Paris in Pictures

They say that when you travel you leave a peace of your heart in the places you visit.  However, for me Paris gave me a cardiac jolt of creativity, joy, peace, fashion...and love.  Merci Beaucoup!

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1)  Parisian Red door: saw this beautiful red door while strolling in Paris. In my dream house I would have a door just like this.

2) Le Louvre: We waited 45 minutes to visit this museum, which was so worth the wait. This place oozed creativity and history, and who doesn't love a "glass pyramid."

3) An intricately decorated ceiling in one of the exhibit spaced at the Louvre...golden beauty!

4) With lots of stone men and women hanging out, my brother didn't want to leave this one hangin'.

5) Notre Dame Cathedral: As a bustling tourist spot, this space is amazingly peaceful and spiritual.

6) Notre Dame Cathedral:  My Mommy took the time to light a candle and say a prayer :-)

7) Eiffel Tower:  Regal, powerful and sexy.

8) Parisian Water Fountain:  It was 80 degrees on this day... so tempted to join the water party goers, but refrained due to a later dinner date.

9) RIP Princess Diana:  While walking to lunch my sister saw a tunnel and as soon as she asked out loud if it was where Diana died, we saw this small memorial.  Princess Diana was one of my all-time heros, I was surprisingly moved and saddened by this memory :-(

10) EuroDisney:  Not quite the beauty of old Parisian architecture, but the Princess castle at Disneyland was a sight nonetheless.

11) Louboutin (aka Mecca):  As a shoe lover, this was simply a thrill of a lifetime...picked out my graduation shoes, hey a girl's gotta have something to shoot for.

12)  Statement tee:  Only my lovely sister could pull this shirt off in Paris...fun watching the looks she got from the locals that day :-)

Mourning the loss of my vacation days...

So today during my Monday morning email catch-up routine, the following headline woke me up: "More than 40% of U.S. workers do not get paid vacation time off." 

 I'm sorry, what?! You mean no vacation time whatsoever?!  Could this be that in the land of freedom, economic development and opportunity, four out of ten people are working year round with no chance of looking forward to a paid holiday, getaway, escape from the norm...time to recharge.

It got me thinking about my recent family trip home where family and friends would innocently and  inquisitively inquire, "So, why are only staying in Dublin for two weeks, gosh you must wish you could stay longer?!"

Wish?  Capital Yes.  Realistic? No.  I am luckily not one of the forty percent of employees in America who get no paid time off.  I currently get four weeks for my years of loyal service to my current employer.  However, the majority of my friends and America get a mere 10 paid days off...just two weeks!!!  But when you consider that there are 52 (sometimes long) weeks in the year, four weeks doesn't seem long at all, now does it?!

In my homeland of Ireland, 25 vacation days with nine glorious Bank holidays is pretty standard for the average employee. So, in doing the math, I figured that in my 10 professional years of working in the U.S. I have forfeited approximately 40 WEEKS, close to one full year of time off work.  Time to bask in the sunshine, let my hair down, visit new places, try new foods and simply not be at work.  

So tonight as I mourn the loss of my vacation days, I am reminded just how precious my time not working is.  And as we approach the American Labor Day holiday weekend, I plan on celebrating this  holiday in honor of the economic contributions of workers by guess what... NOT WORKING!

So my fellow Americans workers, join the movement of vacation day mourning by not working on Labor Day. We'll have the rest of the year to make it up!

                                        How I want to spend my Labor Day...

                                                  How I will probably spend my Labor Day morning...