A Fresh Start
Hello World!
I must admit it has been a big adjustment living here in the States. The biggest changes being the food and the night life. While I was expecting change as far as lifestyle and cuisine was concerned, I didn’t expect it to be so be drastic. Gone are the open markets with fresh artisan goods, and hello warehouse full of bagged, boxed, and canned edibles. How is a girl truly supposed to thrive on this?
And then there’s the nightlife…
While I knew I was coming to live in the mountains and expected things to be much quieter then the City of Lights, I was not quite expecting this. My joy was almost palpable on the way to my new home. The five manservants were just chattering non-stop once we had crossed the city limits until we pulled into the driveway. I swear two of them were arguing over who was going to carry in my bed! Seriously? The house was old, but at least it had character. A garden, plenty of woods, a chicken coop, an orchard, and a pond. Perfect. After getting settled in, the servant seemed tuckered out and turned in. But not me. I struck out on my own to experience the Vie Nocturne of my new city. I wandered about for some time, trying to follow my nose and ears to find some tapas or live music. Anything to give me the real heartbeat of this place. But my senses were only filled with the hint of Jasmine and the song of mountain crickets. It is like the whole town just…went to sleep. How plebeian.
So, with a heavy heart I went back home. As I rounded the sidewalk up to the door I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye. Without warning, the intruder charged towards me. I think I jumped a full ten feet into the air as he turned, full view before bounding into the woods. It was…a skunk! No thank you, Pepe Le Pew! To think of how much worse this night could have been had he decided to…I shudder. And then, to top it all off, I came home and the house was locked up like a fortress! After some ruckus though, one of the servants let me in, with a bit of chastisement. Too heartbroken and scared from my near attack to put the servant in their place, I plodded to my room and curled up in my bed. There was always tomorrow.
The next morning, I awoke to the smell of fresh pressed café, done properly in French fashion. On the counter sat a steamy cup. Apology accepted. After drinking my fill, I decided to see what my staff was up to. Checking room to room, I came to an office space where the eldest of the servants was working on a computer. As I rounded the desk to see what she was working on, to my great surprise she was designing a logo! What unbelievable luck! I immediately attempted to feign non-interest, of course, so as to not arouse suspicion. But this is PERFECT! A real freelancer under my roof. I will learn everything I can from her. Even if she isn’t aware of it.
And so my adventure begins…
The best known proto-Brutalist architecture is the work of the Swiss architect Le Corbusier, in particular his 1952 Unité d’habitation in France. Also known as Cité radieuse (Radiant City) and, informally, as La Maison du Fada (French – Provençal, “The Nutter’s House”), it’s located in Marseille, France, and was built between 1947 and 1952. One of Le Corbusiers’s most famous works, it proved enormously influential and is often cited as the initial inspiration of the Brutalist architectural style and philosophy. The apartments were equipped with built-in furniture, and specially designed storage walls with various cupboards and sliding doors, which were designed by Charlotte Perriand in collaboration with Atelier Le Corbusier. Additionally Perriand collaborated on the design of the apartment kitchens, 321 of the 337 units were equipped with the Cuisine Atelier Le Corbusier, type 1 kitchens, many of which are still in place due to their efficient use of space.
