Jon Paul's Three Cities

Last August, I met Jon Paul,  writer and content producer for the web site Poptimistic (http://www.poptimistic.com). He shared this tattoo, one of three he has, from his upper right arm:

Jon Paul's focus on Poptimistic is travel and food. He credits the work to the artist Friday Jones, who does custom tattoo work out of Senses New York Salon & Spa in the Flat Iron District. I mentioned Ms. Jones back on Tattoosday in 2009 here.

Jon Paul explained that he originally met Ms. Jones in New Orleans when she did "the very first tattoo [he] got ... the compass that the rest of the tattoo is built around." About a year later, he elaborated, "I went back to her and said, 'Now I want you to build a whole piece around my three favorite spots in the world.' So she designed it custom from that." She did it over three sessions.

Represented among Jon Paul's three favorite places are New York City, where he calls home:

The Big Apple is represented by the Statue of Liberty and by the iconic Art Deco style of the landmark Chrysler Buillding.

Paris is represented by the Eiffel Tower:

Sydney, Australia is represented by it's recognizable Opera House:

Jon Paul said " Sydney I love just for the sheer beauty of it and the people ... are lovely." Jon Paul elaborates further on why he loves Australia in this post, which includes another photo of his tattoo.

Thanks to Jon Paul for sharing his tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!


This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.


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Scenes from Strasbourg and Paris

Today I thought I'd share the highlights from my trip to France. I'll keep the text sparse and mostly let the photos speak for themselves.

Strasbourg calls itself the Capitol of Christmas, and boy do they mean it. 

These people take Christmas fucking seriously.

The awesome cathedral in Strasbourg.

This picture is a little blurry, but it gives you some idea to what extent the streets in Strasbourg are decorated for Christmas. 

If you think the exterior decorations are elaborate, try going inside some of these places.

One of the canals in Strasbourg.

Once I got to Paris, I spent my first evening and night just wandering around looking at the Christmas lights and window displays along the Rue Saint-Honoré and the Champs-Elysées.

My hotel was just one block from the Place Vendôme, which made a great starting point for my walk.

Each different area seemed to have its own unique Christmas decorations.

The window displays at John Galliano were absolutely magical.

Christmas lighting along the Champs-Elysées.

 I can't remember which store this was displayed in, but I thought that the shearling jacket, sequin dress 

and suede fedora was such a great combination. I can totally see myself wearing this outfit.

Clearly this was after my first shopping day, and as you can see I didn't waste any time wearing the new leather vest. This outfit was perfect for the cold weather but wasn't too bulky to go shopping in. I added a scarf and gloves when I was outdoors, and brought along a hat, which I put on after the sun went down. Rather than wearing tights I wore my thick ponte knit pants under the dress.

 I just had to take a look at all the beautiful designer clothes at Au Primtemps. 

Item that broke my heart by being out of my budget: a gorgeous little bag from Zadig et Voltaire.

 A beautiful day up at Monmartre. 

A guy was playing Pachelbel's Canon on the harp outside the Sacré Cœur. 

One of those magical Parisian moments.

 Sunset at the Place de la Concorde.

 A view from the Tuileries Gardens.

 The perfect end to my last evening: a nighttime stroll around Notre-Dame.

Quick Conversion

One thing I've noticed since I've been walking to work is that I'm wearing pants a lot more often, I think because they feel less fussy -- there's no slip to deal with, or a skirt that's clinging to my tights, or blowing in the wind, or whatever. There have been a couple of times where I've changed my entire outfit once I got to work, but that involves a lot more hauling of stuff than I'm willing to do most days (especially since I often also walk home and thus have to haul everything for 6 miles). So my goal is generally to build an outfit where I can wear it mostly in its finished state, and change or add one or two things once I get to the office. Don't worry, I'm still looking for ways to make my skirt and dress-based outfits easy to wear for the walks, and I'll happily share any new tricks I hit upon.

This is an example of just the sort of quick-conversion outfit I'm after. I wore my Bastien short boots for the walk, and carried the tall boots as well as the white cardigan in my backpack. Then when I got to work it was quick and easy to convert the outfit for the work day.

Next week I'll be traveling to Germany and France on business (I know, I know -- what a sacrifice, right?), so I'm definitely going to be putting some of these new tactics to work for my travel outfits. In fact I think a couple of the pieces in this outfit will be making the trip with me. I'm going first to Dusseldorf and Strasbourg, and then spending the weekend in Paris before coming home. Dusseldorf and Strasbourg are for work, but the Paris weekend is all mine. Good thing I haven't started my Christmas shopping yet!

Tunic: All Saints
Knit pants: Club Monaco
Cardigan: 12th Street Cynthia Vincent
Boots: Modern Vintage
Necklace: Wendy Brandes