Day 20 & 21 – La Vita e Bella

Hey there,

I got a substitute position with the International School of Paris.
I’m doing a “trial run” of a philosophy lesson for another International school on Monday.
I was contacted by my favourite expat magazine to provide them with article ideas.
A friend contacted Fodors Travel & Tourism and told them to check out my blog.
I’m getting paid to write blog articles about stuff I love (fashion).
I’ve booked my next adventure to Annecy, France for next weekend. It’s called the Venice of France. It has water and mountains so you can imagine how thrilled I am.
I feel great: happy, healthy, beautiful, full of life.
And I still have time for me, for this city, for my relationship with this city.
What is this life I am living? Is this real?

Something wakes within me as the sun rises, hitting the beautiful blue rooftops that I see from the window of my apartment. Something I can feel deep within my core. Something that escapes through my fingertips and flows down to my legs and calls me to move forward and onwards and towards what most invigorates me, what most sets my soul on fire.

Sitting at the Seine’s edge, I was moved to tears. I am so happy. I don’t remember the last time I was so overwhelmed with complete grace and appreciation for life. Each day I feel it more and more. Each day I admire this life that I am living by stepping outside of myself, observing, feeling gracious, and then heading back in deep so I don’t miss a second.

I am so unequivocally grateful for the life I’m living right this moment. Everything I’ve ever done, every lesson I’ve learned from mistakes I’ve made, every struggle, every success, has lead to me being here, right here. Who I am in this moment is all that matters. Who I’ve been is just a memory. Right now, as I write this, my heart swells with gratitude and life is beautiful and I am swimming in happiness. 

I forgive anyone who has ever wronged me. How happy I am right now is the greatest revenge I could ever give them. And it comes from a place of compassion. So the whole universe wins.

If I take back anything with me from Paris, let it be this: may I carry with me the spirit of this city that endlessly inspires and moves me, so that lust for life exists no matter where I call “home”. 

I am so completely and utterly in love with this city and how it’s made me feel. Paris, you are truly mine, but my darling, I am yours, all yours. I will always be yours. May my steps along your streets move you in such a way as you have done for me. These days will never be forgotten. You will be the song I sing till the day I die. I am endlessly grateful that I got to love you like this, in this new way. You’ve written your name on my soul and I belong to you.

And it’s true what they say: Paris comes alive in the Fall. The way the sun hits it, illuminates it, the less busy streets, the colour changing leaves, the cool breeze… it’s a different experience of Autumn, and it’s a season that suits my Paris.

In 2016 when I came to Paris as a gift for myself for facing my assailant in court, this was the first restaurant I ate at.

Outfit of the Day

New views

I’ll never get tired of shots of the Seine

Close to home…

Different angles – stumbled upon her again.

This is one campus of the International School of Paris

Plant and Bird market!

Inception, anyone?

stumbled upon a passage

xo
C