A Mini-Novelette ... "The Luxe Life"

Hello Fabulous Ooh La Frou Frou City Girls!

I hope your weekend was too wonderful for words!

Before we get started,

 let me just take just a moment to mention that

there will not be a post next week, as I will be out of town ...

I will be back again on Monday, March 26!

Just like a delicious favorite television show,

Ooh La Frou Frou "Novelettes"

are meant to sweep you away for a little

 "tryst with chic,"

and they take place in a fantasy world

 filled with sparkle, glamour and fun ...

you know the world I'm speaking of ...

it's the world of our dreams, where

money is no object and everything is a delight.

It is my hope that you'll tuck a

little of that magical feeling

into your pocket when you leave here

 to take back into your real world ...

because you are, after all, the real-life version

of Ooh La Frou Frou City Girls!

As you may know,

I call the fantasy stories

of the lives of our illustrated City Girls

"Novelettes"

{they are usually continued through two or three posts}.

The shorter version

{lasting only one post}

are  "Mini-Novelettes" ...

and that's what we have today.

Have you always been in love with Eloise at the Plaza?

I have!  

Did you know that one of our illustrated City Girls

also lives in a famous Fifth Avenue hotel?

Yep, she does ... the St. Regis has "Residence" apartments.

So, of course, I simply had to choose one as the home of Cherie.

If you're familiar with Ooh La Frou Frou,

you may know that Cherie is our famous fictional supermodel.

{Because, really, darlings ... aren't we all one in our dreams?}
She also has a precocious pug named Luxe ...

and rawther like Eloise,
 Luxe wanders around a very famous hotel ...

Being the adored dog of a lovely model and
living in a luxurious hotel in the city
does have its perks, darlings ...
for one, Luxe is privy to seeing firsthand
the mouthwatering clothes that Cherie tries on
for photoshoots ...


Luxe thinks they're very nearly as pretty as her own
canine couture and jewelry
which Cherie finds at places such as
Doggie Vogue and Poochie & TouTou,
to name a few ...
  

Twice a day, Luxe is taken for a walk ...
and ordinary walks they are not.
Luxe thinks the window shopping is simply fabulous!

She is particularly good friends with the doorman of the hotel
who always sneaks special treats from the kitchen just for her ...

Image via (c) 2012 Oyster ~ Oyster.com

... the hotdog stand just down from the hotel entrance
is another of Luxe's favorite spots when she's
feeling just a wee bit weak and tired from her walk ...

Image via (c) 2012 Oyster ~ Oyster.com

Each time Luxe and Cherie approach the entrance of the hotel
Luxe's gaze is always drawn waaaaay up to the top of the
shiny grand revolving door of the St. Regis ...


...  she simply knows it must be at least MILES tall ...
 

The lobby is usually swarming with people walking to and fro,
back and forth, up and down ... in all directions ...
 

Little Luxe particularly likes Mrs.Wently,
who says she dresses "only in Chanel ", even at home,
 and who lives in one of the grandest apartments in the hotel..
She often dogsits for Luxe when Cherie is working.
Luxe has noticed that Mrs. Wently must get very thirsty
 because every afternoon she orders from room service a
special drink of water in a triangle glass with an olive.
She gets soooooo happy
when room service delivers her drink on a silver tray ...
and while Mrs. Wently laughs and talks to room service,
 no one ever notices at all when Luxe
 sneaks out through the open door to take a little hotel stroll ...
especially not Mrs. Wently ... ...
afternoon water makes Mrs. Wently very sleepy.


Upon leaving Mrs. Westly's apartment,
Luxe always has to make a split-second decision as to
whether to first go right or left, up or down ...

Image via (c) 2012 Oyster ~ Oyster.com
If a flower delivery is being made, Luxe
scampers at the bellman's heels to be extra sure
he makes it to the right place ...


In the lobby, if designer luggage is being placed on the
shiny luggage carrier, Luxe likes to wedge herself
 between the pretty suitcases for a ride.
She's overjoyed when she finds new guests
are staying in room 1403 ...


... especially when she happens to be wearing
her little black top and pearls
{with the St. Regis logo on the side}
~ Rule No. 1 ~
A guest's first impression is everything.


The Dior Suite is another Luxe favorite ...
the view from the chaise is divine!


She likes to be helpful
and wander the halls with the maids ...
she's the very best at picking up pieces of paper from the floor ...

(c) 2012 Oyster ~ Oyster.com

Luxe always watches Cherie
 when she puts very important mail
into this pretty box in the lobby ...

... so Luxe places all of the pieces of paper and envelopes that
she's found lying around in the guests suites
 in a big pile on the floor at the foot of the mailbox
for extra-special delivery.

Luxe is usually shooed away by the waiters when she tries
 to pop the champagne bubbles sculpture
in the bar of the renowned
Adour Alain Ducasse Restaurant in the Hotel ...
"isn't that what they're for?" she wonders.


She likes to hide under the curtains
during big parties and special events ...

... weddings are her specialty ... she dances very well on her hind feet.

Everyone is so impressed.

 

But her favorite job of all is helping to deliver room service ...
she has practiced her "hungry look" so often she has perfected it ...
and it always works wonders.
She never fails to leave without a bite of chicken salad sandwich
or a tea biscuit at the very least.

By the time Cherie arrives back at the hotel,
and stops to pick up Luxe at Mrs. Wently's,
it has been a very busy day for Luxe ...
but she acts as if she's simply just awakened from a
long afternoon snooze ...


Luxe walks wearily with Cherie back to their beautiful hotel apartment  ...

... and as Cherie readies for a hot shower and a cozy evening at home ...

 

... the phone rings ...
and when Cherie gives her errant puppy that certain look,
 Luxe knows the dreaded news ... it's happened many times before.

She's been discovered.

   

Thanks for joining us this week for our

Mini-Novelette!

Cherie and the mischievous Little Luxe are the stars of our

new Easter card entitled ...

"Easter Basket Mischief"

Inside Message:

"Have a Simply Delicious Easter!" 

To order card go here. 

Card Description:

Luxe obviously decided that a few of those

Easter eggs and a pink stuffed bunny

that were in a pretty Easter Basket

 looked a little too good to resist ...

and Cherie discovered Luxe's mischief once more.

Illustration background complete with St. Regis balcony

with Central Park and city beyond.

Not seen on this image:

The Easter basket and it's goodies sparkle with glitter,

as do touches on Luxe's bow and Cherie's jewelry.

Envelope Lavender with Raspberry Liner

Pale Pink Paper lines inside of card.

Card protected in cello wrap.

Inside Message:

"Have a Simply Delicious Easter!"

All illustration is by
artist and founder of Ooh La Frou Frou:
Sandy M
{Sandra Markwalder}
For Custom Illustration contact Sandy here.
For Ooh La Frou Frou cards, go here.

Images Top to Bottom via:

Link to the St. Regis Hotel NYC

Hotel Exterior via

Dress with flower unknown

Dog Clothes (L to R) via: 1 2 3 and Necklace

Two Street Scenes Outside St Regis via courtesy of (c) 2012 Oyster

Pug Illustration by Sandy M

Entrance to Hotel via

Lobby of Hotel via 

Bar Tray via
St. Regis Stairway via courtesy of (c) 2012 Oyster
Delivery of Flowers via
Tiffany Suite Sign via
Tiffany Suite (illustration of pug added by Sandy M) via
Dior Suite (illustration of pug added by Sandy M) via
St. Regis Hallway via (c) 2012 Oyster
Mailbox via
Adour (illustration of pug added by Sandy M) via
Dining Room via
Lavender Hued Event Room via

Butler with Tray via (edited by me)
Three Tier Tray via
Pug Illustration by Sandy M
Three Interior Photos of St. Regis via

Pug Illustration by Sandy M
Card Illustration by Sandy M

Just Another Supermodel Day

Our fans know ...

Ooh La Frou Frou is all about bringing you glamour.
We love creating a lush and exciting world for you to slip into,
whether it's with our glitter-and-crystal embellished cards
that feature the eight fun and glamorous illustrated girls ...
or here at the card line's fun and sumptuous weekly blog,
where we step into the fantasy city adventures
of the girls of the Ooh La Frou Frou Collection.

Last week,
we got a first glimpse of
the Dior-inspired bedroom for
Ooh La Frou Frou girl Hope ...
and some of you mentioned that you
took away some of the ideas from Hope's design
for your own glamorous bedrooms.
So perfectly fun ...
especially if you're like Hope and love to visit
beautiful luxurious boutiques ...
just to soak in the beauty ...



we'll leave Hope and her new bedroom
in her fantasy upper-east-side apartment building
and head a few blocks south
to the beautiful St. Regis Hotel.

If we were to walk through the St. Regis' dramatic doors ...


and step into the lobby ...

... we just may hear the elevator ping
and see Ooh La Frou Frou's supermodel, Cherie,
stepping out and walking quickly past us to flag a cab ...
Let's follow her as she gets heads to a glamorous photoshoot ...

As Cherie's taxi picks her up, we thought we'd
show you a little map of her neighborhood.
The St. Regis is right at 55th Street and Fifth Avenue,
down in the lower right hand corner of our map.
You can see how she could just walk out her door,
take a stroll down Fifth Avenue
and have fabulous shops at her fingertips ...



Cherie represents the supermodel in all of us ...
you know what we mean ...
the glamorous woman in us that appears on the days
when our hair is perfect and we're hearing
our own little theme song in our mind?


After all, we are the star of our own life movie ...
shouldn't we imagine the most glamorous of scenes?

Cinemagraph Credit: Jamie Beck (Photographer) and Kevin Burg (Motion)

Cherie is whisked away into make-up and
spends the day in various poses for the photoshoot.
She is then made "bigger than life" for the fantasy magazine pages.
You may have seen photos of the positively
ethereal Elie Saab Fall 2011 Haute Couture Collection ...
it sparkles as if the pieces are lit.
These gowns are pure confection and the stuff of dreams,
so they were just perfect for a Cherie photoshoot.
Elie Saab drew his inspiration for this collection
 from the sun's rays, how the city's skyscrapers
are clad in its shimmering reflection.

Below is the result of Cherie's fantasy
Ooh La Frou Frou photoshoot.
She is illustrated bigger than life in a handful of the
Elie Saab gowns
walking along the rooftops,
with her arms wrapped around the sparkling city that she loves.

We thought you might like to watch the Elie Saab video
of the Haute Couture Fall 2011 Collection
to see if you can identify the dresses that Cherie
posed in .... 

Have a perfectly lovely week, darlings ...
from myself, Sandy, the artist of Ooh La Frou Frou,
and all eight of our glamorous illustrated girls! xo

Glamorous Review of Ooh La Frou Frou Girl Cherie

Happy Monday, Lovelies!

This is Sandy,

artist and creator of

The Ooh La Frou Frou Collection 

card line.

If you're new, you've found the fun place

that is the accompaniment to the card line ...

where we look into the "lives"

of the eight girls that I've created to be
the stars of the cards!

We've been reviewing the personalities and details

about each of these eight girls lately ...

we had a Glamorous Review of Ooh La Frou Frou girl Hope

and a Glamorous Review of Ooh La Frou Frou girl Tiffany.

In these posts, we also found out where these two

Ooh La Frou Frou girls live.

Today's post is the third in this Glamorous Review series,

where we'll take a quick look at Cherie!

These are the Ooh La Frou Frou Collection cards
you may have spotted Cherie in so far ...







When I created the girls to star in this card line,
I wanted to create not only girls that we could envision
ourselves being friends with if they were real ...
but I also wanted to create girls with a lifestyle
that would be glamorous fun to step into every week.

And we've barely just begun the fun!

Of course, what could be more glamorous fun
than imagining being one of the world's
popular fashion models?
Have you ever given any thought as to whether or not
they travel too much to
even have an apartment or a pet?
In one of Cherie's previous posts, she faced the pet dilemma ...
we watched as she fell in love with a little pug
that the photographers had brought in
as a "prop" in one of her photoshoots
in Central Park last fall.
That photoshoot (below) gave her a craving for
a someday-pug of her own!



Yes, she was a bit in love with pugs.
She'd thought she'd have a painting done
of her pampered pup one day ...

and give her the most
beautiful of beds to sleep in ...

But, alas, she travelled too much to even consider it ...
or so she thought.

Then, on a pre-holiday post, we joined Cherie
for a little shopping in the city and a
fun walk through Bergdorf-Goodman!


... and we learned that she had finally
gotten that pup she longed for.
Since Cherie longs for luxury in all aspects of her life
(sound like anyone you know?)
it was no surprise that she named her new pug "Little Luxe."
The following picture of her darling Luxe
was on last Christmas' gift tags ...

Then, Cherie's New Years Resolution
was to take up a little yoga ...

In another post, we watched as she
got her make-up done for a shoot
and was lost in daydreams
of how she simply loved everything about being a girl ...

Then, earlier this year,
all of the Ooh La Frou Frou girls
had a serious case of spring fever.
Cherie, Hope and Aimee
longed for warm weather and
dressing in the season's bright colors ...

And, finally, in Cherie's most recent post,
she took us on a virtual romp
through the Plaza Hotel ala Eloise ...

The
"SOMETHING NEW"
that we're learning about each of the girls
as we go through these fun posts
is where they each live.

If you were a supermodel living in New York,
as our girl Cherie is,
where do you think you'd live?
We know that Cherie loves the Plaza Hotel ...
the Plaza sort of belongs to Eloise, no?
Since Cherie really has a thing for lovely hotels, though,
it seem only right
that she be ensconsed in luxury.

Yes, she calls home another famous New York Hotel
that you can live in as a resident!
And it's a very glamorous one at that!

Cherie lays her head on her pillow
in one of New York's finest ...
the gorgeous St. Regis!
Below is a quick rough sketch and watercolor of the entrance of
the place she calls home ...
can you just imagine her disembarking from a taxi at it's door?
I didn't have time to illustrate the doormen and people wandering by
for this sketch, but you can be sure they'd be there,
as well as all of the excitement of New York,
as limos and taxi's zip by on the busy street ..



Yes, the exterior is very grand, indeed ...
the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan is a jewel ~
a 1904 Beaux-Arts classic landmark
overlooking Fifth Avenue ...

With an in-house florist
and Remede Spa, as well as designer shops,
it's definitely a place to dream about ...

Come, girls ... let's walk through the door ...

Elegance at every turn ...

To almost feel like you're there,
jump into this Travel Channel review ...


Wouldn't we all like to live this way?
I know I would!
I can imagine getting back from Paris Fashion week,
walking through the peaceful elegance of this lobby ...

Heels clicking on the beautiful marble floors ...

If we were to come to visit Cherie at the St. Regis,
I'm sure we'd feel right at home
and may never want to leave either!

The bathrooms have elegant black marble ...

Yes, Cherie lives a dream life ...
if she is simply too tired to cook, no problem.
She can stop by the Hotel's famous
King Cole Bar for a quick bite or glass of wine ...

and speaking of wine ... the Adour Wine Library below
 is part of the fabulous Adour Restaurant in the hotel ...
it's just made for a glass of bubbles,
wouldn't you say?


If we spent the afternoon shopping with Cherie,
how lovely it would be to walk back to the hotel with her
and compare purchases over afternoon tea in the Astor Court ...

or if the mood strikes, she could entertain us right in her apartment
with room service ...
I love how you can glimpse
the beautiful terrace beyond the sheers ...

But, at the end of the exciting day,
when we leave Cherie in her glamorous St Regis apartment
and walk back out to hail a taxi, we could be happy knowing one thing for sure ..

that for all of our Glamorous Girlfriends,
 GLAMOUR is never far away ...
whenever you need a dose of it, you can easily slip back into
Ooh La Frou Frou again ...
with simply the click of a mouse ...

But before we go ...
 a little more Glamour!
Let me introduce to you
the second notecard that will be part of our
fun Summer "City Girls" boxed notes
soon to be released in 2-3 weeks!

If you've been to Manhattan, you've seen the many
hot dog carts with colorful umbrellas along the sidewalks.
Yellow and blue umbrellas, orange and yellow umbrellas,
red and white umbrellas ...
you get the idea.
"Summer in the City" shows
Cherie, Belle and Sunny
stopping for a little much-needed nibble
during a busy afternoon of shopping!
(A girl simply must keep her energy up!)

Notecard Details:
The pink envelope liner inside the envelope for this card
has charming little floating hot-dog cart umbrellas.
All of these notecards are blank inside
and embellished with touches of glitter or and/or crystals.
The box of 12 notecards will consist of
 three notecards each of four different "City Girl" designs!
This is our "Summer City Girls" notecards
and there will be "City Girls"
for other seasons, as well, in the future.
If you missed it,
we previously introduced
the first of these "Summer City Girl" notecards
at the bottom of Tiffany's Review Post ...
and it shows Ooh La Frou Frou girl Tiffany
gazing into a lovely movie-like window of
Tiffany & Company.
Two more designs will be introduced
in the next two to three weeks ...
completing the set of four to be part of this
glamorous new
 "Summer City Girls"
Boxed Notecard Collection!

Thanks for joining us for another glamorous adventure
on Ooh La Frou Frou ...
have a lovely week, everyone!

Illustration Credit:
All illustrations in this post,
including the artwork on the notecard,
are by
Sandra Shelton Markwalder,
artist and creator of Ooh La Frou Frou.

Photo Credit:
Most of the photos of the St. Regis in New York City
courtesy of the St. Regis.

St. Regis Photo 2 via
Close up of St. Regis architecture via
Photo 4 of the St. Regis shops from Getty Images via
Photo of King Cole Bar via