Kittehs!

It's been a few months since I posted pictures of my kittehs. They are such fun and are also a major comfort to me at times when I need that. Last June I went up to Boston to go to the Boston Early Music Festival and brought my cats with me. Here are some fun pictures I took of them hanging out and enjoying luxury hotel life!

Teddy hanging out on top of my turquoise half-trench (so fashionable!)

Miss Gabrielle, the youngest of the three kittehs and quite the little princess.

Flame, sitting up like a little lady.

Flame and Teddy spent much of the time on the wide window sill, a required hotel room feature for kitties. The gorgeous view out to the water helped, too!

Oh noes, where did my head go?

Whew, a little dizzy after losing my head like that!! Gabby enjoyed this cushion during her stay.

Gabby used the pet cushion the most, but Flame's markings and colors went beautifully with it!

Miss Flame on the bed.

Action shot with Mr. Teddy! He's a blur but look at that fluffy tail!

All three kittehs are British shorthairs. Cats prefer to stay home, but my cats are great sports (and it's cheaper to take them with rather than board them!)

I'm Back! Uh, Yes, I Was Gone

Just got back EARLY this morning from being in Boston on business. I had a nice weekend, saw some old friends, and felt good about what was accomplished. I wore some nail polish to report back on, stayed in a cute hotel that I will review, and also ate at a few cute places to mention. So, more on that coming soon!

I joined the Polish Bloggers Network, which is allowing me to learn about a lot of cool blogs on nail polish. We had our first link roundup on Friday, which I posted late that evening. I am really excited to be part of a blogging community. My list of followers was starting to grow, and, last I looked, I had 21 followers! I knew people were reading, but I was hoping to get a few followers so I am pleased as punch.

I still have a backlog of pictures I've taken, so I will resume posting very soon.

Chanel Jade in Geneva, Oct. 2009!

I was saddened to hear last fall that Chanel Jade nail polish would not be available in Europe. Poor European nail polish/Chanel fans! Sure enough, when browsing the Chanel selections at Sephora in Barcelona in October (2009), Jade and Jade Rose were not there.

A few days later I was walking through Geneva after an overnight train and prior to my evening train to Zermatt. Very nice city!


I was enjoying a little window shopping, like so:


Geneva seemed to be one large Swiss watch and designer boutique! Suddenly I came across the Chanel window and this:

Do you see what I see? I immediately noticed the mannequin was wearing a weird shade of green nail polish!! But wait, Chanel Jade was not available in Europe, wth?! But wait again, that green didn't look the way I remembered it, exactly.


But wait yet again, maybe Jade was available in Geneva, in which case I would need to spread the word amongst bereft Europeans with whom I am acquainted....

Without hesitating further, I marched into the Chanel boutique to find out. A very nice and courteous sales woman glided forward to wait on me, and I asked her about the polish. She explained it was a special edition polish. I asked: "Chanel Jade? But I thought that was not available in Europe." She smiled upon realizing that I was in the know about Chanel Jade---no tiresome explanations needed for this weird American tourist lady. She responded that, sadly, it was not available there but it could be had in London. I determined that the green on the mannequin was a different polish. Ha ha! Chanel making with the fake Chanel jade!

And yes, when I was passing through the huge duty free, conveniently in the path to my gate at Heathrow, I did notice Chanel Jade and Chanel Jade Rose. I purchased my Chanel Chance Eau Fraiche and maybe a lipstick or three and was on my way.

European Railpasses and Reservations

When traveling in Europe using a railpass, you will need to make reservations and pay a supplemental charge for certain trains. I just bought a Swiss Saver Pass (a two-person pass for Switzerland) from Rail Europe, and the pass was mailed to me with free shipping since it cost more than $449 U.S. Cool!

Since the centerpiece of my trip in Switzerland is taking the entire reservation-only Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz, making reservations ahead of time is a very logical idea. My friend and I hopped online while talking on the phone to make sure that we were each reserving the same train.

We got off the phone after chatting, and I proceeded to finishing placing my order online with Rail Europe. I was stunned to realize that the $30 reservation is a paper document that would need to be mailed----at $18!

Uh, have these people heard of email???

The moral of the story: when you purchase a pass from Rail Europe and need to make reservations for your itinerary, go ahead and order them at the same time as your pass!! You will then get the free shipping for all of your documents. ;-)

In this case, I think we probably could have purchased our reservations when we arrive in Europe, but we wanted to play it safe since we will be riding in first class in an observation car. Word to the wise, travellers!