Capitol and at the Basilica of St. Paul.

My weeklong absence here (and from visiting your blogs) is because I was feeling so uninspired the past week. I felt so down hearing about the devastating typhoon that hit Manila, and reading about the heart-breaking accounts of some of the victims. Style, fashion & shopping were shoved at the very back of my head.

I'm so thankful to God for keeping my family safe. Apart from one of my sisters who had a minor property damage, everyone's all safe and ok. However, thousands of families had a completely different fate. Their lives completely changed in a day.

I am so thankful to all my friends here who responded to the call for help by praying and donating. All it took was a simple Facebook shoutout and a few friends immediately responded to giving away a lot of stuff. Every little thing is going to count in this time of need.

I am so thankful to the Filipino community here in the Twin Cities who inspired a lot of of us to help in whatever little way we can! Within a 20-mile radius, there's at least four families who opened their homes as drop-off points for donations. Our local freight forwarder to the Philippines even pledged to ship any typhoon relief for free. Everybody was doing something and I had no excuse for inaction.

UPDATE: For those who are considering to donate, an anonymous UNICEF donor is matching donations (a dollar donated will be matched with another dollar) between now until Oct 6!
May this person be immensely blessed for having such a giving heart!!

My thoughts and prayer go as well to those who suffered from the flash flood in Samoa and earthquake in Indonesia...