vive la france?

i have always been madly in love with all things french, since the first time i saw a picture of the eiffel tower, or heard an accordion. it has been years since i have been in france and i have sort of lost my hopelessly romantic ideals about it in the last few years. part of my obsession with it might have died four years ago, when my plans for spending the entire fall in paris were eliminated, and instead, i came home, separated from my husband, and moved to kansas city. so my former francophile-absorbed heart turned to other things.

until yesterday.

am i being overly dramatic about this? most definitely. and i don't care. i fell in love with france all over again, when i stepped into a l'occitane boutique on the plaza in kansas city, yesterday afternoon. it smelled like provence in there. of course it did ~ that's the point. and french music was playing and i could smell the lavender and verbena swirling around my head.

the sales woman asked me if i had a favorite and i told her, "definitely the lavande". when i pronounced it correctly, she then asked, "where did you first hear about l'occitane?" i told her about stumbling onto it in paris and thinking it was a one-of-a-kind boutique. i bought TONS of product and brought back to the states, feeling so smug about my unique find ~ only to discover that it's a chain. argh. but the product is really made in provence, so it's no chipotle. not that there's anything wrong with chipotle.

anyway, i was completely taken back to paris. i only spent a few days in paris and have dreamed about going back ever since. after spending a year's salary on lotion that smells so good you feel like a beautiful, lanky french woman with a perfectly positioned scarf, and a lavender candle that is filling my studio with the smells of provence, i walked out of there on a cloud.

that night, sam and i saw "inception". crazy movie. had nightmares. but marion cotillard was in it and she was so lovely. her performance made me want to buy a corset and heels and never again be caught in broad daylight without pantyhose and lipstick.

now, anyone who knows me, knows that i don't wear either of those things. but the french women really know how to live and how to be sensual. i know how to make ganache ~ doesn't that count for anything?

i have a million things to do in the next few hours, but i had to share my awakening. how can body lotion and a candle make you so nostalgic and dreamy? i should feel shallow because of that. but instead, i just feel lucky that something that simple can make me stop and smell the lavender.