We decided to venture out for a bit, and went to Brent Cross. Shopper's heaven? I didn't splurge too much, as I purchased the two new Dior Vernis in "504 Waterlily" and "694 Forget-Me-Not" at John Lewis - before I ventured on to Boots where I picked up two Rimmel Glam'Eyes HD palettes in "001 Black Cab" and "008 True Union Jack" (mostly because of the design), two L'Oreal Infallible in "016 Coconut Shake" and "021 Sahara Treasure", and a limited edition Philosophy Hope in a Jar moisturizer (15 ml as opposed to the regular 60 ml, perfect for testing purposes). Oh, and a rewards card! I have no idea what I'll use it for, as we don't have any Boots close by.. but I do love these neat plastic cards, you know.

Now I'm going to sleep and dream about tomorrow, when I'm going to IMATS to indulge in all kinds of makeup goodness. If you don't hear from me again I probably died from happiness (and superficialness) somewhere between the boots at Alexandra Palace.. Oh well, this is me signing out from Finchley. Good night!

Despite of the weather, which turned out to be quite nice on Monday, we had decided to go back to La Gueuze for our last dinner in Paris. I wanted the 'Confit de Canard' one last time before leaving, and we also wanted to say goodbye to the wonderful staff. We were served an aperitif each of something I thought to be some kind of homemade black currant juice with alcohol. As it turned out it was raspberry beer mixed with whiskey and black currant liqueur. An interesting mix! We spent the evening at La Gueuze, ate and drank, having a really good time - the perfect ending to a wonderful vacation.

The trip home went fine, no unexpected problems anywhere, but being back in Norway is somewhat sad. I miss Paris already. Very much. I miss the city, its people, their mentality, the food and drinks, and all the friends we've made. At the same time it certainly feels good to be home, sleeping in our own bed. We are definitely going back to Le Quartier Latin, and we have already booked our hotel room for our next trip in 2012. I'm spending the next couple of days unpacking all the stuff I've accumulated while on vacation, taking pictures, sorting through everything, and then I'll do another post to show you what I've purchased.

Who would have thought I'd fall so deeply in love with Paris?
Stay tuned for the fun stuff.

We've been stopping by Starbucks a lot while here, but the one on Champs-Elysées, oh man.. it's the worst coffee I've ever had. Apparently they had a new recipe for their wonderful Frappuccino®, or at least that's what they told us, making it taste like crap. Ugh. So disappointed. Apart from Sephora and Starbucks we didn't really do anything but walk around, Øyvind wanted to stop by a few car exhibitions as we walked past, and we shared another nice day in Paris.

Oh, and the buses of Paris deserve their own paragraph in this post. All our experiences with them has been wonderful, no trouble at all. Most of them have automatic ramps and a nice space reserved for people in wheelchairs, and when you signalize for the bus to stop, the driver stop where it's easiest to enter. If people are being asses (apparently they are found here as well), refusing to move from the reserved space, the bus driver will demand them to move away. Awesome! Pleasant drivers, helpful and nice, making it a breeze to get from A to B by bus. It's so good to know that buses are indeed a possibility, so two thumbs up from me!

I wrote this post when we arrived back at the hotel after a nice day in the city, only to understand from Twitter that something horrible had happened at home. I quickly learned that there had been a terrible explosion in Oslo, killing seven people, and there was also a massacre on Utøya, killing a lot of innocent youths. I feel bad for posting about our vacation when something awful like this has just happened, but I choose to keep updating my blog for my friends and family. My heart and thoughts are indeed with everyone involved, both in Oslo and at Utøya.

Apart from dreaming about the 'Confit de Canard' of La Gueuze, I have to admit I've been shopping a little more. OK, maybe a lot. I decided to visit the local Sephora again, since I love Sephora, and naturally it got expensive. As usual. Well, at least I bought a new fragrance for my fiancé, which happened to be the most expensive item in my cart. In addition to my goodies, that is. The first three items on my list wasn't acquired during my Sephora Shopping Spree. Amira had bought a Chanel palette and a NARS Lip Lacquer for me before I traveled to Paris, but instead of sending it by mail she brought it to me when we first met - and I forgot to add it to the relevant post.

Let's see, what else? Oh! I wanted to look for a pair of jeans, as the ones I have are a bit tight around the waist, so I ventured into a clothing store close to the hotel. I started flipping through jeans, and I suddenly came across a pair of skinny ones with patches on the thighs. I instantly wanted it, I'm a sucker for special designs on jeans, and it felt really soft and nice. And I couldn't help but grin when I saw the price tag: €5. For a pair of jeans! And if that wasn't enough it was the last pair, and the size turned out to be a perfect fit. I also picked up a burgundy "varsity" jacket (with PU sleeves) and a black 'leather' skirt, which might just be too short for me - but it just looked amazingly cool. Did I mention how much I love the pair of jeans? I will definitely go back to see if I can find me another pair.

So today we were supposed to meet up with Amira again, but I couldn't seem to reach her. It was a bummer, so we went to back to Galeries Lafayette alone to kill some time. I also wanted to stop by Hard Rock Cafe to buy a t-shirt or.. four, two shot glasses and a keychain (a nice addition to my ever-growing collection). After buying my very first Dior Vernis nail polish I could not stop thinking about the limited edition "St. Tropez", which the sales woman was wearing when I was at Galeries Lafayette the first time. Yes, I noticed. I started looking for it online without any luck, found that it was sold out from the US Dior and so I wanted to go back to Galeries Lafayette to see if they might still have it - and they did! I was so happy when I found it that my heart actually started racing. A little pathetic, I know - but at least now it's mine.

I do realize that I write a lot about shopping, but none of us are overly interested in arts and culture, so our vacations consists of taking it easy, living life to the fullest, enjoying good food, and shopping. I've also had days where I've felt the need to stay close to the hotel, days where we haven't been doing much at all.

We decided to meet up again on Saturday to go shopping. Poor Øyvind, leaving with two makeup and shopping crazy girls, but at least he was able to bring his iPad to avoid death by boredom, or even makeup overkill. I have to say that I'm amazed by the bus system here in Paris, it's so easily accessible! We just have to point at my wheelchair and the driver stops, ejects the ramp, and I'm all set. Since we all needed some food we decided to start off at KFC, which I've never been to. Yes, I am a fast-food lover, so naturally it had to be checked out like everything else! It was crowded by doves, making my heart ache for them with all their injuries (some lacked feathers, others lacked claws and feet), but we managed to have a nice meal without any dove-crashing-into-any-heads-incidents while sitting there.

After having eaten a little we decided to venture on, and stopped by the huge Apple Store on Opéra because of it's nice architecture. I wanted to take a look at their accessories, and I ended up buying a Griffin A-Frame Stand for my iPad - I did tell you that I bought an iPad, no? Anyway. I'm loving the stand, it's the perfect height and everything. Makes nerding so much more convenient. We then moved on to the enormous department store called Galeries Lafayette, heaven for a shopping geek like myself! OK, so I was a bit overwhelmed when we entered, there was people everywhere not really minding me, but I still managed to navigate in between everyone (without injuring any toes). And the ceiling? So incredible! I'll go back and take some pictures during the week, I promise. Inside I found a gorgeous bright coral pashmina I had to get, now regretting that I didn't get one in another color as well, before hitting all the makeup counters. Honestly I can't really remember what we saw when, but the first counter we stopped at was M·A·C. Of course. Amira wanted to take a closer look at the new mineralize eye shadows from Semi-Precious, and I wanted the 234 brush which I didn't find at the local M·A·C. I scored! I don't remember if I said so already, but in addition to the two MES I got on the first day here I also got two more: "Dark Indulgence" and "Blue Sheen". They all look so gorgeous in the pan, and applied wet they are indeed to die for. I also purchased a bottle of Dior Rock Coat, a top coat meant to "smoke up" any regular nail polish. Quite cool actually! I might get a few other Dior nail polishes, we'll see what happens. There's a color called Nirvana, which keeps calling my name.

After a quick break at a Starbucks - I cannot understand why we don't have Starbucks back home, their Frappuccino® Chocolate Chip or even Java Chip is the most amazing beverage on Earth - the next stop on our plan was the other ginormous department store called Printemps. Another heaven! I immediately saw the Giorgio Armani counter, and wanted to take a look at their Eyes to Kill eye shadows. My God. It's something in-between a cream and a powder, without actually being a cream. So smooth, so nice, and the "02 Lust Red" is such an amazing color! I kinda wish I could get more, but with their steep price I refuse to dish out for more than maybe two. I'm lemming "04 Pulp Fiction" as well, but I'm leaning towards skipping it.

After seeing these amazing department stores it was time to head back to the hotel, and in the meantime it had started to rain. Like a lot. Like seriously. Stupid as I am I was wearing a white shirt, white linen pants and a white and silver scarf, so when we arrived back at "our" bus stop and had to walk to the hotel - without an umbrella - I suddenly realized that my clothes had indeed gone see-thru. I was soaking wet from head to toe! Oh well. Just a little everyday action there, I guess? Anyway, I had such an amazing day with Amira that no rain could ruin the day for me.

Interested in knowing what I've shopped so far?
Feel free to "continue reading".

• Dior Miss Dior Cherie EdP
• Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in "Rebelle"
• M·A·C MES in "Smoked Ruby
• M·A·C MES in "Golden Gaze"
• M·A·C 235 Brush
• M·A·C Fix+ Sized to Go
• M·A·C 128 Brush
• Apple iPad (black, 32GB, wifi) (magically turned into a b-day present from Øyvind)
• iPad Smart Cover
• Griffin A-Frame Stand for iPad
• M·A·C MES in "Dark Indulgence"
• M·A·C MES in "Blue Sheen"
• M·A·C Mineralize Charged Water
• Pashmina
• M·A·C 234 Brush
• Dior Rock Coat
• Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill in "02 Lust Red"

Tuesday went by without anything happening because of my wheelchair malfunction, we had Chinese takeout in our hotel room (the very best I've ever had). When my wheelchair was back up and running on Wednesday, we decided to take a trip back to Louvre while the museum was open. By then I had decided to spend a good potion of my vacation fun money on a shiny iPad for myself, and so we went back to the gorgeous Apple Store. Amazingly enough the sales lady actually remembered us (maybe not so weird, I'm kinda easy to remember with the wheelchair and all), as well as the customizations for the iPad we had bought two days earlier, so I got mine in a few minutes. We then ventured on to Louvre, and headed straight for "Mona Lisa". Sadly none of us are particularly interested in art, so we didn't really stay that long, but some of the huge paintings were quite impressive! When we finally found "Mona Lisa" there was a huge crowd of people there, but I was quickly guided in front of everyone so I could actually see the famous painting. I've been feeling like a queen ever since we came to Paris: Norway has a lot to learn about how to treat disabled people, that's for sure. Just as when we went to Notre Dame last year, I had this strange feeling while at the Louvre. There's something oddly powerful by looking at paintings you've only heard or read about, knowing that some world-famous person has been standing in front of the exact same piece, actually creating it. It's hard to explain, it's something that has to be experienced I think.

I'm not sure what happened on Thursday. We possibly spent the days somewhere close to the hotel, playing with our iPads or something. I mean, it's genius! With the iPad I'm finally able to play board games with Øyvind without any hassle, and it so much easier to use than I ever imagined. When the evening came we had planned to go to Jardin du Luxembourg to look at the Bastille Day fireworks, but unfortunately the park closed early - and even though we tried walking around the park to catch a glimpse of it, we could only hear it. Oh well, possibly next year? At least we had a nice walk.

Then all hell broke loose. I was sure our vacation was ruined after only three mere days in Paris, that we would have to go home to get the wheelchair repaired, and I didn't dare to move around much because of the smell of burning plastic and the screeching noise. It was late, too late to call any offices back in Norway, so we had to call the emergency number (if you experience any emergencies with your aids). Naturally the person answering didn't know anything about anything, but he opened up a case and asked us to call back the next day. So much for emergencies. He did fill out a requisition, so when we called Permobil the morning after, they could start working on a solution straight away. Now, finding the right people isn't always easy, and we ended up calling Oslo, then Sweden, then France, and lastly Oslo again before we got in contact with an extraordinary man who made a few phone calls on our behalf - and did a lot of magic. After a few calls back and forth we were told that the man in Paris was in a meeting, which would take all day, so our hope to get it fixed before Bastille Day was running out.. Luckily he called us back that very afternoon. He said it could be difficult to arrange because of the bank holiday since the needed spare parts were in Lyon, but he would do his best to find a solution for us. One hour later he called back and told us that it had been arranged, so a repair man would be at our hotel between 9 and 10 AM the following day. I can honestly said that was the most nerve-wrecking hours I've experienced in a long time!

Wednesday morning he arrived as promised, the hotel management gave him an empty room to work in, and he changed both motors of my wheelchair in about four hours. He then brought my wheelchair back, asked me to test it and check for abnormalities while he had lunch close to the hotel. I tested it, found a few minor issues that he fixed when he came back, and then everything was back to normal again! I was immensely happy, and I really couldn't thank our repair man enough. I'm forever grateful for all the help we received from both Hjelpemiddelsentralen (fixing all requisitions needed) and Permobil, you guys are utterly fantastic. And our french repair man? Extraordinaire! The very best there is.

.. and they all lived happily ever after ..

I haven't been shopping much yet, I'm sure I will once we hit Champs-Élysées and I can go nuts at the ginormous Sephora there, but I did shop a little in the duty-free on-board the boat and I went to M·A·C Pro and the smaller Sephora yesterday. At the duty-free I bought one Chanel Les 4 Ombres in "93 Smoky Eyes", a Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in "Sari d'Eau" and a gift set from Dior consisting of a Crayon Eyeliner in black, Diorshow Extase mascara and an adorable mini Quint in "004 Mystic Smokys". I wasn't really planning on buying anything from M·A·C, but since they just launched their Semi-Precious collection from which I wanted two of the mineralized eyeshadows, I popped in to pick them up before they sell out. I ended up with "Smoked Ruby" and "Golden Gaze", in addition to two of the new brushes: 235 (split fibre all over eye) and 128 (split fibre cheek). I also wanted the 234 (split fibre eye blending), but apparently this M·A·C hadn't stocked it? Oh well. I'll look for it in another store later. Lastly I went to Sephora to look around, where I bought the smallest bottle of the new Dior Miss Dior Cherie (eau de perfume) as I've been lemming it for a while now.

Oh! And we went on a macaroon spree today, picking up assorted ones from three different stores to try them out. I didn't think I would like them at all, but I was wrong and I think they'll be amongst the things I'll miss the most when we leave. We stopped by Dalloyau first, then Maison Georges Larnicol and Gérard Mulot, who had the largest sortiment of the three. Let me just say that the first box of eight macaroons are already long gone, and I'm suspecting the rest of them will have a very short lifespan before devoured.

Apart from everything else I'm just admiring the gorgeous diamond ring I'm now wearing on my right ring finger. My previous post doesn't need my explanation, does it? I must be the luckiest girl in the whole wide world as I'm now engaged to the very best guy out there! He surprised me yesterday when he got down on one knee, pulled out a ring and asked me to marry him.. and there was absolutely no doubt in my mind when I gave him my answer. I don't understand how he managed to keep it a secret, I can usually tell straight away when he's hiding something, but this time he really did it. What can I say? I love my darling fiancé, and there's nothing I want more than to spend the rest of my life with him.

July 9th 2011

So far we don't have any special plans for this year's trip, but we're gonna (st)roll down Champs-Elysées, enjoy many a cup of coffee at Starbucks, eat French pastry and go shopping. I'm gonna soak up lots of glorious sun, get a nice tan, and wear light clothing as t-shirts and plaid skirts! I'm also thinking about booking a makeup session at M·A·C Pro, and we really want to go see all the things we were unable to last year because of the stupid wheelchair battery charger.

I feel like squealing and dancing around! Is it July soon? Is it? Is it?

Photo: Dreamstime.com

The looong drive home went well, thankfully without any unexpected problems. We started without a plan, and decided to spend the first night (Sunday-Monday) in Osnabrück, Germany as we had to do on our way down to Paris. From Osnabrück we were planning on staying in Göteborg, Sweden (Monday-Tuesday) - but when we arrived at 1:30 AM and found that there was some kind of football cup in town, we had to get back in the car and continue on to Uddevalla. Luckily they had a room for us there, and around 3:00 AM we finally got to go to sleep. Bohusgården in Uddevalla has the best beds in the whole world, I can testify to that - and I'm officially saving up for another Jensen mattress, believe you me.

I have to say it was horrible coming back to Scandinavian roads, namely our good ol' Norwegian ones, after having driven at the speed of 130km/h (and maybe a little more, don't tell my mom) on the Autobahn. Driving in 80km/h felt like standing completely still on the road, and to me it made the trip home even longer. It took forever to drive from Svinesund to Trondheim, seriously! On Minnesund we met up with my sister, her man and their Chihuahua Dennis - they had been visiting our parents and were heading home. It was nice seeing them all again, unfortunately it doesn't happen too often since we all live so far apart. On our way home we had to stop by Monica to pick up Theo, and it was awesome seeing him again! I'm pretty sure he's had two great weeks together with his beloved Lizzi and Zita, experiencing new things - but it was nothing less than great getting him back, and being able to cuddle him again.

On the upcoming Saturday we're off to another roadtrip, and this time we're going up north - formerly known as "home". We have to clear out some stuff, and it's a nice occasion to visit my parents and their dog pack - and maybe see if I can meet some old friends while we're there. I'm not really looking forward to the.. what.. 12 hour drive, but it'll be very nice to see mom and dad again! This time we're bringing Theo with us, and I'm sure he'll have a ball with the three furry guys up north, new friends and all.