Marshall Fields, Christkindel Market, and the Art Institute

Another must for me is going to Marshall Fields…now Macys…they put out the trumpets and the windows tell the tale of the Nutcracker Suite. Lou and I walked by at 11 at night so we had the whole street to ourselves. During the day the windows are jammed with parents and kids. In one section of the store there is a Tiffany ceiling with 1.6 million pieces of favrile iridescent glass.

Just down the block in Civic Center Plaza is the Christkindel Market. It is a German market. They sell things like nutcrackers, cuckoo clocks, beer steins and ornaments. They also sell traditional food…oh the food. I stopped back the next day for lunch…bratwurst and potato pancakes. Good old fashioned stick to your ribs food that will stop your heart cold. It was so good!!

The same plaza has the Chicago Picasso and across the street is Joan Miros “The Sun, The Moon and One Star”.

Off to the Art Institute to see all my beloved Impressionists. I wandered through the Modern Art section and found a new love….Paul Klee. Here are a few of his paintings that I liked.

I think I have wrinkles that look like this...but the heart is there....a little black one.

They also had a great Asian exhibit with number of statues, vessels, bells, and tombstones. They had great very intricate designs on them. Some of them are reminded me of designs on some of the Mayan artifacts.

I went with Lou to a reception this evening at the University Club. We got up to the 9th floor and enter Cathedral Hall which was at least 3 stories tall. It reminded me of something out of Harry Potter or maybe Harry Potter took a page from construction like this. It was a great opportunity to see it…since the club is private. Down on the 8th floor they had a library that was floor to ceiling books.

Chicago Day 2....Mary Mary Christmas Shopping

I have been here a number of times and Michigan Avenue is wonderful, but the stores get a little old after 5 years. This trip I am on the lookout for something different. Today I wandered down Dearborn in search of a store called Mary Mary Gifts. What a gem!!! Mary and the girls were so nice. And the store is filled to the brim with all kinds of decorative items, purses, chandeliers, and much more. I ended up buying a Mad Hatter lamp, a box with Paris tiles on the front, 2 really cute tree ornaments, and a set of Tibetan rice bowls for Lou…don’t tell him…it’s a present. Check out the pics of the store. You really could spend a couple hours here. It was exactly the type of store I was looking for. Oh…they also sell this toffee that is made here in Chicago. It has been put in the goodie bags for various Hollywood award shows. It was wonderful. Of course I bought a little bag of that too.

Off to Chicago

The drive from Cleveland to Chicago is boring. I love the country. I grew up on a farm. And besides my family, I am one of a few people I know that can find beauty in a field of wheat or corn. But the drive to Chicago is 320 miles of this….

Then you arrive in Chicago. This pic is from the 20th floor of the Westin Hotel.


This is our first time at the Westin... I love it. We are up on the Executive Club Floor. Because Lou travels so much, he gets free upgrades at various places. We weren’t expecting to be on this floor…it was a nice surprise. The Club Room is three doors down from our room and has multiple large screen TV, couches, chairs and tables. There is free breakfast, cookies, fruit and beverages in the afternoon and happy hour with appetizers in the evenings. Plus the views out the windows are breath-taking. I’m sitting here watching the traffic and looking at these buildings. From the ground you don’t get a change to appreciate the tops of these buildings. The older buildings have so much character. The second building from the right has a dome on the top.

This pic is a view out our window. Marina City is reflected in the glass. This is a different kind of beauty from the farm.

This is a pic of Trump Tower which is still under construction.


Although is is sunny up top, it is already getting dark in the skyscraper canyons. This is the Old Water Tower, one of a few buildings that survived the Great Chicago Fire and the John Hancock building (on the right) on Michigan Ave.


Free Hugs.....the free hugs campaign is a worldwide movement. We saw people doing this in Paris also. These are a few advocates in Chicago.

Everything is decorated for the holidays. One of the window displays at Crate and Barrel. I stepped into it to take this pic. There was a chair in front of me. I tried to convince L to sit in the chair and let me take his picture from outside. I even taunted him by calling him “chicken”. He wouldn’t bite. I love Crate and Barrel for the 4 floor escalator that sits in the front of the building. Like a kid, I have to ride up to the fourth floor every year. All the furniture is up on 3 and 4…so I run around and test out the couches and chairs. Once of these years I am going to buy a leather arm chair. I just haven’t found the right one at the right price yet. Most of them here are ~$2000. Ouch.

And I found a long lost love in Chicago...he was so sweet and all decked out for the Holidays with his Santa hat on.

The Word of the Day….HELLO!!!

These are photos of my step-grandson, Mathew..Matty. Is there even such a term…step- grandson? Rachael is my step-daughter…but what do I call Matty? After 20 years with Lou do I just leave the “step” out of it. At what point do I earn the right to just call them sons and daughters…or do I ever have that right. I don’t know. Rachael likes to call me Grandma in reference to Matty. I cringe at that word…am I old enough to be a Grandma….YES.

Matty is so cute and not afraid of anyone. He just took over a room of family and friends. Walked up to people and talked to them is his 18 month old language. He walks…or rather runs everywhere. He was bouncing off countertops. He was the right height to hit one of the countertops right in the head. He ended up with a bruise at the end of the day.

Like most of his parents generation…he is learning to carry a telephone everywhere. This one was actually a refrigerator magnet. He ran around the room with it to his ear and all the adults would yell…..HELLO

Happy Thanksgiving

It can't really be the end of November. There has to be some scientific principle that the older you get the faster time passes. I remember that time seemed to drag was I was a kid. Now the weeks and months fly by.

I did a show at Landerhaven last Saturday. It wasn't bad for my first year. I was hoping for better sales...but I made my costs and then some so I guess I should be grateful. I am hearing from a number of people that sales are down. It's either they don't have money to spend or they drop $300 on me. There seems to be no middle ground. Below is a pic of my booth and my friend Donna from Chelle's Closet

I'm off to Chicago on Saturday. I will be taking the computer along so I can blog. I'm there until Thursday with absolutely nothing to do but roam around the city.

Don't eat too much Turkey!!!

Pics of the Month

I started doing a pic of the week....but I'm all caught up in doing shows right now...so here are a few pics of month. First up....Santa Fe. This was taken at the B&B that we usually stay at in Santa Fe...Water Street Inn. The next pic is of a gate in Taos. Both are very typical of the area...adobe, rickety wood painted in bright colors, ristras hanging from the eaves, scruffy plants. The third pic is looking out from a cave in Bandalier National Park. It's earthy, ancient, and raw.

Paris is far from earthy...it's beautiful, cultured. At the time the Anasazi Indians were living in the caves at Bandelier....Pope Alexander III was laying the first stones of Notre Dame and King Philippe-Auguste constructed the Louvre.

Paris and Santa Fe couldn't be more different. I love both places... How can this be???

Show Update

Last weeks show was a good one. I have money to pay off my "bead bills". It was sooo much better than the show in October. I get repeat business at Mrs. Claus' Closet. People came back to the both to tell me that they bought from me before and they get lots of compliments on their jewerly. That always feels good. I had one women who couldn't afford to buy a piece because of her personal finances, but she came to the booth 3 times and kept saying... "you're killing me"...which I took as a huge compliment. I had another woman show up 5 minutes before the end of the show (just like she did last year) and bought a necklace and matching bracelet. She told me that my jewelry makes her hyperventilate....and she was :))

I had a chance to visit with Donna Picione from Chelle's Closet. She is always next to me and we get along so well. She told me she only does this show so we can see each other :)) She is part of the reason I keep returning. She makes wonderful jumpers and hats for little girls. Her granddaughter Michaela is featured on her website. Across from us was Annette Corrao who makes stuffed dolls. She made one of Regis Philbin and he had it on his show. She also directs high school plays in Lorain....and in her spare time she "punks up" hair. About 4PM we got bored and the crowd had thinned out at the show....Annette punked up Donna's hair....and boy did the guys like the hairdo. I think she got hit on about a dozen times...at least 10 of those were by the pottery boy who was exhibiting out in the hallway. We had fun.

I don't usually buy things at these shows...primarily because I don't have anyone to cover the booth so I don't get a chance to walk around. This time I breezed around the show before it started Wednesday morning. One of Donna's friends...Judy...make wreathes and trees and I found nice 4ft christmas tree with 2 stacked snowmen. With just the two of us at home, we don't usually set up a Christmas tree anymore. This will be our tree from now on and there's no needles to clean up. I already have it set up in the living room.

I also bought a French Santa (Pere Noel) from Annette. Of course he has a beret, his beard is wrapped around his neck like a scarf, and he's carrying a yule log and a bottle of wine. Pere Noel leaves presents for good little girls and boys and Pere Fouettard gives spankings....hmmm do I want goodies or spankings???? Oh Santa!!!!!

I have another show this Sunday at Landerhaven on the east side of Cleveland. I am hoping this will be a big one. It's the first time I'm exhibiting there. People have been telling me it is a great show...lots of buyers. So I am spending my evenings this week making new designs. Below are a few of the pieces. My photography sucks. After my last show (November 30th) I plan to open an Etsy shop so I need to work on taking better pictures.

It's back to Santa's Workshop for me to make more bangles and baubbles for the holidays.

Mrs. Claus Closet

I have a show on Tuesday and Wednesday so I won't be posting until the weekend. If you live in Cleveland...come to see me at Mrs. Claus Closet in Westake. The show is open to the public on Wednesday from 10AM to 9PM. The address is posted on the right hand side of the blog.

Do you like my avatar??? Her name is Gemma

Of course she is in Paris while I am here in Cleveland. She has the requisite scarf that must be worn when in France. Granny glasses just like those worn by Meg Ryan in French Kiss (I do have a pair of those). And she wouldn't be complete without her constant companion....Manic Monkey...whose job is to throw a banana peel in her way every so often just to shake things up.

Ferdi

I was thinking about Paris...something I do alot of....trying to remember the name of this little restaurant we stopped into after spending the day at the Louvre. I did a web search and found it....FERDI. Apparently it has been getting some press lately. Travel and Leisure magazine says that Penelope Cruz has declared that Ferdi serves "the best cheeseburger in Paris....like she ever eats a cheeseburger...or worst yet she probably does and has the metabolism of a humming bird. The IHT had a nice reveiw. We just happened upon it and they had a table available, but a cheeseburger was the last thing I wanted. I had the empenadas. They were wonderful. Lou had them bring some homemade hot sauce to the table. I watched how fast his brow broke out in a sweat and decided not to try it. It is at 32 Rue du Mont-Thabor in the 1st.

My picture of the week....Gendarmes sur cheval....hopefully that translates into Police on Horseback. Feel free to correct my attempt at French if this isn't correct.

I love horses....I love men....and I really love men in knee high boots....mounted police are a dream come true. I know...I'm a piglet...that's what Lou would call me. He puts up with my little ogling good looking men. But to be fair...I look at beautiful women too.

I never mentioned the men in Paris. For the most part I didn't noticed any difference in basic looks than American men. I mean they didn't stand out as being more or less handsome than the men I'm used to seeing. But one day walking down the street I nearly peed myself. I looked up and thought it was Clive Owen walking towards me....only better looking. I think I herniated a disc...I snapped my neck so fast as he walked by. I don't think I have ever seen anyone that good looking in person.....except for Lou of course. Then one evening on the Avenue George V up near the Champs Elysees I saw a man crossing the street that reminded me of Cary Grant. Very handsome and distinguished.

Enjoy the weekend. I will be making jewelry all weekend getting ready for my next show.

Manic Monkey Week

I can't believe it has been a week since I last posted. What a busy week. Last Friday and Saturday I had a show on the east side of Cleveland.... which sucked. I did big business last year, but this year they brought in another jewelry artist with work extremely similar to mine and put her 2 doors down. The way the traffic flowed...they hit her before me....I sold 25% of what I sold last year. I expect a number of jewelry artists at shows....that's just the way it is...everyone makes jewelry these days. But I haven't been at a show before when they have juried in somone whose work is so similar. That's what happens when the show promoters are more intersted in selling booth space then trying to have balance. Not sure I will go back next year. I'll have to see how the rest of the shows go this year.


Sunday Jennifer and I did a resin demo for our PMC guild. I"ll post some pics of the resin jewelry later tonight. That was fun. I love talking about making jewelry and this group is such a great group of women. After the guild meeting (Lou refers to it as a coven since we convert something the consistency of clay to fine silver) I went to my step-son's house warming. Jason and Maggie are such a great couple. We took them out to Santa Fe with us last year and had a lot of fun. Pic of them below.


Monday I worked at home so we could get a new furnace and central air installed. I've gone my whole life living in houses without central air. Now I have it and I can't use it until next summer. I can't wait for it to get hot........hahahahahaha.....cause I will be stayin' cool in my house.

Robert...pic of the week

We saw this on the side of a building on the Rue de Rivoli as we walked toward the Louvre from Boulevard de Sebastopol. I thought it was interesting. On closer inspection, there is a small crucifix hung in between "Robert" and the garland of bottles. When I blow up the picutre it looks like a large, very dirty stuffed animal....like the Pink Panther almost...blind-folded and it has a make-shift penis. I assume the building is going to go through some type of construction (sign to the left). Is this some type of statement from one of the tenents??? Or is it just modern art??? Or both???

The Year of Annoyances

So last Thursday I came home to a slightly chilly house. Thought I would turn the furnace on to take the chill out....no furnace. No heat. Not a big deal this time of year since we have been having wonderful weather. But something we need to act on quickly since it will be turning cold. We didn't even bother to fix it. I figured the furnace was about 25 years old. After talking to the heating guy...he estimates that our furnace is ~40 years old and has a few contraptions on it that are illegal. So....thousands of dollars later....we have a new furnace (or will have on Monday) and something I have never had in a home.....central air conditioning. I know I can't use it until next summer but it will be such a pleasure to have central air the hot and muggy summers that we have. Plus it will increase the resale value of the house to have it.

So why is it the Year of Annoyances....this summer we had to replace the gas line from the street to the house and we were without gas for 8 days. Then we had part of a tree fall that took out the neighbors fence. And now this......AH...the joy of home ownership.

My Designs

I've been calling this website Gail Lannum Designs...but I realized I hadn't posted any. So I am in the process of loading some photos. They are on the right hand side of the blog. These are the ones that I had done by a professional this summer. It was worth the money. I have been showing them to some promotors and they are telling me to apply to their shows.

Speaking of shows....I have my first Holiday Show this Friday and Saturday in Aurora. This is also listed on the right hand side.

New name of the blog.....Gail's Tales....and Jewelry Designs.

Death Becomes Them

I lifted this picture from Girl in the City ....Karl Lagerfeld and Valentino. It reminds me of the Robert Zemeckis movie...Death Becomes Her. Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn drink an immortality potion but are warned to take care of their bodies since they don't have any regenerative powers. Meryl Streep breaks her neck in the movie and has to hide it...notice the similarity between Lagerfeld / high collar and Streep /neck rings??? I wonder if he would be able to hold up his head if his collar weren't supporting it??

My name is Gail....and I'm a Francophile

I've become a Francophile...much to the horror of one of my brothers....the republican one. He still refers to his fries as Freedom Fries...as if the renaming of fries would shame the French into following our idiot president into war. BTW bro....fries originated in Belgium.

I have been chronicalling the trip and working with the pictures.....I can't get Paris out of my head. I bought Hemingway's A Moveable Feast and on my list of movies to watch is Amelie, La Mome, and Paris, Je T'Aime. I just finished reading Suite Francaise and bought Nemirovsky's Fire in the Blood. It's an illness...I can't get enough of Paris. I thought I would stop reading the blogs from Paris when we got back from vacation...nope. I love reading them and seeing the pictures. Matt from Misplaced in the Midwest left me a comment that I would have to come back and stay longer....I know!!!

I already told Lou that I wanted to go back for a month. But that would mean I would be in Paris by myself for part of the time because he wouldn't be able to take that long off work. I probably could. My boss takes the entire month of August off...so he probably wouldn't say much if I asked for a month. Lou doesn't mind me being there ...partially because he goes to Korea every other year for 2 weeks without me (it's a martial arts thing)...but he worries about me being there alone. Anyboy want to stay with me in Paris for a couple weeks???

Thoughts on Paris

Shakespeare and Company ....we could have spend hours in this place. It's been around since 1951.

Would I go back?.....in a heartbeat. In fact I already told Lou that we are going back next year. Six days was not enough to see all the things on my list and didn't give us the time to really relax. Still to see...Sainte Chapelle, Musee Rodin, Musee Picasso, the Pompidou Center, Versailles....it's a long list....Marais district, Marche de la Porte de Vanves (another flea market), the Crazy Horse (Lou's choice...but it is the original), more time to window shop and cafe hop. In the spring of 2008, Continental is going to fly a non-stop from Cleveland to Paris!!!

The view out our hotel window

Are the French rude?....not at all. We did learn a few key French phrases so we could be functional in shops and restaurants. I think being polite is key. I like to think that you get what you give. We did have what I refer to as two rude moments. The first was in a cafe. We had just come up from the Metro after travelling all over the city. Lou wanted to stop for a beer and I was hot and needed a break. We sat down so that we both could face the street to people watch. There was an older gentleman and his wife sitting next to us. He was facing in towards the cafe... and me. I noticed that he was looking at us so I nodded and smiled at him....no response. But that was no problem. But everytime I looked in his direction he was glaring at me. I wasn't talking loud....just drinking my Coca Light (what they call Diet Coke) and talking to Lou....but still he glared. Even as we got up to leave he was glaring. I should have flashed him a big smile and bid him "Au revoir"...but I let him be.

The second instance was in a restaurant...and we should have learned our lesson about restaurant bars in Amsterdam. It seems that in restaurants (at least Amsterdam and France), the bar is not for drinking. It is there for looks, paperwork, and for the waiters to pour drinks for their customers. So we went into a very nice restaurant and was told we should come back in 30 minutes and they would have a table for us. That was fine with me but Lou asked if we could sit at the bar....big faux pas. Of course the hostess said yes and asked what we wanted to drink...and then ignored us for 10 minutes. That's not the rude part. One waiter went back behind the bar and poured 4 glasses of wine. He then walked around to the front of the bar where Lou and I were sitting with our heads together talking quietly.... and reached in between us to pick up his glasses of wine and place them on his tray. That was RUDE. So I learned my lesson. Unless they invite you to sit at the bar for a few moments while they prepare your table....never ask if you can sit at the bar for a drink while you wait. We did have a similar experience in Amsterdam....they were flustered when we asked to sit at the bar and they had to clear away paperwork....but the owner made us drinks right away and without asking for it...prepared us an appetizer on the house. That man was the epitome of hospitality.

View down the Champs Elysees...taken in the middle of the street. The sky was amazing that day

Ironwork on the Eiffel Tower

Are all French women thin?....yes. At least thinner than the average American women. If you lined up 10 average French women and 10 average American women....the French would be thinner. I only saw one person I would have classified as morbidly obese. I see them every day in Cleveland.

View up through the pyramid at the Louvre

Do all French women wear scarfs?.....no. But I did see more than you see in the US and they know how to tie them so they look so chic. I have a few scarfs and have never been able to make them look good. I guess I expected all the women to be dressed to the hilt walking around on 4" heels with beautiful scarfs wrapped around them. I remember reading that you don't wear tennis shoes in Paris....so I made a point of going out to get a pair of nice walking shoes. What I found is that they dress pretty much like us. Jeans and tennis shoes were everywhere. But that may be because we were close to the University and in areas where tourists frequent.

~2700BC Cycldic Figures...these are so old it is hard to fathom. I can grasp a couple hundered years ago....but 5000??

How was the food?.....everyone is asking about the food. We had great food. What I really like was the lack of fast food restaurants!! It was so nice to stop into a sidewalk cafe for lunch....love the Croque Monsieur's (ham and cheese). Amy at C'est la me...provided us with restaurant recommendations. Le Coup Chou on rue de Lennau was so charming and was just a short walk from our hotel ....over by the Sorbonne it was hidden away up a side street. We had a table outside on this little street that went up a small hill. I didn't think that cars would use the one-lane street at night since the restaurant had tables on both sides. But both a cab and police car came through....but they did so very very slowly. At one point I thought the table next to us was going to get knocked over by the police car...it came that close. But it was a beautiful night and the restaurant was great. Boullion Racine was a couple blocks down from our hotel. The interior is art nouveau...bevelled mirrors, painted opalines, stained glass, carved woodworks, marble mosaics...it was lovely. The manager/owner (don't know which) was very nice to us and the food was excellent. One other restaurant of note was the La Mediterranee. This was literally steps from the hotel door. It was also the place were we mistakenly sat at the bar. But once we had a table things were good. We both had bouillabaisse (Provencal fish soup). Lou said it was the best he has ever had. For dessert I had the poach pear which was by far the best dessert I have ever had. It was lying in the most wonderful chocolate sauce with a thick vanilla cream (or ice cream) on top. It was amazing.

An ancient asian bronze statue and the glyphs next to her....Cris...take a look at this....we can turn this into a tear-a-way for PMC.

Did I buy a lot of clothes?: No. They don't regularly carry my size. But I did get a purse...actually Lou bought it for me as a birthday present. A Francesca Biasia...a beautiful green leather. I have this thing for purses...it just started a few years ago. And I've managed to have Lou buy them all :)) Usually for an anniversary or birthday I pick one out and have him get it for me. He doesn't have to rack his brain about what to get me and it feeds my fetish...it's win-win.

Odeon Theatre de l'Europe...this was right next door to our hotel

Memorable moments.....after being up for ~20 hours to get to Paris, the taxi taking us to the hotel went over a bridge on the Seine and we caught our first glimpse of Notre Dame......sitting at Bouillion Racine for dinner the second night and hearing Louis Armstrong sing La Vie en Rose in the background....seeing Botticelli's frescos in the Louvre.....standing under the Eiffel Tower