Finding my Footing

The ins and outs of day-to-day life have now found their groove and I’ve immersed myself into the, “I’m living here,” mentality that is necessary when you call a place “home”. My weekdays have routines that include several dog walks, hours dedicated to work, the daily grocery run (I’ve become appreciative of buying what you need and keeping space for what you’ll really use or eat), and the dinner prep while watching Netflix show reruns. While routine sounds mundane, I’m actually loving every single day as if it were my first here.

Part of that love comes from feeling grateful. My life at this moment is better than I could have ever imagined and I am happier than I’ve ever been. Not only do I have a partner who loves, honors, respects, and supports me with a relationship that is beyond easy, is filled with healthy communication and compromise, and who I don’t remember arguing with on more than one occasion, I am living in a beautiful, safe, inspiring city on a continent I dreamed of, and I have time in my day to dedicate to me, my passions, and taking care of my little family. Who could ask for more?

In the process of establishing myself over here, I have been posting less on WordPress. I mentioned to a friend that I don’t think people want to hear about any ol’ day in the life of Claudia and he mentioned that I need to write it in a way that makes people want to read it. But at the same time, I’ve been distancing myself from sharing my life on social media because I’ve noticed that happy people make other people resentful. It’s one of the reasons why I no longer use Facebook or Instagram; it is a strange thing to watch someone’s life from the sidelines and hate them for their happiness.

My life is genuinely filled with happiness, no conflict, beautiful days (other than this killer summer cold I’m fighting), colour, light, passion and pleasure. I am truly living a life that some people can only imagine, and smiling until my cheeks hurt. Every day my beautiful boyfriend asks me, “Are you happy?” and every day I answer, “of course!” How could I be anything but happy?

In other news, I’m really enjoying how I am expanding my cooking repertoire. The fresh ingredients from markets or even the grocery store make for food that leaves you sighing as it touches your tongue, flavours that burst with every bite, and a smiling partner who sits across from me, declaring, “This is amazing,” at every opportunity.

Some absolutely beautiful rose mushrooms from the market made the most outstanding, creamy mushroom soup I’ve ever eaten. Fresh avocados and tomatoes were the key in a tapas style Friday dinner (that was apparently so good, it needed to be used for Saturday breakfast, as well). And then the local restaurants have yet to let me down where meal after meal is just phenomenal and a pleasure to devour, particularly the truffle mushroom pasta from the Italian restaurant that is always overflowing with customers, locals and tourists.

We are coming up on a month of me having lived here (where does time go?) and despite getting into that every day groove, it’s still unbelievable to me that I should be living here, building a life here, and having the opportunity to be with my little family in the gorgeous city of Strasbourg, France.

Apologies, this is where I end the blog. My brain is foggy, my nose is stuffed, and I have some mushrooms to chop up for a truffle mushroom dish made with fresh pasta I bought off the cheese vendor – it was market day outside the apartment; my favourite day.

Never mind – every day is my favourite day. Life is swell.

xo
C