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La Femme Ren

~ For the Renaissance Woman in All of Us

La Femme Ren

Category Archives: Travel

Meet Me in St. Louis

16 Friday May 2014

Posted by La Femme Ren in Travel

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Arch, Eero Saarinen, Gateway Arch, Midwest, Mississippi River, St. Louis, Travel

So with my new job, I had to travel to the ‘burbs of St. Louis for a few days. And although I went a few years ago for another company, I made the mistake of not renting a car. So I did not have a way to get into St. Louis and enjoy its many offerings. On this trip, I STILL didn’t really get to explore St. Louis as I would have liked. But I did get to visit the famous Gateway Arch since I had a few hours before my flight. I had NO IDEA that you can actually go inside the arch and view the city of St. Louis from the top. My mind was blown.

On a side note, as I was leaving for St. Louis from Dulles Airport, I noticed that the road surrounding Dulles is named after the same architect, Eero Saarinen, that designed the Arch, as well as the airport terminal itself. Guess it was meant to be. It’s hard to imagine what feat and genius it takes to accomplish such beautiful structures.

Back to the Arch – so as I am walking to the Arch, I see it from the side and it looks like an obelisk, much like the Washington Monument, which I pass by all the time.

Arch-Obelisk

As I move closer to the structure, it opens up in front of my very eyes. đŸ˜‰

Arch1

Under the Arch, they have some shops and the ticket counter. One of my colleagues informed me that they were planning to expand this area to include restaurants and more shopping. After the the ticket was bought, I got into the pod below:

Pod1

It was about 5-6 feet across. There are five seats and you’re definitely friendly with the people shoved in there with you. As you go up in this pod tram, it starts mechanically adjusting to the curve of the track and it’s really freaky at times but also cool. Haha. Here is a view of the inside of the Arch as you go up in the futuristic pod.

Inside Arch

At the top, you are 630 feet from the ground and man, what a view!

At the top

On one side you have the city of St. Louis. You can also see Busch Stadium where the Cardinals play. You could also see Edward Jones Dome where the Rams play, but you really have to stretch yourself to see the dome. You are viewing these sights from windows that are maybe 7 inches in height and 18 inches in length and have to bend at an awkward angle to look through the windows.

St Louis - Copy

Cardinals Stadium - Copy

On the other side, you can see the Mississippi River. Imagine the steamboats back in Mark Twain’s day, where it was the major mode of transportation before the trains came along. St. Louis was too late in the game in building tracks and Chicago ended up being a major trade center of the midwest. There’s your history lesson for the day. LOL.

River

I’m so glad I got to experience the Arch. And hopefully, you learned something too! (like how you can go in the Arch – which most of my friends didn’t know lol)

Macarons

23 Monday Dec 2013

Posted by La Femme Ren in Food, Travel

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Food, Macaron, NYC, Sweets

So I didn’t mention in my previous post that I grabbed some sweets while in NYC. The ones I will talk about here are the macarons I picked up on St. Marks at Macaron Parlour. We just happened to be walking by and decided to pop in. I got the following flavors: 2 pistachio, tiramisu, party time, Earl Grey and candied bacon with maple cream cheese. Pistachio is my favorite, which is why I got two. Wish I hadn’t though since they were just okay. I don’t think anyone does pistachio as well as LadurĂ©e. The tiramisu was good but not mind blowing and the party time was surprisingly good since I didn’t have high expectations. Party time is described as “salted milk chocolate & dulce de leche.” It was good combination but I wouldn’t say they had the two distinct flavors. My second favorite of the bunch was the bacon one. Come on, it has bacon. What’s not to like? And I’m not a huge fan of maple, so that’s saying something! Finally, my favorite – Earl Grey. It’s a milk chocolate infused with Earl Grey tea. It’s the most beautiful blue color – like robin’s egg blue on the outside and when you bite into it, the soft center is more peacock blue. Not only, was it easy on the eyes but it had a vibrant and outspoken Earl Grey tea flavor. I loved it.

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Although I haven’t had a lot of macarons, my favorites so far include:

Vanilla at Paul (they’re huge!)
Pistachio at Ladurée and everything else there
Earl Grey at Macaron Parlour
Green Tea at Macaron Beer

Hope you enjoyed this post!!!

New York, New York Engagement!

22 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by La Femme Ren in Art, Food, Travel

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Arizona, David Zwirner, David Zwirner Gallery, Foodie, Good Eats, Halal Guys, JapaDog, Jenga, Joe's Shanghai, New York City, Pomme Frites, Yayoi Kusama

So my good friend John proposed to his girlfriend this past Thursday and planned a surprise engagement party with his and her close friends. The BF and I went up Saturday morning and headed to St. Mark’s place to eat some Oh! Taisho. However, they didn’t open until 5 pm. I always try to have a contingency plan so we hopped on over to JapaDog down the street. I had the Terimayo pork dog. It was delicious! The pork sausage had a good smoky flavor and the right snap to it. The teriyaki mayo was paired nicely with the nori or dried seaweed. Sounds weird but it worked. Next we headed to Pomme Frites and got some frites with sundried tomato, garlic and pomegranate sauce. The sundried tomato sauce was my favorite but the other two were also yummy.

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After we were nice and full, we walked over to the David Zwirner gallery to see the Yayoi Kusama exhibit. The line was freaking ridiculous for the Infinity Mirrored Room – The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away. We were told that people started lining up around 4-5 a.m. and the line was closed off an hour prior to the gallery’s opening. Isn’t that nuts? Well, we got there in the early afternoon so regardless to say, we weren’t going to see that exhibit.

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But we were able to see the Love is Calling infinity room and it was definitely worth the 25 minute wait and the 45 second trip into the room. LOL. The structures were so quirky and I loved the changing colors.  See my Instagram Account for the video!  (Look for the widget on the blog – either on the side or at the bottom.)

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After the 45 seconds of fun – we went to look at Yayoi’s paintings. Her paintings are so whimsical and remind me of a lot of Mexican art in the use of color and painting technique. Like these little figurines I bought in Arizona.

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After the gallery, we went to chill at where my friends were staying. After a few hours of catching up, cavorting around and playing drunken charades, we all headed to Joe’s Shanghai for scallion pancakes and soup dumplings. They’re so yummy and  the meal was pretty cheap.  The round vessels of meaty juice were so umami and rich.  I loved drinking the juice and then using a little of the black vinegar to eat the rest of the tasty morsel of goodness.

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After a beer and good eats, we headed to a bar, Common Ground and played Drunken Jenga. Lol. We all went back to the apartment and chilled some more. Someone went out and bought some pork buns from Baohaus (I have the best friends.) They were tasty but nowhere near the deliciousness of Momofuku’s pork buns. Afterwards, the BF and I took an Uber car to where we were staying.

During all this my feet were killing me. I wore my Frye boots and my foot situation was NOT pretty. I’ll leave it at that and spare you the gory details.

The next morning, we got up and got ready to head back home. Went into Chinatown and got some dim sum at Jing Fong. It was good and this place is pretty consistent. Just hate sitting with strangers but whatever.  I had my favorites shrimp fun (not shown) and this tofu skin wrapped thing with bamboo shoots and pork.  I was a happy girl.

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Then we headed to Halal Guys to get some lamb over rice for the ride home. Omg. I still can’t get over how good it is. The white sauce and red sauce are perfect complements to the juicy lamb, rice and pita bread. I absolutely love it!  Here’s me waiting for the bus home and trying to look happy but actually feeling miserable after waiting forever with my achy feet and cold rain!  But the trip was a short but fun one – I spent it with my awesome friends and couldn’t have asked for more đŸ™‚

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Related articles
  • The Colorful, Weird World of Japanese Artist Kusama (wnyc.org)
  • 45 Seconds of Infinity By Yayoi Kusama (design-milk.com)

Dreaming of Dominican Republic

27 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by La Femme Ren in Style, Travel

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Beach, blog, Blogger, Bralette, Caribbean, Dominican Republic, Fashion, for the ladies, Jewelry, Joggers, Johnny Depp, Larimar, OOTD, OOTN, Outfit of the Day, Outfit of the Night, Prints, Sanoa Island, Sea Turtle, Shopping, Spanish language, Street Style, Style, Thanksgiving, Vacation, Vampy, What I Wore, WIWT

Hello pretties! It’s been awhile since my last post but last week, I took a trip to Dominican Republic to make like geese and head south for the winter – albeit temporarily. It was a beautiful trip. The water was warm and I discovered my new favorite beach at Sanoa Island. This was where Johnny Depp’s character in Pirates of the Caribbean was stranded in the middle of the sea. The waves were minuscule and I was literally rolling around in them without drowning. (Those pictures came out horribly and thus aren’t being posted :))

The resort was right on the water and we were able to get premium liquor so the BF was happy to say the least. I got horrible bites from sand fleas(?) all over my lower legs and they killed. Lol. The food was asi-asi or so-so. Nothing to write home about. The meats were dry and I found myself eating a lot of carbs. They had a Dominican night and that was good. There was an amazing soup, goat stew and roast pig or lechon. Delish! I’m pleased to say we had a very relaxing vacation.

Almost every night, we had dinner reservations on the resort and had to dress “formally” to dinner. See below for my outfits for three nights. I mixed up prints, went all black with red lips and threw in some street style with a bralette, joggers and a dark lippy.

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20131127-111905.jpgPictures from the excursion to Sanoa Island below:

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20131127-112057.jpgIsn’t it beautiful?

On every trip, souvenir shopping is on the agenda for my loved ones but I almost always get a Christmas ornament and/or a piece of jewelry. I’m really mad at myself for not getting an ornament this time but the pickings were extremely slim. However, I did manage to buy this beaute.

20131127-112247.jpgMy favorite animal is the sea turtle; Green, Leatherback, Loggerhead – I love them all. This piece is also special because of the stone: Larimar. It’s only found in Dominican Republic. The stone was coined after the namer’s daughter Larissa and the Spanish word for sea, Mar. It’s said to have healing powers; especially to help communication skills if it’s worn close to the throat. I don’t know about you but I love that kind of stuff.

Hope you enjoyed reading about my vacation! I was hoping to have a really jazzed up post but my week has been insane with work and prepping for Thanksgiving. I’m starting my pies tonight to alleviate tomorrow’s work. Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

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