Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Cafe Le Paris

Cafe  Le  Paris
On  Saturday,  I  was  up  at  the  crack  of  dawn,  my  mission  was  to  get  everything  ready  for  a  Woman's  Tea  that  we were  organising, it  took  me  a  while  to  get  all the  flowers  and  food,  town  was  much  busier  than  I  had  expected,    and  then  began  the  transformation...........  changing   the  church  hall  into  a  Paris Cafe.....................

We  really  wanted  it  to  be authentic,   so  we "built"  a  road  on  one  side  of  the  hall,   with  black  plastic  sheeting,  I  mean  what  would  a French cafe  be,  without  a  road,  and  pushed  all  the  little  tables  and  chairs  to  one  side,  we  put  up  umbrella's  ,  and  to  make  it  look  French  we  put  bottles  of   grape  juice  on  the  tables with  wine  glasses .................  and  we  named  our  Cafe.......  Cafe Le  Paris...........
We  were  expecting  about  40  ladies.................... and  at  2.00pm  they  slowly  started  to  trickle  in............  I  had  asked  one  of  the  youth  of  the  church  to  "busk"  for  me  and  every now  and  again  he  would  come  through  the  hall  singing  and  playing  his  guitar,  it  really  did  help  to  set the  ambiance, French  music  was  a problem,  I  hate downloading  music,  because those  sites  are  normally  full of  virus's  so  we  went  with  instrumental  music  in  the   back  ground.............


I  put  on  my  best  French  accent  and acted  as  MC  for the  afternoon.........  it  was  such  fun  we  started  off with  a  talk  about  the  inner  woman............  and  how  beauty  really  does  come  from  the inside.......   how  when  we  look  in  the  mirror,  we  need  to recognise  the  fact  that  we  are  "fearfully  made  by  God  in  his  image".................... and  he  loves  us  just  the  way  we  are........ WOW............ We  then  had  lunch  a  platter  of different  cheeses with  French  bread,  to  be  broken  off and  eaten  in  the  true  French  Style................  it  was  a  blessing  to  see the  ladies  really  enjoying  one  another's  company,  how  often  is  it  that  we take  time  for  ourselves,  take  time  to  enjoy  some  piece  and  quiet from  our  children and  take  time  to sit  and  have  coffee   enjoy  each  others  company ............  and  at the  same  time  be  motivated  and  inspired............
Then  we  had  a stylist  called  Sandra Taljaard,  who  came  to  do a  talk  about  the  outer  woman,  well  it  was  amazing,  I  don't  think  I  have  laughed  so  much  in  ages,  in  fact  I  laughed  so  much  that  when she  was  finished  I  could  not  get  my French  accent  back..........
We  got  some  amazing  fashion  tips................  not  expensive  ones  that  cost  a  fortune  to execute...  she  spoke  about  only  buying  clothes  in  3  or  4  colours  so  that  every  item  can  mix  and  match,  she  spoke  about  layering,  shirts  over shirts  to  get  completely  different  looks,  she  spoke  about  the  use  of  scarfs  and  handbags  and  shoes,  some  of  which  were  really  not  designed  for  walking  in,  and  should  only  be  used  for sitting in.................  she  spoke  about  no  matter  what  you  wear  you  must  have  on  or  carry  something  with  a WOW   factor................  she  spoke  about  how  starting  underneath  the  clothes  is  the  best  way  to  ensure  that  clothes  fit  properly................  so  throw  away  all  that  holey underwear...........  and  those  stretched  bras.....................
Her  fashion   "NO NO's",  were ...................  getting  out  of the  car,  and  removing  underwear  from your "crack".....  bending  over  and  seeing  underwear  or  having a  top  to  low  that  your  "endowment"  slips  out when  you  bend  forward ,  she spoke  about our  "panic buttons",  (nipples)  and  how  you  should  never  see  them  and  if  it  is   a  like  of  yours  to  show  them  off,  all least  make  sure  they  are  both  pointing  in  the  same  direction........  and  her  favorite  one,  you  always  dress.....  even  if  you are  at  home,  throw  away  the bleach  stained  shirts  you  wear  for  around  the  house,  throw  away  the  tracksuit  pants  held  up  with  pins...........  and  throw  away  or fix...........  anything  with  a hole  in................  she  then  showed us  how  to  make  26  outfits  out  of  8  items  of  clothing  and  a  few  scarfs.............

And  for  me  her  big  tip  of the day..........  when  you  go  outside  of  your  house..............  you  are  making  a  public appearance....................  never  be ashamed  of  what  you  are  wearing  and  never  apologise  for  what  you  are  wearing...........  or  you  should  not  be  wearing  it  anyway...............
We  ending  the  afternoon  with  tea  and  cake  ............  we  had  some  giveaways.............    and  then  when  everyone  was  gone............  we  were left  with  the  dishes  and the  tidying  up...........  again............  and I  find  myself  asking...........  why  exactly  do  I  do  this..............  and  then  the  theme  for  the  next  tea  starts  to  take  shape...................  "Musical Chairs"............  mmmmmmmmm....  lots  of  posibilities what  can  I  say  I  am  an  events  organising  junkie.............

5 comments:

  1. I really laughed out loud when I read this! That woman must have been in my closet. Now I think I should go and throw out all the crappie clothes hanging in there! The event sounds like it was a lot of fun. You're like my Sister who is also an event junkie at her church. I don't do it as much as I used to, but it can be fun..except for the clean up part!

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  2. It sounds like a nice afternoon. You are right, women don't often get a chance to relax and enjoy the company of each other often enough. Your decorations look marvelous! I think you are a super event organizer!
    Neat and true fashion advice! I love the part about, when you step outside your house you are making a public appearance and also the part about always dress even if you are just staying home.

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  3. Wow, what a lot of work! But it sounds like you really pulled it off. Good job you!

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  4. Funny, funny, Parisian coffee house culture in the south of South Africa...

    Recently I was in several Vienna coffee houses. Would be a topic for the next event???

    Regards, Uwe.

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  5. Hi Karen.
    I thought I would pop in and say hello, after you took the trouble to pop into our blog. I am going to have a good read this morning. And look forward to popping in from time to time. Have a lovely weekend. Jo

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