Quite Possibly the Most Amazing Giveaway Ever

It's no secret I'm obsessed with Paris.  And all things French, really.  Well, Jordan Ferney of the Oh Happy Day blog recently moved to Paris with her husband and two young boys- a move that I both admire and envy.  I have followed her blog closely since the move (not that I didn't before) to see all of the wonderful places she discovers and, let's be honest, to live vicariously through her unbelievable experiences when my bank account wont permit me my own.  Now, it just so turns out, she's giving away - YES, GIVING AWAY- a trip for two to Paris!! That includes not only airfare, but a 7 night stay in an amazing boutique hotel, AND (this is the best part) two days with Jordan as your personal tour guide of Paris.

Sigh.  You know how sometimes you just know you're going to win something? Like, I pretty much always feel that way about every HGTV Dream Home?  Well, I don't have that feeling this time.  Hmph.  But maybe that means I'll actually win? Anyway, to get my hopes up, because that's what I like to do, here's my list of the top 5 things I'd want to see/do in Paris if I won:

photo via

1.  Go to Ladurée and oh, so slowly open the beautiful pale green box and savor the inimitable taste of the best macarons on the face of the earth. I'm serious.  If you've never had these before, you haven't lived.  There's nothing else to it. They are undeniably life-changing.  That may be saying a lot for a little pastry, but it's true.

photos from Oh Happy Day

2.  Re-visit the Marché aux Puces.  The first time I went, one of the vendors was playing La Vie en Rose and it poured through the stalls filled with Louis XIV chairs and buttons and old dolls, as I wandered around living my fantasy French life.  What I would give to go back there and wander those stalls again,  Édith Piaf soundtrack or not.

3.  Take a picture with Kitty (and spend lots of time with her too!).  She was my host mom when I spent my junior year in Paris and she's the best.  I miss her, and her converse sneakers and market bags and white jeans and her beautifully French sense of style, and her porcelain painting, and her apartment, especially her amazing kitchen.  Unfortunately, I've realized I don't have a picture with her and that is a terrible shame.

image via

4.  Go to the Canal St. Martin.  I don't know why I never went here when I was in Paris, especially given how much I loved the movie Amélie.  I don't know that I would skip rocks in it, but then again, why not?

photos found on Oh Happy Day taken by Quinn Palmer of Demotix

5. Try my very best to somehow win myself an invitation to the ever-elusive Diner en Blanc.  The photo above is from a Diner en Blanc in 2009.  When you somehow get yourself onto the list of invitees, you don't know when or where this dinner will take place until you receive a text or tweet 15 minutes prior to its commencement.  You must wear all white and bring delicious food with you. It seems extremely Parisian.


Ah, this list could go on and on and on.  Cheese, baguettes, shopping, Angelina's, museums...Looks like it's time for me to start saving up for a Paris trip in case I don't win this one!  Thanks again to Jordan Ferney for being so generous!